Magazine Research.

Magazine Research

ELLE Magazine:

ELLE Magazine is targeted at adult women. I know this because of the content labelled on the cover of the magazine, e.g. “beauty tricks” , “hair and make up” and “how to dress…”. The magazine also typically features women on their covers but sometimes also feature men. The colouring on the magazines also has an older or more sophisticated look to it meaning that it is for an older and more sophisticated audience, i.e. not young teen girls. The women who feature on the cover of this magazine are famous, influential women. They are women that are very recent in their field of work and the issue usually comes out with their cover as they are being talked about for a particular reason, meaning that as the women who would read this magazine hear about what is happening with a particular actress, singer ect their story and cover come out in the magazine. Because the title is often partially covered by the key image it gives the impression that “ELLE” is so well known as a magazine that it is easily recognised. Again the font has a very sophisticated feel to it but also feminine, it has a high fashion feel to it that would appeal to the female audience and because it is not a huge brightly coloured font is would appal more to older women (not teenagers).

EMPIRE Magazine:

EMPIRE magazine is a magazine about films and television, it includes things like interviews with actors and directors, the latest films and TV shows, the top things to watch ect. The covers often incorporate the themes and colour schemes of the main film that is featured in that particular issue of the magazine. The colour scheme of this magazine always seems to be quite dark signifying that the magazine leans more towards a male audience also the cover often features a male. The EMPIRE font is the same on each issue even when the colour or effects of the title are changed the font doesn’t. The title is often covered by the main image meaning that the magazine is well known enough not to need the title fully visible. Although the magazine is for film lovers, shown by the content and the stories about new films and the people involved, the dark edge to the covers and type of films that are often covered in the magazine infer that it would be targeted more towards males. The films that are featured on the magazine and on the cover are often in the action/fantasy genre, it’s very rare for a rom-com or “chick-flick” to be featured on the cover of EMPIRE, again showing that it is a predominantly male audience.

CBeebies Magazine

CBeebies magazine is clearly targeted towards children up to around 7 years old. The cover features bright colours and the eye catching and memorable CBeebies logo to entice and grab the attention of children. Because of the familiar characters featured on the cover, children of around 7 will want the magazine because they recognise and enjoy the characters and programs that are featured on the cover. There is not a lot of writing on the cover as children of that age enjoy bright colours and pictures more than lots of writing. In the magazine it features colouring pages, stories, stickers and workbooks, this will make the parents want to buy the magazine for their children because the content is something that a child would enjoy and the content will also help them learn. The magazine features bright colours, familiar characters and child friendly activities to entice their target audience, young children.

Billboard Magazine

Billboard magazine is targeted at music lovers, it is a magazine that only features music artists and the music industry. This is quite a broad magazine because it does not target a specific gender or age group as a whole, they feature artists who are known for different styles of music and feature both men and women on their cover. They change the colour scheme of the cover to suit the artist and the photo that is featured on the cover. The billboard font is well known as is the colours in the centre of some letters, this again means that it is a very well known magazine.

Mast Head: The bold, recognizable font stands out in a dark colour so as to be seen on the light background. The brand, “ELLE” is clearly a very well known one as the model is partially covering the title, showing that people don’t need to see the whole title to know the brand.

Anchorage Text: Links to the picture of the model/actress/singer ect to describe the relevance of the picture. The name of the actress “Emily Blunt” is in a darker colour and a different font and is also larger then the other anchorage text, this is to make the name stand out so the reader will be able to easily find the name of the actress, if they don’t already know.

Main Image: Actress Emily Blunt features on the cover of this issue of ELLE magazine. She is looking directly at the camera meaning that she is almost making eye contact with the viewer (direct mode of address), this establishes a relationship with the viewer, engaging them.

Puff: The puff tells the reader what’s going to be featured in the magazine. The different fonts and use of the colour scheme draw the readers attention to the puff and entice them to read onwards/ buy the magazine. The puff is never very long because it needs to be easy to read and attention grabbing, it would not be as interesting if there were long sentences of puff.

Main Puff: The main puff is the main article used to draw attention to the magazine after the main image. Again it shows an article that will feature in the magazine and is used to draw attention and entice people in the magazines favour. The article in the main puff is usually one of the largest articles in the magazine and is that way because the writers of the magazine make the assumption that this article will be interesting to the target audience. It is often in the largest font to grab the readers attention.

Target Audience: The target audience of this magazine is quite clear. It is obviously a women's magazine because it revolves around fashion, the celebrity lifestyle and healthy living. The age rage for this magazine is 19-25/ 26-40 as the topics are broad and would interest a lot of women in this age range. This is a lifestyle magazine and encourages its readers to aspire to their idolised lifestyle model. This is why celebrities are often featured in the magazine, to give people something to work towards.

