Saturday 25 February 2012

Evaluation question 4

The audience for my media product can be established through the images I have used in my magazine, the colour scheme used or the type of music included. Due to it being a music magazine, the music included and the type of artists happen to be the main component for representing my audience. Here are a couple of videos representing the audience my magazine would appeal to and the type of artists they typically favour:





Tuesday 31 January 2012

Audience Feedback

To collect feedback, I conducted a questionnaire and handed it out to ten different people that engage in the Indie genre and therefore would find the magazines that accompany it interesting. Here are the questions that I asked my audience: Do you think that my music magazine looks professional? Yes/No. Do you think that it is worth the price of £3.50? Yes/No. Do the colours appeal to you and are they consistent? Yes/No. Do the coverlines make you want to read inside the magazine when you first look at it? Yes/No. How do you think I could improve my magazine? .... Do you find the double page spread interesting? Yes/No/Partially. Did you find out the types of things you would want to know about a band within my double page spread? Yes/No.

Conclusion of audience feedback/Questionnaire results.

After collecting 10 sets of results to gain a better knowledge of what my audience thought of my magazine, I constructed a few pie charts to get a clearer idea of how many people would buy my magazine, where I had gone wrong, how I could improve and how appealing my article was. My first question required an answer as to whether my magazine looked professional or not. The options for this question was yes and no. I found that 90% of my audience agreed that it did, wihlst 10% thought that there was room for improvement in that department. Here is the pie chart that displays those particular results:
My second question required an answer as to whether my magazine was worth it's price of £3.50. Whilst 7 agreed that it was, 3 thought otherwise. Here is the pie chart that displays those results:
My third question was based on the colours included within my magazine and whether they were appealing and consistent. I found that 8 agreed that the colours were consistent, yet some commented that they weren't exactly appealing to them. I then asked a question that would gain me feedback on my double page spread. I was eager to find if my audience had thought that the article I constructed was interesting or not. There were three options available for the answer, those being 'Yes, no, partially'. 80% of my audience found that they were interested by the article whilst 20% thought that it was partiallty interesting. Contrastingly, none of my audience suggested that it was not interesting at all. Again, when I asked my audience if they found out the things they would preferably want to know about a band, I received the same answers that I did previously when asking about my double page spread. Whilst two agreed that they didn't neccessarily find out the types of things that intrigue them, 8 said that the information found on the band was the type of information that they would want to know. The pie chart found below can express the results for each of the questions asked about the double page spread:
When asked of how I could improve my magazine, I received a range of answers. One of the participants of the questionnaire said that the masthead, 'I-Music' didn't particularly drag them in and that the name could be more interesting. Another of the participants expressed that the layout was slightly crammed and so if I was to change it I would have to increase its spacious quality. Another member of my audience suggested that whilst I had included a variety of artists on my front cover, perhaps more coverlines were required to make the more significant stories stand out and encourage a member of my audience to buy it on a monthly basis. These are definitely things that I would change if I was to create another magazine as I found that I learned many things I didn't know whilst doing my preliminary task in contrast to my full product. If I was to produce another professional media product, I am confident that I would learn just as much when looking back at my full product.

