Audience Feedback

Andrew Procter: I am really impressed with the structure of your magazine compared to your draft, I think that you have developed your blog very well, well done.

Tom Jessop: Thought you could have put more time into the front cover of your magazine as it looks quite plain, but having said that it suits the magazine well.

Final Evaluation

1. The magazine I have produced has used conventions of magazines such as my text layout, cover image and masthead. The general layout of my magazine is the same as an ordinary music magazine in the sense of the size of it and the layout which features house style and a masthead. My product challenges forms of real media products because of its general layout the layout is quite similar to mixmag which uses house style and an original masthead as does my magazine ‘Fresh’. Below is a comparison of my draft magazine and mixmag.
Both magazines
have a masthead and show examples of house style.

2. My media product represents particular social groups by targeting them directly. My magazine follows an Electro/Dance genre using house style. It will appeal to a 40-60 female dominant split audience; the reason for this is that this genre of music appeals to females as the genre of music is portrayed as being glamorous. The main social group it targets is students who are the people who are most open to this genre of music, due them stereotypically going out more than the average person. They are represented by the dress sense within the magazine and also the language used which appeals to the audience. The images used in my magazine mediate the subjects I have used. The images encode within the readers head in order to give preferred reading, the images suit the text and are relevant to the magazine.

3. My magazine would be best suited to be made by an independent company, this is down to the fact that the sub-genre of the magazine is quite low profile at the minute, in time though due to the gap in the market for my magazine it may be beneficial to be owned by a conglomerate company which will be able to reach a larger audience through the above the line promotion methods that they use such as T.V, Radio, print and banners. Where as an independent company would use the opposite below the line promotion such as short term methods such as posters and special offers. However to be owned by an independent company at the minute would be beneficial due to it only seeking low circulation figures at this moment in time. My magazine would be advertised in clubs where my target audience would be, this would be done by posters and flyers and also advertised in city centres where it is relatively busy in order for a wide range of people to recognise my product thus raising overall awareness. Ideally if my magazine was successful then it would be able to use cross media ownership to advertise, this way it would be able to have its own radio station which would target the audience even more. Having a website would allow consumers to stream songs online such as special remixes etc.

4. My product will appeal to a target audience of 16-24 year olds with a 60-40 female dominant split. This is due to women being slightly more interested in the genre of music and the genre of music being portrayed as glamorous. My magazine will target a niche audience due to their being a smaller audience at this moment in time. The decision made for the target audience was based on independent research that I carried out into demand for genres of music and my target audience demand the product that I am offering thus I am filling a gap in the market and meeting demand which should in theory increase my sales figures. The decision for my target market was also based on the potential and survival of the magazine in order for the magazine to survive I had to be sure I as targeting the correct audience.

5. In order for me to attract my audience I had to carry out research into my proposed genre of music. I chose to address my target audience by making my magazine suit their needs. The mode of address I chose was peer to peer which enabled me to contact the audience directly, the use of bright colours and pictures which appealed to my audience attracts them to read my magazine.

Magazine Annotations

-The peer to peer mode of address used, uses language appropriate to the magazine.
-The masthead font connotes an electronic look which suits the preferred genre of the magazine; -the font used is called 28 days later.
-The front cover image represents ‘sexy’ and glamorous’ which will attract the audience.
-The use of housestyle and bright colours appeals to my target audience.

6. While completing my coursework I have focused mainly on three technologies these are Photoshop, Quark Xpress and web 2.0 for my blog. Using such technologies has allowed me to complete my coursework to the desired standard. The use of Photoshop has allowed me to edit and enhance my images by using tools such as crop, magnetic lasso and the magic wand tool which has allowed me to select certain bits of my picture and change or enhance them. Having a blog has allowed me to view all my work at the same time and keep on track with my work, it has also enabled me to receive feedback regarding my work, due to this I have been able to analyse my work and make significant changes to my work. The use of quark xpress has allowed me to design layouts for my double page spreads and contents pages. In terms of strengths and weakness before being introduced to the software properly in lesson I was pretty weak with all the software, but now I am able to carry out tasks independently and complete work to a good standard. I now know the ins and outs of all the programs and I am happy with my finished products.

7. In the progression from now and when I first completed my preliminary task I feel as though I am now able to fully operate the software and complete tasks to a good standard. My preliminary task was rushed and not a lot of care was put into it due to the build of frustration due to not being able to operate the software correctly. The photographs I took and used for my preliminary task didn’t really suit the genre and the camera angles were poor. Having analysed this before starting my final task I carried out significant research which enabled me to use the correct camera shots in order to complete my magazine.

Research Into The Music Magazine Industry

Research into the Music Magazine Industry
Before starting to produce my magazine I decided to carry out some research of music magazines. I wanted to find out which music magazines are the most successful, their methods of production, which companies dominate the market, what are their main sub-genres, how much they cost and also what audiences they cater for. The two main companies that dominate the UK market are German multinational cross media company Bauer (which is an independent company) and IPC Media which is part of the American Time Warner Conglomerate.

