To the Examiner,
Thank you for reading my blog, I have really enjoyed the AS Media Studies course this year, it has been incredibly interesting and I have put a lot of hard work and effort into my magazine which I hope is evident in my final piece. I hope you have enjoyed reading through it. All of my posts are clearly labelled at the side to make it easier to access.
Thank you!
Wednesday, 7 May 2014
Thursday, 10 April 2014
Wednesday, 9 April 2014
Evaluation Question 4 - Who would be the audience for your media product?
The main audience for my magazine would be both male and female between the ages 16 - 26 who have a keen interest in being original and unique, within a society that is struggling to keep the idea of the 'underground' and 'unique' music society a personal thing compared to the mainstream 'pop culture'. I have looked on the website 'UK Tribes' and I have found out that my target audience would be 'Young Alts' and 'Indie Scenesters', they are both groups of people that like to stand out of the crowd and be original. This is important to me because of the fact that they are so open to new music and fashions which means that my new and unique magazine would fit into their style and their expressive nature. I have used 'UK Tribes' all throughout this process to really find a market that would be ideal for my magazine and luckily I have found it and it has helped me to centre my design and to help me make sure that I do not go overboard with the layout and features. My audience would also be interested in new major films and also the new indie films on the market. You mostly find that many people who like indie/alternative music are also interested in films and film culture as well. However I do understand that this is still a very niche market and I also would expect that many people interested in fashion and style as well would be interested in my magazine because I would include new and exciting fashions on the artists that are gracing the cover of my magazine.
The audience for my magazine, as described in my previous question, is based from the facts I have found from UK Tribes. In which I found out that my main target market was ‘Young Alts’ and ‘Indie Scenesters’, this is useful especially when looking at how I want to attract and address my audience because for me it is important to see how that would be possible within the market that I am working in. To figure out how I am marketing my magazine to this audience is crucial in how it is going to turn out in the final product and also if I imagine how the product will sell within the actual retail market. I have been very imaginative throughout this process and I have always kept an open mind in how I would market my product.
My magazine would be a monthly magazine at the price of £3.50, I feel as though this is a very reasonable price for a monthly magazine so I would be able to reach a possible wider audience because teenagers (who perhaps don't have masses of money to be spending on expensive magazines each month) will have more of an opportunity to buy this magazine which if they did it would mean that I would be able to develop the magazine more and create a credible title that would interest and engage my chosen readership. The audience that I am trying to reach would really be the type of people to set themselves apart and and not conform to what society tells them to be. I feel as though this is apparent in my double page spread mainly, because the layout of the page is very unique and not something that I myself have seen in all of the research I have done. The only comparison I can make is Clash magazine who also layout their magazine in a very unusual and unique way; the audience that follows Clash magazine would probably be the one that I would expect to follow mine as well because of the fact that I have tried to use some of their techniques in my magazine, I have not blatantly copied anything out of the magazine but what I have done is to try and take some of their ideas and twist them into my own style and my own brief for my magazine.
I would say that the main bands and artists that my readership would listen to would be: Slow Club, Warpaint, Yuck, Miles Kane, Arcade Fire, Arctic Monkeys, etc. I have listed an extensive list on the front cover of my magazine which also show you what type of music that my audience would be listening to. I am also focusing on film and fashion as well in my magazine, although these are definitely smaller aspects in my magazine because I do want the majority of the attention to be focused on music. I think this would appeal to an audience that is still interested in the film and fashion industry however the reason that they have bought this magazine is so they can read up on the music industry and they want that focus to be on that particular area.
I feel as though that the general layout and design of the front cover, contents and double page spread really represents and showcases the indie/alternative market really well because they have unusual images on them (inspired by the likes of Rankin) and the layout and font is very different that you would expect to find in a 'mainstream' indie and alternative magazine (such as NME). I have tried to stay outside the comfort zone with the design of my magazine and I would hope that my intended audience would appreciate and understand why the magazine is laid out the way it is. I have also included the tagline of 'the psychedelic issue' on my front cover. I feel as though that this is something that my audience would be interested in because of the fact that it really draws your attention as to what is on the inside of the magazine, this would attract my audience because they would be curious and the mystery of what is underneath the cover would be really effective in making people pick up my title.
