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Females, aged 16-20 with an interest in the Pop genre.
My media product is aimed at older teenage girls who listen to Pop music predominatly and are interested in everything to do with this genre; from news to the weekly charts. In order to make my product appeal to this social group certain things were included in my work.
Firstly, on my front cover I added titles linked to articles in the magazine that showed a range of things to do with the Pop genre, for example 'Award Season: What does it mean for our Pop stars?'. This then appeals to the audience's need to know everything about Pop music.
Linked to this is my contents page in which I created more articles which contribute to the reader having access to information about the genre easily. The articles vary from interviews to news but give the reader all the information they wanted.
Lastly, my DPS was created in order to show the readers the normality of Alice's life meaning that she becomes relateable to the readers (which can be coupled with the images) meaning the reader feel like they know about Alice, as most magazine interview articles make the audience feel like. This then adds to the idea that the reader knows everything that is going on in the Pop world.
As my product was created to be a weekly magazine, it means that they reader constantly up-to-date with any information regarding the Pop world.
The X Factor Magazine was one of my influences as it is the only magazine at present that features Pop music. As the target audiences are roughly the same, many codes and conventions are similar. However this magazine also dedicates itself to fashion, something which I didn't want to do as I only wanted to focus on the music aspect.
Smash Hits was another one of my influences, however it was the older, more 'retro' magazines instead of the newer and girler ones. Smash Hits, at its prime, was possibly the best Pop magazine for teenagers and so I wanted to recreate some of that in my product. Initally my target audience was unisex, like Smash Hits, but it changed once I realised how hard it was to create a product for both sexes. In fact Smash Hits was a much bigger inspiration than the X Factor magazine, and so with my product itself I attempted to recreate some of the 'retro' feel through the colour scheme and layout of some parts.
Like with the X Factor magazine, many of the codes and conventions are the same between both products.
As I wanted to recreate certain aspect of my influences, many codes and conventions are the same. Things such as the mode of address, which in both of my influences is chatty and relaxed, positioning themselves as the readers best friend, is similar in my product meaning that I am using codes and conventions of real media products.
It is fair to say that all my product mainly uses codes and conventions from real media products, as parts of my magazine can be linked to my influences. Mode of address, layout and structure of my magazine, image ideas and colour schemes were all things from my product that are similar to those from the X Factor magazine or Smash Hits.
Before starting this project, I already could use a computer and a camera, however had never used photoshop before. For me that was the biggest challenge: learning to use photoshop effectively to create better products. I lacked confidence with photoshop, which can be seen at my first attempt of a front cover:
However, by the end of the project I managed to get to grips with photoshop, which in turn made my product better than it would have initally been.
We also used blogging, something I was also unfamiliar with, however I was able to get to grips with it fairly easily. I think it is a good way to present your coursework as it is all there in one place, and shows our progress in the course in a practical manner.
When looking back, my pre-lim tasks look quite bad in comparision to my final product. It is very plain and only seems to have the bare minimum on it meaning that no-one would even pick it up. As already mentioned, I initally struggled with photoshop and so there is a lack colour and other images on the pages. You can also see that my image on the front cover was badly cut out, again showing my lack of skill with photoshop. In comparison to my final product, my pre-lim tasks are very weak and show that I knew nothing about the magazine industry and what sells well.
Overall, I can safely say that I have improved both in my quality of my work and my knowledge of the market, both of which can be seen in my final products and research. My pre-lim tasks highlighted my weaknesses early on so that I could work on them and create better pieces for the final product.
In order to answer the question I need to explain my influences as many of the codes and conventions are the same.
A Vend Diagram to show where my product fits in, in regards to type of magazine at IPC. As you can see, it fits into both a music magazine, but due to the genre of music and target audience, can also fit into the women's lifestyle catergory.
My product would have to be distributed by a big media institution such as Bauer or IPC in order to survive in the market. However as Bauer eventually owned and then closed Smash Hits, IPC would be the ideal choice as they haven't had a big Pop magazine before. The only other music magazines that IPC own are NME, one of the longest running and successful music magazines of all time, and Uncut, a magazine focused on both music and movies, showing how IPC would be capable of selling my product. As my product is targeted at older teenagers, there is also an opening in the market, giving it the chance to do successfully. However, my product doesn't just fit into the music catergory due to the genre of music, which is usually associated with the likes of the women's weeklies, and the target audience. Although IPC cater for the women's weeklies, there would still be an opening as my audience is younger than the other magazines and my product offers more than just gossip and real life. My product wouldn't do as well if it was distributed by a smaller institution as I feel it would need the backing of a larger institute to be able to be successful so that they would be able to back it more fully. When you look at what happened to Smash Hits, which at one point was described as the 'Pop bible' and how the market is now, the larger institutions would have more 'backing power' than smaller institutes.
My product would be the most successful in the form of a print magazine, but combined with a more interactve side: e.g. a website, Facebook/ Twitter pages and apps.
As my target audience is of a generation that is associated with technology it makes sense to cater for them by providing sources which embraces this. A website is a must nowadays for magazines to succed in the market and so it goes without saying that my product would include one as well. It would provide the readers with up-to-date information, images and links to songs and videos and so provides them with more than a print version could. The Pop genre lends itself well to things like Facebook and Twitter pages as people could follow them which makes the reader interact more with the product. As Smartphones and Ipods are becoming more popular, it would also be a good idea to provide an app or sorts which just gives the product another level and means itcan become more successful.
However I would still have my product in a print form as that was my inital idea for it. I believe there is still a market for printed magazines and as the X Factor magazine is proving, there is still a market out there for my sort of magazine. The online and interactive side of it is to appeal more to the target audience and provide another level for it.