Gospel Music Monthly: Breaking Stereotypes and Embracing Diversity

1. MEDIA COURSEWORK EVALUATION By Aaron Woodruff

2. How does your media represent particular social groups? • My GMM magazine represents a stereotypical image of what someone who follows gospel music would look like. For example: Iris Cohen who stars in this edition of GMM is middle aged, Christian and somewhat modest. That is somewhat of a stereotype as gospel is associated with the Christian faith whilst middle aged people may like gospel due to it being instilled In them when they were young. ABOVE: This extract from the double page spread shows how Iris is Christian (Christian Church and poppy cross)- the faith in which gospel music is adorned to. Also, this screenshot shows how I’ve used a variety of my own images in the production of Gospel Music Monthly magazine.

3. How does your media represent particular social groups? CONT. • I also believed that is essential to break stereotype boundaries though- as anyone can feel a bond with gospel music. Gospel originated with black ethnic groups (e.g. Thomas A. Dorsey) om America- however Iris is white which shows that skin colour is in no way, shape or form a barrier in singing gospel music. Iris also stated in her interview on the double page spread that she wants people of all religions to feel like they can embrace the joyous music. Just because the lyrics may not link to your religion, it doesn’t mean that you cannot like it. This is showing that gospel is no-longer strictly associated with the church. Yes, that it where it still originates from- but religion is no barrier for someone who loves the genre of music.

4. In what ways does your media use, develop or challenge forms and conventions of real media products? • My Gospel Music Magazine and school magazine both challenge forms and conventions of real media products. • Conventions wise- I have ensured that I include relevant conventions to make my magazine look appealing and professional so that it wouldn’t look out of place on a newsagents shelf. RIGHT: This part of my Gospel Music Monthly Front Cover shows how I have utilised my codes and conventions research in order to make my magazine look professional. Here, it shows that I have included a badge to drag the audience in about a poster inside (appealing to wide audience- young people might like a poster). I have also included a bar code, issue number, price and publishing companies logo so that my magazine is fit for selling purposes in a major newsagent (e.g. Martins) in the UK. Which of course, I hope my magazine will have national, followed by global appeal. I am implementing these features so my magazine has the capabilities to grow.

5. In what ways does your media use, develop or challenge forms and conventions of real media products? CONT. • I have challenged them by looking to be unique. For example: the magazine masthead is in the top right corner which is different to how magazine usually display it in the top left or middle. This is an example of me thinking out of the box to make my magazine stand-out on the shelf. Using the necessary codes and conventions but being unique with how I portray them in my Gospel Music Monthly magazine. ABOVE RIGHT: My masthead is located at the top right of my front cover, unlike many magazines that choose to locate it right along the top. As I have emphasized throughout my production though- I don’t intent to make my magazine a faceless copy of other magazines. You’ve got to be different to stand out. I think that the masthead looks smart and fits the gospel theme in which I was targeting. Of course, codes and conventions aided my choices when it cam to choosing what to include in my magazine. Examples are shown in this part of my front cover, like the strapline; ‘The new music magazine keeping you up to date with Gospel Music’. Also, towards the left of the screenshot is cover lines which attract the audience by seeing contents of the magazine that interest them.

6. What would be the audience of for your media product? • As aforementioned, there are stereotypical beliefs about who listens to different genres of music. However, they are not final. • The general target audience off mine though for Gospel Music Monthly would be for those of Christian faith, varying ethnicity and gender- and most likely for those 30 plus. • Of course music is evolving and people find new music genres to fall in love with- so who knows whether GMM may appeal to the younger age range. I’ve tried to incorporate technology (social media) to my product to ensure that my media product is moving with the times and can accommodate those who use social media- which many younger generation do. LEFT: This shows how my magazine has been created with planning regarding the modern age. Social media plays a large part in people’s lives nowadays- particularly young people. As a result of me choosing to run social media pages and do polls, along with including fantastic content- my magazine is engaging to both young and old people alike.

7. What kind of media institution might release your product and why? • I believe that a media institution like Bauer might release my product. This is because my Gospel Music Monthly magazine fits a gap in market (room for gospel music magazine with Bauer)- so the appeal of my target audience will bring new customers to the company. • I’ve noticed that there aren’t many gospel music magazines on sale in the UK- hence why I thought it would not only be a good choice as it peaks my interest from a personal genre taste- but it can also utilise a gap in the industry to become a profitable media product (magazine).

8. What have you learned about technologies from the process of constructing your product? • I’ve learned so much about technologies in the production of this product. Firstly, in order to manipulate the images for my magazine – I used numerous different platforms. One of which was Photoshop. This was a professional way to remove the background of the image. However, I also found the ‘remove background’ tool on Microsoft Word just as effective- hence why I primarily used this. • I felt like that was an effective way to make the person in the image stand out. Also, Word had numerous other facilities for me to enhance the images in which I used in my GMM and school magazine productions. You could make the colour scheme brighter to make it stand out, sharpen the image to see more detail in the image, use a vignette effect to give an antique/polished professional effect and make the image glow in numerous different colours. SCREENSHOTS: These screenshots from my front cover and double page spread respectively, both show how I have used remove background, glow and ordering of photos and text- to create professional looking effects throughout my magazine. I felt like Word provided my with an apt way to design my magazine, and the effects that I have created look very smart in my opinion- and once converted to a PDF, they look complete.

