Magazine Draft

 



Having a magazine draft helped me see if I liked the way my magazine would look as a magazine. I was able to see what aspects I liked and what aspects I didn’t; I was able to make improvements and with my next draft I would go through the same process (looking at what does or doesn’t look good).

Proposal Feedback

 

Having a proposal feedback allowed me to see whether or not people liked the ideas I put forth for my Foundation Portfolio magazine. With the feedback they gave me I was able to make some changes to how I was going to go about making magazine in terms of colour schemes and what content I would put in the magazine.



Question one

In what ways does your media product use, develop or challenge forms and conventions of real media products?

My magazine is unconventional in the fact that it offers all types of media that not all magazines offer. My magazine uses twitter, Facebook, sound cloud, spotify, YouTube, Instagram and has it's own TV channel; this means that my audience won't have to resort to any other social medias to find out about music or keep in the loop about alternative music, in the long term this keeps my readers loyal.

My sells line are provocative, and have swear words which might be unusual for normal media magazine users. This makes magazine stand out from other genres as swear words aren’t seen in music magazine genres such as pop and indie. The masthead doesn’t look conventional as is the writing is jagged. The masthead will be eye catching so it’s recognisable. The interesting sell lines will entice the audience to buy the magazine. The main image will take over the majority of the page allowing the audience to see the artist’s expression and pose as I’m using a long shot image. This also allows the audience to be enticed to what the artist is wearing and would want to buy what she’s wearing/look like her. The main image shows a guitar allowing the audience to notice that it’s a music magazine.

Other information such as price and date, barcode, issue number allows the reader to acknowledge the general information that is needed to be known e.g. price. The plug will probably be a competition to interest the reader into getting to know more about the prize leading them to buy the magazine as they think they have a chance in winning. The plug will be something about winning tickets to their favourite artist’s show which would be a good opportunity for the readers.

The double page spread includes articles on the well-known artists allowing the audience to learn more information about that artist. This is one of the reasons people buy magazines; to read more about the artists. Posters will be included in the magazine to entice people in buying the magazine, as my target audience will be interested in putting posters up on their wall of their favourite artists.

Features such as reviews are informative to the reader and it would be something the reader would want to know. Albums allow the reader to know what’s new with the music scene; this keeps the magazine’s readers on trend.

The colours I’m using; red, black and grey are somewhat conventional colours for a rock magazine; I chose this house style because alternative music also incorporates rock.

Audience Profile

Age and gender

The audience for my music magazine is both male and female teens. The age of the buyer will be 16 – 21; this genre is quite recent to the music scene therefore not many of the older population would appreciate this type of genre, whereas it will appeal to the majority of the younger ages. At the ages of 16 – 21 you’d be able to read swear words in magazines without thinking anything of it as you’re going through the grown up stages. I intend on writing provocative content which is why I chose this age range; the magazine will also consist of controversial images. The audience for the magazine will be preferably read by a percentage of 58% males and 42% females. This is the chosen percentage because females tend to listen to various amounts of music genres e.g. pop, alternative, R&B and indie, whereas males tend to listen to one or maybe even two specific music genres. Although this is my specified percentage, the magazine is premeditated for both genres; this allows my magazine to have a wider target audience allowing there to be a larger readership resulting in more revenue and more profit coming in from the magazine. Although when it comes to music magazines with this genre the percentage of males is vastly more than females. The male readerships are usually around 72% and females 28%; I didn’t go for this percentage as I wanted to individualise my magazine; making is a more neutral based magazine for both genres.

Social class

The social class is an aspect of my magazine that will be miscellaneous. Alternative music doesn’t tend to have a specific social class; anyone from any part of the world, from any background can listen to this genre…there are no restrictions. I chose the social class ABC1 as the main target audience due to its wide variety of classes and how high priced the magazine is. A is upper middle class and includes: doctors, solicitors, barristers, accountants, company directors etc. B is middle class and includes: teacher, nurses, police officers, probation officers, librarians, middle managers etc. C1 is lower middle class and includes: junior manager, student, clerical/office workers, and supervisors. I chose ABC1 because they would be able to afford the magazine monthly.

