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.  

The Big Issue Audience Profile

 In my research I found that Big Issue readers were ABC1 and very conscious of the environment. I kept this in mind when I was making decisions about her hobbies and her values. 

I used Canva to make this. It was the first time I have used it and I found it really easy to navigate so I will definitely use it again when I have the chance.

Guardian Advert

 

This advert would appear at the top of a page on the guardian print paper. It is promoting the Guardian Online subscription in which the user would pay a certain amount a month to support the Guardian. This advert not only shifts the audience online, but it also encourages the audience to support the Guardian. As print paper circulation is rapidly declining and more people find themselves getting their news online, the Guardian and other print papers are doing their best to transition online. In our research we found that the Guardian often promotes themselves so I reflected that in this advert. The advert points people online and encourages them to go for the 10 pound option as it gives the audience a lot of perks including Ad-free which is very sought after in contemporary society.