Research and planning - Analysis of Music magazine double page spreads - Q

The double page spread above features the famous singer Cheryl Cole in Q magazine December 2010. The left hand page uses 3 columns to display the article beneath a strapline mentioning her name, as we can see Q has used it’s own house style as the magazine frequently uses large red letters of each persons name they feature, e.g - Lady Gaga, Florence and the machine, Cheryl Cole.

 The bottom of the page is dated, with a page number and name of the magazine which all use Q’s well known house style. The article also uses an informal tone which reflects the featured singer, as she is young and is trying to reach her target audience, “she wouldn’t get off stage, the silly little birdy”.

The use of language also helps the reader to build up a rapport with the personality they are listening too. The right hand page displays a long shot of Cheryl Cole facing away from the audience, this body language emphasizes her devilish look. The readers attention is first brought to the picture because it is a good looking picture which the target audience will be inspired to look like.
 Also because the picture is dark and brooding it is a non stereotypical picture of a female which also brings attention and admiration.

Research and planning - Analysis of Music magazine double page spreads - Classic Rock

The double page spread above features the famous band Aerosmith in Classic rock magazine October 2007. Each page uses 2 columns to display the article beneath a stapline mentioning the bands name, this reflects classic rocks’ typical house style as the magazine frequently has pictures of the band around the side of the page and text in the middle under a strapline.

The audience can immediately identify this as a section from classic rock because they will be familiar with the picture to text ratio. The double spread is typically more pictures than writing because they make the page look more interesting and vivid. The article uses language which reflects the bands social class/status and personality, the tone of the article is also quite formal because people reading this magazine will be quite mature.
　
For example, “ Jimmy made the guitar his own instrument, he never once gave up on his passion for music”, this reflects the bands genre/interests and also shows the text is not informal or slang. Most of the images are black and white, these reflect the age and era of the band aswell as drawing attention to the members. However, lead singer’s picture is in colour to attract most attention.

Research and planning: moodboard

Audience Research

Audience Research

Circle your answer

1.    Do you read music magazines?    Yes/no

2.    How many music magazines on average do you read per 6 months? 1-5, 6-10, 10+

3.    How often do you think your favourite music magazine should be published? Per week, per 2 weeks, per month, other

4.    How much on average would you pay for a music magazine? £0-1,£1-3,£3+

5.    What kind of content would you like to see in my music magazine? Articles, offers, pictures, posters, all, other

6.    Which title for the music magazine do you prefer? Jukebox, fack, rebel mc, other

7.    How many pages should the music magazine contain? 1-5, 5-10, 10+

8.    Should this music magazine contain any new music? Or just music from past decades? Yes it should contain new music, no it should not.

9  Is music a passion of yours? Yes/no


Are you a potential musician?


What colour scheme would you like the music magazine to be? blue and red, yellow and black, green and orange, blue and green, blue,black and white or other?

d

Research and planning: Initial idea for music magazine

My initial idea for my as media music magazine will include different subgenre's of music and also distinct genres such as classic rock, rock, blues, grunge and metal. This could be called an alternative interesting magazine as it includes styles which are quite dissimilar. My intended target audience is men and women from ages 20-35, as they are more likely to buy music magazines. The music magazines I have researched have influenced my potential idea because they have shown that many different styles of music can be included in a magazine, therefore I am able to mix together lots of styles of music.

Research and Planning - Analysis of Music magazine contents page - NME

This is the contents page of a well known magazine called NME. This contents page is loosely structured because the magazine does not have certain places for writing or pictures ,also the use of no pictures in the contents page does not fit the generic conventions or house style. The masthead is at the top of the contents page in bold black lettering saying “NME THIS WEEK”, this fit’s the house style because it’s familiar with the audience and the colours are identical each issue, the use of black, red and white.

The choice of colours also makes the magazine appear sophisticated but interesting. The central image is used to feature the main article in the magazine, which helps the reader quickly get to that page. The picture also has to be relevant to the story otherwise the house style would not be the same every issue.

The contents page is informal because there are a lot of punctuation errors and abbreviations, this makes the magazine more relaxed and better communicated to the target audience. NME also has a band index which is a creative way of featuring bands, may be breaking generic conventions as there aren’t many other magazines that do that. 

This magazine typically features mainstream music such as indie genres and pop/rock genres.

Research and Planning - Analysis of Music magazine contents page - Mojo

This is an analysis of the popular music magazine Mojo’s contents page. This magazine uses a structured layout which uses the masthead “Mojo” at the top, this helps to create house style because “Mojo” becomes a logo that’s familiar. Also readers know that they can find stories and page numbers in black bold text and main articles in white text which makes the brand identity. The contents page also places small images and content numbers up the side of the magazine which portrays what the magazines focus is on, Bands and artists.
Also the use of images helps to create a strong framework to which the audience looks at fist. The contents page is in colour, which makes the magazine more lively and less boring, colour makes the contents page appear more cheerful and light hearted. The pictures are coupled with page numbers of main stories on the contents page, which makes it easier for the reader to find what’s been advertised on the front page. Also the strip of contents page numbers makes it easy to find stories because it is coloured black and white and is easy to be seen amongst the pictures. The mode of address is informal because words have been abbreviated and sentences shortened to make it have a young person vibe. 

The layout reflects the genres of music which are featured in the magazine because the layout is of a colourful and indivdual nature.

Research and Planning - Analysis of Music magazine front covers - NME

NME magazine was published by IPC media, this is another popular music magazine which again is mainly bought my young males.

