Mood board

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The mood board that I had created was very genre specific to my theme of indie as it includes images from festivals that people from my desired target audience are likely to attend. These are commonly denoted in most media magazines and are included as they are very appealing and ultimately enticing to the audience. Furthermore, I have included the images of popular culture that my audience are likely to enjoy and in this category there are things like: X FM, NME magazine and also clothing which the audience are more than likely to wear. In addition I had logo's from specific genre events that the audience will pragmatically understand not only because of the large brand image that the logo has but also because of the fact that the audience have a personal relationship with events like this and they have more than likely attended it. Finally, the images of artists from the indie genre are included as these are going to be most appealing to the audience as these are the people who they enjoy listening to and therefore reading about.

Colour scheme

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The drafting of what I intended to use as my house colour schemes was vitally important in the production of my magazine as it will be what the audience will build a personal relationship with and what will be instantly recognisable to people when they are thinking about my magazine.Furthermore, I decided to list the common connotations of the intended colours so that I could foreshadow what the future reactions to the colours could be and what they mean to others. Overall, I determined the colour scheme to be an important as it will be a clear indicator of what my magazine will represent and how it will stand out from other competitors on the shelf.

The task of generating name ideas is one that I determine to be of great importance as it is what the audience will have a great relationship and is what the brand image will revolve around. As a consequence of this, the name of the magazine has to be something that will be catchy and easy to remember, but also something that will have a deeper semantical meaning which will outline the purpose and personality of the magazine. Therefore, I came up with a variety of names that would adhere to these conventions that are necessary for the magazine to have in my opinion. Once I had drafted a variety of possible names for my magazine, I decided to select 'Heritage' as the name for my magazine as it does not only have the common connotations of being the most powerful and influencial, but also the audience will have the common ideology of the royal family as they are what we commonly relate with the word 'Heritage'. Finally, this will then be a clear signifier for the class, power and design of my text as the style and outlook will revolve around the name of my magazine.

Over half term we were set the homework of completing three more tasks from the list that we were given in the previous week. The tasks that we were to complete were: a mood board, name ideas for the magazine and the colour scheme for the magazine. All of these were to be taken equally as important as the actual construction of the magazine as these tasks are vital for planning and laying down the foundations for our magazine.
      Firstly, I completed the mood board as I found this a very simple task. Although it was simple and easy to complete, I still believe it to be of importance as it gave me a clear insight into what relates with the genre I am going into and what things I should include in my magazine. I used images of bands who are popular in the indie genre, of indie fashion and of festivals in my mood board as all of these things are items that are most commonly seen in indie magazines as they are of the interests of the readers. I then went on to research images from photoshoots that would inspire me when I do my photoshoot. I found images of indie artists that particularly caught my eye due to them being abnormal and artistic. From this task I took away what things I need to include in my magazine in order to compell my audience but also ideas for what I can do in my photoshoot to capture a successful image.
     I then drafted name ideas for my magazine which I feel is a critical process as the name is what the audience build a relationship with and need to remember. Thus meaning that the masthead has to be both suitable but relevant to the genre. I came up with four suitable ideas for my magazine title: Immaculate, In the Indie, Symbol and Heritage. I then stated why I chose them and what impact these words would have on the audience. This again was all constructed on a Prezi presentation.
      Finally, was the colour scheme task where I had to plan which colours I would be using throughout my magazine and what effect and purpose they would serve. I chose to use the colours red and blue for the more decorative articles and to highlight the vitally important news and the special edition interviews and these colours will show change from the simple black font used for everything else. However, black font will still be used most frequently as it gives the magazine a sophisticated and professional feel. I believe the colour scheme to be very important as it gives the magazine a unique feel and also gives the readers something to notice and gain a pragmatic understanding with.

At the start of this week we were given a task completion sheet, and this gave us a heads up and insight into every task we were going to have to complete right up until the end of the task. We had freedom to choose what order we would like to do these tasks in, but we just had to make sure that everything was completed. I decided to start with the 'Target Audience' task and chose to display this as a Prezi presentation.
       The target audience task was to be an in depth analysis of who my magazine is going to be aimed it much deeper analysis than I had previously done so in my proposal. Although, the fact that I had previously made the proposal that also vaguely highlighted who my magazine was aimed at meant that I already had described who my magazine is intended to be aimed at but now just needed to go into deeper detail. In addition, I also had to address how and why my magazine will appeal to this audience. I found this resourceful as it meant that I had to do research into how other magazines of the same genre make sure their magazine appeal to their audience and I then used this research to give myself ideas on how I'm going to do the same thing.
       During this task, I also used the information that I had gained from my polls to reflect what the population expect from a magazine and how I can then fulfill their needs. I think that the poll was very successful as it gave me a clear insight into what people of my age expect from a magazine, although, to extend myself further I believe that I should conduct the same poll on people of different ages and social classes to narrow down my audience even further.  Another objective on this task was to find out the interests of my audience and how I am going to feed their interests in my magazine.
       Finally, I had to think about how I was going to advertise my magazine in order to promote it and get it out to my desired audience. I drafted that I was going to hand out free magazines of the first issue in hot-spots for my desired audience like Westfields. I think this could be a good idea as this is where people of my target audience are most likely to be and as it's free, they will take one and if they then enjoy the magazine, will come back for more and start to build a relationship. To complete my target audience task I am going to film an interview based clip where I will ask questions to someone who is part of my target audience in order to receive even more feedback and give an interactive feel to my work.
     

