The document summarizes the research done on existing music magazines Blender and Billboard. Key points include: - Blender magazine targets middle-aged females and focuses on different music genres. Billboard targets a younger audience and includes more popular chart names. - Both magazines use clear, high-quality images but Billboard includes more stories and content. - Blender was published by Dennis Publishing and closed in 2009 due to lack of sales. Billboard is produced by Prometheus Global Media. - Conventions of music magazines include bold covers, catchy colors, taglines, and barcodes. - The document outlines plans for covers, contents pages, and spreads for a new music magazine aimed at ages 14-20.

1. AS Media Foundation Portfolio Music Magazine Log Book Laura Clarke

2. Research

3. Blender Magazine Blender is a music magazine aimed at an audience of middle age female adults. Blender is the new magazine that advertises and sells the unique sound that is rock & roll, it is displayed in all its forms from; new metal to hip hop, and rock to R&B. The magazine is the spirit of 21 st century rock & roll. It is a monthly magazine that focuses on the different music genres and information on the music field. The quality of the images and text are fairly good. The title is large and bold, however it is behind the main image and is slightly hard to read this is negative as the name doesn’t stand out and if people are looking for it they might not be able to see it as clearly. The front image is clear and good as it is of a well known singer that people will recognise straight away and relate her to music. I have also realised that the magazine doesn’t have a barcode or date of issue and magazine number visible. However the side heading stories are well structured and stand off the page, they can be clearly read this is positive as people will straight away want to carry reading on.

4. Billboard Magazine Billboard magazine is aimed at a slightly younger age group of females, as it includes a lot more names from the top charts it appeals more to a younger age group that are up to date with the music charts. The colours used for the background are slightly more tonal which makes the rest of the text stand out. The main image is again of a well known female artist that would be associated with music, the image is very clear and of a good quality. Compared to Blender magazine there are a lot more feature heading and stories, so this could be the magazine trying to advertise that they have a lot more content than any other music magazine. However the colours of the feature stories are in white text ant the bottom of the picture it is white, so some of the text cant be seen as clearly. The logo is very creative and has a retro look. I really like the idea of having the Os and Ds coloured in. I might use this method for the logo of my magazine Loud as I can colour the O and the D in it will give my magazine a unique look.

5. Who produces Blender and Billboard magazines Blender- Blender was published by Dennis Publishing. The magazine was first published in 1994. It was the first CD/ROM magazine, it published 15 digital CD issues in the UK. The magazine was launched on the web in 1997 and started as a print edition again in 1999. Blender magazine was owned by a company called Alpha Media Group, but the company closed Blender magazine down on March 26 th 2009 due to no sales. The last print based blender magazine was published in April 2009. Billboard- The company that produces Billboard magazine is called Prometheus Global Media. They are an American Entertainment Publishing Company. The company was formed by the by the sale of the entertainment and media division of Nielsen Business Media in December 2009

6. Magazine research Bauer media Group is a company that produce and publish many well known magazines such as Kerrang and Mojo. The German company based in Hamburg and has 15 other operating companies worldwide. The company was founded in 1875 and is privately owned and is under the management of the Bauer family

7. Conventions of a Music Magazine These features should all be considered when making a music magazine : Suitable and bold main front cover image Bright and eye catching colours Colour co-ordinated throughout the magazine Plenty to look at Bold and easy to read text Masthead Taglines Cover lines Barcodes Eye catching colour lines

8. Planning

9. Analysing a front cover To help me get some ideas for the layout of my front page, so I got some inspiration from the Billboard magazine. I like the idea of having a smaller main image as it gives more room for side heading and titles. The colour of the background is simple but effective and the name of the magazine is clearly visible, whereas with other issues of Billboard the name of the magazine can be hidden by the main image. The bar code is situated in the bottom left hand corner of the magazine so it is out of the way from the rest of the text. The name of the band is in bold next to the image I think that this is a good idea as it makes the image stand out and it makes sense.

