New Era is the sponsor of my magazine and i chose it because of its urban image, which fits in with my grime genre.
Friday, 8 May 2009
Evaluation
The Audience
My core audience will be both male and female listeners of grime music and young teenagers who follow the grime scene due to my genre of music being grime.
I will be targeting youths between the ages of 16 and 19 as this is the age when I believe most teenagers are entering adulthood and therefore face many of the issues I wish to discuss in my magazine.
My audience is likely to be teenagers’ living in urban /ghetto areas as this is where grime music originates from. Most grime artists come from such areas and readers can relate to personal experiences as grime artists often lead similar lives to the readers.
My magazine will also be a guide for aspiring grime artists or rappers. Unsigned musicians can get guidance on pursuing a career in music through the advice section in my magazine.
Music has a great impact on society. In particular grime artists who originate from ghetto areas are usually youths who if they were not making music, would probably be out on the streets forming gangs. Grime music targets youths particularly those who live in notoriously known south east London where youth crime has being increasing over the years.
How I attracted my audience
I targeted my audience through various techniques. The model of the front cover wears a dope chain symbolic of the urban genre of the magazine. A dope chain is a thick heavy gold chain worn by American gangsters in the 80’s. However they have come back into fashion and are currently worn by retro teenagers as the 80’s old school becomes new school.
I also used language to attract my audience. The use of slang and informal language directly targets my target audience as they can relate to the everyday language they use daily.
Ways in which my media product uses develops or challenges forms and conventions of real media products.
I have challenged typical urban conventions of using graffiti or urban font for the magazine cover. I have instead used simplistic quite sophisticated font like that used in the Times newspaper to give my magazine that look that makes it different from other urban magazines.
Furthermore I have featured a female grime artist which is not common on most grime magazines as it is a male dominated industry with most artists being male.
How my magazine represents particular social groups.
In general my magazine represents teenagers and shows this by featuring typical teenage events and hobbies like music, art, fashion.
My media magazine represents young black youths with talent. It features successful black artists such as Chipmunk who prove that black youths don’t all live up to the stereotype of being violent and causing trouble.
What kind of media institution might distribute my media project and why
A well established urban attire brand like New ERA could publish my magazine.
About New Era
Founded in 1920, New Era Cap Company, Inc. is Americas leading headwear manufacturer and creator of New Era Apparel, bringing products to market that rise above time, culture, sport and fashion. New Era produces over 35 million caps per year and is the exclusive manufacturer of the official on-field cap of Major League Baseball.
Their mission
Since 1920, New Era has been the world’s premier headwear brand. Our products exceed time, culture, sport and fashion, and allow you to uniquely express your personality and style. Our focus is, has been, and always will be on creations that are inspired, designed and handcrafted to fit your life. (Source ; http://pressroom.neweracap.com/category/14/About_New_Era/page/119/New_Era_Fact_Sheet.aspx)
Why I have chosen New Era
New Era produce urban headgear that is worn by many various teenage groups particularly young black teenagers. Recently New Era stores have opened in London markets like Shepherds Bush were their target audience, young black teenagers regularly shop. New Era stores are not situated in high street areas next to Top Shop or New Look and are instead located within market areas suggesting New Era target lower income social groups. This is shown by the store location and the price of caps is relatively cheap.
Despite being mainly targeted at black youths, New Era head wear has even become increasingly popular amongst other fashion scenes for example emo’s have started wearing New Era hats. This means I will attract audiences from other fashion genres in addition to my core urban audience by having a sponsor like New Era.
What I have learnt about technologies from the process of constructing this product
I have gained many skills during this project for example I have learnt how to use Photoshop. I have demonstrated my ability to use Photoshop by creating a front cover and article and using Photoshop to edit images and fonts.
One skill I learnt while using Photoshop is using the magic wand to make the background of an image transparent. The magic wand tool enables me to make the edges of a photo or image look softer therefore blending in with the text and create a more professional finish.
Another skill I learnt is manipulating layers in Photoshop in order to alter the appearance of my front cover. Using the layers I could change different parts of the front cover without affecting other areas. This was beneficial as it helped me save a lot of time. Furthermore I could build on each layer and experiment with various effects by changing them while keeping other aspects the same.
Review from Preliminary Task
I had to make many changes to my magazine front cover due to the opinions of my target audience. Initially I planned to feature a male artist on my magazine cover but after doing some research within my target audience feedback showed a high demand for a female artist featuring on the magazine cover.
I had trouble obtaining suitable fonts for my magazine cover due to not being able to download fonts. I experimented with other free graffiti fonts but after receiving some feedback I concluded that these fonts where a bit too stereotypical. By using the “Times New Roman” font, I was attempting to challenge typical views that a grime magazine is all about graffiti and urban styles. I believe my attempt to use the simple sophisticated font was one of my successful ideas.
My core audience will be both male and female listeners of grime music and young teenagers who follow the grime scene due to my genre of music being grime.
I will be targeting youths between the ages of 16 and 19 as this is the age when I believe most teenagers are entering adulthood and therefore face many of the issues I wish to discuss in my magazine.
