Music Magazine Evaluation
For my AS Media Studies coursework unit ,the brief was to create a front cover, contents page and double page spread for a new music magazine. I had to use a minimum of four original images taken by me. To help me gather some ideas I did some in-depth research about the key conventions of a music magazine. I did nine separate documents for my research looking at three front covers, three contents pages, three double page spreads and the key conventions and how magazines were constructed. These include a masthead, images, barcode, pull quotes and sub headings. I also looked at how music magazines were constructed, where the masthead was positioned, what headlines they used to draw attention to the audience, how the images were positioned on the pages and what camera angles they used for continuity which links in with keeping the house style consistent. I also looked at the mise-en-scene and how it was used to fit in with the magazine. I researched the institution for each front cover, contents page and double page spread,and how synergy is used within the institutions for each magazine. I researched how the publishing companies make lots of money by featuring a specific artist of a particular music genre in their magazine ,which also makes the music artist lots of money by promoting their upcoming tours and gigs etc. I looked at the ideology within each front cover, contents page and double page spread and how the institutions values, morals beliefs are represented. I researched the target audience for each magazine and how , depending on what the audience is will depend on what genre of magazine they buy. I also did some research on the conventional features within each front cover, contents page and double page spread and how the main image featured on the front cover of the magazine represents the target audience. It features a music artist who the audience aspire to be like. The three front covers that I analysed were from issues of Metal Hammer, NME and Classic Rock. The research that I did was from issues such as NME, Metal Hammer, Kerrang and Classic Rock. I chose to research the key conventions from these magazines because they are the same genre and are targeted at the same target audience which are people who enjoy heavy metal and rock music.
The genre that I chose for my music magazine was heavy metal and rock. I chose this genre of music because the model that I used had an attire that matched both the genre and the target audience and the look that goes really well with this type of genre. I also chose the heavy metal and rock music genre because it has a large target audience and an excessive variety of bands that I can use within the contents of my magazine. The target audience for my music magazine is people from the ages of 18 and up. The reason for this is because the two genres that I chose are enjoyed and listened to most people around that particular age which means that my magazine will have a much larger target audience than most other magazines. My magazine is targeted at people who like either the heavy metal or rock music genre. It features articles and stories that the audience will find interesting and enjoy reading which should make them purchase the next issue when it is released. For example an inside look into the life of a specific artist. If the articles featured in my magazine are based on an artist who is well known and who is a role model to the target audience, then it will give them even more of a reason to purchase my magazine. It is important that the front cover represents the audience that will be buying my magazine and make them choose my magazine ahead of all the others that are in the same or similar genre.
My magazine is priced at £3.99 and will be published on a monthly basis and will feature around 140 pages. By having the price at £3.99 it makes the magazine affordable to students who are the main target audience for my magazine. By having my magazine released on a monthly basis the price is higher yet it still appeals to students. I also think that it is cheaper for the audience to purchase a magazine on a monthly basis because they will only be paying £3.99 per month. Where as if my magazine was going to be published on a weekly basis it wouldn’t be made with the best quality paper etc. It would also cost probably around £2.30 which does sound cheap for a magazine that is published on a weekly basis but when you add the four weeks in a month it comes to around £9.20 per month and would only feature between 50 and 60 pages per issue. By having my music magazine published monthly it will be beneficial to the target audience because it will be saving them money and the magazine will feature more pages and will also be made with high quality resources. It will feature the latest news for the specific month in which it is released, and inform the audience about all of the upcoming heavy metal and rock bands gigs, tours and concerts. My magazine is going to have a consistent house style to make it recognizable and easy to notice.
I began by creating my front cover in adobe Photoshop. The main colours featured on the cover were black, gold, white and brown. I chose those four colours because they contrast well together and associate well with the heavy metal and rock music genres. I made sure that my front cover featured the conventions of a real media product to attract my target audience. The main focus point on my front cover is the main image. The main image was taken at a medium close up shot and is of my friend Ben. The main headline featured on my front cover is associated with the main image. It tells the audience that there is an “Exclusive Interview” with the featured artist on the cover. The text “Exclusive Interview” is done in the font “impact” and done in an upper case. Below that is the name of the featured artist in my magazine which is “Ben Morgan”, his name is done in the “Impact” font which is also in upper case.This is in gold to keep consistency within the house style of my magazine and is the largest piece of text on the page. Below is a pull quote which I have taken from the article on my double page spread. I have placed a pull quote on the cover of my music magazine because it draws the attention of the audience. I chose an interesting pull quote from the article which was, “I never understood why the bullies at my school hated the metal heads”. This pull quote is associated well with the genre of the magazine because there will be a large percentage of my target audience that are “metal heads”. It will make them want to read the article. The masthead on my front cover is placed at the top so the audience knows the name of the magazine which I chose to be “Heavy Rock”. I chose this name by combining the heavy metal and rock music genres together. The mastheads font is Cooper Std and the font colour is white with a black border placed around it. I chose the font colour as white because it contrasts well with the brown background which makes it stand out and easy to read. Directly above the masthead there is a gold banner which runs all the way across the width of the cover. On the banner it tells the audience the issue number and issue release along with the free item that they get with the issue, which is an AC/DC guitar pick. I chose this because AC/DC fit the music genre that that my magazine is based on. Also there will be a lot of guitarists that purchase my magazine, so including a free guitar pick in the issue would be another reason for them to purchase the magazine. The font used for the text on the banner is “Impact” and the font colour is black. I chose the black font colour to keep the house style on my magazine consistent. Black text also goes well with gold and catches the attention of the reader. Another music magazine convention that I included on my front cover was a barcode which featured the price of £3.99 placed above it. Every magazine that is published always features a barcode on the cover so that it can be purchased in a local newsagents etc. it makes it look noticeable as a music magazine as shows the audience the price of the magazine. When the target audience purchase a magazine usually one of the first things that they look at is the price.
