Joshua Ellis

MEDIA STUDIES AS - WRITTEN EVALUATION

In what ways does your media product use, develop or challenge forms and
conventions of real media products?
My music magazine, aimed towards the rock/indie genre of music, was designed to
retain the main conventions of a music magazine of this genre, but vary some of its
qualities in order to develop a unique brand and house style, which is distinctively
recognisable as ‘Crank’. On my front cover, I decided that I would need to
incorporate the large magazine title at the top of the page, which is conventional
of almost all magazines, so that readers can instantly identify the product as a
magazine (in accordance with the fact that the page is read from top left to
bottom right) particularly ‘Crank’ and it’s unique style and music genre when it is
available to purchase amongst other magazines. Due to the large amount of
competition on the magazine market, I decided to include the list of features on
the front page, in order to ‘tease’ the consumer, to give them an idea of what is
included in this issue. Also, I recognized that within the music magazine market,
many institutions include competitions and prizes with the intention of attracting
the audience to buy the product, for a chance to win music related items. For this
reason, I included a competition to win ‘Virgin Festival’ tickets and a free iTunes
download-relating to the modern, interactive audience that the magazine is aimed
towards. Another conventional item that I used on the front cover was the large,
full page image of a band, giving eye contact to the audience, to attract their
attention, with a common proverb anchoring the image, and introducing the band
(“Meet the new boys on the block…”). I also used a conventional, continuous colour
scheme (grey, white, red, orange) throughout my magazine design, which was
contemporary yet bright enough to be eye catching amongst other magazines in a
store, which can be reused in further issues to increase brand identity. In addition
to this, I also made certain, more important text larger and more eye-catching
than the text around it, following the convention of other magazines, in order to
invite the audience to these features of the magazine and entice them to purchase
it. Another convention of many music magazines is the use of thumbnail images
and ‘stickers’ on the front cover, which I similarly used to reflect the style of the
magazine, but also to advertise as many features as possible within the magazine,
to make it appear full and worth the money the customer will pay to purchase the
product, with the conventional price tag on the front cover, for the customer’s
ease.

Due to the fact that the magazine is presenting a new band to the readers, I
thought it was important to make the audience aware of the band name instantly,
because it would be unlikely for the readers to have heard of them before. I did
this by using a name board, which relates to the set and the name of the band (in a
police line-up), which is used primarily for identification. Furthermore, as the band
is not famous, it challenges the usual convention of a front cover to contain a more
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MEDIA STUDIES AS - WRITTEN EVALUATION

iconic subject, so I new it was important for the band to have an eye-catching,
unique and creative photo shoot, especially on the front cover of a magazine, even
though this is not always a convention. In order to achieve this, I decided to create
a police line-up scene with the band performing, wearing orange jumpsuits. This
reflects the indie-rock genre of the band, instantly creating a distinctive identity
for both the band and the magazine, where criminals are often seen as ‘badly
behaved’, which is often associated with being socially attractive for my target
audience.

My contents page similarly incorporates both conventional and non-conventional

elements of magazines in order to create its own unique ‘niche’ in the market to
retain brand identity yet maintain the vital conventions of all magazines. I used the
conventional, continuous colour scheme from my front cover of grey, white, red
and orange in order to enhance my brand identity. I have also conformed to
conventions when placing items onto the page. I have placed the title of the page
‘Contents’ at the top of the page where it is clear and bold, inserting the date of
this issue along side. Furthermore, I have added quotes and pictures from certain
articles on the contents page, to tease these features to the audience.
Furthermore, I have used language techniques such as “Will the next best band
please stand up?”, which interacts with the reader through the use of a question,
and uses the lyrics of a famous song in order to give the reader an idea of what the
page will contain. I have also conformed to the convention of adding page numbers
onto the contents page, simply to give the reader a reference of which page the
article is on. I also ensured to conform to the stereotype of writing the features in
chronological page order in a list, for ease of access for the reader, also making
some features bolder than others, to increase their importance within the
magazine and draw the audience’s attention to them. Many music magazines
incorporate advertisements on the contents page, however I decided not to
conform to this stereotype simply because of the nature of my magazine. I wanted
the magazine to appear modern and worth the money that the reader has paid for
it and I believe that adverts at the front of the magazine may have made it seem
overcrowded and of less value.

Within my double page spread, I used an independent colour scheme, which relates
more to the band’s style, but incorporated the magazine’s colour scheme in the
‘Review’ column. Again, I conformed to many conventions of other magazines,
writing in columns, adding pictures of the band, inserting quotes from the article
and spreading certain text across the page to emphasise the concept of the double
page spread to the reader. I also used language techniques throughout the double
page spread, using intimidating language such as “interrogates” in order to relate
to the band’s own style, but conversely used more sophisticated language in the
‘Review’ column (which is against conventions of most magazines of this genre), in
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MEDIA STUDIES AS - WRITTEN EVALUATION
order to portray a better description of the music to the audience, increasing the
formality of the article, making it seem more important and more exclusive.

I also ensured to use standard conventions of all magazines: I ensured that my front
page and contents page were in portrait orientation on an A4 sheet. Similarly, I
incorporated such conventions into the double page spread, with my A3 page
orientation landscape and the pages numbered for reference to the contents page.