The audience for my magazine, as described in my previous question, is based from the facts I have found from UK Tribes. In which I found out that my main target market was ‘Young Alts’ and ‘Indie Scenesters’, this is useful especially when looking at how I want to attract and address my audience because for me it is important to see how that would be possible within the market that I am working in. To figure out how I am marketing my magazine to this audience is crucial in how it is going to turn out in the final product and also if I imagine how the product will sell within the actual retail market. I have been very imaginative throughout this process and I have always kept an open mind in how I would market my product.
My magazine would be a monthly magazine at the price of £3.50, I feel as though this is a very reasonable price for a monthly magazine so I would be able to reach a possible wider audience because teenagers (who perhaps don't have masses of money to be spending on expensive magazines each month) will have more of an opportunity to buy this magazine which if they did it would mean that I would be able to develop the magazine more and create a credible title that would interest and engage my chosen readership. The audience that I am trying to reach would really be the type of people to set themselves apart and and not conform to what society tells them to be. I feel as though this is apparent in my double page spread mainly, because the layout of the page is very unique and not something that I myself have seen in all of the research I have done. The only comparison I can make is Clash magazine who also layout their magazine in a very unusual and unique way; the audience that follows Clash magazine would probably be the one that I would expect to follow mine as well because of the fact that I have tried to use some of their techniques in my magazine, I have not blatantly copied anything out of the magazine but what I have done is to try and take some of their ideas and twist them into my own style and my own brief for my magazine.
I would say that the main bands and artists that my readership would listen to would be: Slow Club, Warpaint, Yuck, Miles Kane, Arcade Fire, Arctic Monkeys, etc. I have listed an extensive list on the front cover of my magazine which also show you what type of music that my audience would be listening to. I am also focusing on film and fashion as well in my magazine, although these are definitely smaller aspects in my magazine because I do want the majority of the attention to be focused on music. I think this would appeal to an audience that is still interested in the film and fashion industry however the reason that they have bought this magazine is so they can read up on the music industry and they want that focus to be on that particular area.
I feel as though that the general layout and design of the front cover, contents and double page spread really represents and showcases the indie/alternative market really well because they have unusual images on them (inspired by the likes of Rankin) and the layout and font is very different that you would expect to find in a 'mainstream' indie and alternative magazine (such as NME). I have tried to stay outside the comfort zone with the design of my magazine and I would hope that my intended audience would appreciate and understand why the magazine is laid out the way it is. I have also included the tagline of 'the psychedelic issue' on my front cover. I feel as though that this is something that my audience would be interested in because of the fact that it really draws your attention as to what is on the inside of the magazine, this would attract my audience because they would be curious and the mystery of what is underneath the cover would be really effective in making people pick up my title.
Evaluation Question 2 - How does your media product represent particular social groups?
Throughout the whole process of doing this coursework, I have discovered that one of the most important tasks was the decision of my models on the front of the magazine because this was going to be the image that draws my audience into the magazine itself and if I had made a bad decision on the models themselves then I would have been stuck for the rest of my magazine because of the fact that I had chosen badly in how to represent my whole magazine. Also with the help of the audience research and profile, I was able to generate a steady fan base and credible musicians that were at the heart of this magazine. The artist I have created for my magazine is very similar to the ones that I have researched in the planning for my coursework, for example I have stuck with the idea of keeping my artist along the same lines as Slow Club as I find their persona and style is something that is not commonly seen on the indie/alternative market. Most of the pictures and articles I have found from this band were mainly represented with black and white images like the only above however I had also found just normal, slick pictures with full colour. This was important to me to find this because then I was able to look at how the certain photographers had represented the artist and because they were always represented in different ways, it meant I felt as though I had more freedom to create my own style of artist and put my own spin on them depending on what type of photography I took. After doing audience research as well, on UK Tribes, I was able to indicate that my main target market was both 'Indie Scenesters' and also 'Young Alts', this was crucial in helping me decide what direction I wanted to take with both my artist and my magazine.
