Planning for Photographs

The images which I planned for my magazine had to be done in a professional way.

My photos were all taken within a class room, in front of a green screen so that I would be able to edit the pictures easily with Photoshop and other editing programmes. I took the photos within a class room for two reasons, one that the classroom is fitted to the standards of a studio, and two that I could have at hand a professional standard camera.

The artist which I had to choose had to be blonde and dress in an unusual style, so using a friend as the model for my magazine I found that it was easy to coordinate how he could look for the magazine.

The props which I used for the production of the magazine such as the guitar was brought in from home, I believed that to get a more professional look that a musical instrument would make the magazine look more attractive for my target audience. The final piece of work which needed to be done was to arrange so that the photo-shoot looked good. The class room was also fitted with a light which enhanced the photos I had taken for the magazine, this light made the photo much more professional. 

Magazine Final Proposal

The genre of my music magazine will be of an indie pop background; this is due to the fact that indie pop is a rising form of music in society and is considered a mainstream genre. The title of my magazine however is ‘Underground’ relating back to the well-known form of ‘busking’ as it mostly takes place in public areas such as Underground stations. ‘Underground’ is a term today meaning a genre in music and other forms of media intended for an elite audience, that is often characterized by its high levels of originality and experimentation, and does not conform to typical standards, trends, or hypes as set by the popular mainstream media, so I've stuck true to the original idea of indie pop being a underground based music genre as it quite unpredictable. My magazine will be set for those of the ages between sixteen to early adulthood this is due to my targeted audience being quite young with a liking in the indie pop genre, the audience should also have some kind of income at this moment in life either they are working part time/full time or are even studying, due to this I have put my magazine at the price range of £2.00 as it is medium priced and is not over the given budget of the target audience, in my questionnaire I asked the question “What is the most you would pay for a magazine” the most popular choice was £2.00 so I choose this amount to be my magazines selling price.
“Underground” will be published fortnightly this is due to the fact it allows students to recuperate their budgets for the magazine and also means that the company can spend their time to work on a more though out magazine, as it can be properly planned and focus on certain stories instead of rushing for a deadline meaning that the magazine would be unprofessional and soon will run out of material to publish, the question “How long should my magazine be published” also featured in my questionnaire this was answered by a mass amount asking for the magazine to be published “fortnightly”.
I have decided to create this type of magazine due to the fact that I have a passion in music, even though I am not pressuring a career in music I still wish to keep it as a major part of my life, Indie music has been the soundtrack to my life for some years and now I wish to use that genre of music to help me in designing a leading magazine.
My magazine will have a double page article which will be on the main image which will be printed on the front of the magazine of a major artist. My magazine will consist of mentioning other leading bands which are either on tour such as “Vampire Weekend” and other top leading indie bands or artists.
The ideologies which my magazine will present is a future for students, as the magazine is called “Underground” it will be there to help out new artists trying to chase their dreams for a music career, “Never giving up” is a major importance to the magazine, as on the double page for my magazine I will mention how the artist “Is overwhelmed with support, and will never give up trying to cement their position in a musical career”.
My magazine will use buzz words and other useful techniques to try and to attract customers, the use of the word “Free” and “New” will surely grab the attention of the target audience. I will use major artists to help publish my magazine as I will be using them as a forefront to gain the support of their fan bases.

(Draft) Content Page

(Draft) Front Cover

Link to the Presentation.

Link To Presentation

Mood board contents page

Music magazine content page mood board from StephenCraharrington

Music Magazine Mood Board

Music Magazine Mood Board

Firstly when we look at the magazines, we find that mostly all of the camera shots were of a mid-shot, this shows that the magazines obviously wants to interact with the audience, this makes the impression that the artists are oblivious of others and only focused upon the audience. The fact that we notice their body language shows that they are confident in their self and want to be an interaction in the audience’s life. Most of the magazines show their artists to be quite laid back and just relaxing or posing, this again shows off their body language creating an image in the readers mind before they have even read about them.