Masthead: The bold, capitalised title of this magazine makes the name and logo stand out, grabbing attention. As part of the main image is covering the masthead it shows that the font, size and eve colour of the EMPIRE logo is recognisable. EMPIRE often have their masthead in red, except from special additions, showing that it is a signature colour for the brand. The deep red colour is almost always guaranteed to stand out against the main image and background of the cover.

Main Image: Each character present in the main image is looking directly at the reader, this makes a connection to the reader creating a relationship and making them more likely to read/buy the magazine. This is a direct mode of address. The use of the direct mode of address engages the reader.

Anchorage Text: The anchorage text links to the main image to explain its relevance. In this case the new Star Wars film is being promoted so the recognisable title of the film is put across the main image. The large font in a different colour makes it stand out against the darker image behind, drawing the readers attention to it more easily.

The anchorage text uses key buzz words and phrases like “EXCLUSIVE” and “most anticipated film… Ever!” The word “exclusive” is in capitals, like the rest of the sentence “This is the exclusive you’ve been looking for!”, but this word is underlined. This draws the readers attention straight to the anchorage text and makes it seem more appealing and exclusive. The use of the exclamation mark at the end of the sentence makes the text more exciting and the use of you’ve makes the sentence personal, using direct mode of address.

Another key phrase in the anchorage text is the writing in red beneath the initial white anchorage text that says “ the most anticipated film… Ever!” The use of anticipated , Ever! And the ellipsis creates a sentence that would be very exciting to the reader. It shows how people have been waiting for the film and that it’s finally here. The use of these words and techniques makes the article and film release more exciting. Because this piece of text is a different colour and font to the rest of the anchorage text it makes it stand out. This is because the information is key as the director is named and there is a key persuasion phrase also.

The largest words in the anchorage text are the name of the upcoming film. The font is slightly different from the rest as it has a detail to it , giving it more of a “retro” feel and reminding the audience of the era that the original film came out in. The nostalgia makes the cover more appealing and enticing.

Cross Head: The title of each article is set in a different font to the description, and is also in capitals and a red colour. This makes it easier to find a specific article as the bright colour and boldness of the font makes the words more eye catching. The colour of the cross head is also the same colour as the classic EMPIRE masthead on most covers.

White Space: The white space on the page is space that is not dominated by a picture or any text. This contents page has lots of white space to break up the text and make it easier to read and find the information that the reader is looking for.

Title: The title is written in a font that almost looks shaded, in much the same way that the words “star wars” were in a shaded font on the cover. It seems like a house style for EMPIRE to have a almost 3D shaded effect to titles that they want to stand out. The descriptions of the different articles are written in a serif font (Times New Roman) to give the page a more clean cut and organised feel. The font is used to make a lot of information, like the article descriptions, seem less crowded.

Pictures: Pictures are used to split up the text and make the page look more appealing. The images represent the key articles in this issue of the magazine and are used to draw the readers attention and spark their interest. Red markers are used to connect the pictures to the cross head and the page number that it links to. These markers make it easier for the reader to find out where the picture came from and where to find the article.

Banners: Banners are used to make the main articles, like the ones advertised on the front cover, stand out against the other articles mentioned on the contents page. They are like this because people will often buy a magazine because they are interested in what’s mentioned on the front cover and will then want to find those articles easily.

Colour Scheme: Red-Black-White.EMPIRE use these simple, modern colours in their layout to make it look less cluttered and more organised and clean cut. The red is used to stand out against the black and white, as we can tell form it’s multiple uses in the banners, markers and cross heads.

Drop Capitals: Drop capitals are used to start off this article. Much like in the rest of the magazine a patterned or shaded font is used to highlight it’s importance, draw the attention of the audience and give a classic retro feel. This is the house style of the magazine. The pink colour of the font contrasts against the rest of the article in it’s style and in it’s context. The colour stands out against the black and white of the article and the white space and also against the darkness of the pictures used. The darkness of the pictures used and their contrast against the pink also gives us an insight into the subject matter of the film, in that it is a gothic romance film. The darkness of the pictures shows the gothic side of the film, it’s main genre, and the contrasting pink shows the romantic side of the film.

Main Images: The main images are used to split up the text of the article and make the overall look of the page more appealing to the reader. The images cover both pages in the centre to make the article look both smaller and easier to read, but also make the pages look full of information. Anchorage text is also used to pin down and give context to the images, telling the reader who the image is of and describing their situation.

