#29- Purpose of Magazines

 Magazines are very important in media culture. However, recently magazines have moved to online formats and social media has taken over. In my portfolio for A Level Media Studies I be will be covering both aspects: social media and magazines. I have already looked into examples of social media accounts and was able to make the first two post on the Instagram account for my documentary. Now, time to focus on the magazine aspect of my marketing process and portfolio. 

 Magazines are used to inform and entertain. The four aspects of having a magazine feature for a documentary are: informing readers, promotion, generating publicity and audience engagement. 

Informing Readers:

 Magazines can be used to inform the readers about the subject. In this project the feature will be about the documentary slightly, but more about the subject of the documentary. By this I will feature pictures of Elliana and an article about her. 

 This is a single page from a magazine covering a story on the actor: Paul Sorvino. There are three pictures of the subject featured, and the other half is full of an article written about the subject. This is a good example of something I could do on the two pages on the inside of the magazine. However, I could also have the full article featured on one side and a full paper picture of Elliana on the other side. 

Example: 

Promotion: 

 Magazines can be used to promote other media forms. The information about Elliana and the documentary about her could reach the readers of the magazine and promote the documentary. This will increase the audience members and viewership of what is being promoted. 

Generating Publicity:

 As well as promoting the documentary, the magazine can create excitement and conversation about the documentary and Elliana herself. When people are being exposed to new content by reading it in a magazine can generate motivation to watch the documentary. The goal is to persuade and encourage viewership of the documentary. 

 A magazine feature like pictured above can inform readers of Taylor Swift and her new album. It also can encourage and persuade readers to listen to 1989 by Taylor Swift. 

Audience Engagement:

  All of the topics above explain audience engagement. The audience is able to read the article/feature inside the magazine and make them interested to go out and watch the documentary or learn more about the subject, being Elliana and theatre. With pictures it can influence audience members to find it more appealing. However, I believe complete audience engagement, such as live feedback, is more prominent on social media. On social media, such as Instagram, audiences can like, comment and share. Their opinion is heard on social media. 

In my few next blog post I'll be doing further research into specific magazines that I can possibly inspire my final magazine for my portfolio.