Evaluation

1. Who would be the audience for your media product?

The audience for my media magazine would be 16-17 year olds, which I would want to be mostly male. I want my magazine to appeal to people of different backgrounds, but it’s a magazine focusing on Rock and Metal, but I want a more mature and musically intellectual audience for my magazine, because I want it to focus on the sub-genres of rock and metal, and so the people reading it are likely to have a more refined taste.

2. How did you attract/address your audience?

In the research stages of my magazine, I did a questionnaire to find out the preferences of my target audience. I handed it out to a mix of people, but the mix was focused around males between 16 and 18. I used a few females and a few people just out of the age range, because they would be my magazines secondary market. I also researched the current markets of music magazines to develop on what they do so I could make an original magazine. I aim to attract my audience by making the magazine use the results of the questionnaires so that the audience can get a magazine that they feel fits the criteria of something that they would want to read,

I tried to address the audience of my magazine by what I actually put in the magazine. I tried to make the cover of my magazine look very visually pleasing by using a photo and caption that would intrigue anyone looking at the magazine, and so I quoted the person that the cover photo was on. I also put that there were free posters included on the cover, so that the audience would feel like they are benefitting from reading the magazine, but not just from reading the magazine.

I also tried to address the audience on my cover by the tagline that goes with the name of the magazine. I used the words “This is Our Rock” as it could make the audience feel like they are include with the word “our” which gives it a sense of community under the common enjoyment of rock.

In the articles of the magazine, I did a double page spread with someone from a band doing live reviews, because it makes the reader feel like they have a more personal relationship with the bands, and that they get that from the magazine.

3. In what ways does your media product use, develop or challenge forms and conventions of real media products?

When creating my final product, I tried to challenge the conventions of normal the standard rock magazines like Kerrang! and Rock Sound, but I also tried to focus on the things that make them popular so I could develop them in my own way. The main thing about magazines that are already on the market, is that although they focus on rock and metal, they are very mainstream about it, and don’t seem to focus on the different sub-genres too much. I wanted to include these as the main part of my magazine, because from my questionnaire, I found that people wanted to know about the different types of rock and metal, and not just the standard.
I really wanted my magazine to not just be the standard rock magazine, which is why I chose not just to focus on the overly mainstream rock. I also wanted to avoid some of the stereotypes that people have about “emo’s” and “metallers” so I used people in photos that were average rock fans rather than average stereotypes. This challenges conventions as quite a lot of rock magazines use these stereotypes to attract those people in, but they end up putting off the average rock and metal teenager in the process.

4. How does your media product represent particular social groups?

I feel that my magazine represents the social group of 16-19 adolescents who are into rock and metal. I feel that my magazine represents a mixture of particular social groups of teenagers, as my magazine focuses on different subgenres of rock and metal music, so people who are into straight edge metal would be able to read it and find bands that they like from a very niche market, but at the same time, people who enjoy Hardcore music would also be able to find articles on bands that they like.
Because of the results of my questionnaire, Christian Metal is featured a fair amount in my magazine, and as a lot of Christians and non-Christians can enjoy it; it represents Christians but shouldn’t put any other potential readers off.

I also tried to use images that would represent the social groups, so on my front cover is a male aged 17, who has the stereotypical hair and clothing of someone who enjoys rock and metal. By doing this, particular social groups can see someone on the cover that they can relate to.

5. What kind of media institution might distribute your media product and why?

For my magazine, I would want it to be published by Bauer Media, because they already publish Q and Kerrang! Which are both well established rock magazines, which means they already have experience in publishing rock magazines. They are also an international company, which means that they are very successful, so they could potentially make the magazine international if it ever got really successful.

I would want to sell my magazine in a variety of places, but music shops would be the main institution that I would choose, as in a shop like HMV, I could get the magazine put near the rock and metal music section to draw in the audiences that I would want.

6. What have you learnt about technologies from the process of constructing this product?

Constructing my magazine, I had to use a variety of different technologies. I learnt a lot in the preliminary task, when we had to use Photoshop. It was the first time I had ever used it, and was learning lots of new things, from changing colours to resizing things, and adding texts. I also had to get used to taking photos whilst trying to capture the mood that I wanted for my magazine. I spent a lot of time playing around on Photoshop and manipulating images to get used to it as it was such a new thing. Because of the time that I spent on Photoshop, I feel like I managed to grasp a better understanding of the software and create a better quality magazine than I expected.

7. Looking back at your preliminary task, what do you feel you have learnt in the progression from it to the full product?

When I started my preliminary task of the magazine, I didn’t know anything about media, or the technology that I had to use for it. For my college magazine at the start, I knew nothing about Photoshop, and so I used really basic tools and techniques, and all I really did was cut out the picture and put it on a plain background. It was very basic, and I used the same techniques for that contents page. On my main task, I used a lot more techniques and felt like I had a better grasp of the software I had to use. Over the time of doing the coursework, I feel like I progressed a lot in my knowledge of how magazines work, and how all the research is necessary in order to create a magazine that would be successful. I also now see how much difference a little bit of tweaking and manipulation can make to a photo.