Passive and Active Media

Passive media

Books

Certain advertising 

Older TV programs 

Soaps

Active media

Newspapers

Facebook

Magazines

Technology and consumer interaction is growing and developing exponentially. This has been the cause of huge changes in Media over the past 10 years. This is turning traditional passive consumers into more active consumers.

Active texts are now much more common, especially in TV. Most popular programs now have some form of interactivity with the viewership. Programs such as Big Brother, Britons Got Talent and X factor. Also news stations such as sky or fox. All these programs will get you to get involved by either downloading their app, texting in or tweeting them.

Blumer and Katz theories on why we consume texts-

• To relate to it(Personal identity)
• To be entertained/diverted from the real word
• To talk to others about it
• To be informed/educated/surveillance
• To feel better about yourself

Diversion is important in media. It lets us consume text/general media and makes us distracted/diverted from reality and the real world. Escapism. 

Personality identity is how the reader relate and aspire to be like those they read about. Fans of music will generally dress like those artists they listen to and try be like them. This is personal identity. Fans aspire to be like the cover starts. The way they dress is generally the most popular way fans aspire/personally identify with the cover stars. Difference between aspiration and fantasy. Not all fans aspire, many just fantasize as their artists way of life are generally very out of their comfort zone.

Genre Breakdown

Music Magazine Genres

Hip-hop

Hip-hop is more then music. Hip-hop is a culture. This means hip-hop magazines have the potential to be very successful as there is always something to write about, and lots of different roads you can go down as the idea of ‘Hip-hop’ is so huge and versatile. Two different magazines which both call themselves hip-hop magazines may cover two complete different sides of the genre, as the genre is filled and filled with sub-genres. This allows for a huge range of content and flavor within the magazines. 

The target audience of my version of a hip-hop magazine is as follows-

Age:18-25

Race: White

Gender: Male

Hobbies: Frequent internet user, very interested in music. Keeps up with current affairs/pop culture 

My magazine is tailored to a specific type of hip-hop fan. This type of fan are quite niche, they are people that are heavily interested in music, and will generally play an instrument of their own. They would also be interested in very many different types of genre, from electronic to rock and of course, Hip-hop. 

Pros:

• Lots of potential content
• Upcoming artists are easy to find thanks to Soundcloud/twitter, meaning there can be many ‘jumps’ on popular artists before they get big
• Always evolving, never gets stale 

Cons:

• Aimed towards a Niche market, potentially small audience
• Market is big, lots of competition

EDM

EDM, Electrical dance music, has recently blew up. While it has always been a popular genre, it has more recently become even more mainstream.  EDM covers almost hundreds of smaller sub genres, the most popular of which are Dance, Dubstep, House and Hardstyle. EDM’s strongest point is their festivals, which are the biggest in the world. However, there is a big gap in the market for EDM magazines. There are few EDM magazines, and even fewer popular/good ones. The reason for this is that EDM is such a general term and has so many sub genres, meaning it is impossible for a magazine to cover all EDM. There is potential for a leading EDM magazine, but it would be difficult and the content would have to be a strong mixture of a good handful of the more popular genres, allowing for a big audience

The target audience of my version of a EDM magazine is as follows-

Age:17-24

Race:White

Gender:Unisex

Hobbies: Very outgoing, frequently goes to parties/concerts. 

Pros:

• Lots of potential variety of content due to many sub-genres
• Gap in the market for EDM magazines
• Genre is currently increasing in popularity rapidly 

Cons:

• Can be hard to pull off the right mixture of sub-genres
• Very drug infused genre, can cause controversy 

Preliminary Evaluation

Preliminary work reasoning, explanation and evaluation

I did two pieces of preliminary work. This was two pages of a school magazine, a front cover and a contents page to go with it. I first went through preparation steps before I even started the preliminary, so I knew what was needed. I did various things such as a questionnaire and a research to find out what a school magazine consisted of.




I conducted a questionnaire on a handful of students from different age groups, as well as a handful of teachers. I asked various questions, about the color scheme, who they would want to write the articles as well as what type of content they would be interested in. This questionnaire was helpful as it helped me know what I needed to put in my magazine, and what each audience were interested in. To improve this, I could have got a higher number of samples of students, as I had more adults then students.




As well as the questionnaire, I also conducted some research. I found a handful of example school magazines, and even deconstructed one. This was very helpful as It let me understand the key features of a school magazine. To improve on this I could have deconstructed a contents page of a school magazine, as I only did the front cover.




After all this, I started the front cover. I went around the school and took around 20 photos, so I had a good collection. I had a small idea of what photos I wanted, but I also just took photos of places around the school. I made the main image of my front cover one of the photos I took, this avoids all copyright problems as well as letting me be creative as it is my own photo. I made sure to follow the suggested color schemes, green, which is the schools colors. I think there are a few ways I could have improved with process. Firstly, I could have cropped the photo better. Secondly, I could have formatted it better, allowing me to fit more content on the front page.




