Monday, 30 January 2012
Research and planning: Initial idea for music magazine
i would like to produce a magazine for the sub genre emo/grunge/rock and the intended audience is 16-25 year olds (students).
artists associated with the genre
- the pretty reckless
- sum 41
- my chemical romance
- panic at the disco
colour scheme
- red
- black
- white
- blue
advertisements
- clothing brands and shops e.g. converse
- gigs
- festivals
content
- reviews
- charts
- band profiles
- new bands
- interviews
- double page articles of the person (band on the front cover)
the magazines have influenced me in many ways, mainly kerrang magazine because it is aimed at a younger audience and that gave me ideas of what to include, such as more pictures. i was also influenced by the double page spread in Kerrang featuring Taylor Momson because it gave off a dark and mysterious vibe that made me want to read on, which is the type of vibe i want to try and give off in my magazine.
2X double page analysis
this is a double page artical from kerrang, the colour scheme reflects the person the double page feature is about, and the genre on music, this is Taylor Momsen she is in a bad who's music is very grungy and can be classed as rock music, so hence the colour scheme will reflect that. Talor Momsen juxtaposes the main title "wild child" the photo of her on the left page shows her being quite rebleiouse and a wild child, with what she's wearing, her make up and her body language. By her body language, you can infer that she has a story tell and wants to entice you in to learn more about it. there is a varied use on fonts and font sizes which makes it look interesting on the page and something i would want to look at. the fact that in the main title, "CHILD" is capitals almost highlights that Taylor Momsen is only a teenager, but by what she looks like you would think that she was older.
this is an artical from Q magazine. the red C with the picture overlapping highlights that this artical is all about Cheryl. the red C also ties in Qs main colour scheme which is red. the mise-en-scene relating to Cheryl is her clothes and make up she has on could portray her as a sex symbol, also by her body language it looks like shes looking at the artical almost telling you that you should read it. from the picture it almost shows Cheryl in a different light because on the x-factor and ther band she in ( girls aloud ) shes potraid and inocent. there is a quote at the bottom, which gives a snippit of whas in the artical, which you can read to see if you interested in whats being said in it. you can almost tell that it is a more older audience that reads this magazine becasue there is alot of writing.
Sunday, 29 January 2012
2X contents page analysis
This is a contents page from Q magazine, there is a clear link between the colour scheme on the front cover of Q magazines and the contents page, the colour scheme is red, white and black. There is 2 photos on the contents page, one is bigger than the other which makes the reader assume that there is going to be a main story inside about them, this could make the reader want to read on and find out more. the contents page looks very formal which would suggest the audience is older. there is also a wide range of fonts which makes the contents look visually interesting to look at, also the different font sizes grabs the readers attention to what to look at. because the text is more ordered it might make the contents look visually appealing to the older audience that it seems to be aiming for.
this is a contents page from kerrang magazine, its very different from the contents page from Q magazine, this is a different target audience, and there is allot more photographs. i like that there is allot of pictures on the contents page personally, because if i didn't recognise the band by name, i could recognise them by there picture and it might entice me to want to read on more. the colour scheme is white and black, which it quite common on the front cover and in music magazines, the yellow writing makes the contents page eye catching a bright. the fact that there is more pictures on the contents page can stereotypically suggest a younger audience. the niche audience for this magazine judging by the contents age is 16-25 year old. there is a varied use of font sizes and fonts which is more interesting to look at. the text is very easy to read and is easy on the eye. there is a fair few photos but because there is a photo much larger than the others you can tell immediately that that is the person on the front cover and there is going to be a main story about them.
this is a contents page from kerrang magazine, its very different from the contents page from Q magazine, this is a different target audience, and there is allot more photographs. i like that there is allot of pictures on the contents page personally, because if i didn't recognise the band by name, i could recognise them by there picture and it might entice me to want to read on more. the colour scheme is white and black, which it quite common on the front cover and in music magazines, the yellow writing makes the contents page eye catching a bright. the fact that there is more pictures on the contents page can stereotypically suggest a younger audience. the niche audience for this magazine judging by the contents age is 16-25 year old. there is a varied use of font sizes and fonts which is more interesting to look at. the text is very easy to read and is easy on the eye. there is a fair few photos but because there is a photo much larger than the others you can tell immediately that that is the person on the front cover and there is going to be a main story about them.
Friday, 27 January 2012
Analysis of 3 magazine front covers
kerange magazine is published by Bauer media and has been published since 1981
the main colour scheme for this issue of the magazine is blue, yellow and black, this depicts a goth/ emo vibe to the magazine. the central image is at direct mode of address, but there isn't just one person the the cover , there is the rest of the band in a V formation, but the, what i assume is the lead singer is at the point of the V. the magazines layout is is very cluttered and in your face, but can make you think that there is allot in the magazine. there is also a wide range of fonts and font styles which are used the draw the reader in to the magazine so that they are encised to read it. also they have used buzz words such as WIN, PLUS and MASSIVE which are also used to entice readers in to thinking that there is and exclusive thing to just that magazine.
