How did you attract/address the audience?

How Did You Attract/adress the audience by angelosandreou

Essay form:

There are various ways I tried to attract the audience and encourage them to pick up my magazine rather than any other magazine on the shelf or in stores. Firstly I believed that one of the most important thing that I had to get right was what the magazine contained; it took a long time to decide my magazine content and sell lines because if the content isn’t interesting for the reader they wont buy the magazine. My magazine attracts the audience by having very famous and big names included on the front cover of the magazine. For instance I have included Drake, Nicki Minaj and Rhianna all on my front cover, and more in the contents page; this is because the public are very interested in the big star in the music world and want to know all the gossip and information about them e.g. when their next concerts are. Not only does the content of the magazine attract the audience however I believe the pictures the magazine contains also attracts the audience; not only do I have good pictures of Bradley Moore however there are pictures of Jessie J and also Trey songz on the contents page. These pictures will also attract the audience as they get to see pictures of top artist in the music at their own concerts.

There were many ways I have made my magazine attractive for the viewers and stand out from the other magazines. Firstly I have made the theme colour of my magazine unique and original as no other magazine has a purple and white theme colour. Also I have gone with a simple layout to my magazine, which makes it pleasant to the eye, and an easy read for the audience, this again will entice the audience to buy my magazine.

I also have some ‘freebies’ in the magazine, at first I was going to give away CD’s and posters however as time has changed and less people use CDs I have decided to give away free downloads instead, for instance in this edition I will give away Bradley Moore’s new song. I have also decided not to give away posters as I believe my target audience are not the type to collect posters as the younger age tend to collect posters. As technology has improved I therefore decided to go with the free downloads instead, this will attract the audience as they are getting a free download as well as a magazine.

The model I am using is also a very attractive, broad man who will attract the buyer to pick up the magazine and lead them to actually buy the magazine.

The uses and gratification theory has also made the audience more enticed in the magazine. There are four reasons why people use media:

Firstly personal relationships, people use the media, in this case my magazine, to form a relationship with others; it will give people something to talk about and become part of a social group.

The second reason why people use media is because it creates personal identity, in other words if someone reads my magazine on a frequent basis it will reflect on them and it will form their personality.

People also use media because it is a form of entertainment, in this case my magazine will have very interesting articles and pictures in it, this will attract the audience and make them want to by my magazine due to the consumers wanting to be informed and entertained.

Finally, the last reason why people use media is to be informed on information about the latest news and gossip, in this case people will buy my magazine to be updated on music artists latest gossip, concerts coming up, album reviews etc.

The final way I will attract the readers is through the use of new media. In recent years there has been an increase in technology, which has caused new sorts of media. Firstly I will have an app that will allow people to have access to Slick website however in a format that will suit smart phones. There will also be another app that you can buy which will contain the same information as the magazine edition bought, this will basically mean consumers will have the magazine on their phone. As 50% of the population have smart phones I thought it would be a great idea for their to be an app and an a magazine app.

I shall also use social networking sites as many of my target audience are on these websites such as: Twitter, Facebook, and MySpace etc. This will attract the target audience to buy my magazine as they can find out some information about my magazine before purchasing it.

Overall I believe I have the right mixture of functions that will attract my target audience. I have given every little aspect a lot of thought on how I will display my magazine and what my magazine will contain. I have also kept up with the new technology and new media which will again attract and entice my audience to purchase my magazine. 

Who would be the Audience for your Media Product?

Essay form:

The audience for my media product is not as precise as the audiences for other music magazines as the genre of my magazine (R&B) is supported my many people across the world. However like every magazine there is a certain audience that would be interested in my media product than other types of people. Firstly the age of the buyer would be the younger population, from around 16-30 will be the usual reader as my even though the genre has been around for many decades my magazine will focus on cotemporary R&B which will only appeal to the younger age. I have come to the conclusion of the age of the audience due to the genre (R&B) being a popular feature in the charts, and the younger population often follows the charts.

The audience for my magazine will be preferably read by 55% of males and 44% females. The reason behind me thinking that there will be slightly more males reading my magazine than females is because R&B is listened to more by males than females. Females tend to listen to more than one genre e.g. pop, R&B, disco etc. However the average male tends to listen to one set genre. Although, putting that aside the magazine is designed for both male and female readers still as it leaves a larger amount of possible buyers in the market for my magazine. I have also researched the gender split that read vibe magazine, as it is very much like mine; 55% male and 45% female read vibe which is the same as my calculations.

My audience’s social class is one of the factors that is diverse and can be from completely different social classes. The genre R&B has wide support from all types of people and backgrounds; classes A and B are the middle class citizens, this social class often like R&B however so do classes D and E which are semi skilled/non skilled workers. It is very hard to allocate the genre, R&B to a certain social class; however my personal opinion will be that social classes A,B and C1 will be the social class that will most probably purchase my magazine as the working classes (D and E) also listen to other types of music such as grime.