 

Interests and hobbies

Skateboarding

job

Going on the internet – social media: facebook, twitter, vine, tumblr – creative

Into clothes – urban outfitters, topshop/topman

BMX

Playing music

Listening to music

 



 

 

The audience profile I had created allowed me to focus my magazine based on what I thought my target audience would be interested in and would find visually interesting. Having an audience profile helped me think about what clothes I would make my model wear based on where my target audience is likely to shop. The audience profile goes in depth in terms of how much my target audience would be willing to spend on a magazine. This helped me in choosing the price for my magazine.

Camera

Camera

To take the pictures for the magazine I'm creating I used a Canon SLR to take good quality images that would look vastly professional and as though it were taken by real photographers who do magazine shoots. I took the images in one of the media rooms at My school. In the room there was already a camera that was set up with the lights so whenever a picture was taken the lights flashed. There was a white screen making the photoshoot look more realistic and professional as the tend to use white screens in the magazine industry and whenever there is a photoshoot being done. The lights in the room ensured that my photos wouldn't be dark which would make it easier when it came to editing the images on Photoshop. If my model was sat on the floor I would have to adjust the lights to face the ground to ensure the image was lighted up well.

Software

The computer software I’m using to create my magazine is Indesign. When making my magazine in year 11 I used Photoshop; I found Indesign to be much easier to use for creating a magazine and it was recommended. Indesign is more designed for magazines as it presents your magazine in a magazine format; whereas Photoshop is better for editing pictures which is why I am using Photoshop to edit my model and edit out blemishes. Photoshop allows me to make the images lighter that turned out darker than expected.

Cover lines

Exclusive interview with justin from the vaccines

"I created Skrillex" meet the man behind the monster 

Pete Doherty destroys the O2 - special live report

Noel Gallagher "I'm powerful just like God" 

Bored? Skint? How to start a record label in 2 months 

List of artists 

In the studio - kaiser chiefs, radio head, muse, oasis


Writing cover lines beforehand allowed me to work more efficiently as writing the coverlines I saved the time I had in lesson and was able to edit more aspects of my magazine.

Box out text

Xandria world tour

Shut up and listen album

This autumn Xandria will be touring around the world; you better get your tickets before they sell out. Go on the 'name of magazine' website to order your tickets when they come out. Don't be a coach potato and get off your a*s and buy tickets! Xandria will be touring all major cities such as London, Paris and NYC

Xandria talks about who inspires her when it comes to writing songs

"I mean I listen to so many people and so many people inspire me but I just can't et enough of Michael Jackson! I know we're in two complete music genres but I just love his music, it's catchy and I can relate to some of his songs. He's the most talented artist I know. I love to listen to the arctic monkeys pretty often, they tend to get me more in the mood when I'm about to write some lyrics down" 

Having written this information down prior to adding the them into my magazine allowed me to make the process of thinking up ideas on what to put in the box text as I had already written the informations down in advance.

magazine week two

A draft allowed me to look at what aspects I had to improve on my magazine in addition to what I still had to add to the magazine before I thought it was finished. I was also able to ask my peers about what they thought was good and bad about my magazine so far.

Feature Article

Young Xandria played her first sold out show in The Mayflower pub in London four nights ago. How was it? "An old French man came up to me," the cordial Xandria recollects, "and said he’d seen the Vaccines had perform a few days before I came along and said it was going to happen for you too!"

That poshly spoken chap isn’t the only person falling Arse over elbow for Xandria. Unless you’ve been hibernating under a rock, you have heard of her too. Most certainly via ‘Don’t Come Running Back’ – the alternative rock anthem that has been leaking its way around the net faster than Kim Kardashian’s bikini selfie, in addition to her most recent single ‘Wreck That Bass’, a fire-raising debut has the nation rocking to its charismatic beat.

