How do you intend to
use the four areas of the media theoretical framework to communicate meaning
and meet the requirements of your chosen brief? (approx. 400 words)
I’m designing a magazine for the target group of a
‘fun-loving 16–25 year old mass market demographic’, so, based on my focus
groups preference of realistic models that are relatable and represent them, I
have chosen models that are within this age group. In order to cover a wider
audience within this demographic I have chosen a bisexual model for the ‘TV
Edition’. This will help members of my audience that are from the LGBT
community to identify with my magazine and potentially read it.
My research into entertainment magazines has shown a variety
of ways mise en scene has been used to convey the ‘message’ of the magazine.
However there were some set conventions that I adhered to – for example both of
my covers use direct mode of address to engage with the audience. My
mise-en-scene adds to the interesting look and aesthetic feel of the covers.
The same sense of style can be felt across both magazines due to my use of
natural lighting and sets. I aimed to include parts of the environment around
to make my magazine stand out a little more (such as the door way in the first
edition, and the stairs in the second edition). There seems to be a lot of variations
between different entertainment magazines, from Billboard’s ‘modern’ look, to Variety’s
‘sophisticated’, with their use of serif fonts in their masthead. There’s also a
lot of variety in the number of sell lines and the amount of text between
magazines. I have combined these ideas, with sell lines taking up a fair amount
of space without being too dominant.
My website carries the same sense of style but with the
addition of brighter colours and lighting. I found during my research that a
lot of the pre-existing entertainment magazine websites were very similar, with
not many interesting visuals. I received similar feedback from my focus group,
who deemed them ‘boring’. With this in mind I decided to make my background
black and have a heavy emphasis on the colours. My website will feature
extensions of stories from the magazine, to encourage users to read the
original story in the magazine and to encourage readers to visit the website.
It will also have a ‘featured stories’ section where there are up to date
articles that may be too recent to have been featured in the previous magazine
edition. As each edition of my magazine features a different ‘sector’ of entertainment,
it also allows loyal readers to keep up to date with, for example, the latest music
news while they can also read the television edition of the magazine. The two
media outlets will work together to create one overall experience.
These combined aspects will cater to my ’fun-loving
audience’ as the bright colours and complex fonts will create a more unique
style of magazine and website that are exciting, interesting and fun (as
desired by my focus group, who stated a want for a more interesting and unique
look).
How do you intend to
link your media products to demonstrate your knowledge and understanding of the
digitally convergent nature of your media production? (approx. 100 words)
I think that the connections between my website and magazine will be quite obvious. The will both feature the same masthead at the top of the magazine, and the top of every website page. While my colour schemes are a little different, they complement each other and are deliberately in contrast to each other to conform to the desires of my focus group (they like both a more sophisticated, unique and interesting look, as well as liking the bright fun colours – so long as these do not become childish). The stories featured in my website are also extensions of those in the magazine.
I think that the connections between my website and magazine will be quite obvious. The will both feature the same masthead at the top of the magazine, and the top of every website page. While my colour schemes are a little different, they complement each other and are deliberately in contrast to each other to conform to the desires of my focus group (they like both a more sophisticated, unique and interesting look, as well as liking the bright fun colours – so long as these do not become childish). The stories featured in my website are also extensions of those in the magazine.
My magazine features a ‘call to action’ in the contents
page, where it encourages readers to visit the website to either ‘see a full
story’ or ‘watch an exclusive video’. Users on the website can also leave
suggestions about the magazine or ideas for future articles in the ‘your
thoughts’ section of the website.
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