CLOSED BLOG NOTIFICATION

Centre Name: Norbury Manor BEC
Centre Number: 14343
Candidate Name: Nisha Rajan
Candidate Number: 0174
Unit: G321

Final Front Cover

Final Contents Page

Final DPS

EVALUATION QUESTION : 7

Q7) Looking back at your preliminary task, what do you feel you have learnt in the progression from it to the full product

This playlist of videos highlights what I have I have learned in the progression of making my final media product. I compare tasks I have done during the course of my preliminary and final task.

Playlist Link: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLyvswYeenv5FMnITF2ezQeFdJxmhxSg7Y

EVALUATION QUESTION : 6

Q6) What have you learnt about technologies from the process of constructing this product?

This video highlights the media technologies I used to construct my media product.
 LINK : https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lBK17g6Fq24

This is a scan of my script for the video.

EVALUATION QUESTION : 5

Q5) How did you attract/address your audience?

This short YouTube video illustrates how I attracted and addressed my audience.

EVALUATION QUESTION : 4

Q4) Who would be the audience for you media product?

This PowToon presentation highlights the audience type for my magazine.

EVALUATION QUESTION : 3

Q3) What kind of media institution might distribute my media product and why?




I used PhotoSnack to highlight some media institutions that would distribute my media product.

LINK: http://www.photosnack.com/NishaRajan/media-institutions.html

EVALUATION QUESTION : 2

Q2) How does your media product represent particular social groups?



Representing Particular Social Groups by Slidely Slideshow

The slidely and images above illustrate how my media product represents and caters to a variety of social groups with mixed interests.

EVALUATION QUESTION : 1

1) In what ways does your media product use, develop or challenge forms and conventions of real media products?

These Prezis' highlight how I both challenged and developed media products to make my own media product. 

How my double page spread links to my contents and cover page

Final Double page spread layout choices

Double Page Spread Masthead changes so far

I added in these changes so that my double page spread masthead choice would better suit the genre of hip-hop.

Interview Questions and Answers

Interview: All fired up with JESSIE

We finally got a chance to sit down with the legend herself – Jasmela Amirthalingam or JESSIE to me and you. The eight am start seemed to be no match for Jessie and she was as enthusiastic as she was when first dropping her single ‘No Fire”. The lyrical ammunition from this single sparked much controversy especially in the Tamil community as the mention of the Sri-Lankan genocide (which ended in 2009) was the topic at hand. Despite the hate and negativity, JESSIE continued singing and rapping about the topic which in her opinion seemed too “sugar-coated” in the media.

Miss Lingam, how would you describe your music style and what inspired you to enter the music scene?

Music has always been motivational for me, it’s something you can always rely on to pick up your spirits and doesn’t ask for anything in return and as sad as it sounds I don’t know where I would be without it. My style reflects me as an individual and that’s what I love. I’m someone who has worked hard for every success in my life; all that emotion and passion – that’s my style. Music nowadays has no emotion and doesn’t make people feel real personal emotions; just what producers and labels want them to hear. It all so messed up. When I hear people truly saying that my music changed their views on the world and life – that’s the big picture, that’s what brought me to the scene.

Your music has really gotten around to millions of fans all over the globe, how does that make you feel?

I wouldn’t call my listeners “fans”, they’re just people on the same journey as me. They’re people in search of what’s real and to be honest that the greatest feeling ever – knowing that there hundreds of thousands of people out there who get it and get me, it actually mental. There are some downsides to being so known on the World Wide Web. Some people feel as though it is their right to put me down and hate on me for my opinions and beliefs. It’s a cruel industry but I really couldn’t care less anymore! To be honest, them taking about me is getting my name around so ha ha haters [laughs]. Gotta love the haters.

Apart from the music, what has brought you here?

I honestly do not know what I would’ve done without Blogger™ and Instagram™! Social media platforms like them are really game changers; they put you out there and connect you with amazing people, it like a whole other world and I love it. Slumming it™ (the independent label JESSIE is with) have been by side since the start and really took my ideas off the ground, they’re people you can fully trust, they’ll let you be you and not try adapt your sound for more listeners like every other major label today. My brothers are my biggest fans, without them I would’ve have been allowed to pursue my dreams; my parents have always been strict and don’t really understand the impact music has made on my life. Other than that, the mass genocide in Sri-Lanka really did affect me emotionally, losing so many close family members took a painful toll on my mental health, music was a good outlet for the grief and it also informed the public on what was really going on. The media kept sugar-coating the truth.

What’s next on the agenda?

There’s a storm coming! [laughs] I really want to give back to my community, South London has inspired my music so much, I feel as though I owe it to the kids of this generation. I want to go into schools across this borough and talk to them about expressing themselves in pro-active ways, to not always follow the crowd and to follow their dreams because anything is possible is the ambition and drive is there. I am also going to be a headline act at London Mela in the summer so stay tuned for that as well guys! [laughs]. I am really looking forward to meeting people like Jay Sean, Imran Khan and M.I.A, they’re so relatable to me and my journey, I would feel so blessed to get a chance to work and collaborate with them. 

Research for Interviews

Conventionally, Hip-Hop magazines feature headlines which focus on the topic of gossip or controversy. I will include this feature as it is one which intrigues the reader and wants them to read on. The interview itself consists of an introduction of the current career state of the artist which is followed by a question and answer format which includes embedded quotes like featured below. 

