AS Media Studies OCR G321: Foundation Portfolio Brief from OCR syllabus

Name: Abigail Hall Candidate number: Centre: 33435 Aquinas College

Question 1
Who would be the audience for your media product?

Question 1
Those interested pop music mainly in female artists People who go to concerts/gigs Females

People who shop at

I aimed my magazine at

Aged 14-18

People interested in celebrity gossip.

Interested in pop music

Question 1
My questionnaire and results
My magazine is clearly targeted towards a female audience, through the use a feminine colour scheme and a female star as the main central image. My research shows that there is a gap in the market for a teenage female music magazine as the questionnaire was given to females in the targeted age group, also I know that magazines similar to mine have a female target audience of teenagers so I can be confidant in selling it towards this social group. Its clear that older teens are more interested in fashion magazines and younger teens are more likely to buy a music magazine. Knowing this I have added aspects of both so that it has a wider target audience to increase my sales/revenue.
P M

Question 1
Other Magazines
Other magazines follow conventions such as mine and therefore have a similar target audience as my magazine does-teenagers (14-18yrs). Researching these other magazines that have a similar sub genre to mine I know how to attract the eye of my ideal reader as I added features to my magazine that these magazines have used such as a coloured bar along the bottom of the front cover as and also conventional features of this genre I have found through my research for this target audience.

Question 1
Other media types of media that my audience use/like that may be considered as a convergence and to create synergy when designing my magazine to use to attract the reader.

Social Networking

Television Programmes/ films

Radio

Question 1
My Audience
My primary audience would be a female teenagers (14-18yrs) this is I feel is shown through my design as use of conventions such as a bright colour scheme and competitions to attract this demographic. Also introducing fashion and gossip aspects will widen the target audience as they will get more than just music, this is similar to the target audience of We <3 pop. I know that there is a niche gap in the market for my type of magazine as it is a hybrid genre because it incorparates both pop music for the younger teen and fashion/ gossip for the older teens however both aspects can be enjoyed by the whole target audience. I dont feel that males will be interested in my magazine as there are no sexual aspects in the pictures that may influence the male-gaze, but this is not really a problem as most magazines are consumed by females as shown by the ratio of magazine targeted toward women and men.

Question 1
My audience currently consume
My research shows that products similar to mine such as Top of the Pops publish a new issue of their magazine monthly. This shows that it is a popular type of magazine as it would otherwise be published quarterly or even yearly. This type of magazine can always be found in a news agents or a super market amongst similar magazines; this shows that there is a market for music magazines especially for this age group. With it being a younger age group it would have to be a cheaper price as they will not have much money and if the magazine is over priced it will not be sold as there will be other magazines for a more suitable price. Also having magazines that are of a similar genre to use when designing was helpful as I was able to take aspects from a few and use the conventional ones so that my magazine would be a suitable/popular design.

Question 2
HOW DOES YOUR MEDIA PRODUCT REPRESENT PARTICULAR SOCIAL GROUPS?

Question 2
My star is the same age group and gender of my target audience therefore straight away my audience will relate to the magazine.

How my star reflects my ideal reader

Body language and facial expression both connote rebellion/excitement to engage the reader. Also by pulling a face connotes she is not perfect which much of my target audience can relate to.
The use of mise on scene such as clothing being high street fashion and high key lighting connoting innocence which contrasts with ideas of rebellion.

Being girly and stereotypically pretty my target audience may see my star as a role model or a similar person to themselves.

Question 2
Music news
Billboard Magazine
We <3 Pop Magazine Which artists they like Throughout my magazine I have added features that my target audience will enjoy and that reflect their taste and opinions alongside examples of these features used in a real pop magazine similar to mine to show that these are conventional and will entice my desired target audience.

We <3Pop Magazine

Gossip We <3 Pop Magazine

Competitions and freebies

Question 2
Females aged 14-18 Interested in gossip Interested in pop music Which type of person am I trying to represent?

Dont want a serious read

Use social media

Interested in fashion

Girly girls

Question 2
For my magazine to appeal and represent my target audience my star has to be an idealistic version of my target audience so that the reader is able to relate. Knowing this I have my star is the correct age group and has the right look for this type of social group. Also my magazine must look main stream in order for my target audience to recognise the style. Also the repetition of a feminine colour scheme represent a girly social group and will automatically catch the eye of this type of person. In the images the stars have clear skin and long hair and features you would expect a person would have in this particular girly social group and also the use of a fun expression on the cover connotes fun.

Question 2
Other Representations
For this music magazine there is a representation of confidence and sexiness this may interest their target audience as this is an age that sex is being discovered. This is different to my representation as this magazine has a different target audience however, its a good example of showing the ideal reader through the use of image and filtering other features so they will attracts this particular social group. The body positioning is playful and shows off Katys body. Femininity is also connoted through the main image and through the use of splashing of bright pink in the text.

Question 2
My Typical Audience/ Social Group

This is a collage of images that represents my typical audience. They are shown to be passionate about their music, colourful, joyful and vibrant. Also these images connote youth which was my objective these are the kind of people who inspired my magazine design/aspects.

Question 3
What kind of media institution might distribute your media product and why?

Question 3
IPC media publishes a wide variety of magazines. They are one of the leading publishers so it would be a good company to publish with as this company already have experience with lots of genres and have a good reputation. This company is currently publishing music magazine but of a different genre to mine so therefore a different target audience which shows my there is a niche gap in the company that my music magazine would perfectly fill.