Question 4 - Who would be the audience for your media product?

Evaluation

Who would be the audience for your media product?

Media products would not function without an audience and therefore audience is key. The media is constantly shaped and manipulated to satisfy their audience. To decide on who I should aim my media product at, I created a survey on SurveyMonkey and also filmed an interview with a prospective member of the projected audience demographic for my magazine, using a Canon Digital SLR 600D Camera.

My survey, which can be found at http://www.surveymonkey.com/s/H5ZWDS6, featured 10 questions about magazines and their potential audiences. The results I collected from my survey can be found earlier on in my blog and these results helped me decide on varying things from the genre and price of my magazine to the age of my audience to what I should use to attract my audience.

Here is what I observed from the answers I received for my question about the ages of people taking my survey:

"The survey results show that 13 people in the age bracket of 0-16 took the survey, 5 in the 17-24 bracket and 3 in the 50+ bracket. This suggests that the age group to aim my magazine at is likely to fall somewhere between the 0-16 and 17-24 categories"

Using this information, I have decided to aim my magazine at 15-24 year olds. This may seem an odd decision as I have a large majority of people in the 0-16 years old category but in hindsight I know that most of the people who have taken the survey, my friends, are 15/16/17 years old. If I were to repeat the survey I would probably change the boundaries of the answers to the question and potentially circulate my survey to a broader audience in order to gain a more balanced reply.

Here is another direct quote from my results analysis regarding my survey: 

"The results here were also quite spread. 'Dance' received the most votes closely followed by 'rock'. 'Hip Hop' and 'RnB' are two genres that could be merged in a magazine and therefore should also be considered as a highly sought-after option for my magazine"

With the aid of this information, I decided to make the genre of my magazine Hip Hop/RnB, merging two similar genres which received high votes in my survey whilst also attacking an area of the market which I know from my market research is far from competitive. The gap in the market would make my magazine more attractive to both readers and potential media institutions.

I then filmed an interview filmed with a Canon Digital SLR 600D Camera and transferred the interview to a computer using a SD Card. The interview consisted of me asking someone who I feel would fit the demographic for the audience of my magazine questions about what he'd like to see in and on a magazine and what he'd be willing to spend on said magazine. 

Below I have produced a Reader Profile, made on Adobe Photoshop, representing the things that I would expect my audience to also be interested in, giving a visual representation of my potential audience.

Question 3 - What kind of media institution might distribute your media product and why?

Evaluation

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



http://www.bauermedia.co.uk/

A media institution is a company that funds/produces, distributes, publishes, distributes and regulates media products. Institutions are the structures in which a pool of media movements/concepts/products reside. Said products are regulated and distributed by the media institution. IPC, Bauer Media and Future are all examples of media institutions.

The media institution I would choose or prefer to distribute my magazine would be Bauer Media. When carrying out market research into media institutions, I looked at Bauer Media and IPC Media. The two institutions are relatively similar in size and stature and distribute similar products. I would however, choose Bauer over IPC purely on the fact they are slightly more diverse, as my research showed me that "the demographic for Bauer Media is very broad and they reach an audience of all ages and classes and tastes". This broad demographic is favourable to my product as the target audience of my magazine in terms of class and social status is relatively broad, especially considering the mature/lower class contrast of my product.

Bauer Media contribute to the media through many different channels including magazines, television and radio. The genre of magazines they produce are varied and they don't follow a particular trend. Magazines produced by Bauer include Match!, Digital Photo and Classic Bike, as you can see, a broad range. The music magazines produced by Bauer are 'Q' and 'Kerrang!'. This shows us the that the demographic for Bauer Media is very broad and they reach an audience of all ages and classes and tastes.

Similarly to Bauer Media, IPC Media supply mostly websites and magazines. The magazines mostly cover lifestyle, culture and home. The music magazine they do produce is 'NME', a magazine that is difficult to categorize in terms of genre. I would judge IPC Media to have a slightly more mature demographic, yet still relatively open and flexible. 

All this considered, I would choose Bauer Media to produce my magazine for a few reasons. Both Bauer and IPC (the institutions I examined in my research) have gaps in their respective portfolios for a hip hop genre music magazine and therefore both would have a lot to gain from my magazine and my magazine would gain a lot of support from the company. Arguably the key reason behind choosing Bauer is that they have a slightly less mature demographic to IPC and due to the fact my magazine is aimed at young adults, it would make sense to choose them.

Question 2 - How does your media product represent particular social groups?

Evaluation

How does your media product represent particular social groups?

To answer this question, I have made a slideshow on Microsoft Office PowerPoint and uploaded it using my account on SlideShare. The slideshow can be found here: How does your media product represent particular social groups?

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

Evaluation

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

Figure 1

My magazine both uses many conventions of other media products in the same genre. As you can see in Figure 1 and Figure 2, the mise-en-scene of the images used are very similar. Figure 1 and Figure 2 are both very simple images with plain white backgrounds. Both models have no props, which is representative of hip hop culture, guitars and other more traditional instruments are rarely associated with the genre. Figure 1 features an image that I took in an attempt to represent British hip hop and rap, a street style/fashion with simplistic needs. The coat and backpack demonstrate the outdoors, 'out and about' culture of Britain and London, where British rap is most prevalent. In both Figure 1 and Figure 2, the cover models use their hands as an expansion of personality, while both are making eye contact with the reader. Figure 1 does, however, challenge Figure 2, as in Figure 2 Rick Ross is wearing sunglasses and expensive jewellery, whilst most noticeably he is wearing no top. This contrasts with Figure 1 where sunglasses are not present and not only is the model wearing a top, he is wearing a coat, fully zipped up. Figure 1 was taken in a studio, and I then used Adobe Photoshop to re-size, reposition and alter the levels, saturation and brightness/contrast of the image. Figure 2 was likely to also have been taken in a studio.

Figure 2

The mastheads in both Figure 1 and Figure 2 are positioned at the top of the magazine, which is the case across the market. Both mastheads cover side to side of the cover, imposing themselves on the reader. This was a conscious decision by me to have a larger, noticeable masthead. Both mastheads also contrast in colour to the rest of the cover, another similarity between the two images. In Figure 3 we see another real-life magazine demonstrating common concepts of the media. In Figure 3 the masthead's bold, block, dominant superimposition over the image mirrors that of Figure 1. In Figure 1 mirrors Figure 3 by having a quotation underneath the masthead, again conforming with real-life media.

Figure 3

As in Figures 2 and 3, the date and price in Figure 1 are placed in a small print about the masthead. A difference between Figure 1 and Figures 2 and 3 is that the price and date are in the same font and colour in Figure 1 as opposed to contrasting colours used in Figures 2 and 3.

In Figure 1, the main coverline is placed over the image, as in Figures 2 and 3, although unlike 2 and 3, the coverline on 1 stretches the width of the page. Figures 1 and 2 both use a banner to present added information, whilst Figure 3 uses a list, showing the figure one both uses and challenges concepts of real media products. Figure 3 combines both a list and a coverline in a very minimalistic cover. Figure 1 is conforms with this as it is also a very simplistic, clean cover. Figure 1 also follows a similar template to Figure 2 with coverlines slightly overlapping the image of the cover model, at alternate sides of the page.

Overall we can see that Figure 1 follows many conventions set by other magazines from similar genres but also we can see a contrast in the budgets demonstrated in operation and the obvious difference that Figure 1, my magazine, is not featuring established artists with a lot of money to show off, which is something often associated with hip hop.

Final Piece - Double Page Spread

Final Piece - Contents

Final Piece - Magazine Cover