Evaluation Question 1 To 6

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

It is generally accepted that all media texts are constructed, and that it is put together by creative and technical teams who follow standard procedures for selecting, compiling and editing material. My music magazine challenges the generic elements and conventions of an existing real life magazine. My music magazine front cover follows the generic conventions of a magazine similar to Kerrang! For example, my magazine features a masthead relating to Rock’n’roll, as it has connotations which can refer to populist rock songs. It can also be a term used to describe the rhythm of the song. The house style of my magazine will enhance the verisimilitude of my media product as it will look professional for the genre catagory.

Other elements we expect to find on a niche magazine such my own are gender specified colours. For example while producing my own front cover, contents page and double page spread. I took into consideration what colour scheme to use. I created a magazine which has a stereotypical colour scheme, as it stereotypically appeals to males, because dull dark colours are often associated with masculinity. My magazine also features pugs, which include issue number, website, price and date issued etc. My front cover features a cover image similar to Kerrang! I have tried to base my magazine to a similar style to Kerrang!, but the main difference between the front cover of Kerrang! That I semiotically analysed is that it only featured a single person performing live, whereas my front cover features a band doing a photo shoot.

The inspiration for my media product came from the Kerrang! Magazine. Similarities between the two magazines include sell lines aligned right, banners at both top and bottom of the pages, and a barcode with pugs in the bottom right. And a call out box featuring ‘brand new 1st edition’.

Other generic elements within my media product are drop capitals for my article on my double page spread, and a gutter around the edge of my contents page and double page spread. My media product uses these generic elements because in order for my product to look real; it has to follow certain characteristics we expect to find on a magazine. This therefore will enhance the verisimilitude of my product. My product follows the forms and conventions of a music magazine, for example archetype means literally the original model. Archetypes exist throughout the history of the narrative form. From folk tales and legends thousands of year’s old to modern stories we come across heroes and villains, earth mother and prodigal son, princess and Shining Knight etc. The reference is to a character so well established in traditional stories that the type appears to transcend history or a specific culture. An archetype is used in my magazine as the band represents the original stereotype of a band associated with a rock music magazine.

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

My media product has a niche target audience; I believe this is reflected in the house style, photographs used, and colours. My magazine relates to a rock genre, this is easily recognisable by the masthead title name and the effects upon the masthead. For example we associate chrome and metal in musical terms as rock music, so this was why I put the effect on the masthead, because it individually typifies the audience of my music magazine. My media product also represents my target audience in a very stereotypical manner, for example I have used a band on the front wearing dark masculine colours, with long hair, and electric guitars, and this represents stereotypes because not everyone associated with rock music looks or appears to be this way. But for magazines sake it works well to stick with stereotypes. In the name of Dyer 1985 Representation can be in the sense of speaking for and on behalf of somebody or a group. I believe my media product agrees with this claim. As part of an imaginary entity, the audience I have targeted are often associated with heavy metal, dark dull clothing, like live gigs, tours, plays the instruments etc.

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

I believe my media product will be distributed by a media conglomerate such as Bauer, and not an independent company. This is because I have featured the main splash article on the front cover image band, and put the limelight upon them. I think it will be released by a conglomerate because my product features global star bands such as Thin Lizzy, The Who, AC/DC etc, so because of this, it will appeal to a wide audience of rock music, as it has no specific sub genre category. I think the main reason why it is not an independent distributor is that the artists featured on my magazine are not local and unknown, they are all globularly known and so for that reason it would be released by a media conglomerate.

Above is a cropped image of the top banner of my magazine, it features three artists that have all at some point featured in Kerrang! At some point. Kerrang! Is a music magazine of a very similar genre and target audience to my own media product, and is distributed and owned by the media conglomerate Bauer. I have chosen the bands to put into my magazine very carefully, and because the three have been in Kerrang!, It gives more evidence to support my argument that my media product should be distributed by a media conglomerate such as Bauer.

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

Reader Profile Of My Media Product

Male=90%
Female=10%
Average Age=25
Working Full Time=61%
Working Part Time=13%
Still Studying=40%
Possible Circulation Figures=40,000
Possible Readership Figures=150,000

As representation, presenting reality over again to us. Reality is mediated through forms of representation available in the culture. Therefore all media texts are mediated, as Stuart Hall suggests, the audience is made to accept a dominant and preferred reading of a media text. Because of this, my audience is denoted as having a specific demographic readership which consists of the target audience being individually spirited, musically experienced, an audience defined by attitude, passion and committed to music. My target audience will be aged 16-40; this is because rock music is followed by a range of age groups. I have chosen an age group of 16-40 because rock appeals to them, for example, they will enjoy going to gigs, tours and playing instruments.

