Photography Test Shoots

Test shot analysis

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Photography Research

Photoshoot analysis

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After researching and analysing professional magazine photoshoots, I have been able to come up with practical ideas for my own photoshoots. My cover image will most likely be a mid shot, as this is the most common shot type in the industry. I will also use mid shots for the images for my contents page, as this type of shot is best for small images. For my double page spread I will most likely use a long shot, as this is most likely going to take up a whole page, and as the subject of the article, I think this will make the image more interesting and appealing. In terms of facial expressions, this will depend upon the context in which the models are appearing. However, in rock magazines in particular, the artists generally tend to have a fairly serious expression, so I will bare this in mind.

Audience Research

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These are the readers profiles of both Kerrang! magazine and Q magazine. Both magazines have a similar audience - young people passionate about rock/indie music - however Q magazine seems to attract a slightly older audience; the average age of the Q reader is 29, whilst Kerrang! has an average age of 19, ranging between the ages of 15-24. Q's older audience relates to the majority of it's audience being of ABC1 socioeconomic status; the audience is generally in full time employment. Q seems to pride itself more upon it's quality of writing and photography, whilst Kerrang! is more focused on the music and lifestyle of youth today. These factors influence the average audience age and social class, as Q would have more appeal to a more educated audience, who have probably graduated university, and Kerrang! appeals to a younger audience, most likely still experimenting with music tastes and rebellling against the mainstream. Both Kerrang! and Q magazine has a slight majority audience of men (Kerrang! 60% male, Q 68% male) which is typical of music magazines; this would have influence on the images, colour schemes and layout of the magazine, as it is going to be more aimed towards the male audience so as not to look too feminine and detract from the majority; it is likely that any women featured on the cover of the magazine will be sexually objectified, although not enough to detract from the female audience. However, the images used on both magazines are mainly influenced by the genre of music and the band/artist, rather than the masculinity or femininity of the images. 

From comparing the two covers of the magazine, it is clear to see that although the magazines are both based upon the same genre of rock music, the way in which both are aimed towards a specific age group and socioeconomic status is very obvious.

The audiences of both magazines most likely fit into the audience of 'aspirers'; they like material, novelty things. This is generally the status of teenagers and young people in general. The Q readers could also fit into the 'succeeders' category, due to their probable educated and successful background.

The audience would fit into the "alternative stereotypical tribe", in that they rebel from the mainstream and experiment with music taste. Despite this though, this stereotypical group still conforms with their alternative peers, and would aspire to be like the people featured in the magazines they read. The Metalhead tribe in particular describes my target audience in the best way, in that they mix up older and newer varieties of metal, punk and rock music. However, the target audience also overlaps into other similar alternative groups. 

Focus Group Interviews

My Readers Profile

• Target audience 16-25 years old; both males and females evenly, however probably more male appeal as this is typical of similar music magazines like Kerrang!
• Mainly aimed towards students within the alternative stereotypical group - music is a very dominant part of student life and also I can relate to this audience better.
• The magazine will contain lots of gig and album reviews; this is important because I know that my target audience, as mainly students, live in a society where music is very important. The readers want to know what bands are doing well and what aren't in order to keep up with their peers.
• Content will be mainly based upon music and bands/artists rather than celebrity/fashion/gossip. This is because similar magazines are also like this, unlike more mainstream/pop magazines.
• I will use a small colour palette of red, black and white. This colour palette is appealing to the audience and gives a fairly dark look, which relates to the nature of the alternative music.
• I will use eye catching and appealing images, and I will also ensure that all elements of the magazine, particularly the DPS, look very interesting.

Textual analysis

Textual Analysis on Prezi

Initial ideas for my main task

The genre of music magazine I am going to create is an indie/rock magazine. This is because I am personally interested in this genre of music magazine, which allows me to use my own interests to create a good quality piece of work. I also believe that by choosing this genre I can develop some interesting ideas for both the images and content.