Name: Wendy BerryCandidate Number:Centre: 33435 Aquinas College

AS Media StudiesOCR G321: Foundation Portfolio

Create the front cover, contents page and double page spread for a new music magazine

My Media Product

WHO WOULD THE AUDIENCE BE FOR

YOUR MEDIA PRODUCT?

Q1

`I aimed my magazine at…

Males and females aged 16-25

Working/middle class students and young professionalsWho know what

music they like…Use social media…

Who spend money on…

Who like to shop at…

Who live in…

Who might play an instrument…

Influenced by…

Q1

My Target Audience• My target audience will be students and

young professionals that are both male and female aged between 16 and 25.

• The genre for my music magazine will be rock with sub-genres of indie rock, alternative rock and soft rock. Bands who fall into these genre categories are quite rebellious so appeal to my target audience of older teenagers who want to be individual and rebel from a mainstream lifestyle.

• My target audience will also be of that age where they start going to gigs and festivals. The bands that fall into the genre that I have chosen are mostly likely to play a lot of gigs and appear at quite a few festivals. Therefore, I will include information about upcoming gigs and festivals but also review previous ones.

Q1

My Target Audience• I feel that my magazine would be similar to NME because they both have a niche

audience. However, perhaps not by design the NME is aimed at and caters for a largely male audience. My audience research indicates that sizeable proportion audience feels that it doesn’t fully address the issues that these people are interested in, these people being female. In addition my research shows that there is a significant number of females with an interest in this area who feel that there needs and expectation aren’t being catered for at all and so chose not to buy or read any magazine. I aim to attract these females too.

Q1

Primary AudienceIt is generally males that buy music and therefore music magazines. On the market there are music magazines that are aimed at males that buy alternative music. However the majority of magazines on the market that are aimed at females when it comes to music tend to focus on disposable pop e.g. X Factor winners and manufactured boy bands. There isn’t a magazine aimed at the audience of females within the age group 16-25 who our interested in alternative rock and this is a demographic that is overlooked.

Q1

Demographic• The demographic for my media product is female indie, alternative

and soft rock fans between the ages of 16 and 25.

Q1

Audience Idols• From my research I found out that

the biggest idol for my audience is the Arctic Monkeys and their lead singer Alex Turner.

• Many readers of my music magazine will be aspiring musicians so as the Arctic Monkeys achieved success through their own efforts, they are perfect role models for my audience who will then idolise them.

• The image of the Arctic Monkeys is also very inspiring to my audience as they dress very retro 50’s with slicked back hair, sunglasses and smart clothing however there still is that essence of a scruffy and rough look which is currently the main fashion for my audience. They also want to give the impression that if four ordinary lads from Sheffield can turn their image around then so can other aspiring musicians.

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Q1

My Ideal Reader• The ideal reader for my product is someone who aspires to be like

Haim, Lana Del Rey or Alex Turner. These are people who model themselves on these singers and will copy their hairstyles, fashion and style because they want to be like them. The ideal reader for my magazine are people who are very up to date with their music taste and constantly are aware of what’s going on in the music industry.

Q1

HOW DOES YOUR MEDIA PRODUCT REPRESENT PARTICULAR SOCIAL

GROUPS?

Q2

Social GroupsQ2

• My media product represents the alternative social group.

• When researching social groups on www.uktribes.com I found out that the alternative social group likes ‘rejecting the Mainstream lifestyle’ and therefore does not want to listen to chart music but alternative/indie music like in my magazine.

• I have also found out that the alternative social group are quite ‘independent’ and again don’t want to follow the mainstream so consequently will want to listen to authentic bands rather than manufactured groups in the charts.

Social Groups• From my research I found

out that the alternative social group get ‘inspiration from indie band culture’. This shows that alternative and indie music plays an influential part on their lives and a lot of what my audience do is based on their favourite band. This could be to do with the music they listen to but also the way they dress and act.

Q2

Social Groups: Style• Style icons such as Lana Del Rey, Karen O and Florence Welch are

influential to my audience because their style is individualistic and not off the peg from chain stores. My audience will be able to copy or take bits from their styles from picking up items from second hand or vintage shops e.g. charity shops, Afflecks Palace or COW.

Q2

• My target audience will identify with Alex Turner on my front cover as being one of the most iconic character representing alternative/indie music at the moment. Because the music genre is not gender specific, the cover might feature a male or a female artist, so long as this person is relevant to the target audience.

Q2

Social Groups: Cover Star