10. Design plan for front cover This is a drawn design for the front page of my music magazine. I have decided to keep the name of the magazine visible, so that the image only covers a small part of it. I have done this as I like the style of the name and I think that it will promote and advertise the product better as people will be able to see what it is called. The main image I will use will be of a teenage girl aged 17 called Rhyanon. She is wearing a simple black dress and belt with a gold necklace, I decided to keep the pose simple because I didn’t want it to look too fussy. I have kept all of the text the same colour (white) as I think this looks simple and effective. I have made sure that any names are in bold so that they stand out more and catch peoples attention. I have put the date, issue number, and bar code in the top right hand corner so that it is out of the way from the rest of the text giving me more room for text and a bigger image. I have also included a small image of the girl band The Saturdays as they are a well recognised band.

11. Analysing a contents page This is an image of the contents page for the billboard magazine. It has been set out into three separate columns. One with the names of albums and songs in the top charts, the next with the main contents, and the last column has the details for the magazines online website. I will be using this method on my magazine. The main contents on one side, the image features on the other side and a note from the editor at the bottom of the page. I think that this layout is very modern and professional. The main features have a small image to go with them, I believe this has been done as these are the most important articles. The contents page also has details for the website of the magazine, this is useful for the reader as they know for future reference if they cant get the magazine they are able to access the website.

12. Design plan for contents page This is a drawn design for the contents page of my music magazine. I will have a small image of the front page of my magazine, to show what page the main features are on that are featured on the front page. I will do this this because the features are the most important part that makes people want to look at the magazine so it is important to make them more obvious. I have decided to use the same style as the Billboard magazine so for example there will be three sections on the page one will feature the actual contents in text another section will feature 3 main images and the final section at the bottom of the page will have a short paragraph introducing the magazine from the editor this will also have a small picture of the editor. I found from my research that this is used in quite a lot of professional magazines so I think this would make my magazine look even more professional.

13. Analysing a double page spread This is an image of a double page spread from the magazine Shout. It features the girl band ‘The Saturdays’. The title is bold and catches your attention. I like the fact that the image is carried all across the top of the page, and the interview is at the bottom of the page, as this separates the page into two sections. I might use this idea in my double page spread. The colours are all very girly and bright so they stand out. I think this is important because if the text was blue or green it wouldn’t appeal to girls as much. The image used is very clever as each band member is looking into the camera, so this makes the reader seem involved.

14. Design plan for double page spread This is a design for my double page spread. I will have a box at the top of the page separating the two different sections where I will promote two new bands. I will have slightly different layouts for the two.

15. In what ways will your media product use, develop or challenge forms and conventions of real media products? I think that the final outcome of my magazine will relate to the existing music magazines such as Billboard. My magazine will follow certain convention from Billboard such as the layout colours and design. However I will be aiming my magazine at a slightly different audience, so I will be presenting it with slightly different wording and images. My magazine will challenge other professional music magazines already on the market, and the conventions of other music magazines. My magazine will be targeted at an audience of both male and females aged 14-20. So to help me get ideas for this, I have researched magazines that are aimed at this specific audience such as Billboard and kerrang. I think that doing the research will help my final product more professional as I will have all the required content, so I think it would have a place in the market alongside other professional magazines.

16. How does your media product represent particular social groups? I plan for my magazine audience to be male and females aged 14-20 I feel that the representations of young teenagers in the media today are very negative. So I want the representations in my magazine to be positive about teenage girls. From the research I found that most women used for the main image are confident, stylish and in control. However from other magazines the teenage girls were portrayed as being objects, and are seen to not be wearing a lot of clothing, this could then make the magazine appeal more to men then younger girls. So my magazine will represent teenage girls as being naturally pretty and innocent so that it will appeal more to girls as well as males and nothing offensive will be exposed.

17. What kind of media institution might distribute you media product and why? I think that my magazine would stand a good chance of being distributed by the media company Bauer, as it produces music magazines similar to the one that I have created, so I think that Bauer would be fairly interested in distributing my magazine and it would stand a good chance in the media institution alongside many other music magazines.

18. Who would be the audience for your product and why? My new magazine will be aimed at a target audience of male female aged between 14 and 20. I have chosen this age group as I think that the style of my music magazine contents will appeal to this sort of age group. I believe that most women would like to see other women in a positive way, and I think that my magazine portrays this factor. This image backs up what I’m saying as you can clearly see that all the girls in the band look in control and confident. And the clothing that they are wearing is decent, so there is nothing that would upset younger readers.

