My focus group
- 1. My Focus Group
- 2. For this task, I asked 3 males and 3 females interested in the Rock/Indie genre what they would like in a magazine of this genre. I then summarised there results to see what would be best suited for my target audience in the magazine. The people I asked were all people who shared the same music taste as me and had similar interests as me.
- 3. Section 1: The Front Cover (questions 1-4) 1)Front Cover- What images would you like? The main image should be of a male pulling an angry or excited pose, to express the mood of the rock/indie genre, he should be holding some sort of musical instrument preferably a guitar to relate to the genre of music and should be dressed in dark colours to show the style of the rock genre, the image should be a medium close up or medium shot so that it makes it the main focus.
- 4. 2) What would you like to see on the front cover e.g cover lines? The front cover should include catchy cover lines which relate to artists within the rock/indie genre both male and female as this will attract both male and female audiences. There should also be advertisements for free gifts/posters or a chance to win concert tickets as this again will appeal to both male and females and will attract the target audience
- 5. 3) What colours would be appropriate? The Colours should be dark to relate to the rock/Indie genre and should be quite masculine colours like red, black and white these are also quite bold and outstanding colours and will reflect the boldness of the rock/indie genre 4) What type of language would you expect? The language should be informal and direct in order for the reader of the magazine to connect with it, slang should be used so that it attracts it’s target audience and words such as ‘rock’ ‘hardcore’ and any sort of swear words would be expected. There should also be quite persuasive words such as ‘free’ and ‘giveaway’ so that the target audience is slyly manipulated into buying it due to the free gifts etc .
- 6. Section 2- The Contents Page ( Questions 5-8) 5)What type of images would you like and how many? There should be images which relate in some way to the rock/indie genre so they should include instruments and the clothing should be dark to relate to the genre. There should be more than one image as the contents page allows the reader to know what’s in the magazine and so the use of pictures helps to do this. The images should be small but visible and placed appropriately on the page. One dominant image should be used and then several slightly smaller sized ones.
- 7. 6) What would you want to be contained within the magazine? The magazine should include interviews with artists/bands and should include information on upcoming gigs to attract the target audience it should also include posters and offer free gifts or a chance to win things e.g. Concert tickets as this will make it more appealing to the target audience. The information should be easy to find with each piece of content labelled and page numbered. It should also include things such as fashion trends, latest news and advertisements so that it offers other things, other than music related things to keep the target audience interested.
- 8. 7) How much images and text would you expect? There should be an editorial as this sets the tone of the magazine and allows the reader to know what’s upcoming in the magazine. The text should mainly be based on the content within the magazine. Several images should be used to make the contents page more appealing and again allowing the reader to know what is within the magazine. 8) What type of language do you expect? The language should be direct and informal so that the reader can connect with the magazine, it should use slang words which relates to the rock/indie genre e.g. ‘hardcore’ ,‘mate’, ‘mad’, ‘mental’ and swear words as the target audience would use them a lot. It should also use language that correspond with the genre for example terms such as ‘complete metal madness’,‘rock on’ and ‘your favourite rock stars are back’etc. It should also create quite a friendly atomsphere inviting the reader in.
- 9. Section 3- The double page spread article ( Questions 9-12) 9) What sort of images would you want on the double page? The main image should reflect the indie/rock genre with the person having either a loud exciting, happy expression on their face to show the bold, happy and friendliness of the rock/indie genre or a rather angry, serious expression to create an ambient mood showing the more darker side to the rock/indie genre. The clothing should represent the rock/indie genre and so the person should be wearing dark colours. Other images should again relate to the rock/indie genre and the images should be of different shot types so that the reader is able to see different parts of the person’s body 10) What would you prefer the article to be about? The article should relate to the rock/indie genre it could perhaps be about a new rising star male or female and it could interview them on how they achieved their dreams in finally becoming noticed within the music industry or it could be about a new band and how they’ve got to where they are today and what they plan to do in the future this would interest the target audience because reading something like this would make them feel as though they too can achieve their goals in becoming famous within the music industry etc.
- 10. How would you expect the language to be? The language should be again informal and direct creating a friendly atmosphere and making it easy for the reader to read and understand. If the article is an interview than it tends to be informal as speech is used and the terms related to the rock/indie genre should be used 12) Would you prefer more image or text based articles? It is important that several images are used as the images allow the reader to interpret what the rock/indie genre is like for example they can see what clothing is associated with it and are able to use the persons within the image as style icons. They are also more eye catching and depending on who the pictures are of attract the reader more. There should also be a certain amount of text to intrigue the reader . The text should be kept short, informal, and too the point in order not to bore the reader . It should relate in someway to the rock/indie genre to keep in theme with the magazine and relate to the images