STATEMENT OF INTENT

ALEVEL MEDIA STUDIES OCR NEA – STATEMENT OF INTENT

CENTRE NUMBER; 16607     

CENTRE NAME; SOUTHEND HIGH SCHOOL FOR GIRLS

CANDIDATE NUMBER; 5041    

Brief chosen:

I have chosen brief three: magazines and online. For this brief I will be creating a front cover and contents page for the first two editions of a new entertainment magazine that is being launched by Hearst Magazines UK and a working website for my magazine.

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?

Product 1

I am going to create an arts entertainment magazine, incorporating elements of theatre, television, film, music and celebrity, which is aimed at a fun-loving 16-25 year old mass market audience demographic. For my front covers and contents pages, I will use media language to create a clear brand identity of a modern, fun-loving and entertaining style which will reflect the industrial context of Hearst Magazines UK who have and always will entertain and provide escapism for audiences on their terms. Hearst UK also aims to ‘host a national conversation’ about a variety of issues and genres, and from my research I have found that there is a gap in the industry for an arts magazine aimed at this target audience. In terms of media language, I will use a bright, saturated colour palette consistently across my products to engage with and attract my target audience and reflect their fun-loving and somewhat outgoing nature. The main cover images will be a single, close up shot, and a mid-close-up group shot, featuring models from the same demographic as my audience, creating a relatable representation of the target audience through my use of models. In terms of representation, I will use a combination of models of different genders and races across my products to reflect the mass and diverse target audience. My models will use a direct mode of address to connote their confidence, connect with the target audience and potentially act as a role model. I would use these media language codes to represent my models as aspirational and relatable to the target audience who would want to see the young, female and BAME models represented in a powerful not a passive manner, thus challenging stereotypes. The use of a range of models represents my magazine brand as inclusive, which would further appeal to my mass market demographic. Similarly, Hearst UK reaches over one in three UK women and one in four UK men across their digital and print products and therefore my choice of models, across all of my products, would engage with my target audience. From my research into Hearst magazine and other entertainment magazines, I discovered and will use some key conventions, for example, direct mode of address, a stand-out mast head, that is often related to the sub-genre and appropriate fonts, typeface and layouts. For the content, I will include artist promotions, reviews, new shows, show business gossip, how to’s, top tips, interviews and some coverage of important issues facing my target audience demographic. This would not only help to engage with a larger audience but the arts industry also explores many of the issues worrying society at the time, therefore bringing an extended relevance to my target audience but overall my magazine will have a lighter tone and focus. In keeping with the content, I intend to use various intertextual references to popular texts including Mean Girls, Orange Is the New Black and Friends. I believe this will gratify my target audience (according to Blumler and Katz’ theory) because I have chosen texts which are relevant to their age demographic and will not only provide the audience with a sense of nostalgia but also reflect the zeitgeist.

Product 2

For my magazine brand website, I will follow what I have discovered to be the generic media language codes and appropriate conventions of website design; which include a consistent use of title, logo and typeface, in order to create a clear and coherent sense of branding across my platforms. On my website, my linked page is the ‘Music’ page. I will also use the same models for my website to reinforce this strong sense of branding and coherence when representing the same stories. In my website I will also have additional material, for example, I will include an interview with a band member, from a band popular amongst the target audience, that I have referenced within the contents page. I will use hidden ‘Easter eggs’ throughout my online content, under the symbol of the lipstick print, which is an iconic symbol from the hit film and Broadway production ‘Mean girls’. These ‘Easter eggs’ will provide the target audience with more exclusive content and special deals. I will also include ‘Easter eggs’ as references to the shows advertised on the ‘Get involved’ section, including a pie as a reference to the musical ‘Waitress’. These references will provide the audience with a sense of gratification and a feeling that they are involved and engaged within the brand as well as providing them with exclusive tips, discounts and content. All of my content will be relevant to the entertainment industry, for example, my yoga article is about a new soap opera star, interviews with actors and musicians and celebrity stories. I will also create an easy to navigate and clear website design with links to various pages on a menu bar, such as; tv, film and theatre, music and celebrities, which reflect the entertainment genre of the magazine and the arts sub-genre. These segment bars will also be applicable to my contents pages and social media platforms, for example, I would use these sections as a separate stories on Instagram. By utilising various social media platforms, such as Instagram, snapchat and twitter, I will be able to reach a broader target audience demographic, further reinforcing my mass market appeal. Through my social media presence and from my website, I will be able to encourage a high level of interactivity amongst my mass target audience and reflect Hearst UK’s industrial context of focusing on ensuring their brand has a thriving digital and social media equivalents to the magazines, as Hearst UK have ’17 million digital unique users’, in order to address the current downturn in print magazine sales.

How do you intend to link your media products to demonstrate your knowledge and understanding of the digitally convergent nature of your media production?

I will create a media product that has a highly appropriate and consistent brand image across my products and a branding which demonstrates and highlights the shared target audience. I will establish this by ensuring a consistent use of the same models, representations, typeface and logos across my magazine, website and on social media platforms to create a strong sense of house style and brand identity.  I would also create links within my magazine that would direct my target audience to the website, for example, with opportunities for the audience to get involved and engage with the brand and through the use of hidden ‘Easter Eggs’. The keen-eyed audience members would see this and then be influenced to delve deeper into my website to find more “Easter Eggs”, four lipstick prints and a waitress pie, hidden within my magazine that offer my audience money off, reinforce the call to action and encourage audience engagement. The lipstick prints can be found on the menu bar, the advert and on the ‘Mean Girls’ slide box on the home page and get involved page. Some of my intertextual references to ‘Mean Girls’ include, iconic quotes, references to the burn book, use of the lipstick print symbol and use of the ‘Man Girls’ original typography. Furthermore, in terms of additional content, I will include an interview with a member from the upcoming band ‘Vivacity’, which will be advertised on my contents page. This link will be useful in directing my target audience to the magazine, hopefully creating synergy and brand loyalty between the audience and my products. I will use a ‘Get involved’ section and links to social media to encourage a more active audience, which is relevant to Jenkin’s prosumer theory as the audience are no longer just consumers.