Friday 18 April 2014

Evaluation Q7. Looking back at my preliminary task, what do I feel I've learnt in the progression from it?

My School Magazine




My Music Magazine


I feel I have learned a variety of skills in the progression from creating my school magazine to making my music magazine. I first had to identify the target audience of my school magazine. Although I originally thought the answer would obviously be students attending the school, upon thinking more deeply, I realised that parents of students and staff working at the school would likely also be interested in reading the magazine. Therefore my primary audience consisted of pupils attending the school, and my secondary audience consisted of staff and parents of pupils. In the progression from my school magazine I learned how to create a questionnaire to identify my target audience. In the process I learned about the JICNAR Scale, which defines where my target audience is in society and which demographic they're from. My target audience is in Group E, as the majority consists of students

Since the creation of my school magazine I have learned how to further apply the codes and conventions of music magazines to my own product. For instance, the front cover I have chosen as the final one for my school magazine features two people, neither making eye contact with the camera, whereas my music magazine's final front cover features the subject looking directly into the camera and therefore appealing more to the target audience. I have also utilised house style and colour schemes in my music magazine to attract the target audience. In my school magazine's front cover the font, masthead and headline overpowers the image, so the visual syntax doesn't focus on the two subjects, whereas in my music magazine the main points of focus of the visual syntax are my masthead, the subject of the image and the main headline. There is also more room for straplines and coverlines due to there only being one subject.

In the production of music magazine I learned how to focus on specific parts of the product to create more detail, as shown in the contrast between my school magazine contents page and my music magazine contents page. I have also learned how to create a brand name for a music magazine with the correct connotations for the genre to attract the right target audience. Here are the mastheads I created for my school magazine:



In comparison to my school magazine masthead ideas, I feel a lot more thought went into the music magazine mastheads - e.g. whether the font was Serif or Sans-Serif, whether it would attract my target audience, whether the brand name had the right connotations behind it, etc. It was between the brand names, 'Bulwark', 'Thrive' and 'Citadel'. I felt 'Thrive' was a very generalised brand name for a music magazine as it could easily be the name for a pop magazine as well as a rock one, whereas the connotations behind 'Bulwark' and 'Citadel' are ones of strength and empowerment, which suits the rock genre much more. They also were both unusual enough words that it suggested that the genre would be alternative rock, rather than with simple rock music magazine names such as 'Mojo' and 'Kerrang', which are blatantly rock magazines, shown just by the brand names. These would reach a wide and general target audience, whilst I was looking for a niche target audience




I eventually settled on 'Citadel', as I felt 'Bulwark' would not be as catchy or memorable as it is not as commonly used as 'Citadel', and would have also put the target audience off from buying my product - whereas with my school magazine, I already knew it was for a secondary school, and I knew the school uniform's colour scheme, so it was relatively easy to imitate the colour scheme. Producing an entirely new colour scheme for an alternative rock music magazine was more difficult, in comparison.









Evaluation Q6. What have I learnt about technologies in the process of constructing my product?

Evaluation Question 6

Evaluation Q5. How did you attract/address your target audience?

Tuesday 8 April 2014

Evaluation Q4. Who would be the audience for your media product?

 I carried out some interviews to find my ideal readers. These are the few I believe fit into my target audience due to the way they dress and the importance alternative music seems to have to them. They also fit into the ideal age category, between the ages 15 to 25.




Finley 

What is your occupation? 
I'm an art student. 

How old are you?
16.

Where do you shop?
I usually shop at vintage stores, or online or at Game.

What kind of house or flat do you live in?
A 1930s style house.

What do you value in life?
I value friends, family, music, art and games.

Where do you go to socialise?
Usually the city centre, but it varies a lot.

What kind of things do you spend your money on? 
Clothes, games and music. Art supplies for college, too.

How do you spend your free time?
I spend my time gaming, listening to music and doing art.

What phone do you own?
iPhone 4.

How do you listen to music? e.g. online, CDs, spotify, soundcloud etc.?
I use my phone to access music online and I buy CDs.

Would you buy this magazine?
I think I would because I like a couple of the bands mentioned in it. I also like folk rock bands like Mumford & Sons, so it would be nice to see more of those kinds of bands in there.






Mollie

What is your occupation? 
I'm an art student and I'm unemployed but I sometimes do volunteer work at a shelter.

How old are you?
17.

Where do you shop?
I go to charity and vintage shops in the city centre.

What kind of house or flat do you live in?
An old Victorian style house.

What do you value in life?
Family, friends and music.

Where do you go to socialise?
I go anywhere. Mostly the town centre for convenience, but I prefer to go to the city centre.

What kind of things do you spend your money on? 
Usually art supplies for college and music.

How do you spend your free time?
Chilling with friends or listening to music.

What phone do you own?
Nokia Lumia 920.

How do you listen to music? e.g. online, CDs, spotify, soundcloud etc.?
Mostly on CDs.

Would you buy this magazine?
Yes, because I enjoy the music of some of the bands mentioned, like the Arctic Monkeys, and I like alternative music.






Alice

What is your occupation? 
I'm unemployed but I go to sixth form. I'm studying art, music and English language.

How old are you?
17.

Where do you shop?
Urban Outfitters and Topshop.

What kind of house or flat do you live in?
I live in a cul-de-sac. It's quite big.

What do you value in life?
Music.

Where do you go to socialise?
The town centre. Sometimes the city centre.

What kind of things do you spend your money on? 
Makeup and clothes.

How do you spend your free time?
Watching films and TV shows online.

What phone do you own?
iPhone 5.

How do you listen to music? e.g. online, CDs, spotify, soundcloud etc.?
I use spotify and soundcloud.

Would you buy this magazine?
I would as I like the bands that are on the front cover and contents page, like the Arctic Monkeys, Vampire Weekend and the Black Keys.




My Ideal Reader

My ideal reader is a student in the age category 15 - 21, studying art or music. The people I have interviewed are either 16 or 17, so they are for the most part still being provided for by their parents and living with them. They have time to socialise, whether that be interacting in reality or via their smartphones. They value music highly, so they are more likely to want to spend money on music-related things. They also use their clothes as a way to express their tastes. They spend their money on clothes, music, art and art equipment. Some also use makeup as a way to change their appearance to show their tastes. They often shop at vintage and charity shops to save money, so that they can spend more on important things to them such as music and art. However, they are still fashionable and do go to shops such as Urban Outfitters and Topshop for staple pieces. They have smartphones which means they are likely more sociable, as you can download apps for social media. They value music because either they have chosen it as a career path, or they use it to relieve stress. Their smartphones come in useful as they can easily access music online or on Spotify. Despite this, they still like to buy CDs so that they can have a physical copy of the music they like. On the JICNAR Scale my ideal reader fits into Group E, as the majority of them are students.