costume/props

                                                                                               Over sized, diamond encrusted watches are worn by all rappers and hip hop artists as it is an item of jewelry that can determine how wealthy you are. This needs to be visible in my final product as it is a common item seen in the rap music industry and will therefore help connote what the magazine and artist is about.

 

                                                                                                  

From its birth, hip hop culture has been majorly influential for a lot of fashion trends. One of the most recognizable is the sporting of chains .Both silver and gold chains are worn by rap and hip hop artists to also show off their wealth, my cover artists will be wearing a chain for this specific reason. Since most rappers come from low to middle income upbringings, it also represents their rise to success, especially if all odds were against them prior to their careers. However these beautiful symbols of success not only portray the fact that they have money, but alos represent literal chaining,a practice that was done during the times of slavery. They wear chains as a symbol of paying homage in an ironic twist, howver, they put themselves in the the very chains that their                               ancestors worked so hard to get out of.

                                                                        snap-backs & fitted basketball caps are worn by most rappers, depending on their age and image, they are not an item to show off wealth as they are reasonably cheap, they are simply a fashion accessory and also an item the artists may have worn from a young age, particularly in the U.S due to the popularity of basketball, which isn't as high in the UK but are still worn by many UK artists and the public.

Expensive fur lined coats are also seen to be worn by successful rappers and hip hop artist such as Jay Z and 50 Cent, i may choose to include a coat similar to this one, depending on how my photo shoot turns out. however it is likely that my artist will be wearing a vest or jumper as these items have a greater link to the stereo type and give a more street/ gangster affect which is portrayed throughout the Genre that is rap and hip hop.

 all of the above items are commonly used by rap & hip artist as items of clothing, jewelry and as accessories which is why i have chosen to use them as props for my music magazine, without these specific props i wouldn't be able to get a professional look that real artists have across magazines such as the source & XXL.I believe the items that i have picked will allow me to gather successful photos of my artist during my photo shoot in preparation for my main task. They will complete my final products by giving them the professional quality audiences would expect as these items are what audiences would expect to see, as well as this they help the audience 

(Progress) what i will be doing next

After carrying out my focus group, drawing up the sketches of my pages and analyzing key conventions i have now concluded that the next step i need to take in order to aid the production of successful magazine pages is to plan what my artist will be wearing and what sort of props i will need, as props are often used to emphasis conventions, to do this i will be researching the typical things artist wear and what sort of props are viable in real magazine pages.  I will be using Google and real magazines such as XXL and THE SOURCE whilst conducting this research. Once this is done i will be considering setting up a photo shoot.

title block analysis

 ‘The source’ magazine focusses on hip hop and rap music, the style of text used for the masthead connotes this well as it is bright, bold & urban, and the colours of the text also contrast with the background. The use of the hand wrapped around a microphone as a logo also supports the suggestion that the magazine’s genre is mainly hip-hop and rap. This is because hand held microphones are most commonly associated with hip hop and rap freestyles. The microphone embedded within the logo is good for advertisement as it allows the source to stand out from other magazine competitors, as the logo is eye catching and unique.

 

The masthead of this magazine is a single letter; it therefore doesn’t give anything away about the genre of music it focuses on. This could suggest the magazines covers a wide range of different genres and appeals to large target audience. However the font used looks to be quite traditionally, this infers the target audience could be of an older age, the letter does stand out due to the contrasting white on red but its doest look too modern and so therefore wouldn’t appeal to a younger audience.

The use of dark colours on this logo aswell as slashes through the text suggests that this magazine focuses on genres such as rock & heavy metal. The magazine would therefore appeal to a young middle aged audience who are passionate about there particular music, that being rock and heavy metal.

Designing my title blocks

After deciding the genre of music that my magazine would focus on I had to decide on a title/ logo, after hours of thinking I came up with the idea of zone as I believe the word zone links closely to the aspects of rap and hip-hop music. As the masthead is the first thing the reader see’s it is import to get the text and font perfect as the title says a lot about what is inside the magazine it can also be the key thing that convinces someone to either  read the magazine or buy it. My next step was to decide on the font/ style of text I would use, after going through several websites I managed to shortlist down to a few which I believed were the best. The last font looks to be the best so may use it on my front cover, however my mind may change.

 

 

scan of pages

Comparison Of My Magazine Sketches With Real Media Products

( Progress) What i plan to do next

After filming my focus group i gathered a great deal of important information about what are the kinds of things i need to include in my magazine pages and what conventions i need to follow in order to attract my target audience, which is those aged between 16 and mid 20's who listen to Hip-Hop and gangster rap music and associate themselves with this culture. The next stage i plan to take in order to aid the production of my main magazine products is to produce sketches of what i plan to make my magazine look like, whilst i am drawing the plans for my magazine pages i will be taking into consideration the feedback i received in my focus group video.