PreliminaryTask and Planning & Research
- 1. OCR Media Studies – AS Level Unit G321: Foundation Portfolio in Media Planning & Research Name: Shaune Hazlehurst Candidate Number: 3056 Center Name: St. Andrew’s Catholic School Center Number:64135 Set Brief - Print Music Magazine – Production Preliminary Task Progression and Planning & Research
- 2. Section 1) – Preliminary Task
- 3. Preliminary Task Progression– Evidence Front Cover Step-by-step
- 4. Firstly I chose the colour blue as my background colour as blue is one of the main colours of St. Andrews. Then I used the gradient tool to fade a lighter blue into a darker blue down the page. Furthermore I used a ruler tool (cmd: R) to restrict myself from putting images and text over the page.
- 5. I added a yellow circle using the circle tool
- 15. Preliminary Task Progression– Evidence Contents Page Step-by-step
- 27. Section 2) – Log Book
- 28. Genre research- Hip Hop Comparing two Magazines The way in which hip hop has changed throughout the years can be seen through analysing these two magazine covers. The first cover is from 1986 showing a very famous rap group “RUN-D.M.C.” plastered on the renowned Rolling Stone magazine. The simplicity of the group members in the foreground on a grey backing shows the birth of a new style and genre present which was hip-hop. This is contrasted from the Billboard magazine which was published in the last few years which presents a few of the members of the hip- hop collective Odd Future on the front cover. In this magazine the members have more of an abstract placement within the limiting area of the covers boundaries; two of the members (Tyler and Frank) are placed higher than the rest while also crowding the magazines title. This use of space, placement and colour reveal how hip hop has evolved throughout the years from once simplicity to a more abstract and expressive genre. 24 million confirmed people between the ages of 19-34, from a range of nationalities, ethnic groups and religions, are estimated to make up the core hip hop demographic. From this statistic we can see on Spotify, the music software, that most people preferred to download and listen to heavy metal music. Alternatively Hip-hop was the 6th most downloaded genre. • 24 million confirmed people between the ages of 19-34, from a range of nationalities, ethnic groups and religions, are estimated to make up the core hip hop demographic. - This was sourced from http://brandongaille.com/25-good-hip-hop- demographics/.
- 29. Established Magazine for my Research Masthead Headline Main headline Cover line Barcode Price Date Issue Main Image
- 30. Masthead: The square, red masthead in the top left hand corner of the magazine stands out the most to the reader and the logo signifies the brand of the magazine. It is very big as it makes it easier for the reader to read what it says. Headline: The quote “The music that changed my life” is enlarged so it is one of the first thing the readers reads when they pick up the magazine and it makes the reader want to find out what music changed his life. Main Headline: The main headline is the biggest bit of text on the front cover of the magazine, this signifies the most important part of the magazine which is CeeLo Green. The headline text seems hand drawn and in a bright pink colour. Connotations of this are that the magazine tries to familiarize the reader with CeeLo Green as well as only using his first name. The bright pink colour stands out the most to the reader on the black clothes of the main image and so it makes it easy for the reader to see the title. Furthermore the pink colour is stereotypically a girly colour and so it widens the audience more towards women as well as the original fans of CeeLo. Cover Line: The cover lines detail other artists featured in the magazine. This text is ordered and arranged at the bottom of the magazine on the left, this shows the professionalism of the magazine and how they respect the other artists. The text is also presented to be hand drawn which links to the main headline. Barcode, Date, Issue, Price: These features are of the most important things about the magazine as it shows the reader when the magazine was published, how much it costs to buy, the specific number of the magazine and the barcode for purchase. Main Image: The main Image of CeeLo Green draws fans of CeeLo’s music towards the magazine as he promotes star appeal (Richard Dyer) is enlarged connoting he is the main subject of the article. The shot type of this main image is a medium shot. Strapline: Q magazines strapline is normally “Discover great music” but on this specific issue the strap line is not on the front cover. This strapline connotes to Q magazine having inside knowledge on the best music around. Established Magazine for my Research
- 31. Target Audience – Katz, Maslow, Hartley and/or socio-economic needs Relating Hartley’s 7 subjectivities to the Q magazine front cover of CeeLo Green, the age range of the type of people who would buy the magazine would be around 15-30 as CeeLo Green is a very popular artist and has a lot of old music and new music so he will have a broad range of listeners. From the main headline being pink girls would be more attracted to the magazine as the colour pink is stereotypically a girls colour so the audience will widen up more to girls as this magazine is primarily targeted at males shown on the publisher research slide. This will ultimately increase the views of the magazine.. As CeeLo is a pop star and sings people who normally listen to pop will be attracted to the article. With respect to Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs, Explorers could be attracted towards the magazine as they are influenced by social change and this links to CeeLo Greens eccentric outfit on the cover of the magazine. This outfit of spiked shoulder pads and arm guards can connote an influence of punk rock and may attract people from different genres towards the magazine. Furthermore Survivors want the security of knowing that an issue will be released every month Katz’ Uses & Gratification theory relates to the front cover of the magazine as the reader can build up a personal relationship and have admiration for the artist on the front cover that is CeeLo Green as he is a popular icon. With respect to socio-economic needs, Q magazine appeals mostly to middle class and lower class . What is the USP of this magazine? YOU MUST refer to specific conventions/stories from you research I believe the Unique Selling Point of this article is the main image of CeeLo green as it is a very eccentric array of clothing to be seen on a magazine front cover furthermore he promotes star appeal (Richard Dyer). Also not many people would normally wear clothes like those on the magazine front cover and so the reader would be attracted more towards the magazine.