If being named the preeminent innovative upcoming artist of the century wasn’t enough, everything has suggested that her new single ‘Two Finger Salute’ could be something not even Lana Del Rey can write up herself, meanwhile Xandria’s European tour (sold out) have emphasised the impact Xandria is going to have on the music industry and its fans; bringing rage, her cocky attitude and last but not least her slamin’ bod that would put Megan Fox to shame. "I’m surprised the show did so well, feeling a bit like the Female Justin Bieber of alternative music" the outgoing Xandria reminisced while she laughed sarcastically to herself, "I’m kind of sh*tting myself if I’m going to be frank, it’s a f**king huge crowd, not forgetting I’m going to be the only one on stage...but it should be fun. I’m not one to shy away from a challenge".

Raised and brought up by a single parent, Xandria has been brought up to stay humble and down to earth, "I hate it when celebrities talk about being ‘down to earth’ when all they do is flash their cash and pretend like nothing’s going on in the world. I’d like to think that I’ll be able to give back, even if I’m ‘famous’ or not; my mum taught me a maxim that I live by "the more you give the more you receive", I know it sounds cheesy" Xandria giggled, letting us see that there’s more to this ‘bad girl bravado she buts on, on stage, "I’m a strong believer in karma...once I went swimming with my friend and he fell into the pool, and of course the lovely girl I am, I started laughing at him; seconds later I was sinking in the pool, so I pretty much nearly drowned...KARMA!". Xandria’s sarcastic face brought forth the idea that she’s a bit of a practical joker.

Xandria is the best new artist in the UK, and thrown at her is a platinum record and what is known to be the best album of this year! "I try to pay the least attention to all the hype about my music as possible," Xandria shrugs, clearly not focussed on the fame and the possible stampede of screaming Xandria fans that could possibly climb through the doors and tear her limb from limb. "I’m more unaware of it now than ever, I don’t exactly search myself on the internet or purposely listen to my songs on the radio when I know they’re playing my songs, the only time I hear about the hype is when I talk to my mum and friends; mostly when I do interviews. I’m pretty astonished people like what I do, I get to do what I love and do it as a job...what more could I ask for really."

"I’m pretty tired -most people I know are tired- tired of having to wait three minutes to hear the chorus to a damn song! Don’t get me wrong, there is so much great music out there believe me, I just feel as though people are getting stuck in this never ending phase where lyrics don’t seem to matter at all; and of course there are those people who go along with it and pretend they’re enjoying what they’re listening to...they’re just followers," Xandria coincides. "I prefer to have straight forward right in the middle music, but I feel like people are doing the exact reverse thing. And of course she’s right, that’s an issue that has to be put out there.

Playing the guitar and piano, no wonder Xandria has got such an opinion about music; at five Xandria’s mum nudged her to learn to play instruments, "She said she wanted me to express myself through music; I was a vocal child, I suppose I still am." Xandira admits light-heartedly as she notices the near to rant she nearly gave us when expressing her view on today’s modernised music scene.

"I’m friends with the Vaccines you know; they are so funny. I’m pretty close to Justin, he tends to be as opinionated and as funny as I am; I’m not trying to sound big headed by calling myself funny by the way" Xandria laughed anxiously as she thought over what she just said, she continued saying "Justin plays the guitar just like I do, we tend to have a jam session and get into our music; the room is always silent when we play our music. Somehow everyone seems to be entranced in our guitar playing. Me and Justin tend to make up random songs that sometimes don’t even make sense" Xandria giggled to herself. "The other boys are just so funny, I went with them around Europe because I was their opening act…they pretty much pranked each other nearly every single day I was with them."

Xandria talked to Out The Box about her long term plans, including her new recent plan to take over the word!!

