Abandon very much so draws upon influences from the magazines I read such as NME, Kerrang!, Rocksound, Q and Total Guitar. How each section is influenced by existing conventions is shown below along with how it challenges these conventions.
Front Cover
My front cover is probably the most influenced section of my magazine. Firstly focusing on the header, it is clearly very much influenced by Rocksound. The layout is very similar, the lettering for the name is bold and instantly catches the eye of the viewer. The tag line "Britain's Loudest Music Mag!" is also a familiar characteristic of teen based rock magazines, however they are more often applied to the brands themselves rather than the actual magazine. For example Kerrang!'s is "Life Is Loud" however they use this for their TV channel and Radio station rather than for the actual magazine. In terms of images, my magazine is pretty unique. The photo's themselves are similar to those which may be included in Rocksound, in the way that they are casual and are of things relevant to the genre of music. However, as with my contents page, on the front cover I have Incorporated a more rough and casual scrapbook style. The photo's are also pretty basic and are not edited to an extreme extent, which means that the audience will be able to relate to the images on a more personal level. The incorporation of a very different style at the bottom is due to band representation which I will explain more in the double-page spread section.
Contents Page
My contents page is more influenced by NME more than anywhere. The way that the bands are alphabetically listed, with page references, is typical of The New Musical Express. Even though the format and layout is influenced by NME I tries to make the contents page much more influenced by the genre and Pop-Punk artwork than anywhere else.
This is why again a scrapbook style is used and the varsity fonts come in (originating from the genre being American based). The informal captions under each story headline and the use of familiar icons (e.g. the caution sign) is adapted from the magazine Front, which is an all round lads mag. The serif font and and faded background image are more influenced by Q and Uncut. These are the only features of my magazine that make it seem formal. Finally, like the majority of music magazines I have applied a colour theme, made up of Red, Black & White, which I kept for both my cover and contents page. In this way I have not challenged conventions as I feel it is appropriate and less visually confusing for the reader if you keep a general colour theme.Double-Page Spread
As I mentioned previously some of the artwork is completely centered around how the band wants to be portrayed. My fictitious band 'The Warhol Look' have opted for a more 60's dark feel.
Much like bands such as Panic! at the disco and Angels & Airwaves. Kerrang! and Rocksound both produce their articles like this. They are keen to please the bands and represent them in the way they wish to be represented. This is the reason that the artwork and colour theme have both changed drastically for my double page spread. I wanted to show that there are many sub-genre's within Pop-Punk such as power pop, dark pop, emo and crunkcore. However you can still clearly tell that the double page spread belongs to the same magazine. This is because of the fonts, relaxed interview style, format and use of a tag line. These are constant and work as a sort of signature for the magazine. Who is the target audience for my magazine?
There is a mass audience for Abandon, many teenagers across the UK read magazines similar to it such as Kerrang! and Rocksound. Followers of Pop-Punk also tend to be very dedicated to music and will often follow their favourite bands religiously. However, due to the genre being much more dominant in North America the mass target audience will be made smaller by limiting the magazine to the UK. For this reason Abandon could be sold online to reach a much wider international audience.
Age- 13-24 (This is a rough estimate and is likely to expand on both ends)
Gender- My magazine is not intended to be gender specific however NRS shows that the magazines that I have taken my influences from have slightly higher male readership bases. This difference however is in my opinion not wide enough to be influential over the production of the magazine.
Interests- The interests of my target audience are very typical of many teenagers. They are likely to enjoy such things as gigs, festivals, parties and also will probably have very hectic social lives. Basically charismatic and friendly music lovers.
Lifestyle- My target audience's lifestyle is likely to revolve around education and part-time employment.
Socioeconomic Group- There is no economic group bias to Abandon in the slightest. Trying to categorise my audience by this would completely go against the message that the genre is trying to portray. The idea that anyone, no matter what their class status, can enjoy & unite over their troubles and the instant gratification that the music provides.
Penumbra Effect- Many people will indirectly consume my magazine as it has such a social audience. Many of the ideas and articles will often be discussed in social circumstances. This can have both a negative and positive affect. Negatively it may cause the magazine to be shared between people, directly lowering sales. On the other hand the social discussion works as a form of advertising via word of mouth.
How did I address/attract my target audience?
My audience is catered for very well with this magazine. As my interviews and public reviews will show you. I achieved this through using casual and relatable themes for my target audience, Casual interviews, eye-catching colours, vibrant photos and references to the artists personal lives. The pictures also represent my target social group and the activities that they partake in. As previously mentioned the language is informal, unlike my influences however I have not used direct address as I want the info and articles to appeal to a large group and be shared rather than have the reader think it is all about their views and interests. To further attract my target audience it has been suggested that Abandon includes a free gift each month such as a CD.
How does my magazine represent a particular social group?
The preferred reading of my magazine will represent my target social group in a positive way. The social group that my text represents consists of what is knows as greb, emo and scene kids. There the ones you see in town where they're all hugging each other and you're not sure which ones are which. However, even though personally I show some distain towards this social clique my magazine should represent them as social, active and charismatic.
What media institution would distribute my magazine?
My magazine has a mass appeal similar to Kerrang!'s therefore using the same distributor as them would have a very positive influence. Bauer should be able to effectively make sure that Abandon is reaching it's target audience via selling location and geographical area. Because of the mass appeal, Abandon can be sold almost everywhere; High street stores (such as WHS), Supermarkets and even small news-agents. However, as previously mentioned, the magazine would suffer if it was not distributed online to try and reach it's entire target audience.
Preliminary vs. Full product
Since the prelim my understanding of the production of a media text has grown immensely. The main point that I have learnt is the importance of the target audience. With my prelim I just dug my claws straight in and threw out random ideas that I thought looked cool; there was no actual acknowledgment of a target audience during production. However with my real product, the target audience were identified before anything else, the features of my magazine were then based around the target audience. My editing skills have also improved, the images on my prelim are a lot less polished and look extremely unprofessional. One idea that carried over from the prelim however was the constant colour theme, I knew that this idea would be Incorporated into my magazine from a very early stage. There are also slight visual influences that can be seen on the contents page, the layout has similarities and the scrapbook/straight edge picture style is also used in both. Finally, the amount of detail and care that went into my full product was at least quadrupled. With the full product I had to play the part of writer, editor, photographer and CEO (I managed to keep busy) going through the processes of each of these roles such as taking and writing up the article, editing the article, taking appropriate photographs and then handling how the finished product would be sold, really opened my eyes to the world of journalism and publication.
No comments:
Post a Comment