Final Image Choices with Varying Poses

Final Image Selection with Varying Poses by Slidely Photo Gallery
This was my final images choice:

I tried to take shots that would utilise my space on the double page spread. Conventionally, hip-hop magazines take up one whole side of A4 on the double page. I also wanted there to be a strong angle of gaze and I also wanted the model to be positioned towards the text so it looked like she was almost showcasing it.

Double page spread deconstruction

I deconstructed this double page spread from 'VIBE' magazine to understand which conventional features I wanted to both include and adjust for my magazine.

Double Page spread market research (layout)

Into Google, I typed in "hip hop magazine double page spread" to find out about conventional double page spreads of my genre. This is what I found.

Conventionally, the main image is positioned on the left hand side of the double page and takes up the whole page. This is a feature which is widely used in hip-hop double page spreads. The text usually takes up one whole page of A4 ; I will be using this element in my magazine. 

Contents Page Audience Feedback

I created a video featuring a girl aged 18 to find out about how my audience would react to my contents page. I asked her four questions:

1) What do you like about the magazine and why?

2) What would you change and why?

3) Do you think this contents page is evidently for a hip-hop magazine?

The question that stood out most for me was the third as my interviewee stated that the magazine was too much like a fashion magazine. To overcome this I will substitute the smaller image used for one which links more to hip-hop music. I will also add in a feature colour that pops on the page as at the moment it appears to "plain" according to my interviewee. 

Contents page image choices

These were some of the images I had taken for my contents page. I used a few models to try to achieve the best look for it. I decided to use two images as the smaller image links the final feature well.
Nisha Rajan's Slidely by Slidely Slideshow

My final images were the following: They both share a limited mise-en-scene as this feature is conventionally present in and across most hip-hop magazines.

Changing eye colour with channel mixer

I adjusted the colour of my model's eyes so that they could appear as though they were a hue of blue. This ultimately makes her eyes look more eye-catching and different whilst increasing the effect of her angle of gaze.

Colours used in my contents page

These are the colours I have used in my contents page.

 

Contents page features

As you can see, features present on my cover page are mentioned in further depth on my contents page. They are stressed to be more in the tone of 'gossip' news as my target audience enjoy these types of articles-I understood this from my target audience research. 

Under most of the features, I placed a small summarising caption, this was to inform the reader about the article as some of the features may otherwise seem confusing .

Contents page layout

This is my final contents page. To achieve this, I used both a conventional hip-hop magazine contents page and my flat plan.

I believe I followed the layout from both my flat-plan and the conventional contents page well. I placed the text and title on the right hand side and the image on the far right. I placed an image on the bottom right to tie in with the last feature on my contents list. Furthermore, I included some social media links at the bottom of the page to make my contents page more suited to my target audience who widely use these social media platforms. I also put in my masthead to reinforce continuity in my magazine as a whole.

Front cover target audience feedback

       I asked two girls aged 17 to share their thoughts on my magazine I asked them the following questions:

What catches your attention first and why?
What would you change about this magazine and why?
How much would you pay for this magazine and why?
Is hip-hop evidently the genre of this magazine?

Contents page deconstruction

I compared two "In the mix" magazine contents pages to see what the conventions of the hip-hop genre was. Hip-hop magazines share simplistic approaches to design and this is clearly shown with these two magazines. 

How my cover links to the research

This is my final cover page, making this took the longest for me as the positing of text and graphics didn't seem to work well. In regards to my research I followed through with what my target audience suggested in terms of colour schemes and subtitles related to the topic of gossip. I also made the price range within £2 as suggested by my target audience.

In terms of following conventions of hip-hop magazines, I used this magazine as a guideline.

Here are some conventions I followed to achieve clarity in the genre choice of hip-hop.

Changes so far

Since my last blog post, I have decided to make many changes to the layout and picture.

 I have completely changed the image i used for my cover as I think this new image on the right is much more conventional for a Hip-Hop magazine . I think that the new image has a much better colour scheme which uses colours which contrast better and apply to conventions. 

I changed my tagline to better suit my image and the font used for it works very well with the theme of the magazine. 

I also changed the positioning of some text from my new magazine cover recently so it worked better with conventions of hip-hop magazines, I got this idea from "VIBE" magazine and I thought it worked very well and looked clear.

Making my masthead

This image shows the changes I have changed to my Masthead since my last blog-post.

Artist worthy of features?

This "emaze" presentation highlights features that I will potentially use within my cover page. I looked at both market and audience research to understand what type of features work the best on a hip-hop cover page.

Cover layout decisions so far

In regards to the positioning of the text on my front cover, I have chosen to now place names of artist at the top of my magazine cover and i smaller font. This will enable me to place more information on my magazine without it looking too over crowded. 

I have decided that I will also position my pull quote further down so that the model's necklace (mise-en-scene) is in full view. I will also decrease the font size of this as at the moment it looks too large and out of place. 

The boxes which are highlighted blue will contain features for my magazine which will be about topic related to artists and activities of my chosen genre of hip-hop. They will be both minimal and simple as this is conventional in a hip-hop magazine. 

Changes made in Photoshop

One of the first changes I made to my final image in Photoshop was, increasing the contrast to highlight and brighten certain colours in my models face and clothing.

I then went onto add in my masthead and a graphic cord to position around it. I initially wanted to add to cord on the right side of the masthead but I didn't like the positioning on it as I found it overcrowded this part of the cover page. I then chose to place it below the masthead as it fit well as there was ample space here.

I then decided to change the cord graphic to an actual image of a cord as it looked too amateur and tacky. The real image of the cord seemed to look better as it contrasted well against fonts used and colour schemes.