Audience Feedback

Andrew Procter: I am really impressed with the structure of your magazine compared to your draft, I think that you have developed your blog very well, well done.

Tom Jessop: Thought you could have put more time into the front cover of your magazine as it looks quite plain, but having said that it suits the magazine well.

Final Evaluation

1. The magazine I have produced has used conventions of magazines such as my text layout, cover image and masthead. The general layout of my magazine is the same as an ordinary music magazine in the sense of the size of it and the layout which features house style and a masthead. My product challenges forms of real media products because of its general layout the layout is quite similar to mixmag which uses house style and an original masthead as does my magazine ‘Fresh’. Below is a comparison of my draft magazine and mixmag.
Both magazines
have a masthead and show examples of house style.

2. My media product represents particular social groups by targeting them directly. My magazine follows an Electro/Dance genre using house style. It will appeal to a 40-60 female dominant split audience; the reason for this is that this genre of music appeals to females as the genre of music is portrayed as being glamorous. The main social group it targets is students who are the people who are most open to this genre of music, due them stereotypically going out more than the average person. They are represented by the dress sense within the magazine and also the language used which appeals to the audience. The images used in my magazine mediate the subjects I have used. The images encode within the readers head in order to give preferred reading, the images suit the text and are relevant to the magazine.

3. My magazine would be best suited to be made by an independent company, this is down to the fact that the sub-genre of the magazine is quite low profile at the minute, in time though due to the gap in the market for my magazine it may be beneficial to be owned by a conglomerate company which will be able to reach a larger audience through the above the line promotion methods that they use such as T.V, Radio, print and banners. Where as an independent company would use the opposite below the line promotion such as short term methods such as posters and special offers. However to be owned by an independent company at the minute would be beneficial due to it only seeking low circulation figures at this moment in time. My magazine would be advertised in clubs where my target audience would be, this would be done by posters and flyers and also advertised in city centres where it is relatively busy in order for a wide range of people to recognise my product thus raising overall awareness. Ideally if my magazine was successful then it would be able to use cross media ownership to advertise, this way it would be able to have its own radio station which would target the audience even more. Having a website would allow consumers to stream songs online such as special remixes etc.

4. My product will appeal to a target audience of 16-24 year olds with a 60-40 female dominant split. This is due to women being slightly more interested in the genre of music and the genre of music being portrayed as glamorous. My magazine will target a niche audience due to their being a smaller audience at this moment in time. The decision made for the target audience was based on independent research that I carried out into demand for genres of music and my target audience demand the product that I am offering thus I am filling a gap in the market and meeting demand which should in theory increase my sales figures. The decision for my target market was also based on the potential and survival of the magazine in order for the magazine to survive I had to be sure I as targeting the correct audience.

5. In order for me to attract my audience I had to carry out research into my proposed genre of music. I chose to address my target audience by making my magazine suit their needs. The mode of address I chose was peer to peer which enabled me to contact the audience directly, the use of bright colours and pictures which appealed to my audience attracts them to read my magazine.

Magazine Annotations

-The peer to peer mode of address used, uses language appropriate to the magazine.
-The masthead font connotes an electronic look which suits the preferred genre of the magazine; -the font used is called 28 days later.
-The front cover image represents ‘sexy’ and glamorous’ which will attract the audience.
-The use of housestyle and bright colours appeals to my target audience.

6. While completing my coursework I have focused mainly on three technologies these are Photoshop, Quark Xpress and web 2.0 for my blog. Using such technologies has allowed me to complete my coursework to the desired standard. The use of Photoshop has allowed me to edit and enhance my images by using tools such as crop, magnetic lasso and the magic wand tool which has allowed me to select certain bits of my picture and change or enhance them. Having a blog has allowed me to view all my work at the same time and keep on track with my work, it has also enabled me to receive feedback regarding my work, due to this I have been able to analyse my work and make significant changes to my work. The use of quark xpress has allowed me to design layouts for my double page spreads and contents pages. In terms of strengths and weakness before being introduced to the software properly in lesson I was pretty weak with all the software, but now I am able to carry out tasks independently and complete work to a good standard. I now know the ins and outs of all the programs and I am happy with my finished products.

