Evaluation Question 2 &

3

How does your media product represent particular social groups?

What kind of media institution might distribute your media product and why?

Question 2

My media product targets a variety of user audiences. The main social group which I target is the punk, scene and emo group of similar age.

This social group consists of both females and males which are between the ages of 12-25. I believe I represent this group through the use of my own primary source images and getting ‘exclusive’ featured interviews to attract the audience. In our photoshoot I tried to make my peers look as if they were members of a band such as Greenday. They were wearing flannel and leather apparel and props such as microphones, guitars and amps. This, I believe, indicates and adheres to the punk rock genre and therefore represents this social group. I tried to imitate their personas and attitudes in previous photoshoots by using relaxed postures either looking away or at the camera depending on how much non-verbal communication. For example leaning up against walls or folding arms which show that the band members are carefree and rebellious which reinforces the ideologies of my target audience throughout my product. I also believe that I represented my social group through the images used on my magazine components, for example I used lined paper on my front cover which links to a school sort of idea, but I used a spray paint effect over it which shows a rebellious aspect which links into the younger part of my target audience. The reasons for this is so that my target audience feels comfortable when looking at my magazine and that they can relate to it and would like to participate, becoming prosumers in the sense, when buying the magazine.

In addition, I think representing my social group was quite easy as I also could fall under the category of this genre. Hence the use of language which connects with my audience. For example, I used colloquial language in my double page spread, I also used genre specific terminology, which may be on understood by the target audience to help them feel more comfortable and more inclined to buy the magazine.

Question 3

Kerrang! Is a similar media product in terms of genre and target audiences, they are owned by the company Bauer Media. This means that they would distribute a similar type of

product such as my magazine.

My media products

Bauer Media Products

I believe that bauer media is the sort of institution to sell my magazine “Revolver”. I made this decision as I have been studying bauer media products such as Kerrang! Which is a similar sort of magazine. I would like for Bauer Media to produce, market and advertise my product, due to the success of the company and similar magazines. The magazines show clear codes and conventions for my genre, for example, colloquial language, vibrant and exciting front covers which entice the reader, relation to music at a quick glance, articles and cover lines which relate to the genre, also pugs and freebies which also relate to the genre.

In addition, I believe that if I use Bauer Media my product will be very successful due to their large demographics and wide distribution across multiple countries. Especially in the magazine; ‘Kerrang!’. This is because of the similar target audiences which correlate with this magazine (12-25 both males and females). Below are Kerrangs statistics for their target audience:

Although my product is similar to Kerrang, I believe that my product will still benefit Bauer as it also demonstrates a lot of differences, I believe that I do challenge some of the conventions, displaying a new original product on the market which would also link with a vast amount of Bauer's total target audiences

Bauer as a conglomerateBauer media is a conglomerate media institution and is an oligopoly of magazine publishing, they can be seen as almost a vertically integrated company as they play roles in the design, manufacture and distribution of the product. Bauer Media is Europes largest privately owned publishing group, it offers over 300 magazines in 15 countries as well as products online, TV and radio. A quote from Bauer Media is: “Our business is built on influential media brands with millions of personal relationships with engaged readers and listeners. Our strategy is to connect with audiences with excellent content through our multi-touch platforms, wherever and whenever they want. Our wide portfolio of influential brands gives us advantages over pure play magazine or radio competitors”

Through this description of Bauer Media's institution, I believe that my product ‘Revolver’ would be suitable to be distributed through this company, as I have matched certain elements of the company's other products within my own. I have included social media and web links (Convergent) to promote and create synergy throughout the platforms of my product, which Bauer takes clear admiration in doing through their institution. They also strive for “excellent content” which I believe this has been included within my media product, and through this I can match the expectations of an institution such as Bauer.