Research and Planning : Distribution

There is a big difference between Major and Independent distribution strategies. A Major company, like Frontline produce magazines such as Q, Kerrang, Bella and Heat. All of these magazines have other platforms attached. For example, Q and Kerrang both have websites, TV channels, Radio Stations aswell as their magazines. This means you would be able to reach the brand from many different Medias whether it be television or radio. Frontline distributes their magazines to supermarkets and other high street popular stores. By doing this they are reaching a wide audience in turn this means more money for the company. Independent distributors (like Vice) however are different. Vice is an independent music magazine that gets distributed to 22 different countries around the world. However, this does not make them money as the magazine is free and is found in places like Galleries or Cafes. By doing this they are targeting a specific audience of ‘smart’ people. Vice, however, also own a lot of different platforms also, VICE Films, VICE DVD, VICE Books, VIRTUE and VICE Events. These are incredibly different to Frontlines’ platforms. These aren’t to do with the music magazine, they are completely different projects that could also attract their target audience. Vice are quite an upmarket audience which means they are quite hard to find. The magazine is all about independence, this is another reason why the magazine is free for people to have.

My audience will be interested in mainstream music and would like lots of different genres. Also I would assume that they would want to be able to find the music they want anywhere they go for example supermarkets, online and stores. For my magazine I would be using a major distributor as my target audience would want to be able to get music where-ever they would go to. As I plan to make my magazine a mainstream magazine I would probably make it a multi-platformed. For example a radio station or tv channel, website etc.

Detailed Research into Forms and Conventions

For my magazine I have decided to focus on a theme that includes all sorts of music in the mainstream, not just pop music though. Music from Girls Aloud, to Muse, anythi

ng that most people would be able to know. For my research I needed to find 3 magazines that fit my criteria of Mainstream Explorers, Jicnar scale : C1/B. I chose to do Billboard, Q Magazine and Mojo as I believe that these magazines follow my criteria for my target audience.

I found that all of the covers of the magazines in which I researched into all had quite well-known artists on the front of them, this is something that I could try and do for my magazines also.In all of the magazines they all tend to feature the same sort of things, including gig reviews, interviews and album reviews. This could be something that I could take on board when it comes to writing my double page spread. All of the magazines also have advertisements for tours of the artists that would be featured.

The language used in most of the magazines is language that a range of people would be able to understand. All of the magazines also use slang to try and appeal that bit more to their audiences.

The contents pages in my magazines all were really quite plain and simple. All of them included features that were in every magazine, reviews and then one offs ( like interviews etc ) I think that as all of my magazines seemed to have quite a plain and simple layout for their contents page, I should do this aswell when I make my magazine.

The double page spreads in my all my magazines were also very similar. All of them were very wordy and then with one large picture of the artist who was being questioned. However, in Mojo magazine they included more pictures which I think would keep the audience interested instead of having to read a long block of text. The colours used in the double page spreads were also very plain, blacks and whites, this would connote that they are serious about what they are having to write.

I found that not many magazines have a multi-genre theme and I decided that this could be something that I could do, as it is quite unusual and there aren't many around. By doing this research I believe it has helped set the foundation of my magazine and what would appeal to my targeted audience.

Initial Research into Forms and Conventions

For my research I found 3 different genres of magazines. This will help me to try and decide what type of magazine I would like to do for my project.


Magazine 1
Title : Billboard

The Audience : I believe the readers of Billboard would be Hedonists and Mainstreamers. I think this magazine will be aimed at young people/teenagers, both males and females. On the Jicnar scale I believe they would be C2/C1.

Main Contents : The main contents of this magazine is full of a range of different music including country, rock, pop, adult contemporary, latin pop songs, R&B etc.

Brand Identity : This magazine is for people who enjoy many different styles of music. This magazine is aimed at people who have a very wide view of music and like a variety of different things. They could like mainstream artists as well as indie eccentric artists.

Magazine 2

Title : BBC Music Magazine


The Audience : People who read this magazine are probably Succeeders and also Traditionalists. On the Jicnar scale they are probably B/C1. I assume the audience of this magazine are probably older men and women


The Main Contents : The main contents of this magazine is simply classical and instrumental music.

Brand Identity : This magazine is aimed at the older people who enjoy classical and/or instrumental music. They are traditionalists who like to make sure things stay the way they are. They are also Succeeders as I assume that they are quite well-off.





