Felipe Gonzalez's AS Media Blog

Friday, 18 February 2011

Institution

The kind of media institution which is most likely to have an interest in my product would be a medium publisher like DENNIS.

the advantages of going with a big company is that it will be out there faster and in greater numbers, but the bigger publisher will probably want bigger profits. The smaller publisher won't has as much control over distribution and might not be able to promote it well enough to the target audience.

The style of Sleep On It is quite different to Kerrang but it promotes a similar anti-mainstream point of view. Bauer publishers Kerrang so I think it might be interested in publishing my magazine and it would be my first choice because it is the largest magazine publisher in the UK and so it could help me get my magazine out in public and on the world wide web. Even though this will cost a lot to start off it will most probably payback. By being with a big company you will probably have deals with iTunes and maybe music channels and even advertisements and sponsoring programmes. All of these synergies would be needed to make a profit because most magazines don't make a profit on their own. With wide publicity, the magazine should make even more money because more investment will be attracted by its success and its ability to reach a clear target audience with a lot of money to spend on consumer items.

This magazine which you only think of as a book of gossip is really a hell of a lot bigger!

Forms and Conventions

Conventions refer to the way of doing something to please and attract the audience. Basic conventions include relevant advertising, for example, in my magazine, I must advertise a lot about grime artists' music because it's for grime fans/audiences from ages of 16-21 of bother genders. My magazine is promoting for UK grime so it has to relate to that music and it needs to be packed and look both messy and neat to suit the style of the genre and what audiences expect. I got a lot of ideas from the following magazines.

Once I had done my research, I produced my own work and created my own style.

You can see here I've taken a lot of ideas from NME's contents. I have used a lot of pictures in this because no matter how old you are, we all like pictures. I've used large headings to let people know find things quickly and to highlight if something is more importance than something else. I've used a unique colour pattern to keep the audiences' eyes on the page. And one of the most important elements is the choice of stories. This will tell the reader straight away if it is for them or not. So the stories have to be relevant, I couldnt go writing a story about a princess because the UK grime fans may be disappointed.

The title "SLEEP ON IT" is a kind of ironic title because it says sleep on it when actually you will do quite the oppostite you will be stuck in this magazine and you will probably end up drianed out and maybe sleeping on it. But this is a slogan aswell as a title, that's what makes it really strong and memorable.

I have used a range of shot sizes in my photos from long shot to mid-close up. I've taken them from different angles so the audience will not feel intimidated by the postures. I have used a lot of objective shots meaning the artist are looking away from the camera. This suggests that he is almost saying 'I'm too good for the camera and audience' but its not too aggressive so people should like it. The artists wears Air Max trainers, jeans, beenie hat and a baseball like jacket. The hat like is because it's winter plus most grime artists give a cold and harsh feeling within the world and they also want to be stylish. The Air Max trainer is closely associated with UK Grime, almost every artist wears them, for example Devlin Dizzee Rascal.

My magazine clearly shows genre, it does this in the use of language, the layout and the images.

These are my final pieces and they look and say everything that could relate to Grime and I think they do it well. Altogether they make a strong clear statement about UK Grime and its audiences. I know this because I am a fan of this type of music and I have carefully researched the images, style and language used in magazines and web-related UK Grime culture.

Thursday, 17 February 2011

Skills development

From the preliminary task my skills have advanced greatly and I have learnt how to use Photoshop a whole lot better. My work is looking way more professional and tidier. In Photoshop I learnt how to use gradient and blending options, brush tools and the different font blending. All these thing's had a great effect on my work it looked aclot more like a professional piece. It made things look like a real magazine. Using effects to make certain aspects of pictures stand out. I chose fonts and styles which would appeal to the grime and hip hop world. The information and quotes appealed to the people of the grime world. I had to find out about existing magazines because it would help me with ideas and styles of my magazine such as content and double page spread i picked up a lot of tips from other magazines and i developed on them further to make my own great style. I kept asking people for feedback on my pieces to see what would be better and appeal for the audience. I needed to be attentive to detail because I needed to make sure there were no mistakes to be picked up on. I checked up on recent artists and why they do what they do and how they got in to it so that's how I've made my work a lot better.

Addressing my audience

My product attracts the audience it's designed for because of its style and because it's cool and easy to read and looks quite smart. Grime fans will like a smart looking magazine because it gives them a bit of self respect and a sense of superiority and a bit of cleanliness which grime does not have. They would associate with it mainly because stories, artist and information would appeal to the fans of UK grime. The unique selling point of the magazine would be the name "Sleep On It" and who and what it contains inside. It contains info about almost every UK Grime act as if the magazine is trying to relate to the reader. The view my front page picture is taken in a subjective gaze looking down at the audience almost as if I'm a role model to them already. The layout is almost like a grid aswell to guide them to what they most want. It is almost telling them to read what's there and to help them enjoy it. The feedback I got from my audience was "It's smart and really nice and easy to read. The colour pattern helps keep your eye on it, and the information and facts look very interesting and enjoyable. The gigs and festivals and clothing ads really do appeal to the audience too."

Target Audience

This would be the type of audience that would read my magazine. This group/ type of people would listen to rap, hip hop, grime, maybe even RnB. The type of films these people would watch feature violence, comedy and action such as cop films and street crime like ADULTHOOD, etc.These people would probably live in apartments and maybe semi-detached houses. People who live in cities are most likely to be like this. They are looking at an aspiring lifestyle, to be rich famous and have girls and nice clothes. The urban lifestyle, these people are always likely to get somewhere if they are good at what they do and are determined. They would buy my magazine to find out what there is and who is new on the scene and also to get tips and hints from othere people's stories. They might even like finding out horoscopes (not very likely)! My magazine would be a perfect one to advertise clothing and music and maybe festivals and concerts. The type of clothing that would get advertised is Adidas, Nike, Lyle & Scott and new era hats. The music ads would be HMV and places like that with offers on latest albums. Festivals that would be advertising will be any with UK rapping/grime artists. If you can relate to or like the sound of any of this, then this magazines for you!