2. 5. How did you attract/address your audience?
My media product is a rock n’ roll magazine, tailored towards young adults around 17-20. The
target audience would be a mass audience, categorised in social class group C1 or C2 and
characterised by “The Mainstream” consumer characterisation. I think they would also likely be of a
white British ethnicity, but it may also appeal to others.
The name of my magazine is The A-Side. The “A-Side” is the side of a single that is regarded as the
main one, the reason people buy the single. The “B-Side”, however is the side of a single that is
used for things like covers and less popular songs. This shows that the magazine will mainly
showcase content by popular artists, so the audience knows what to expect just from the title of the
magazine alone.
3. Front Cover
My front cover includes one of the main band members from the double
page spread article standing in the middle, holding a guitar. This was
intentional, as this conforms to the common stereotype of rock magazines
where the main star of the issue is featured in the center with their
instrument.
I also attracted the audience by using buzz words such as “EXCLUSIVE” in
the cover lines, and is particularly noticeable in the puff on the cover.
The star of the cover is wearing a hoodie, jeans and a basic shirt,
conforming to the stereotypical casual style of most modern rock artists
today such as Foo Fighters. He is providing direct address to the audience
by looking straight at the camera. This is very reminiscent of popular rock
magazines such as Q and NME, conforming to the same connotations.
The colour scheme I have chosen is mainly red, blue and white colours
with some yellow. The reason I have chosen these colours is because they
contrast heavily with each other and are easy on the eyes, so the audience
will be attracted to it.
5. Contents Page
This contents page is fairly basic when it comes to attracting the audience. It
includes page numbers, a brief synopsis of what information that particular
page contains, and three images to go along with the main cover line
pages.
The main feature of the contents page is the image at the bottom of the
members of the fictional band I created for the magazine, “The Clause”.
They are all bunched together in casual clothing, posing similar to how a
rockstar would, and making direct address with the audience by looking
into the camera. They are all dressed as stereotypical young people,
sporting hoodies, jackets and basic shirts and jeans. This is intentional as it
conforms to common conventions of rock magazines.
I also included social media links at the bottom for Facebook and Twitter.
Most of today’s youth will be using these social media sites, so it is
necessary to have something like this so the audience can relate.
I have used the same colour scheme here for the contents page as the front
cover, and I will be using this same colour scheme for the double page
spread article.
6. Masthead
Images of artists with
page numbersPage numbers
with descriptions
of content
Buzz words
Social media
7. Double Page Spread
With the double page spread, I used the band together
for the main image which goes across both pages. They
are still in casual clothes, looking serious and making
direct address with the audience. I titled the article “The
Men Who Sold The World”, due to a story within the
article explained by the band members which may interest
the audience to go looking for it. It is also a direct
reference to the David Bowie single from 1970, “The Man
Who Sold The World”, which was also popularised in the
80’s by artist Midge Ure and again in the mid-90’s by
singer Kurt Cobain from grunge band Nirvana.
The story within the article is about the band’s rise from
being a small gig band to selling venues such as
Glastonbury, a classic success story that will intrigue up
and coming rock musicians who may or may not read the
magazine.
9. Conclusion
Overall I think I have done an alright job at trying to grab the audience’s interests by using different
methods when producing a media product, this being a music magazine. The front cover is the
strong point for the entire magazine I think, as I was able to use my Photoshop and Media
knowledge to my full potential. My magazine tends to conform to the common forms and
conventions of many other music magazines, which was an intentional choice, as I feel that it is
what the audience are most used to, and what they will be attracted to the most.