Magazine 3
Title : Mixmag


The Audience : I believe that the audience for this magazine would be Individualists and Hedonists. On the Jicnar scale I believe they would be C2/D. I also believe that this magazine would mainly be aimed at young males.


Main Contents : This magazine is full of dance music and information about clubs and places to go. They also would be interested in drum and bass music, also raves.


Brand Identity : This is a magazine that is suitable for a younge rage range who are into clubbing and dancing. It would be aimed at people who love a range of dance music including drum and bass. They would like the sound of different interesting music types.



After doing all of my research I have decided that it would be better to do a mainstream music magazine aimed at young adults. I would like the magazine to be a lot more sophisticated than other magazines that are out there as I think that most mainstream music magazines are quite trashy. I would also like my magazine to look at all types of music out there, not just pop but rock, R&B etc. This way I will be able to get a bigger, wider audience by morphing all of the different magazines in to one music magazine. A magazine that I researched was Q magazine, this magazine includes many different genres of artists and would be the type of thing that I would like to do in my magazine.

For my magazine I will take ideas from Q magazine and make it my own. I will make it appeal to a more sophisticated audience.

Main Task : Magazine

For my main coursework task I will have to make a magazine cover, contents page and a double page spread. My magazine will have to be a music magazine that is a certain genre and certain specific audience.

I will have to make sure I follow the criteria and make my magazine a certain way. The key dates for my magazine are :
RESEARCH AND FASHION DEADLINE : 8th January 2010
PRODUCTION DEADLINE : 15th January 2010
POST-PRODUCTION DEADLINE : 12th February 2010
EVALUATION DEADLINE : 5th March 2010

3 things I need to do to improve my practical work

To improve my practical work I will need to make three targets for my next project. I have decided my 3 targets are going to be :

• Technology : Make sure I read the instruction sheet for the different programmes I will have to use, for example QuarkXPress, then I will be able to do more on the project.
• Time Management : Make sure I spend an equal amount of time on research as I do on the making of the product.
• Knowledge : Make sure I understand all of the technical definition of things.

All of these targets will help me with my future projects in media.

Evaluation : What have you learnt about technologies from the process of constructing this product?

In this project I mainly used two programmes. Adobe Photoshop and QuarkXPress. For my front cover I used Adobe Photoshop. I much preferred this to QuarkXPress as I found that it was easier to use and that I was able to do a lot more artistic things to my front cover. I think Adobe Photoshop made my front cover look more realistic as I was able to make my cover have all of the conventions of a real magazine. I also like that I was able to edit my picture for my front cover, also this made my cover seem more realistic in my opinion.

However I found QuarkXPress really quite hard to use. It was confusing and not very clear. But I did find that the way you could set things out on the page was good. In a way the way it was set out looked more realistic as you could set it out like a real contents page. But you weren't able to do as many things on QuarkXPress as you could on Adobe Photoshop. You couldn't do as many artistic things in QuarkXPress, because of this I had to edit my photos in Adobe Photoshop and then upload them into QuarkXPress. Doing this made me find QuarkXPress even worse.

I also used the scanner to upload an image of a contents page that I analysed onto my blog. I found this very easy and was happy with the results as I have never used a scanner before. I was happy with this technology.

All in all I believe that most of the technology used in this project was good. The only let down for me was QuarkXPress, I found it a very confusing programme and I didn't like that you couldn't do as many things as Adobe Photoshop. Also it wasn't very well labeled, it was hard to find what you were looking for, if they had it at all, and I didn't like the layout of the whole programme.

Evaluation : How did you attract/address your audience?

What would make your audience want to buy this magazine?
I have included many things on my front cover and contents page that my target audience would be attracted to and want to buy. I included information that the target audience would want to know about, for example, how to deal with exam stress, cool clothes for college and gossip. I have made sure that my magazine sticks to being a student magazine by including things like 'What to do after college' and 'How to deal with exam stress'.

The colours I have used on the front cover would also attract my target audience. The pink connotes girliness, so this could attract teenage girls to be drawn to the magazine. I also made sure that my model was wearing the same sort of colours, this would also connote happy, girliness as with all of the colours on my front cover. I used a mixture of Sans Serif and Serif fonts. I have used sans serif font on strap lines that I want the targeted audience to notice first when they see the magazine. I used Serif font on my mast-head as I thought it connoted girliness also, I also thought that it connoted being young and this would also attract the buyer.

