1. Planning, Task 9.
Title of magazine and the genre
For the music magazine I am going to produce, I have decided to call it Era this is because I feel it
suits the chosen genre of my magazine which is rock, but also I believe it is modern which is the
majorityof answers that came from my questionnaire that I produced for task 7. I personally think
this could be an effective name for my masthead as it is short and to the point so I will be able to
feature itinthe top leftthirdof the magazine,meaningitisvisually obvious for the target audience
to be able to see if the magazine was featured in a shop for example, therefore following the
conventionsof amagazine.Ihave chosento choose rock as my genre due to it being popular with a
wide targetaudience meaningitisa goodgenre to choose,especially asthere are rival magazineson
the market so I have a chance to see what popular conventions are commonly used in rock
magazines, with either the main images being bands or singular artists or the type of cover lines
features.
Target audience
The target audience whichIam aimingmymusicmagazine towardsare white, men aged around 16-
21 as I want to aim my magazine at the slightly younger target audience of rock music as they tend
to be the main age range who typically go to concerts, and as I want to feature a concert/ festival
update article,thereforetheywouldappeal tothe type of articlesI’mincludingwithinmymagazine.
I’maimingmy magazine at white men because stereotypically white males appeal to this genre of
musicmore comparedto blackmenor femalesof any ethnicity. These men would be working class
as my magazine won’t be too expensive around £2.99 but the magazine would also be every two
weeks,sothe costis spread and they have longer to read. My target audience would be interested
in the new artists that are upcoming but also they would enjoy reading and socialising by going to
concerts.
Initial ideas on front cover
For the front cover, I want to feature an up and coming alternative rock band, who would be made
up of a at leastone female male,thenwithone extrapersonof eithergender, asI feel theywouldall
looklike astereotypical alternative rockbandastheytendto have a female singer.The shotwill be a
mediumshot,andall membersof the bandwill be usingdirectaddress asitis a conventionIneed to
followbutitwill alsograbthe target audience’sattention.A female will be used as a male gaze, due
to the target audience beingmen.Iam goingtoinclude acover-mountof the up andcomingband as
the mainimage’sepso the targetaudience wouldgettolistentosome of theirmusic,butthiswould
alsoappeal to themas itadds more value tothisrock magazine.Ifeel this type of cover-mount isn’t
immature and makes the magazine appear to be more suited for the target audience as this is
something that would persuade them to buy a music magazine. The main cover line for my music
magazine will be the band’s name (Breaking Boundaries or Young for a day), with the hint of their
exclusivefirstinterview asthiswouldappeal tothe target audience and they would want to read it.
My masthead will be placed in the top left third of my magazine, due to it being sort it should fit
within this section; it will be large and visible so it draws attention straight to the magazine. The
2. house style, colour scheme, will be black for the masthead and red for the cover lines as this will
grab the target audience’s attention and is representative of the genre of music magazine which I
am doing. I will includethree tofourcoverlinesplacedinthe bottomrightthirdof the magazine and
alsothe bottomleftthirdsof the magazine due to the main cover line being placed in the centre of
the magazine going from the left side of the page to the right.
Initial ideas about contents page
“Contents”will be featured across the top third, middle and right side, to address the reader what
this page is. The masthead will be brought across to the contents page in the same place as it is
featuredonthe frontcoveralongside the colourscheme due tothisgivingthe magazine abrand and
helpingitbecome more recognisabletothe targetaudience.My contents page will feature another
photograph of the band on the front cover, and also a selection of two other rock artists. My
contentspage will feature an editor’s note to create a more personal feel to my magazine and this
will alsoaddressthe targetaudience alongside the direct address in the photographs. This text will
be informal tomake it feel personal,andahand writtenlookingsignature will be featuredasthiswill
emphasise the care which has been taken in to creating this magazine. The contents list of
everything that will be featured within my magazine will be placed in the left hand third of my
magazine,withpage numbers(boldtext) included sothe targetaudience willbe able toknow where
to find a certain article, the photographs which I will include will also have a page number on to
where theywill be foundinthe magazine.Subtitleswill be usedtohelpseparatecertain articles and
to give more information on some of the articles so it would make them seem more appealing. A
contact us sectionwill be featuredinone of the bottomthirds,withdifferentsocial mediapagesand
an email address. I will feature a little box by the article cover line in this list saying “on the front
cover”if featuredasthiswouldhelpthe target audience find articles they wanted to read from the
front cover.
Initial ideas on the double page spread
The house style will be repeated on the double page spread as well as the contents page and front
cover as this keeps consistency throughout the magazine and helps build the brand image. My
double page spreadarticle will be aquestionandanswer with the band featured on the front cover
mainimage.The answerswill be afontsize smallercomparedtothe question;the questionwill be a
differentcolourandalsoboldtext.The mainimage of the band will feature andfillupthe entire left
page of the double page spread and the cover line/ title of the article will feature over this
photograph of the band. There won’t be too many questions/ text as I don’t want the page to look
crammed and if there is too much going on within the page this may put the target audience off
purchasing the magazine. A pull quote will be used on the left page as this would encourage the
target audience toreadthe questionandanswerarticle.Iwill use a serif font for the typography on
my double page spread,withadropcap at the start, as thisfontsuits the masthead of my magazine
as it’s an older style, with thick and thin strokes throughout the text.
Initial ideas about photographs
For my maincoverphotograph,Iplannedtomeetupwitha few of my friends as I believe they look
like astereotypical alternative rockbandall together,soIwas goingto experimentwiththe location,
as it’seithergoingtobe in myfriendsrecordingstudiotype roominherhouse or the fields near her
3. house as I feel thiswouldbe suitable locationstotake mymaincoverphotograph.Thiswill consistof
three girls and one boy in the band, this would therefore go against the stereotypical view of rock
bandsas the majorityof photographsfeaturedonthe front cover are of mainly males, but I wanted
to include more females as a male gaze in order to appeal to the target audience slightly more in a
different way.
For anotherphotographwhich would be featured on my contents page, I am going to take another
one of the bandin eitherof the two locations and then I am going to take one of a male as an artist
in the photography studio so I can use the lights to create different effects for the medium shot.
Anotherphotographformycontentspage will be alsotaken in the photography studio but it would
be of another smaller band which would feature in another article throughout the magazine.
For the double page spread I want to get a photograph of the main band sitting on a fence or by a
lake in the fields as I think this is a stereotypical photograph to use for a band article in a music
magazine.