7. In the progression from now and when I first completed my preliminary task I feel as though I am now able to fully operate the software and complete tasks to a good standard. My preliminary task was rushed and not a lot of care was put into it due to the build of frustration due to not being able to operate the software correctly. The photographs I took and used for my preliminary task didn’t really suit the genre and the camera angles were poor. Having analysed this before starting my final task I carried out significant research which enabled me to use the correct camera shots in order to complete my magazine.

Research Into The Music Magazine Industry

Research into the Music Magazine Industry
Before starting to produce my magazine I decided to carry out some research of music magazines. I wanted to find out which music magazines are the most successful, their methods of production, which companies dominate the market, what are their main sub-genres, how much they cost and also what audiences they cater for. The two main companies that dominate the UK market are German multinational cross media company Bauer (which is an independent company) and IPC Media which is part of the American Time Warner Conglomerate.

My first research was into the company Bauer who own the music magazines Kerrang, Mojo and Q. The sub-genres of the magazines owned by Bauer are as follows Kerrang – Rock & Alternative, Mojo – Pop & Blues, Q – Punk, Alternative and Rock. I also wanted to find out the price of each magazine so I searched on www.ukaop.org.uk. Kerrang is priced at £2.20, Q is £3.90 and Mojo is £4.30.

Above are some samples of the magazines made by Bauer. The front covers have pictures of iconic groups within the genre of the magazine such as Blur on Mojo, Paramore on Kerrang and Coldplay on Q. Bauer cater for main stream audiences, due to the wide range of people that they reach. All of the above magazines cater for a mainstream audience aged 16-24. The reason they cater for a mainstream audience is due to the size of the audience that they reach they are sold in many different countries. Bauer use the process of synergy to distribute their products by offering services other than the magazines in order to raise awareness of their products, they do this by offering radio stations for both Kerrang and Q as well as music channels which helps to raise brand awareness.

The second company I looked into was IPC Media who own the music magazine NME, Uncut and Guitar and Bass. The sub-genres of the magazines are as follows NME – contemporary, Uncut – Rock and Film and Guitar and Bass’s sub-genre is pretty self explanatory. NME costs £2.20 and is available every week, Guitar and Bass costs £3.95 and is available monthly and Uncut is also available monthly at a price of £4.30.

IPC Media is a leading UK consumer magazine publisher. Almost two thirds of British women and over 44% of U.K men read an IPC magazine. That’s over 26 million people in the U.K.

IPC media use a diverse print and digital portfolio that appeals to a widespread audience. IPC publish 80 magazines, these include: What's on TV, Pick Me Up, NME, Woman, Now, Marie Claire, In Style, Woman & Home, Ideal Home, Nuts, Wallpaper, Country Life, The Field, Rugby World, Practical Boat Owner and Look which is their latest high street fashion and celebrity weekly magazine. Online digital properties include NME.com, the third largest commercial music website in the UK and housetohome.co.uk, the UK's first homes portal. IPCs’ brands are at the heart of UK's cultural life.

The main sub genres of IPC magazines are T.V, home, mens’ lifestyle and entertainment, womens’ magazines and also garden and leisure. The cost for these main magazines ranges from around 90 pence to about £4.20.

IPC cater for a large mainstream audience. I think the socio demographic categories for these magazines is between C1 and D. They are aimed at an audience of mid to lower class people.

NME is the longest published weekly music magazine in the world.
The magazines produced by IPC Media use the process of synergy to advertise and promote their products in a variety of ways. These techniques include: Magazine websites

Homework for over Easter

1. Posts on Blog (Follow TRC Blog)
2. Photography
3. Draft Double Page Spread Article (Annotate)
4. Questions 1-4 of Coursework Evaluation
5. Music Magazine Research (Bauer)

Draft Magazine - Double Page Spread Layout

Treatment

The music magazine that I am going to produce is called ‘FRESH’ and it follows an Electro/Dance genre using house style and it will appeal to a target audience of 16-24 year olds. It will appeal to a 40-60 female dominant split audience; the reason for this is that this genre of music appeals to females as the genre of music is portrayed as being glamorous. The house style I am going to use will use the colours yellow and green to give it that ‘dance’ look and the font I will use is called ‘28 DAYS LATER’.

