Institutional Research

The Media is produced by small groups of companies, or institutions. These can include advertising agencies and magazine productions houses. All of these help in the production of a magazine.
The company I would produce my magazine with would be Hearst Magazines UK, Hearst magazine is one of the UK’s leading media companies with 24 magazine brands and 22 digital assets, all with a variety of female and male target audiences, for example; Good house keeping and Elle for the female target audience and Men's Health and Digital Spy. This would be good for me as my target audience is a between Male and Female, but is more towards Female, which is the same as Hearst. The majority of their magazine and female orientated.
Hearst Magazines UK is the trading name of National Magazine Company Ltd, established in 1910. Its major interests include magazine, newspaper and business publishing, cable networks, television and radio broadcasting, Internet businesses, TV production and distribution, newspaper features distribution and real estate.

Although my product works well and connects with Hearst target audiences as well, my magazine has a very different genre to the magazine advertised with Hearst UK. My magazine is on the music genre of Modern music and The Charts. This does not connect to any of the genres in which are connected to Hearst UK.

If I was to produce and sell my magazine I would advertise my magazine in music shops such as HMV and ZAVVI. I would advertise and sell them in these stores as they are very clear and popular music stores that are world wide. This would open up my magazine to a wide variety of locations and there fore building up my magazines reputation.

Not only would I advertise and sell my magazine in stores I would also do this on the Internet. To make sure my magazine had presence on the interest I would have advertisements on the side of music websites and on the websites of HMV and ZAVVI I would create a link that showed that these stores are in partnership with my magazine. My magazine would have an online website that would show the editions that were available and could be bought online, as well as sampled online. The website would also include advertisements of the stores we are in partnership with and would include details on out company Hearst. Opening up my advertising on the Internet would open up my audience and would again increase dramatically my magazines reputation as it would soon be known as the new interest magazine interest.

Here I have looked into the institution I would produce my magazine with, I have looked in to the types of magazine they already produce and the types of audiences and genres of magazines in which they already create and produce. As well as looking in to the background research and history of my chosen institution.

Doing this gives me an idea of how I would like my magazine to be published as well as giving myself some more back ground information of the production of a magazine and what may need to be done in the process of creating it. This gives my magazine more of a professional view on it and starts to create an idea of it's placement in our society today.

Experimenting with Magazine

Before creating my practice magazine cover i designed a template that would give me a brief and simple idea of what i was targeting. Although the layout is not the same and my real cover came out with images the different side and information in a different way the template gave me confidence in what I was trying to create when doing this task. My goal was to create a newspaper styled cover that included images and an interesting story such as 'The Next Einstein'.

I am pleased with my over all outcome of my practice newspaper cover and doing this practice gives me for confidence when I go to final create my very own magazine that will be on Modern music and the charts.  

Here you can see a close up image of the title was I was targeting for my newspaper, TavyTown Weekly. My title was a confident feature I keep the same on my template and real magazine cover. I chose to name my newspaper this as it connected to the location in which the magazine would be sold, the location being Tavistock College. It saying 'Weekly' suggest the magazine will be printed and sold weekly. I also find it a catchy and memorable title that I feel students would like. I find it important to have a visual aid with you almost when creating a magazine, it is just a little guide that will help you out with the basic gist of how you would like your magazine to turn out like. So as you can see my basic note page is very rough with no detail, this is only so that I can see where I would like to see images and writing and the type of layout and look I want to create. This is helpful and yet very simple.

Experimenting with Magazine

Here we had to create a college newspaper styles front cover including images, a head title and a main story. Doing so would include the main features needed in a front cover of a magazine. Here I have written about Tavistock college's next Einstein as my main story. Then including two shorter stories, 'Keep the octagon clean' and 'Tavistock town football club'. Including more smaller stories makes the magazine more believable and real like The Herald and The Sun.

By doing this task I have learnt that it isn't difficult to find stories to write about, this may help me in my magazine when I feature on the front stories that will be inside. As well as this, I have learnt how to layout a type of genre of magazine, the newspaper. Including images visuals shows the readers what the story is informing you about, this makes the stories become real. Now that I have created a practice newspaper I feel more confident when it comes to creating my own magazine.

Audience Research Film

final video from Lucy Gosling on Vimeo.

Here I have gone around and asked a variety of people what they think of when I say Modern Music and filmed them. With my footage I have then created a short film that comes together to describe 'Modern Music'.

From this I have learnt what my target audience think about the genre of Modern Music, my target audience being the age range of 14-20 year olds and a mixed gender means I have gained information that can help me create an attractive magazine for my target audience that includes the information and features they are familiar with the genre of Modern Music.
For example, from this I have learn that Modern music can be seen as not just one genre but a variety such as aacoustic and R&B. This puts pressure on me as a magazine maker to spell out the genre in which I will dedicate my magazine to. This then tells my readers what they are buying and what the magazine will be about. The film tells me Modern Music can be seen as most popular chart music. This is what i will focus on, I will include interviews on the number ones of the week/month and include information on there albums or other songs in which they have made.

Experimenting with Film

Finished Preliminary Task from Lucy Gosling on Vimeo.

Here myself and two other members have worked together to create a short film that includes, walking through a door and showing match on action ( a close up shot of an action taking place ) and then sitting down and filming the start of a conversation. When filming the conversation you had to include some main film shot ttechniques such as 'over the shoulder' and 'close ups' maybe a 'reaction shot'.

Here I have my Preliminary task for Film. I did this task to show I have experimented with Film and from that I have decided I would prefer to do written magazine work. I chose the option of Magazine because I showed more interest in language and journalism instead of film and editing, and found Magazine would be my better option.