I made my model look at the camera because I wanted the magazine to seem friendly and like it would welcome everyone to reading it. I also made sure she was smiling at the camera as this would also connote friendliness towards the target audience. I think my model is the typical girl who would buy the magazine, this is one of the reasons why I picked her, she is a normal girl that other girls could look up to.

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

I have included many different media conventions on my magazine cover and contents page.

On my magazine front cover I have included ;

• Masthead
• Freebies
• Puff
• Reversed out
• Issue number
• Price
• Barcode
• Screamers
• Strap lines
• Serif Font

On the contents page I have included ;

• Information bar
• Page numbers
• Welcome from the editor
• Pictures about what is included in the magazine

All of these conventions included in my magazine front cover and contents page are included in real magazines. This makes my magazine seem more realistic.

Evaluation : Who would be the target audience for your media product?

For my audience I have narrowed it down to four catergories, Gender, Age, Psychographics and Jicnar scale. By doing this I have catergorised my audience and by doing this I will be able to focus on things that my audience would want.
Gender : Female
Age : 16-19
Jicnar Scale : C1, C2
Psychographics : Mainstreamers

My statements about my audience are :
- You go on holiday just to get a tan
- You like to be fashionable
- You watch romantic comedies
- You take care over your apperance
- You enjoy going out with friends
- You have recently discovered your love for coffee/tea
- Pop is your favourite kind of music
- You shop at Sainsbury's rather than Tesco
- You buy at least one item of clothing per week

Final Front Cover and Contents Page

Contents Page

For this part of my project I had to compare two different types on contents page suitable for my target audience. I had to find similarities between the two magazines, 'Mizz' and 'Mixmag'

Both of the magazines have features that are similar. These are, the magazines have a note from the editor. This could introduce and welcome new readers to the magazine. Both the magazines also have pictures to do with whats in the magazine, these pictures also have page numbers on them. Both magazines also have separate titles depending on what topic the articles fit under. This could be beneficial for the reader to try and find something they want to read.

Both magazines have writing on one side of the magazine and pictures on the other. This layout is easiest to read and find the articles that the reader would want to read. Both of the magazines use language that is slang. This could attract the type of audience that the magazine is based for. The magazine also addresses the reader by saying 'You' and 'Your' this means that magazine is making sure that the reader feels like the magazine is talking to them.

The way that the contents pages appeal to their audience is; The language used ( slang, 'you' ), The types of articles in the magazine, The colours used in the magazine and the Pictures that are used in the contents page. All of these things could attract the target audience. They also use lots of screamers also.


Both of the magazines follow the house style. The colours from the main cover follow through on the contents page also. This makes the magazine look more professional and makes the contents page more easy on the eye. It also show the target audience that the magazine is going to be based on the front cover. The theme of the magazine is thorough in its design.

For my magazine contents I am going to try and follow these ideas also. I will make my writing on one side of the magazine and try and include pictures on the other side. I will follow the colour scheme from the front page to the contents to make it follow the 'house-style' Doing this will make my magazine seem and look more professional.

Audience Research

For my audience I have narrowed it down to four catergories, Gender, Age, Psychographics and Jicnar scale. By doing this I have catergorised my audience and by doing this I will be able to focus on things that my audience would want.

Gender : Female
Age : 16-19
Jicnar Scale : C1, C2
Psychographics : Mainstreamers

My statements about my audience are :
- You go on holiday just to get a tan
- You like to be fashionable
- You watch romantic comedies
- You take care over your apperance
- You enjoy going out with friends
- You have recently discovered your love for coffee/tea
- Pop is your favourite kind of music
- You shop at Sainsbury's rather than Tesco
- You buy at least one item of clothing per week

Five ways I'm going to target my audience
- Include slang words to attract their attention
- Use a Serif font on the mast head to attract the reader
- Include the colour pink on the front cover
- On the front cover put a picture of a girl that looks fashionable but sensible for college
- Include Freebies ( eg. posters, nail varnish )

Research

Today my task was to find at least 3 magazine covers and compare them on the topics of; Subject Matter, Colours Used, Fonts Used, Types of Model, Language Used, Design Layout and the Freebies offered.

I analysed 4 magazines, Teen Vogue, Seventeen, Sugar and Bliss. All of these magazines are well known for being fashion magazines for teenagers which is what my target audience is.

