Who would be the audience for your media product?

• To find the audience for my magazine I had to first carry out a series of audience research tasks I did this because I needed to see how my magazine would be publicly received.

• My Magazine would be a Metal Music Magazine, which would cater to the tastes of Music genres like Metal, Punk, Alternative, Rock and Hard/classic rock.

• Because of the Nature of my Magazine and its features the target Audience would most likely be Made for elder teenagers to Young Adults/ Elder Adults.

• Firstly I created an audience research questionnaire which I sent to mainly students between the ages 15-24 of both genders.

• The Particular Age range for my questionnaire is usually the age for Students so I would also have to create and present my magazine in a student friendly manner.

The first question which I asked was ‘what is your gender?’ of the people whom answered my questionnaire I had 80% male and 20% female as a result

Because of the higher percentage of males I have aimed the format of my magazine more towards males. By this I mean that I considered questions that would ask for the suitable colour of my Magazine such as a dark red and black which look more to be masculine colours.

The next question I asked was what the name of my magazine should have been, this was important as the name of my magazine could be the deciding factor as to who would want to read my magazine. The most popular choices were Shredder and Under the Skin. The choice of the actual name was left to me and I chose Shredder as I believed it sounded more like a brand name as it was only a single word therefore more memorable.

I made it so the name of my magazine was in keeping with the theme I had chosen previously and the font was appealing to a male audience, because of such things like power being represented as a masculine trait, I wanted to make my Masthead Appear powerful.

A higher Percentage of people on my questionnaire stated that they would wish to see Red on Black as the primary colour scheme in my magazine.For this Question I attempted to choose Multiple gender neutral colours that I also believed would blend together well and be inviting for a reader.The Higher percentage on the favourite colour scheme could be linked with the larger percentage of Males on my previous question.I applied the audience chosen colour scheme to the magazine I would create. Whilst mixing in a few additions to colour Such as white, which I believed would meet with the target audiences needs well

This mood board show the things which would make an ideal reader for my Magazine. My content would include similar features as to the ones depicted in the mood board, these feature range from things like Fashion to other things like Literature.

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

• The media institution that would produce my magazine would be; Future PLC as they are a well known international media group and widely renowned digital publisher.

• This media institution would be ideal for the distribution of the magazine I have made because of their ability to expand and publish to devices like smart phones, Tablets and PC’s as well as distributing through a standard print format. This wide variety of methods of publication would ensure my magazine receives the largest potential audience it can possibly get.

• Future is publishing internationally so if it were to publish my Magazine it would not only have a maximum outreach of the UK but would also be marketable to audiences in areas within Europe and North America.

• The magazine which I took inspiration from ‘Metal Hammer’ is published by future PLC, this means that my magazine would be well suited being published by the same media group as instead of creating counter productive competition, the two brands could create synergy and use each other to achieve an audience as well as sales.

These are the brand names published under Future PLC, there are multiple magazines based on things Like Guitars, video games, film and vehicles.All these types of publications could prove useful in conjunction with my own magazine, this could range from things like offers on my magazine to articles found inside.

How does your media product represent particular social groups?

• My magazine is about the Metal music genre so it is therefore aimed at the Metal social sub cultures it could also extend to Punk and Hard rock sub cultures.

• I have attempted to portray this through the usage aggressive imagery such as swords and other forms of weaponry, in addition to this my colour scheme of red and black can convey aggressive feelings as the two colours aren’t uncommon to be related to things such as Blood and Shadows. My Chosen Typography is another factor which could be representative of particular social groups. My chosen fonts range from things that are quite Bold in size and colour but don’t provide a solid fill to other lighter forms of text that look a lot sharper and are clearly finer.

• Any other key aspects of a persons lifestyle, such as; Hobbies like Video games, Fashion, Vehicles or Film could also link in well to particular social groups that my magazine is aimed at and also portrays. These four things could alongside the music basis of my magazine also represent a Metal Listeners Community, in terms of the way the people within that community would like to dress, what films they enjoy watching, what Games they will play as well as what types of vehicles they would drive, For example a stereotypical representation of the metal Community is that they often ride Motorbikes.

• The features of my Magazine which are useful in appealing to and portraying the Metal Community social group are things such as; the Mast head which is written in such a way that it will cause a reader to be in awe of the Sharp Look it has to it as well as the Sword backing on it to promote a feeling of Power.

• The Stance of my Main image is somewhat loose shouldered meaning he is relaxed but his forward lean also suggests that he would be ready to break into action, I believe this represents things like a Punk social group well as the Idea behind Punk Music is rebellion, so the loose body of my main image shows a lack of caring which is easy to believe to be the same thing as rebelling.

• On my contents my Images all feature a dim lighting which fits in with the idea of shadows being an often spoken of and used part of Metal sub culture. One of my images even portrays Fire in front of a crowd, which suggests that to a metal community, Danger is a minor feeling, and the community would be Fearless.

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

real media products?

Cover• The genre of my Magazine is metal music, I have attempted

to take inspiration from other metal/alternative magazines such as Metal Hammer or Kerrang.

• The devices I have used on my Front Cover are what I can expect to see on other music Magazines, especially those which hold to the same genre as the one I have created. Conventions such as a Pug which usually offers something such as a free gift, competition chance or even sometimes just additional information, all of these things can be seen on the example Covers I have included as well as upon my own cover.