The audience’s personalities and social habits who will be reading my magazine will tend to the type of person that enjoys going out and socializing with people; they tend to go out to clubs and bars as R&B music usually get played in these type of places. They also like to go to concerts that are starring big artists e.g. Chris brown, this is one of the reasons why they will like to buy Slick as it will contain information about the up coming concerts/events. R&B fans also prefer to purchase things that everybody will be able to see rather than something for their house; for instance they would rather buy a new necklace than a new chair. 

How does your media product represent particular social group?

Essay Form:




As I have completed research I have seen how certain music magazines have portrayed their genres clearly from the theme colours to the artists featuring in the magazine. The magazine that stood out for me, that I wanted to be similar to was ‘vibe’ magazine as its genre Hip Hop/R&B is very alike to the genre my magazine is. My target audience is very diverse as R&B is a very popular, well known genre; however if you had to stereotype an R&B fan they would be someone who likes to go to concerts and out to a bar/club do socialise. Like the fans the artists in R&B are also people who like to go out and stay with the fashion, so I portrayed my artist to be a typical R&B musician, this will then make it clear what genre the magazine is by the audience simply viewing the front cover.

Bradley Moore was my model; he is an attractive young man who is also broad shouldered and confidant. He is wearing fashionable clothes that the stereotypical R&B singer would wear, this will attract the audience as the target audience are also very fashion orientated. I believed that this would entice the viewer, as Bradley would attract the males due to the fashionable clothes, however he will attract the females as he is a young, confidant young man. The article I wrote on Brad was about how he came back from a fatal incident, I thought that this article suited the genre of my magazine as it was a typical story that a Hip Hop/R&B artists generally have as they always go through breakdowns then come back after a year or so. As vibe magazine usually has a very simple but effective front cover I thought I would try to re-enact this by having Brad stand there confidently looking deep into the camera lens with his body at an angle. I also wanted him to keep a straight face as he comes across as a strong individual in the article, whilst I was doing my image research of other R&B artists I realized that they were all looking into the camera without a ‘cheesy’ grin on their face, however with a more solid/emotionless face.

After I got how I wanted Bradley’s body posture to be I focused on what he was wearing; I wanted him to be in clothes that the target audience also like and clothes that make him look a little bit ‘cocky’ whilst being a little bit flashy. This is why I wanted Brad to wear just a plain white T-shirt, however with a big, original scarf, he is also wearing a hat that the 'typical' R&B singer would wear. For Bradley to look like the flashy person I wanted him to convey I made him wear a chunky watch with a Crystal bracelet on.

After my model was portrayed the way I wanted him to be I focused on other features in the magazine such as the way my article is written, the colour theme and fonts. Firstly the way I had written my article, there is a mixture of the types of writing I have used in the magazine, in the article about Bradley I made it more laid back and ‘easy’ to read, as I wanted the readers to have a relaxing article that is easy and not heavy going; I have written it in this type of way as I have read vibe articles and they are also very easy reading magazines. I believe this also links well with the genre of the magazine, as R&B is a very chilled and relaxing type of music it connects well with the way the article is written. For instance the article does not contain any overly complicated words which doesn't cause the audience to focus with a great amount of attention.

The main house colours of my magazine are also important to how the genre (R&B) has been portrayed. I chose purple and white as the main colours not only because they complement each other very well, however I believe purple has a very strong link with R&B music as it is a strong, vibrant colour. I also wanted to have a unique magazine that will appeal to the audience purely because it is original and something different, purple did not come up once whilst I was researching so I thought that would add to the originality of Slick. 

Finally the font I chose to write Bradley’s quote in also gives the ‘street’ vibe that it is hand written and Bradley himself wrote it. I have seen vibe do something similar to this and I thought I would put my own twist on it by highlighting the letters ‘B’ purple. These types of fonts are always seen in R&B magazines, which inspired me to do the same type of design, this again makes it clear to the reader what genre the magazine is.

Production Post 29

The task I have completed recently was screen grabs; this shows you the stages that I had to take to create each page in my magazine. You will be able to see that there were many steps I had to take to create each individual page in my magazine and how long the process was to create a unique and professional look.

Processes (Screen Grabs)

Front Page


Contents Page

Production Post 28

I completed  audience feedback recently. The main piece of feedback I received was from my sister he studied A level media and also completed a full magazine at her time in university, this meant that she could give very good feed back that could cause me to improve the draft of my magazine; there is also feedback from my class peers, who gave me some useful feedback.

Audience Feedback

After I received feedback from Kristina who is experienced with creating magazines as she has studied A level media and created a whole magazine at her times in university, I got a group of my fellow class mates and sat around the table with them, they looked at all of the pages of my draft magazine and gave  pieces of feedback to me. I have quoted what they had said in the following:

Production Post 27

 I have recently completed my drafts of my magazine which is; my draft article which is called 'Brad is Back' and the actual draft of my magazine. Doing the drafts has made me realise that I have to improve the layout of my magazine as it does not look as professional as it possibly could. Creating my draft article has also prepared me for when I have to insert it into my actual magazine as I only have to make a few changes when inserting it into the final copy of the magazine; this means I don't need to create a whole new article when I started creating my magazine on indesign.

