Distribution

The difference between major and independent distribution strategies is mainly the scale they do it on, major distribution strategies distribute in as many shops as they can. Frontline are the biggest distributors in the UK and use big mainstream companies such as BBC, WHS, and Tescos. They partner with Baur who publish magazines such as Heat, Bella and Take a Break who are very popular magazines. They publish magazines that target a vast audience, not a specific niche, therefore distribute in vast places. As for an Independent Distributor such as VICE and it is completely different. They distribute there magazines in smaller areas but they do appear in 1,000 retail distributors across the UK which suggests PSEUDO individuality because they want to appear individual but need the money. You can access their magazines in shops such as “urban outfitters” which isn’t a very well known shop, because they know their audience is more likely to go out and find their magazines rather than just run into the closest shop and grab it. Magazines such as Bella and Take a Break which are published by Baur, appeal to an older target audience of perhaps 30+ so this affects distribution strategies because they need to put them in places where this age range is likely to travel to. Whereas Independent appeal to more of a younger audience who are more likely to stretch far and wide to reach one specific place to gain what they want. Major Distribution strategies saturate the market by getting everywhere and appear on more of a Global scale but independent still need the money, however earn it in smaller ways because the distribution of the magazine is more important- they know where their audience will go.

After research i have decided to distribute my magazine using a smaller, independant stratedgy because i think my audience would seek it. I will target my magazine at both male and female readers, and because my particular genre is individual and independant, it does not need to be distributed using a multi platform strategies or throughout major mainstream companies like "Frontline". I will follow after "Vice" and only appear in smaller shops that arent as well known. My target audience is likely to travel places and be adventerous which could lead to the discovery of my magazine.

Detailed Research Into Forms and Conventions

I looked at 3 key magazines which were all related to my specific chose genre of Indie, with a deffinate ART link, very much like 'ArtRocker' which i looked at in my initial research. When comparing all 3 magazines, i noticed a lot of similarities which shows them targeting their specific audience.
To start, the audience of these magazines is around C1-B in the demographic scale, and in the physcographic i would say, Hedonists, Post materialists and aspirers. Each title- "ArtRocker", "NME", "LosingToday" have something to do with the contents of the magazine and all connote freedom and expression. I would say that NME is slightly different, because i think it is more of a PSUEDO individual magazine, rather than just indie, but it still gives me and idea of what to do and what not to do.

Titles

Losing Today- Is quite a Far fetched title but i think it links reasonably well with its target audience, i think it may be meant more literally. As the audience is post materialists, they would rather waste the day reading this magazines and do something else later.

NME- (New Musical Express) This name is very appropriate for this music genre because, firstly, it is well known as the abbreviation NME, suggesting that the readers are likely to seek it's full name, just like they seek their favourite music. Also, Musical Express suggests the typical independant strategies when it comes to creating music, they are not overly bothered about the profits, just getting their music out there and 'expressing' their 'musical' talent to a niche audience.

ArtRocker- I really love this title for the magazine, and it has inspired me to do something simliar to this. The magazine combines two things, Art and Music, so this is simply literal.

Audience

ArtRocker-I think the audience for this magazine is C1- B.
People who doodle over everything, people who never take their headphones out, people who do strange things because they feel like it.
The brand identity is upmarket for students, the pages are stylish yet sophisticated and they include many interviews with indie artists and bands, its more for reading- NOT just looking at the big bright pages. This is deffinately for an older audience because its something to READ and because of the mix of art and fashion it becomes inspiration for art students. I would say the age range is around 17-28 and it is aimed at both males and females.

Losing Today- The audience for this magazine is again C1. Aspirers, Post Materialists and hedonists. People who like to smoke and have grungy nights out, people who wear ties with everything, people who button their collars all the way up, people who like to party. Its a magazine again for reading, its very simple and safe, it doesnt appear to challenge any particular areas of media. This magazine is mixed sex, aimed at both male and female readers.

NME- The audience for NME is C2, apsirers, post materialists and also hedonists. People who like to have nights out, people who like to buy designer outfits that don't look it, people who go out at 1' o clock in the morning to buy a pint of milk because they were thirsty and people who grab a bowl of cereal in the middle of the day. This magazine is a tiny bit more downmarket but it very well known. I see this magazine as PSUEDO individual because it includes alot of indie artists but appears in many major stores and advertises itself well and so i imagine the target audience could range from young teens who want to appear individual but want to find out about the latest music, but also to older students who just grab this mag because they like the look of it and want to see their favourite artists inside.

