Question 5: How did you attract/address your audience?

I attempted to attract my audience in a number of ways. I achieved this through my through researching regarding their attractions earlier in the project. The colour scheme, images used, model used and poses of my model all have extreme effect on addressing my target audience and creating a product that readers will look for with innovative and eye catching content.

My colour scheme of basic black and white accented with blue is the running theme of my magazine keeping a cool and calm atmosphere for my relaxed magazine. Through a Google survey I found that the blue shade was preferred by a male audience with blue connoting confidence and intelligence. This colour was therefore picked as to attract my primarily male target audience. This colour is also predominant throughout my magazine in an effort to keep my magazine connected through colour scheme and as I know this pleasing colour scheme will attract my target audience.

My use of images is also very coordinated to remain this calm yet punk effect. Most images have a border on them. as much quality and remain true to my eyes. This will appeal to my audience as the picture wont This rustic border of white or blue can show the confined nature of my magazine, yet the images are coming out of the border connoting the factor that my magazine is constantly pushing boundaries and will remain on the front of underground independent entertainment. The photos were taken on a Canon 40D with a Helios 44m-2 58mm lens. I decided to use this vintage lens (produced in 1960 in the USSR) as it could work at low aperture whilst remaining a reasonably large range of focus. I also wanted to get the ‘Boke’ of a slightly distorted background whilst remaining resistant to large amounts of flare. The use of a 58mm lens was also considered, originally I wanted to use a 30mm lens however I soon realised that that led to a distorting of the models facial features and did not remain with the original integrity. 58mm is close to the standard field of view for human eyes allowing my image to have a natural and photogenic appeal as not to distort my audience’s interpretation of my magazine. The clothing was also decided by me, I wanted the clothes to fit the genre of my music magazine. I did this by making my models wear stereotypical clothes related with the emo and punk genre like band hoodies, flannel shirts and Doc Martens. I do however feel my magazine should feature a more feminine aspect as there is very little appeal to the female demographic in contrast to other magazines. My use of images directly attracts my target audience for these reasons.

The reason I did not want to shoot in a studio was in an attempt to achieve a natural setting that would relate to my audience. The clinical white of the studio was very against the ideals of my magazine, I wanted to capture the natural side of my models and their band. This challenges the conventions of the big magazines like MOJO, Q, CLASH and FADER which rely on using primarily studio lit backgrounds which in my opinion does not allow me to relate to the images and instead gives the artists a manufactured look. This is not what I wanted to achieve; I wanted my band to seem relatable and rustic, not afraid to take risks. The way I achieved this was by shooting outside. This meant that extreme care had to be taken through my lack of artificial lighting, I could only shoot what natural light had offered me meaning I made sure to shoot at 12-1 most days for a week in an attempt to keep the light overhead with full-bodied images and vivid shadows. I think this will appeal to my audience as they will be able to appreciate the care that has gone into the photography throughout. My target audience will also be able to feel more connection with the natural environments over the clinical and over produced superficial nature of using a photography studio.

Over the production process I took a plethora of draft shots over multiple photoshoots equating to over 200 images, I chose the few used as an attempt to show off the range of distances and angles available for me to use and as an attempt to keep my magazine looking fresh and not just the same 3 shots in the studio over and over. This was an extremely challenging aspect of my magazines creation as it involved posing my models in natural ways without making it look forced or over produced. Most of my images have someone looking directly into the camera, this was to make a connection with the reader and to make the experience feel more personal compared to if the models were all looking into the distance away from the focus of the lens. I think this attracted my target audience as it allowed them to take the magazine seriously and also gave a professional approach and viewpoint regarding my magazine enticing people to come and read as they would respect the reviews and relate to the interviews.