My contents page also uses the same color scheme, as well as my own images I took myself. I made sure to change the text color, so it isn't just boring plain black text all the way through. I think my content page could have been improved by making it a little more interesting and spicing it up a little bit.




In the process of making these two preliminary tasks, I learnt valuable skills of knowing how to use pages well, as well as a little bit of photoshop. I learnt a lot of things through doing this preliminary, all of which will be very helpful to me once the real task comes along.

Preliminary Contents Page

Front Cover Preliminary

Target Audience Profile

Power Of The Media

The power of the media

Media is the most powerful thing in the world. Can control peoples thoughts and opinions if done correctly.

Symbolic violence is atrocities we commit without actually hurting anybody. It is how the ruling powers maintain control without physical violence such as through propaganda. Controlling the media means controlling the masses.

By controlling big chunks of news, We can be told what to believe without us even knowing it. Most news companies are all owned by one higher, bigger company.

The sun is owned by Rupert Murdoch. Editor in chief Kelvin Mackenzie. The sun started getting popular in the 1990’s. They reinvented themselves, started doing the infamous ‘Page 3’, Larry Lambs idea. Made it the paper of the working class(C1, C2). Kelvin mackenzie switched allegiance of the paper to a conservative paper. Started backing Margret Thatcher. Slandered all labour politicians, paper was the most popular in the UK. Could argue it was responsible for Margret Thatcher becoming Prime Minister, through the use of symbolic violence. 

Headline the next day was ‘The sun what won it’. Boasting, shows the power of the media and they can even admit it and put it in your face.

Conventional vs Unconventional

Conventional or unconventional 

There are advantages and disadvantages to both magazine styles. I have looked at both styles, and even deconstructed some. The magazines I have looked at include Raygun, Glue sniffer, rolling stone, and top of the pops. After the long investigation, I have come up with advantages and disadvantages below-

Conventional Advantages

• Cover follows a general standpoint every issue, makes it simpler to do the cover every issue
• Conventional appeals to a wider audience, people generally don't get scared off like they would a unconventional cover
• Readers already know conventional covers, and will be able to relate to it as it is familiar to them

Conventional disadvantages

• Little room to branch out and be creative
• Harder to make your magazine standout/be personalized by using conventional covers 

Mood Board

Fashion/styling

Own Magazine Title

Banger

Turn-table

Regul8r

These are the three final draft names for my magazine title. All three have a strong hip-hop link and are relevant for my target market. However, the first one is more modern and will stand out more to a modern hip-hop audience, while also potentially alienating old-school hip-hop fans. Turn-table is good as it can apply to both classic and modern hip-hop fans and draw them both in. However, I believe it is too simple and too basic for it to really stand out on the magazine stands. 

Lastly, there is the title Regul8r. It is based off one of Hip-hops all time classic songs, Regulator. This means my title has a drawing point with my audience straight away, as the song would be known by classic and modern Hip-hop fans. It is a bit more complex then other titles and no where near as basic, making it stand out to my audience more. This is the title I will use for my publication. 

Magazine Title Analysis

This is the magazine title for one of the staple Hip-hop magazines, XXL. One meaning the title is going for is that there is a lot of content within the magazine, meaning there is an XXL amount of content. Secondly, the title could mean that the brand of XXL is extra large and bigger then any of its own competition and overshadows them. These meanings are staple with hip-hop as the magazine is buffing itself up with its title, similar to many Hip-hop songs.

This is the magazine title for Vibe. This is one of if not the most successful and long running hip-hop/R&B magazines. The title, which was founded in 1983, has a strong R&B theme to it due, as this was one of the main genres the magazine started with. However, as the magazine transitioned into modern age, the focus changes a lot to Hip-hop. The magazine title still heavily relates to hip-hop as rap music is often described as having a 'good vibe' to it meaning it is staying popular and relevant in the internet age. 

Passive vs Active Media

Passive media

Books

Certain advertising 

Older TV programs 

Soaps

Active media

Newspapers

Facebook

Magazines

Technology and consumer interaction is growing and developing exponentially. This has been the cause of huge changes in Media over the past 10 years. This is turning traditional passive consumers into more active consumers.

Active texts are now much more common, especially in TV. Most popular programs now have some form of interactivity with the viewership. Programs such as Big Brother, Britons Got Talent and X factor. Also news stations such as sky or fox. All these programs will get you to get involved by either downloading their app, texting in or tweeting them.

