Evaluation
For my AS Foundation Portfolio Production I chose the print brief. In order to fulfil this task I started by examining existing media texts of the same form.
In both of the images the masthead is placed at the top of the cover, with the “Earache” masthead being slightly to the right of the page due to the image.
Both of the magazines have catchy sell lines, Metal Hammers to do with the band featuring on the front of the magazine; Lamb of God, (this isn’t metal, this is war), and the Earache sell line being “The kind you metalheads want”. This draws in the target audience by using wordplay with the word earache, as it is usually something that people would rather avoid, but in this situation, it is what people want, as it is the magazine name.
Both magazines have bar codes placed in the bottom right hand corner of the cover.
Both magazines have the price clearly on the front, with the exception of Metal Hammer’s being on the barcode but still on the white background of it, and Earache’s being above the barcode on the image background.
The dates for each magazine are in separate places, Metal Hammer’s being in the barcode box and Earache’s being at the bottom left of the cover.
Metal Hammer magazine do not have an issue number on the cover, they simply have the month and year. My Earache magazine has the issue number above the barcode to the left of the price.
Both my magazine and Metal Hammer magazine have main cover lines, Metal Hammer’s simply being the metal band name “Lamb of God” and my own being “25 wildest metal tales”.
Both magazines also have cover lines, both of which are different bands that feature in the magazine. They are both placed on the right hand side of the cover.
Both magazines have skylines, obviously above the traditional placing of the masthead.
Both magazines have teasing content and both of the magazines’ are the offer of a free CD, however my magazine, Earache, also has an offer to win tickets to big metal festivals that year. Metal Hammer’s teasing content (the free CD offer) is in the top left corner of the cover, whereas my magazine’s is on the bottom left of the cover.
The contents page on Metal Hammer has several different images on it, whereas my magazine’s contents page only has one main image.
Both magazines have a features section, a news section, and Metal Hammer magazine has a review section whereas my magazine does not, however in the article descriptions it does state that there are articles included in the features.
Both magazines have page numbers without actually saying the word “page”, however my magazine does have a description of a news article which says “page 34” above it.
Metal Hammer magazine does have an “editor speaks” section, whereas my magazine contents page does not.
Both magazines have a large main headline and large main image. Both magazines also have a paragraph about the article. The Avenged Sevenfold double page spread has photo credit on it whereas my magazine’s does not.
My magazine represents the kind of people who listen to metal music. Society could stereotype these people and class them as “moshers”, “emos” or “goths” because of this type of music. The main audience buying this magazine are teenagers and young adults. The genre of music that the magazine features could represent the people who listen to it as angry or depressed or dark, but this is a negative stereotype caused by the actual sound of the music. This negative stereotype is made generally by people who dislike the genre of music and the style associated stereotypically with the people who listen to it. When you actually look into the music and people associated with it however it is generally found that the bands as well as the audience are very nice people who are easy to get along with, despite the angry and aggressive sound the metal genre can give. My magazine represents the audience and the bands in this true, positive respect.
Since my magazine is based in the UK I would say Future Publishing (the same publisher that publishes Metal Hammer magazine) would probably distribute it, as it is situated in Bath in the UK. This UK branch of Future publishing is owned by a bigger version of the company called Future US, which is based in California in America.
The target audience for my magazine will be people who enjoy the metal genre of music between the ages of 13 to 30. This is because of the content that will most likely appeal to these age ranges more than people who are older than this, and those who are younger who would have difficulty understanding or holding interest to the content, such as the articles on different bands. The price of my magazine will be £4.99, as the majority of metal magazine published are between £3 and £5, the more expensive ones obviously having considerably more content than the cheaper ones.I attracted my target audience to my magazine by using a well-known, well distributed magazine (Metal Hammer) as a sort of template and idea source for my own magazine. I researched this magazine and used the conventions of it on my own magazine, obviously using my own ideas as well. Because Metal Hammer is such a successful magazine I thought that because my magazine is based upon its’ design, it would also appeal as much to the target audience. My magazine features a free CD which would appeal to the target audience, as, being part of this audience myself and having many friends who are also into this genre of music and already buy Metal Hammer, I know that people who enjoy this genre of music, as in any genre I would guess, would always be looking to extend their love of different bands within this genre. I have also included the offer of winning tickets to two of the UK’s biggest metal festivals; Sonisphere and Download festivals. This would appeal greatly to the target audience as there are many great bands that go to these festivals, (literally around the 100 number) so would definitely include some bands that the target audience would enjoy, and the feel and air of a festival is amazing and what the target audience would want to be involved in as well. Due to these festivals being around for many years before the magazine’s offer, the target audience would have heard all the stories about the different festivals, and would therefore also be drawn towards the offer of winning tickets to them because of all the stories that they would have heard. The articles and news on the “metal scene” would also draw in the target audience as well, so that they would feel up to date and in the loop with all the recent goings on with the biggest metal bands and news going on.
