OCR A Level Media Studies NEA brief 3 - Candidate Number: 5004, Centre Number: 16607

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

From my research into entertainment magazines and multiple case studies, I found that these magazines both adhere to and subvert typical codes and conventions of a magazine. These conventions included media language such as; close-up shot of the model with direct mode of address, consistent masthead and font to create a sense of brand identity throughout the magazine and, particularly for entertainment/lifestyle magazines, the use of puffs and a secondary lead.
I intend to create a product that will suit my specified target audience of a fun-loving 16-25 year old mass market demographic. For this I decided to combine the generic conventions of a television/film entertainment magazine with the conventions of a celebrity/gossip entertainment magazine. Therefore, secondary lead’s will be a prominent feature on my covers in order to promote audience choice in the content they want to read. I felt this would be a unique way to target the fun-loving and young demographic by containing information about television and film etc in an entertaining gossip style, therefore intending to reflect the evolving consumer habits and needs of audiences by giving them more apparent choice in the information they can choose to read, especially in this younger demographic due to the rise in digital media. I aim to create an upbeat representation with bright colours/ colours that represent the content being portrayed, in order to reflect Hearst UK’s positive brand identity that is promoted throughout their products and website.
In my first edition, I aim to create an intertextual reference to the James Bond movies. This is because the movies are an iconic, mass market franchise that has been ongoing for generations and thus would be instantly recognisable for the 16-25 year old demographic. The films are action-packed yet enjoyable for audiences to watch, establishing a relationship with their fun-loving personality. For my cover image, I am promoting the singer of the new James Bond theme tune and challenging the gender stereotypes with the mise-en-scene of the female artist wearing a Bond inspired suit. I will use a play of words in the coverline which is intertextual towards the film yet represents to the audience what the article is about as I found in my research that this is a common feature for entertainment magazines. The use of colour (black, white and gold) and typography will further be considered in order to portray this intertextual reference.
In my second edition, I aim to create an intertextual reference to the Gossip Girl television series. This is because it is targeted to a similar audience to the brief I was set. I intend to use a mixed race model with direct mode of address to portray a ‘mean girl’ attitude which is intertextual towards the two main characters in the series. The coverline, like in the first edition, will contain an intertextual pun whilst explaining the purpose of the article. I will create brand identity and a house style throughout my covers by using the same masthead and font. This edition will contain much brighter colours to reflect the fun-loving 16-25 year old demographic and the secondary lead’s will contain buzz words and content in bold such as ‘SPECIAL’ to catch the reader’s eye.
In my contents, I will use the same layout for each and the same font as on the covers. The colour schemes will represent the intertextual links that I have made depending on the issue. I plan to have three main sections: Television&Film, Music and Celebrities. This is based on my research into typical features of entertainment magazines and the content I have decided to promote in my own. Due to the 16-25 year old demographic, I want a column that allows the audience to ‘get involved’ with competitions, further reflecting their evo0lving consumption habits whereby audiences in modern times are active participants in the media they consume (Jenkins ‘active audience and participatory culture’)

Product 2

I will be creating a website with a clear house style that follows throughout my magazine by using the same fonts and masthead logo in order to demonstrate brand identity to my intended audience. My website links will reflect those in the contents of my magazine; Television&Film, Music and Celebrities. The layout will be easy to navigate with a plethora of choice from the columns and home page including behind-the-scenes, exclusive interviews, ‘sneak peaks’ at new shows etc, reflecting the magazines gossip style.
I aim to include articles which had been mentioned in both my contents pages and their covers which will enable a link between all the platforms for my brand. Due to the Gossip Girl issue being the latest of the two, the website will take this into consideration with interactive Easter Eggs (mobile phone graphic) for the audience to find exclusive news and offers. This increases audience interactivity and reflects my aim to consider the active audiences, linking to Shirky’s ‘End of Audience Theory’.
The interaction with audiences through competitions and social media accounts such as Instagram, Twitter, Facebook and Snapchat, continues to broaden and attract my target demographic in a fun approach. This reflects Hearst UK’s purpose of striving to constantly attract audiences through as many platforms as possible.
I plan to have a choice of articles on my home page, including those from the contents pages and also some new content, competition results and then another working link with an article about an exclusive interview with a character from a television series.

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

My print and online products will link in many ways. Firstly, through encouraging my audience to participate in competitions and, secondly, by attracting them towards the website. In my first edition, I will include a ‘first edition special’ competition to get my audience involved with the magazine and in both I will provide the link to my website in several locations. This helps to gain the audiences interest further due to Jenkin’s theory of active audiences and participatory culture.
In my second print contents, I will promote a competition for a discount code on Netflix to watch the new series of a television drama alongside the iconic Gossip Girl series and more. This will the encourage the reader to visit the website to find out how to win this discount code. From my research, 89% of Netflix subscribers are likely to be 18-24 and is also a prime representation of how audience consumption habits are changing due to digitally convergent media.
Additionally, throughout all my products, social media links will be clearly linked.

I promoted a convergence with Netflix in my second edition of the print magazine:

This was used as a way to get my audience members to visit the website, whereby I explained how to enter and win on the home page in this strip:

I also promoted the convergence with Netflix in a lightbox from one of my mobile phone 'easter eggs':

Through this competition, in order to enter and win, I made the audience have to send a tweet to the magazine's twitter account. This allows for interaction with the social media accounts of the magazine, making the audience visit and read these pages.

In another listbox, I promoted a tweet from the star of my main article. I created this tweet so that fans of the show will want to have a look at the magazine's twitter account and find out more because a celebrity they like has further promoted to do so: