New blog

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Jessica-langley.blogspot.com

Who would be the audience for your media product?

My original target market was decided from the feedback on my original questionnaire. I decided that I would base my magazine on an audience of 14-20 year olds of both genders who have a wide interest in music related topics however, I later changed my mind and changed it to just a female audience because my survey was mainly taken by females and could produce a more realistic magazine that would suit what they want.

My original survey was posted onto both my blog and facebook so that I could get a range of different people to take my survey. I did this so my audience wasn’t just one type of person and so that I could see what type of music was more popular within the age range as a whole. I found out that R’n’B was the main type of music listened to but everything else had a share. The least listened to was rock. This made me decide to base my main article on a R’n’B artist because this would connect with a wider audience and not a minimal one.

My original survey was posted onto both my blog and facebook so that I could get a range of different people to take my survey. I did this so my audience wasn’t just one type of person and so that I could see what type of music was more popular within the age range as a whole. I found out that R’n’B was the main type of music listened to but everything else had a share. The least listened to was rock. This made me decide to base my main article on a R’n’B artist because this would connect with a wider audience and not a minimal one.

Overall I feel that the target market for my audience is now; 14-20 year old females who have a general interest in music and want to be kept up to date with the latest gossip news and charts.

What kind of media institution might distribute your media product and why?

Like my magazine, NME covers a range of music in their magazine. I feel that the institution that distributes NME would also possibly distribute magazine.

From my previous institutions research I know that NME is published in the UK by a company named IPC media (IPC media publishes over 60 iconic media brands), this is owned by Time inc who is owned Time Warner.

Time Warner is the world’s second largest entertainment conglomerate in terms of revenue, it also holds the title of the world’s largest media conglomerate.

Some of the magazines IPC media produce are; ‘Nuts’ , ‘LOOK’, ‘TV times’ and ‘womens own’ . Because they make so many different magazines covering a wide amount of target audiences I would wish for them to publish/distribute my magazine. When comparing my magazine to NME I found that several of the conventions are similar, such as the layout, the use of plain white backgrounds and the mixture of music in NME. I feel that this would benefit my magazine if IPC media were to publish it. Along with the similarities there are differences which would maybe persuade IPC media to publish their product because it wouldn’t be anything like the magazines they publish currently. Because my magazine is aimed at girls I feel that this makes it different because magazines usually have mixed gender audiences. The colours, fonts and images reflect my target audience.

I feel that if IPC published my magazine it would open up a new specific audience that they don’t already reach with a music magazine.

How does your media product represent particular social groups?

My product is aimed at the social group of girls who listen, mainly, to R’n’B. This social group could be represented in many different ways depends on the artists included in the magazine. R’n’B groups and artists tend to be quite fashionable. My image has been edited so that there is no background and this makes sure that no attention is taken away from the image. I have done this because the artist is female and therefore girls will relate more to her especially if they are interested in her music. The image on the front cover is also taken against a plain background and the clothes worn are outfits that maybe could be worn when going out to a party, which girls could get inspiration from when getting ready to go out. I feel that the outfit is stereotypical of what artists of today wear in their music videos and also in photo shoots. To follow in the theme of the outfits being suitable for girls going out to parties, I tried to match the make up to this theme. I used subtle make-up on the majority of the face, using just foundation, powder and a light dusting of blusher but mainly tried to enhance the eyes, just like girls do when going out.

My image of ‘AB’ was taken in the school squash courts, I dressed them in normal day-to-day clothing to make sure that their new style would relate to an all round female audience.

My image of JLS was taken at the concert I attended. Therefore they are wearing typical JLS clothes and it is taken on stage.

I used shot types to try and get professional look to my images plain backgrounds were used for the pictures of Emma, and I used midshots. I used this type of shot as looking through magazine this is the typical type of shot used.

In my magazine article I used informal language as I thought that this would make magazine relate more to my intended audience. A music magazine is intended as an easy read and therefore people do not expect very formal language will loads of big and complicated words. Therefore I chose to use the approach of language like you would use when being interviewed informally and I feel this works really well with my anticipated audience and final product.

                                                                                                                         

Overall I feel that the representation to my audience works well. I use a lot of stereotypical aspects and this helps to achieve a more specialized approach with the magazine.

In what ways does your media product use, develop or challenge forms and conventions of real media products?

In my original research, I found out that the conventions were pretty similar to what I want my magazine to look like. I analysed three different music magazines but found out that they all had similar conventions, and many of these were very vital conventions.

Conventions - front cover;

•    Large masthead covering the top over the page, the start of the route of the eye.
•    The main image, title and important news/gossip in the route of the eye.
•    Relevant cover lines.
•    Image of the main story line in the centre.
•    An ordered layout with minimal amounts of cover lines.
•    A strong colour scheme is kept to, usually two main colours with 1-2 more to add effect.

