Evaluation

VIBE is the music institution that would distribute my media product. This media institution is the company that sells R&B music magazines. The founder of the business is a man called Quincy Jones, who gave his urban audience a good and exact insight of the R&B and Hip-Hop culture. I would choose this institution because, this company sells R&B music magazines, which mine is also a music magazine that celebrates the R&B culture. The industry is suitable for my music magazine because it has a similar target audience to what my music magazine has, which is teenagers and young adults. VIBE music magazines portray female R&B artists such as Rihanna, Beyonce, Mariah Carey, Keri Hilson etc, which is what my music magazine looks at and delivers to the female target audience. 

The audience for music magazine P.I.M.P are female of all races and backgrounds aged 16-25.  The population would mainly either be in school, college, university or may have just started their new job, and some of the younger ages eg, 16-19 most probably already have part time jobs. My music magazine would be most suitable for my female target audience, because the model I have in my shots is a realistic shot of R&B artists from her race, gender and image, which would most satisfy and meet the required needs of my target audience. It would not meet the target audience’s elements they would expect to see if they saw a shot of girl of the white race, with a very British look, when R&B artists are mainly originated from America. My target audience would like to buy music magazine as it is on sale for a reasonable price of £2.50.

From my preliminary task I had already developed new technological skills from the process of constructing the 3 pieces of media. I have developed good camera skills of taking photos close up, and photos which include body language and posture. I have used different types of fonts and the positioning on the page, compared to my preliminary task where I only used to use one font. My skills have improved from the preliminary task through construction of the background colour. I adapted careful cropping and erasing technique to get a more effective effect. My cropping of the shot remained good, and had taken up most of the whole width of the page.

My three pieces of media create a realistic representation of gender, race, class and youth. All of these features are shown through my earlier research in my planning of locations and costumes. The locations of black social groups are ‘on the streets’ like.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk/7421534.stm Here is a link showing a newspaper article, explaining how in the past 2 black girls named Charlotte Polius who was stabbed to death by another black girl called Beatriz Martins-Paeshas been sent to prison because of knife crime. This is a very typical representation of black boys and girls are seen and associated with in today’s society. So this then encourages black artists of the R&B culture to write songs about crime, prejudice, sex, love, race, drugs, wars, money, politics etc, to give a true insight of what today’s youths are either involved in or accused of, especially of the black race.

Below are links taken from R&B female artist with also male artists, singing songs with the themes in today’s youth’s society. The lyrics especially show the reality of young teenager’s lives and what they have to face on a day to day basis. Some of the music videos a of the R&B artists show their image in action with the hard and constant partying as seen in my locations part of my planning in night clubs, highway streets, party halls and alleys, celebrating the R&B culture.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=koVHN6eO4Xg  Rihanna and T.I- Live your life 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MqRomFlmoKI Alicia Keys- Empire State of Mind

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ff8auCfg_v0 Nelly and Fergie- Party People

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GibLntdLiJA Dizzie Rascal- Dance with me

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LEyfk97Gs7o Beyonce- Diva

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oEauWw9ZGrA  Rihanna- Pon de replay

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yd8jh9QYfEs&feature=related Rihanna- Please don't stop the music

Here are some Facebook comments that represent my target audience said about my 3 pieces of media: 

Cherniece Duah: 'I think the layout out of all 3 pieces are well constructed and visual, which would grab my attention. However I think the model in photo should have had a more sexual, dramatic pose and a pose with attitude as R&B music represents that through their costume, which she lacked in such as heavy jewellery's ie. hoop earrings and necklaces'.

Coral Chapman: 'I think the colors are appropriate as they are feminine, and therefore appealing to the female audience. The shots have been out together well, and give a good representation of R&B singers, through the body language, where she has one hand on her hip and where she is lying down on her side. I think the double page spread could have been constructed more carefully as the shot is slightly above the text, which makes it more spacious'. 

