Diary Entry Week 7

This week I began planning my photoshoot. I created a plan on a Word document, and brainstormed ideas - these included elements such as different camera shots, props, lighting, etc. In order to carry out my plan I carried out research on several mainstream magazines with photoshoots and listed points that made it a good photoshoot.

Audience Profile

My key demographic would be a young generation who perhaps go to university although there may be many people who were interested in the magazine despite the target audience being specific to 20 year olds.
They would generally be ‘metal-heads’ who constantly listen to music while travelling to work or gigs on public transport or in their cheap cars which serve no purpose other than transport.
The target audience will particularly enjoy Heavy Metal that is not over the top with screaming but with good quality Metal and singing as well as impressive guitar and drum solos.
They would have a part time job but all their money would be spent on going to see their favourite bands live and would be the kind of ‘die hard’ fans who push their way to the front to be closer to their idols and the action.
They would already be subscribed to various other music magazines as any free time they have, if there’s no gig on, would be spent either reading the magazines or relaxing at home or at a mates with Metal playing in the background.
Their perfect night out would be meeting up with their mates, having a few drinks, heading to a Bullet For My Valentine gig, getting right to the front and singing along with the songs, word for word. They would also be willing to spend some extra cash to get backstage if they could to meet the band afterwards and generally, have a good time.

Thanks to the results of my poll (posted on my blog) I have found that my target audience would prefer a simplistic and appealing layout, suggesting that they themselves would be simplistic people who aren’t fussy. This is further supported by the next question where the majority answered saying they’d rather have a minimalist and simple front cover.
They would prefer Interviews and General Music News, accompanied by many pictures to keep the magazine interesting and aesthetically pleasing.

More people have said that they would prefer a monthly magazine and that they would prefer that on paper form.
Of the 17 people that answered whether they were subscribed to a music magazine, 5 said yes and 12 said no but only 1 out of those 12 said they wouldn’t subscribe to one in the future, therefore I will be aiming to sell my magazine in a shop as generally people don’t subscribe but buy on impulse, again displaying the type of personality my readers have.

They also said that Black and Red are the most relatable colours to the heavy metal culture and that the body positioning and/or poses that the Band members make are the most important when taking photos whereas the second most important is their appearance, mostly clothing.

Name Creation Slideshow

Magazine Poll Results

Magazine poll results

View more presentations from maxdowling.

I evaluated the results from my poll (published on my blog) and I turned the results into tables to better express how the various people responded to the questions and to make it more clear why I made certain decisions for my magazine.

Audience Research

1.       My key demographic would be a young generation generally in the C2DE group of the NRS social grade. They would generally be ‘metal-heads’ who constantly listen to music while travelling to work or gigs on public transport or in their cheap cars which serve no purpose other than transport. The target audience will particularly enjoy Heavy Metal that is not over the top with screaming but with good quality Metal and singing as well as impressive guitar and drum solos.

2.       Metal heads are usually spotted by their looks. Usually denim jeans (Blue or black), band shirts, long hair/shaved hair, etc. The metal heads truly are the stupidest group of people to pick a fight with, we may be the quiet type, but metal heads could easily wipe out multiple kids, and have a short temper that goes along with that. The metal culture however has dropped quite a bit, seeing as how the "hip" thing is to listen to rap or other modern catchy songs.

3.       I questioned some people from the general public and also some people from outside a ‘Bullet For My Valentine’ concert. I found many interesting things including the fact that Black and Red are the most relatable colours to the heavy metal culture and that the body positioning and/or poses that the Band members make are the most important feature. The second most important was found to be their appearance, mostly clothing.

Possible Location Shooting 1

I wanted to try and see if there were any possible locations around school that were feesable to use in my music video. I am happy with a few of them as they convey the necessary 'dark, dank and creepy' feel in the shot.

Diary Entry Week 6

I have completed my preliminary task - which consisted of designing a magazine front cover and contents page. We were to begin by planning the front cover and contents by sketching it on pieces of A4 paper. Once this was completed we then went out to take photos for our covers. We then uploaded them onto the computer and imported them into Photoshop. I originally had problems, because I had never used Photoshop before and was getting used to the tools. But based on my skills with other graphics editors, I eventually got used to the program and began inputting my draft onto the computer.

I also completed an analysis of three front covers, three contents pages and two double page spreads. I analysed the individual features that make up these parts of a magazine.