Model Reader/Reader Model

"A reader model is an idealised, or simplified example of an intended reader, that is, a member of a target audience."

I have created a reader model by representing everything that I believe my target audience would appreciate within a magazine.
This is my key demographic because it will help to increase the buyers by gaining more of the target audience's attention with colour schemes and house styles that best suit the genre to attract them.
The target audiences conventional likes and dislikes have been both challenged and reinforced because the background of the photos I would like to have as the main section of the magazine is white and usually in an Indie/Rock genre magazine, the colour scheme is a mixture of dark colours although, I don't think the background colour matters as long as it isn't really bright and doesn't distract the reader from the artist featuring on the cover. The house style of the magazine has been kept similar to other magazines with the same genre because this way new readers will know what to look for as they each have a similar look.

"The reasons why you conform to conventions is to appeal to your target audience.
If you have deliberately subverted conventions, this might be because you know your target audience will appreciate it."

Risk Assessment

I carried out a risk assessment of where I took my photos.
I made sure there wasn't any wires stretching across the floor that could be hazardous. Schools tend to hide wires so that they are constantly kept away from students, so this was handy when taking the photos as there was nothing that could have potentially been dangerous for both the photographer and the person having the photos taken of them.

The photos were taken inside so the weather wasn't an issue although, the heating within the school couldn't be too high as the person I chose to be in the photos was wearing a jumper because it was an Indie style piece of clothing so they couldn't be too hot when wearing this.

There was a minimum amount of equipment used to produce the photos such as a camera and lighting. The camera used was actually on an iPhone 5 so it was good quality and quick and easy to install onto a piece of software such as Pixlr. The lighting used was both natural and artificial because I used the switch lights within that area of the school and took the photos near a window so that as much of the features were shown as possible and I liked the way the light left a glowing effect on the photo. These types of equipment were completely risk free because they wouldn't have caused any damage and they are easy to use.

Recce

This is my reconnaissance of possible locations for taking my photographs for my magazine pages.

I wanted my photos to have a white or black background so I have chosen a painted wall at my school to have as the background. The wall is slightly cream so I aim to edit the colour using a software such as Pixlr to make a more prominent white final background.













I didn't really want any other background apart from the white for this artist because I didn't think it would fit what I was trying to portray her as, which is Indiemy genre such as having a pink background would look very Pop style and using black would have made it more Rock stye.

Also, by having a white background it connotes innocence, which is ironic as the magazine genre is the opposite to this. It also, makes the artist stand out as being the main attention on the cover, so there is no distractions away from the artist.

I don't think that the location is very conventional because the photos were taken at a school whereas most Indie/Rock photos are taken at concerts and gigs because many don't like the idea of posing for photos. This suggests that although my magazine is the same genre, it will have certain aspects that are unconventional to the usual genre style images.

 I took these photos in a house garage where there was enough room to it the band instruments and equipment to make it look more like a gig event.
I wanted it to look dark so there was no lighting or natural light and I used the flash on the camera.
I wanted a black background so that they looked like a Rock genre band so that there was a mixture of Indie and Rock in my music magazine.

Social Groups and Music Magazines

Self-Categorisation is a social psychological that people will perceive themselves and others as a group and it is a general analysis of they way people react to different genres of music.
Self-Identification is the views of the qualities of what a person thinks.

Positive Distinctiveness is when individuals strive for a positive self-concept

Social Identity Theory - Individuals are motivated to achieve positive distinctiveness. That is, individuals "strive for a positive self-concept". This helps self-esteem.
Individuals may be defined and informed by their respective social identities (as per the interpersonal-intergroup continum) it is further derived in social identity theory that "individuals strive to achieve or to maintain positive social identity."

An Ingroup is a social group where an individual can identify as being a member.

An Outgroup is a social group where an individual can't identify themselves with a group of people.

My own media text for my magazine will enable groups to self-define themselves as there will be genre fitting artists based inside with interviews on them so that the target audience gets more information on them, which makes them feel like they have a more personal relationship with them.

The media text will create positive distinctiveness because the target audience will be shown interviews and images of and about their favourite artists within the genre that the magazine is based around. This will make the readers want to try and act how their idols are acting because of the positive outcome it has upon them and this will encourage the target audience to be more selfless, which inevitably will give a positive feedback back to the magazine.

The 'In Group' are mainly between the ages of 16 and 30 and with a common interest in Indie/Rock genre music, they will be in a social group where the individual can identify as being a member by reading this magazine.

The 'Out Group' will be anyone not between these ages and who don't tend to listen to the Indie/Rock genres of music. This means that they won't be able to identify themselves with a social group that is based around this genre such as people who read this magazine.

Applying Gratifications Theory to the consumption of these magazines

Diversion
NME is a well-known magazine produced in London that portrays a different reality to the person reading it. The content inside displays nothing about the latest news stories, so when the target audience is reading through the magazine, they will feel happy and relaxed because there is only stories and photos of artists and events that they are interested in, which makes them forget about reality for the short time they are reading the magazine and this makes them want to buy the next issue.

Personal Relationships
The news displayed inside this magazine is about the Indie/Rock genre music making the reader popular because they will have knowledge on the latest news about the artists within this genre. This helps companionship because by talking about the content of this magazine, the reader may discover that some of the people the know like the same artists as themselves, which will form new friendships.

