Music Magazine EvaluationRachael Vaughan

Rachael Vaughan303933435 Aquinas College

AS Media StudiesOCR G321: Foundation Portfolio

Q1. Who would be the audience for your media product?

I aimed my magazine at… 16-25 year olds

Who go to gigs and festivals.

Who know what music they like…

Who like to shop at…

MenInfluenced by…

Who like to spend money on…

Q1. Who would be the audience for your media product?

My magazine would be similar to Metal Hammer and Kerrang! With the audience which buys it, but instead of just pop punk/metal, I have decided to make it as a Beatdown & Hardcore magazine. I feel that there isn’t a specific magazine directed to Hardcore and Beatdown fans so I feel that this will fill that gap. This would be my unique selling point.

Sub-Genre’s and Hybrid Publications

Based on my audience research, I have found there is a gap in the market for a Hardcore/Beatdown magazine. There is magazines such as Kerrang and Metal Hammer which include a few Hardcore bands, but it is not directly aimed at the sub genres themselves.

Primary Audience

The primary audience of my magazine would be mostly males as in the Hardcore/Beatdown scene, there are very few girls. The majority of my primary audience would most likely be between the ages of 16-26 as I feel this age would be the highest percentage of people who listen to these sub-genres.

Secondary Audience

My Secondary audience would most likely be people who buy it because of the main band, rather than the whole contents. It would also apply to people who are interested in starting their own band or to have ideas of it, they may aspire to be like people in the Magazine so they’d buy it. I would aim my magazine at a demographic who are interested in underground music, and music you wouldn’t necessarily be in the charts or you’d see on the usual rock channels.

Demographic

The demographic of my product would be people who are interested in starting their own band and buy clothes and shoes from brands like Nike, New Balance and Band Merchandise.

Ideal Readers

The ideal reader for my magazine would be interested in the Hardcore/Beatdown music as well as the culture. They’d want to keep updated with the latest debates going on and aspire to be themselves but within the culture itself, for example, buying a pair of custom Air Max, purely to show their individual style, while wearing a band t-shirt such as Ninebar to show the music they’re into. They go to local shows and support their local scene.

Q2. How does your media product represent particular social groups?

To appeal to my ideal target audience, I have made the main image a photo of a girl wearing a Beatdown band shirt. This will appeal more to boys as it is a picture of a girl, and may be more interested as she is wearing one of their favourite bands shirts.

The Magazine name itself would also be more appealing to people within the scene as the words “Two-Step” will relate to something they do or see people do.

Mainstream Audience

The mainstream audience would be people who get involved at shows and follow bands on tours and lyrics with keeping up to date. They buy merch and wear it proud, they may also wear brands such as Nike and New Balance, along with wearing Balaclavas.

Niche Representation

This would be people who don’t necessarily follow the bands, don’t tend to follow trends in the scene and keep themselves to themselves, starting there own trends, but read for advice on creating their own band and adverts.

Q3: What kind of media institution might distribute your product?

I’d choose Bauer Media Group to publish and distribute my publication as Bauer have published magazines such as Q and Kerrang! So I feel that they both will fit with how serious the music is to this magazine. They also have TV channels such as 4Music, The Box and Kerrang TV. As well as their own radio shows.With offices all over the world, this would also help the magazine go global with more people interested in the scene.

The magazine will be weekly and sold at a price of £2.99.It will be full of advertisements and offers.

Festival Stages

Merchandise

Q4. In what ways does your media

product use, develop or

challenge forms and conventions

of real media products?

I have chosen this double page spread because Taylor Momsen is very alternative and is a member in a rock band called the Pretty Reckless, she puts forward the dark look with the Headline stating she’s a “wild child” which fits in with my magazine as Beatdown and Hardcore is meant to be wild.

I have chosen this Front cover as it’s the front cover of a metal magazine called Metalhammer. It’s not as dark as a lot of other metal magazines so it fits well with the genre of my magazine.

I chose to use Red and Black for my house style as red makes it seem like blood and black as death as the genre’s are put forward to be incredibly violent.

I have also included festival logos so the music style stands out instantly as these festivals I have listed are the most popular in the scene.

The fonts are also very young looking so it makes it seem more youthful put the headline is like lightning so it makes it seem more strong and outgoing.

Not only does the girl as the cover star put forward a girl into a Beatdown band, it may also appeal to more girls to get into the genres and show them it’s not just for men.

Q5. How did you attract/address your audience?

I have added a strong Masthead, as if it’s being struck down by lighting or a hazzard sign in red as it stands out well along with the black. This is the largest to show this is the main focus of the weeks magazine.

I have decided to add Festival logos to the cover as I feel if people recognise the logo and are interested, they’d buy the magazine.

I have stuck to using a grunge sort of font which links to both the story of Malevolence and the magazine itself.

I have added a banner at the bottom of the cover in red because I feel this will stand out well with white writing. This banner includes a list of bands included in the magazine so people can easily see what else is in the magazine and if they’re interested.

Audience Research

Q6. What have you learnt about

technologies from the process of constructing

this product?

I felt there was a lot of white in the background that was un-needed, so I cropped this first before I did anymore.

I then changed all the reds to -100% which made her skin look clearer and gave it a much brighter and uplifting effect.

I started off making my banner with a plain purple box on photoshop. And adding text onto it, but half way through I realised purple isn’t used anywhere on my cover, and wouldn’t go well with red and black, so I decided to change this to red so it fits in with my house colours. It also gave me the chance to add more bands in as I made the text much smaller so I could fit more in and give more information to the reader.

Q7.Looking back at your preliminary task (Aquinas College magazine), what do you feel you have learnt

in the progression to the full product?

For my contents page on my Aquinas magazine, it was a very average layout, with the house colours as the contents colours a main image taking up a quarter of the page and a simple list of numbers and pages down the left hand side, to the right of it, I have used a box to put the “subscribe” section In and ad the bottom there is a note from the editor. I used a brownish/reddish colour which fades in the background and white and black text, so it is all very plain and doesn’t really stand out all that well.

This is my first Idea for a contents page, but there were many things wrong with this. Firstly, I feel that the blue background has nothing to do with my house colours. I also believe that everything is too large, for example, the main image and the text for the pages, as well as the contents. It all just seems very plain and boring. Especially with the two large boxes of text put together at the bottom. I also feel where it said “contents” that it was all too plain and unoriginal and had no significance to the magazine itself.

For 2Step, I kept it similar but added a lot more in. At the top, I have the 2Step official logo in the house colouring, next to this at the top, I also have the strapline for the magazine in white so it stands out onto the black background. I have also made all the main sections on a white background with black text so you know they aren’t just pages. Under the strapline and logo, I have an advertisement for concrete fest, so first page is already giving out information on it. Below this is a photo from a gig, which relates to one of the main articles. All the pages are boxed off in red with black text so it’s easier to read and it has the numbers at the side in white. At the bottom of the page, I have the editors note.

I feel I have progressed a lot throughout the course, improving my photography and photoshop skills as well as understanding the conventions of a magazine, which is shown throughout my work.

Technology Used

PublisherPhotoshopDigital SLR Camera

Choosing a cover photo