Learning Outcome 3 (U3): Be able to create production materials for an original media product to a client brief (P4, M3)

Learning Outcome 3 (3): Be able to create production materials for an original media product to a client brief.

Body Copy - Double Page Spread Article:

Ever since Lil Yeez exploded onto the grime scene with his revolutionary debut, ONE TAKE 96 BARS, his stock has been rising – and with it, the genre’s unstoppable march into the nation’s consciousness continues apace. After Lil Yeez’s record-breaking solo hit went platinum, he has experienced all of life’s fortunes, from fancy cars, to rocking up in all designer outfits, to romantic trysts with assorted A-listers.

And it doesn’t look like his career will stop there: a new album is just on the horizon, featuring storming collaborations with artists both home and abroad – RZA, Skepta and Joey Bada$$, to name but a few.

However, Lil Yeez had to fight and graft for his success, and certainty hasn’t forgotten where he came from. To find out more about this new star, New Wave’s Sam Anderson caught up with him at his Hackney Studio. 

Sam Anderson: What was life like growing up in Hackney?

Lil Yeez: Well, you know, it was hard, man. I’d seen some s**t in my time, stuff that no one of my age should have to go through, you know. Bare guns, drugs, unnecessary deaths, man … I had to watch my best guy die. That f***s a guy up; you know what I’m saying. The estate where I lived was messed up, no help, no support, I can honestly say if you are born there you’re finished. Bare man are born n die there. When I say it out load its actually bare peak you know, it’s f****d up.  Where I grew up there were no privileges, no sugar-coating nothing. But it teaches a kid early on to fend for themselves, taught me to look after myself you know like how to deal with real life. My mum worked 3 jobs, my dad was never around so like most of the times it was just me you know like wandering the estate till whatever time. Life was tough man, life was really really tough.  

SA: What does Grime mean to you?

LY: It means everything g. Its helped me escape the s**t I thought I was gonna be stuck in for life man. It helped my escape the guns, violence, deaths and make something of my life you know, a purpose. Grime saved me g. Like honestly without it I don’t think I’d be here to talk to no one. Ery’day I think bout the man that I lost, Tyreece, Jemal, Gunna. It’s been hard man, but now like…I feel I have a proper purpose for the first time you know. It’s kept me of the streets, away from everything I was exposed to as a kid and helped me make something of myself. Now when people say Grime they think of the whole negatives, no one thinks of how many young man its helped escape the traumas they have been around their life you know. Bro honestly its so hard for some of these kids, most man don’t wanna be out ere stabbing man, but because of this f****d up society its stab or be stabbed in these ends. Its horrible g.

SA: Where did this passion for music come from?

LY: It came about when I was about 13. It was my birthday but my mum had to work so it was jus me n a few olders from the estate. It was the day Skepta dropped ‘In a Corner’. I just remember whilst listening to that forgetting all the negativity in life, n jus vibing you know? It allowed my brain to forget all about the worries that was happening around me n made me think; hey, if he can do it why cant I? But for real without Skepta there’s no way I woulda pursed this life you know. Like he’s the one man for real, n to be doing a ting with him is generally mind-blowing to me you know. After that day I stopped dossing around n started to take s**t serious; school, family life, no drugs, no violence. I would come home and just write man; bares, melody’s all that. It saved me man, made the man I am now. And to be doing a ting with Skepta is serial for me.

SA: What advice would you give to people who are in the position you were in?

LY: Find a passion, a good passion a passion that can get you somewhere. Replace the negative with the good. Like life was going nowhere until I replaced all the negatives with something that can get me far you know. So my overall advise would be replace all the negatives with a passion that will take you far in life.  

List of Assets:

Setting Up Templates:

Documenting The Production Process:
Front Cover:

Double Page Spread:



















Thumbnails of photos from photoshoot(s):

Front Cover:

I started of by using the flash as I felt the lighting that I was in may make effect the photos quality. After seeing how the photo came out with the flash, I decided to change locations...

After the change of location, I tested out what the photo would look like with no flash. I established that the natural lighting produced the best photo. Now I had the correct lighting and distance from the model, it was about establishing the correct pose for the magazine. 

After some failed attempts...

I managed to get the final photo done. This photo includes the ideal lighting, pose and distance from the model. It's clear and matches well in with my brief. 

Double Page Spread:














I started of by making sure I had the model in the correct pose and correct distance in relation to me taking the photo. After I took this photo I noticed the artists head was cut off at the top, so I knew I had to change the distance in which I was standing from him. His pose was also to static and not animated enough.

The next photo came out a little bit to animated... but I now knew that I was the correct distance away from the artist. But the artist needed to move a little to the left, to make sure the door wasn't in the frame. All I had to do was stay in the spot I was in, and get the artists to lose just a little bit of the energy he was portraying...

There it was. There was no disturbances in the background and the artist was perfectly in the frame, with none of him being cut out and he was expressing the right amount of energy. 

Codes and Conventions:

One convention of Grime magazines and Grime music as a whole is the style of clothes the artists would wear. It would normally be items associated with the youth and 'the streets'; often non-designer, inexpensive items, as this would associate the artists with the demographic who listen to their music, establishing a 'tribe' of integrated music fans. It would stereotypically be tracksuits and puffer jackets. I got the artist to dress in this specific way so when someone who in my target audience range (13-18) walks past this magazine on the shelf, they would instantly gain a sense of association with the magazine, and thus able to relate it to Grime. Specifically, the North Face brand is synonymous with urban music and Grime. 

Another convention of Grime magazine's is the modern, sans-serif typeface style of font. This is done to represent the bold, countercultural, confrontational style Grime possesses. If you research Grime magazines, you'll find they all have the same style of writing; big and bold. The colour red is associated with a gang in America, 'Bloods', a group which has influenced Grime music massively. When people see this colour scheme, they will instantly associate it with the main music genre Rap, something obviously Grime falls into. 

The final convention of a Grime magazine is the style of the pull quote. The quote is written in a distorted typeface, to give it more of an urban and younger appeal. Similarly, the background has a burned, eroded aesthetic. This gives the page a sense of realism and a way for the reader to maybe associate or relate to the artist. The aim of my magazine is to pull this genre away from the negativity it has been facing in recent times. The main aim of the magazine is to show people the true light of Grime, not this negativity, hate filled Genre that the media has shone upon Grime. Both the style of the background and style in which the pull quote are based around allow it to be linked to a more mainstream appeal to Grime.