My audience is likely to be teenagers’ living in urban /ghetto areas as this is where grime music originates from. Most grime artists come from such areas and readers can relate to personal experiences as grime artists often lead similar lives to the readers.
My magazine will also be a guide for aspiring grime artists or rappers. Unsigned musicians can get guidance on pursuing a career in music through the advice section in my magazine.
Music has a great impact on society. In particular grime artists who originate from ghetto areas are usually youths who if they were not making music, would probably be out on the streets forming gangs. Grime music targets youths particularly those who live in notoriously known south east London where youth crime has being increasing over the years.
How I attracted my audience
I targeted my audience through various techniques. The model of the front cover wears a dope chain symbolic of the urban genre of the magazine. A dope chain is a thick heavy gold chain worn by American gangsters in the 80’s. However they have come back into fashion and are currently worn by retro teenagers as the 80’s old school becomes new school.
I also used language to attract my audience. The use of slang and informal language directly targets my target audience as they can relate to the everyday language they use daily.
Ways in which my media product uses develops or challenges forms and conventions of real media products.
I have challenged typical urban conventions of using graffiti or urban font for the magazine cover. I have instead used simplistic quite sophisticated font like that used in the Times newspaper to give my magazine that look that makes it different from other urban magazines.
Furthermore I have featured a female grime artist which is not common on most grime magazines as it is a male dominated industry with most artists being male.
How my magazine represents particular social groups.
In general my magazine represents teenagers and shows this by featuring typical teenage events and hobbies like music, art, fashion.
My media magazine represents young black youths with talent. It features successful black artists such as Chipmunk who prove that black youths don’t all live up to the stereotype of being violent and causing trouble.
What kind of media institution might distribute my media project and why
A well established urban attire brand like New ERA could publish my magazine.
About New Era
Founded in 1920, New Era Cap Company, Inc. is Americas leading headwear manufacturer and creator of New Era Apparel, bringing products to market that rise above time, culture, sport and fashion. New Era produces over 35 million caps per year and is the exclusive manufacturer of the official on-field cap of Major League Baseball.
Their mission
Since 1920, New Era has been the world’s premier headwear brand. Our products exceed time, culture, sport and fashion, and allow you to uniquely express your personality and style. Our focus is, has been, and always will be on creations that are inspired, designed and handcrafted to fit your life. (Source ; http://pressroom.neweracap.com/category/14/About_New_Era/page/119/New_Era_Fact_Sheet.aspx)
Why I have chosen New Era
New Era produce urban headgear that is worn by many various teenage groups particularly young black teenagers. Recently New Era stores have opened in London markets like Shepherds Bush were their target audience, young black teenagers regularly shop. New Era stores are not situated in high street areas next to Top Shop or New Look and are instead located within market areas suggesting New Era target lower income social groups. This is shown by the store location and the price of caps is relatively cheap.
Despite being mainly targeted at black youths, New Era head wear has even become increasingly popular amongst other fashion scenes for example emo’s have started wearing New Era hats. This means I will attract audiences from other fashion genres in addition to my core urban audience by having a sponsor like New Era.
What I have learnt about technologies from the process of constructing this product
I have gained many skills during this project for example I have learnt how to use Photoshop. I have demonstrated my ability to use Photoshop by creating a front cover and article and using Photoshop to edit images and fonts.
One skill I learnt while using Photoshop is using the magic wand to make the background of an image transparent. The magic wand tool enables me to make the edges of a photo or image look softer therefore blending in with the text and create a more professional finish.
Another skill I learnt is manipulating layers in Photoshop in order to alter the appearance of my front cover. Using the layers I could change different parts of the front cover without affecting other areas. This was beneficial as it helped me save a lot of time. Furthermore I could build on each layer and experiment with various effects by changing them while keeping other aspects the same.
Review from Preliminary Task
I had to make many changes to my magazine front cover due to the opinions of my target audience. Initially I planned to feature a male artist on my magazine cover but after doing some research within my target audience feedback showed a high demand for a female artist featuring on the magazine cover.
I had trouble obtaining suitable fonts for my magazine cover due to not being able to download fonts. I experimented with other free graffiti fonts but after receiving some feedback I concluded that these fonts where a bit too stereotypical. By using the “Times New Roman” font, I was attempting to challenge typical views that a grime magazine is all about graffiti and urban styles. I believe my attempt to use the simple sophisticated font was one of my successful ideas.
Friday, 3 April 2009
My own advert
This is my own advert which I produced in photoshop and used in my double page article.
Wednesday, 11 March 2009
1st draft of Star on Road article
This is the first draft of my article entitled "Star on Road." I later made changes to the colours and effects for example the text box is now black and the image of me and Chipmunk has a more 3D effect.Tuesday, 10 March 2009
Lady Smila
This is one of the artists featured in my magazine. There is a niche in the grime industry for female artists. Female artists are under represented. In my magazine I have featured Lady Smila to represent aspiring female artists
Head Shoulders Knees & Toes Article
I based one of my double spread articles on the new dance and song called "Heads Shoulders Knees and Toes" by new artists K.I.G. Family. This further emphasises how my magazine promotes new artists and does not just focus on established artists.
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