Appendix 7 - A draft of a front cover, contents page and a double page spread of a music magazine

Starter Task - Work that needs completing

Things that I still need to complete.

1. Make slight adjustments to my front cover
2. Put text on my contents page
3. Complete my double page spread lay-out.

Starter Task - What makes bad cover images?

- Long shots
- Too dark
- Facing away from camera
- Busy background
- Main band member not easily identified
- Not in the centre

Starter Task - Ideas for double page spread articles

Ideas for a double page spread.

An image that fills the entire left hand side page. On the right hand side; with various text about that person. Following house style colours

- Career
- Album and single reviews
- Competitions
- Gig reviews

Photography Research - Practice Photographs

These Pictures are suitable as the back ground isn't cluttered. everybody is looking at the camera. The pictures show who is the main focus of the picture. No incorrect angles have been used i.e. high angled shots etc. Even though the back ground isn't cluttered the band members are blending into the background.

Photography Research - Five rules of photography

There are five rules to follow, in order to make a good band cover/image

1. No Cluttered background

2. Makes sure that you focus on the lead singer if it is a band shot so the audience KNOW who they are
If it is a single artist make sure it is a medium shot – close up.

3. Leave room for a masthead (Oh, and don’t cut off heads!)

4. No high angle shots – they make bad cover images! Fine for double page spreads or contents pages

5. Animate you band – Make sure they look at the camera!

Starter Task: Generic elements of a contents page

Generic Elements of a contents page.

1. Logo
2. images
3. Names of the photographers, editors etc that have contributed to the magazine
4. Advertisment
5. Editors note
6. contact details
7. Issue number and date
8. Captions
9. Website of the magazine
10. Page Numbers
11. Editorials
12. House Style
13. Text boxes
14. The word contents displayed on the page

Appendix 4 - Music Magazine Research - Bauer & IPC Media

1. List which magazines Bauer and IPC Media own

Bauer – Mojo - Q Magazine - Kerrang

IPC Media – NME - Guitar and bass - Uncut

2. What are their main sub-genres? How much do they cost?

Bauer

The main sub-genre of these magazines (Mojo-Q-Kerrang) is Rock/Metal (Kerrang) – combination of all genres (Mojo & Q). The prices of these magazines vary. £4.30 (Mojo), £2.20 (Kerrang) and £3.90 (Q)

IPC Media

The main sub-genre of these magazines (NME-Guitar and Bass-Uncut) is specialist niche magazine of guitars (Guitar and bass) – A combination of all genres (NME) and rock (Uncut magazine). The prices of these magazines vary. £2.20 (NME), £3.95 (Guitar and Bass) and £4.40 (uncut)

3. Do they cater for mainstream or niche audiences? (demographic) Why do you think this?

Bauer

Mojo magazine is a mainstream magazine. The reason why I say this is because it is aimed at 25-34, 35-44 meaning there is a wide range of audience; majority of them being male audiences.
Q magazine is also another mainstream magazine. The reason why I think this is because it isn’t targeting specific audiences; music taste as there are mixtures of genres in Q magazine. 25-34 year olds. Kerrang is a mainstream magazine. The reason why I say this is because it is targeting audience who have interests in Rock music. Rock music is very popular meaning a lot of people are going to buy this magazine meaning it is going to have a high readership levels meaning more money can be spent on advertising to improve the standards of the magazine. This magazine has age groups of 16-24, 25-34.

IPC Media

Guitar and bass magazine is a niche magazine. The reason why I say this is because it is specific to audience who have interests/hobbies in guitars and bass music meaning that it is not targeting a wide spread of audience. 25-55 years of age. The reason why I believe this is aimed at this age category is because I don’t think that a 16-24 year old is going to buy a magazine like Guitar and bass as they are most likely to read Kerrang as an example.
NME is a mainstream magazine. The reason why I say this is because NME magazine has a wide range of music sub genres where it is mainly aiming at 16-24 year olds; Male and female.
Uncut is a mainstream magazine. The reason why I say this is because the magazine is targeting wide ranges of audiences This magazine is aimed at male and females; majority of which being male ages between 25-34.

Uncut is a mainstream magazine. The reason why I say this is because the magazine is targeting wide ranges of audiences This magazine is aimed at male and females; majority of which being male ages between 25-34

4. Pick 3 and try to expand on their demographic readership and find circulation figures (ABCs). Detail how the magazine tries to target this demographic with reference to content (images/articles).

The reason why I think that NME target this age category is because of the layout. There are lots of text that are slanted/at an angle This could signify posters/notes on a teenagers/young adults wall as a lot of teenagers/young adults have posters/note arranged at an angle.

The reason why I think that Uncut magazine targets these age groups is because teenagers are not going to buy a magazine with music artists from the 70s/80s on the front because chances are that the teenager wont have been alive at the time meaning that the teenagers wont know much about these artists as such. Through a male point of view, a lot of their front covers feature well known males; Bonno, John Lennon etc, creating this ideal self character. Through a female point of view these artist on the front covers create an ideal partner character. 25-35, 36-44. Uncut sells 87,000 copies each month.