Audience Targeting

My main target audience for my magazine is…
Age: 17-20
Gender: Mixed Gender
Interests: Music, new music in the charts.
Socio-economic classification: C2DE
 
Age:  ‘17- 20 year olds’
The main reason I have targeted this age range is so I can connect more with my readers as they would be in my own age range. Being able to connect more with my readers will help me create a magazine my readers can understand and enjoy.

Gender:
‘Mixed Gender’
I feel my magazine will be able to connect with both Males and Females, I feel this because the colours are not connected with either of the genders for example Purple, this can be connected to both males and females, but the gender could be seen quite female as the artists included in the magazine may be more female orientated.

Interests: 
‘Music, new music in the charts.’

My readers need to have an interest in music and artists including new artists that are coming into the music scene. This is because my magazine will focus on the new sounds, as well as their own lives and interests as an artist.

Socio-Economic Classification:
'C2DE'
C2DE is the skilled working class including the unemployed, students would range in the C2 area, and this is where my target age range begins. My magazine would be suited to this classification as it would be cheap and so accessible and affordable to all.

Here I have looked into the my target audience.I have looked in depth with what kind of social class they are put into and there interests, this will help me create my magazine. I will need to make it affordable to my target audience as well as designing it as in the social class of my target audience, for example, higher class will buy glossy magazines where as the lower class will buy paperback magazine. 

Doing this gives me a secure idea of who I would like to focus my magazine on, which is 14-20 year olds and a mixed gender maybe slightly more feminine. It gives me a focus on how I will create my magazine to reach my target audience. I will make sure that my language is chatty and excitable for my readers and will include images that makes it easy on the eye, also i will keep my colour scheme mixed like blues and purples but including a bit of 'gossip' will push my gender to a bit more feminine.

Music Magazine Research

Music Magazine Research

Introduction Research

Here I am going to research music magazines to give myself an idea on what types of magazine music types there are and what features each include.

Genres

There are many different types of Music…

n     Techno

n     Minimal techno

n     Tech house

n     Hip-hop

n     Urban

n     Dub / Dub step

n     Pop

n     Rock and roll

n     Rap

n     Indie

n     Instrumental

n     Drum and Bass

Regular Features

•Information on new upcoming bands and artists/general news

•Interviews

•Concert and tour date information

•Editors letters

•Images including the main feature/artist of that issue of magazine

•Cover stories/ EXCLUSIVE interviews

•Merchandise

Adverts

•Advertising new artists and bands

•concerts/tour dates

•Festivals

•Offers/vouchers to advertise clubs or events connected to the magazine

•Merchandise

•Advertising films

•New CD’s a and album covers

•Musical equipment

Images

•Big main image for the main artist or feature of the magazine/ Exclusive photo shoot

•Recent Festival images including the festival logo

•Band/artist images in action, concert/gig images

Offers and Giveaways

•Free merchandise

•Chances to win, Cd’s/ concert tickets/ Band or Artist merchandise

•Vouchers on offers (Money off the next issue you buy)

Special Edition Features

•Back stage exclusive interviews

•Reviews on the latest festivals and concerts

•Introduction of new upcoming bands and artists

Front Page

•Main image of who may be the main feature of the magazine

•Hints that include teasers of stories that will be included inside if you buy the magazine

•Date and bar code

•Title of the magazine

•Little list of features of artists that will be featured inside

Conclusion

From this research I have learnt about the vast genres and feature that are included in music magazines. This gives me an idea of what I may want to include in my own music magazine and the features that will engage my reader.

Here I have looked in to the key features a magazine includes and looked into the many different ways in which a variety of magazines have each show them. For example, some magazine include special editions that include top secret gossip stories that everyone needs to know about, and then some are more music based and like to include competitions on winning new albums or interviews with the artist.

Doing so, teaches me how I can keep my magazine different and individual but still including the main features I need to include for the genre I choose. So, if i do the modern music genre i need to include interviews with the number one in the charts at that moment and include the new singles that have entered the top 40. This will show my genre clearly.

Music Magazine Reseach

Here I have looked into the different types of music genres and looked into two main genres which are classic rock and R&B/Urban. These genres are very different, but I have analysed their similarities and differences, for example; the classic rock magazine MOJO relies upon images and information on new songs and Cd's their artists has, where as the R&B magazine VIBE relies more on the stories that can be seen a slightly 'gossip' styled. As well as this I looked into the way each of the genres main magazine covers have made the genre clear and engaging to the reader.

I have learnt that the cover is very important and needs to show clearly the genre in which your magazine is based around. Doing so, by including popular artists that are famously known for that genre, the language connecting to the genre as well as the stories and information included inside, such as interviews with artists, maybe including brands that connect to the stereo-typical readers and connect with the genre.

Content Page Music Magazine Analysis

Here I have now analysed a content page. Content pages are usually very crowded and so include many features that can influence and engage the reader into the magazine. These can be images of the band or artists that are featured in the magazine, as well as chatty and outgoing language that will make the reader read on.  

From this I have learnt the key features that I will need to include in my own content page of my magazine, such as images, snippets of stories included inside and hyperbolic language that excites the reader into continuing reading. The content page informs the reader of everything that is included in the magazine. Having an interesting and engaging content pages effects the readers opinion on the whole magazine.

Front Cover Magazine Text Analysis

Here I have analysed two magazine front covers, Q and VIBE. I have analysed the main features that are visible on the front cover such as mini headline that include stories featured inside. I have thought about the effect and influence it may have on the reader when making the decision to buy the magazine or not. If there are artists featured on the outside of the magazine that the readers are interested in they are more likely to pick up and view the magazine, therefore potentially buying it.  

From this I have learnt the key features in which I will need to include in my own Magazine, for example large headlines including stories feature in the magazine, catchy and engaging language such as 'shocking' to make the reader what to know what is included as well as including such things as sneak peeks to engage the reader and want them to read more.