Personal Identity
"The 18-year-old enemy of the X Factor" connotes that NME are trying to portray the artists 'Jake Bugg' as having a similar personality to the reader, which gives the reader a sense of relating to their idols or the celebrities due to the personal opinions they have.

Surveillance
NME have snippets of stories on the front cover that give a small insight on what was discussed in interviews or events that will be happening soon. This helps to give the reader as much information as possible. "Story of the moment" is key for selling magazines and the target audience buying this edition of NME will want to know anything that is new in Jake Bugg's life.

Diversion
The target audience of teenage girls will forget about anything in their real lives for the amount of time taken out to read this issue of Top of the Pops because they will just be given information on the lives of One Direction, which makes more of their target audience buy this issue because it is an exclusive and isn't the same as the house style that the magazine usually displays.

Personal Relationships
Top of the Pops know that by having an issue dedicated to One Direction, their magazine will sell really quickly not only to previous readers but also fans of One Direction that don't usually buy this magazine. Readers think that by having this magazine they will become popular because they will know all the gossip and this will intrigue a pass along audience because they will read the magazine after their friend to get an insight on the gossip too.

Personal Identity
Magazines such as Top of the Pops have factors like relating the reader to the celebrity on the cover because it makes them feel like they have a chance to be like their idol and this makes them buy the magazine in the future as well because they want to keep finding out what is similar about them and the celebrities they inspire to be like.

Surveillance
The reader of this magazine will be wanting to know the "story of the moment" of their favourite artists One Direction and want to know anything new thats happened in their lives that they can talk about with their friends.

Media Institutions

Magazines are produced by institutions which are companies that produce, market and distribute texts.
There are two main music magazine publishers in the UK:

This produces magazines such as
Kerrang!
Q
Mojo
The company was founded in 1875 and has been privately owned by the Bauer family themselves.
It's headquarters is in Hamburg, Germany and it is operated in 16 different countries worldwide meaning that 38 million magazines are produced each week.
Bauer publishing started up in the UK in 1987 when they launched Bella magazines and from then on Bauer publishing became the third largest publishing house in the UK. Also, for further expansion within the UK, Bauer bought Emap Consumer Media as well as Emap Radio back in 2008 and this had the publishing house on track to being the biggest publishers in the UK.




Originally called International Publishing Corporation, IPC publishes magazines such as NME and Uncut and sells of 350 million copies each year. The headquarters are based in London and the publishing house was founded in 1958, when it was dominated by a group of companies that fought against one another for market shares within an extremely competitive marketplace.
In 1998 the company was renamed IPC and the company was then sold to Times inc.
In April 2012, IPC won an aware for "Best Production Team" from the Professional Publishers Association Production and Environment Awards.

"As the UK's leading consumer magazine publisher we engage with 26m UK adults - almost two thirds of UK women and 42% of UK men. Our award winning portfolio of websites reaches over 25 million users globally every month."

For my own magazine I would like to use one of these institutions because they produce similar magazines with the same sort of house styles to my own magazine. Also, each magazine they produce sells really well and this will mean that they will be able to sell a magazine such as mine, where the genre is Indie/Rock instantly.

First Draft Comparison



This is a comparison between my first draft and an actual magazine.
My magazine has dark colours, which is similar to the NME magazine because this best fits the genre it is trying to show - Indie/Rock, which can't be colourful. This makes the front cover quite simple with basic information of what to expect inside and one image to show an artist that is featured in this months issue.
Both magazines have the image of the artist in the centre of the cover. I did this because every music magazine I looked at when researching music magazines, focused on the artist on the front to attract their audience.
The barcode on both magazines is placed at the bottom of the page at either side because this isn't of any use to the reader so they don't want it to be placed near anything that could determine whether someone buys the magazine.
I liked the white text because it stands out when placed on top of a dark colour background and by using a maximum of three colours the cover isn't as bright and bold as a typical Pop genre magazine.
In my final piece, I would like to use the artists head to cover part of the title because I have seen other music magazines do this and it makes the magazine look professional because it shows that regular readers don't need the entire title to be on show as they are familiar with the general house style so would be able to find it easily among other magazines when place upon a news stand.

Independent Publishing Alternatives

If a magazine is likely to have a narrow, specialist appeal it may be published by an independent publisher.

Sales will be lower, but so will overheads. The magazine producer can also focus on an area that would not be covered by major publishers.

For example, Shindig! is published by Volcano Publishing. The publishing company states that "Shindig! is the quarterly music magazine that overflows with vintage psychedelia, garage, folk rock, sunshine pop, freak rock, power pop, acid folk, progressive rock and myriad other strains of underexposed, near-forgotten pop music."

'Shindig! reaches an audience that loves their music and the culture associated with it. With its main focus on music, Shindig! also covers art, fashion, architecture, film and TV. According to the latest survey, 82% of Shindig! readers are in the ABC1 category. Men make up 83% of the readership and women 27%. With its dedicated subscribers and worldwide sales, Shindig! achieves a circulation of 26,000.'

If the magazine is published by an independent publishing house, it may mean that it won't be as well known or as popular as others similar to it. As an independent publisher may be a smaller specialised company, it may not have a big marketing budget, therefore the advertising budget would be small meaning the magazine would only reach a small audience, which is why when I create my own magazine, I would prefer to go to a better known publishing company.