Here is the video made using CamStudio to display how I created my magazine in clear, simple, steps.

The type of magazine that I am looking to create is going to of the same genre and style of NME but with more of a focus on mainstream bands and not with the ‘Under the Radar’ feature that highlights the less well known bands. I am leading my magazine down the more mainstream route as I believe that this is a market which can appeal to many peoples needs as the market is broader, therefore offering more opportunity for success. My magazine will also include the latest reviews from gigs and festivals that both include the type of artists that are going to be expected in my magazine by the audience, but also our views on them that will either adhere and persuade the readers to see them for themselves or inform the audience on our views. Moreover, my magazine will also include the latest interviews of the most recognised artists in an attempt to make my magazine unique from the rest of the similar products, but also to signify that I am going to keep my audience entertained and up to date with the latest changes and stories from the music that they are interested in. Additionally, the writers of my articles will be retired musicians or recognisable faces from the industry as this will make their opinions be more valid and reliable to readers.
My magazine will include the latest reviews of both gigs and festivals as there are features that my audience are going to be most fascinated about, because they are likely to attend these sort of events. To make sure these are the main focus of my magazine, I will have at least two double-page spreads involving up-and-coming bands but also reviews on the latest festivals. Moreover, my magazine will also have a contents page which will be busy looking as this is the look that is generally taken on by similar magazines in the genre, and I want to adhere to the common conventions but with my own twists on the content. The contents will have a few images, but also lots of information for the audience to take in. Finally, my front page spread will be striking as it needs to be individual and appealing to the audience. I will most likely do this by using a large, interesting image alongside lots of sell-lines and a pull quote so that the audience are obliged to read into the magazine to find answers.
The instantly recognizable competitor for my magazine would be NME as it is the magazine that I am taking the majority of my inspiration from so they will therefore be similar. Although, NME is also considered the biggest magazine in the indie genre and it is this factor that will hinder my magazine as I will have to be able to contend for the audience and possibly prize readers away from NME and towards my magazine. Additionally, I will have to compete with Q as they are also a large magazine in the indie genre, but I believe my magazine to have quite a few differences with Q; so my magazine will not clash with it too much.
My magazine will cost between £2.50 and £3.50 on a weekly basis so that it’s always up to date with the latest news and it is also cheaper compared to magazines that are released on a monthly basis. This will appeal to my target audience of people of social classes B1-C1 as they are going to be the classes with the most disposable income. To get money from my magazine I will sell pages for advertisement. These adverts will either be advertising albums, festivals or clothes that are going to be appealing to the audience judging by the genre of the magazine. The audience will also be between the ages of 15-24 as it is people of these ages who are most likely to pick up a magazine and read it to keep up to date with their interests and to read reviews on events they may have been to.
My magazine will be weekly so that my readers can be constantly up to date with their interests and the music industry. I believe that releasing the magazine weekly will also keep the reader on edge and wanting more, as you can advertise next weeks issue in the most recent copy. My magazine will then cost between the regions of £2.50 and £3.50 as this is the average cost of a magazine of my genre and purpose. However, there will also be the chance to subscribe to my magazine in order to receive it for a cheaper price. I will then advertise my magazine on the contents page so that it is easily visible to the audience. The subscription will also be advertised on the website of the magazine, alongside the offer for people being able to download the magazine onto smart phones and tablets as I print media is slowly dying out and people are choosing to instead download the magazine.
In my opinion I believe that my magazine will be successful as it will both coincide with the indie magazines on the market at the moment, but will still have my twist on the genre and will therefore offer something new to the audience and hopefully this factor will entice them into buying my magazine over others. In addition, I think the idea that my magazine will be at a fair weekly price, means that my target audience will have enough disposable income in order to be able to buy my magazine weekly. Finally, my magazine will address the needs for the audience inside of it’s articles so that they will want to read my magazine due to it interesting them, as well as answering their questions created by the sell-lines on the front page.

This week I had to create multiple polls on my blog on both questions about magazines and general information to test the audience on. This primary research would then assist me on constructing my magazine as I will know the audiences needs and I can then begin to plan out how I am going to fulfill them. Once this had been completed, we started to produce our proposal for our magazine and this was to state what genre our magazine was going to be, what was going to be included in it and also what we were going to do to make it appeal to our audience. This became an easy task as we could use the information we had obtained from the polls, to influence our ideas. I believe both of these tasks to be vitally important as I've now learned how to address my audience appropriately, and it is this factor that sells magazines the most as you need to meet the expectations and needs of the audience.