MOJO was published by Bauer media in November 1993
the central image is of an artist that we automatically assume is going to be featured in a double page spread in the magazine. the women featured is not looking at the reader which adds a degree of mystery to her and would make the reader want to find out more about her and her story. the fonts are not all the same, some are different, and have different sizes which makes it more visually appealing. Also the fact that all the writing is in capitals adds a sense that everything is important and must be read. also this magazine doesn't have a main title as the other mojo magazines do, because this is a classic mojo magazine which it says is a collectors issue. The masthead is small and almost unnoticeable. the colour scheme is red white and black with some yellow, the yellow and white brighten the magazine up stopping it from looking to dark.
RollingStone magazine was published Jann Wenner and its first issue was published November 9th 1967
quite typical for Rollingstone magazine they have a famous celebrity on the cover. the central image is big and fills the whole page, it also obstructs the title but magazines can do this because from the font of the title at the start the reader can automatically know what magazine it is, it creates a brand identity to do with its house style. the person features in the magazine looks to be at the beach playing football, this could give a sense if the magazine is laid back. also from the body language of the person features and the fact he has a wet t-shirt could make it seem like he's being shown as a sex symbol, which could appeal the girls who are a fan of them or of the movie.
Monday, 23 January 2012
investigate a music magazine on sale in the UK
the first issue of Q was published in October 1986 by Bauer Media. since this time there has been 80,418 in circulation.
the magazine has a content of new music releases, music complications, film and live concert reviews, as well as radio and television reviews, competitions, interviews, guest column and much more. the publishing institution is Bauer Media. the audience of this music magazine is 75% male and a 25% female audience.the central image is at direct mode of address and looks almost menacing becuase there is fire coming out of his mouth with his band mates inside. The dominant colour is red, which is common for Q magazine. But the direct mode of address also draws the reader in to what to know why he looks angry. there is also a puff on this magazine showing that there is a offer attached the magazine for a free exclusive unheard foos album. also using the buzz word exclusive shows that is exclusive only to Q magazine.
Monday, 16 January 2012
music magazine montage
There are a range of magazines from rock to country to classical and a range of titles, some well known and some not so. From the montage i can see that there is different variations of house style and brand identity in the different sub genre of magazines.
research into a media institution
Bauer media produces Kerrang, Q and mojo magazine which are popular music magazines. it also produces a range of other genres of magazine such as women e.g heat, gardeners magazines, film magazine empire and car magazines and many more. because Bauer magazine produce a range of different genres of magazine the demographic is a wide audience.
introduction to main task
Now that i've completed the prelim task, i am going to begin research and planning for the main task. the main task is to produce a music magazine, before i can make the magazine i need to research some existing products.
Action plan
16 January
Action plan
16 January
- compare magazines & research the magazine market place
- research similar products: 3X front covers, 2X contents pages, 2X double page spread
24 January
- initial ideas
- audience research
- writing a treatment plan
30 January
- layout/masthead ideas
- plan photo-shoot and take photos
- drafting of pages
- audience feedback
6-27 February
- drafting of pages
- audience feedback
5 March
- evaluation
9 March
- final deadline
Monday, 9 January 2012
Evaluation
1. In what ways does your media product use, develop or challenge forms and conventions of real media products?
Before I started creating my magazine, I looked at examples of other student magazines, these gave me ideas in to what kinds of things were in student magazines. After this it was clear what key things needed to go into a student magazine. it had to included information about the college and the courses that it offered. I included a section on students work in my contents page. I also found that it shouldn't be to overly formal it should be informal. To show this in my contents page and on my front cover I showed not necessarily formal things that students like, such as 'reviews and top book, movie and music'. Theses were in my contents page, I used text with some pictures so it didn't look to formal.
2. How does your media product represent particular social groups?
Because the magazine is aimed at the student audience I wanted it to look like something I would like to read myself. I took photographs of a friend in the class around where my college is, I thought this was a good idea, rather than taking photographs of somewhere that isn't around the college and people might not recognize. For the front cover of the magazine I used a mid close up shot of a friend, I thought it was a good idea that she was looking at the camera, as it would add a more friendly and inviting aspect the the magazine. In the contents page I drew a picture of a christmas tree, I felt that it would give the magazine a fun aspect to the magazine. I also used a picture that I had taken previously in my test shots and edited it so it looked like it was sketched, this related to one of the features that is on the contents page. I kept the text simple on the front cover so that the font wasn't to "in your face" when you first look at it.