My target audience clearly recognises this fact, as in my audience video analysis,

both of these audience members recognise the large title on the front cover, with
bright colours and a portrait orientation.

How does your media product represent particular social groups?

The representation of iconic subjects throughout my magazine is an important
feature, which allows the access of a large majority of my target audience. The
interviewee of my double page spread represents the lead singer of the band,
‘Brandon Taylor’ as a new rock ‘legend’, however also portrays him as a
professional in his music, challenging many stereotypes that some readers may
have about rock stars – many may see them as violent and careless from other
media. I have also represented the character as friendly and more ordinary on this
personal level by inserting an image of the subject watching a sunset and also by
incorporating humorous quotes that invite the reader into his life: “writing lyrics is
like brain surgery”.

Separately, I portrayed the band itself based more upon its rock style music, where
they are represented as criminals within my front cover image, which connotes a
daring, dangerous and exciting band representation, appealing to my younger
target audience. I decided to target this indie rock genre of music, due to the
results of my audience research. My questionnaires showed that over 50% of people
in my target audience prefer indie rock music to any other genre. This suggested
that there would be a large target audience for my product and more people may
purchase the magazine.

What kind of media institution might distribute your media product and why?
The ‘NME’ music magazine is published by IPC media, an institution that already
publishes over 50 magazines on the European market. This institution would
therefore give my product a large market to sell on, and possibly distribute the
product across the UK. However, due to the fact that IPC media already publishes
‘NME’, a music magazine based on a similar music genre with a similar target
audience to ‘Crank’, IPC media may not be able to publish my product as it may
compete with ‘NME’ and damage its sales. Therefore, an institution such as BCB&
Associates (http://www.bcbassoc.co.uk/), who do not currently publish any
magazines that have similarities to my own, may be suited to distribute my media
product. Also, the company provides innovational communication services that
would suit the interactivity of my magazine, as this company also produces web
sites that will suit my media product, and allow it to extend into these other forms
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MEDIA STUDIES AS - WRITTEN EVALUATION
of the media, in order to survive on the market. Furthermore, this institution will
allow me to access a large majority of my target market, with a wide distribution
range across the UK, and could possibly allow me to compete with magazines like
‘NME’.

Who would be the audience for your media product?

The demographic that my media product targets are 16-24 year old males living in
the UK, who are employed or in education and have interests in the modern world,
particularly in technology. Although this is my target market, I have also allowed
for the access of other demographics to the magazine, and females could also read
the magazine. However, the magazine is primarily based around technology, which
males have most interest in and the bands are male dominated, simply because the
rock music genre has more male artists than female. Furthermore, the vast
majority of modern music purchases and music magazine purchases are by males
and I will therefore have higher potential sales due to a larger target market. My
target audience clearly recognises who the product would be aimed at from the
design. In my 'Written Comments' the subjects mention that the product appears to
be aimed at "teenage males", who are part of the "alternative social group".

How did you attract/address your audience?

Due to the male majority of my target audience, I decided to make a modern
magazine that would get the audience involved, in order to increase sales, and
make the reader feel a part of a ‘community’, where the magazine has a unique
selling point. To do this, I needed to identify the target market’s interests through
market research (which I achieved by interviewing my focus group), then
incorporate many of these interests into the magazine. One interest that most 16-
24 year old males have is technology. My questionnaire results showed that around
80% of target audience members used social networking sites, and would prefer a
more interactive magazine through use of technology. To address these interests, I
decided firstly to fill the gap in the market for a product that uses technology to
advance rock music. I designed the magazine with a modern, metallic appearance
to connote the use of technology within the magazine, and then incorporated many
elements where the audience can interact with the magazine through uses of
technology (through social networking websites, online music prizes and contact
with the editor) in order to attract this audience. I also then used more
conventional techniques to attract the audience, such as language techniques to
make the articles more interesting, and bold features that display the music artists
as ‘icons’.

Looking back at your preliminary task, what do you feel you have learnt in the
progression from it to the full product?
During the progression from my preliminary task to the full product, I feel that I
have gained many skills and learnt more about the institutions involved in
production and publication of magazines. I feel that I have retained skills in
research, using similar techniques from my preliminary task, but through having
better design skills, I was able to use other forms of media to research into my
target audience and highlight more needs and wants of my target audience,
enabling me to address these in my final product. Having more knowledge about
technologies used in production of magazines allowed me to use Photoshop more
professionally to create a more aesthetically pleasing design that also follows
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MEDIA STUDIES AS - WRITTEN EVALUATION

important conventions more closely, but retains a unique selling point that would
make the audience want to purchase the product. To accomplish this objective
further, I supplemented my knowledge of photography from my preliminary task in
order to use sets, clothing, lighting and representation of subjects to my
advantage. I also gained knowledge of institutions that publish magazines, and
have learnt about important features that I need to add to my magazine, such as
price, and how these institutions publish their products. Through a combination of
these skills that I learnt over the course, through experimentation and research, I
feel that my final product appears more professional in all aspects and would be
able to compete against other highly established brands already on the market.