Magazine mind map and reaserch

1. OCR Media Studies – A2 Level
Unit G324: Advanced Portfolio
Mind Map and
Research
Name: Jude Munday
Candidate Number: 3092Center Name: St. Andrew’s
Catholic School
Center Number: 64135
Generation of Ideas for Ancillary Product 1) –
TV Magazine Front Cover

2. Source of Inspiration
https://www.theguardian.com/news/datablog/2012/sep/12/digital
-newspaper-readerships-national-survey
Whats on TV magazine has existed since 1991 and
has lead the way for UK publishing issues weekly
quite literally of what is on TV. Ultimately the main
focus Is on drama mainly through soap operas
screened during that week, but also looks into
various other shows such as games shows or reality
TV. I have chosen this magazine as it is the most
successful TV mag in the UK, not only this but it
uses many codes an conventions which, if repeated,
would truly make my own successful.

3. Main headline ideas
“Shock Divorce” as a head line this is supposed to quite literally shock people, and the use of the
dramatic word :divorce” straight away implies drama and tension. This is important as the target
audience, are drama seekers, as they like real life relatable drama and the prospect of divorce serves
that. The connotations of shock are that it is something quite unexpected, and out of the blue and so
the audience will quite literally feel this as they read it.
“Crazed killer”, this headline denotes quite a dark and mysterious plot line, which will ultimately
encourage audiences to not only watch the show but read the magazine. The ultimate form of drama is
death, it is the panicle of emotion and so advertising a murder can be incredibly effective at engaging an
audience. The idea of having someone who is crazed also seems quite frightening and will hopefully
thrill the audience, the drama behind a crazed person is very stimulating to the target audience.
“Surprise Pregnancy”, the connotations of “surprise” are of course something which is unexpected and
so quite shocking. This is the kind of effect the magazine needs to have on people, so that it can interest
them through shock. However for “pregnancy”, this connotes something personal and a time of
amazement for the people involved. This of course does denote a lot of drama, which the audience will
instantly be able to suspect by being clearly able to see that there is a pregnancy.
Finally the colours of my main headline must be incredibly bold, and/ or with a background which
creates contrast so that the text truly pops out. This is important to engage the reader, and to
emphasise the words which generate shock and connote drama.

4. Images needed
• Main image – The main image shall be like the one in my magazine of inspiration. It will have
a man with her wife behind, looking at the camera, so that the audience feel directly
adressed. With the headline shock divorce this will be impactful and people will be able to
denote that there relationship is at a dramatic stage where it is perhaps about to end. The
female will be holding facial expressions connoting anger and stress as she frowns and
slightly screws her face up, which will hopefully allow people to denote a tension between
the two and convey the drama the audience seek. For the male, he will look a fed up, this
means that he will have a fairly relaxed face but will also be frowning.
• The other images shall be placed with a highlighted boarder at the bottom and left hand side
of the page. It is important to cover various storylines so that the audience appeal of the
magazine reaches a wide range of people from sex to age but also social situation, as people
will relate to various situations as after all each story line is based on a plausable real
experience someone in the audience may be or has experienced.

5. Language/price
The language used should be shocking to give an incite into the drama that is within
the TV shows presented by the magazine. To summarise this, words like “Divorce”
“Murder” and “Pregnant” all connote quite dramatic situations and story lines.
Furthermore this language will be primarily on the head lines, however the page
should also consist of many additional straplines which promote the magazine by
using enticing exclusive phrases and words. For example “New” or “Plus sneak
preview”, this gives the audience incentive to buy the magazine as it is up to date and
offers things which are made for you to assume you cannot get anywhere else.
For the price of the magazine, no one is going to pay out much money for a magazine
which basically just tells things you could understand and deduce by actually watching
the free TV shows. There for prices must be low, people are generally in stage ___ of
cats socio-economic scale, and so wouldn’t want to be wasting money.

6. Puff promotion
• Puff promotions are another way to entice people to purchase magazines, especially when
the target audience is in of cats socio-economic needs, low prices are much more
appealing. Furthermore, it is important to saturate the page with benefits for the reader, as
mentioned before with the exclusives, so that they are instantly intrigued.

7. Synergy (social media)
• The logos of social media software will indicate to audiences that they can follow the soap opera on that
platform. This will help to create a fan base where people can discuss and create momentum for the
release date. Furthermore social media logos puts the idea into peoples head to share the poster, this is a
form of audience marketing which is completely free but can generate insane amounts of hype. Social
media logos also imply that there is already a fan base for the TV show, and that there is a following, if
people want to find out more they can then follow the accounts and get information.