I knew from the beginning that I wanted to have an artist that incorporated both a male and a female, both with quirky style that would attract my slightly 'out there' audience, this was important for me because I wanted to be able to reach both a male and female audience and having both of them there meant that I was able to showcase suitable role models for my appropriate market to look upon (my target market was between the ages 16-26, which means that I had to have an artist basically in between those set ages so that they appealed to both ends of the audience spectrum). I also felt as though that I knew that my models had to have strong, bold looks so they stood out from a line up. I felt my final choice in my models was a good decision because I feel as though they have strong, captivating looks that almost really stare at you and mesmerise you in what they have to say. I know that my teacher was unsure about my models, especially my male option, however I still think it was the right decision to go for because they both have quirky looks that are slightly different to the norm and I think it works well because it challenges the way magazines are usually made and what is normally incorporated onto them.
The way that I have chosen to represent my artist, especially considering how most magazines normally do, is very different. I have kept the image on the cover very moody and dark, for this I have taken inspiration from one of the photographers I have been looking at, Rankin. His work is often very unique and also (like I have done for the front cover - using the black and white effect) he is very imaginative in what he has gotten his models to do for him; even though I have not gone that far into the poses, as I just wanted it to be a simple image with them not doing anything special, just them looking into the camera and captivating the audience.
Styles like this where the colour has been taken out and you are left with this stark photograph that looks almost bare in its nature however when looking more deeply into the image you are able to see many layers of depth in the model, and just see them for what they are. Themselves. This whole process was challenging my chosen social groups, however because of the fact that they are both groups that like to see change and not be a part of the mainstream system that I thought that this style of image and models was a good yet risky option to take because of the fact that this style of music magazine is very rarely seen on the retail shelves.
I had dressed my models very casually, keeping them in vintage shirts and black skinny jeans. This represents my chosen social group very well because of the fact that more and more people especially of my age (16-17) are getting into vintage clothing and in this case for my artist they were both wearing older shirts that happened to clash quite a bit when put together. However this was something that I liked because of the fact that it showed the difference in personalities between the two people included in my band. All of their outfits were strategically put together to make sure that they catered for the more obscure audience and the simplicity of their clothing as well as the humbleness that it shows (due to my male model's checked shirt - it is very 'english countryside-esque').
Also the general style of my product put together (front cover, contents, and DPS) represents my chosen social group rather well, this is because it doesn't conform to the conventions of normal indie/alternative magazines such as NME. It has it's own ground, it's own footing which is enabling my magazine to stand quite independently compared to other magazines of the same genre. The magazines I am taking the most inspiration from and style would have to be either Clash or The Wire though. This is because they are not afraid to step outside of the box with their originality. Also after reading some of their articles, I discovered that they also use a very original and playful writing style which I tried to emulate in my own magazine. This is a similarity in my magazine compared to the others, however when looking at the front cover and contents page for my magazine I have realised that I haven't really copied or altered a style from a certain magazine at all to create my own. The magazines I have taken slight hints and inspiration from were from lifestyle magazines more than anything, such as Oh Comely and The Gentlewoman. Both of these magazines have borders around their central images in the middle and this is something I have definitely taken into consideration when producing my magazine. However one thing I have learnt from doing this though is that because I am taking inspiration from lifestyle magazines I am lowering what would normally my target market, however this is why I have done this. By being brave and transferring ideas and layouts from non-music magazines I have been able to create a new style of music magazine which the market was probably calling out for.
Overall, I feel as though I have represented my particular social group in a very new and enigmatic style which hasn't really been seen on any indie/alternative magazines in the past. I hope that there is a market and a calling for my magazine because I feel as though it has its place in society and I would like very much to know whether this magazine would in fact make it to the shelves of retail stores.
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