Stephanie Addae: 'The header P.I.M.P is a realistic and effective representation of R&B because it is seductive from a woman's point of view. The masthead is really good, 'New 'Keri Hilson, New Music, New Body, No Nonsense' is a good way of luring the female reader in, to read on and be inspired that one day they can be as successful as her'.

I have used similar styles of make-up compared to Keri Hilson, as the model on my shot was an interpretation of the R&B artist. I used a very similar lip-gloss, and eye make-up mascara and eyeliner. The make-up used on the face, gives an R&B gimmick to the model. It shows a true representation of a woman with a fantastic image which should be displayed, to her fans. It gives a message of sophistication and dignity. The model is a role model like real R&B artists, to other women and girls of the particular age groups of 16-25, who want to be like her, have the same image, lifestyle and recognition. I have also carefully chosen the hair length of my model to have the same hair length and style of hair to the R&B artist she is portraying. The model in my shot with the blue coat, shows how her costumes or outfits are of famous designer labels and shows the music of R&B to be of high money value and status, with the high expectancy from fans to look as the phrase is ‘A million dollars’. The hoop earrings, is an absolute image of R&B female artists. Earlier shown in my planning, in the costumes section, ‘heavy bling’ is a traditional feature used throughout both men and women. In Keri Hilson photo, she is wearing dangly earrings which again show a good representation. The jewellery R&B artists use make a point about money and all other aspects that happen especially to teenagers in today’s society. The money issue is to state that black people are normally under suspicion of crime such as theft, knife crime etc, and R&B artists represent teenagers today not only of the black race but of all kinds of ethnic and racial backgrounds, and help promote the message across through their image of the heavy jewellery, music (lyrics of the songs) and the locations in which they set their music. 

 

These photo shots show good body language of what a female R&B artist would be portraying to her target audience. The shot  gives a very dominant and boastful appearance. The fact that I have placed her left arm on her hip, gives a very ‘stand my ground’ look. She looks like she is control of the audience and telling them what’s what. The shot, gives a very typical image of a female R&B artist of her being seductive but yet innocent at the same time. The seductive feature comes from her body position as she is lying down. The innocent feature comes from her facial expression, as if she has done nothing wrong.

KERI HILSON

New Body

New Music

NO NONSENSE

Again the font is red to shown the feminine approach to the female audience. The name Keri Hilson and NO NONSENSE have been put in upper case to show dominance and power over the reader, and to show that this is the new me and I am not ashamed exploit it and if there is a problem get over it. I also used this catchy masthead to appeal, attract and address my target audience straightaway.

The shot on my music magazine cover, follows the conventions of an R&B music magazine cover, because the girl is brown and R&B artists are brown, black or mixed race. 

My music magazine is my own invention created to follow the conventions and develop or challenge forms of the R&B music magazine VIBE.  My music magazine does follow the conventions of VIBE, through the Banner P.I.M.P, which gives a more feminist representation of the R&B culture, where VIBE gives a more masculine approach. The Banner VIBE is shown normally in white or black fonts with male artists, and red fonts with female artists. My front cover has obeyed with the same tradition by changing the font colour to pink in upper case and bold to obviously state that my music magazine is for a female target audience I had taken inspiration from the VIBE music magazine fonts and catchy mastheads. 

My masthead had represented black female artists as they are in today’s society as very seductive, persuasive and almost business type. For example, the edition of VIBE with the picture of the R&B artist Ciara, gives a true and perfect vision of how R&B women are used as sex objects, and have a way of making themselves look innocent to the audience but yet demanding. The first half of the masthead encouraged me to design a music magazine on an R&B female artist’s body and the new transformation of it. I have also used this masthead to create a similar message to my target audience.  

P.I.M.P

Mock up's of Front cover: 1st mock up and final mock up.
Mock up of Contents page
Mock up of Double page spread

Most R&B music videos and the paparazzi taking photo shots are mainly done in night clubs, alley ways and late night parties. These are all common places to portray R&B, relating back to the lyrics of their songs being about in today’s society, the younger generation tend to now live life with late night partying and wanting to have the freedom to enjoy themselves. This already has given me ideas that my images should be set in these late night, urban settings, giving it a more ‘gangster’ look.