Draft Magazine

                             

                                     

                         

                                                         

















This is my draft copy of my magazine. As you can see there is a lot of improvements to be done such as: the layout of the text, gather more images, change the front covers text arrangements etc. However there are some good things about my draft that I do like and will keep such as; the font of Bradley's quote and how every 'B' is highlighted, the purple strip at the bottom and the logo at the top left are also a nice features as it reminds the reader that they are reading Slick magazine.

Draft Article 'Brad is Back'

Brad is Back

1^st double-paged spread

Bradley Moore is back in the game after returning from hospital almost two months ago and he feels better than ever, with his new album ‘simply B.R.A.D’ out. Brad was put in hospital on August the 18^th as he was shot just an inch away from his kidneys; he was very lucky as if the shot was an inch to the right this article would have been called ‘Rest In Peace Brad’. Bradley was bought up on an estate in Brixton, when violence and drugs were an everyday occurrence; he escaped from his estate in 2006 when he was only nineteen years of age after securing a record deal with heat Records and moved to a much more civilized, safer area. However this did not stop him getting involved with the wrong people, which caused him to be shot and nearly loose his life in August. Slick magazine however want to focus on his music carrier and how he got back to the top in a matter of months and release his album on time despite his recent struggles.

Quote: “You can take the boy out of Brixton, but you can’t take Brixton out of the boy”

2^nd double-paged spread

Bradley is now back on top purely due to his dedication to complete his album for release day; speaking to Slick he mentioned to us that “if it wasn’t for my friends and family who stuck by me and supported me through this terrible time in my life, I wouldn’t have released this album in time”. Brad worked very hard whilst in hospital to write the lyrics of the songs in his album, one of his songs ‘The Recovery’ actually relates to his time in hospital and how people have to fight for something they want. Following on from the interview we had with him, he told Slick “when you love something as much as I do, you find the strength to focus on your target, in my case my target was to release the album on time as my love for my music and fans is off the hook”. Later on he mentioned about his fans again, saying “I am very grateful for all the fans that tweeted, emailed and wrote letters to me wishing me my best. It was one of the main reasons that motivated me to complete simply B.R.A.D”.

‘simply B.R.A.D’ has been nominated for best R&B/Hip-Hop album; we will find out if he wins the awards are in December, however he has some very good competition with the likes of T.I ‘Trouble Man’, Chris Brown ‘Fortune’ and Usher ‘Looking 4 Myself’. When we asked Brad what he thinks of being nominated he looked surprised and said, “I didn’t even know I was nominated, but now I do I’m pretty proud of myself” and then laughed. His latest album involves Brad’s personal life and the problems, emotions he went through; it is possibly his most touching album. The song that is predicted to be the best song in the album refers to his love of his life Milli Lawson and what he misses about her; when we asked Brad how his love life is he simply replied “no comment” and smiled suggestively. So we are expecting some news about Bradley soon, preferably him getting back with Milli? Sorry girls but Brad might be taken again...you never know what these celebrities are gong to do next?

Later on after we spoke about Bradley’s early life and his new album we moved to a subject that a lot of people are most probably thinking; is he a changed man? We asked him this question and he immediately grinned, he replied, “Listen” paused, took a sip of his straight whisky, and carried on “the shooting has taught me a lesson. However I don’t believe in leaving my old life, my old friends, and forgetting where I came from just because my life might end. I live life on the edge and when my time is up at least I know I did what I want, with who I want”. Brad came across as a very strong character that has no fierce on what lies ahead in his life. He later on added, “I will try and stop my habits in getting mixed with the wrong people, however in some cases I can’t help it. Sometimes it might not even involve me but it will involve my friends, and when my friends are in trouble they look at me as the one who can sort out their sh*t”. So what we gathered from Mr. Moore’s attitude and what he has said is that he isn’t going to change into someone he is not, and he will carry on the way he is living his life, like he said “I’m still here bit*hes”. 

Production Post 26

I have completed my sketches of how I want my magazine to be laid out (where the text should be and where the images should be). Although I have completed this task I believe that when it comes to designing the actual magazine on indesign I will like to change a few things in comparison to my sketches, but the main positions of images and text will stay the same.

Sketches

page 1

page 2&3

page 4&5

page 6&7

page 8 

Production Post 25

I have chosen the images I am going to use in my magazine for the front cover, contents page and the double paged spreads. I have chosen these particular images as they have stood out to me as soon as I took the pictures, when I was doing the photo shoot I could see straight away the main photos that I would most probably use.

Chosen Images

picture 1

picture 2

picture 3

picture 4

picture 5

picture 6

These are the pictures that I have decided to use that will appear in my magazine. These pictures stand out from the rest of the pictures I have taken and I believe with a bit of editing they can become great pictures that appear the normal music magazine. I have chosen some unusual pictures to appear in my magazine such as picture 5 which will be on the front of Bradley album cover; I have also chosen pictures that highlight the genre and the story about Bradley, such as picture 2 which highlights only half of Bradley's serious looking face. Picture 3 is also part of the article as Bradley is the new face of the brand 'diesel' which is the reasoning behind getting a extreme close up shot of the label on Bradley Moore's jacket.