The front cover image will be a medium close up shot of my female actor. The locations of choice is the photography studio located up in media block, this will be used mainly for the front cover image but also for the double page spread which will focus on a promotional article to promote the artists new album release and possible tour dates. The contents page will require pictures that will appeal to the audience these pictures will be of me and some friends when we are out on a night in town which I have already taken. The props which will be used on the double page spread are sun glasses, glow sticks and bright coloured clothing. The photographs used for the front cover image will be taken in the media studio and my actor of choice will be a female aged 16-18 who is relatively tall and photogenic, I will experiment with various props such as style of sun glasses, colour of glow sticks etc. The same person on the front cover will feature in on the double page spread with my proposed interview.

The double page spread will feature and interview with my actor of choice. The interview will discuss the artist’s new album, current number one single, tour dates, favourite venues and also reveal more personal details and show a side of them never seen before by the media in order to make this interview exclusive to my magazine. The double page spread will feature one full page of a pose of my actor and the other will feature the interview. I am going to study NME magazine and Mixmag and look at their style of interviews.

Health and safety issues need to be considered when photographing my actor; I will need to ensure that there are no hazards around my locations such as loose wires in the media studio. I need to ensure I take care of the equipment in order to produce my magazine to the best of my ability.

Socia Demographics

A - Doctors, Chief Executives
B- Teachers, Bank Managers
C1- Skilled Worker - White Collar
C2 - Semi Skilled - Blur Collar
D - Labourer
E - Unemployed

This sections can be broken down into stereotypical classes e.g A class being the highest represents upper class, and E being the lowest represents lower class.

This Weeks Work

This week I have completed my treatment and finished my draft magazine.

Draft Contents Page

This is my draft contents page which follows the house style.

Transparent

If you want to take away the white background of images after importing them onto quark (if it hasn't automatically stayed transparent from photoshop), right click the image > modify > on both the 'runaround' and the 'picture' tabs make sure that 'alpha channel' and 'alpha mask 1' are selected > press apply and ok.

Music Magazine Articles

Articles in music magazines are to promote the band.

Draft Magazine Cover - FRESH

This is my draft magazine cover, when I create my final magazine the person on the main cover image will be facing forwards, rather than at the side like on this draft.

Possible Custom Logo

Generic Elements of Double Page Spread

1: masthead.
2: subheadings (different sections).3: main image that links to cover and splash article.
4: smaller images linking to articles.
5: house style.
6: advertising.
7. issue number.
8. caption.
9. list of contents with page numbers.
10. page number.
11. editorial with picture of editor.
12: date.
13: subscription.
14: section about reviewers, photographers and other key personnel.
15: by-line

5 Rules of Taking a Successful Cover Image

1. No cluttered back grounds.

2. Focus on lead singer, if taking a photo of a band - single artist medium to close up shot, 3/4 image maybe good not centered if an alternative magazine.

3. Leave room for a masthead.

4. No high angle shots, fine for double page spread.

5. Animate your band, make sure they look at the camera.

Yesterdays Lesson 9/3/09

Yesterday I started to design my cover logo and experimented with diffrent fonts, which I plan to finish by the end of today.

Semeotic Analysis Scan

This is my semeotic analysis scan.

Draft Front Cover College Magazine

3 Ideas For My Main Product

In order for me to be able to start designing my music magazine I had to research the key elements of a music magazine, this included target audience, sub-genre, the title of the magazine and connotations, some front cover images including the camera angles, splash articles and come up with some possible ideas for my contents page such as the layout.

The magazines I chose to research due to their different genres were Kerrang, Source and Q, all mainstream magazines as they appeal to a wide audience. I figured due to the genre that the target audiences will differ so the magazines overall layout and advertising will be different. Kerrang magazines main target audience is 16-24 year olds with a 60% male audience and 40% female, the sub-genre of the magazine is heavy metal/rock music. Due to the sub-genre of the magazine the cover images have to connote this and appeal to the audience so they generally have pictures of iconic bands in a sort of rock and roll pose, the main splash articles normally link to the cover band or band member and contain an interview.

Source magazines target audience is different to Kerrang as it appeals to the target audience of R’n’B/Hip-Hop lovers. Sources target audience is 16-24 year olds and is split between male and female readers 50-50. The colours on the magazines front cover such as pink connotes ‘pimp’ and ‘fresh’ which appeal to the target audience. The pose of the group or solo artist on the magazine represent the music genre with stereotypical hand gesture which is seen as ‘cool’ to people who read the magazine, also with their stereotypical image of having a shaved head and gold teeth, where as Kerrangs is more long hair and dark clothing. As with Kerrang, Sources splash articles also relate to the cover image and contain interviews. However the advertisements in Source magazine will differ to Kerrang, as with Kerrang advertisements will include the chance to win a guitar and Sources will include the chance to win a gold chain or some ‘sneakers’. The contents of both magazines will differ considerably due to the target audiences.