My double page spread was also created in adobe Photoshop. I kept the same colour scheme for my double page spread ( gold, brown, black and white ) to keep the house style of my magazine consistent. I positioned the Heavy Rock logo at the top left of the double page spread, it stands out and shows that this double page belongs to Heavy Rock magazine. Below the logo there is a masthead which tells the audience who the featured article on the page is about, “world exclusive” which is done in a white font and is in upper case and below that “Ben Morgan” which is also done in upper case however I changed the font colour to gold and made this text slightly bigger because it is the most important piece of text on the page. The article takes up approximately one half of the left page on my double page spread. There are several questions that have been asked to the artist. It is an article that the target audience who purchase my magazine will find interesting as it is an artist who is new to the music industry. The conducted interview talks about the artist’s past, present and future. At the bottom left I put two links that the audience will find useful. They are links to the artist’s official Facebook and Twitter social networking sites. This is use of synergy in my magazine. We are helping Ben Morgan by making him the main featured artist in this issue of our magazine and by adding links on the double page to his social networking sites it allows the target audience to listen to his music and find even more information about him. It also expands his fan base. Synergy is used in our advantage by Ben Morgan becoming one of the main reasons for my magazine selling lots of copies. The main image on my double page spread is of Ben. It takes up the majority of the right page on my double page spread. A guitar is used as a prop in my main image. I chose to have a guitar featured in my main image because it is a music magazine, so it makes sense to have a musical instrument of some kind featured within the magazine. It is also a musical instrument that Ben plays and it adds to the look of the image. If the image didn’t feature any props then it would look plain. There is also a film strip that I placed along the right hand side of my double page spread. I put it there so that I could place a few of my other photos in there. It looks unique and it is something that I haven’t seen in a music magazine before. I changed the colour of the photos from their original colour to black and white. I did this so that the main image still stands out. To add some final touches to my double page spread I placed a row of tall structures and faded them into the background. This was because the original background was to plain.
My contents page was created in adobe Photoshop. There are more advantages using Photoshop than any other piece of computer software. For example you can layer things up on top of each other so that what you are creating is much easier to work with. There are also a lot more tools and techniques that you can use such as paint tools, effect tools, colour contrast and brightness tools etc. It is a lot more advanced than other computer software which is used for creating music magazines. My contents page has a consistent house style by keeping the same colour scheme just like my front cover and double page spread which is black, gold, white and brown. The main background colour is a dark shade of brown just like the background on my double page spread. The title “Contents” is at the top left of the contents page. The font used is “Impact” and is done in upper case. There are four photos featured on my contents page which run along the left side. There is one of the photos which was taken by me and the other photos are from the heavy metal and rock music genre. The photo taken by me is eye catching and stands out.It is the main focusing point on my contents page as my photo is the main artist featured in the magazine. I used more conventions from real music magazine on my contents page by allocating a page number to each of the images. Down the right hand side of my contents page is a list of what the main news, interviews, gigs and album reviews are featured within the contents of my magazine. They are the pages that the target audience will find the most interesting. The font colour is white and is placed on a light brown background so it makes the text stand out.
The kind of media institution that would distribute my magazine would be one of the mainstream institutions because the music genre for my magazine is increasing in popularity all the time. I looked at several institutions that distribute music magazines such as NME and Q and the institution that distributes my magazine would be similar to these because they appeal to the rock and heavy metal music genre. Also these magazines have similar target audiences to my magazine. Whilst I have been creating my music magazine my knowledge about media products has increased. I have learnt that every convention on a music magazine is important. The masthead, headlines, photos, font, colour scheme and layout etc is all really important. Everything visual on the magazine needs to be done to its best and it needs to fit the genre and target audience for the magazine. I have also gained a lot of news skills in adobe Photoshop. Before creating my music magazine I had minimal skills in using this piece of software. But creating my music magazine using this programme had widened my usage of skills. Using this software has made me a lot more confident and I am sure that it will help me in the future. Doing the preliminary task which was to create the front cover of a college magazine also helped me when creating my music magazine. I took the feedback which I got from the preliminary task into consideration. It also helped me give my music magazine a professional look about it.
