Luce Tshibangu Media Studies

Evaluation- Task 11Question #1: In what ways does your media product use develop or challenge terms and conventions of real media products

I have followed the codes and conventions of my chosen genre by doing variety things. I began by creating a unique yet simple and creative title for my masthead, by doing this means that my magazine would stand out. The name of my masthead is a number. I did this is because I wanted my magazine to be different compared to my case studies that I analyzed, a variety of Vibe and XXL magazines used words as their masthead so I decided to change by using a number instead.

I placed the masthead behind my model to imitate my case study and other existing magazines. Underneath my masthead I placed a sentence which clarified to why my masthead was the number 40. Under my masthead I’ve included “The 1940 origins of R+B” to give an implied meaning that R+B had been established in that year. I researched recent products published under the genre of R+B; I looked at both Vibe and XXL magazine because they are both published by the same institution so that would give me an idea of my publisher.

In my magazine I included a blackberry barcode for my target audience which is another way of magazine distribution, by including this means that my audience can scan the barcode to get straight to the website of the magazine to receive the same information as of in the magazine. This is a convention used to make my product more realistic and like other media products.

I also included another scan barcode underneath which would be used within the shop to scan when being purchased this is also another convention used to look like a professional magazine. I’ve included both these conventions to make magazine look like a real media product.

In one of the magazines I used for my case study they used a big cover line across the image at the bottom of the page which included the artists name and I think this is affective as makes the audience aware of whom the artist is. So I took this idea and applied it to my own magazine.

I included this so that my target audience are aware of who the artist is in my front cover. My magazine uses media conventions to represent my genre which is R+B. My model was dressed in a way to also add to the convention of the genre.

Vibe magazine also uses blackberry barcodes that why I used this in my own magazine.

Luce Tshibangu Media Studies

Researching other magazines which were either Vibe or XXL magazine to get an idea of the different ideas of how my model should be dressed or pose. In my magazine my model has his hands closed together; I took this pose from Vibe magazine as it stood out the most for me. By imitating and use codes that other existing magazines include and apply it to my own means that my magazine fits in with the genre.

Question#2: How does your magazine represent particular social groups?

My magazine portrays young and young adults. My magazine does this by including a young male on the front cover which appeal to both female and but it would appeal to mostly younger male than older. I’ve used the colour yellow for some of my cover lines to differentiate that this magazine is aimed at both male and female. Using a unisex colour therefore means that my magazine would appeal to a variety of people other than just male. Females may also choose to buy this magazine as I’ve used a good looking model which by this there is a very high percentage of females picking up the magazine compared to the males. My magazine would appeal to middle class teens and young adults.

In the research that I done for my media kit a popularity of male were targeted for the magazines produced and they were mainly black people. My social group would be similar but also have what other magazines don’t include which is making it a little more diverse.

As for my social group I want to represent them in a positive way, in order to do this I would include get them involved in the magazine to create a relationship with my audience. In order to this I included a give away on the front cover of the magazine. My magazine portrays middle class urban youth by including both a male and a female dressed in a particular way, this would then give out a straight appeal to who its aimed at but also within the images taken it will also appeal to people who are dressed in that way not just the target

audience.

Once more this type of music magazine appeal more to African American people as the artists used are mostly black and from that background.