All of these magazines are similar because they are all at the same end of the market, and are all aimed at older studentsand young adults. They all contain pages that are more for reading not just looking at, with a some large pictures of artists dotted around. To me, these magazines slightly edge toward the more male market but i know that they are unisex, so with my magazine i will try and incorperate some more female features.

Style

NME-There is a specific housestyle to NME. It consists of black, white and red, and this continues throughtout the contents and first double page spread, connoting maturity, adolescence and sophistication. On the cover, the band 'Babyshambles' is printed in front of the title suggesting a well known magazine. It isnt a particularly busy page, with only 5 main areas of text and 2 smaller pictures (excluding the background shot). The fonts are bold and simple, with no intricacy to them, like IMPACT or ARIAL BLACK. The contents page is quite dependant on the audience knowing what they are writing about, you must know the titles listed in the contents page, such as- "3OH" " A grave with no name" and "Father murphy". The contents are also written in alphabetical order, making it easier for the audience to immediately find out what they want. The contents runs down the left hand side in a small column and then there is a huge snapshot placed over the rest of two indie artists, with a small article about it at the bottom. Lastly, the double page spread is called "whats on the NME stereo" which is also being covered by an indie band, suggesting a regular thing. It is a page covered with indie artists labelled 1-10 with reviews on each and a picture of them- still continuing the house style.

Losing Today- Again here is a specific house style to Losing Today. It consists of mainly black, white and orange, connoting maturity, sophistication and perhaps fun. On the cover, popular artists are printed always behind the title, suggesting that it isnt a very well known magazine, maybe quite new. The covers are never jam packed, they are sparse, with a few areas of text and one main (usually head and shoulders shot) of an artist covering the entire page. The fonts are bold and simple, like BODONI MT BLACK or ARIAL BLACK. As i have noticed previously, the cover page also relys on the readers to know whats going on. I can not see the contents page and double page spread because i researched this magazine using the internet and cannot buy it, but i imagine they carry the same simplistic style all the way through.

ArtRocker- This magazine is very fresh and sophisticated, but looking back through previous issues, i saw alot more colour on the pages but still with black and white involved. They used alot of green too. This particular house style continues through to the contents page and double page spread. As for fonts, it becomes a little more experiemental and creative because it is an Art magazine aswell, so it becomes funkier, but they still manage to keep to the sophisticated yet fun connotations. They use fonts like CHILLER and BELL GOTHIC STD.

All these have very similar conventions and colours such and black and white. They are all simple and sophisticated with bold non intricate fonts. Because i would like to create a magazine that also involves art like "ArtRocker" i will combine both sans and sans serif fonts.

Initial Research into Forms and Conventions - 3 Magazines

I'v been looking at 3 magazines to try and understand the stratedgies used to grab niche audiences and to compare the different styles and key features. I have done this so that i can gain ideas to create my magazine, so that it successfully grabs my audience.
After doing this research i need to choose my genre and make a final decision to what i am going to do. Each small image of the particular magazine logos have been hyperlinked by me, straight to the website of the magazine, so i can acess them easily when studying them.




ArtRockers Magazine:-
The audience of this magazine would generally be Indie, Indie Rock, and electro listeners. On the physcographic scale they would be aspirers and individualists, maybe even Post Materialists. On the demographic scale they would be C1, B and 16+ who reject mainstream flow and consider themselves individual.The main contents of this particular magazine is a very succesfull mix of creativity and music which inspires me.
The brand identity is upmarket for students, The pages are stylish yet sophisticated and they include many interveiws with indie artists and bands, it's more for reading- Not just looking at the big bright pages. This is deffinatly for an older audience because it's something to READ not just look at, and because of the mix of art and fashion it becomes inspiration for art students. The colour scheme is dark, with blacks, whites, greens and greys.





Smash Hits magazine:-
The audience for this magazine will be mainstream who listen to mainly pop music. On the physcographic scale they would most likely be achievers, aspirers and mainstreamers who follow everyone else. Demographically they would be be C2, C1 maybe even D. The brand identity is pretty down market and deffinatley for a younger audience, i would say youngsters who consider themselves to be in the know with pop knowledge and trendy and cool, the main contents is bold and bright, and very persuasive. It has freebies and interviews, its not particularly sophisticated because it's for a younger audience perhaps, 13+. For social values they may consider themselves Hedonists too, to play and enjoy life now. The colour scheme is pinks, whites, yellows and reds.

