1. Audience

Example Magazine Demographics

ELLE Magazine's Demographic (in 1000s)

GQ Magazine's Demographic (in 1000s)

My Target Audience

The audience for my magazine is the 'culturally sophisticated, 16-25 AB demographic'. This indicates that my magazine must appeal to students and young adults of the AB demographic who have completed or are in higher education and are predicted to join higher/intermediate managerial, administrative and professional careers.

Target Audience Profile

Culturally sophisticated AB 16-25 year olds in the UK will be spending most of their time either at school/college/uni or work and will enjoy going out in the evenings and weekends with friends. They're most likely up to date on popular TV shows such as Love Island and internet trends. They will like to discuss pop-culture and trends online, with work colleagues and with friends. Their hobbies may include blogging, shopping, going to the cinema, playing video games and travelling. This generation is also becoming more accepting of social change and will likely have left-sided political opinions. The majority of this group will support equality and oppose sexism, racism and homophobia. Popular stores they may like to shop in include H&M, Topshop, Boohoo, ASOS, Uniqlo and Adidas. Those with a larger disposable income will also buy items from Zara, Levis, Urban Outfitters, Nasty Gal, Calvin Klein and Supreme. They will also like to source a lot of their clothing from charity or thrift stores.

The 16-25 demographic contribute approximately £20 billion to the UK economy and therefore will be likely to spend money on high-end fashion brands featured in my magazine. However, as many of those within this demographic will be students, I will make my magazine price relatively inexpensive in order to appeal specifically to those in full-time education. According to Business Insider UK, 99% of those between 16-24 use social media once a week or more. This age group also spends an average of 2 hours 26 minutes a day. This means that people within my target audience are likely to have a strong social media presence which should be espoused through my magazine and website.

My magazine will be unisex, therefore must appeal to both genders which can be achieved by featuring male, female and androgynous models and clothing. My magazine may also appeal to its audience by engaging with issues surrounding diversity and equality between sexuality, gender and race.

The Oxford dictionary defines 'sophisticated' as someone with 'a great deal of worldly experience and knowledge of fashion and culture', and therefore my magazine will need to be presented as a high-quality product which is a reliable source of fashion insight and potentially offers a new and challenging perspective on modern fashion culture which would captivate my savvy target market.

My Secondary Audience

My secondary audience may consist of adults aged between 30-40 belonging to the AB demographic, who are curious about current fashion trends and the progression of modern fashion. They will have great knowledge of culture and fashion brands and be drawn to the high quality of my magazine and its relevance to modern society. My magazine may also appeal to an ABC1 readership, as those in a C1 social grade may be wishing to expand their knowledge of high-end fashion and brands.

NEA Yr12 Task

Since starting this NEA task I have learnt many new skills. I have received training in performance skills, making a website, working in a studio and hair, makeup and costume styling, alongside developing my communication and teamwork skills. All of this has helped me become more confident and prepared for my NEA project in September.

I looked at a range of summer fashion articles online in order to use a similar style in my own magazine. I also conducted thorough background research in order to ensure my own magazine would have a conventional format. I had a 12-hour studio day on Monday 9th of July where I directed a vast range of shots as well as featuring in many others. I have created the front cover of edition 1 of my magazine 'BOX'. It is a mainstream fashion magazine and this particular issue is focusing on summer fashion trends and festival style. During this process one of the most significant factors I have learnt is that bold costume, lighting and makeup create a more succesful cover shot, so for September I will plan more striking styling. In hindsight, I also found that it was difficult to take succesful long shots with the small backdrop we used, so I may take location shots or use a wider backdrop and see how that impacts my shots. 

I am planning to continue with my current project in September, keeping my magazine brand, fashion focus and format, but I would like to change the subject matter of my magazine. In order to find a new focus I am going to conduct more research over summer, looking at existing magazines. I will also take pictures during the summer and start a collection of photographs which I may then use in September. In September I would like to experiment more with styling of my models, as well as use a wider range of models in my shots. I would like to take more pictures both in the studio and on-location. I will definitely utilise the material I have collected this term, but would like to expand it further next year.

