Lesson 18/19 - 1st Draft Of Music Magazine

In today's two lessons I started to create a first draft of my music magazine. As I had already decided to call my magazine "Vibe”, I was able to quickly start with drawing my magazine. This magazine will focus on the genres of pop/rock and will have an audience of people aged 16 and over who are student’s unemployed, working class and middle class. I have decided that the text colour will be a light to dark blue with a greyish background to make it easier to see the text. I will continue to develop my design as I move on with this coursework and hopefully my designs will change for the better so that it gives my magazine a professional feel.

Lesson 17

In today's lesson I completed my analysis of my monthly music magazine and have also written about the differences between the monthly and weekly music magazines that have analysed. This will help me when it comes to choosing whether I will create a weekly or monthly magazine.

I had also been shown a PowerPoint presentation with many objectives that I would have achieve throughout creating my music magazine. This were as follows; I would need to know who my target audience were, my magazines ideas around stereotyping, the magazines image of the reader, who will publish my magazine , what advertisements will I have in my music magazine, what images will use and how will the audience relate to them. After I have explained all of the above this will allow me to get on with designing my music magazine.

Lesson 15/16 - Analysis of Music Magazine "Q"

In Today's Lesson I analysed a monthly music magazine which is called "Q". This is a music magazine in which costs a total of £3.99 on a monthly basis. The title of the magazine connotes that the magazine is an ordinary magazine and also connotes the fact that music will soon be playing as in the fact "Que the Music". I think that the title does not send out many messages to inform the reader about what the magazine is about.
The magazine will attract an audience who are interested in indie, rock and alternative as the music genre. We can tell this by the image that has been used on the front cover which conveys a rock atmosphere. The audience I believe will be people who are of older age 40+ who still like to choose to buy CD's instead of downloading them.

The audience of this magazine will be attracted through the world exclusive to read about the Gorillaz and the  star studded crew , also by the choice of colour that has been used on the front cover of the magazine. There is a contrast of colours on the first page to represent the fact that this magazine will cover a couple of different genres such as pop/rock. The title of the magazine has been placed in bold to try and emphasise that it is the biggest music magazine in the magazine industry. I would also say that the colours of the main image on the front cover will also attract the audience.

There are many different images on the magazine front cover. The main images on the front cover say that the audience who will read this magazine will be into rock/pop and are trendy and like all different types of music in the industry. On the front cover of this magazine, the main word/important messages have been placed at the top and at the bottom of the front cover. With this magazine it doesn’t have a crowded left third instead the magazine has all of it's cover lines at the bottom of the magazine. At the top of the magazine there is a hard hitting selling line "The UK's Biggest Music Magazine" in which entices the reader to want to read the magazine. On the front cover, there is a contrast of colours between blue/red. This means that the magazine may cover different genres in which may have a link between one another. On the front page the some of the text has been placed in bold in which emphasises the way in which this magazine is the biggest selling music magazine in the music magazine industry.

The assumptions that I can make about this magazine is that the publishers talk about the news that the audience who want to buy the magazine , the magazine focuses on mainstream music and the artists that are mentioned and talked about in the magazine show that the magazine is trying to send a message of rebellion to the audience. The images, language and fonts link to the genre of this magazine because of the contrast of colours symbolising the magazine could be read by 2 different people, the images that are used send a message to the reader that the magazine is out of this world in terms of the music they do write about.

The magazine Q is published by Bauer Media Group. Bauer also own magazines entitled "Take a Break”, "TV Choice" and "Total TV Guide".

The audience of this magazine will be people who are aged 20 and over male or female (but most likely to be of male gender) who enjoy music bands which have been around for long periods of time. I also believe that they will be open minded , don't define themselves by the music they listen to. I also think that the audience will have an occupation in B, C1, C2 and E category. This means that they will have a high skilled job, average job or no job at all because of them being a student.

The magazine targets this audience, by what I believe are the price of the magazine, the design on the front of the magazine and also the bold content. The price of this magazine is relatively cheap compared to many weekly magazines so this enables people to buy the magazine. The design on the front cover will also attract the audience because of the burst of colour catchy to the eye and the well structured text in which has been laid out in a way that the audience can catch a grasp of what the music magazine will contain. Lastly, the bold font showing the content will make the magazine more eye catching and easier to read amongst other magazines making it more appealing to the audience.

