Media EvaluationMedia Evaluation

By Hannabella WalshBy Hannabella Walsh

IntroductionIntroduction

My task was to produce a music magazine which appeals to the chosen target audience. I have decided to pick the rock music

genre as in the market right now it is very popular, and have a lot of music tribes to work from, e.g., indie, emo, rocker, punk etc.

There are a lot of young people that listen to rock music, as recent rock music relates to them and they can find comfort in

the music, therefore this would be ideal for my magazine as I am aiming the magazine at younger people, which is also why I have

used young stars for my magazine, as they can relate to the younger audience more.

In what ways does your music magazine use, develop In what ways does your music magazine use, develop or challenge the forms and conventions of real music or challenge the forms and conventions of real music

magazines?magazines? I have used a almost ‘hand drawn’ looking font to suggest expressionism, like Kerrang! Another rock magazine

I have used a image of the whole band, like other rock music magazines.

Competitions are shown to attract the reader, so they feel like they are getting more for their money

I have used the typical codes and conventions of a rock music magazine, edgy fonts, messy layouts, and bold, eye catching colours, red, black and white are usually colours associated with rock music.

The barcode is essential in all magazines as it is needed to be actually distributed and sold to the consumer. I have used a barcode in my magazine that I found on Google images

Nearly all magazines have some sort of competition in them. As this is a music magazine I thought it was appropriate to do a completion about winning tickets to a gig, to see the main band, ‘Violence’ this acts as a lure for the audience.

The title, contents has the same ‘hand drawn’ look at the front page, this is also to fit into the ‘expressionism’ of the magazine.

Same colours to match the theme of the magazine and create a house style

Big image of the star, who is featured in the magazine also. he seems to be looking ‘over to the contents’ creating the impression that he is interested and as he is the star persona he will influence the

readers

Simple contents, going straight down the page, like an edition of ‘Q’

Logo of magazine, simple ‘RM’ like the front page masthead

A simple to read fact file about the band, for the easiness of the reader

One of the conventions used in magazine article is the enlarged certain quotes, the interesting ones that would sure attract attention. The quotes which are enlarged are sometimes the quotes on there own are over exaggerated so the reader what's to read the article to find out the whole story, engaging them to read on.

Using the bands logo, so it’s familiar to the audience

Using the main star, as the main image again.

How does your music magazine How does your music magazine represent particular social represent particular social

groups?groups? In society there are many social groups or ‘music tribes’, and sometimes they are stereotyped through sources of media like magazines tv, etc. In my magazine my main goal was to act on that, and try to reach out to different social groups within rock music. Teenagers are one group in society which are stereotyped through the media, and In my magazine I want to reach out to teenagers, and offer them a magazine about the music they like. As the band I have displayed in my feature article is of the same age group I want to target and portray a good story to, about reaching dreams, and about no matter your age you can still be a star, I feel in my magazine I have achieved this.

The specific social groups I would be representing, are the rockers, the emo’s the indies, the goths etc,aged 14-18 who are all about freedom of style, and expression through music and I think I have achieved that look through my magazine style, and the way the models used are posed, dressed and their body language.

What kind of Media institution What kind of Media institution might distribute your music might distribute your music

magazine and why?magazine and why?The magazine institution I think would

produce and market my magazine would be Bauer, because, Bauer publishes Kerrang! magazine, and Q magazine, both these magazines, are slightly similar to mine, in genre. My audience may be younger and less experienced and as such open up a sector of the market that the other publications don’t necessarily reach at the moment.

BauerBauer• The Bauer Media Group (Bauer Verlagsgruppe) is a large German publishing company based in Hamburg,

which operates in 15 countries worldwide. Since the company was founded in 1875, it has been privately-owned and under management by the Bauer family. It was formerly called Heinrich Bauer Verlag KG, abbreviated to HBV and usually shortened to H. Bauer.

• It produces and distributes many popular magazines and has stakes in television and radio, recently completing the purchase of a consumer magazine division and radio station division of the British company, EMAP. Worldwide circulation of Bauer Media Group's magazine titles amount to 38 million magazines a week.