My target audience will be predominately male; this is because stereotypically males prefer rock music. However a small percentage of my audience will be female, this is due to a rise in female rock fans. I would imagine it is aimed at the working class mainly, as high class people and middle class people would spend their money on more expensive things and wouldn't spend their money on magazines associated with popular culture and the proletarian class. I predict that quite a lot more men would read the magazine than women which is stereotypical and controversial to say the least, however I believe this is a true factor. This then may suggest that more men than women are rock fans. The target is also clearly English people as the magazine is written in English.

My suggestion is that my media product and distributor will interpret its target audience image by using synergy, cross media, and other advertisements associated with my magazine. Such advertisements include drum kits, beer and lager, guitar amps and upgrades, tours and live performances, horror movies such as my bloody valentine etc. Genres tend to offer a means of discussing contemporary society by using a stock set of characters. Generic types are easy to identify in magazines, which have a distinct portrait of characters on a front cover and throughout the magazine. The genre is clearly a rock for my media product, and because of this, it can reflect into the imaginary entity of my target audience which is stereotypically similar to the magazine genre.

5. How did you attract/address your audience?

The mode of address for my target audience was peer to peer and teacher to pupil. This is because my magazine uses text and language at a level which can connect with the audience. My magazine uses quite authoritarian language because it feels the reader what to look at and why. The bottom banner on my front cover uses peep to peer mode of address to communicate with my audience, the free cd inside uses teacher to pupil mode of address to entice the readers to buy the magazine in order to get a free cd.

Stereotypes are composite images that represent people and ideas in society by emphasising certain common features. New stereotypes are created and recognised all the time. Stereotypes depend on a shared cultural knowledge and to this extent some part of the stereotypical image must ‘ring true’ for most people. Compared to generic types, stereotypes are more accessible. As they rely on shared cultural knowledge, readers can readily make sense of them. Such instantly recognisable people and situations allow for the widest access to a story. But this accessibility is both strength and a weakness.

I used a stereotype main cover image to connect and reassure with my audience, this is partly how I addressed my audience. I wanted my target audience to feel part of the culture and society as what is being depicted in my media product. By using the pose depicted on my front cover image, the audience can really understand the genre of the magazine and imagine, ‘that could be me on there’. Stereotypes can be very powerful images that embody strong emotional responses. As stereotypes develop, we often respond to them with a sense of identity or alienation, I feel in my media product, the audience can identify and connect with the band and magazine, and not feel alienated by it. The audience immediately relates to the stereotype. Where in fact they may be reading the stereotype in relation to other signifiers within a well understood genre.

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

Technologies used:

Internet Explorer web 2.0-blog
Adobe Photoshop Elements 5.0
Adobe Photoshop Elements 8.0
QuarkXPress passport 7.31
QuarkXPress 8.01
Cannon SLR EOS

During the creation of my media product, I have used a variety of software and hardware. To submit my work, I used a website called blogger.com, which can be accessed by using Internet Explorer web 2.0. The purpose of using a blog was too able me to create, develop, and submit all of my coursework, which includes research, preliminary tasks, main media product task etc onto one webpage. This way my work can be marked easily. To create and develop my front cover for both my preliminary and main media product task, I used a combination of Adobe Photoshop Elements 5.0 and 8.0. To create my contents page double page spread I used QuarkXPress passport 7.31 and QuarkXPress 8.01. The reason I have used two different versions of Photoshop and Quark is that I have both sets of software at home. Using Photoshop, I have learnt a lot on how to develop and create images and work. By using Quark, I had learnt how to create a professional contents page and double page spread. There were certain tools of Photoshop which enabled me to do some photograph manipulation. For example the screenshot below shows certain functions that can be performed upon an image.

I have used the Cannon SLR EOS camera with a 15.1 megapixel image. I used this camera for all of my photos in my magazine, as it gives a clear and detailed picture. I have learnt how to use the SLR because before the media coursework began; I had never used an SLR camera before, only a standard compact digital camera and camcorder. Other technologies I have used include a Nikon Coolpix S520, and Epson and Cannon scanner and a microphone in order to record question 7.