• I have attempted to keep a consistent theme with my magazine in a similar way to which my examples show, such as; the blue on black background or a simple black and white, with additional red. The colours in which I myself have chosen, Red on black, are derived from what I believe to be a main theme to the metal genre in terms of music, for the red it represents Feelings such as anger or hatred, or more physically things like blood and gore. For the black used I believe represents things like shadow or nothingness. The example covers also use their colour schemes in order to portray an underlying message. These colours I have used are often commonly associated with the metal Music Genre as well as any fashion that is associated with the metal music scene.

• I have attempted to keep to the same format of Photography for the main cover photo as used in Both the Metal Hammer cover and the Kerrang cover respectively, this is a mid shot, which makes sure the content of the image is at least half their body, meaning it is an ideal image type for a front cover.

Contents• Once again I have attempted to make use of all the conventions one

would expect to see from a Magazine in my chosen genre of music• I have managed to make sure my use of colour in the contents page is

consistent with that of my Cover. I have done this because I still wish to portray the same idea and message that I have with my cover, of anger, fear, or hate.

• I have analysed Magazines of my chosen genre to find the way in which they are able to give the reader feelings’ such as a sense of fear. I have achieved this not only through use of colour, but more deliberate and direct imagery. I have used the same approach in placing a sword into my main title, because I believe the placement of weaponry allows me to be able to convey ideas through more than the use of colour as well.

• I tried to include all the conventions that could be found in all magazines contents pages, things such as; an editors Letter, a list of contents alongside some images with which you can expect to be able to show the nature of the article.

• I have taken steps in order to even make my magazine more modern and relevant to digital media with the use of a QR code which readers would be able to scan for extras. Something some Magazines wont Make full use of or make no use of at all.

My Contents list is very similar to that of my chosen issue of metal hammer as well as The Drummer Contents list. All three are in the same colour scheme as each other which is red and black.I have included on my contents list a website address, I have done this so that I am combining multiple forms of media as well as this I have attempted involving technologies into my product.I Then tried to match the format of the text seen in my examples, which displays the name of a chosen band and then includes extra information on that particular article.

Contents List

Double Page Spread

• The Examples used here are From Kerrang and Metal Hammer. Both Magazines have Stayed Consistent to their original colour schemes as well as the usage of their font. Once more I wanted my Magazine to remain the same in its consistency although I did still try to keep it to my own house style so I included red on black but I also made a change by incorporating a lot of purple & white since they are opposite colours to red and black and I believed it would blend quite well .

• The conventions I tried to Use on this were; Grey box in order to add detail to the image I provided, and also a pull Quote to make the potential reader want to read the article

• I made sure the band being represented in my article was portraying my message, for instance the first part of my main title is ‘Kings’ written in bold this is useful to my aims as it connotes power. I Kept the colour scheme I had been using throughout the rest of my magazine but used it on the magazine name only. The title of my article has been made larger so that it is obvious to the reader where the article begins.

• The article I chose to write was an interview, this is very similar the nature of the articles I have chosen to use as my examples as they too are interviews. I attempted to portray this through use of things like pull quotes which would be sourced from a quote featured in my article, most likely a quote from the interviewee . My examples too have used this device .

How did you attract/ address your audience?

• I addressed the audience I wanted for my Magazine by Naming the product Shredder. This was the chosen Masthead from when I asked my target Audience what they would prefer the name of the brand to be.

• From the name Shredder you are able to Tell instantly what the associated genre of Music is for my magazine. I have sought to make it so that the actual font of my masthead gives a sleek yet also Dynamic presence. The reader will also notice the effects of the Masthead as it is eye catching because of the colours used.

• On my magazine front cover, my main image makes eye contact with the reader as it is looking straight out, using the rule of thirds attention is immediately drawn to the top corner.

• The Large Font for my main feature is easily noticeable and it is apparent that is linked to the main image. It is eye catching because of the colour scheme I have kept throughout the magazine which is red on black.

What have you learnt about Technologies from constructing your product?

• Adobe Photoshop is the main computer program that I made use of in the creation of my magazine. Throughout the creation of the magazine I have also learned how to make efficient use of the Photoshop program.

• I needed to use Photoshop in order to edit the photos I had taken, so that they would be made suitable for usage in a magazine format.

• I also used Photoshop in order to create devices for my front cover such as things like Pugs as well as things like Barcodes to authenticate my magazine.

• These are some of the images I have edited using Photoshop;

• From what I have learned by utilising Photoshop in my work I am now capable of creating professional looking work, such as well edited images and well presented Typography

• In addition to my skills that I have acquired from Photoshop, I have furthered my experience in the use of Microsoft Publisher. I have done this when I am creating my articles for my magazine such as Its double page spread. Using Publisher I had to consider the usage of my spacing when I needed to think about the format of my magazine. A key factor behind writing my articles is the focus on what text I would use so I chose a standard font such as Arial which wouldn’t be difficult to understand to an audience.

Looking back at your preliminary task, what have you learned from the progression to the

full product?

Magazine Cover There is a noticeable difference between the Magazine cover I created for my preliminary task and the cover I made in my music Magazine. This is due to how at the time when my Aquinas magazine was being made I lacked the same inspiration that was able to later apply to My Shredder Magazine, the inspiration used was the magazine Metal Hammer. The Aquinas magazine is a lot plainer in colour and also has a lot less going on the page. This was due to how I had not yet had experience with Photoshop and had to resort to more basic methods of creation.

Contents Page My two contents pages are a lot different compared to each other, this is because of the extra detail I Have provided in my Music magazine, items such as; a better editors letter, an improved contents list, use of technologies like QR codes and website URLs & finally more relevant imagery which are appropriate to the music magazine, unlike my Aquinas magazine which has multiple images but lacks explanations for them.