Q5.

I attracted my audience by using a wide range of symbolic and technical

codes. A media product, such as my magazine is supposed to attract a certain
demographic, the target audience. Blumler and Katz came up with the Uses and
Gratifications theory which stated that an audience choose both the media and
the messages. It also stated that Media satisfies certain needs, such as
entertainment, social solidarity, identity and surveillance. Therefore it was very
important for me to try and include these needs in my music magazine. Also
Stuart hall and the Reception theory influenced my work as the theory says how
a producer uses codes and conventions to alter how the audience interpret a
message.
For example I connected with my audience on my front cover by using hidden
codes, such as the guitar in the picture. The guitar shows the audience that the
magazine is music related. This was reflected in my Focus group with all the
members of the group easily identifying the magazine as a music related one. My
masthead also helps to attract my audience as it includes a well-known two tone
font style, as well as the two tone logo itself. This tells my audience the specific
genre that my music magazine is about and so addresses and attracts people
who are interested in it. I also attracted my audience by including a puff on the
front cover, the puff told the audience that the magazine was a special edition
one, this could influence the audience into buying the magazine for the special
edition content. Also the fact that my magazine is monthly could cause an
audience to buy the magazine, as people with less money will be able to pay the
3,50 a month rather than every week. This links in with my audience research
as my questionnaire showed me that most of my audience are under 20 and so
they will not be earning the most amount of money, also lots of the people who
said they would read my magazine were students and so they dont have the
most amount of money to spend on a magazine.

My magazine initially had lots of images that I was going to use. However I did
not use half of the pictures I took in the final magazine. This was because a lot of
the pictures would not have addressed the audience, for example some of the
pictures I took did not include a guitar, or any
records. This immediately meant that the
magazine could not be easily recognised as a
music related one, therefore I did not use them
in the magazine. Also the shot of the pictures
depended on whether I used them or not. For
example the picture to the left, it includes a
guitar and so it relates it to the music tone of
the magazine. However because the photo was
taken landscape instead of portrait I could not
use the photo on the Front cover, on the
contents page I already had a picture to use,
therefore it was going to go on the Double
Page Spread however the Hot-desking
feedback showed that the audience preferred
this picture, due to there being more colour on
the record labels, and because it moved away
from the guitar representing the music theme,
and replaced it with records. I also edited the
photos so that they were mostly black and
white but with 1 thing in colour, such as the
record labels on my Double page spread or the
guitar on the picture on my contents page. This
addresses the genre as it links it with the black
and white theme pf two tone. It also helped to
draw the readers attention to the musical objects, such as the guitar, this means
it stands out from the rest of the picture and the audience immediately are
drawn to the object, therefore making it so they notice the musical elements
straight away giving them the view that the magazine is music related.
The colours I used throughout my magazine also helped to connect the magazine
with my audience. For example most of the main pictures I used were in black
and white, this was to show the two-tone genre and to help attract an audience
interested in the genre of music, this is because the colours black and white are
heavily used in the genre and bright vibrant colours are rarely used. I also made
my Masthead black and white, and my cover lines, contents page stories and
Double page spread interview grey colours. This was again to relate my
magazine to the genre of the magazine and attract and audience interested in it.
The blue colour I used in my magazine helped to break up the black and white
colours. It also made the magazine stand out to anyone interested in music as it
did not use just the colours from one type of music. This therefore brought the
audience in, this is proven through my focus group as they said how they liked
the way the colour of blue was used to break up the black and white and to help
the magazine stand out more clearly, and catch help catch their eye.
DPS
The layout of my double page spread helped connect the magazine with people
interested in the two tone genre as it was very over the top and bundled all the

interview unto one page leaving room on the other side for the picture. However
when I asked my target audience the members who had not listened to two tone
pointed out the page and said they did not like it, whereas the people who had
listened to two tone liked the page and thought it represented the genre well.
On my Double page spread and contents page I attracted and addressed my
audience by using a certain type of language in the interview and contents page
stories. For example I used more relaxed language in my Double page spread
interview, even using some slang, this was to attract a younger audience who
would connect with this type of language.