Costume Ideas

In this image, Beyonce Knowles is shown in an outfit, which represents the sexual and seductive side to R&B music. The length of the dress, shows how she has nothing to hide, and is not ashamed at her figure. The fact that it has a slit on our left hand side, once again, shows how she is lady to be watched and admired. Also the dress is grey, which gives her more female dominance and higher authority power. The sequences on the dress, gives it a more lady like and classy look. There is an element of sophistication on the top half of the dress. Even though some people may vision the dress as very revealing, to people who like listening to Beyonce’s music, they feel inspired by her and treat her as a role model. The hoop earrings, give a more feminine look. The heavy bling such as the earrings, create impact, of the serious, careless and layed back attitude which is in R&B culture.

In this image, we see Rihanna in three different outfits, which give us a different perspective of how we view an R&B artist. The first outfit, she is wearing is a knee-length frilly strapped blue dress. This creates a girly like image, of something you would where to a party or dance. The fact that it is frilly and electric blue gives her attitude and power to seduce a male audience. The high heeled silver sandals, again gives her a sense of lady-like sophistication and womanly personality for an R&B singer. The second dress is a brown/greyish colour with a black belt. We can see that female R&B artists can be unpredictable sometimes in what outfit they chose to wear. In this picture, Rihanna is wearing a dress that is quite in your face, and with attitude. Also the black boots gives a sense that she is proud of what she wears and that she has nothing to be ashamed of, reflecting on her smile, and facial expression.

In the third picture, we see a very elegant and graceful side, to what we expect R&B artists to wear. Her long patterned dress, again gives her sense of lady-like sophistication and balance as the dress is not over the top. We can also see a peaceful and beautiful side, to the singer, from the elegance of the dress. 

The use of heavy ‘bling’ shows exactly what R&B music is all about. The shiny silver and gold colour creates a sense of what their personality and attitude is about, that it is very Pimp like. The in depth crystals that are embedded within it, shows how expensive this jewellery would have been, which would reflect on R&B artists wealth. The shiny element of the jewellery, gives R&B artists their image and stage name that they are about a group of cultured entertainers, living by their image to look like someone with edge, a careless and shameless attitude, to look very wealthy, and to always look dominant. If a woman was to wear these items, it would make her look attractive, female dominant, a role model to the younger generation, someone to be admired and inspired by. 

The Codes and Conventions of the R&B music genre

• The poses and gestures the artists make are normally seductive, sexual and dominant.
  
• R&B artists have a very moody and serious attitude, pose and gesture.
•  The clothing that they wear are very baggy, short, sexually revealing and low trouser trend.
• Their songs are mainly sung by black artists, going back to what R&B means (Rhythm and Blues) which originates from the black culture.
• The locations of their music videos and images, take place in urban settings, nightclubs and late night parties etc.
• The costumes that the artists wear (low jeans, short clothes such as skirts and shorts, and the jewellery) reflect on their personality, of a careless and shameless attitude. 
  
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  Male R&B artists normally wear hats, and have cigars or little cocktail sticks in their mouths.
  
  
• The body language and posture that is made by R&B artists can also be interpreted as the audience is being spoken and directed to.
• R&B music songs mainly have the issues and topics of racism, sexism, sex, drugs, violence, bullying, knife crime, in order to give a moral message to its fans.

 Questionnaire

Here, I have conducted a bar chart looking at what the responses from my target audience, about what type of topics they would like to read about in a music magazine. They could tick more than one. So overall, as we can see more people wanted to see celebrities’ personal lives more in a music magazine, next to Health and Beauty. This reflects my magazine being for a female target audience, which they are more likely want read about topics that are going to be influential and beneficial for them, rather than for instance wanting to see what concert/gigs are going to be coming out. So we can gather from this data that the female population are not particularly interested in concerts, but in products and gossip that they can use in everyday life.

