For my task I had to create a music magazine for particular target audience. Firstly I carried out research to establish what type of music magazine readers are looking for. For me to create a music magazine I needed to look at the existing music magazines. However when I looked into existing magazines there was a very distinct main target audience, this was the older teenagers. This is demonstrated with magazines such as NME, Kerrang, Q and many more.
In what ways does your media product use, develop or challenge forms and conventions of real media products?
My idea of challenging the convention was to open up the idea to younger reader of a music magazine. This is because there have previously been music magazines for the younger readers however they have not been very successful. I found this very unusual because teenagers do know band news and are interested to know more. The music magazine I am looking to construct will have a very colourful vibe. The contents will consist of bands gig dates, band updates and news, exclusive band interviews and the latest charts for all genres of music. I decided to do this because it is what my target audience supported these ideas. For other ideas on content and the layout of magazine I conducted a questionnaire, which my target audience aged 11-16 answered. I designed a questionnaire because it was a simple way of finding out the wants and needs of my target audience. And this was very successful for my target audience because I found out their music habits, for examples the way they listen to their music. I then furthered my information by asking my focus group more general question to find out their music habits as well as their general interests.
My idea of challenging the convention was to open up the idea to younger reader of a music magazine. This is because there have previously been music magazines for the younger readers however they have not been very successful. I found this very unusual because teenagers do know band news and are interested to know more. The music magazine I am looking to construct will have a very colourful vibe. The contents will consist of bands gig dates, band updates and news, exclusive band interviews and the latest charts for all genres of music. I decided to do this because it is what my target audience supported these ideas. For other ideas on content and the layout of magazine I conducted a questionnaire, which my target audience aged 11-16 answered. I designed a questionnaire because it was a simple way of finding out the wants and needs of my target audience. And this was very successful for my target audience because I found out their music habits, for examples the way they listen to their music. I then furthered my information by asking my focus group more general question to find out their music habits as well as their general interests.
How does your media product represent particular social groups?
Each magazine has a sub-culture to which their target audience relates too. The type of subculture I will be aiming my magazine towards is the "Normal’s" an average R&B and pop child. This is cross over between two subcultures in music, however I feel this brings a retro feel to the magazine. For example the double page spread is an exclusive interview from David Shaw. This artist has been made up, who performs R&B and cheesy music styles. This also then reflects in the images used in the magazines. The images, especially his grin, give the cheesy effect which emphasises the genre of the magazine. Click here to see the double page spread.
What kind of media institution might distribute your media product and why?
What kind of media institution might distribute your media product and why?
If my product was welcomed by the target audience, the music magazine could be a huge success. I have searched around for music magazine publishers to find the perfect publisher for my music magazine. After looking into many publishers I decided that IPC Media would be the best publisher to sell the magazine. They are a successful publisher as "IPC Media is a leading UK consumer magazine publisher". They already are in market for music magazines. They currently publish NME, Uncut and Guitar and Bass. Who would be the audience for your media product?The target audience intended for my music magazine is young female teenage readers that are aged between 12-16. This teenage group do not have many music magazines available, so there is a gap in the market. I came up with the target audience by looking at current music magazines. Looking at other magazines I can see common patterns of articles and also the different unique features each much magazine may offer. See can be seen here. I have developed my music magazine through analyzing these magazines. Click here to see the other magazines I studied.
How did you attract/address your audience?
One reason that most music magazines might be aimed at the older teenagers is because they are the most likely audience to read the information. This is because teenagers are always informed of their favourite band, and also have tickets for the latest gigs. The popularity in music is getting stronger and the youth are getting older. More people would read articles about their favourite band because it would be interesting to them. From looking at this research I decided to challenge this convention. I challenged the convention by aiming my music magazine at the younger teenagers. I felt this was a very practical idea as there were not many successful music magazines for this age group.
What have you learnt about technologies from the process of constructing this product?
I used Photoshop CS3 to create my magazine. This allowed me to create the magazine with such precision. This program is good because there are endless features which allow me to do many different changes to my magazine. However there were a few problems with Photoshop. This is because I have never used this program before, therefore I had to pick up Photoshop skills as I went along the tasks. This became difficult in some cases because it meant that extra time was went on Photoshop. But I do feel satisfied with the final outcome of the magazine. Another process that I have learnt throughout the main task is creating a blog full of information. For both parts of the coursework I have had to show research on a blog. Some aspects of this can become hard however some of it was easy to pick up.
Looking back on my preliminary task I can see that I have learnt many different aspects.
I used Photoshop CS3 to create my magazine. This allowed me to create the magazine with such precision. This program is good because there are endless features which allow me to do many different changes to my magazine. However there were a few problems with Photoshop. This is because I have never used this program before, therefore I had to pick up Photoshop skills as I went along the tasks. This became difficult in some cases because it meant that extra time was went on Photoshop. But I do feel satisfied with the final outcome of the magazine. Another process that I have learnt throughout the main task is creating a blog full of information. For both parts of the coursework I have had to show research on a blog. Some aspects of this can become hard however some of it was easy to pick up.
Looking back on my preliminary task I can see that I have learnt many different aspects.
The magazine for my preliminary task was not as well structured as the music magazine. The music magazine states more information and is very presentable. I also learnt more about my photography skills through out making my music magazine. I have learnt how to position a camera at a certain angle, as well as seeing how lighting and natural sunlight effect an image. Also because the main task included more images I had to perfect my photographing skills. The music magazine is also more informal and is more likely to be read by large numbers of my target audience from a range of ages compared to a school magazine. The language I used on the music magazine was more informal compared to the formal language I used on the school magazine; this is because of the genre of the school magazine.