The artists in the mood board are shown to be stereotypically dressed to their pacific genre of music, for example grime and rap is usually seen as a ‘thug’ type of music, when we see Eminem in his front cover we find him dressed in a vest, this is typical of ‘thugs’ or the genre.

The overall representation of the magazine is that the artists are confident in creating a image in the audiences mind before their article has even be read, for example Jay-z is showing off his clothes implying that he is rich and is of a wealthy nature. The magazines try to advertise their popularity as they get the current ‘best thing’.

The font of the magazines seem similar, due to the fact that most of the magazine consist of a bold (anchorage text), they are the center point of the magazine as most people are attracted and drawn in due to simple sight of the story within the magazine. The boldness often highlights that the story is of importance.

Red is used frequent in these magazines, this is to drag the attention as it usually indicated that something is important, For example the title blocks of NME and Vibe on a single occasion can be seen in a reddish colour indicating that this is a main indicator to buy the magazine. The use of a white background also occurs in some magazines, this is to show purity or that they lighting up the plain, as they fill in a blank canvas.

Most of the articles are based on interviewing the artists; this is to give an insight on the lively hood of the artists and to show what they are currently working on or what problems they have overcome, this can be often used as a uplifting story which inspires the audience, this could lead them to buy the magazine again. Moving on the magazines articles are usually serious showing that they are yet again confident in what they do with their choices in life and what they will be answering during the interview.

Title Blocks

Title Block One




Title Block Two




Title Block Three





Title Block Four










I have chosen to rename my magazine in due to the bad feedback i received in class for the naming of the magazine. My peers felt it was in the best interest of my magazine to change the name, this is due to the fact that they felt the magazine would seem more of a boxing magazine due to the words 'Knockout' they didn't feel it represented the indie pop genre so discussed with me a potential idea. My magazine name has been changed to "Underground" this is due to the fact that indie music was quite Unknown. Major stars often busked before they turned famous in places such as London's underground rail road in stations across the capital. I feel this name suits the magazine and give a more professional look.

Title Block Evaluations

Firstly from the title block we can tell that the magazine must relate to the group known as ‘the Rolling Stones’ the group are known for the Rock band skills, so most likely the magazine will relate towards the fact that it is based on Rock music.The Red shows power as we can mostly relate the colour red to being overpowering, the white lined around the lettering causes the title to seem bevelled. The font shows us that the magazine is informal in a way as the magazine title seems to be almost drawn, as the font looks sketchy if you will. Rock fans or people whom had a interest in ‘the Rolling Stones’ are going to be interested within the magazine.




The magazine known as KERRANG has a great design to it, this could show how it too is used for a rock magazine as loads of cracks and breaking of the letters may show the mentalist of a rock band. The Black boldness of the title shows how important it is upon a page as it, the font used for the magazine is slightly informal, as it has cracks and such located across the font, this is done to show the more chaotic side of the magazine as it is aimed for rock bands. Nothing can really be said for KERRANG, only that the word is greatly unusual most likely for the rock fans to enjoy. Rock fans mostly at any age, but by majority maybe 20-27




Mojo is a magazine based on Classical Rock music as mojo was mostly used back in the 60’s and 80’s where it was used by hippies and rockers at events based with classical rock. The magazine uses a black background with a white lettering this highlights the title and makes it a significant image upon any page being highlighted and such.Uses a fairly relaxed and informal font as it may try to catch the eye of the audience when being bought off the shelves.This shows that the magazine is fairly relaxed and is based on classic rock.

Survey Results

Survey analysis

1.       The first question which I asked in my survey was ‘Do you believe my magazine should be accessible online?” as this would have a fairly big impact upon the industry. The Majority of people said that the magazine should have an accessible online page.

 

The second question which I asked was ‘How often do you get a magazine?’ this is to find the time period which I should release my magazine at. I found that a magazine released fortnightly would be preferable as most people agree that they get a magazine fortnightly.

