Question 4:Who would be the audience for your media product?

I created a focus group on Facebook to see what other people thought about my magazine and whether they thought that it looked like it fit into the criteria of the indie/rock genre. This was done to see what I could do to improve my magazine. The things which they commented on were…• Do you think the genre is

represented well?• What do you think of the

content? Is it interesting?• Do you think the photographs

taken and used are of good quality?

• Do you think the colour scheme is suitable for the magazine?

• Are the fonts easy to read?

For the first point, my focus group answered that my genre was presented well through the cover lines on the front cover and the contents of the magazine. They said this due to how the bands and artists which I had selected to write about fit into the indie/rock genre; being well known artists such as Noel Gallagher. The focus group also mentioned how the

genre is represented through the props and photography which I have taken as I have used an electric guitar, which is synonymous to the indie/rock genre as my prop for the front cover. They spoke about how the clothing and the

photography represented the genre with the subjects wearing darker clothes such as the red/brown/grey checkered top as my front cover, and the photography of the girls wearing a leather jacket or dark clothing. The cover group continued to say that the facial

expressions and eye contact and proxemics help to represent the indie/rock genre as they all show serious faces, which represents the stereotypical idea of the rock genre; and all band members are close together and most show direct eye contact. The answers for this question explained how I have achieved to represent the indie/rock genre in my magazine

For the 2nd question, I asked the focus group whether they thought that the content was interesting. This was to help me improve or change my magazine contents to attract my target audience more. For my survey research, I asked people who they would like to read about in a music magazine and bands/artists were mentioned such as ‘The 1975’ and ‘Oasis.’ Therefore I wrote about The 1975 on my cover lines and in my contents page, as well as Noel Gallagher, former band member of Oasis.  The focus group mentioned that they found the

contents interesting with my magazine as the front cover made the readers intrigued to read more as I included phrases such as ‘Exclusive Interview’ and mentioned the most popular artists such as Noel Gallagher on my front cover.

The focus group went on to say that they found the contents on my contents page interesting as I have made the magazine seemed to be full of exclusive information about their favourite bands and artists, which would make them want to read more into the magazine.

Examples of the contents of the magazine.

With the question about the photography and the quality of my images, my focus group explained how they liked the composition of the front cover image as the guitar being behind the subjects head helps to represent the indie/rock genre. They also commented on the clothing which the

subject in the front cover wears, as the colours are dark and brownish colours and the style of his clothing, also his hair, helps to represent this genre.With the contents page, the focus group

mentioned how they found the composition of the images which I had chosen interesting and that it gives a good insight to who the magazine was about. They commented about how the clothing helped to fit into

the criteria of the indie/rock genre and how each subject in the photographs had their own unique look, which helped them fit into the genre, and also spoke about how the lighting was used well as the subjects did not look too washed out, however their skin was still glowing and you could see their facial features.

They liked how the subjects were giving direct address or facing in positions which made them have a serious approach to them, representing the genre. However, one of the members of the

gorup also suggested that I could include more images with my contents page to intrigue the reader more. With the double page spread, the focus group explained how they liked the composition of the photograph which I had chosen and that the lighting is well as it is not too flat or too over exposed.

The focus group spoke about how they found the colour scheme interesting as I have used mostly cold blues/purples as well as black writing.

They explained how they found it interesting as they were unisex colours and could attract a wider target audience.

They also said that they were interesting as they were not too bright and vibrant so the text was clear to read; they also said how the colours went together with the colours used in the photographs taken and how the text colours also helped to fit into the criteria of the indie/rock genre.

The final question was to ask their opinion on the fonts and whether they were easy to read.

They said that they liked the fonts as they were clear and bold, however still weren’t too sophisticated and formal, but still not too messy and fun.

Overall discussion