Blumer and Katz theories on why we consume texts-

• To relate to it(Personal identity)
• To be entertained/diverted from the real word
• To talk to others about it
• To be informed/educated/surveillance
• To feel better about yourself

Diversion is important in media. It lets us consume text/general media and makes us distracted/diverted from reality and the real world. Escapism. 

Personality identity is how the reader relate and aspire to be like those they read about. Fans of music will generally dress like those artists they listen to and try be like them. This is personal identity. Fans aspire to be like the cover starts. The way they dress is generally the most popular way fans aspire/personally identify with the cover stars. Difference between aspiration and fantasy. Not all fans aspire, many just fantasize as their artists way of life are generally very out of their comfort zone.

Breakdown of Music Magazine Genres

Music Magazine Genres

Hip-hop

Hip-hop is more then music. Hip-hop is a culture. This means hip-hop magazines have the potential to be very successful as there is always something to write about, and lots of different roads you can go down as the idea of ‘Hip-hop’ is so huge and versatile. Two different magazines which both call themselves hip-hop magazines may cover two complete different sides of the genre, as the genre is filled and filled with sub-genres. This allows for a huge range of content and flavor within the magazines. 

The target audience of my version of a hip-hop magazine is as follows-

Age:18-25

Race: White

Gender: Male

Hobbies: Frequent internet user, very interested in music. Keeps up with current affairs/pop culture 

My magazine is tailored to a specific type of hip-hop fan. This type of fan are quite niche, they are people that are heavily interested in music, and will generally play an instrument of their own. They would also be interested in very many different types of genre, from electronic to rock and of course, Hip-hop. 

Pros:

• Lots of potential content
• Upcoming artists are easy to find thanks to soundcloud/twitter, meaning there can be many ‘jumps’ on popular artists before they get big
• Always evolving, never gets stale 

Cons:

• Aimed towards a Niche market, potentially small audience
• Market is big, lots of competition

EDM

EDM, Electrical dance music, has recently blew up. While it has always been a popular genre, it has more recently become even more mainstream.  EDM covers almost hundreds of smaller sub genres, the most popular of which are Dance, Dubstep, House and Hardstyle. EDM’s strongest point is their festivals, which are the biggest in the world. However, there is a big gap in the market for EDM magazines. There are few EDM magazines, and even fewer popular/good ones. The reason for this is that EDM is such a general term and has so many sub genres, meaning it is impossible for a magazine to cover all EDM. There is potential for a leading EDM magazine, but it would be difficult and the content would have to be a strong mixture of a good handful of the more popular genres, allowing for a big audience

The target audience of my version of a EDM magazine is as follows-

Age:17-24

Race:White

Gender:Unisex

Hobbies: Very outgoing, frequently goes to parties/concerts. 

Pros:

• Lots of potential variety of content due to many sub-genres
• Gap in the market for EDM magazines
• Genre is currently increasing in popularity rapidly 

Cons:

• Can be hard to pull off the right mixture of sub-genres
• Very drug infused genre, can cause controversy 

Genre of Magazine

After careful consideration and research, I have chosen to do Hip-hop as my chosen magazine genre. There are multiple reasons for this choice. I spent a lot of time researching the difference in conventions between music magazine genres and how I correctly pick the conventions in my magazine. Rock magazines are quite popular and many of the largest and most successful magazines are either Rock/Pop. These are the most popular genres, however Hip-hop has recently been gathering massive mainstream success and their is only a small amount of notable Hip-hop magazines such as Vibe or XXL. Another reason I have chosen Hip-hop is that I have a personal attachment and lots of knowledge of the genre and the current scene. This will help me understanding the target market as well as what is currently hot. Secondly, there is a gap in the Hip-hop magazine market and I believe this can be filled.

Language Register

Font Ideas 3

Font Ideas 2

Fontgg

Font Ideas 1

Colour Palette

Colour Palette

Contents Page Deconstruction

Kanye West Contents Page

Magazine Cover Deconstruction

Double Page Spread Deconstruction

Hip-hop Magazine Deconstruction

EDM Magazine Deconstruction

School Magazine Deconstruction

This is a school magazine. The front page features two well-dressed sixth form students, both of them being in close proximity to each other. Both of the students have a strong confident pose as well. This is done to reflect the school as a strong and confident place. The two students are in the centre of the magazine, and have been cropped into a plain background. This is to make the students stand and to make sure they are seen as the centre point of the cover. The colour purple is also used throughout the magazine, as the main text colour and as the header background. Purple is used as it is a very confident and expensive colour, to make the school seem the same. I know this is a school magazine as the text on the front mentions sixth form.  The students also have very posy names.

The magazine is effective at making me think the students are posh and rich and the school is a private school, however I have no interest at all to read the magazine, meaning it is ineffective in that way