My Finished Product

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

Overall, my media products covers the use of various different conventions,eg continuity, which is shown by the colour scheme and use of fonts, all of which would be seen in a real media product.

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

To help me decide how I was going to address and represent my target audience, I used a demographic grading table which helped me think about different social classes and their lifestyles. I targeted my media product at the C1 (Lower Middle Class) and C2 (Skilled Working Class) demographic levels because these groups are where niche audiences would stereo-typically be. Niche audiences in these demographic levels are stereo-typically seen to be around 14-22 years of age. Due to the niche market being within this age range, the price of the magazine is £3.50 because it is affordable to people who may be unemployed or have minimal paying jobs. I think these demographic levels contain a broad range of people with different music tastes, meaning that there will be many people suited to the pop punk genre.

Within these demographic levels, there are labelled social groups such as 'chavs', 'goths', 'emos', 'punks' and 'hipsters' etc, all differentiating in lifestyles, music tastes, cultures and beliefs. The stereotypical social group my media product represents is 'punks' and/or 'emos'.

In conclusion, my media product represents particular social groups through the use of mise-en-scene. I have used the use of costume to reflect band members within the genre who are then representative of the fans.

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

When creating my media product, I looked at, and was inspired by existing magazines Rock Sound and Kerrang, as these portrayed my chosen genre the most. Therefore Bauer would distribute my media product because of the genre, since this institution also distributes Kerrang, NME and Q- magazines showing a similar genre which are aimed at a similar target audience. My media product may sell well to the target audience as it is published monthly, giving a much wider magazine content than Kerrang, which is released weekly. Kerrang also doesn't promote new and upcoming bands within the genre. However, they may not publish my magazine because of the similar music genre it advertises.

Another media institution that may distribute my media product is Editions Freeway- publisher of Rock Sound.They might distribute it because they are interested in and encourage alternative music, therefore my magazine would sell well with the target audience. My media product would also appeal to the audience as it also published monthly, like Rock Sound. However, Rock Sound offers more free merchandise as it is well known for it's 'free cd', whereas my magazine only gives free posters.This would mean the target audience may not be as drawn to it as they are to Rock Sound.

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

To first find out who would be my target audience, I conducted a questionnaire asking simple questions about their music interests and how they purchase their music and magazines. From my questionnaire I could then also find out the average age of my target audience which would help me in how I addressed them in the magazine. In addition, it allowed me to decide on things such as the pricing of my magazine and what type of  articles, sell lines and plugs I would include. However, a problem with my questionnaire is that it didn't allow the people answering the questions to be specific and I could not tell which gender the answers were from, making it more difficult to decide on to how to address the audience.

EVALUATION 5. How did you attract/address your audience?

I began looking at how I could attract and address my audience my producing a mood board of female and male outfits as they stereo-typically seen. This helped
 me as I could then see what sort of outfit my model would have to be wearing to address the audience.I addressed my audience, through the main image on the front cover, by making sure she was wearing similar outfits as those shown on the mood boards. Deanna is wearing a Green Day t-shirt which reflects the Drop Dead tank top on the male outfit mood board as they are both pieces of merchandise that are well known within the genre. This attracts my audience because they would feel more of a connection with the artist because she likes the same bands. It would also create a sense of a community within the genre, where artists are friends with other artists, and the fans bring them together more by listening to them. This is also reflected by the fact she has facial piercings, which is stereo-typically common within the genre, When using the L.I.I.A.R analysis, this image also attracts my audience via Language: The colour scheme I chose was inspired the the model's green hair which links with her green t-shirt. This creates a vibrant look to the magazine, drawing the attention if stocked in supermarket. Her facial expression also attracts the audience as it creates a loud message as she appears to be shouting at them (although this could come across as an angry message, she doesn't appear to be angry). As well as atracting the audience, it would then address them because they may feel like they relate to the artist's frustration (or as later seen on the DPS, craziness). In addition, the language on the front cover addresses the audience as I have advertised Warped Tour (which is a very popular music festival with pop-punk fans) and used sell lines such as 'exclusive', 'answer your questions' and 'gets personal'. These sell lines make the magazine look more friendly and open rather than formal and business like, addressing the audience as the reader will then be able to feel like they are noticed and that they feel have a personal connection with the artists.
My contents page addresses my audience because, again, I have used friendly language to make the reader feel more comfortable reading it. I did this by including a conventional editor's note which acts as an introduction to the magazine and also allows the reader to feel like they not only reflect the artist of the main article, but also the editor and possibly others involved with the creation of the magazine.
My double page spread addresses the audience because I included answers and questions in the interview which the reader could relate to. They are personal, not only to the artist, but to the reader's personal life and lifestyle as well.
The large masthead on the double page spread attracts the audience as it bold and the use of different fonts doesn't bore them when reading it. I have also continued the colour scheme and highlighted certain words which keeps the reader engaged with the magazine and articles.