This week in my Media AS studies I had to analyse three contents pages. This started off relatively easy however, it was difficult trying to remember all of the key terms and theories relevant for analysis. Once we had completed these in lesson, we got assigned the homework of analysing a further three front covers. However, I independently analysed the double page spreads too as I knew this is what we were going to be doing next. I believe this to be an effective management of my time as this put me ahead of everyone else and meant that I had more time to do the next task. The next task I got an early start on, and this was to create a 'Prezi' on the codes and conventions of any desired magazine we wanted. I chose to do NME and used facts from a database to reinforce my ideas made in the presentation. I think Prezi is an effective way of doing a presentation as it is both interactive and decorative, but still gets your overall voice and opinion across.

Similar Product Research

Linked above from my scribd page is the similar product research which I completed in order to not only give me ideas on what I could include in my magazine, but also what general codes and conventions need to be seen in every magazine. Throughout my analysis, I decided to analyse magazines from a diverse selection of genres so that I could determine what is common between the magazine but also the differences. I believe this will then lead to me producing a better quality of magazine due to the fact that I will have much better pragmatical knowledge of what needs to be included as opposed to jumping straight into producing the magazine.

      However, I did not only look at front covers and what general conventions they bring to the magazines personal star image and how they stereotype themselves into a specific genre, but I then moved onto analysing contents pages and double-page spreads. When looking at the contents pages, I noticed that they are commonly very busy with subscription offers. They create this busy feel by not only using multiple images, but also by the use of  offers, band index's and in some cases, previews of what is inside the magazine. Yet again, I believe that the research is key before the production of my magazine because by the time I get around to creating my interpretation of the page, I will have a vast image of what I could create due to the fact that I have seen many different pages and have noticed how they have been successful.
     
      Finally, I looked at double page spreads and how they don't only fulfill the needs and wants of the audience about the artist, but it also gives them the sense of having a personal relationship with the artist and also ultimately has the main purpose of adhering to the star image of the interviewee and and assists them in growing as a celebrity. Throughout my research, I noticed that the idea of star image seems to be more present in the rap and R'n'B' genre and I believe this to be because of the fact that in indie magazines, the artists are perceived as being underground and usually care more about their music rather than the fame and money.

My first diary entry will include the first tasks that I have had to do so far in the start of my AS level Media. First off, I had to create an index page and front cover for a school magazine in our preliminary task. I believed this to be an easy task as the magazine did not have to be of a high standard, but instead just had to include the majority of the general conventions seen in a magazine. Whilst doing the task, we had to use photoshop and this was used as a warm-up and refreshment of my memory before we get around to doing the main task. Next, we had to do deep analysis' of three front pages, contents and double-page spreads from magazines. I found this a bit more challenging as it takes time to deeply annotate the magazines using key terms. To conclude, all of the tasks so far have cleared the cobwebs from my mind, and I feel as if I am breaking back into the media mind-set.

Media Key Concepts Report on Prezi

The key concepts report I did was on a magazine that was to be similar to the magazine I am looking to create and I therefore chose NME as it is in the same genre but also because of its success in the market and the fact that it is aimed at people from the same age group and social class as what my magazine is going to be aimed at.
     Firstly, I looked at the audience of NME and in particular who is most likely to be targeted and how the magazine is going to appeal to them. Moreover, I looked at why this group has been targeted and I generally denoted that men are going to be likely to read the magazine as women have a greater competition from gossip magazines. Although, this still means that the contents have to be interesting and meet the needs and expectations of the audience as there are other magazines on the market that could fulfill this purpose.
     Next, I looked at the general conventions of the magazine and the first thing that I had noticed was the house colour scheme that is kept the same in every edition. I believe this to be successful as it gives the magazine a brand image that is instantly recognisable by the audience and therefore is influencial in the perceptions of the magazine. Plus, the fact the magazine is always there to keep the audience up to date assists the reader with creating a relationship with the magazine as they will put trust into the magazine. Also, it is certain that the magazine will definitely include an artist that is popular at the time or have events up and coming. The magazine do this in order to entertain and inform the audience, but also to imply that their magazine gets all the latest information first.
    I then looked at the representation and how the magazine represents not only itself, but the people it features too. Generally, I noticed that the main artist included in NME magazine will always be represented as being the best thing around at the moment. However, this is understandable as it is done in order to make the reader feel as though they are reading an exclusive interview and something which other magazines cannot offer. Finally, if the story or artist is very important the person can be represented in their own way based upon their own star image.
     To conclude, I looked at the institution which distribute NME which is IPC media who are one of the largest institution companies in the U.K. and having them as the owner of the magazine signifies to the audience that the magazine is successful  as they have been chosen by a very big company.Although, due to the growth of tablets and internet, print magazines are falling drastically in sales and may even die out soon due to the world being overpowered by technology.