9. What have you learned about technologies from the process of constructing your product? CONT. • Word for me was a very apt site for me to create my media product as I felt comfortable in designing a smart finished looking product. To give my media product a more polished effect I converted the Word Document into a PDF File Type before uploading it to WordPress.com (which was another site that I have come to terms with how to use during my production by uploading my coursework to it). RIGHT: WordPress is a fantastic place for me to house all my coursework. I’ve created tabs which ensures that my media coursework is presented professionally, with all the respective pieces of my coursework put in sections: Research, Planning, Preliminary Task, Final Pieces and Evaluation. With each piece of my work, I have included an entry explaining what the piece of work attached is to make my blog easier to understand.

10. How did you attract and address your audience? • The key was to make it stand-out, so that whether the person was the target audience or not- they would at least notice it and consider the purchase. The purple with images glowing white I think stands-out well. • One thing that I would hope attracts people into picking up my GMM magazine is that I have an exclusive interview with Iris Cohen. I created this gospel music star for the purpose of my media coursework, however that doesn’t mean that I’m not forward thinking. If this magazine were to actually hit the market then of course, exclusive interviews with the current famous gospel artists on the scene would be top of the agenda. • My masthead is large in the right-hand corner which I think is unique as it would usually be in the middle or left-hand side. Again this is an attempt to make the magazine diverse and different to others as you don’t want to merely add another regular music magazine onto the shelf. My aspiration was always to be different and exciting.

11. How did you attract and address your audience? CONT. • Regarding targeting my target audience, I feel that the colours purple, gold and black are often associated with gospel music. Purple can be calming religious colour, gold relates to the altar and other special items whilst black relates to the habits which some gospel groups wear. All of them together though makes a vibrant front cover that could appeal to someone who likes gospel music. Also I believe that the font is very stylish whilst also eligible which is important. The smaller writing is in a more orthodox font whilst the masthead and headlines are more stylish, and together flow to create the ambience which I felt was appropriate. SCREENSHOTS: My Gospel Music Monthly magazine embeds a vivid gold, purple and black colour scheme throughout. These are the colours in which I feel best portray gospel music. This view was influenced by my primary research (questionnaire)- other people chose gold, purple and black as colours that they’d associate with gospel. This shows that my primary research was useful in designing my final piece. The clear colour scheme also allows the magazine to flow- with clear continuity.

12. Looking back at your preliminary task, what do you feel you have learnt in the progression from it to the full product? • I feel that my that my preliminary task was extremely useful when it came to preparation for my final production of my Gospel Music Monthly magazine. This is because I used a similar design template as I was pleased with how it looked. For example: I used the triangles in the corner of the page as I feel that it looked eye-catching. LEFT: I was very pleased with how my preliminary task looks and it was very useful for designing my final magazine production. The design is similar, for example: I personally adore the triangles opposite in each corner- it helps layer the cover, adding more depth. Conducting my preliminary task also made my final production easier as I gained more experience designing a magazine on Word- becoming more competent at creating a professional looking magazine.

13. Looking back at your preliminary task, what do you feel you have learnt in the progression from it to the full product? CONT. • I sketched out a rough plan for how my GMM would pan out before I designed it on the computer and the preliminary task was very influential in doing so. Actually creating the preliminary task aswell also enabled me to have a clear understanding of how I would make my GMM look how I imagined it (e.g. I was more competent in using the tools for my GMM magazine as I had recent experience with them from the preliminary task). LEFT: My Gospel Music Monthly front cover draft. My preliminary task influenced my plan for my GMM magazine heavily, as I used a similar style.

14. Looking back at your preliminary task, what do you feel you have learnt in the progression from it to the full product? CONT. BELOW: The transition from my preliminary task, to creating a draft for my final piece- followed by the final piece itself (the front cover of Gospel Music Monthly magazine). My preliminary was extremely useful as the design for GMM is similar (e.g. cover lines of the left, two badges to promote what’s inside and the masthead in the top right corner).

15. Overall... • I am very pleased with how my final Gospel Music Monthly magazine looks. I think that it is professional looking, eye-catching and fits a relevant gap in the market- so, all-in-all, I’m happy. I’ve not just gone and created my music magazine without proper planning though. My research and planning documents which were made before and just after the Christmas break were very influential in enabling me to create a good final product. For example: my codes and conventions research enabled me to create a magazine with all the appropriate features, my primary research (questionnaire) helped me understand my potential target market more and what colours are associated with gospel music; and my historical research ensured that I had enough knowledge on the music genre to effectively create my magazine. • Finally, I must state how much that I have thoroughly enjoyed designing my Gospel Music Monthly magazine for my AS Media Studies coursework- I am most satisfied with the outcome aswell.