4. Evaluation (final)

Who would be the audience for your media product?

My audience for my magazine will be both male and females. My magazine is a pop genre so my audience will therefore reflect this interest. However, i feel my magazine predominantly targets females.

For example, 18 year old Mattie White, who would be interested in my strap lines such as winning a free i Pod, and free posters. Mattie is a fashionable girl who likes to update her look on a regular basis. She likes to shop at Topshop, Urban Outfitters and Cow. The type of music she would listen to is, Rhianna, Coldplay, Jessie J, Katy Perry, and Nicki Minaj, all pop artists. Mattie likes to watch The only way is Essex and catch up on Geordie Shore. She would be interested in my magazine because it focuses on the pop genre and is specific to her age range. I think the general theme of the magazine is appealing to her and her friends as its bright fun and exciting. 

1. Evaluation (final)

1. In what ways does your media product use, develop or challenge forms and conventions of real media products? (i.e. of music magazines)

This was one magazine that influenced my work the most, there are similarities between my work and this cover from VIBE but in some areas I have challenged this real music product where I felt was necessary to improve certain elements of my own work.

Masthead.

My masthead and the masthead from VIBE are slightly similar, however, I made a challenging yet conscious decision not to have my title in blue after researching different fonts and finding one that I believe to suit my work and reach my target audience and attract the social group of "pop" music fans. I introduced the strap lines above my masthead as they work well on the VIBE magazine and lure in the interests of different music fans, that perhaps would be interested in the celebrities Jessie J and Katy Perry. It also makes my masthead more prominent and draws attention to the title "THE BEAT". It also allowed me to play around with the colour scheme and to use it to make certain lures stand out from others and keep it looking interesting, fun and pop.

Cover lines.

The VIBE issue and my issue have both used cover lines to interest the target audience and lure in customers. I decided to use certain elements of the VIBE magazine to make my cover lines interesting and stand out. For example, "His 50 greatest songs" I have used on my magazine as "Her 50 geatest songs" fans of the artist will be intrugued by this and it works well.

Artist featured on page.

The artist on VIBE and my artist are completely different. Kanye West is seen looking stern and slightly glum whilst my artist looks fun and funky. I delibeitly challenged the form of a real music magazine as my artist works well with the genre of my magazine and attracts the social group that i intended of 13-20 year olds.

Layout

The layout between these two magazines are very similar, they both use the same colour scheme and the same layout. However, i didnt want to abide by this magazine which is why i changed and challenged certain elements such as the title, strap lines and barcode in order for my magazine to stand out on the shelf. I feel my front cover is simplistic in areas yet busy in others, I think this works well as the main image attracts my audience and the strap lines lure in other readers.

2. Evaluation (final)

2. How does your media product represent particular social groups?

When it came to choosing my main artist I wanted to create a fun carefree persona that resembled a typical pop artist. I decided to feature a young brunette girl as my main artist as I found from my research that typically women were preferred on the front cover, have more saleability, and would represent the particular social group I chose. My choice of artist was strongly influenced by the singer Katy Perry; she’s young, fun, care free and looks great. I chose several different outfits for my artist; one that appeared most popular was the "boy" top which is associated with stars such as Jessie J and Rihanna that i decided to include in my magazine as they have a huge fan base of teens and adults that love their music. From my research a cover that inspired my "pop" theme was VIBE, featuring Kanye West. The colour scheme immediately stuck and I portrayed the colour scheme in the "pop" genre of my music magazine. This was something I thought my target audience would appreciate and enjoy.