This magazine has been constructed to appeal to young males through the use of the masthead and house style, the masthead is bold which leads to the overall effectiveness of the house style because people immediately know which magazine they are looking for and can buy it quickly and easily.

The use of cover lines allows the audience to see the features In the magazine, however for this magazine, the publishers have chosen to put less cover lines (stories) and focus on just a couple of the main features, this is done to help lure the audience in because the majority of people will want to read the bigger stories.

The colour scheme of NME has also been constructed to appeal to the target audience because the colours Red, White and Black, also go against the normal stereotype and therefore attracts younger people who are “Rebelling”.

The mode of address for this magazine is still quite informal which attracts the target audience because it is easier to read and is associated with leisure time.

The central image of the magazine has also been constructed to appeal to the target audience because it is of a very famous musician, “Dave Grohl”, therefore it is more likely to be bought because people want to find out more information about him and use his stories as inspiration.

Research and Planning - Analysis of Music magazine front covers - Mojo

　Mojo is a popular music magazine, it was initially published by Emap, until 2008 where Bauer took over publishing.

This magazine has been constructed to appeal to a target audience of males and music fans with the use of the central image, this is an important image because it takes up the whole background and therefore shows the audience what the popular music is each issue. The central image of the magazine is the beatles which reflects individualism and freedom, therefore inticing the audience to buy the magazine.

The cover lines have also been constructed to appeal to the target audience because they are in lists which makes it easier for the audience to read quickly, they are also very informative as they show which bands are being featured, therefore target audience wants to read more about the features bands.

The colour scheme of this magazine is blue and white, these colours symbolise free choice and they also reflect the “Beatles” background choice of being Mods, the magazine and theme both tie in together which makes the magazine appealing to audience.

The house style and brand identity is easily recognised through the masthead “Mojo”, being behind the central image, this makes the magazine more familiar to the target audience and makes them serially buy it.

The mode of address also appeals to the target audience because it is in singular words, which makes it easier and quicker to read therefore it is informal.

Research and Planning - Analysis of Music magazine front covers - Classic Rock

Classic rock magazine is a music magazine which is published by future publishing, the same company also publish metal hammer magazine.

This magazine has been constructed to appeal to a predominantly male audience, to be more specific males in there twenties are the main buyer of this magazine.

The use of the big central image as the background appeals to the target audience because the picture is a famous musician which has an exclusive story attached to it, therefore it makes the reader want to find out the rest of the story and buy it.

The cover lines have been constructed to appeal to the target audience because they consist of a couple of big fonted “buzz” words, which relate to big genres of music and because there familiar to the reader they make the reader want to buy the magazine to find out more.

The mis-en-scene also contributes to the construction because the magazine’s background colours are black and white, these colours are associated with individualism and the target audience (males), therefore making the visual aspects more pleasurable.

The font stands out because the majority of writing is in black capitals, this helps to grab the potential audiences attention.

The house style appeals to the target audience because it’s distinguished and therefore potential buyers are familiar with it, the use of font and the wording “classic” makes the magazine appear older than it is to fit in with the genre of music.

The mode of address is informal, this helps to attract the target audience because younger generations are more impatient and this helps save time when looking to buy magazines, this includes abbreviations of names and bands, e.g -  "Machine guns, Lsd and avatolla axl".

Main Task - Music magazine

I have now finished my student magazine and now I'm moving onto my music magazine, my music magazine will consist of music events, bands and other music related topics.
My first deadline is the 16th of january, by then i have to complete research of 3x front covers,2x contents pages and 2x double page spread.
My second deadline is the 24th of january where i will be looking at initial ideas of music magazines, i will also be doing audience research and writing a treatment plan.
By the 24th of February i will have the layout of my front cover finished. And by the 2nd of March I will have my photoshoot done, i will also draft my pages and start a focus group to obtain audience feedback for my magazine.
Between the dates of the 2nd of March and the 9th of march i will be drafting pages and looking at more audience feedback.

Final Front cover and contents page of student magazine

Evaluation of student magazine

1. In what ways does your media product use,develop or challenge forms and conventions of real media products? My media product which is a student magazine follows the conventions of real media products by using bright colours in order to attract the potential audiences attention and to also make it look more interesting, however my student magazine challenges conventions as it may be used as a downloadable source as it only appeals to a small audience.

2. How does your media product represent particular social groups? My student magazine represents the social group of teenagers/students because it uses informal language and it also has information relating to student's education and their activities.

3. What kind of media institution might distribute your media product and why? Websites and blogs are potential media institutions that may be interested in distributing my product because they can easily put a electronic version of my magazine on their websites as it is free and they can also promote their institution at the same time.

4. Who would be the audience for your media product? The audience for my student magazine is a limited audience because it is only for people that are associated with Ludlow college, therefore my target aim is students/teenagers and also parents of children at the college.

5. How did you attract/address your audience? I attracted my potential audience by using bright colours and a informal tone, the different textual font's are also aimed at student's because its not formal and shows an element of fun. I also used a central back image as it makes the magazine look more lively and interesting for the audience of students.

6. What have you learnt about technologies from the process of constructing this product? Through the production of my student magazine I have learnt how to use indesign as it is a vital program that allows adjustment and evaluation of the product.

My market research involving students of ludlow college concluded that they wanted a specific colour scheme of Green and orange for my magazine and that is why I have adapted my magazine to show this. Students also noted that they preffered informal language to formal language and i have made sure iv'e shown this.