Kerrang Magazine:-
The audience for kerrang is rock, metal, punk, and screamo listeners. Its more of a male based magazine but girls do read it and there are some areas for girls. In the phsycographic scale they would most likely be Radicals and perhaps post modernists, age ranging from around 15 - 25. It is for people who like to find out about gigs and tours and latest news on the specific genre artists, who are also a little individual and don't follow mainstream music.
The brand identity is reasonably downmarket, but not as much as a mag like 'smash hits' . The colours are bright and dark, contrasting colours, like black and yellow.

Main Task- Magazines

For our main coursework task, we have been asked to plan, create and construce a magazine. We should generate a front page, a contents page and a double page spread for our magazine. By the 4th January we should have completed research and planning for our particular product and begin to sort out production, photos and layout etc.
Production deadline- 15th jan
Post Production deadline- 12th feb
Evaluation deadline- 5th march

3 Things I need to do to improve my practical work

3 Things to improve

1. Time management - I would improve my time management because i spend too long looking at one particular area, therefor lose time for all other tasks, sometimes leading to catch up or even incompletion. I will do all tasks in future, then go back over them and add detail if i have the time, or if they need expanding.
2. Technology- I would like to better my skills in some technologies so that i can achieve my set tasks quicker without fuss to a high level. Quark Express is a particular technology i need to get used to because it took alot longer to generate our contents page without knowledge of how to use the program.
3. Research- I need to improve on taking my research just a little deeper and focus on the task in hand instead of falling into other areas by accident and not entering the correct information. In future i will try and work out boundaries to where the ideas stop so that i don't go off subject and also i will try and think deeper instead of stopping when i think i have enough.

Evaluation

Question 6
To complete this project, we used Photoshop, Quark express, Microsoft word, the internet and a Nikon D60 DLSR.
Quark express was the newest technology to us and we used it to create our contents page. Using these new technologies enabled us to achieve our task by giving us the ability to insert our own photographs, text and research. We were also able to create different layers for text and images which gave us the ability to adjust and change each area easily.
Specifically, we could clip, crop and cut sections from photographs that we didnt need which we couldnt do before.
If we were to improve our cover and contents page, we would probably soften the corners of the images and blend them more into the pages to create a more flowing effect. Also, we would make the contents more organised and simpler to read.

Evaluation

Question 5.
We attracted and adressed our audience by making them want to buy the magazine. To do this we included music freebies , screamers and big artist pictures. We used a colour scheme of red, white and black and carried this on into the contents page to generate a house style.

For example:
The model on the front of the magazine is a student, therefore appealing to students. She is also holiding a guitar which denotes a music magazine.
We added wings around the '5' and behind the contents page, which connotes freedom, individuality and expression which we think appeals to our audience, because of the research we did on other music magazines.
From our previous research, we discovered that colour schemes and particular colours like 'red' were a regular occurance, so this must appeal to the target audience. We used a bold 3 colour, colour scheme to add simplicity but also to capture our target audience too. Also, we selected 3 fonts to create an easier read, for example: we used 'Comic Sans' for smaller, longer areas of text, and 'rockwell extra bold' for subtitles and bigger, shorter areas of text.
The photograph of the student on the cover is connoting confidence because of her smile, a love for music because of the guitar and individuality by wearing what she likes to wear and not what everyone else is wearing. She is also staring directly at the audience which also shows confidence and honesty.
On the contents page, we chose a picture of a crowd of people to place at the bottom, to denote concerts and big groups of people.

I think the representation of our magazine cover challenges and reinforces the stereotypical representations of students because in the jicnar scale it represents students as the lower end of the scale and of lesser importants than higher class people, whereas our magazine discusses money, revision and easier ways of living, so if all students were like the jicnar scale, they would not be worried about the issues raised in our magazine- which challenges this. However, students are aspirers and achievers, therefore our magazine connotes individuality and freedom to reinforce this.

Evaluation

Question 4.
Our target audience for our media product is students aged 16-19. We have created a Unisex magazine too. Our audiences are apirers and achievers in the physographic scale, and in the demographic they are C, D and E. The demographic scale, again, is not a very clear representation of this type of audience, it shows them as lower than everyone else, which is not true.

