P1 - Be able to generate ideas for an original media product based on the client brief?
CLIENT BRIEF
The client brief I have been given states that they would like me to a new high end magazine for the 'Youtube' and 'Instagram' generation. They would also like the magazine to be seen by the audience as an Independent Publication. The magazine I am to produce needs to be targeted towards those of the age between 18-30 years old who are consumers of traditional printed publications. The publication is also open to new ideas on how to get the product to translate or integrate with other media.
From the term demographic, I understand that I am to include different details such as the nationality, age, social class and what are they consuming in the media. This helps narrow down what the intended audience for a certain product would be. Another thing to consider is the economic class for my targeted audience should be to those from the ages of ABC1 as I will be most likely selling my product to people who have jobs.
In the client brief, we are to consider those of the Youtube and Instagram generation don't consume traditional print publications. This could range from newspapers to magazines that can vary in many different genres such as gaming, fashion, film and fitness. They also specify that the age should be narrowed down from the ages of 18-30 in order to target its intended audience. From within the magazine I looked at the different conventions that appear such as the title or masthead which is the first thing that will be catching the consumers' attention, the menu that gives a context on what is inside the magazine and editorials which are the article written by the magazine editors.
According to the Cambridge Dictionary, a magazine is "A periodical publication containing articles and illustrations, often on a particular subject or aimed at a particular readership." I agree as magazines tend to have many different audiences and readerships, and it is also published every so often depending on the frequency aimed by the publisher. A magazine aims to cover two aspects, entertainment and advertising. Is done by giving the audience a sort of entertainment that can be consumed such as stories and pictures and the business side of the magazine is by showing artistic adverts of brands that want to sell their product or name.
Bauer Media UK is an entertainment network of iconic, multi-platform brands. The Bauer Media Group was founded in Hamburg in 1875, and now in its fifth generation of family ownership, the Bauer Media Group operates in 20 countries including the UK, Germany, Poland, Australia, New Zealand and the USA and has 11,000 employees worldwide.
The company also has different media outlets such as magazines, internet, radio and Tv.
They are also known for the products, brands and awards such as heat, KISS, Grazia, Empire, Motor Cycle News, Parkers, TV Choice, Take a Break, Bella, Magic and Absolute Radio.
Some of the independent magazines like TGD or otherwise known as The Great Disconnect is a print publication and online magazine. It features artist, makers and risk takers.
The look of their magazine is a relatively modern art that can be entertaining for those of the age of 18 to 30.
Masthead - The masthead is the title block for the magazine
on the cover page, people usually pay attention to the title in bold.
Menu - The list of content inside the magazine.
Pugs - A pug is the location of the cover page of the magazine which is most commonly the top left or right. It contains the price and or logo of the magazine.
Secondary lead - This gives a preview to the consumers of what can be found in the magazine.
Sidebar - An additional box next to the main feature of the magazine.
Splash - the Main story of the front page accompanied with the headline and photograph.
Spread - A story that covers more than one page
Standfirst - Sentence after a headline and before an article begins that sells a feature to a reader.
Strapline - Subheading, (heading below the initial headline.
Tag - Categorising the reader's interest in a story by using sensational, new and exclusive words.
The client brief can be interpreted in the way that I need to make this magazine appeal towards the audience who tend to consume media through Youtube and Instagram instead of printed media like magazines. As this audience attention would usually be drawn by the look of an image like on Instagram or a thumbnail on Youtube. Also, the headlines will be used in the magazine as the title under a thumbnail gives some audience interest in the media content.
To make this magazine as appealing as possible to my audience, I will be using many of the codes and conventions used for a typical magazine.
P1.2
Before deciding on what it is that the audience wants to see in our magazine, we need to do some research on what is the most talked about topic amongst this audience. The audience would not want to read a story mentioned years ago or about celebrities who are no longer famous. Usually, what gets the attention of an audience is what's trending in a specific genre, for example, the YouTube 's community focused on the past fight between two famous Youtubers who both held a grudge with each other.