“Fuck yeah I plan to take over this shit! I have a master plan: first I’m going to become more well-known and take over America…that seems to be every artists dream. Breaking America appears to be the thing that makes or breaks your career musical career and I plan to do what many artists fail to do in a couple of weeks. I have a lot of things up my sleeve; trust me.” Xandria laughed giving off a little wink as she contemplated the idea of breaking America “they won’t know what’s hit em.” 






Writing a feature article in advance saved me time when creating my magazine as I was able to write the article at home where I didn't have InDesign and when getting into school I was able to copy and paste the article into the magazine.

Contents

I pre-planned what I intended to add on my contents page in order to get an idea of the directing I was planning on taking my magazine content, based on what other artists would be inlcluded in the magazine, what kind of news I would put onto my contents page ect.

Magazine

Having a draft allowed me to visualise what images and what layout would look better on what pages. In addition I was able to look at what aspects of other magazines i would be able to incorporate into the magazine.

Social Media

Having constructed powerpoint slides that stated what socail media I was planning to use allowed to help me visualise how i would present them in my magazines in terms of logos or text. I looked at other magazines that were similar to the one I was creating and looked at how they presented social media, in addition to which social media platforms they used.

Promotion

Props and Costumes

Colour Schemes

Photoshoot Poses

This week I looked at different stances I could use for my magazine. I looked at several magazine covers for inspiration; noticed that different poses can determine what genre the audience will presume is the genre. It’s not just about the colour scheme, each aspect of the magazine determines what the audience see as suitable for the certain genre. For example if you had a girl with pig tails and blonde hair doing a peace sign you wouldn’t presume that image would be used for Kerrang magazine but for a more pop magazine like top of the pops. On the other hand, a person sticking out their tongue and doing the rock sign on their hand would be more suited for a rock magazine; Kerrang. Because I’m doing alternative music I looked at some rock poses for alternative rock fans and searched for alternative artists in magazines and posters to observe what poses they use so I could incorporate that into my magazine to make it look more like an alternative magazine.

Magazine image ideas

Survey Results

Model Release Form

Fonts

Mood Board

Name Ideas

Acronym:

Alternative judgement of the generation – AJG

Music matters – MM

 

Phrase:

Headlines for hipsters

All that’s alternative

 Think outside the box

Certified Bass

Open pages

The revolution

 

 

 

Connotative:

The rising

Outbreak

Revolution

Overthrow

Loud-Mouth

Edge

Atlas

Alternative

Divulge

Bass

Rhythm

Crash

Skyscraper

Sound

Conform

Effortless

 

 

Compound:

 WrongGen

Full-toned

Logos

This week i looked at logos, I noticed that every element you apply on a logo influences the connotations that will be perceived about your music magazine's genre. Mastheads also influence the age of your demographic, for example if you used bubble writing and swirles the demographic would most likely be young girls. Different aspects of mastheads determine the genre of a magazine and who it's demographic is; aspects such as colour, font, the name of the magazine and effects. Using colours like red and black connotate more of a rock genre because of the associations that come with the colours such as power and aggression. Using text with flicks makes for more of an elegant masthead denotating an older demographic connotating that the genre of the music isn't rock or indie but more likely to be classical music. A magazine that uses this font type effectively denotating the genre and the older target audience.

Music Magazine Names and Mastheads

Preliminary task video

looking at existing magazines

This week i looked at why people still read magazines.

I looked at the codes and conventions magazines had that made the reader know what genre the magazine was. Thinking about my magazine I thought of following similar codes and conventions as NME and my magazine has a similar genre. Using a large full bleed image would attract passers by and grab the attention of anyone who walked by; I can't have the person on my front cover wearing randomly chosen outfits as that too reflects on the genre of the magazine, for example rock magazines usually have the artist wearing dark clothes like blacks and reds connotating aggression and violence which reflects on the music they make. I thought into consideration what types of colours went well with alternative/indie rock...the colours I thought of were: grey, maroon, dark yellow and red. The house style of the magazine would also have to reflect on the genre if the music.  