19. How did you attract/address your audience? I will include many different features that will attract my audience, for example… I will use bright colours that stand out from other dull magazines. So that they are eye catching to people as they pass by. I will use bold writing so that it can clearly be seen. All images I use will be appropriate for younger readers, but at the same time they will be attractive and appeal to my target audience. As for the image on the front cover, I will use an image of a band that I feel appeals to most teenagers that I have based the magazine on. So this will therefore attract people to my magazine. On my contents I will have a small image to go with the main features to make my main articles stand out. I will also try not to use too much text so as not to bore my audience. I will be using more information on my double page spread so there is more useful information for the reader, however I will also include pictures that will relate to the topic on which I’m talking about.

20. What have you learnt about technologies from the process of constructing this product? I have learnt allot about new technologies from the making of this product. To begin with I didn’t have any knowledge on how to use the programme Photoshop, and only once I started to get to gips with it I realised that you d not have to make dramatic changes to your images to make them look professional. When I first started using Photoshop I was using the basic tools for example the eraser and lasso tool, i then went on to using some of the more complicated tools to create a better finish to the images for example I used the magnetic lasso tool to get into the smaller areas I couldn’t of done with the basic lasso tool I then went on to using the gradient tool to really bring out the different colours in the image. I took the images using a digital camera and the uploaded them to one of the school computers, this then enabled me to open them into Photoshop for editing.

21. Looking back at your preliminary, what do you feel you have learnt from it to the full product? When I look back at my preliminary I feel that I have learnt a lot about creating the most appropriate product for your target audience through the colours and text style. To me this is very important because if you don’t have the right house style the wrong people will buy your magazine and you will have failed to meet the needs of your target audience. I think that my Photoshop skills have improved dramatically and I am now using more images rather than leaving blank spaces, for example when I look back at my preliminary work there was a lot of blank space where I could have added more detail and text so I have made sure that with my main task work I have filled in all of the blank space with text and images, this meant that in parts I layered some text over an image. Another thing I have learnt from my preliminary is that I should have a range of pictures to choose from, for example with my preliminary all of my pictures were similar and taken in the same locations, so I decided with my main task to vary my locations and the style of my images.

22. Preparation To help with organisation I created my magazine in four steps. First of all I decided on a name for the magazine I made a list of possible names I then broke these down and decided to use the name ‘LOUD’ I think that this was a good choice as it is about music and it is short but effective Secondly I decided on the colour scheme and layout for my magazine. I decided on making the layout by mainly using boxes with spaces in-between as I think this looks fairly modern so would appeal to my target audience. And as for the colour scheme I have decided on using many various bright and eye catching colours as I believe this will make my product stand out from other magazines on the market. Thirdly I decided on whether my magazine would be sold nationally or global. In the end I decided to go for global as I can then include more verity using bands from different countries. And finally I decided on the price that I would sell the magazine. I did some research into the prices of other music magazines on the market and the prices ranged between £2-£6 I found that this was quite a wide scale so in the end I decided to price my magazine at £3 as this is in the middle, I also believe that this is a reasonable price that my audience would be willing to pay monthly.

23. Music Questionnaire This is what my music questionnaire looks like the questions are as follows; 1. Age, 2. gender, 3. Ethnic Group, 4. Do you ever buy music magazines?, 5. If you don’t buy music magazine do you follow a certain band/artist online?, 6. What type of music do you prefer?, 7. If there was a magazine on this certain band/artist, would you buy it?

24. Results from questionnaire From the results that I collected from my questionnaire I have found that the majority of people who looked at the magazine said that they thought it was eye catching and that they would probably buy it if it was in the market place. I will later do a few graphs to represent the results that I have collected that will show just how professional my magazine could actually be, and that I have met the requirements of the target audience.

25. My proposal I propose to product a new music magazine named LOUD, a pop magazine on a monthly basis. Aimed at males and females aged 14-20 who enjoy reading about articles on their favourite bands/artists in the charts. My magazine will represent women as being confident stylish and in full control it will also display the chances that new bands have in the media. I will attract me audience by using bold, colourful articles and text that will keep me audience interested in the magazine. I will price my magazine at a reasonable price of £3 as I believe that my target audience will be happy to pay this amount for a monthly magazine. My magazine will have 20 pages, and the size of the magazine will be 220mm X 285mm. My magazine will be informal and fun to read as I believe that this is what my target audience would look for in a music magazine. I feel that my magazine will challenge the media representations of women, as I will portray the women I use in my images as being confident and fully in control. My magazine will use similar conventions to the magazine Billboard, however I feel that my magazine will be more of a niche market.