In my magazine I used the majority of the important conventions.

I I decided to use these conventions in my own design because I wanted to produce a realistic design of a music magazine. When designing my front cover I made sure that there weren’t any gaps whilst still keeping and ordered layout. When researching I found that music magazines don’t really contain too many cover lines, they focus on one main on really well, with the bold text and then the picture and don’t really use many other strong images or story lines.

My masthead is situated across the top of the cover; this is because all the magazines I looked at had the masthead along the top. I felt sticking to this convention would mean that my magazine would look more professional and therefore appeal to my target market. My main image is of ‘Emma Shepherd’ who is the artist featured in my main cover line. I chose to dress Emma in a simple black dress to fit in with the colour scheme but to also make it look like she had good style which is what my target market are interested in. I took the picture against a plain cream wall to try and capture a natural fade rather, which is also simplistic. I did this because I didn’t want a plain white background but wanted a soft finish.

Around my main article are some other simple story lines, I kept these simple as I wanted to use my main article to draw in the attention but whilst doing this I highlighted key words from each to make them stand out subconsciously, without the consumer realising. I did this by sticking to a colour scheme of black and white and then highlighting these words in turquoise.

I feel that I did stick to most of the conventions of a music magazine however; I only used one image on my main cover because I wanted the words and a single image to be powerful enough to attract attention. This means I had to work harder at getting the right look for my magazine that was also professional.

Contents page;

•  Columns for the articles
•   Images relating to the articles (minimal amounts)
•  Simple white background
•   Subheadings
•   Same colour scheme as front cover

Whilst designing my contents page I stuck to all the conventions that I found when I did my own research.

I decided to split my list of articles into two columns; I did this because I feel that it makes the layout look more ‘tidy’ and therefore more marketable. I am pleased I decided to do this as I think the finished contents page has an expert look. On my contents page I decided to use two images relating to my articles. I did this to ensure there weren't any empty gaps that could make the whole page look bad and to also give the reader an insight of what they can expect throughout the entire magazine. I also stuck to the convention of a plain white background, I feel that this gives the page a clean and fresh look that people will not be put off people when they open the front cover. To make my contents page even more organised decided to include another convention of subheadings. I did this because it made the contents page clearer and people would be able to fine what they were looking for more easily for example, if someone was looking for an article that featured on the front cover then it would be under the subheading of ‘on the cover’. Doing this gives the contents and overall more structured look. Finally I made sure that I continued the colour scheme and font from the front page onto the contents page, this makes the magazine flow more easily. It gives the magazine a more sophisticated and mature look that my target market will expect.

Double Page Spread;

•  Simple, white background
• A main image of the artist
• Personal article
• Bold or different coloured text for the questions of an interview
• Quote from the text

On my double page spread I have used the main conventions of music magazines, I have done this so that my magazine appeals to my target market and pulls in the attention of potential consumers. I used a simple white background as this makes the image and text stand out move vibrantly and also provides a cleaner finish. In the route of the eye all of my main information is included, firstly it runs through the quote and then through the main body of text, and on the second page route of the eye runs through my whole image.

My main image on this double page spread is an image of ‘Emma Shepherd’ who is the artist of whom the article is about. I did this because she is well known and therefore my audience would be interested in reading my article. The article is very personal and asks questions about Emma’s life and career as a whole, my audience would be interested in this because people have an idealistic view of celebrities lifestyles and this would either back that theory or make people realise that they do not all have a perfect life and that not everything is as easy as it seems.

In my interview I have used a different colour and font for the questions. This is another convention of magazines and I decided to do this because it makes it very easy to distinguish between the questions and the answers and makes the article looks easier to read at a glance from the eye and less off-putting than a solid block of text. I have also split the text into three columns as I feel this provides a more high quality and professional look. Finally I have picked a quote from the answers Emma gave VIVACE to again pull in the attention of the reader, I used a large font and two colours in this to make it stand out, it also acts as a title to the feature.

Overall I feel that I have used the conventions of music magazines well to help make my magazine look more realistic and therefore help to provide a mature and sophisticated magazine that will appeal to my audience. From my annotated pictures you can see the similarities and difference my magazine show to a real and existing product. 

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Final Edits of magazine

I used all of the advise from both my survey and my focus group and this is now my final magazine. I am happy with the end product.

Focus group

In a group with three others I asked similar questions to what I asked on my previous survey.
They were all girls aged 16/17.

What they like about my magazine;
The front page has enough story lines and doesn't have any empty space. The photo looks professional and the over all cover looks good quality.
The contents page looks realistic and uses all of the space, the letter from the editor makes it look professional. Changes could be made, for example not using the FREE GIFT as it doesn't really match the look of the magazine, adding a bit of pink in to tie in with the double page spread and adding subheadings.
The double page spread looks better in a second colour which matches the models dress. Page numbers make the magazine look more realistic.