Frequency is very important for the publication for a magazine, this is because magazines revolve around the release of media entertainment. For example, a movie magazine would talk about the reviews, announcement and making of upcoming movies, and so, therefore the movie magazine would be consistent like Entertainment Weekly. On the other hand, a cooking magazine like cooking light would revolve around the release and studies of cooking dishes, which is why their frequency is monthly.
The price range of the magazine would have to do more with the quality of the magazine and the audience social class. I would want my magazines to aim to sell at an affordable price, keep it style and be competition for other magazines. The lower cost of the magazine would usually have more advertisement inside and fewer things to talk about, while more expensive magazines have a higher quality of paper, fewer advertisements and more things to talk about. Although using cheaper form or production for the magazine can help maintain the budget without difficulty.
Many things would affect the quality of products such as the content in the magazine like the story and the adverts depending on how strong the brand is. Also, the quality of the paper and the style of the magazine help draw in audiences.
What I have learned about the style used in most magazines is that they all differ in style by the price. For example, if the magazine is more in the expensive high end, then it will most likely have a known model and the style will be more luxurious. Although if the magazine is cheaper, it would have less of a style on it, probably use an unknown actor or model who's services are cheaper. The design would have very loud colours to grab people's attention.
In a POP magazine, as the article is quite expensive but still affordable for the intended audience. As the audience happens to be people over the age of 17 and be an ABC1 audience, brands like Gucci and Prada advertise their products because of the high chance that the audience will be able to afford them without having to look at the price. Also, the companies publish their images taken from photoshoots taken and include them in the magazine.
Usually, what can attract an audience is the presence of someone they are familiar with like an actor, model, celebrity or a known professional in the magazine. The use of a person like this, it can bring in many different audiences who like the brand, the person in the magazine or the story in the magazine.
In the subject of films and actors, I don't see a gap in the market, but my magazine will be different as it will introduce fan theories and work that has been highly popularised on Youtube and other social services.
This demographic tends to engage with the media that talks about and reviews the things you usually would watch or entertain themselves such as a movie or a TV show. Many different YouTube channels profit off making content that would discuss or explain different subjects that would appear in a film or tv show. Such as, before the film avengers Infiniti war came out, many YouTubers started to talk about the trailers that were being shown. A large amount of the audience watched those trailers and the commentators before seeing the movie.
Also, after seeing a movie, many people tend to watch videos where the film would be explained for those who didn't completely understand and fan theory videos which would contain different thoughts and predictions of future films.
Different magazines can have different looks on the cover, such as a fitness magazine would tend to have a white background with the model at the front to show the shape they are in. And a fashion magazine would tend to have a more artistic colour scheme on the layout on their front page. This difference exists because the audience that looks for a fitness magazine tend to pay attention to the body of the model shown thinking they could achieve that by reading and following the instructions of this magazine, the audience to look for tests magazine would normally be people from the age of 18-35. For the fashion magazine, its aimed for an older audience that can range from the ages 18 to 40 as the colours are more sophisticated and elegant.
Why are certain techniques useful for generating and exploring ideas?
Techniques for generating and exploring ideas
Mind Maps - This kind of technique helps people who are creating the magazine display all of their ideas on to one page to ensure that the ideas that seem valid for the product will be included and other ideas could be further explored.
Discussions - This technique allows everyone who is involved in the project to share their ideas and views on others ideas. This can help to have a better insight on peoples opinion about a certain subject on the project.
Surveys - This tactic allows the people involved in the project reassure that their ideas are related to the intended audience.
Discussions - This technique allows everyone who is involved in the project to share their ideas and views on others ideas. This can help to have a better insight on peoples opinion about a certain subject on the project.
Surveys - This tactic allows the people involved in the project reassure that their ideas are related to the intended audience.
The brief says that the magazine is aimed at those of the ages of 18 - 30. These individuals are also the Youtube and Snapchat generation because of the high amount of time they spend on those platforms. These people also tend not to engage with traditional printed publications.
People from these ages would also enjoy topics such as celebrities and working professional in their own fields as they would be providing an inspiration for all the readers.
Magazine 1 : I intend for my magazine to cover the film, tv show and movie subjects such as the coming soon movie, movie/tv shows reviews by professionals and entertaining topics about the movie such as theories for future releases. These topics can be found on places such as Youtube where audiences from ages of 18-30 can be found looking at videos.