My first research was into the company Bauer who own the music magazines Kerrang, Mojo and Q. The sub-genres of the magazines owned by Bauer are as follows Kerrang – Rock & Alternative, Mojo – Pop & Blues, Q – Punk, Alternative and Rock. I also wanted to find out the price of each magazine so I searched on www.ukaop.org.uk. Kerrang is priced at £2.20, Q is £3.90 and Mojo is £4.30.

Above are some samples of the magazines made by Bauer. The front covers have pictures of iconic groups within the genre of the magazine such as Blur on Mojo, Paramore on Kerrang and Coldplay on Q. Bauer cater for main stream audiences, due to the wide range of people that they reach. All of the above magazines cater for a mainstream audience aged 16-24. The reason they cater for a mainstream audience is due to the size of the audience that they reach they are sold in many different countries. Bauer use the process of synergy to distribute their products by offering services other than the magazines in order to raise awareness of their products, they do this by offering radio stations for both Kerrang and Q as well as music channels which helps to raise brand awareness.

The second company I looked into was IPC Media who own the music magazine NME, Uncut and Guitar and Bass. The sub-genres of the magazines are as follows NME – contemporary, Uncut – Rock and Film and Guitar and Bass’s sub-genre is pretty self explanatory. NME costs £2.20 and is available every week, Guitar and Bass costs £3.95 and is available monthly and Uncut is also available monthly at a price of £4.30.

IPC Media is a leading UK consumer magazine publisher. Almost two thirds of British women and over 44% of U.K men read an IPC magazine. That’s over 26 million people in the U.K.

IPC media use a diverse print and digital portfolio that appeals to a widespread audience. IPC publish 80 magazines, these include: What's on TV, Pick Me Up, NME, Woman, Now, Marie Claire, In Style, Woman & Home, Ideal Home, Nuts, Wallpaper, Country Life, The Field, Rugby World, Practical Boat Owner and Look which is their latest high street fashion and celebrity weekly magazine. Online digital properties include NME.com, the third largest commercial music website in the UK and housetohome.co.uk, the UK's first homes portal. IPCs’ brands are at the heart of UK's cultural life.

The main sub genres of IPC magazines are T.V, home, mens’ lifestyle and entertainment, womens’ magazines and also garden and leisure. The cost for these main magazines ranges from around 90 pence to about £4.20.

IPC cater for a large mainstream audience. I think the socio demographic categories for these magazines is between C1 and D. They are aimed at an audience of mid to lower class people.

NME is the longest published weekly music magazine in the world.
The magazines produced by IPC Media use the process of synergy to advertise and promote their products in a variety of ways. These techniques include: Magazine websites

Homework for over Easter

1. Posts on Blog (Follow TRC Blog)
2. Photography
3. Draft Double Page Spread Article (Annotate)
4. Questions 1-4 of Coursework Evaluation
5. Music Magazine Research (Bauer)

Draft Magazine - Double Page Spread Layout

Treatment

The music magazine that I am going to produce is called ‘FRESH’ and it follows an Electro/Dance genre using house style and it will appeal to a target audience of 16-24 year olds. It will appeal to a 40-60 female dominant split audience; the reason for this is that this genre of music appeals to females as the genre of music is portrayed as being glamorous. The house style I am going to use will use the colours yellow and green to give it that ‘dance’ look and the font I will use is called ‘28 DAYS LATER’.

The front cover image will be a medium close up shot of my female actor. The locations of choice is the photography studio located up in media block, this will be used mainly for the front cover image but also for the double page spread which will focus on a promotional article to promote the artists new album release and possible tour dates. The contents page will require pictures that will appeal to the audience these pictures will be of me and some friends when we are out on a night in town which I have already taken. The props which will be used on the double page spread are sun glasses, glow sticks and bright coloured clothing. The photographs used for the front cover image will be taken in the media studio and my actor of choice will be a female aged 16-18 who is relatively tall and photogenic, I will experiment with various props such as style of sun glasses, colour of glow sticks etc. The same person on the front cover will feature in on the double page spread with my proposed interview.

The double page spread will feature and interview with my actor of choice. The interview will discuss the artist’s new album, current number one single, tour dates, favourite venues and also reveal more personal details and show a side of them never seen before by the media in order to make this interview exclusive to my magazine. The double page spread will feature one full page of a pose of my actor and the other will feature the interview. I am going to study NME magazine and Mixmag and look at their style of interviews.

Health and safety issues need to be considered when photographing my actor; I will need to ensure that there are no hazards around my locations such as loose wires in the media studio. I need to ensure I take care of the equipment in order to produce my magazine to the best of my ability.

Socia Demographics

A - Doctors, Chief Executives
B- Teachers, Bank Managers
C1- Skilled Worker - White Collar
C2 - Semi Skilled - Blur Collar
D - Labourer
E - Unemployed

This sections can be broken down into stereotypical classes e.g A class being the highest represents upper class, and E being the lowest represents lower class.