Evaluation

Question 1.
We looked closely at every aspect of the magazine audience, but mainly on the layouts, fonts and images used. Our magazine included a masthead, screamers, straplines, reverse lines and pictures of bands, just like the ones we researched. We followed the idea of having a colour scheme too, ours was red white and black. Red appeared to be the most popular colour that occured throughout every music magazine we reasearched and so we included it in ours. We also noticed that each magazine we researched incuded alot of references to freedom and expression, so we added an image of some wings in our masthead to do the same. By having similar conventions as popular well known music magazine, our magazine will be picked up by our target audience.

Front Cover and Contents Page

Contents Page

We found that contents pages contained many pictures of bands relating to featured articles in the magazine. We found that it looked at the highlight cover stories and told you what pages they were on. Each magazine we looked at had letters from the editors and split off their contents page into catagories with subheads above them.

They appeal to their audience very well, with bold colours, exciting text but also organised features. They were very clear and sophisticated but mixed the theme of the magazine very well.

The magazines shared the same house style with the rest of the magazine extremely well because they used the same colour schemes and fonts and dropped the magazing masthead in some of their publications.

This is a contents page similar to the ones we looked at and would like to recreate. It is also made for a similar audience.

Audience Research

The subject we chose for our magazine is music and we are going to try and base the magazine around student life. Our target audience is students aged 16-19, we chose to do a magazine for both male and female readers. We see our audience as apirers and achievers in the physographic scale, and in the demographic they are C, D and E. The demographic scale, again, is not a very clear representation of this type of audience, it shows them as lower than everyone else, which is not true.

• You are a student interested in music
• You go to the pub for lunch
• You like to be in big groups of people
• You prefer tomato ketchup to mayonnaise
• You make to trips all the way to brum just to reach primark
• You think peacocks sucks
• You have a play station 2
• You love pacman and space invaders
• You sometimes play world of warcraft in your free time
• You like to play your music so it deafens everyone

Five things i need to do to target my audience effectively

• A colour scheme perhaps consisting of black, white and red
• A range of different fonts
• Freebies and give-aways
• Screamers
• References to freedom
• Model in front of masthead

Reasearch

For the next preliminary task we had to find 3 magazine covers and annalyse each one, to help us produce our own. We chose to look at music industry magazines.

We noticed that each magazine used the same colour scheme which consisted of black, white and red. This gave it quite a sophistiated look.

We then found that the magazines each used a variety of sans and sans serif fonts on there covers, and that the masthead was written behind each model. The models were all well known figures within the music industry and had their names written across the magazines. Covering the masthead shows us how well known the magazines are and how everybody knows the names.

The language used to address the target audience was quite similar because they spoke alot of freedom and expression like, 'New musical express' and 'Unfold the puzzle of life'.

There was alot of screamers on each magazine but only kerrang gave away freebies and gifts to its readers.

Preliminary Task

For the preliminary task we have to create a magazine front cover and contents page. We looked at some examples from previous years to help us get an idea of how we should complete own magazine and gained good knowledge of what it should contain.

I chose to look at a previous magazine called : Squash

I was able to recognise it as a magazine cover because the main masthead or title was written at the top of the magazine and had coverlines and reverse lines all over it. Also, it had the barcode, issue number, price, website and date written. Lastly it had a large headshot of a student behind the text, which is a typical feature of a magazine cover.

The audience for this magazine was male and female students aged 16-19. The psychographic profile was acheivers and aspirers and the demographic classification was probably E. However, the demographic classification is not a very good representation of the audience to this magazine, it suggests that students are a lower group in society and are at the bottom of the pile. The contents of this magazine is 'student finance' and how to create 'personal statements'. This shows that the age range is not at the bottom of the jicnar scale because they are concerned about the maturer issues.

This magazine targeted its audience very well by using calming mature unisex colours, a comical photo and also academic articles inside. It used shortened text language to communicate with the younger readers and make it slightly more relaxed, despite it being an academic magazine. It also gives help on what students find most difficult, which obviously appeals to most because they need the advice.

Initial Annalysis

In our second lesson, we used the magazine covers that we found and annalysed each aspect using 'Denotations' and 'Connotations'. I labelled and wrote what i saw in the particular area or image then listed what i thought this meant.

Magazine Cover

In my first lesson of Media studies, i learnt the key points and conventions of a magazine front cover. I found a magazine cover on the internet, opened it into a word document and labelled the key points we had discussed. I learnt a range of new terminologies and i learned to look further into what magazine covers really mean.

AS Media Studies Introduction

Hello, my name is Stephanie Franklin and this is my AS Media Studies blog. Here i will display and showcase my Media Studies coursework for you to view. It will be updated frequently, with written evidence and attachments of my latest work.