The document analyzes conventions used in the NME magazine to engage audiences. It notes that the main central image featuring The Arctic Monkeys on the cover will attract the magazine's target audience of 14-20 year olds. It also discusses how the masthead grabs attention without following conventions of being centered. The target audience is said to have a personal relationship with stars in the magazine and try to emulate them, seeking social status. The document identifies the main central image and bold masthead as unique selling points that draw readers' attention and help increase sales and circulation.

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G321- Foundation
By Gemma O’Donovan

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Main Central Image
(Star appeal)
Star Appeal
Masthead
Puff/Promotion
Exclusive, engages the
audience
Barcode
Title
Date/
price

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Analysis
 The NME magazine has many conventions to
help the audience engage and be attracted to the
front cover etc. The conventions are very
appropriate to the genre of magazine. For
example, this NME magazine has a main central
image with ‘Star Appeal’ (Richard Dyer). This is
effective because the audience are automatically
engaged into the magazine if they see their
favorite singer/celebrity on the front cover
because we know there will be a big story about
them in the magazine. The ‘Star Appeal’ in this is
The Arctic Monkeys, and therefore the target
audience will be boys and girls aged 14-20.
 They haven’t replicated any magazine, its very
original and they have made it their own. For
example its masthead isn't placed in the middle
of the page/centrally.

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NME Genre Research
 NME magazine is an ‘Indie Rock’ magazine
that focuses on stars such as ‘Jake Bugg’,
‘Artic Monkeys’, ‘Bastille’ and also ‘The 1975’.
It’s a weekly magazine which has a
circulation of 19,491 and its founder was
Theodore Ingham. It’s current editor is Mike
Williams and he has been the editor since
June 2012. The first ever issue was on 7
March 1952.

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Target Audience – Katz, Maslow, Hartley and/or socio-economic needs The target
audience for NME magazine can be denoted as having a ‘personal relationship’ (Katz)
this is because the audience can build up a personal relationship with the stars that are
spoken about in the magazine. We learn so much about them and enjoy the
characteristics that we see. We could also be seen as ‘Social Climbers’ ( Maslow ). This
is because we climb the social ladder to attempt to make ourselves be like the stars and
celebrities we see in the magazines. For example if we read about how favorite singer
playing a certain instrument, then it might make us, the social climbers, want to start
playing this instrument. Another example is if we see our favorite singer wearing
something really nice, we might want to go out and buy it, this is a good example of being
a social climber.
What is the USP of this magazine? YOU MUST refer to specific conventions/stories
from you research From the research completed into this media product, I think the
USP is the ‘Main central image’. My reasoning for this is because when I see magazines
in the shops, the first thing I see and the first thing I want to look at is the main central
image because its likely going to be the main story in the magazine. If it’s a singer or
band I really like then I'm more likely to buy the magazine. I also think that a USP is the
masthead, the masthead must be big and bold. A masthead is also another big thing that
we notice first when we look at a magazine. The masthead must be big and bold so the
name of the magazine sticks in our head so we can then remember to pick up next
weeks issue or even recommend to friends and family. This is important because the
more and more people that get told about the magazine, the more sales meaning the
circulation will rise rapidly.

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Established
 There are different codes and conventions which are missed out
on the magazine front cover and contents page. On the front cover
on NME (my example on first slide), there is no convergent.
Convergent means the links to twitter, facebook and many more
social networking sites. This is a bad quality because it shows that
it has no linking networks, if it did, they could get more subcribers
etc, it shows that its less established than some other magazines.
 Another convention that is missing is an editorial, an editorial is an
introduction on the contents page that most magazines should
have. It’s a brief introduction from the editor which makes the
audience feel welcome and create a friendly environment for them
to read in. It also introduces the stories and exclusives that will be
included in that certain issue.