Transcript:
Throughout my
magazine, I needed to make sure I included many aspects that would of fitted in
with and attracted my target audience. To make sure my magazine would sell, I
included crucial features that would clearly have a high demand from my target
audience which are males and females (but mainly females) between the ages of
16-30.
Firstly, the
fact that the majority of participants voted for R&B as their most
favourite type of music has really reinforced my reasoning for wanting to make
my magazine’s genre R&B. These results reassured me that I have definitely
made the right decision in picking this genre. Also, the top-voted name suggested for my
magazine through my questionnaire was ‘The Game’ and the least-voted was ‘Rhythm’.
This suggests to me that my target audience like to see things that sound more
exciting and suggestive (e.g the name ‘The Game’ which is inviting and fun)
rather than going for things that seem less daring and more plain and
predictable (e.g the name ‘Rhythm’) reinforcing my reason for making my magazine’s
name ‘The Game’. I knew from these results that my choice of making this its
name would instantly attract my target audience to its fullest.
The first method
in order to attract my target audience would be through my front cover. This is
the first thing that they see and it is highly crucial that it stands out to
them amongst many other magazines on the shelf. I made my front cover stand out
by using a mid-shot of my model which brings attention mainly to her face and
body since she is closer up to the lense. As you can see, my model’s body
language is welcoming with her arms open behind her head. This will attract the
audience as it may make them feel that the magazine offers a lot and that the
main artist is very inviting. Mise-en-scene-wise, the main artist of my front
cover uses direct eye contact with the camera lense creating a personal
connection and sense of equality between the artist and the reader which may
attract them as it may make them feel less daunted/intimidated by a successful
artist and instead feel as if they are ‘the same’, which is very luring. She is
also wearing bright red lipstick which I adjusted the colour of to make it
stand out more, and this use of makeup will make my model look feminine and
create a sex appeal with my male audience, perhaps as will the direct eye
contact, representing confidence that males are attracted to and females may
admire. Her curly, bouncy hair creates a flirtatious vibe and her colourful
floral crop-top is very casual which shows off part of her stomach. This will
attract my target audience as this clothing will create the impression of my
artist being relaxed which is what most teenagers like to be, and also casual,
again making my target audience feel as if they are ‘the same’ therefore
intriguing them. The floral pattern on her top makes my artist look very
feminine, attracting not only a male audience, but the female audience too.
Also, the fact that some of her stomach is showing may create a sex appeal for
my male audience as it looks quirky and confident. Also, I edited my model’s
skin on a program called Photoshop to remove any blemishes and give her skin an
appealing clear and smooth effect. I hoped this would attract my target
audience massively because some young females inspire to have good skin
beauty-wise, therefore intriguing them; and most males generally find clear
skin more attractive. Infront of the picture of my main artist, I put ‘exclusive
with..’ and then ‘CASSIE STARR’ in very large, black font to give it a bold
effect an instantly catch the audiences’ eyes as it stands out against the
pale, feminine colours of the model’s clothing
behind.
The fact that in my questionnaire I’d
received a majority vote towards my target audience preferring a chance to win
a freebie in my magazine portrayed that my audience would like to have a chance
at winning in a magazine. I don’t think posters are that popular anymore as
many teenagers resort to using technology to endure their pleasures so I
decided to use a ‘WIN! FREE SIGNED CIARA CD’ feature on my front cover because
CDs are something my audience can actually make use out of instead of just
chucking it in the bin. Moreover, due to the proliferation of new technology,
on one of my pages in my magazine I would alternatively give the option for my
audience to receive a free download of Ciara’s CD with a picture of the signed
CD included incase someone who doesn’t use CDs wins. This is because CDs are
quite dated now. However I think the use of a CD as a prize is still effective
because the winner can actually receive it and own it; - juxtaposed with an
ordinary download which anyone can perform online.