People from the ages of 15 - 34 make up the majority of the audiences in the cinema as shown by this study (https://www.statista.com/statistics/239169/age-distribution-of-cinema-goers-in-the-uk/). This indicates that my magazine is likely to be an interest of the target audience.
Magazine 2 : For my second idea for my magazine I will be looking through celebrities who work in the media industry both in the UK and USA. The magazine would talk about specific actors' next film and some topics about their own personal lives such as actors changing their bodies for a role. Audiences usually range from 18-30 as people feel more interested in their preferred actors' work ethics, fitness and success of celebrities.
To keep sales and the audience entertained I will have to offer content within the magazine that will entertain.
Magazine 1 : To keep my audience entertained when reading my magazine, I plan on making this magazine contain more fan-based media that the viewers could find entertaining such as interviews, fan-based projects 'comic-con' and theories that could explain the future releases of a franchise.
Magazine 2 : For this idea, my way of keeping audiences entertained would be by including exclusive interviews with certain famous actors and directors on the subjects of their own personal lives and their current movies or tv shows. I would add this information due to the wide interest there is now of celebrities personal lives.
The design I will have for my magazine will need to conform with the ages of my target audience as if the magazine has too much text and poor visual design, it will draw away does of younger ages. If the magazine has too much visual art with allot of information missing, the consumers will feel disappointed with the experience of reading the magazine.
Magazine 1 : It will have many pictures shown, some will be posters and others will be shots taken from a specific scene. Also using photos that are already being used by other corporations that can be found online. Big titles and short paragraphs to keep the audience interested in the magazine.
Magazine 2 : This magazine idea will have many new taken pictures on the front cover. Within the magazine it will have pictures of celebrities during interviews or shown doing something related to the article written beside it. The articles will offer news, interview quotes and information gathered such as training regiments.
I will be needing to consider the frequency that the magazines should be distributed in for the public. Ensuring that it prints with enough time to produce the magazine with sufficient quality and take in consideration the audiences' interest for the length of the wait for the magazine will affect the sales of my product.
Magazine 1 : When distributing this magazine I will be using a frequency of every 2 months as that gives me enough time to gather all the new movies and other entertainment media that have been created and released. Film and media topics do not last for very long so having the magazine made every 2 months will be more appropriate. When distributing I will need to consider that the audience doesn’t have a consistent attendance to the cinema, there may be some months where there are more customers than other such as summer and winter. I will be printing and distributing more on the months where there is a higher attendance, than other months.
Magazine 2 : For this magazine I will be distributing my product on a frequency of every 3 moth, which would be 4 times a year. That gives me enough time to write the magazine and print as the magazine is a higher quality than the other film magazine. Inside it will contain stories about the starred actors, the directors and the company who produced the film which don't come around many times a year, which is why making a magazine every 3 months would be more appropriate.
My magazine will also be needing advertisers to increase profits for the company. After looking through other magazines I found that advertisements in the magazine are related to the topic or genre of the magazine.
Magazine 1 : The advertisers that will be used in this magazine will be companies that make products that are related to the films, posters of films coming soon and events where there could be connected to the franchises such as Comic-con. Other companies that could advertise on magazine could be cinemas to advertise their ticket deals.
Magazine 2 : For this idea the best suited advertisements would be those such as fashion, fitness products and food as this advertisement would focus more on the lifestyle of casts.
M1 Discuss the strengths and weaknesses of the different ideas
1st idea
Strengths - For this idea, there is a voluminous amount of content that can be included within the magazine such as any new upcoming films, my magazine would talk about the plots of the film, the actors starred in the film and who were the people and production company behind the film or tv show. These are things people want to know or search before or after a movie has been announced as knowing the actors or production company behind a media product can often sway opinions about a film. Pictures taken from films would be included in the magazine instead of only posters. Another big strength for the distribution of my magazine is that there is always something new movies coming every year. As there are always films being made and announced out for the public, it means my magazine will have the ability to be distributed often for the public. One of the main factors that separate my magazine from others which is a strength, is the incision of the public opinion and reviews in films from sources such as rotten tomatoes and IMDB. I will also be including the publics film theories about movies and Tv shows as people who create film theories on Youtube can bring in a large audience and many fans have shown to like listening to theorise of the favourite films. Overall the strengths of this magazine idea are the endless amount of content that is being produced by media companies that ensure my magazine never running out of ideas and including audiences reviews and theories which many people teach online.
