media studies coursework.

1. Final Evaluation Question 5 -
How did you attract/address
your audience?

2. Front Cover -
 Whilst designing my music magazine front cover i opted to use a variety of
techniques in order to make the page noticeable and appealing to the target
audience - indie scenesters.To do this, i used a variety of bright, eye catching
colours in order to give the front cover a certain uniqueness which in turn
allows it to stand out from any other.This uniqueness is highly appealing to
the target audience as they are a group of people renowned for being
unique and different from anybody else, i feel that through the use of bright,
interesting colours, the uniqueness of the magazine cover can appeal to the
unique personalities of the indie scenesters.
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 Whilst researching existing indie/alternative music magazines, i decided that the
overall style and appearance of NME, was the style which i would attempt to
emulate in order to produce a magazine cover which was eye catching,
simplistic and aesthetically pleasing toward the target audience. By
recreating techniques used by NME, i have created a magazine cover which
is appealing toward a similar target audience, the indie scenesters.Therefore,
whilst designing my music magazine front cover, i used a number of
techniques used by NME in order to create a professional, indie looking
magazine which is extremely appealing toward the indie scenesters.
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3. Whilst designing my final magazine
cover i opted to replicate a common
feature used by indie magazines such as
NME and Q, and used the main image
as the CVI of the page.The use of the
main image on my magazine cover
allows the cover to become a
statement and an extremely eye
catching and intriguing page, and one
which is once again unique from any
other.The image used is of featuring
indie rock band, Marshall Stacks front
man, Harry Julian.The image consists of
Julian staring directly down the lens of
the camera in order to target the
audience and give the audience a sense
of his arrogant personality. By using an
intriguing image with many
connotations behind it, the target
audience is likely to be attracted
toward the magazine, due to its
appealing aesthetics.

4. Contents -

 Whilst designing my contents page i opted to use a number of techniques in order to keep the target
audience attracted and interested.To add a fresh appeal to the page i decided to use a different colour
palette and used the traditional 3 printing colours of black, white and red. I decided to use these
particular colours on the contents page as they have been proven to complement each other
exceptionally well and allow important information, in this case what is featuring in the magazine, the
be read simply and clearly by the target audience.The use of a different colour palette also keeps the
audience attracted as the difference between each page suggests that the magazine is ever changing, as
is the music industry and the indie scenesters themselves.
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 Another technique used on the contents page to keep the audience attracted and interested was the use
of linguistic devices such as interesting lexis e.g. "Kasabian to headlineV"The use of language such as
this keeps the reader interested as it is intriguing and simple to understand. Information such as this is
extremely dysphemistic, something which is needed on a contents page. Language such as this is used
in order to state exactly what is featuring in the rest of the magazine, this avoids unwanted confusion
and allows the contents page to be the simplistic, easy to understand page which it needs to be.

5.  Whilst researching existing music magazines and
their contents pages i discovered a particular
technique which i attempted to emulate
whilst designing my music magazine contents
page.This particular technique was the use of
a variety of features on the contents page.
Whilst designing my contents page i added a
list of the main features within the magazine
e.g. "Marshall Stack Exclusive, find out why
the tremendous trio are taking the UK by
storm" by using a feature such as this, the
audience is able to see clearly who is
featuring inside the magazine and what their
article will be about.Another feature i added
to my contents page was reviews. I
discovered this technique whilst analysing Q
magazine and opted to emulate their style in
order to create a contents page which
appeared realistic and held a substantial
amount of information.The reviews section
of the contents page features singles reviews,
album reviews as well as artist reviews.This
extra amount of information allows the
audience to have a variety of options whist
choosing what to read.
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6. Double Page Spreads -
 Whilst designing my two double page spreads i once again opted to change the colour
palette in order to stick to the theme of change, to symbolise the constant change
which takes place within the music business.The use of a different colour palette
(black, white, yellow and blue) on the double page spreads also suggests that
Marshall Stack, the featured band, are different and unique from anything else in the
magazine due to the use of the different colours.This choice of colour allows the
target audience, indie scenesters, to see just how unique Marshall Stack are.This
uniqueness is what appeals to the scenesters, therefore, the use of colour allows
both the artist and the magazine to appear to the target audience.

 On both double page spreads a CVI has been used in order to capture the audiences
attention immediately. On both pages, the CVI is in fact an image of the band. I
opted to use this particular technique to portray to the audience that the band are
the main focus point of both pages.The use of the CVI also makes it easier for the
audience to be drawn is, as the CVI is able to capture the readers attention
immediately, due to its size and presence on the page.

8. Double Page spread 2-
 After analsying existing examples of double page spreads from
indie/alternative music magazines i discovered a particular
technique which made both the page and the entire
magazine memorable, this particular technique is commonly
known as a pull quote.The pull quote is a quotation from an
artist which has been taken, or pulled, from the text and
highlighted elsewhere on the page.The use of pull quotes on
my double page spreads allows the audience to be
entertained whilst reading, as the quotations picked are
amusing yet sum up the band in a single sentence.
Techniques such as this appeals to the indie scensters, as the
members of this particular social group are youthful people
who are not extremely interested in reading, so by using a
pull quote the article is broken down and is made more
interesting and therefore appealing toward the target group.
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