Aswell as this, on my top banner it
states “MOBO AWARDS & CONCERTS”. I’d concluded that from my questionnaire
data concert and gig reviews were the second most wanted feature on a magazine,
so I used this to my advantage and made sure that a mentioning of concerts was
at the top of my magazine to attract my target audience instantly. Aswell as
that, Mobo awards are awards given to R&B and hip-hop artists, so I knew
that the mentioning of Mobo awards would be a lot more relevant to the R&B
genre than a mentioning of the Brit awards for example. On my bottom banner I
have ‘HOTTEST & LATEST R&B MUSIC’. I figured the adjectives ‘hottest’
and ‘latest’ would have a great luring effect on my target audience because it
will give the impression that my magazine is up-to-date and ‘in’ which is what
most young audiences aim for. Also, with my sell lines ‘BACK STAGE WITH..’, ‘TICKETS
TO SEE..’ and ‘PRIVATE GIG WITH..’ along with the artists’ names, I have made
sure to include Beyonce’s name there. This is because, when analysing my
questionnaire’s results I discovered that Beyonce was majority voted by participants
as one of their top three most favourite artists. Therefore, I took advantage
of this, knowing that people liked her most, so I made sure I included Beyonce
here to catch the reader’s attention instantly. Lastly, my house colours are
black, white and purple. My questionnaire’s results showed that my target
audience would most prefer a magazine with the house colours of turquoise and
pink, with the second vote going to a draw between purple & black and black
& blue. I wanted my magazine to look classy and basic so that it wasn’t too
complex for the reader to look at and its appearance seemed worth the money, so
the colour mixture of turquoise & pink seemed inappropriate and tacky for
this. Furthermore, because my magazine’s target audience is male & females
but mainly towards females, I felt that the house colours black & blue were
too masculine and harsh for the magazine I was making. Therefore, I chose
purple, black and white to give a classy, simple but bold effect to attract the
audience.
On my contents
page, I used a bold black script font for my headlines ‘on the cover’, ‘regulars’
and ‘exclusives’ to represent classiness which is quite feminine, attracting my
female audience. Then I used a purple colour for the subject headline and a
black font for the brief description of the subject afterwards. This therefore
makes everything look easier and clearer to read so that the audience are not
put off by any complexity and difficulty to navigate around my contents page. I
think I used a good variation of images too, because I used another picture of
my main artist in different clothing which was a leapord-print furr jacket with
a denim shirt and burgundy red skater-skirt, representing quirkiness which is
different and will catch the reader’s eye, along with other photos such as a
picture of a male doing a casual pose which creates sex appeal for the females but
also equality for the males. Next to each of these images I have included page
numbers so that the reader can easily navigate to the page they want to. Lastly,
I have made sure to include a social networking feature in a purple box
including The Game’s twitter username with the Twitter icon which will
instantly grab my target audience’s attention because many young people use
this social networking site nowadays so they will be familiar with it, aswell
as The Game’s app with a realistic photo of an iPhone with The Game’s front
cover on it, and also a subscription feature which includes three different
versions of my magazine front cover, attracting the audience because it
portrays to them that my magazine has a lot of different things to offer for
them and that they won’t just be subscribing to the same magazine every month.
Aswell as this, the competitions/quizzes feature I have also included will attract
my audience as they are at the age where most of the teenagers are fun,
adventurous and competitive, wanting to play games and win things.
On the first
page of my double page spread the quote I have used states ‘this is just the
beginning’. I used this quote as the headline of my artist’s interview because
it highlights excitement, making the audience wonder what else the artist has
in store for them which is particularly intriguing. My questionnaire portrayed
to me that an interview is the most-wanted feature when purchasing a magazine,
so I took full advantage of this. On the second page of my double page spread I
used an image of my ‘artist’ singing into a microphone therefore attracting the
audience because it portrays that she is a performer and doesn’t just sit back
and not take action in her career. Futhermore, I have used a black and white
grid of different close ups of my model’s facial expressions, representing that
she is quirky and has a fun and easy-going side to her too which will be very
alluring to my audience. Aswell as this, I have used a ‘CASSIE’S TWEETS’
feature at the top of my double page spread so that the audience know she is
active on social networking sites, just like them. Lastly, there is also a
feature at the bottom of the page where my artist is ‘talking about other
artists’, and since my questionnaire showed me that my target audience
appreciate gossip, I gathered that this feature would be much appreciated to
the audience.
The last aspect
that would attract my audience is the Uses and Gratifications Theory. This
theory consists of four reasons which tell us why people use the media. These
are: personal relationships. This is where the magazine would create a ‘word
and mouth’ effect where friends or family would discuss the magazine, creating
their own relationship with another as it is something they both have interest
in. Personal identity, which is where if someone becomes a frequent reader of
my magazine, it would become something that is personal to them and something
that makes them who they are. Then we’ve got entertainment, where my magazine
would be entertaining to read and something that the reader would enjoy doing.
Therefore this would persuade them into buying my magazine each week. Then,
lastly we have information. This is where the main reason why people buy my
magazine is to be informed of what is going on in the R&B music industry.
My magazine would inform them of upcoming artists, personal details, album
reviews etc..