Weaknesses - The idea of making a film related magazine is something that has already been done and currently there are very large companies who would be very difficult to compete against. If the idea of including the public opinion about the movie and writing about popular movie theories that the public has found interesting is what makes the company successful, there is no reason for the other competitor companies to use this idea as well, legally nothing would be stopping them. If other companies or magazine publishers use my idea, my company will need to find something else that will separate them from the competition. Another weakness that my magazine will have is the limited use of photos for the magazine, usually the audience would want an image that seems visually appealing that would be made by the magazine company themselves, having normal background pictures or taken from the film itself would be requiring me to ask for permission from the media company to use their photos.
Weaknesses - The idea of making a film related magazine is something that has already been done and currently there are very large companies who would be very difficult to compete against. If the idea of including the public opinion about the movie and writing about popular movie theories that the public has found interesting is what makes the company successful, there is no reason for the other competitor companies to use this idea as well, legally nothing would be stopping them. If other companies or magazine publishers use my idea, my company will need to find something else that will separate them from the competition. Another weakness that my magazine will have is the limited use of photos for the magazine, usually the audience would want an image that seems visually appealing that would be made by the magazine company themselves, having normal background pictures or taken from the film itself would be requiring me to ask for permission from the media company to use their photos.
2nd idea
Strengths - It includes information known by those who are fans of the film industry such as body figures and famous people such as actors and directors. The information can be very interesting as this could also include interviews with the stars and celebrities. Every year there are certain celebrities and movie stars who gain the attention of the media, and there is most of the time many things to talk about like for example what the star has done in the film and what do they think on different subjects.
Weakness - The magazine industry that focuses specifically on celebrities lives are dying out and the idea of investing the company into this industry means that my magazine will be the newest out of everyone in the competition. Information about stars and celebrities isn't something people would buy a magazine to learn about anymore as these stars already have social media and the amount of content they share about themselves out there for free places the magazine at a disadvantage. When writing an article about a celebrity, there will need to be pictures included and for that, I will be needing to invest in photographs taken from photographers who usually charge allot. Overall the magazine isn’t worth it as the competition is hight, the money to be made is low and the possibility of the celebrity magazine market staying in-tacked is disappointing.
Weakness - The magazine industry that focuses specifically on celebrities lives are dying out and the idea of investing the company into this industry means that my magazine will be the newest out of everyone in the competition. Information about stars and celebrities isn't something people would buy a magazine to learn about anymore as these stars already have social media and the amount of content they share about themselves out there for free places the magazine at a disadvantage. When writing an article about a celebrity, there will need to be pictures included and for that, I will be needing to invest in photographs taken from photographers who usually charge allot. Overall the magazine isn’t worth it as the competition is hight, the money to be made is low and the possibility of the celebrity magazine market staying in-tacked is disappointing.
Conclusion
In conclusion, I will be going with the first idea as I'd like to explore the different movie plots, who starred in it and who was it made by. Using this idea will give an endless amount of ideas that I can use for my magazine. Although competition is tough, I believe that I can use new technology such as videos and social media to have a better chance when competing. I believe that this idea will uphold many of the interest that the audience would have as these are the kind of the topics that are talked about on television vision shows and news articles. Another reason is that I believe there will be more successful within this idea as for the other idea’s chances of success aren’t in my favour. As my product will be relying on investors, I will be needing to have the most successful idea.
In conclusion, I will be going with the first idea as I'd like to explore the different movie plots, who starred in it and who was it made by. Using this idea will give an endless amount of ideas that I can use for my magazine. Although competition is tough, I believe that I can use new technology such as videos and social media to have a better chance when competing. I believe that this idea will uphold many of the interest that the audience would have as these are the kind of the topics that are talked about on television vision shows and news articles. Another reason is that I believe there will be more successful within this idea as for the other idea’s chances of success aren’t in my favour. As my product will be relying on investors, I will be needing to have the most successful idea.