Monday 9 January 2012

Double page spread article

During the bleak night of the 14th of October surrounded by blaring noise yet in the most desolate of roads, we caught up with Fools on Parade. Quite confident that they were ready to stun the audience once again, instead of preparing for their first ever headline gig, they decided to join us outside of The Picket. This allowed us to exclusively dish the dirt for you on their past band members, inspirations and preferences of women.
When asked of the time the band was first formed, Jack the lead singer happily engaged in conversation and answered that the band selected their individuals a year earlier. Jumping right in, Craig (guitarist and vocalist) informed us further by telling us that ‘Fools on parade’ played their first ever gig shortly after officially deciding on the band members on the 31st of October 2010.
Curious to hear of the bands feelings and possible anxiety for their first headlining gig, we asked them if they were excited. In typical fashion, Jack was the first to offer his thoughts with the reply ‘Yeah we are. Well I am anyway’ Also, as it happened previously, Craig followed Jack’s comment by saying his excitement was based upon the fact that the first ever ‘Fools on parade’ gig was played in The Picket and so it was ‘nice’ to return and headline on the 14th.
Completely clued up by our sources, we were fully aware of the bands history. Knowing that there were previous band members before the long term ones, we were eager to find out about the past members, why the band changed and what changed about it.
Introduced to a previous band consisting of the same members excluding only one member present, we are surprised to find that ‘Fools on Parade’ weren’t always who they are now. ‘Grass in the attic’, Craig tells us was the band before ‘Fools on parade’ exactly formed. From what we gather, the only difference between the two bands is that the one that the previous one contained a ‘ginger person’. Wanting to push this further, I-Music wanted to know more about the split. According to Jack, ‘It’s not that we’re discriminating, he was just a wanker!’ Relatively new Cameron explains that Craig, John, Jack and Alex were the originals until he joined. The change occurred due to consistent arguing and differences and Jack claims that they simply had a gig coming up and thought ‘We’ll go and do another band then won’t we’ and so the Fools formed.
When asked who their inspiration as a band was, we received a slightly mocking tone from Craig as though we should automatically know and when watching the band live, we can see why. Although the band are inspired by a variety of different Indie rock bands, we can see that their style was hugely influenced by ‘Arctic Monkeys’. This explains the choice of name for the band which we are told by Jack that Craig suggested and told by Craig that it was originally suggested as a ‘pisstake’ but stuck. The name of course, was taken from the Arctic Monkeys’ song lyrics from their song ‘Secret Door’.
In contrast to their inspirations, we were eager to hear of the bands the Fools would preferably steer clear from being even close to or similar to. Craig, instantly replied that the bands he hates most in the world are ‘Solitary Confinements’ and ‘Guardians’. John, lead guitarist, agrees with Craig that ‘Guardians’ are hardly something they should aspire to, but expresses his admiration for ‘Hippies on the Hill’. Lead singer Jack simply stated that he had no time for either bands mentioned whilst also expressing his hate for Liam Gallagher’s new band ‘Beady Eye’, to which John replied in a rather disappointed tone ‘No. Don’t say that!’
A tough choice for any young boy to make, seems to come easy to the Fools. When asked which artist they would preferably date, Rihanna or Cheryl Cole, they all replied exactly the same and in unison showing us that the band have more in common than we could have imagined. As though it was the easiest question they had ever been asked the band insisted that Rihanna is a much superior figure to Cheryl Cole, criticising Cheryl Cole’s apparent ‘fake’ attitude and image.
Collaborations can be exciting for any artists and their fans. Although we had already established their love for Arctic Monkeys, Jack also said he would love to have a musical encounter with ‘The Courteeners’.
Confidence is key for success when it comes to making it in the industry. Anticipating the arrival of ‘Fools on parade’ on our music channels in the future, we asked if they think they will make it big truthfully. An instant reply from Craig, ‘It’s been said’ tells us that not only do the Fools have confidence in their achievements to come, but so do their fans and families. Again, showing us the bond between the band, they all laughed at Craig’s comment. On a more serious note Jack said ‘We’ve been told we will but it’s quite hard to get into music like’. Craig and Cameron showcasing their more comical skills again finished each others sentence, ‘It’s a long way to go.. If you wanna rock and roll’, instigating another laughing session from the band.
Almost out of questions and feeling like we had known each individual member for years, we began to finish up the interview until Jack asked if he was able to ask a question of his own.. and then answer it. ‘Who’s the best looking?.. Jack’. Snubbing Jack’s comment yet finding it quite the hysterical one, the band again began to laugh and to finish off the session Craig suggested a group hug, shortly after the band all claiming they love each other genuinely.