 

 Question three I asked ‘What’s the most you would pay for a magazine’; this will determine the amount which I set my magazine at. The fact that most magazines in today’s terms are around the £2.00 mark I was pleased to find that half the survey chose that it was the sufficient amount for a magazine.

 

I took the interests of others into account as on the fourth question I asked ‘What is your favorite genre in music?’ Pop was the highest genre as it took 75% of votes while the other two surprise contenders are Rap and Western. The genre which will be upon my front cover is determined through what the audience wanted.

I finally asked ‘Who is your favourite band’ i got four different artists/groups yet three of them, which were the groups all had over three members within the band. This could show that upon my front cover I should include a band that has more than three members. All of the bands have quite unusual names such as ‘Imagine Dragons’ or ‘BlessTheFall’, the artist that is going to be used shall also have a quite unusual name upon my front cover to coincide with the main artist of the magazine. 

Magazine Focus Group

Target Audience Profile

Gender: Male

Name: Shahabaz Khan

Age: 17

Hobbies:
Basketball, Singing, Football

Likes: 
Punjab MC, John Newman, NME Magazine

Dislikes:
Union J, Rolling Stones Magazine

Bio:
Shahabaz usually buys a magazine fortnightly; this is to catch up on the talent which is surprisingly popping up across the world. He has released to me that it does give the magazine an advantage over others, due to the fact that it isn't the same thing every time, and that the different stories which are collected to make the magazine interest him instead of reading something which happened previously in the last issue. Shahabaz spends his free time trying to prefect his musical talent, at the current point in time he is held up with work from sixth form so the only way he can get away from work and into the music is by the magazines he reads.

Gender:Female

Name: Madeleine Gibson

Age: 15

Hobbies: 
Singing, writing/composing music, playing guitar.

Likes: 
 Rammstein (Rock Band), Tina Turner, The Royal Concept (Indie band), Rolling Stones magazine

Dislikes: 
One Direction, Newspaper styled magazines

Bio: 
Madeleine Gibson is a new singer, she currently sings on the street to allow people to hear her musical talent. She is a new singer and is always reading magazines to find out what to do and how to get into the music business. She has a talent and magazines which are upon the streets today should give her the chance to show what she can do.  She has a broad musical type and only dislikes boy bands. Madeleine would be a key target for my magazine as I would give her the chance to be spotted and offer herself as an up and coming star.

In conclusion both of these young teenagers have an interest in music; the target audience don’t have to be talented within the musical genre as they can simply just listen to it to get into their ‘Zone’. My magazine as said will provide those looking for music jobs can now find their way.

Planning a Music Magazine

Planning a Music Magazine

Firstly I’d like to point out that my magazine is aimed towards the teenagers. This is due to the fact that they are the new talent coming in and out, I wish to give them an opportunity to actually plan their life out from this magazine as jobs and other such places will be offered so that young people can find job offers. Music is one of the only ways we can communicate with the teenagers today, so the magazine will be a way of trying to communicate with them and make them feel at home. I initially was going to make my magazine an indie pop magazine, but I have changed to just pop as it is a much more common music choice and is also mostly heard by the teenagers today, I may actually include rap due to the mass amounts of new musical talent trying to get into the business of rap. The magazine I’m going to create will have a fortnightly appearance, every couple weeks gives the magazine a chance to inhabit new stories and gives the audience time to recuperate and get some money, due to the magazine being made for teenagers from the ages of 14-21 we know that they will be mostly busy with education, work or even hobbies so a fortnightly magazine gives them the advantage to check out the newest magazine and continue to get it.

As my magazine is only for teenagers and that their income is very low I will place the magazine at the price of around £2.00 this is due to it being a small and efficient amount so that the teenagers can pay for it. I wish to create my magazine to be in a more of a glossy way, this is because I think it will appeal to more teenagers due to it being in a more informal way, a magazine which is glossy will also appeal due to the fact that it looks more appealing.

