Music Magazine Draft

Music Magazine Draft (1)

Proposal

Existing Names and Mastheads

Having a look at existing names and mastheads of music magazines helped me a lot as I now have a great idea of what I want my magazine masthead to look like. I also realised to having an acronym may make the magazine a bit more re-memorable to the audience as it will be a shorter word and catch their eye straight away. My font will also have that 'rough' edgy look to it for one of the front covers however for the other front cover I have decided to make it simple and use the colour red and white.

Props/Costumes

Having good clothing which suits the genre of your magazine is very important. For my own magazine I have decided I will be making two front covers as it's a 'rival' between two R&B divas. One of the costumes for the model included a white dress with high heels as she is one of the more angelic pure characters in the magazine. On the other hand my other front cover of the magazine will have more of an edgy look as the pictures of the model look edgy and have a slightly darker tone to it. This includes ripped jeans, heavy makeup and darker shirt including high heels with spikes. These all have connotation of edginess and a powerful diva look! However the other model was wearing a white dress, heels, a lot of jewellery and Jeffery Campbell heels. The props that were used in the photo-shoot included an iPod to highlight that it is a music magazine and other little bits such as headphones which are a big part of the music industry.

Promotional Methods

Promoting my magazine will be one of the most important things in order to make it a successful magazine. I will be promoting and advertising my own magazine through online websites. This will include new media and websites such as Twitter, Facebook and even Instagram. I believe that the information I want to get  through to my target audience will easily be achievable this way due to most young adults using the internet to find out things they are interested in. I feel that the internet is used very frequently by my target audience and it will attract more readers online. I will also have a website for the magazine www.brokenrecords.co.uk in case the target audience want to subscribe or even just find out any information they are interested in.

New Media

New media is everywhere and it is the newest way to get information across to the entire world and to even promote a product. I have decided to use Twitter and Facebook for my magazine as I believe they are the two most popular types of new media. Twitter is one of many great examples in which we are able to do this so therefore my magazine has its own Twitter account where I will be sharing information with the entire world about new magazine issues, websites, chances to win tickets and keep them updated with anything upcoming. Twitter will allow us to follow anybody we have interest in and it will also allow other people to follow us, people who are interested in reading what you have to say.  New Media

Production Log - 23rd November 2012

Today I had a look through some music magazines which I thought would give me a very clear idea of what I wanted to do in my own magazine and the features I wanted to be included. Although none of the magazines I read had much to do with the R&B genre of music I feel that now I am very confident on knowing how the layout of the main article, contents page and front cover should be in order to attract the audience. 'Q' is a monthly magazine so therefore it included a lot more information compared to 'NME' which is a weekly magazine. This signifies that my own magazine being a monthly magazine must include 100+ pages. Furthermore I have also decided that my article for my double page spread will not include questions and answers as I want it to look as professional as possible. However it will sound spontaneous and it will include some humour and colloquialism in order to attract the readers and engage them with the article.

Magazine Sketches

Sell Lines

Sell Lines Ideas 6

Colour Connotations

Colour Connotations 5Below I made a powerpoint on the colour connotations and the possible colours I may be using for my own magazine. I have a variety of different colours due to me deciding to make two different front covers, one being bright and colourful, and the other being dark.

Name Ideas

Name Ideas 3

Moodboard and Image Ideas

Moodboard and Image Ideas 2

Institution of Music Magazines

Institution of Magazines 1

Concept Ideas

Today I made some notes on what I want to include in my Front Cover and Contents page. Having made this plan it helped me a lot with what sell lines I will be using, plugs, slogans and the price of my magazine as it is a monthly issue. Furthermore for the contents page I decided what the main sections will be such as 'News, Regulars, Gig Guides, Features, Reviews.' For each one I also figured out the stories I will be including which is the main contents. Additionally having thought about that it made me realise that I will need to have a large amount of page numbers due to my magazine being a monthly magazine. In the next few days I am hoping to also sketch the front cover and contents page followed by getting a few ideas about the double page spread. As a target for this week I will be setting myself to finish the article for the double page spread ready for next week.

Production Log - During the October Half Term

During the October half term I researched the different styles which will suit my target audience. I asked a group of different people about the different types of magazines they read in order for me to know who my target audience should be.

