Types of Media Production: Production Processes

Learning Outcome 1 (U21): Be able to generate ideas for an original media product based on a client brief P1(U21) M1(U21)

Interpretations of requirements from the client brief:

Explicit requirements:

I must plan, pitch, produce and edit the sample pages for a local music magazine.

The magazine must have an online and print format.

The magazine must focus on music and its development in the North London area.

A proposal and sample materials/ ideas must be created for my magazine pages.

I must include planning documentation when in the planning process for my magazine.

I must ensure that the content of my magazine is original.

Implicit requirements:

The genre of the talent and the types of venues included.

The types of pre-production documentation used when planning my magazine e.g. location release forms for when shooting images for my magazine front cover and double page spread.

Initial thoughts on possible ideas following my interpretations from the brief

One of my initial ideas following my interpretations of the brief is for my magazine to be an Indy Rock magazine. The magazine will feature the most talented upcoming musicians within North London, forthcoming events and the best venues in the North London area.

Another one of my initial ideas is to create a magazine, which concentrates on the idea of upcoming musicians of all genres. This hybrid genre magazine will include upcoming events, interviews with these musicians and information about the best music venues in North London.

Additionally, another idea is to create a Jazz magazine which features local upcoming Jazz artists and groups, contains exclusive interviews and information regarding the next performances and the best venues in North London.

Finally, my last initial idea is to create an R&B and soul magazine, this will include exclusive interviews and features, information about how locals can take part and the best venues to see live R&B and soul music in North London.

Explanations of my three key ideas complete with documentation to support the ideas generation

Idea 1:

My first idea is to create a magazine that has a genre of Indy Rock.

My magazine will include:

-Interviews and Q&A’s with upcoming Indy Rock musicians in North London.

-The best live Indy Rock venues in North London (rated on price, location and customer ratings etc).

- Information about the history and future of the North London Indy Rock scene.

The target audience of the magazine will be white males who are between the ages 18– 23 who have an NRS social grade of D and E who live in North London. I chose this audience as according to my research into other Indie Music magazines such as NME., NME’s target audience is 66% men who are middle class and between the ages of 18 and 25 I have decided to limit the age of my target audience of 18 to 23 as a minimum due to the fact that many of these venues are bars, therefore those under 18 wouldn’t be granted access. 

My research strongly suggests that Indy Rock is the most popular genre in North London. This is because the majority of live North London music venues feature mainly upcoming Indy Rock bands, some examples of these include The Boogaloo (located in Highgate, North London) and the Dublin Castle (located in Camden, North London). From this I can infer that the most favoured genre of music in North London is rock, this is because the businesses will cater to the tastes of the majority of the population, as this will increase their number of customers.

Mind Map for Idea 1 

Idea 2:

My second idea is to create a magazine with no specific genre e.g. Jazz specific. The magazine will be a hybrid music magazine, which includes all genres in North London.

My magazine will include:

-Features, interviews and Q&A’s with upcoming artists from all genres within the North London music scene.

-Articles regarding how the audience themselves can get involved in the London Music scene e.g. how to perform themselves etc.

-The best live music venues and upcoming gigs.

The target audience of this magazine will be white males between the ages of 18 – 65 with an NRS social grade of E - B. This is because my magazine features genres from Grime to Jazz and Soul, therefore my magazine should appeal to a large range of people and therefore a large age range. Moreover, my target audience will be predominantly male as through my research I know that men make up the majority of the audience of the main genres included such as Jazz, Indy Rock and Grime.

By creating a magazine, which features all of the upcoming musician's genres in North London, the magazine, will be able to appeal to as wide an audience as possible, this should therefore increase its readership and therefore its chances of success.

Mindmap for Idea 2 

MINDMAP - colours, article ideas, genre, price, solo/band

Font ideas?

Idea 3:

My third idea is to create a magazine that has a genre of jazz.

My magazine will include:

Interviews and Q&A’s with upcoming Jazz music artists in the North London area.

How readers of the magazine can get involved in the North London jazz scene.

Articles regarding the latest news in the North London jazz scene.

The best live jazz venues in North London.

Upcoming gigs and live performances within the North London jazz industry.

From my research, my target audience for the magazine will be white males between the ages of 18 – 65 between the NRS social grades of B – C2. I chose white males as this is the sex and ethnicity of the majority of jazz artists within North London as well as the fact that my research also points towards this as the main audience for Jazz music. Moreover, I also chose such a wide age range for my target audience because of the fact that there are many types of jazz played within North London which appeal to different age ranges e.g. upbeat jazz for those between the ages of 18 – 24 etc. Lastly, I chose the NRS social grades of B –C2 as Jazz is more of a sophisticated music genre, therefore this style of music appeals to those who are of a slightly higher social status and job status.

Over and above from my research into the most popular genres of music within North London, I’ve established the fact that there is a large demand for a jazz music magazine. This is because there are many live jazz music venues such as the Jazz Café (located in Camden, North London) as well as Nell’s Jazz and Blues (located in North End Crescent, North London). This, therefore, shows that there is a jazz audience in North London, as a consequence the jazz magazine, therefore, has an established audience.

Mindmap for Idea 3

 The strengths and weaknesses of my 3 key ideas

Task	Strengths	Weaknesses
Task 1	-My research shows that the Indie Rock genre of my magazine is the most popular in the North London area. -Has a specific and clear USP - My target audience will respond to the content as it is a genre that is popular amongst them.	- Audiences may not be as intrigued by unknown, up and coming artists as they would be for established and famous ones.  - The Indy-based genre is a minority audience in comparison to e.g. a mainstream rock audience.
Task 2	- Appeals to a wide target audience due to its hybrid music genre. -There should be higher sales as the overall audience is larger.	- The hybrid genre gives the magazine a vague USP. -There are too many topics to create a magazine which covers all of the genres of music within North London. -Not all of the music genres featured in the magazine will appeal to my target audience, this will, therefore, reduce the number of sales.
Task 3	-Has a specific and clear USP. -My research shows that the genre of jazz is popular in North London.	- Jazz has a niche audience in comparison to other genres e.g. Rock. Therefore this reduces its chances of success. -Due to the niche audience, the magazine will not sell many copies. Therefore the magazine isn't very profitable. - Audiences may not be very intrigued by upcoming jazz artists as they would be with famous artists. Therefore this may affect sales.

Conclusion

In conclusion, I'm going to choose Idea 1. This is because of the fact that my research into upcoming musicians and venues within North London clearly points in the direction of an Indy Rock genre. Also, my strengths and weaknesses table played a large part in me choosing this idea, this is because Idea 1 had the least weaknesses and the most strengths out of the 3 ideas. 

I didn't choose Idea 2 because the hybrid music genre is too wide in order to be a successful magazine. This is because due to the hybrid genre the magazine has no clear USP, therefore a specific target audience cannot be established. Also by including soo many genres in the magazine, this could deter audiences due to the fact that not everyone likes every genre of music, therefore audiences would choose a magazine with a specific genre to their liking e.g. grime.

Over and above, I didn't choose task 3 because of the fact that the target audience (18 - 65) is too wide. Therefore I will not be able to make my magazine appeal to both extremes of the spectrum e.g. 18 and 65-year-olds in terms of colour scheme and fonts etc. Moreover the fact that the jazz audience in North London is very niche, it will be very difficult to sell a large amount of copies, therefore the magazine isn't very profitable.