This next graph I have conducted a bar chart looking at what people favourite types of music are. They could tick more than one box. So from looking at this data Pop came out with a higher score than R&B. This could be due to the fact that they may have ticked Pop along with the other options. R&B came out second.  Furthermore, my selection of people that I had, had to complete the questionnaires, was obviously a very weak sample if they picked Pop, even though my music genre is R&B.

In this graph, I had conducted a bar chart looking at what my target audience find more eye-catching on music magazine front cover. The main image, came out with the highest votes, next to the cover mount and thirdly to the Header. In addition this shows that my target audience are very visual and are attracted to something big and dominant, which will grab their attention. The fact that no one picked little images or stated anything else, indicates also that my target audience are not boring ad want something that will appeal to them.

Taking a look at the other questions, which were asking them to give their emotions and feelings, there were similar but yet a mixture of answers. From my questionnaire, no one attends gigs or concerts, which relates back to the graph of topics to see in a music magazine which also got zero. Again this relates back to females answering the questionnaire. Everyone had said they were a big fan of music, picking ‘VIBE’ and ‘Top of the Pops’, music magazine, which once again reflects on the choice of music that they listen to.

Over three quarters of the people who filled in the questionnaires, agreed to pay between £1.20-£2.50 for a music magazine, which is a sensible amount of money to pay, also that is how much you are expected to pay for a music magazine today.

Finally the last question was asking to give a brief description of why they listen to music? Majority of the people had said that they listen to music, for leisure, relaxation and they generally like the beat or words to the songs. Another person had said that music helps them to reflect on life and most R&B songs help them do that, with the morals and teachings that they teach on teenage life, and it also portrays teenagers and what they can be committing or victims of, in a society of change, discrimination and prejudice.

VIBE Contents page No.2

Pretty Ricky is featured on this contents page in Vibe music magazine. The main image here being used is portrayed as a sex object. The fact that he is completely naked with just a hat covering his lower half and takes up over half the page, shows how it should be seen upon as theme of seduction. This is more likely to relate back to a female audience. However it can also relate back to male target audience, to look at the masculinity.

As you see in previous Vibe magazine contents pages the word ‘Contents’ is squashed in the corner of the page. The title is in caps lock, but the rest of the writing is in lower case. This could imply that this magazine is both women and men, because of the layout being all jumbled up, but yet it having a sex object could be used for the female target audience. The use of colour again interprets that this is mainly for a male target audience. The use of white and grey gives the magazine a dull, plain and depressing look. The background is white and grey and therefore Pretty Ricky’s body almost contrasts this making him the main feature of the page. Also this then tries to make the text blend in with the image. This is in contrast to the colour of the header which is black and so that gives it is dominance and powerful authority. The text used is very small and then would not be eye-catching to the reader and possibly quite difficult to read.

Double Page spread analysis No.2

This is a double page spread looking at the R&B group N-DUBZ. Firstly image is taken at a low angle, relating back to the headline ‘Who the hell do N-DUBZ think they are?’ as if they were higher authority and have the almighty power over the audience. The headline is in bold blue text for N-DUBZ, where the rest of the font is in black. So if the main group is highlighted it’s going to attract more fans of the band to buy the magazine. Under the headline there is a sell line, ‘The sound of young Britain, init?’, this gives an indication of what the younger generation’s language is now being spoken in society, and how groups like N-DUBZ have made an impact on it.

The artists are dressed quite casual and specific towards the genre of music they are trying to portray, which also gives them their gimmick. One of the artists has the finger pointed out at the reader, again shows the audience is inferior to the artist, and they don’t care what other people think of them.

The puff in the middle of the image ‘The haters come at you to plunge a big metal ting into your leg or neck’, this can be interpreted as what all artists say about their music, but here they are not just talking about their music but they are talking about the people who don’t appreciate their music or N-DUBZ.

The text is broken down, with one big gutter breaking down the text, this will make the audience consume a substantial amount with reader, without losing their attention to boredom. The mise-en-scene of the article is white, with all three artists placed with girl in the middle, giving a dominant pose.