1. SHAUN LIDDLE AS MEDIA STUDIES EVALUATION
It is made quite clear throughout my music magazine that the specific
audience targeted are teenagers. The age boundary in which my magazine is
aimed at is 13 years – 19 years. I have chosen this age as many teenagers
read my style model music magazines such as ‘NME’ and ‘Kerrang!’ Another
reason in which I have chosen this age category is because I could not
imagine people of an older age reading my music magazine, due to the fact
that music now a day does not favour in the hands of older people.
As I set out to produce my music magazine I knew from the very first
second that it would be aimed at a teenage audience.
Audience profiles in which I can imagine my audience would be are:
• Name: Les Gotham
• Age: 15
• Favourite shop: Primark
• Name: Kelly Hogg
• Age: 18
• Favourite Shop: River Island
• Name: James Crook
• Age: 16
• Favourite Shop: Topman
Whilst conducting audience research I specifically targeted people who
looked between the ages of 13-19 years. The majority of people I asked
favoured my music magazine. This helped me a great deal in production as I
knew I was doing things correctly.
The magazine attracts the teenage audience as I have used a teenage
model.
Model: Natalie Harber
2. Age: 16
Interests: Reading magazines
My model particularly relates to the rock music magazine, as her
favourite genre of music is rock. My music magazine isn’t particularly
expensive therefore the working class audience will be to afford it. I could not
imagine middle class teenagers reading my music magazine as it specifically
relates to music and people. Although some middle class individuals may
read this, the primary audience is working class teenagers.
My magazine is aimed towards females and males so it has a larger
desired audience. From certain aspects of my magazine the audience can
clearly se that is aimed at mixed gender. I have avoided using boyish/girly
colours such as blue or pink, and stuck with colours like red and black, which
relate to the genre and both of the sexes.
I feel that teenagers would like to read the story in my magazine as it
resolves around a teenager who has shot to fame by a video on You Tube. As
teenagers dream about getting a chance in fame they would wish to read the
story about my character ‘Natalie Followill’. This compares to the theories of
Blumler and Katz 1974, as the audience are active with my media product.
Competitions are made clear on the front cover such as ‘WIN TOP 20
ALBUMS OF 2010’ which will attract the working class audience as they cant
afford to buy things such as albums themselves. My magazine also includes a
free song downloads bar which the audience will be interested in which leads
them away from illegal downloading.
If my magazine were to be sold in newsagents or supermarkets it
would compete against those such as ‘NME’ and ‘Kerrang!’ As these are two
massive music magazines my product would have to stand out enormously.
The price is a massive aspect when it comes to competing against other
music magazines because of this I have made my magazine price come in
between £2.00 and £3.00, this is also the price boundaries in which the NME
and Kerrang!, magazines come under.
Another aspect in which my magazine challenges forms and
conventions of real media products is by the competitions. Even on the
content of my front cover the magazine clearly shows that within the
3. magazine it has three competitions. If you look at magazines such as NME
and Kerrang!, they have some competitions but not a varied amount,
therefore this would make the audience chose my music magazine over these
specific two. My music magazine includes the two colours red and black in
which give connotations of blood and death, therefore relate to the rock genre.
Magazines like my style models Kerrang use red and black to suit their genre
of rock.
My magazine primarily aims at a working class audience. From past
research I have learnt that many working class individuals read music
magazines as they are surrounded in a life of media. The secondary audience
would be middle class, even though some middle class teenagers read music
magazines, they do not read them as much as the working class society does.
My music magazine does not necessarily represent any stereotypical groups
as all groups are interested in different music. If I were to choose a group,
which would be interested in my music magazine, it would be those in which
have favourite music genres of rock.
An institution in which I would want to have for my magazine is IPC
media groups. The company own music magazines such as NME and Guitar
and Bass. I feel that this company would distribute my music magazine as my
style model is NME and IPC media publish this magazine. The company
would therefore be interested in my magazine, as they are interested in NME
Throughout producing my music magazine I feel that I have learnt
about many new aspects of media.
First of all I feel confident while using Photoshop compared to when I
first started out using it. I am comfortable with working with the tools on
Photoshop, as throughout the past year I have got used to certain tools in
which I didn’t know about before.
My writing skills have improved over the production of my music
magazine as the style models have helped me understand how a music
magazine should be written.
BlogSpot has been a massive new learning achievement for me, as
before AS Media I knew nothing about it. I have learnt how to post work in
different ways to entertain the audience.
4. I have also gained skills in photography as this year I got the chance to
take photos individually. I have found that to make a perfect photo you need
to concentrate on other things than the model, such as the set and the
lighting.
I have also learnt how to use different colour pallets in order for the
project to relate to the specific genre. Colours such as red and black go
together to give connotations of blood and death therefore relates to the rock
genre of my magazine.