These are my shot plans in terms of mise-en-scene, costumes and props. I also considered poses my artist will do,this was done to be used for my front cover, contents page and double-page spread.

Flat Plan

I created this flat plan of my front cover, contents page and double-page spread by analyzing different Hip-Hop magazines and picking out their best features to create this plan for my product.

Visual Moodboard

I created a visual moldboard with the help of Animoto. These words are what i'm hoping to associate my magazine with, either through articles or images.

Reader Profile using Prezi.

Artist Profile

Artist Profile using Emaze

Audience Research

BRITNEY

SHAMOUN

YUSUF

I asked these general questions to get a better understanding of what makes a good music magazine,  i conducted a group interview and asked open-ended questions so i can implement the findings from this research into my music magazine in order to create an effective music magazine that meets the demands of various music-magazine reader.

 What was the first thing you noticed when you looked at this magazine?

Britney: I noticed that it was very bright and messy because there’s a lot of pink used and there is too much information on the front cover.

Shamoun: I noticed the main image of Beyoncé which is very appealing as she flaunts her sexual assets.

Yusuf: Also like Shamoun I noticed the main image, but in my case it’s because of the main image taking up most of the space on the front cover and A$AP Rocky’s bold pose showing his gold plated teeth.

Do you think the main image used relates to the music genre of that magazine?

Britney: I think the main image relates to the pop because the main image is of the popstar Cheryl Cole.

Yusuf: I think the main image relates to Hip-Hop because a rapper is showing off his luxury accessories and has an overall thug look.

Which one of these magazines would you buy and why?

Britney: I would buy the magazine with Beyoncé personally because I don’t think that I can relate to Cheryl or A$ap Rocky as We love pops magazine seems like it’s target audience is probably young girls aged 10-14 and the XXL magazine perhaps only targeted at males.

Shamoun: I would buy the VIBE as the conventions are very well laid out and does not interfere with the main image.

Yusuf: I would buy the XXL magazine as I want to know more about the puff ‘young,fly & flashy’

Do you like the colour schemes used and do you think that they relate to the magazines music genre?

Britney: I don’t like the colour schemes used as there is a constant use of bright pink which makes the magazine seem less sophisticated however, I do feel that they relate to the music genre as it targets sweet young girls.

Shamoun: The use of red and black are used effectively in this magazine front cover as it hints a bit of urban which links well with the genre of Hip-Hop and R&B. However I do not like the orange used as it does not complement the other colours.

                                                         

Artist Branding

This is a short video I have created in which I have analysed different photos of Hip-Hop artists to get a better understanding on their image.

Music Videos

Kendrick Lamar I

This song is off his new album ‘To Pimp A Butterfly’ where he shares his views of what’s going on in the world. This is a Hip-Hop music video, the song is about self-expression inspired by the negativity Kendrick grew up with in Compton. Therefore, there is a lot of darkness present in this video even though the body language reflects positivity. Kendrick is leading a group of people in this music video which links well with the theme of inspiration as that’s what the Hip-Hop artists seek from their fans. Also there are scenes of girls exposing their body and being objectified by Kendrick to show that he has achieved success this is further shown when he is getting his hair braided by a woman to expose his status. 

Nicki Minaj Super Bass

In this music video there is a subversion from the stereotypical objectification of women as men are objectified instead of women in this video. In this video Nicki is seen touching the male models whereas they aren’t allowed to touch her this portrays her as prestige. The colours used are very girl as colours such as bright pink is used in most parts of the video with the contrast of black in some cases. Which is suitable for a Hip-Hop video made by a female artist as it shows the dominance of Nicki in a male dominated Hip-Hop music industry.

Run Dmc- It’s tricky

The video begins with a short story of two scammers on the streets surrounded by rich people wearing luxury clothing and accessories that were gambling and there were poor people in the background that weren’t gambling wearing relatively less luxuries to instigate a differentiation between the rich and the poor. The Run Dmc crew then come in wearing even more luxury clothing and didn’t lose like the rich people. This was done to show the status of these artists in the society and their level of awareness of the streets. This music video depicts that you should be aware of the streets and your surroundings to not get fooled by people or you will end up losing or end up like the poor people in the background. These features help identiy that this music video is a Hip-Hop music video as they normally show a story the audience can relate to and gain some wisdom or inspiration.

Audience Research-Questionnaire

These were my findings from the questionnaire used in survey monkey, the diagrams were analysed and explained and shown through sildeshare.

Findings from manlikeneel

https://www.surveymonkey.co.uk/r/QP5VQLG

I am going to use survey monkey to conduct market research and discuss the findings. I will be gathering quantitative data on different preferences of my target audience, to get a better understanding of how to use various conventions(colours/body language of the artist and puffs).

Hip-Hop research

Hip-Hop began  in the late 1960s in the south Bronx in Brooklyn New York(east coast) it was seen as rebel music as it contained profanity and rappers rapping aggressively. Hip-Hop that was so new and raw to people spread from the east-coast to the west. Different parts of America adapted and even created new Hip-Hop styles such as gangsta’ rap and hardcore rap. Traditionally Hip-Hop was about catchy choruses and a funky verse which is demonstrated by Kurtis Blow The Breaks,which is about the numerous crisis people go through everyday in the ghetto. 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5ZDUEilS5M4
 

Gangsta rap was about representing the place that you're from and representing your gang/clique. Which was expressed through wearing certain colours that represented  your area, there were several conflicts that initiated. For example the conflict between 2pac(west coast) and The notorious B.I.G(east coast) which really put Hip-Hop on the map raising extreme awareness of the music genre. 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=41qC3w3UUkU

Hit em up by 2pac was about dissing biggie smalls(THE NOTORIOUS B.I.G) from the east coast as 2pac was shot and was convinced that biggie organised the assassination as biggie made a track after the shooting called ‘who shot ya’. 2pac in this song sends direct explicit threats, of killing biggie and disrespecting him by calling him ugly and stating that he had sexual intercourse with biggie’s wife. These situations were common in the west coast vs east coast era in gangsta rap.

Nas later in 1994 released and album called Illmatic which was considered the ‘bible of hip-hop’ as it is referred to the foundations of hip-hop. Nas raised the bar and changed the style of hip-hop by introducing something completely new that exhibited his intellectual skills. Nas exposed his flow containing complicated rhyme schemes which the people never thought was possible. He also improved the delivery, word-play and the art of story telling hence it is the perfect album, and one of the greatest.

Contemporary Hip-Hop has changed a lot from people talking about their struggle representing their area and ‘keeping it real’(not forgetting your roots) to rappers bragging about how much money they make , fornication and relationship problems. There has also been an increase in the amount of female Hip-Hop artists such as Nicki Minaj and Iggy Azalea. The image of the Hip-Hop changed from dangerous and wearing baggy clothes to wearing flashy jewelry. From music videos of rappers in rough locations to showing of luxury items such as cars and boats in a majestic location.

Hip-Hop magazine deconstruction

This is a magazine deconstruction of two Hip-Hop magazines, this will give me a better understanding of various media conventions in Hip-Hop magazines. Also, it will be a good technique to improve my comprehension on how artists are portrayed through the use of colour layout and other conventions  

Mag decon from Neel Patel