Generic Research: Film Magazine conventions

 Whist I was doing my research I found a website which I will refer to throughout my research.

Generic Research: Case Study- Empire (website)

Generic Research: Case Study 1- Total Film (website)

Generic Research: Case Study 3- Heat Magazine

Generic Research: Case Study 2- Empire

 

Generic Research: Case Study 1- Total Film

Industrial Content: Film Magazines Timeline

The History of Film Magazines

These are some of the film magazines that have been published and (some of which) that are still in circulation. 

·      Photoplay- the first American film magazine founded in 1911 in Chicago 

·      Picture Play- (originally titled Picture-Play Weekly) was an American magazine focusing on the film industry. Its first edition was published in 1915 

·      Screenland- a magazine about movies which first published in 1920

·      The Hollywood Reporter- an American digital and print magazine which focuses on Hollywood films ad television. It was founded in 1930 

·      Sight and Sound- a British monthly film magazine founded in 1932

·      Film review- began regular release in 1951 after a 1950 trial

·      Positif- a french film magazine founded in 1952

·      Film Comment- features reviews and analysis of filmmaking from around the world. It was founded in 1962 

·      24 images- a french language film magazine published in Canada. It was founded in 1979.

·      Empire- first published in 1989

·      Moving Pictures- focussed on the film industry and the art of film and was first published in 1989

·      Entertainment Weekly- an American digital-only entertainment magazine that covers film, television. Music. Broadway, books and other popular culture. It was founded in 1990 

·      SFX- founded in 1995 and covers the latest news about science fiction and fantasy films including interviews and reviews

·      Total Film- founded in 1997 and offers reviews and other features

·      Cinema Scope- a film magazine published in Canada with articles on world cinema. It was first published in 1999

·      British Film- covers news surrounding the British film industry The first print publication was in 2005 

·      Little White Lies- a British film magazine, website and podcast founded in 2005

 

It is very important that media producers keep up to date with the social and cultural contexts at the time they are working. This is particularly when it comes to distribution and circulation of products. As the world is moving online, so must magazine producers. This is seen in most of the magazines that are still distributing. Some companies- such as entertainment weekly- started their brand online so as to keep up with the technological advances at the time. Other companies- such as Little White lies- juggle multiple different platforms to ensure they can have a wide variety of viewers engaging with the product. Companies such as British Film started off as print and then launched a website to ensure that they were still reflecting the technological advances that were happening in the world at that time

Audience Research: Focus Group - Female Focus

Audience research: Media packs and audience

(Age profile: 14% 15-24, 37% 25-34)

Industrial Content: Film Magazine Timeline for The Pictures

 The first film magazine was published by the British Picture Publishing Company released the first issue of The Pictures, a small sixteen page illustrated story paper, on the 21st of October 1911. The Pictures carried stories based on newly released films illustrated with pictures from the production. In their opening editorial they claimed that their stories made the actors seem more like people rather than actors on the screen. 

The release of The Pictures marked over 100 years of film and fan magazines. These magazines became particularly popular and a big part of film culture across the early 1910s and into the 1920s where they developed from fiction papers into star magazines, providing the audience with gossip about the stars, new productions, screen fashions and competitions. All of this got the audience excited about celebrity media and it continued to grow in popularity. These magazines also functioned as a tool for the film industry to promote new productions and for other companies who shared the same female demographic to promote their products inside the pages.

The Pictures, and eventually its successors Picturegoer and The Picture Show, became an essential tool to their predominantly female audience who wanted to know intimate details about the stars such as their hair colour, which at the time would have been seen onscreen as black and white. 

Across the twenties, thirty’s and fourties’, the content of the Picturegoer featured an enormous amount of advertising vying for the attention of the female readers. Amidst film and gossip were advertisements for household cleaning products, dress patterns and star endorsed cosmetics. 

The introduction of TV in the fifties saw a dramatic reduction in cinema audience, with its female audience viewing from home. Picturegoer ended in 1961 and fan magazines started to shift to a new emerging audience of regular cinema-goers, teenage boys and young men- which remains the core cinema audience today.

Audience Research: Audience Profile

 Audience: 16-25 year old middle and upmarket media literate 

 The audience for my NEA would be in the ABC1 upmarket audience as they tend to be of a higher class. They are also media literate meaning that they have an expanded conceptualisation of literacy and a wide cultural competency. Due to this wide cultural competency I believe they would fit into the ‘explorer’ psychographic as they are eager to learn new things and broaden their cultural competency.

This demographic would most likely engage in award shows like the Oscars and the BAFTAs  as they might want to keep up with their favourite actors’/actresses’  / films’ successes. They might also engage in celebrity gossip forums such as social media pages- for example, twitter- or gossip magazines so they can follow their favourite actor/actresses’ life. They may even comment on or make movie reviews, or they could have their own film blog. In terms of my chosen brief, film magazines would be a great way for my target demographic to keep up with upcoming films or sequels to their favourite films as well as behind the scenes information about films they enjoyed or the actors in them so this would also appeal to this age demographic.

Chosen Brief

 I am drawn to the magazine NEA because I enjoy using photoshop and indesign and I would like to develop my skills in these programmes. I also have a few ideas already for the magazine brief which I am excited to explore and expand on.

Industrial Research: Initial research into NEA

 

Bauer Media Group

Bauer media group only has one film magazine signed to it which is called ‘Empire’. It has other magazines signed that have some relevance such as ‘tv choice’ which includes content around movies and TV shows such as celebrity gossip and ‘must watch’ films. The front covers of this brand are ‘tabloidesque’ and this style of front cover wont work well for my ideas. Other brands that linked a little with the brief of film magazine were celebrity gossip magazines such as heat and closer. These could work as I could make a magazine about celebrity gossip surrounding a new film (such as a spoiler released in an interview). However the front covers of both these magazines are also quite ‘tabloidesque’ so these wouldn’t work well with my ideas either. Therefore my NEA will be inspired by the brand ‘Empire’.

These covers from ‘closer’ and ‘heat’ are very celebrity gossip based. As my brief states that I need to do a film magazine, this style of front cover wont work very well. This is mainly because the cover features many different celebrity gossip stories and if they were all gossip stories about film, it wouldn’t fit the conventions of that type of magazine (a celebrity gossip magazine).

These covers from ‘tv choice’ fit the brief more than ‘heat’ and ‘choice’ but still wouldn’t entirely work with the brief. This is because it doesn't just cover film topics, but TV dramas and TV shows. The ‘tabloidesque’ layout of the front cover means that there are many celebrity gossip stories on the one front cover and if i made them all film stories it wouldn’t fit the conventions of a celebrity gossip magazine.

 These covers from ‘Empire’ fit the brief of ‘film magazine’ as well as some of the ideas I have already come up with. It is less focussed on celebrity gossip surrounding media forms and more focussed on movies and reviewing the movies themselves. As well as this, it doesn't have the same ‘tabloidesque’ conventions on the front cover as the other magazines. For these reasons I will be taking inspiration from ‘Empire’ when planning, designing and making my NEA.