As it was half term  I had a lot of time and it was very beneficial for me to go out and explore a few things to do with the music industry. Having traveled to London again I took my friend Jade with me who is the model for my magazine and we took some more pictures which will be added to the contact sheet and will be used in my magazine.

Before half term I was very scared I was not going to be able to complete the whole research and planning part of my magazine but as I made a planning sheet with all the dates I spent everyday of my half term completing different tasks which portrays now I am up to date with everything.

Questionnaire

Click here to take survey

Production Log - 22nd October 2012

This week I had a look through some music magazines and started getting some ideas for my own. Having looked at NME and VIBE really gave me an insight to what I want my magazine to look like and the different features I want it to involve. For example the best magazines I saw were the ones with the best pictures so therefore from this I have learnt that my pictures need to be to the best of my ability in order for my magazine to be successful and appealing to the audience.Additionally the colour scheme is also important so therefore I have decided to make my colour scheme the same as the dress the model is wearing.

Target Audience

Questionnaire on Music Magazines

This week I decided to make a questionnaire in order to help me make up some decisions for my own Music Magazines. Some of the questions which I asked included:

What is your favourite genre of music?

1. Rock
2. Pop
3. R&B
4. Indie
5. Urban
6. Metal

What are your favourite three artists?

What is the maximum price you are prepared to pay?

1. £1.00 - £1.50
2. £2.00 - £2.50 
3. £3.00 - £3.50
4. More than £3.50

What would you like to see in a magazine?

1. Gig reviews
2. Gossip
3. Competitions
4. New Music
5. Photoshoots
6. Posters
7. Advertisement

What is your favourite Music Magazine?

What do you look for in a Magazine when buying it?

Do you necessarily like freebies included?

Contact Sheet

Production Log - 12th October 2012

This week I made my own questionnaire asking people about Music Magazines. Some of the questions I asked included:

• What genre of Music do you listen to most?
• Who is your favorite singer?
• Which Music Magazine do you read most?
• What do you look for when buying a music magazine?
• What is your convenient price for a magazine?
• Do you like magazines which include gossip?
• What do you look for in an article?

Having asked all these questions helped me a lot to decide what I want my magazine to include. For example the question 'What do you look for in an article' most people said 'mostly text and eyecatching pictures', this gave me the idea that my pictures need to be very eye catching and there needs to be a lot of text. Additionally most people also seemed to prefer reading magazines which have a lot of gossip so therefore my magazine will also follow that maxim. Doing this questionnaire helped me a lot as now I am very confident my magazine will be successful and I have no doubts about what I will include on my front cover, contents page and double page spread. However as for my target audience I had a think about which age group the magazine will fit in. Asking about the price helped me decide for this as the teenagers said they would not buy magazines which cost over £3. Moreover my magazine will be a RnB magazine and people aged 11-25 listen to the RnB genre a lot more.

Production Log - 2nd October 2012

This week I have begun doing the research part of the course. I came up with some name ideas for my magazine, slogans and started thinking about the purpose of the magazine and the audience. I have also edited some pictures from the photoshoot on photoshop which went very well. As I have used photoshop before I had no problems with completing this task. Followed by this I have analyzed  existing magazine names such as NME, which is an acronym, Vibe which is known to be symbolic and connotative and it tries to express how the magazine can give you a vibe to music. Having done these analysis it gave me better ideas to come up with my own name of the magazine I will be creating. Having thought about it I believe I will name my magazine Broken Records which is a phrase but it can also go into the category of symbolism and connotative. This is due to 'Broken Records' trying to convey that the magazine will have all the new news about the music industry.

Production Log - 28th September 2012

Today I finished analyzing 3 front covers, 3 double page spreads and 3 contents pages. I analyzed everything that was on the page including headlines, pictures, sub-titles, and the colour schemes. It also gave me ideas about my own magazine and how I should make it the best I can.   

Furthermore I also made a contact sheet with all the pictures from the photoshoot and in the upcoming week I will be making a video on movie maker with all the pictures and  putting a sound to it to make it more effective. Having said this I also started doing the key concepts part of the course which also adds towards giving me a lot of ideas about my own magazine and make it the best I can. I have successfully created my name ideas and colour connotations page for the plan for my magazine. Some of the name ideas that I came up with are:

• Broken Records
• Base
• Backstage Beats 
• Sound
• Radar 
• BRE (Broken Records Express)  

Production Log - 20th September 2012

Magazine Photoshoot 1

Model Release

These are the model releases I got my models to sign in order to allow me to take pictures of them and use them on my magazine.