People buy music magazines for personal relationships therefore I believe my magazine should offer any possible well known social media that's well know so they feel as though they belong so a community of people with the same music taste which is why my magazine will advertise it's social media: Facebook, twitter and have blogs for people to write on, on it's website. 

Others read magazines for entertainment which is why I'll put quotes on the front page that are provocative meaning people would want to read what the article is about. 

Why people still buy magazines

Creating a personal identity is somewhat important to all of us; we like to have something different from a social norm…something unique. Most of us find that different thing we’ve been searching for in music, with music we’re able to express ourselves and have individuality.

Magazines use codes and conventions:

Magazines use striking images to captivate the audience into reading more about the article or use an interesting image on the front page attracting people to buying the magazine. There’s usually something interesting written or put on the sweet spot to do a similar job e.g. an interesting quote of an article that’s in the magazine. There’re pictures or small sell lines to give the reader insight on what’s installed in the magazine. We expect the Masthead to be Large and eye catching which it most likely will be.  Secondary leads usually give the reader a sneak peak of what’s in the magazine. Plugs are used to capture the reader’s eye. Inside a magazine you will most likely find a double page spread; typically one of the most interesting stories in the magazine with an image of what the article is about. A strap line is used to draw the reader into reading the article. A tag captures the reader’s interest in the story by using a word/phrase to engage them. Features are a main necessity in a magazine as they put in what is of human interest/what the reader will find interesting to read (current affairs). A lure is used as a marketing device to make the reader read what’s inside.

Audience:

Music magazines allow people to buy magazines that are suited to specific genres, music magazines intentionally set out to make their magazines for certain people…before creating a music magazine people discuss what the audience of the magazine is going to be and each month/week they set out to please that specific minority of people (their target audience). The person’s interest and music taste is usually met by the magazine. Music taste most likely influences which magazines people read e.g. NME is more for the alternative/indie rock audience where as top of the pop is more for people who listen to pop music meaning you wouldn’t generally find people who read NME to be major fans of pop music. People may read magazines due to the reason that their favourite artist is featured in the magazine. Musicians may possibly read magazines, as they’re interested in that particular genre of music.

The uses and gratifications theory help us understand why people read magazines:

·         Diversion; personal escape from everyday life.

·         Personal Relationships; using media for emotional and other interaction.

·         Personal identity; learning behaviors and values in texts and finding that the text reflects yourself.

·         Gaining information

·         Entertainment

Representation:

The representation of certain music genres is usually biased.  With rock music the text usually represents the genre/artist and aggressive, strong and confident, this is because they usually use large bold fonts which connotate those things. The colours used are normally blacks, whites and reds; red has the connotation of blood, violence, aggression as does black apart from blood. The white contrasts with both the colours which demonstrates strong and bold characteristics.

The main images usually have the artists wearing dark clothing which reveals which genre the artists come from; wearing dark colours represents the artists as violent and aggressive which links with the house styles of rock magazines. The facial expressions on the artists faces also link to the colour scheme by showing aggression (not caring what other people think).
Institution:

Magazine publishers make money by putting in adverts in their magazines and the revenue/profit that is made from sold magazines. Magazines attempt to retain their audience by offering them once in a lifetime chances like winning concert tickets, going to festivals, meeting their favourite bands ect. Using social media such as twitter and Facebook is one of the many ways magazines retain their audiences; people like to interact with other people who share the same similarities, it gives people a sense of belonging to something bigger than themselves. Using eye-catching front covers, regulars and special editions contributes to the preservation of audiences. Business models such as festivals, gigs, TV channels, radio stations and awards keep the audience part of a community they fell is their own and allows them to make social relationships and creates a brand image for the magazine.

Magazine assets:

Merchandise

TV channel

Radio stations

Festivals

Gigs

Stages at festivals e.g. V festival

Award ceremonies

Concerts