Evaluation
- 2. Who would be the audience for your media product? The audience for my media product would be similar to Q magazine. My media product looks for a reader who typically enjoys indie music, fashion and lifestyle. The reader would regularly attend gigs, listen to indie music and dresses in an indie fashion. The stereotype of an individual reader is based on the content in my media product. Many magazines drift away from their true genre but my magazine is all about the music, fashion and lifestyle of one genre. In the past few years, the music genre ‘indie’ has become a lot more popular. This is seen to be a big chance for media institutions to bring a new media product that brings a content which is in high demand. Many different issues of different indie magazines show in their content, which reader they want. Magazines have a primary audience but in some cases, they look to increase the amount of readers outside of their primary audience by changing a characteristic such as the colour scheme. The primary audience of my media product is typically a student aged 16-21, who attends gigs on regular basis and enjoys listening to indie music and living an indie lifestyle. The secondary audience would be somebody who doesn’t read music magazines but likes what my media product provides, so when the chance is given, they borrow an issue from their friend or member of their family to flick through. The age of the secondary audience stays roughly the same. The demographic for my product would be part of the primary audience and enjoys all things indie. A similar media product would be Q magazine. Q magazine have basically the same primary audience but have a higher age range. From the questionnaire that I had used as part of my research for what indie fans want in a media product, I found that a lot of the audience had a specific idol they love to see in media products which is Alex Turner. Without going into too much detail, Alex Turner is the member of the indie band ‘Arctic Monkeys’ who have recently become very very popular. This research told me a lot about what my media product should feature. Using Alex Turner in my media product in an exclusive manner would bring a lot of attention. Using Alex Turner could also be used as a fashion and lifestyle icon. This would drive clothing brands to bring major contracts to the table.
- 3. How does your media product represent particular social groups? The immediate dominant representation of a mod has connotations of; • Trouble Minded • Drugs and alcohol • Music • Mopeds • Fashion This is Jimmy. Jimmy is your typical mod. Jimmy is trouble-minded And loves the all nighter clubs that are fuelled with drug and alcohol. Jimmy also owns an iconic mod vespa and parka coat. Jimmy is around 18-20 years old. My magazine is aimed to appeal to 18-25 year old males. The music genre in my magazine a dominant representation of someone like Jimmy. This is exactly what I want, as my magazine is purely to do with the music inspired my the mod scene. My magazine features no alternative representation. I feel that no other magazine keeps its genre strictly to one social group and genre, week in, week out. The socio economic groups that my magazine is aimed to appeal to is C1,C2 and D. People who work at a till in Morrison's or are skilled manual workers. It is also aimed at hedonists; Enjoys life, goes clubbing and isn't very serious at all. The classes affect my price because although some are working, they will not want to be blowing high amounts of there wages on a music magazine.
- 4. What kind of media institution might distribute your media product and why? What does an institution do? An institution allows a director or producer or author to pitch their idea of a new piece of media that they could possibly distribute and make money from. If the institution like the pitch and feel that money can be made from their idea then they will go ahead and arrange some sort of deal in which the producer or director could add that they have no funds to create the media, so they ask for an injection of money as a kick-starter. Well known media institutions in the UK: IPC and Bauer Research shows that the IPC would be the best for me to pitch my idea to. The research shows that IPC, although not as big as bauer, will inject money into new ideas from magazine producers over the UK because they want to grow bigger than the other leading competitors. They want to be the best of the best in the UK in terms of media. IPC are the most likely to distribute my media product. I would approach both of these company's because either way, my budget issues would be covered.
- 5. In what ways does your media product use, develop or challenge forms and conventions of real media products? The front page of my media product uses many different conventions of a real media product. For example my product uses a big, dominant title of the magazine. Another example is that my front page also has the cover star big and dominant so its clear, shows the facial expression and a direct mode address to the reader. Also the colour scheme is very basic unlike real media products but the colour of my front page had to relate to what the cover star was wearing. The front page uses small amounts of text and quotes are to pull the audience towards the article. The pull quote is not dominant to the page but this was also a case of working around the image. All of these codes and conventions are used in real media products. My contents page also uses many different codes and conventions that real media products use. For example, my contents page uses the same colour scheme as the rest of the magazine but it is used in a different way so the reader can find specific articles easily. I have used page numbers for each small piece of text, to clearly mark where that article is. My double page spread uses many different codes and conventions that real media products would use. An example of this is a continuous colour scheme. The colour scheme of red and blue carry's on from my front page and contents page to my double page spread like real media products use. My article uses highlighted quotes to again pull the reader towards that specific piece. The title and names of stars being interviewed are bold and dominant, which makes it clear to the reader. I have used a dominant image of each person who is being interviewed to easily state who's quote is who’s.
- 6. How did you attract/address your audience? I found that using informal language was the best way to get hold of my audiences attention because my target audience is a younger audience in which use informal language. I also attracted the audience by using specific locations, music and clothing that they would be interested in. Using a questionnaire helped me find what the target audience would be attracted to. So I used the most popular results and put them in my magazine. Using the results of my audience feedback is also used ‘featuring’ in the front cover of the music magazine to instantly grab the attention. This is another way I have addressed the audience.
- 7. What have you learnt about technologies from the process of constructing this product? During the creation of my music magazine, I have learnt a lot in terms of skills on software and a lot of knowledge on how to use and operate hardware. I used many different programs and pieces of equipment to help create a piece of media. Here is a list of the equipment and software used in the development of my music magazine; • • • • Digital camera- I found this piece of technology very helpful because without it I would of struggled to fill the magazine with content. The small screen on the camera helped me understand whether the image was useful or not to the magazine. It also helped with time because otherwise I would of have to guess whether it useful or not. Adobe photoshop- This was without a doubt the most useful piece of software used in the production of my music magazine because otherwise, the images would have been very plain and simple. This program let me get the most out of the images taken through the various effects that were available. The effects let me show a relevant theme to what the magazine was about. Internet explorer- This helped me search ideas from other professional media products. Microsoft word- This helped me with the written features for my double page spread and contents page.
- 8. Looking back at your preliminary task (Aquinas College magazine), what do you feel you have learnt in the progression to the full product?