Q magazines target audience differs to both Kerrang and Source as its target audience ranges from 24-35 year olds and has sub-genres of Indie/Rock and Pop music. Q magazine has a greater number of male readers than female; this may be down to the fact that women of that age have more options in magazine such as OK and Closer etc, which may appeal to them more because of their age range. The cover image on Q magazine could range from a wider range of artists due to it having more sub-genres, so the cover could feature Madonna one week who appeals to a Pop audience and The Killers who appeal to an Indie audience the next. The contents of the magazine also differs as each page goes on, advertisements may include give aways such as a Killers CD and also a Madonna CD to target more than one sub-genre audience.

Having researched the above magazines I have come up with a couple of possible titles for my music magazine. The first was BRAP for a Hip-Hop/R’n’B magazine, I chose BRAP as this is a well recognised term used within the hip-hop scene it also is onomatopoeia as it sounds like a gun shot which is associate with the whole supposed ‘gangster rapper’ scene, the target audience of this magazine will be 16-24 year olds and target a 60-40 male dominating split. The main cover image could feature a medium close up shot of a rapper or R’n’B singer striking one of their notorious thug associated poses, the splash article would also relate to the cover image, also including tour dates and the latest info on the artist(s), contents could also relate to this with a win a ticket for the event competition, the top 10 albums out now, smaller interviews with artists, upcoming releases and some old school magazines.

My idea for an Indie magazine with a target audience of 16-24 year olds with a male and female 60-40 split is called Indie Inside. This connotes that the magazine has a contents of just indie music and the use of alliteration makes it catchy. The main cover image could feature a close up shot of a band or band member, possibly with an instrument, the splash article would also relate to the cover with an interview. I could include a Leeds festival ticket exclusive give away or competition, include V.I.P passes to gigs, feature demo tracks by bands exclusive to my magazine, the top ten indie artists that changed music etc.

My final idea is for an Electro/Dance magazine called Filthy Funky Fresh, yet again I chose this name due to the alliteration but also because it relates to the genre of music which is seen as filthy, funky and fresh. It will target an 18-30 audience with a 50-50 male and female split. The cover image could be of people inside a nightclub ‘raving’ or so to speak. Contents could include tickets to gatecrasher and other big events associate with this genre of music or money off vouchers, interviews with DJ’s, free glow sticks, ministry of sound CD’s or pick of the month venues.

Both Indie Inside and BRAP magazine are going to target a mainstream audience and Filthy Funky Fresh will target a niche audience this is due to the fact that the there is a smaller audience at this moment in time for this genre.

Below are a few examples of magazines similar to my ideas.
Genre: Electro Genre: Indie Genre: Hip-Hop/R’n’B

I am hoping that my magazine choice will look similar to the above ones, TRAX, NME and SCRATCH. I have decided to make my electro magazine Filthy Funky Fresh because I feel it will be better to target a niche audience and it will differ from anyone else’s ideas.

Defining Mainstream and Niche Products 4/3/09

A target audience is the specific group of people that the media product is aimed at.

A mainstream product is a product that targets an audience on a vast scale thus gaining more overall revenue. A niche product however targets a smaller audience so the revenue figures are lower. A niche product has smaller circulation figures because it sells less units than a mainstream.

Yesterdays Lesson

I uploaded some examples of music magazines owned by Bauer, which relates to the current essay I have in progress.

We also went through a slide show to help us identify the target audience of magazines and there genres, to give us an idea of how to design our magazines.

Examples Of Music Magazines

These are a few examples of major magzines.

Last Weeks Work

I completed my front cover and contents page of my college magazine. I have learned how to use both Quark and Photoshop effectively, including importing text and converting a Quark document into Photoshop.

By the end of the week I need to have uploaded my semeotic analysis of a magazine, scan in my draft front cover, finish off my research essay and upload some examples of college magazines.

Cropping Image Video

College Magazine Contents Page

Possible Front Covers

These are a few of the possible shots that I was going to use for my front cover.

College Magazine Front Cover

Double Spread Page

Contents Page

Front Cover