2. In what ways does your media product use, develop or challenge forms and conventions of real media productions? My product (STRUM) falls into the category of music magazine. Becauise I spent a large amount of time researching the codes and conventions of other popular music magazines in similar genres, I was able to apply them in my own. For example, artist images have been glorified in order to give a sense of enhanced status and pull quotes have also been used, as commonly seen on music magazine covers. The magazine offers everything you would find in a real magazine in the shelves. Interviews, competitions, tour dates, Q/A sessions, in depth analysis of bands that suit the genre. The look of the magazine is very professional, like other magazines the background has been kept simple, but the patterned effect is something that is held throughout the issue, I believe adding to the professional look.
3. How does your media product represent particular social groups? The punk/ alternative genre is represented fluently throughout the piece. The social group itself consists of mainly males, between the ages of 15-25 who are interested in heavier music with a slightly rebellious lifestyle in comparison to what is known as ‘social norm’. This is represented well throughout the magazine, predominately via images and style. The font styles as mentioned earlier in the blog are of the broken or distorted fonts that represent the genre well in terms of being anti-mainstream. Things associated with the alternative genre are also linked to metal/ deathcore. It represents a range of taste’ but usually the darker side of music, therefore using the blood splatter effect throughout informs the audience of what the magazine will contain, just like the fonts and images. The main band featured, ‘OPVY’ are from the post-hardcore genre, their outfits and facial expressions represent the genre perfectly and this helps inform the audience of what the magazine is about.
4. What kind of media institutions might distribute your media product and why? An example of a company that would publish and distribute my magazine would be Bauer Consumer Media. They are based in the UK and have been successful in the past with their magazine KERRANG! This means I know the company has a good interest in the genre I am publishing and that they have targeted the market very well. They currently distribute their magazines nationwide in stores and online worldwide. The same thing could be used for my magazine to make sure it reaches as large a market as possible. As the genre is not conventional but still popular, there are fans of it all over the world, so the magazine definitely has a market to be aimed at. Due to the magazine being a brand new one, establishing a fan base will be difficult, the magazine may have to start off as online-only until it reaches a subscription quota for publishing.
5. Who would be the target audience for your media product? The primary and target audience for STRUM will be males between the ages of 15-25 that have an interest in the post-hardcore scene. Although that isn’t to say someone older/ younger wouldn’t be interested. Post-hardcore often comes and goes in phases for some, but for others it will stick with them for life due to it’s unique combination of heavy metal and melodic rhythms. In the UK alone magazines like Kerrang and Alternative Press have proven extremely successful with a large market and range of audiences. I also shouldn’t rule out the female side of the market and should possibly look into making the magazine a little more mutual as the genre itself has interest from both sexes.
6. How did you attract/ address your audience? The magazine will attract it’s audience primarilythrough the wayit looks. The magazine isoozingwith conventions of the intended genre and the audience looking for magazines of thiskindwill spot it on the shelvesveryquickly. The Magazine name speaks for itself, it represents sound, instruments and the way in which I’ve edited it represents the rebellious, non-mainstream aspect of life. This addresses the audience in way that will appeal directly to their tastes, drawing them in and hopefully tempting them to buy and read the magazine.
7. What have you learnt about technologies from the process of constructing the product? A great deal, I was completely new to the software Photoshop but despite that I used guides online to work it all out and created the entire product on the program. I had no experience editing images, I learnt quickly which effects make the artist stand out and which affects made fonts look better in order to represent my genre. I have already applied to skills I learnt from this project to other aspects of work in my school life, asides from it being useful for my media coursework, the things I learnt on this project have positively affected me for a large number of work prospects.
