Sunday, February 27, 2022
STATEMENT OF INTENT
How do you intend to use the four areas of the media theoretical framework to communicate meaning and meet the requirements of your chosen brief? (approx. 400 words)
PRODUCT 1:
According to the BBC, the number of young people who read magazines has been steadily declining. This has motivated me to produce an aesthetically pleasing real-life magazine loaded with meaningful personal stories that will appeal to a 16-25 mass market readership while maintaining the fundamental sensational qualities of a real-life magazine. From my research into real-life magazines, such as "That's Life", I have discovered multiple key generic conventions which I will aim to include. Such as maximalist use of sell and tag lines, bright colour palette, alongside impactful masthead and headlines. Across my two front covers and contents pages, I will maintain a consistent typography to achieve a strong sense of brand identity, all the while using friendly and sensational language for my stories to appeal to the target demographic as well as the brief. To reflect Bauer's brand identity of creating "iconic and influential magazine media brands for diverse, passionate audiences", I intend for my magazine's USP to be its passion, inclusivity and strong sense of identity. The masthead "REALLY?" connotes a colloquial and friendly approach towards the audience. I chose this masthead because it's catchy and grabs the reader's attention by purposefully being rhetoric. I will pair it with the slogan "The Magazine You Can't Believe" to fully express that our content is unique as well as surprising therefore adhering to the codes and conventions of real-life magazines who use the element of surprise as their selling point. Both editions will feature sensational stories on various different topics, inspired by maximalism with eye-catching titles – a convention of real-life magazines. This visual appeal will entice my demographic, as my audience research showed 16-25yo prioritise the content and visual impact of a magazine. I aim to create an upbeat representation with bright colours/ colours that represent the content being portrayed, in order to reflect Bauer's positive brand identity that is promoted throughout their products and website. In both of my editions, the real-life stories will address relevant topics for a 16-25 mass market demographic while also keeping their sensational quality. The first edition's main story will focus on mental health while the second will be on the effects of social media. Both these topics are highly relevant to this demographic as from my research, results have shown that my target audience is more likely to read a magazine that they feel they can relate to.
PRODUCT 2:
I will be creating a website with a clear house style that follows throughout my magazine by using the same fonts and masthead logo in order to demonstrate brand identity to my intended audience. My website links will reflect those in the contents of my magazine. The layout will have an easy to navigate home page which will inculde the latest editions, "Real Tweet Time" and some additioinal stories with a link to a winning competition. I aim to include articles which had been mentioned in both my contents pages and their covers which will enable a link between all the platforms for my brand. The "Real Tweet Time" section will feature tweets who have tagged REALLY?magazine during the week to increase audience interactivity and reflect my aim to consider the active audiences, linking to Shirky's 'End of Audience Theory' The interaction with audiences through competitions and social media accounts such as Instagram, Twitter, Facebook and Snapchat, continues to broaden and attract my target demographic in a fun approach. This reflects Bauer's purpose of striving to constantly attract audiences through as many platforms as possible. I plan to have a choice of articles on my home page, including those from the contents pages and also some new content. The "Your Story" section will include stories that haven't been featured on the front cover of the next front pages. This is a good way to keep a loyal audience satisfied and engaged with the magazine's identity.
How do you intend to link your media products to demonstrate your knowledge and understanding of the digitally convergent nature of your media production? (approx. 100 words)
I will create a media product that has a highly appropriate and consistent brand image across my products and a branding which demonstrates and highlights the shared target audience. I will establish this by ensuring a consistent use of the same models, representations, typeface and logos across my magazine, website and on social media platforms to create a strong sense of house style and brand identity. I would also create links within my magazine that would direct my target audience to the website, for example, with opportunities for the audience to get involved and engage with the brand. In both my editions, I will include a competition puff with a reward to get my audience involved with the magazine as well as providing the link to my website in several locations. This helps to gain the audiences interest further due to Jenkin's theory of active audiences and participatory culture. It will also be useful in creating synergy and brand loyalty between the audience and my products.
Friday, September 10, 2021
Planning: Ideas and References
Since the demographic is 16-25, I do not think the original style of a real-life magazine is going to appeal to this type of audience. Therefore, I will change the style of the magazine to something sleeker. However, I will still try to keep the shock value of the stories portrayed in the magazine and the charismatic image that real-life magazines like "That's Life!" have in order to fit the brief.
I am going to take inspiration from:
These are still real-life magazines but their style is a lot more subtle than a traditional real-life magazine. The "happiful" one especially, I think, is the best example since it still has a lot of cover lines around the photo which give it that "real-life magazine feel"