The subject matter in all four of the magazines all followed the same sort of theme. They included new styles that you could try out, whether it was hair, fashion or makeup. They also all included some sort of celebrity gossip. Also a celebrity interview. All of these main features on the magazine cover could make the reader more inclined to buy it.

The colours used were also quite similar, all four magazines used pink somewhere on their magazine. This could conote the fact that it is quite a girly magazine and that the magazine is mainly aimed at girls rather than boys. The other colours used with the pink are also quite girly, puples, blues, reds and yellows, all of these colours could conote girliness or summer. The colours are also very bright and happy colours, this conotes that the magazine will make the buyer happy.

The fonts used in the magazines differ. Depending on the article depends on the font used. If the magazines are trying to be serious or attract someones attention they use Sans Serif. Serif font is mainly used on the mast head, using the Serif font could also attract people as it looks more friendly rather than the sans serif font.

The models on the front cover of the magazines are all reasonably well known celebrities, Katy Perry, Taylor Swift, Nicola from Girls Aloud and Whitney and Lauren from the Hills. All of these celebrities are well known mainly by teenagers. These celebrity models could also attract the buyers attention. If the buyer knows the celebrity and likes the celebrity they would want to read about them in the magazine.

The langauge used in the magazines tend to be slang. This could also attract teenagers as it is language most teenagers are familiar with. This could help the buyer as they would be more attracted to buy something they understand rather than something that looks confusing and not 'cool' in their eyes.

All of the layouts of the cover are very similar. The model tends to be in the middle of the magazine with the articles around and down the sides of her. Also they tend to be the main sell of the magazine which is why they are in the centre. The models are also underneath the mast head which could conote that the magazine believe that they are more important than the model. Also it could conote that they want to attract new buyers so that they see the full name of the magazine to tell others.

The freebies in the magazines differ. In one magazine they are giving away free posters with the magazine. In the other you get flip flops and in the other two you dont get anything. I believe that these kind of fashion, gossip, beauty magazines dont tend to give away things as the magazine content tends to have a lot of tips and advice on how to look better, the advice is almost seen like the freebie, hense the reason why there arent many fashion magazines with many freebies.

Preliminary Analysis

As one of my first tasks I have to create a magazine cover. Firstly however, I needed to analyse some of the magazine covers that students made last year, this is called Preliminary Analysis. By doing this it will give me some ideas for my own magazine cover, also it will make me see what kind of topics people did their magazines on.

I analysed a magazine called 'Mizz Glam' this magazine described itself as 'The guide to student fashion'. The main reason that you can tell that it is a magazine front cover is that there is a serif font masthead, reversed out, straplines, coverlines, bar codes, price of the magazine, main sell and screamers. These are a lot of the conventions that you would expect to see on a magazine front cover.

The audience of a magazine is very important. I believe that this magazine was aimed at females ( because of the beauty and fashion tips, also because of the posters ) ages 16-19, Demographic Classification, C1 and Psychographic profile, mainstreamers.

I believe the magazine cover successfully targeted its audience because it includes all the latest fashion and beauty tips. It also includes gossip about celebrities that most people have heard of and that the audience would want to know about. It also includes free posters of sporty boys, this would attract the audience into buying the magazine more, especially because of the age of the targeted audience. The colours being pink and orange could conote quite girly things such as sweets or flowers, this could attract the target audience as girls tend to like those types of colours.. Also the model on the front cover looks very nice and the target audience would want to be able to look like her. The magazine cover successfully grabs its audience's attention by all of the above reasons.

Introduction

Hi, I'm Beccy and this is my blog for my AS Media Studies Course. I will be writing what I have done in my Media lessons.

First of all we found out what key things there are on the magazine front cover. These main things are;

- Puff

- Freebie

- Mast-head

- Sans Serif Font

- Reversed Out

- Main Sell

- Screamers

- Cover lines

- Strap lines

- Website Address

- Issue Number and Price

We also conoted the colours used on the magazine cover. For example red would mean romance, lust, sex, danger. We also conoted the font used, the bigger the font the more it will stand out and get the customer to buy the magazine. Clearly the magazine is for men hense the reason why Kelly Brook is standing in her bra, this would make the man be more incouraged to buy Loaded. The model is covering the magazines name, this suggests that the magazine should be known to the customer. The red writing stands out, the red could also suggest love, romance, sex, danger as the other red things on the magazine cover would suggest. The yellow on the magazine clashes with the red which makes it stand out more also.