3. What kind of media institution might distribute your media product?
I think it would be good to sell this magazine in the college, in the library or reception area because those two places have connotations as somewhere everyone goes, but there could be an online version for students who might not have time to go and get the magazine. Also if this was available online, other colleges would be able to look at it. I included events in my magazine, so if this was available to other colleges as well, people from that college might be interested in the same events.
4. Who would be the audience for your media product?
My audience is 16-18 year olds (college students) it would be a magazine aimed at boys and girls.
5. How did you attract/address your audience?
I attracted my audience with bright bold eye-catching colours, with my image choice (because it was of a student at direct mode of address) and my various fonts. I used a varied colour selection, but I was careful not to use loads of colours because if I did, the magazine would look more for the younger audience rather than the older one. I used fonts that looked fun and interesting and engaging, I also kept the colour of the main font (not the masthead and puff) to black and white so that it's a sense of formality. The background for the contents page I wanted to be like a rush of colour when you open the page, to make you want to look more into the magazine to see what's in it. I changed the colours many times so that I used the colours from the front cover in the contents page so that it didn't look to out of place and really informal.
6. What have you learnt about technologies from the process of constructing this product?
Most of the technology that I used in this process I have used already in other lessons such as cameras and photoshop, though I have never used them in magazine design so I learnt a few new things like how to transfer photos to indesign from a camera and photoshop. I hadn't used indesign before so I found that difficult to use at first but after a while I got used to it and found it was almost an advanced version of Microsoft Publisher. I have used blogger before but as I was blogging I found there was a new version of it and I had to learn how to do that, and how to convert files into JPEC images.
Before I started creating my magazine, I looked at examples of other student magazines, these gave me ideas in to what kinds of things were in student magazines. After this it was clear what key things needed to go into a student magazine. it had to included information about the college and the courses that it offered. I included a section on students work in my contents page. I also found that it shouldn't be to overly formal it should be informal. To show this in my contents page and on my front cover I showed not necessarily formal things that students like, such as 'reviews and top book, movie and music'. Theses were in my contents page, I used text with some pictures so it didn't look to formal.
2. How does your media product represent particular social groups?
Because the magazine is aimed at the student audience I wanted it to look like something I would like to read myself. I took photographs of a friend in the class around where my college is, I thought this was a good idea, rather than taking photographs of somewhere that isn't around the college and people might not recognize. For the front cover of the magazine I used a mid close up shot of a friend, I thought it was a good idea that she was looking at the camera, as it would add a more friendly and inviting aspect the the magazine. In the contents page I drew a picture of a christmas tree, I felt that it would give the magazine a fun aspect to the magazine. I also used a picture that I had taken previously in my test shots and edited it so it looked like it was sketched, this related to one of the features that is on the contents page. I kept the text simple on the front cover so that the font wasn't to "in your face" when you first look at it.
3. What kind of media institution might distribute your media product?
I think it would be good to sell this magazine in the college, in the library or reception area because those two places have connotations as somewhere everyone goes, but there could be an online version for students who might not have time to go and get the magazine. Also if this was available online, other colleges would be able to look at it. I included events in my magazine, so if this was available to other colleges as well, people from that college might be interested in the same events.
4. Who would be the audience for your media product?
My audience is 16-18 year olds (college students) it would be a magazine aimed at boys and girls.
5. How did you attract/address your audience?
I attracted my audience with bright bold eye-catching colours, with my image choice (because it was of a student at direct mode of address) and my various fonts. I used a varied colour selection, but I was careful not to use loads of colours because if I did, the magazine would look more for the younger audience rather than the older one. I used fonts that looked fun and interesting and engaging, I also kept the colour of the main font (not the masthead and puff) to black and white so that it's a sense of formality. The background for the contents page I wanted to be like a rush of colour when you open the page, to make you want to look more into the magazine to see what's in it. I changed the colours many times so that I used the colours from the front cover in the contents page so that it didn't look to out of place and really informal.
6. What have you learnt about technologies from the process of constructing this product?
Most of the technology that I used in this process I have used already in other lessons such as cameras and photoshop, though I have never used them in magazine design so I learnt a few new things like how to transfer photos to indesign from a camera and photoshop. I hadn't used indesign before so I found that difficult to use at first but after a while I got used to it and found it was almost an advanced version of Microsoft Publisher. I have used blogger before but as I was blogging I found there was a new version of it and I had to learn how to do that, and how to convert files into JPEC images.
completed front cover and contents page
This is my finished front cover and contents page, i like all the colours that i have used, and i think it is eye catching and goes on what the questionnaire results were.
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