The magazine i believe fulfils and doesn't live up to expectations at the same time. Whilst the magazine is focusing on trying to advertise to its audience with adverts such as cars, phones and social networking , the inside of the magazine i feel has far too much information in the form of text which may put a lot of readers off. The magazine front cover makes me expect so much from this magazine, I believe the magazine has been a let down as the style has not been carried on throughout the magazine. If the magazine were to have less text, then I believe the magazine would appeal more to its target audience.

There are many major features in this magazine; they consist of the contents page which again sticks with the style from the front cover and clearly emphases what information is available to the audience. There is also a letters page entitled "Q Mail" in which the audience to interact with the magazine on a certain subject and also creates a forum for the audience to argue and discuss a current problem within the magazine. Another feature is pages entitled "Access All Arena's" in which enables the audience to read and view the latest goings on around the country. Another feature in the magazine is "Soap Box" in which one person gives a lengthy text on a certain subject in which the audience can relate to and read about another persons opinion. A fifth feature in the magazine is entitled "New To Q" in which shows a list of all new artists that have recently come about in the industry, this will show the readers new material meaning that the audience will be kept up to date. The final feature in this magazine is entitled "Q Hero" in which talks about iconic artists of the past in which the audience can read about and investigate what the past styles of music were about.

I next analysed a article in this music magazine under the title of "New To Q". The article itself has been written in formal language but the quotes that have been used throughout the article are very informal as words are used very loosely. The magazine has also used a image of the new artists in which the audience can then relate to and identify as a commercial artist. The article has been written in the same style as much of the magazine which sticks with the genre of the magazine.

Looking through this magazine I have found many different products being advertised. These products consist of CD's in which come from artists with a genre of pop/rock which sticks with the genre of the magazine, Music memorabilia in which people can buy from eBay to keep, there are also tickets being advertised in which the audience can buy to go to many different concerts. Other adverts in which are included in the magazine which do not link in with the genre such as new cars, health products and beauty products. This may infer that the magazine is stylish and up to date. The events that I find have been publicised in this magazine are tickets for sale in which will appeal to the audience in the way that they can go an see the bands/artists of their choice.

The magazine allows the audience to interact through web addresses in which have been given to allow the audience to find out more information on a certain subject that the magazine has discussed, also the magazine has a page in which allows the reader to send in letters to the magazine to voice their own opinion about a certain subject within the magazine. This allows a forum to be created amongst the audience. These opportunities help both the reader and the magazine by making the magazine feel more modern and democratic as the magazine allows the audience to voice their opinions on a subject by the letters page. Also being able to view websites will show that magazine is changing their ways to cope with modern technology.

This magazine provides a number of pleasures which gratifies the reader’s needs for escapism, personal identity, personal relationships and surveillance. In this magazine the escapism example that is provided for the audience are reviews and interviews. Personal identity is provided from interviews and letters page in which allows the reader to find themselves and discover that they have their own ideas. Personal Relationships are also found in interviews in which allows the audience to build a relationship with the person who is voicing their opinions. Lastly, surveillance is provided through news and information of events that are currently taking place and in the future.

Through much analysis of the monthly and weekly magazine, I believe that there are a wide range of differences between the two. The weekly magazine feels as if it doesn't hold that much information and the information written about is left open ended. However, the monthly magazine seems to be much more in depth when in comes to the detail that they do include. This means that people who read monthly magazines expect more from the monthly magazine than the weekly magazine. Both the weekly and monthly magazine do stick to the conventions of there genre but I believe that the weekly magazine even though it sticks to its genre doesn't cover entirely artists in the specific genre. However, the monthly magazine I believe does stick to one genre because the audience expect the magazine to have this one genre that they like with more information and going into more detail. I do think that it depends on the monthly magazine to whether the magazine sticks to the genre throughout the magazine. The weekly magazine seems to be more hard hitting in terms of the content that they cover, however the monthly magazine that I have analysed may be more broad and less interesting.

Lesson 13/14 - Analysis Of NME Music Magazine

In the two lessons’ I watched a PowerPoint presentation on the conventions and the ever changing ways of the magazine industry and how they are adjusting with the ways of the new media technologies.

After this, I then had to analyse a music magazine called NME. NME is a music magazine in which is owned by IPC Media Timing. The title has many connotations such as enemy meaning that the magazine could be about rebellion as this is what messages are given off by the title.