• Current brands• Q started out as a music magazine published monthly in the United Kingdom. Originally it was to be called Cue

(named after the act of cueing a record to play), but the name was changed so that it wouldn't be mistaken for a snooker magazine. Founders Mark Ellen and David Hepworth felt the music press of the time ignored a generation of older music buyers who were buying CDs — then still a new technology — from artists such as Paul Simon, Level 42, and Dire Straits. Modelled after Rolling Stone, Q was first published in 1986, setting itself apart from much of the other music press with monthly production and higher standards of photography and printing, with an emphasis on style.

• The Q music brand has expanded to Radio and Television, with Q Radio and Q TV being music entertainment that specialises in indie, rock and alternative. Q also holds annual music awards in the UK, known as Q Awards. Since they began in 1990, the Q Awards have become one of Britain's biggest and best publicized music awards, helped in no small part by the often boisterous behaviour of the celebrities who attend the event.

• Kerrang!• Kerrang! TV specialises in Rock Music. As of 2005, all of its programme content is music videos, the majority of

which is open scheduled, for text requests from their playlist. It is based on format of Kerrang! brand from Bauer which also exists in Kerrang Radio and Kerrang! magazine.

Well known magazine Well known magazine published by Bauerpublished by Bauer

Kerrang!Kerrang!

QQ

Kerrang! is a rock music magazine published by Bauer Consumer Media in the United Kingdom. The magazine's name is onomatopoeic and refers to the sound made when playing a power chord on an electric guitar.

Q is a music magazine published monthly in the United Kingdom, with a circulation of 130,179 as of June

2007.Founders Mark Ellen and David Hepworth were

dismayed by the music press of the time, which they felt was ignoring a generation of older music buyers

who were buying CDs — then still a new technology. Q was first published in 1986, setting itself apart from

much of the other music press with monthly production and higher standards of photography and printing. In

the early years, the magazine was sub-titled "The modern guide to music and more". Originally it was to

be called Cue (as in the sense of cueing a record, ready to play), but the name was changed so that it

wouldn't be mistaken for a snooker magazine. Another reason, cited in Q's 200th edition, is that a single-letter

title would be more prominent on newsstands.

Who would your target Who would your target audience be and why?audience be and why?

The main age group I want to target as my audience is 14+- 18, the reason is because it’d be a rock music magazine, it may not be suitable for younger ages than that as it might contain swearing, or things like that, also I want to appeal to the younger generation, as I think they’d be most likely to buy the magazine.

I am trying to appeal to both male and female genders, I have done this by using colours that would appeal to both, as well as layout and information.

Also my target audience, would be specific social groups, such as Emo, rockers etc. which I have explained earlier, and on my blog.

How did you attract and How did you attract and address your audience?address your audience?

A font to suggest, expressionism, since it’s almost like a ‘hand drawn’ font, and my target audience would be attracted to this, since most social groups within rock, come from expressionismm and individuality.

Main image is young star persona, to attract my audience, as it’s a success story for a teenager, which is a positive side, to what teenagers are usually seen as in the media

‘Freebies’ in the magazine, for gig tickets which would attract the teenagers.

What have you learned about What have you learned about technologies from the process of technologies from the process of

constructing this music magazine? constructing this music magazine? (Lighting, photography, Photoshop, (Lighting, photography, Photoshop,

indesign)indesign)I have learnt, how to use indesign as I’ve never used it before, and I found it helpful to complete my task as it was simple to use, and had a lot of useful things.While taking my pictures, I learnt a lot about the photography, however I already knew a bit about it, like the lighting and how to take the best pictures, because I’ve already taken a keen interest in photography, however I did learn quite a few decent things from it, like position, how to show body language in the pictures to the best of it’s ability, to show certain and different meanings.I also learnt a few new things on Photoshop, like how to crop it to it’s best, to make the picture look more professional. My target audience fed back that the codes and conventions are essential in order to recognise the magazine as what it is intended to be – they liked the edginess and rawness of the colour palette and house style and thought the accessibility of the fonts and language was appropriate.