Double Page Spread Analysis 3

Double Page Spread 3 by

Double Page Spread Analysis - 2

Double Page Spread Analysis - 2

Double Page Spread Analysis - 1

Music Magazine Double Page Spread Analysis - 1

Representation

RepresentationThis  is a presentation about the way in which R&B music magazines has been presented. This includes: Attitudes towards R&B music e.g. negative or positive and how people see it, Clothing of R&B artists (what kind of clothes females and males wear and why), Key Artists and a bit about them and how their music makes them R&B artists and finally the places R&B artists have their concerts at. Having done this really helped me decide what I want my magazine to involve and which genre of music I wanted to do.

Codes and Conventions

Contents Page Analysis - 3

Contents Page Analysis 3

Contents Page Analysis 2

Contents Page Analysis 2

Contents Page Analysis 1

Contents Page Analysis 1

Front Cover of Magazine Analysis 3

Front Cover of Magazine Analysis 3

Front Cover of Magazine - Analysis 2

Front Cover of Magazine Analysis 2

Preliminary Task Evaluation

During the first few weeks of Year 12 we were asked to design a magazine front cover and contents page for the students who attend Haydon School. We were allowed to pick our target audience and I picked the 6th formers as they are the newcomers to Haydon School and in addition I picked the whole school as I also had a picture of a new girl to Haydon outside in the field which portrays 'students at Haydon looking after their school environment'.

On the contents page I tried to make it as simple as I could as it was also aimed at year 7's so therefore they should be able to find what they are looking for as quickly as possible. Additionally we did not have enough time to make anything too good as we only had a few days to complete the whole task.

We used Photoshop to complete this task and I had to edit a few thing such as make the colour of the grass a lot lighter and edit the model's face as she was not very happy with the way it came out to look. The things I included on photoshop are:

• Adding text to covers 
• Magic wand - removing backgrounds and replacing it with another
• Colour replacement tool
• Brightness/Contrast tool - for the grass 

As I was making this I had to make a few changes as I was not happy with the front cover picture so I had to remove it and replace it with another which did take time so therefore I had to complete that part in my free time as I wanted to put my total effort into it. 

The finished product was adequate to fulfilling the task and I realised that I have not forgotten to use Photoshop at all and I will be using it to make my final magazine for my Media Coursework!

Front cover of Magazine - Analysis 1

Front Cover of Magazine Analysis 1

Preliminary Front Cover - Step by step video

                                                  

Above is a video which I created to demonstrate the different steps to make the front cover for the preliminary task. This also portrays that I made the front cover on photoshop and tried my best to make it look as good as I could.

Preliminary Task - Front cover and Contents page

Production Log - 10th September 2012

In today's lesson we carried on with the preliminary task that we began last lesson. As soon as we got in class we were given instructions by Mr Fisher to carry on and we got on the computers and began our work. I had a few initial ideas for my contents page and I asked Neha, a friend of mine for some feedback and she agreed that they were very good ideas so therefore I used them and the final product did come out to be very pleasing. Additionally as we had a double lesson we also began speaking about the exam and got a few ideas about what we should be doing when it comes to doing the mock exam and spoke about the 4 primary things we should be mentioning which are: Camera Angles, Editing, Mise en scene, and Sound.

Production Log - 7th September 2012

Today we started our lesson by talking about the course in general. Secondly we got put into 3 groups and we were given a camera for each group so we could take pictures as our task was to create a school magazine, front cover and contents page only. Furthermore we all processed with our task and took most of the pictures outside due to them looking much better. We all had a lot of ideas for the front cover which included: "Greeting new students", "New 6th form common room", "Eco friendly school", and "best exam results". As soon as we were done with the pictures we went back to class got on the computers and started creating our front cover on Photoshop. Some people who did not study media before did have a bit of trouble getting on as they were not used to working with Photoshop but overall we all did fine however we did not manage to finish the whole task in time. As the task was a preliminary task and we only had to have some initial ideas the magazines we made did not have to be to the best of our ability however for the students in my class this did not mean much as most of us did make great effort and made a great start.