- 32. Publisher research The “We think popular” slogan connotes to Bauer keeping up with popular trends and being able to adapt with new styles and cultures so that they are always appealing to the wider audience. This pie chart from the Q reader details the percentage of the two genders that normally read their magazine. This statistic connotes that the magazine appeals more to males than females. This audience finder is used on the Bauer website so that people can filter their own details to see what magazine would be best suited to them. The XXL strapline I have found is “Hip-Hop on a higher level”.
- 33. Conventions of a music Magazine Masthead Main headline Cover line Barcode Price Date Issue Main Image Background Image
- 34. Masthead: The masthead is enlarged and in the top left part of the magazine and encompasses the XXL logo which represents the brand. The Letters XXL connote to the magazine being bigger and better than all the other magazines Main Headline: the main headline titles Kanye West: swagger like a rockstar, as this is the largest piece of text it connotes the importance of Kanye West and his status. Kanye is a famous artist and portrays star appeal (Richard Dyer). Furthermore it is plastered over the main image in the centre of the magazine so it is easy to find and for the reader to see it. The difference in font and colour reiterates its importance on the front page of the magazine. Describing Kanye as having “rock star swagger” slightly breaks the boundaries between the two genres of hip hop and rock, revealing to the reader that there are some similarities between the two genres of music. Cover Lines: The cover lines of the article entitle the name of other artists to reveal the reader that there are topics of other artists inside the magazine and that they are important to some extent as they are on the front of the magazine. The names are neatly ordered and every other name is coloured differently to make them stand out. Barcode, Price, Date, Issue: These features are the most important part of the magazine as it allows the magazine to be sold and how much it costs. It reveals the reader what the date of the magazine is and what the number of the issue is. Main Image: The main image of the article is Kanye West a world renowned Hip-hop artist and he is wearing very stylish clothes in which will attract the reader to read more into the article. Background Image: The background image is a cartoon version of Tokyo as it reveals Kanye to be standing under Tokyo tower. This use of cartoon drawing and placing Kanye in a foreign country draws the reader to the magazine Strapline: “Hip hop on a higher level” this connotes to XXL being the biggest hip hop magazine and that it has the greatest knowledge of hip hop, due to it being “on a higher level” Established Magazine for my Research
- 35. Target Audience – Katz, Maslow, Hartley and/or socio-economic needs Relating to Katz’ Uses & Gratification theory we can see that the magazine is used for the reader to develop a personal relationship with the story and build up an admiration for the subject, it may also allow the reader to immerse themselves with the article. With respect to Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs explorers would be attracted to the article as Kanye West has brought in social change to the genre and culture that is hip-hop and so readers would be influenced by Kanye’s change. Furthermore social climbers will be drawn to the magazine as Kanyes style has evolved over the years and people who admire Kanye will buy the same garments as those in this XXL magazine, additionally they may look closer into the magazine to see if there are any more articles on stylish people. Relating to Hartley’s 7 Subjectivities, males who are in the age range of 17-30 would be attracted to the magazine as Kanye’s music is more attracted to this age range as well as men. With respect to Socio-economic needs. The hip hop demographic will be placed in the D or E category as hip hop is the type of music that relates to people struggling with life financially, emotionally and physically. What is the USP of this magazine? YOU MUST refer to specific conventions/stories from you research The Unique Selling Point of this magazine would be the main image and the background image which complement each other. The main image and background work well together as Kanye West is a very intuitive and creative person and this is reflected in the cartoon background. Furthermore many XXL magazines do not have as interesting a background as this one does.
- 36. Publisher research The publisher for XXL magazine is Town Square Media. Assets of Town Square Media include 310 radio stations and more than 325 local websites in 66 U.S. markets. This statistic from the Townsquare media website reveals that the Townsquare publisher is very popular and appeals to many highly-social activators. Townsquare Media also publishes Pop Crush, the digital website that details celebrity news, pop culture, entertainment and music news about upcoming artists and celebrity scandals http://www.townsquaremedia.com