The magazine is priced at £2.30 which is expensive but not hugely expensive. The magazine comes in weekly issues. This magazine is based on the genre of punk rock which will attract people who are ages from 17 - 24 who are of male and female gender. In this group of people only those interested in the music genre and reading about music which is non – mainstream. I believe that the audience will be the class category of either C1, C2, D and E. These will be people who have working class jobs and are people such as students. They will also have interests in music which involves rock and punk and will want to find out more about what is happening and changing in this part of the music industry.

On the magazine there is only one main image on the front page in which connotates that the magazine is trendy, up to date and cool which helps me understand what type of people will be reading these magazines. On this magazine there is much attention to the left third because this is where the all of the main cover lines are shown.  This means that when the magazine is place in amongst other magazines, the magazine is still viewable and does stand out amongst other magazine because of the text style that has been used. The font that has been used on this magazine is two different colours (Black & Red). This detonates that of dark rock and the fieriness of the rock culture.

NME targets their audience by what I believe, are the price, bold font and the image of the rock artist on the front cover. The price of the magazine is fairy expensive, but not too expensive so it would appeal to people who would buy a magazine that is fairy priced. The bold font on the front page helps to attract an audience because the font stands out from other magazines, making it more likely that people looking for a music magazine to buy one magazine that stands out from the rest. Lastly, the image of the rock artists on the front page will appeal to the audience and when doing this people will feel that they will have to buy the magazine.

Next, I looked through the magazine to find the different sections in which it has been broken in to. The main sections within this magazine are that of News, The NME Music Chart, The Weeks Top 20, Audience Tastes in Music, Letters from the Audience and Local News. All of these do fit in with the magazines punk rock genre because all of the sections mentioned above cover main aspects on what the reader wants to read within the magazine. As i have analysed some of the articles in this magazine, they do tend to be written in an informal manner as the magazine are trying to fit the use of language with the genre of the magazine.

I have looked through the NME magazine and found many advertisements for things such as CD's, Mobile Phones, Music Awards, Trainers and New Computers. These adverts have been placed in this particular magazine because the adverts are aimed at the audience that read the magazine and as these are people aged 17 - 24 people are going to be interested in new types of fashion , technology etc. The magazine producers have to be careful when choosing the advertisements as they have to be tailored to the audience’s needs. I have also found that the magazine has publicised some events compared to others. These have been events that the audience will definitely want to read. In this issue they were ticket scams for festivals and a band making a comeback which had been publicised.

The magazine also offers a variety of interactive features in which the reader can utilise. The features include that of web addresses in which people can download new songs for free because they have purchased the magazine, Podcasts in which have exclusive interviews with bands and lastly the readers can write letters into the magazine to create a forum for the audience to voice their opinions about certain subjects within the magazine. This will help the magazine because it will make the magazine feel more modern because of the use of new technology. Overall it will show that magazines have to change their ways to keep up with the evermore changing times. This magazine as i have mentioned above, is already changing it's ways by including new media technology for it's reader's in the magazine.

Overall I think this magazine doe's meet its purpose because it fulfilled the audience's needs by having all the stories on the front page that the reader wants to here. This magazine has confirmed that it is very important to meet the audience's needs by the use of colour, stories covered and images used. I look forward to using the many magazine conventions from what I have learnt in this task and incorporating them into my music magazine.

Lesson 12 - Creating School Magazine Contents Page

In Today's lesson, as I had completed my front page of my school magazine, I started to create the contents page for the magazine on Photoshop. In today's Lesson I started with another A4 page in which I designed the contents page on. When designing, I used the same background colour and the same font colours to keep the house style of the magazine the same throughout. I decided to stick to a simple contents page which has an editor’s note in which entices the reader to want to read on in the magazine. I created this with a tool on Photoshop in which I created a circle and filled this circle with the same colour as the text to make it stand out and used the background colour as the text in this circle. I used an image that I place on my front cover, on the contents page which was a picture of the teacher to further inspire sixth formers to read the magazine. I look forward to finishing my preliminary task to use all of skills I have developed in creating this preliminary task.

Lesson 11 - Developing School Magazine

In today's lesson again I used Photoshop to develop the front cover of the school magazine that I was creating. In the lesson i used various tools such as the lasso tool to help me manipulate images so that I could gain the effect that I intended the audience to receive. I also used another effect in which places the text into different shapes. I chose to use it on one in particular text on the page because it became noticeable that the text on its own was not readable over the image. I look forward to finishing this preliminary task once completing the contents page of my magazine and look forward to using the skills and mistakes in this current task to good use in the main task

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