Who would be the audience for your media product?/How does your media product represent particular social groups?

P1: Who are the audience for my product?

The audience for my magazine are young people that are interested in hip hop and are aged 16-23. This is because of the interesting colours and content within the article. The feature on the double page spread and the contents page is a young person of equal age to the intended audience, allowing them to relate to him.

P2: How does your media product represent particular social groups?


The main social groups represented are the ones that my magazine are aimed at, ages 18-23. The main featured rapper, "MC Chrime" is wearing modern clothing and distinctive black and red colours of the magazine. The cap that he is wearing is often related to youth, and the modern could suggest that he is current rather than old fashioned/out of the ordinary.

On my double page spread, he is shown holding a boom box, which is intended to show that he is to be associated with those in the music industry or he is interested in current music. His eyes are looking off in the distance, with a more serious/determined facial expression rather than an angry or a happy one. This is intended to continue with the theme in the article of young people entering the hip hop scene themselves, and also attracts attention to the article by following his eye pathway. He has a modern slightly waxed haircut that is medium to short length, this is a common haircut associated with teenagers/young people. As MC Chrime is meant to represent younger people by allowing himself to be associated with them through clothing, this would also suggest that the social group of young people are being represented as determined.

For the rapping community represented in this article, generic interviews with famous artists are used to attract attention on the front cover and the contents page. This allows them to easily associate themselves with it being a hip hop based article and represents the rapping social group as related to the articles shown, for example most articles are related to music rather then disruptive/party related behaviour.

For the interview, MC Chrime does not speak of any illegal activities or antisocial behaviour, which is the opposite to the current stereotypes of young people that are interested in hop hop, this helps represent the youthful social group as a dynamic interesting group of people that are interested in studio/the big time for music, rather then concentrating on immoral behaviour. MC Chrime is set up through the magazine as almost a representative of hip hop fans who have turned famous, and his views and determination are intended to be associated with this group.

In what ways do you intend your media product to use, develop or challenge forms and conventions?

Evaluation - Media AS Question

View more presentations from thomasager.

I used a presentation for this question, in order to use text and pictures together more effectively.

My Magazine

This is my finished magazine.

Click to enlarge any pictures

Magazine Pricing and Content

For my magazine pricing I've decided to make it a special offer of just £1.20, rather then a higher normal price. As the magazine isn't that well known I believe this will interest new buyers and possibly allow them to choose Definition over another more well known magazine.

As for the content I have decided to include a feature about Eminem, a feature about Dr Dre and a feature about an upcoming artist. The double page spread will be about the upcoming artist and these three features are intended to be the main ones, so they will probably be emboldened on the contents page to keep people interested.

Final Font/Colour Choices

I have decided that the main themes of my magazine are going to be red, white and gold. I am going to apply a mask within the text and then colour them with a gradient from top to bottom with that colour. This will make the magazine look much more interesting and eye catching. As shown in some of my examples, I am also going to apply a black outline to the text. This enables the text to be seen with any background choice, and is very eye catching.

The main text that I'm going to use is Impact, I will either use calibri or arial for the secondary bulk text such as the text that is going to be in my double page spread. I will also look into some development regarding different fonts on dafont.com.

Texture/Background Photos

I have taken some photos to use as the background of background removed models or just as a texture for an overlay.

Photo Shoot Planning

For my photos I have decided that I will have a clear white background, or no background at all. This is because I want to add my own backgrounds of either textures or something related to music that will improve the overall picture. For example my idea for the front cover of my magazine is to use a picture of a wall, and a picture of a person, and cut out the person and place them on the wall.

For the mise en scene of my models I am going to follow current fashions, more specifically for the front cover, jeans, a t shirt (probably black) and a baggy hoody. For other pictures I will probably follow current fashions such as a black coat and jeans or tracksuit. These will have the background cut out and either a gradient or a photo used as the background.

I will be using two lights from opposing directions in order to light my model, and then increase the contrast using a program in order to make the photograph astand out and be more interesting.