Conventions, Producer and Target Audience

Conventions, Producer and Target Audience

 

 

The main conventions in my magazine will revolve around a pop-punk/punk theme. The text on my magazine pages will be bold but the colour themes will be quite plain, after researching magazines similar to my own I have found that they usually feature black and white colours of background and main text e.g. masthead and coverlines but with one other bold colour. Magazines like Q and Kerrang usually use black, white and red whereas I plan on using black, white and blue as it's a brighter colour and will make my magazine stand out against there's. The colour theme for my magazine will be blue, black and white throughout to maintain consistency and show that the colours link to the main image that will be the main feature in that particular issue. I plan on showing that the magazine will have a different colour linking to the main image on every issue, possibly in a subscription area. I also plan on using things like paint splatters or small images/symbols to tie in to my theme and appeal to my target audience, it could also act as a filler for areas with large parts of text as although my target audience is around 16-25 too much text can still be off putting for some readers and the images could help break the text apart so it doesn't seem like too much. I will not put too much text on the front cover like coverlines etc. as my magazine is a specialist type of magazine (not one you'd expect to find in a supermarket, more likely to be in a music store) and the magazines I've researched from that type of magazine have been relatively bare on the cover as buyers of these magazines do not need coverlines to draw them to the magazine, they'll be more drawn to the fact that there's few magazines that specialise in it.

 

For the producer I'd probably choose Bauer to produce my magazine as they have produced magazines similar to the theme I have chosen but mine is different enough to not be direct competition. A lot of the magazines they produce are very generally sold such as Kerrang! and Q and not many specialised but it would make my magazine stand out and not be competition to the other magazines they produce but be something different in general. The magazines Bauer produce are generally very successful as they all target different types of people with specific interests be it music or film, so I think Bauer would be a strong choice for a producer given my type of magazine.

 

My target audience is people aged 16-25 but not specifically. The theme of magazine will appeal to people of different ages as it specialises in punk which spans many ages of people but the way I've incorporated it into the magazine along with pop-punk will probably appeal more to a younger audience, also more young people read magazines than older people, hence the younger target audience as I feel it'd be more successful if addressed to a younger audience.

Photoshoot Planning

Photo shoot planning

 

What emotional impact do you want your photography do have upon the reader and how will you achieve this?

I want the photoshoot to seem fun and energetic as it will relate to the type of music this band plays, the pictures will be quite bright, 'fun' looking and silly to give it a sort of pop-punk feel. There will more some more serious natural looking pictures also as it's not a childrens magazine but will be lighthearted enought to fit with the fun interview style. 

 

What personnel do you need? Who are you going to photograph?

 

For the magazine I will be taking pictures of my friend (a 16 year old female) and her sister will help organise the props and ligthing.

 

What props will you need?

For props I will be using an acoustic guitar, a trampoline and a skateboard.

 

How are you going to emphasise colour?

The photoshoot will be quite bright, but with quite soft natural looking lighting. I will probably emphasise the colours on some of the clothes to make them look brighter to stand out and draw attention to the images.

Have you briefed your personnel/models?

Yes I have informed my model/ personnel on what the photoshoot will entail and have both of their consents to go ahead with the pictures.

What lighting will you need? Any other equipment?

 I will be using mostly natural light and maybe a lamp if the area is not bright enough.

Where will you shoot? Will you need a backdrop?

I will be taking the photos outside so I will mostly be using the natural environment rather than a backdrop.

 

Mise-en-scene - Make-up? Costumes? Props?

The makeup will be quite natural but there'll be a small amount of eye makeup and lipgloss. The costume will just be casual clothes to keep with the informal tone of the interview and the magazine. 

Institution Research

Institution Research

 

From the information I have collected I think that Bauer is the best option for a publisher as it publishes the type of magazine I am creating and is very experienced. Bauer is a popular publishing company so it will be recognised which could potentially attract more business also.

