Evaluation Question- 1.

1. In what ways does your media product use, develop or challenge forms and conventions of real media products? (i.e. of music magazines).

The title of my magazine is 'THE LOOT' and this links to the genre of my magazine which is Hip Hop. There is nothing like the name of my magazine out there as it is so different and a word that is not really used, which makes it unique. It's a very bold and short name which stands out and when it's said it has a very powerful tone, which also links to the way i have presented my artists on the magazine to represent power. I used positioning and mis-en-scene on my artist and this will get through to the reader. Therefore, I chose the title THE LOOT because it does really stand out. I did not use the Z or F models on my magazine cover because it did not suit the way i wanted my magazine to be represented, however I designed it so that it can be read very clearly and as all people read from left to right I positioned all the text on the left hand side of the page and put it in a collumn format so the reader knows where to read and in what order. The contents page also used this same layout however I put some of the information on the right hand side of the page but again used a collumn format for the things that are going to be in the magazine. To make it easier, I used page numbers next to the details about what will be in it so the reader can navigate more fluently. On the double page spread, i seperated the 3 collumns by same amount using guides and ruler which makes the magazine look much more professional. I made the article just about my artist called MYSTIC so i used a very big picture of him on the double page spread so it feels like the reader is close to the artist and it just focuses straight on the artist. The picture of the artist took up one whole page and has been placed on the right which was a mistake because normal magazines place the pictures on the left. However, the text I put on the right and made the word MYSTIC (the name of the artist) in big bold writing compared to the rest of the text because as the double page spread is about my artisit and i want it to stand out well. I wanted my artist to wear a suit because i wanted my magazine to represent power and used a range of features to bring across the theme of power. By wearing a suit, it shows authority and this is what i want my artist to show as he is an upcoming artist and has power through his music. As the magazine talks about my artist coming up from nothing and as he has just been singed by DEF JAM, the huge music label, and the magazine shows him with a bottle of champagne which shows a sign of celebration. Again the suit adds to this because it is very formal and worn on days of celebration because it looks smart. In addition, on the table where Mystic is sitting, there is a contract with a pen on it to show the reader that he has just signed onto a record label or is about too and the magazine got a picture of it. I made the artist wear a ring also because it makes him look more rich; the article tells the reader that he had no money but now has a lot of it and I used to ring to represent this. On the front cover, the picture of the artist has been framed so that he is looking upwards and the picture has been taken on a low angle to show he has high status and the reader is looking up at him because it is what he deserves. I used lighting to try and make it show that my artist is coming out of the dark as his face is more brighter than the back of his head; I made him pose so that his head is facing towards the left and he is looking in that direction so i was able to take this shot. I again used this theme on my double page spread as I used positioning, costume and mis-en-scene to re-create this shot of the artist to come out of his old self to his new by reaching the standard that he's at now with this record deal and money. For my front cover, I used a very bold font so that it stands out and catches the readers eye better and also links to this big picture of the artist because i want that bold effect. I used the same font as i used for the mast head for the name of the artist which has been written on the front cover because it looks more professional and shows that the artist is part of the magazine. I used a grey background so needed to use a font colour that stands out for the mast head so i used the colour white becuase it contrasts well with the background and also looks nice. I then used the same background colour for the rest of my pages on the magazine because this is my colour scheme and so mainly used the font colour black for other text because it goes with the colour scheme and can easily be read by the audience. On the double page spread, however, i made the colour of the text white because there is a lot of writing on there and white makes it more clearer and also is part of the colour scheme and links more to the theme. The genre of my magazine is Hip Hop and i tried to bring this accross by making my magazine look like a Hip Hop artist as i looked at various magazines with the same genre and many of them were formally dressed so this is what i wanted mine to look like. I have also included the context of power and i wanted to make my artist represent this and used thre suit also. But back to hip hop, and the colour scheme i used is quite dark and simple but these are the type of colours you would see on a hip hop magazine. A lot of the props i used within the magazine like the ring, suits and chains are the time of clothing usually worn by hip hop artists. The article on the double page spread is a typical story of the life style of hip hop artists but without being stereotypical i got the initial idea from learning about one of my favourite artists called 50CENT and this again links to the genre of it. The poses of my artist also links to the hip hop genre as he poses in a very powerful and serious and hip hop is a very serious genre. My artist is represented being a very serious character and makes him look quite hard. The suit also indicates that he become quite rich and i used a ring and bottle of champagne to put this accross more. He seems as a serious character and this links to the genre as Hip Hop is very serious. The colour scheme is one of the most important elements of my magazine as i used dark colours which is what is used on many Hip Hop magazines and links to the genre better. As i wanted a context of it to be powerful, the dark colours bring this accross and make the magazine seem more serious and bold. On the contents page, i lightened it up a little so that it is a bit different and as there are many other pages on the magazine, the multicolours give the impression that there is more on there and it is not all about this one artist.