AS Media Studies – Coursework Evaluation

Laura Loughridge

Q1. In what ways does your media product use, develop or challenge forms and conventions of real media products?

StrapThis feature is typical convention of hip/hop magazine which I realised as I researched and looked at established magazines, it creates an eye-catching heading so the audience want to read more, also the use of caps lock and words such as ‘loudest’ and ‘ exciting’ intrigues the reader. Other magazines use the strap to show big stories or big features in the magazine and the positioning reinforces that it is a different headline to the rest – and adds more shape to the front cover.

MastheadMasthead’s are used on every magazine front cover, I chose my font from Photoshop which is Rockwell Extra Bold in size 222pt, I looked for a bold, thick font which stood out because on general hip-hop front covers, text is a big feature so I wanted to make sure it mine stood out and clearly stated ‘TRAX’ to connotation the masthead being important . I used a dark purple colour which linked in with the colour scheme.

Bold, thick, bright masthead (the source magazine)

Strap from vibe and the source magazine

Colour schemeI wanted to make sure that my colour scheme worked well and also corresponded with some of the colours in my main image as I realised that is a convention of real media products, I also wanted to use colours that my target audience wanted, so I used purple, orange and black which linked within the colours on the hat of the model and worked well together to make the text stand out

Main central ImageFor the main central image I used a male model with stereotypical ‘hip-hop’ clothes such as chains, watches and a hat as well as dark clothing, I recognised dark clothing on many models on the front of magazines and wanted to make my model look as real as possible. I also used a direct mode of address so it connects with the target audience and the ‘rapper’ is seen like others on vibe and source front covers with minimal smiling and a serious facial expression.

Font and titlesFor all the titles and headings I used Impact font in caps lock so my front cover was eye-catching and bold, I kept up the colour scheme with

TitleI used black bold font for the title of the contents page and use Rockwell bold as my font, I wanted it to be bold and made it different by making the word contents be on two lines instead of one- this added different shapes to my page, this is also a convention that other hip hop magazines use and also works well with a contents page with one main visual image instead of a contents page full of images.

Tagline (date/issue)I used this to show what issue my magazine was and added it as it is used on a lot of contents pages for magazines as it makes the page make more sense and the colour of it also links in with the colour scheme on the page.

Main Image The main image on this page is the main feature- I used one main visual image on my contents page as this technique is used in other magazine contents pages such as VIBE which is a magazine that is similar to what I wanted to achieve, it is a in direct mode of address and portrays a female hip-hop star which is different to stereotypical male rappers and stars, she is wearing little clothing and showing a lot of skin connotation of what women on hip-hop are like – this also appeals to the male part of my audience in comparison to the male models who appeal to my female audience. The clothing is bright and bold and she is wearing big gold hoop earrings along with a long necklace which links back to the stereotypical hip-hop look

TextText is another big feature of my contents page, I used lots of different sizes and used text to create my page and the main idea of it, I used an invisible boarder and made sure all my text lined up so it looked professional and neat. I used bold text for the titles and different colours for the subheading’s so they would stand out.

GraphicsWhen I was looking up contents pages of hip-hop magazines I noticed some other graphics were used which usually used the magazines name or initials, I wanted to use this in my contents page so I used a big ‘t’ and reversed it, I then typed ‘rax’ to complete the word and make the graphic look better.

Main ImageI used one main visual image to take up half of my double page spread, I did this as I wanted the focus to be on the image of the artist and also because I had seen it in many other magazines before. I used a medium close up so the audience feels like they know they artist better and know more about him.

TitleI used a very thick and bold font for the title and also used black so it stood out as much as possible; I used caps lock to emphasise the artist’s name and also to make the text more important as if it

was an image

TextFor the layout of my double page spread I used 3 columns, I also used a drop cap to make it seem like a typical magazine article, I also underlined all the interview questions and made them black so they stood out – this is something that isn’t used in all magazines but is used to clearly show an interview. I used size 9 pt and Kozuka Gothic Pro H font, which is simple. I aliened the text on the left hand side as it makes it easier to read and understand

GraphicsAs I was looking through other articles I realised that double page spread’s in the same format as mine (one whole page for a image) usually used a sub heading underneath the main heading to add another feature to the page – I used this by creating a text box filled with yellow and blue text, even though this is simple I like that it added more interest to my page. I also highlighted some of the text and made it bold to point out key words within the text.

LanguageIn order for all my audience to understand and relate to the article I used simple language and asked questions to the artist so I would obtain answers that could be simple and not to complicated. I also used slang words within the article such as ‘sick’and slept words such as ‘wanna’ so that the young audience can relate to the artist and believe that the artist is a like them