Institution	Details	Publications
IPC Media	IPC is a British publishing company; they produce magazines, newspapers, books and specialist magazines for many different audiences. This company produces NME which has a large fan base that are interested in both rock and indie music and attracts a large audience of any gender and a teenage+ audience.	The Sun, The People, Teen Now, Woman, Woman's Own, goodtoknow Recipes, Woman's Weekly, Pick Me Up!, Chat, NME
BBC	BBC is a large Media platform that produces a large amount of magazines, radio programs and television programs for a general audience of all genders and ages. However the only music magazine it produces focuses on classical music.	BBC Music Magazine, BBC Wildlife, Radio Times, Girl Talk, Match of the Day
Bauer	Bauer publish 300 worldwide magazines including Kerrang, Q and MOJO. They are the type of magazine I will be basing my magazine on so this company will be ideal. They have a long history of publishing magazines	Q, MOJO, Kerrang



Audience Research

Audience Research

 

 

I created a survey in order to find out people's opinions on magazines for example what'd encourage them to buy a magazine etc. I asked people around the ages of 16-19 to fill in my questionnaire as people of that age are my target audience. intend on taking the data I have found and using it to influence my decisions when creating my front cover, contents page and double pl spread as it has given me a clearer understanding of what people want to see in a magazine which would make it more successful overall. This is what I found out:

 

Question 1: gender results

 

From my data I can see that half of my respondents were male and the other half female, this shows that I have an unbiased set of data as I have opinions from both males and females regarding what they want to see in a magazine.

Question 2: Music Genre Preferences

From my data from question 2 I can see that my respondents favoured rock and pop-punk so this will give me a better idea of what kind of genres I should feature in my magazine. It will also influence the aesthetic properties of my magazine as it can give me an idea of the colour schemes, layout and images because they will have to appeal to a certain genre: for example since my audience prefers rock/pop-punk I could use black and white with another outstanding colour, as I found out from my research into different types of music magazine these are generally the colours found in rock magazines. The more popular chosen genres are genres that would work well together in a magazine and support my initial chosen type of magazine, I will also add in elements of punk and ska as they were also popular. I've chosen not to feature elements of metal in my magazine, although metal was also a popular genre I do not think it would be appropriate with my already chosen genres.

Question 3: Selling points

 

From this data from question 3 it is apparent that posters and free gifts are the most popular features in a magazine however since it's just the front cover, contents page and double page spread I am making I will not be able to actually feature these things in the magazine therefore I will just advertise them on my created pages. As well as gifts/ posters,exclusive interviews were also popular so I will feature this in my magazine on my double page spread as the main article.

 

Question 4 shows that most people do enjoy reading magazines however some do not and others do not have an opinion on them however, I will try to make my magazine as interesting and appealing as possible to ensure that my magazine will look realistic and enjoyable.

 

Question 5 shows that the majority of people prefer cheaper magazines which tells me that people do not want to pay too much for them however the rest are willing to pay between £1-£3.99 which gives me a wide option of possible prices. I probably won't set my prices as 50-99p just because it's too cheap and not a realistic price for a decent magazine, my price will probably be between £1 and £1.49 as that option was also a fairly popular choice.

My results for Question 6 clearly show that most people buy magazines weekly, and most magazines are released weekly so I will probably make my magazine a weekly one which will be written in the essential information part on the cover with the bar code and price
 

 

 

 

Double Page Spread Annotations

Double Page Spread Annotations

 

I have annotated 3 examples of double page spreads to identify some of the key conventions that are featured in them to get some inspiration for my own.

 

 



Main Task Flat Plans

 

 

Flat Plans

 

I have made a plan of the layout that I'm going to use when I make my magazine, I am going to put information and pictures on my front cover but not too many that it takes over the page. The colour scheme will be blue, black and white on the logo and throughout the magazine. My front cover will have one main image which will be the main feature of my magazine and will be in the double page spread although there will be other coverlines and images showing what else would be in the magazine. The contents page will also have the odd the picture to feature next to the big stories in the magazine but will be mostly text to let the audience know what will be in the magazine and be more likely to purchase it after seeing what'll be inside of it. The double page spread will have a balance of pictures and text however the text will be an interview and a brief review of the band so there'll not be too many big paragraphs that'll put the reader off as my target audience is teenagers between the age of 13-19+ so may not want to read too much text. 

 

 

 

 

Preliminary Task

Preliminary Task

I have made my preliminary task in an hour using microsoft publisher

 

I recieved feedback on my front cover and contents page saying that I have used an appropriate image, taken during a photoshoot the week before, for the magazine page as it's appropriate for the type of magazine. However the image used was stretched and blurry and more appealing images needed to be used to make a successful cover/contents page. I agree with this as the image used was not a good quality image and would be better if we had more time to gather more images beforehand. On my actual magazine a lot more time will be taken to gather all of the images I need and they'll be easier to get. 

 

 On the contents page and front cover there was an appropriate amount of the key conventions seen in magazines such as coverlines and subheadings, however not all of the key features are on the magazine which needs to be changed to improve it. The contents page is a bit sparse and could be improved by adding more, better quality images and more detail about the contents of the magazine. Better more interesting fonts could be used to make it look more appealing to the target audience.