Article: Articles are written in columns, like in this example, to make the large amount of text easier to read. This article, like most in EMPIRE, has a direct mode of address. This means that the way in which the article talks to the reader is very much like a conversation, but a conversation with someone who has an extensive knowledge on the film industry and the people involved and everything there is to know about the latest film news. This is because EMPIRE is a specialist magazine that only people with a strong interest in the world of cinema will want to buy it and therefore will enjoy reading the magazine if it is set out this way, the target audience.

Colour scheme: The colour scheme of this double page spread reflects the genre of the film in an interesting way. The dark colours contrasted by the one bright pink shows the gothic romance genre of the film, the pink showing the romantic side to the film and the darker colours showing the gothic side to it. This would appeal to the target audience because, providing that they already knew the genre of the film as it has been mentioned in EMPIRE before, it would remind them of the genre of the film and they may feel like they have a sort of inside knowledge that people who don’t read the magazine don’t have.

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This is the font that I have used not only for my masthead but also consistently throughout my magazine for various titles. This font is part of my house style. It will appear mostly in the deep red colour as this is also part of my house style, but my masthead can be different colours to fit in with the background of my cover.

I chose this font, instead of one from the previous slide, because I think that this font conveys my genre in a very clear manner. I didn’t choose any of the other fonts that I had found because I feel this font fits my genre more than the others and it is also available within Photoshop making it easier to create my magazine.

Target Audience.

Target Audience:

Age: 16-25

Gender: Neutral. This is because all types of films would be featured both in the magazine and on the cover so the audience type would be based less on gender and more on a keen interest in films and the film industry.

My magazine will feature the latest installments in the film industry and the cover will either consist of a poster for a particular film or an actor/actress that is particularly popular at the time. The content would include interviews, reviews, quizzes and upcoming events in the movie industry. My magazine will cost around £4 and will be around 100 pages long. My magazine will appeal to my target audience because it will contain all the latest information about the latest films out on the market. It will also include things like interviews with the actors involved with the films and also the directors, interviews such as these would only usually appeal to someone with a passionate interest in film and the industry.

Although these colours are not very eye catching to the reader they do mirror the genre and subject of the film very well, which is what I like about them. The red shimmer on the most important parts of information makes the issue altogether more eye catching and makes the important information easier to find and read.

Again this cover is designed to mirror the conventions of the classic movie poster for this particular film and tries to encapsulate the genre and tone of he film. The brightness used in the masthead connects with the brightness in the centre of Iron Mans suit.

The colours used in the background make sure that the main image of Katniss (Jenifer Laurence) stands out from the background but also looks like a part of the scene. The classic bright red of the masthead is also incorporated into the anchorage text and the puff to make it stand out against the action scene background.

I think that EMPIRE are extremely clever in their use of colour throughout their magazine as they always make an effort to make the colours relevant to the genre and tone of the film that they are talking about. The colours always seem to grab the attention of the reader while also engaging them and keeping the themes of the film incorporated.

My Questionnaire.

Link to my questionnaire: https://www.surveymonkey.com/r/GS3K88K

Gender:It was mostly females that answered my survey, 13 females to 7 males. It is good to have a strong amount of answers from both genders as my target audience is non-specific because film has a wide audience.

Age:All of the people that completed my survey were students and are either 15 or 16. As the age bracket for my target audience is 18 to 25 this data may not be very useful but I can use it for initial ideas.

Film Genres:My data shows that the most popular film genres with this age group are comedy and action. Horror is the second most popular genre with romance just behind. This is helpful because it narrows the range of film genres that would take place on the cover of my magazine. Although films of all genre would be included in the magazine, much like lots of different brands would be present in a fashion magazine, because the genre is only one component to a film.

Actors/Actresses:My data shows that currently many people favour the most recent actors to appear on our screen such as Benedict Cumberbatch (Sherlock BBC), Chris Pratt (Guardians Of The Galaxy and Jurassic Park), Tom Hiddleston (The Avengers, Thor) Johnny Depp ( Transcendence, Alice In Wonderland) and Emma Watson ( The Harry Potter films). This tells me that people would enjoy reading about current actors and actresses that are in recent films.

EMPIRE Magazine:This shows that while EMPIRE magazine is not extremely popular , some out of the 20 teenagers in my questionnaire. This means that teenagers, of both genders, buy some form of film magazine which means that there is an audience for my magazine.

Cost:My questionnaire data shows that the majority of people would spend between £3 and £4 on a film magazine. From this data I can now say that my magazine will cost £3.99.

Content:From this data I know that on the contents page of my magazine I must make sure to include actor profiles, interviews, film reviews, and new film releases.