The reason why I think Kerrang targets both female and male readers is because bands such as green day feature on the front of their front cover. Green day are popular especially with teenage girls as they see the male lead singer as an ideal partner. Pink text and borders are used to signify femininity when advertising green day on their magazine. Text also represents green day as masculine as big bold lettering are used too. Bold text connotes power which is stereotypical as men are seen as powerful. The selling line of kerrang is “Life is loud” this targets teenagers impractically, as teenagers like to be loud energetic etc with is very stereotypical. Kerrang sell 52,000 copies each month.

5. How do these magazines use the process of synergy to sell the brand (think about cross media products!!)? Give as many as you can.

These magazines give away free Cd's to promote the artist/band who are on the front cover, which tries to boost the number of people reading and buying the magazine. The majority of people will buy the magazine because of the CD. Kerrang especially have their own music channel which means the brand are going to be well known to general public meaning that magazine sales are more likely to increase too. These magazines have their own websites where fans can take a look at news, previews, podcast etc of the magazine. Fans can also spread their own views and give their thoughts about the magazine etc.

Starter Task

The three things that I have learnt and done over the week is researching skills, starting my draft front cover of a music magazine and leaning what to put and not to put on a front cover of a music magazine.

Starter Task

I got positive feedback from my group. My group discussed the name of my magazine and came up with a conclusion of that the name 'Ignition' was appropriate for my sub genre (R&B/Hip Hop)

Front covers and Contents pages research

I used the Internet to research layouts of front covers and contents pages of music magazines for ideas into my own magazine that I am later going to produce.

Font research

I used the Internet to research font types and styles that I could possibly use for my music magazine

Starter Task

I have now finished my three ideas for my music magazine. I will now construct a potential magazine based around some of my ideas

Starter Task

What are mainstream and Niche products?

A Mainstream product is a product that is aimed for a wide range of audiences I.e. ages, genders etc. An example of a mainstream product Enermy Magazine. These also have a high circulation and high readership figure.

A Niche product is the opposite to a mainstream product as it is aimed at small range of audiences I.e taste in music. An example of a niche product is Metal Hammer. These have a low circulation and low readership figures.

Lesson Objective

By the end of today's Media lesson I want to have started my second idea for my music magazine.

Appendices 5 & 6 - Draft magazine Ideas and audience feedback

3 ideas for my music magazine

1. Target Audience - 16-24 year olds
- Mainstream
- Male & female

2. Sub-genre - R&B - Hip Hop
3. Title of magazine - Ignition - connotations - First place to find information, explosive, powerful.
4. Having the main image in a dark background, White and Red text. Vertical columns with text about other features in the magazine. Red and White text again. Appropriate masthead and appropriate cover lines. House style of Black, Red and White.
5. Have a big picture of the main icon of the article on on side of the page. Text on the opposite page. White Background. Black and red text.
6. Winners and losers of recent awards. New R&B/Hip-hop releases. The months top R&B/hip-hop songs. 50 greatest gigs ever. Secretes revealed. Star search. Various competitions. Latest fashion designs by various of stars (Male and Female), the career of an Artist.


1. Target Audience - 16-24 25-34
- Niche
- Male & Female

2. Sub-genre - Dance
3.Title of magazine - Techno/Ultra Sound - Connotations - Quick, electric, on the move, upbeat, new
4. Have a British dance singer/artists in the middle of the front cover with a union jack background to shows its a British magazine. Bold text. Vertical columns, Red and white text. Appropriate cover line. House style of Blue, Red, White and Black.
5. A picture of the union jack, extended across bother of the pages of the main splash article which will follow the house style colours. A picture of the main singer/artist from the front cover in the middle of the page. Artists about how and why that artist became. Why they chose that music genre. When they are touring the U.K. date for album release etc.
6. Chance to win a competition to Ibiza and learn the basics of being a DJ. Pictures of clubland Gigs. Review section. The best songs of 2008 chosen by you. DJ's top tunes, clubs and albums


1. Target Audience - 16-24 25-34
- Niche
-Male & Female

2. Sub-genre - Dance
3. Title of magazine - Revolution - Connotations - repetition, rotation, spin, twirl, wheel.
4. A picture of a female in a bikini in a sky blue background to represent the sky and see, yellow text to represent the sun and the title of the magazine in white to represent clouds. Appropriate cover lines. House style of Yellow, White and Light blue.
5. A picture inside a club spread over two pages as the back ground. House style from font cover (Yellow, Light Blue and White.) Vertical columns with White text. Information about the latest events in various clubs etc.
6. Chance to win a competition with a trip to Ibiza to learn the basics of being a DJ. Review section. Top tunes of 2008 chosen by you. DJ's top tunes, clubs and albums. Free Cd give away with this issue.

Starter Task

From last weeks work I learnt that there are two main music magazine owners; Bauer and IPC

I still need to finish off questions 4 and 5