Questions for my Focus Group

1. Do you believe the idea of offering jobs in a music magazine is fairly good for young teenagers?
2. Is the Price of the magazine efficiently at its best?
3. Do you believe young people would take enjoyment in buying my magazine?
4. I’m going to create a webpage for my magazine; do you believe this will help the company?
5. Finally I’d like to point out that my magazine is being created in more of a glossy way, do you think it should be that 

Institutional Research

Bauer produces mainstream magazines such as Zoo and closer, this could show their interest is not in one particular target audience this could because they aim their magazine at most middle ages people, this is due to the fact that the magazine may have a age content for those above the age of eighteen. Niche magazines are also produced these are ‘Rail’ or ‘Ride’ Bauer produces magazines for people whom are mostly middle aged, this is due to the fact that we see magazines titles such as Zoo and Closer which both are made for people above the age of eighteen and less than fifty, even though it’s a big difference in age the magazines are made for them ages. The Bauer magazine company produces the image of adult entertainment as they have magazines such as Zoo and Closer which create the magazine company to look based for more of an adult look.

IPCMedia produce yet again mainstream magazines, but there are far more niche magazines which are also being produced, an example of a niche magazine is country life as not everyone has heard of the magazine and it is mostly sold within a rural area not a built up city place. Target audience is a very big question on the magazines being produced as mostly it is rural parts of the country due to having country side magazines produced. IPCMedia magazines are aimed for country folk, as a vast amount of their magazines are aimed for people whom live or work in the country this is due to the fact that the magazines such as ‘Country Life’ Or ‘Sporting Gun’ another big target audience is women, of any age as also a big amount of magazine are made for the enjoyment of women such as ‘Woman’s Weekly’. IPC magazine have a more country look as they have magazines which range from maintaining guns to country life, this is fairly known in the country side. The magazine also publishes webpages, a example of this is ‘Mouse Breaker’ This gaming website is widely known and is made for men to play online games.

Immediate Media produces great amount of Mainstream magazine, these are known as ‘Top gear’, ‘toy box’ and so forth. These magazines can be seen as targeted for children, this is due to the fact that the company produce a varied amount of children magazines, this could be the main target audience but other magazines such as ‘GolfMagic’ are obviously for middle aged men. Immediate magazine have a much younger target audience due to their magazines being mostly created for the entertainment of children of a young age. Another target audience is for older women, this is due to the fact that a lot of knitting magazines are being produced by the company. Immediate magazine has a very more professional feel to them as they focus their two main target audience more efficiently; this is because they maintain their ideas for magazines instead of having a wide range which they cannot really keep up with.

Finally we come to Development Hell magazine company, these produce niche such as ‘Mixmag’ and ‘Stay in’ which are fairly unknown by the magazine community. We have Development Hell whom produces the niche magazines; their target audience is fair to say around the middle aged area as their magazines are varied. Development Hell has an image which is fairly easy to maintain this is due to the fact that being a niche magazine not much has to change              

Double Page Article Analysis

Double Page Spread Analysis 

The target audience for the double page article is for fans of Muse as it shows the band as the center image indicating that they are the main focus and what is written is about them. The picture covers across both pages ending only half way through the second page. This could show the band is highly liked across this genre of music and that they are maybe going to bigger than ever. As their presence is great across both pages this shows them as almost an influence of such and makes them seen as giants of the music industry. Muse as we know are an indie rock band and have wide and great fan base, they try to direct their attention to the fans as the direct given from the band shows that they look masculine and powering from their stare. The low angle shot as well adds to this as it creates them to be almost looking down on you giving another feeling that they are overpowering and almost legendary due to it being if they were watching over you.  

The article includes a swear word, this shows how the article is meant for the target audience of 17-25 as it is most commonly used by the age group, the article mention what is going to happen and is a foreshadowing effect for what is going to happen to the magazine.  

The low key lighting across both of the pages shows the masculine feeling more, yet the multi-coloured background gives us the impression of at least a light in the darkness, maybe this is trying to show some kind of meaning of such. The colouring in the background could also give us a clue that the band is lively and may also be great upon the stage.