26. Photography Planning- front page For my front cover image I decided to have a picture of a a teenage girl aged 17, she is wearing a simple black dress with a belt and gold necklace. I decided have to just have a simple pose here she is looking into the camera with one hand on her hip, I think that this looks simple yet very effective as it draws the readers eyes to her. I did the photo shoot in the Media Editing Suit where I my model stood in front of a plain white wall, I then decided to use a green screen as I thought this would make it easier for me when it came to editing the image on Photoshop. I then decided to add in the photo light box to lighten up the models face and give it more effect. To make sure that I got the perfect shot I took pictures at different angles using both flash and without flash. I took images of her in different poses to see which looked best, to do this I took some images with her holding a microphone and then some others of her pretending to sing.

27. Photography Planning- contents page For the contents page I used a three images two of bands and one of a solo artist. I chose to use these people as they are well known so my audience would be interested in reading on. I also decided to include a small image of the front page from my magazine, this is so that I can give the page that the main features that are titled on the front page are. This is so that people will know that these are the main stories. I have used many images on the contents page as I needed more room to put the actual contents on and as this took up quite a lot of room I have only used three images down the side and a small image to the top of the page of the front page.

28. Photography Planning- double page spread For the front page I used three images and made them into one image, by using Photoshop to edit them so they looked part of one image. I organised a photo shoot with a few people from post 16, but as a lot of them had lessons at different times I had to get separate images. Then using these images I made one main image that is featured at the bottom of the page on the second page of my double page spread. As for the second page of my double page spread, I went to a small club in London to meet up with a new band called Twenty Twenty. They agreed to having an interview and they let me take a few pictures. I did this because my target audience is also aimed at males so I thought this would be a good article that males would enjoy

29. Using Photoshop to improve my images As you can see from the picture opposite, I have joined 3 individual images together so that they look like they are all in one band. I did this on Photoshop by simply cutting each of them out and placing them on a black background.

30. Evaluation and Analysing

31. Analysis of front cover Bold and visible magazine name Same housestyle (blue background) Clear image Main feature is bold and therefore easy to read Barcode is out of the way and not too obvious on the page

32. Analysis of contents page Three column rule Message from the editor Main feature pictures Contents are aligned to the right Each section is a different colour block Main feature page numbers are bigger and bolder than the rest of the text

33. Analysis of double page spread Three column room Page number Name of magazine Date of issue Page number Name of magazine Stage light background Different colour text for the two different bands Title of band matches the colour of the text about them Both sides of the magazine are symmetrical

34. Front and Contents Page

35. Double Page Spread

36. Audience Feedback 1. Firstly I asked 100 people aged 12-18 if they thought the layout and colour scheme was attractive Results 85% said yes 15% said no I think that this quite clearly proves that the majority of my target audience would find my magazine interesting

37. Audience Feedback 2. Again I asked another 100 people aged 12-18 if the thought that the content was suitable for the target audience Results 80% said yes 10% said no So again I think that this is quite clear that the content that I have included in my magazine is suitable for my target audience.

38. Audience Feedback 3. And finally I asked another 100 people aged 14-20 if they would pay £3 for my magazine. Results 5% said maybe 92% said they defiantly would 3% said they would not So from these results I feel that most people would be happy to pay the amount for the magazine. Overall I think that my magazine has had very positive feedback and I’m happy with the results.

39. What have you learnt about technologies from the process of constructing the product? From creating my product I have learnt how to use different programmes such as Photoshop. As before I had no experience and not much knowledge so this was a perfect chance to challenge myself and learn new techniques. I have learnt how to manipulate images so that I can now put three separate images together to make one big picture. I have learnt that Photoshop is one the best programmes for editing pictures and that it doesn’t take a great deal of time to make small changes . However without the use of Photoshop I don’t think my images would have the desired effect.

40. Theories of stereotyping Stereotyping involves both categorising and an evaluation of a group being stereotyped They usually pick up on differences in a group and suggest that it is these features that is the cause of the groups position The evaluation of the group can usually be negative Stereotypes pick up and emphasize on differences where the idea of difference is more appropriate than normality. Branston and Stafford 2006 Key characteristics of stereotyping