13. Closing Post

Dear Examiner,

Thank you for taking the time to read and review my blog. You will find all the relevant work for this project under the label 'AS Research and Planning' along the right hand side of the page.

This blog is now closed.

12. My Final Productions

Wave Advert 1

Wave Advert 2

11. Production Review: My production and my intended improvements

In order to improve the quality of my adverts I had a review with my media teachers, media technician and some people within my target audience. 

Advert 1

The overall feedback for my advert was very positive; my target audience really liked the music choice and the range of shots. They felt the wide variety of sports shown targeted different social groups and they could identify with the youthful actors. However, the target market thought that the voice over at the end was monotone in relation to the upbeat style of the rest of the advert, so I re-recorded this. 

My teachers noted that girls were over represented and there was not enough coverage of boys to fit with my unisex target market. In order to rectify this, I included more shots of boys doing sports. They also thought that my packshot did not look very professional, so I remade my mockup branded bottle and re-shot this clip using a tighter camera angle to show a close up of the product, which is more conventional for a TV advert. Finally, my technician suggested I boost the audio levels on some of the clips as well grading my footage in order to give it a more professional and finished quality.

Advert 2

My teachers raised the issue that the music I used in this edit was not copyright free, and therefore I needed to find an alternative, which I did (below). Another problem was that some of my actors were wearing branded clothing which would never been seen on real TV adverts. In order to fix this I blurred out the labels in Premiere Pro. My target market really liked this advert, particularly the intertextual reference to Usain Bolt. They said they found it humorous as well as motivating.

After changing my packshot at the end of my first advert, I changed the packshot in this advert as well so that they matched, re-enforcing my brand identity. 

New Music for Advert 2

I changed my music for my second advert so that it was copyright free in order to adhere to the regulations of my brief. This song is called Mystic River by Tomas Skyldeberg which I downloaded from epidemicsound, a website which allows users to download music and use it for free if the artist is given credit.

10. My Planning Evidence

Script for Advert 2

Because my first advert does not contain any dialogue, I only created a script for my second advert. This was helpful when I came to shoot my advert as I could communicate exactly what I wanted my actors to say. When I came to edit my footage this gave me a clear running order and although I altered this slightly, the main structure is the same.

Cast List

I created a cast list which featured the names, head shots and roles of each of my actors across my two adverts. I also found images of the way I wanted them to be styled and dressed in my production. This was helpful for me to know exactly how my actors would look pre-production, as well as helpful for my actors as guidance on how to style themselves.

Storyboard

I created a storyboard on an A1 sheet of paper using post-it notes. The different colours of note correspond with different camera angles. This was very useful when filming as I knew exactly the type of shot I wanted as well as what the shot should look like. The storyboard also helped when I was editing my adverts as I could see how each clip fitted together.

Location and set design

Before shooting I did a recce of all the locations I was planning to shoot in. This enabled me to plan exactly where and how I wanted to shoot my adverts so that I was prepared on the day. This helped my production run smoothly.




Risk Assessment

My risk assessment was very important during shooting as it ensured my actors and I were safe and were aware of potential hazards. This prevented any accidents happening during production.






Branding

Brand Label

I based my brand label on existing products such as Sure and Dove. I tried to incorporate images which related to the name 'Wave', using graphic images of sound waves. I featured my slogan 'working with you' underneath the product name to relate the brand to my advert. I used a blue, white and black colour scheme as these are unisex colours.  











Pack Shot/Product

To create my product, I printed off the brand label I had created. I then stuck it to an old deodorant bottle. I will feature this at the end of my adverts in a pack shot along with a voice over and my slogan. My actors will also use the deodorant within my second advert.

9. The practicalities of filming; when and where my production will take place