The text upon the center image is shown to project itself from the background as it is bold and in contrast to the image is very bright. When we come across to the main text and find the article upon the image we find that it is in a column formation and is shown to be a list this shows us that firstly it stands out and needs to be read to understand what the true meaning is of the main image.

The double page is laid out so that the main image takes over nearly the whole page, while on the right on side the text is columned out so that the

The contrast between the two is hugely different as only a fifth of the double page has text this is due to the information given in the column is very blunt just explaining what is in the background and what happens upon the stage of the new tour from the muse. This is a brief description telling us what to expect and why it is there. Band member illiterates us of what is actually going to happen and shows us what is going to be so great about their tour, he gives his brief idea of why he chose this and his brief description 

The crowed is being addressed as a close friend, or maybe an informed intelligent fan due to the language of the article, due to the informal speaking we find out that the writer of the article are trying to relate with their fans way of speech. Due to the rest of the article where the main member of the band is speaking about what is included it shows that he has trust in you as he is letting you in to hear about what the tour is going to bring.

The band is presented to the audience through the images of being masculine this is due to the fact that their wearing black jackets and are standing with their hands in their pockets, this could show how their trying to show their relaxed are very chilled.

The article matches the front cover in a couple ways in, firstly the writing is set out in the same font as it relates due to both texts being bold. The front cover is brighter than the double page article this is maybe to show that there is a darker side within? The overall message of the front cover and double page article is to show how masculine and direct the group are.

The article dose slightly require a knowledge of the band due to the fact that they do mention a couple songs which the band do sing, this could show that the article is for fans more than people simply just browsing through the magazine.

Analysis Of Q Magazine

This magazine ‘Q’ is known for publishing mainstream music, from observing the front cover I can straight away tell that the articles inside the magazines are going to be based mostly on music this is seen through the use of puffs such as mentioning the names of major artists such as the Arctic monkeys so I can infer that this magazine has articles which are primarily based on music itself. The use of direct address is shown in the central image as the leader of the Foo fighters (Dave Grohl) stares directly towards us causing a direct use of address for the reader creating the effect as if the artist is trying to create direct contact with the reader as if he wants the reader to find out more about his story.

The targeted audience for Q magazine are around the ages of eighteen and above. This is due to the fact that people whom are stereo typically known to listen to rock music on a regular basis are usually young adults to older. The target audience might be fans of the group and may want to get to know the artist/group more sufficiently.
 The title block of the magazine gives the Impression that Q magazine is professional; this is due to the design of the title as it is quite expressive that we get a feeling of professionalism from this magazines publishers. Q magazines title doesn't really give much insight into the genre of the magazine so we have to go off the main image to infer what type of music the magazine is going to be on about. The slogan of this magazine is “Discover great music” we can infer that this magazine doesn't singly focus on one particular genre of music yet on the whole concept of music. This is quite appealing as the magazine has more than a singular sole purpose of being published as it can offer many different articles and not run out of content while other magazines will begin to grow thin on material to use.
 The anchorage text mentions “This will kill me, Foo fighters Dave Grohl saves rock again” implying that the artist is of the rock background as he “Saves rock again”. The text mentions “Dave Grohl saves rock again” this could show how he is seen as a ‘superhero’ as we can relate ‘Rock’ as if it is the world. The overall message of the anchorage text implies that Dave Grohl is a superhero in the eyes of rock fans as he has ‘saved rock again’.
The band the “Arctic monkeys” is mentioned via the puffs on the front cover informing the target audience that there must be an article within the magazine on the band; this could attract more readers due to the fan base being able to see their group within the magazine allowing them to view what’s currently occurring in their icons world.
There is a single buzzword on the front cover of the magazine which is the word ‘FREE’ this has been used to attract readers as It satisfies their curiosity. The magazine uses a small amount of strategies such as a large central image and the use of buzz words in order to attract attention of the targeted audience.