- The document discusses the planning and construction of a music magazine targeted towards 16-20 year olds of mixed gender. - Research on other magazines informed the target genres of indie music and conventions like placement of cover lines and masthead. - Photos were taken of friends posing as a band to feature in the magazine, with consideration for costumes, locations, and lighting. - The magazine was constructed using Photoshop, Publisher, and a digital camera to achieve a professional look and feel.

1. Evaluation of Music Magazine Shannon Grant

2. Target Audience & Research My specific target audience is for 16-20 year olds of a mixed gender, this is so my magazine will appeal to more people, as 16-20 mixed gender have a wide variety of different people. From my survey I realised that the majority of people enjoying music magazines were ages from 16-20 which is why I focussed that as my target audience. I researched into other magazines such as NME, MOJO and Q, this enabled me to see the typical conventions I found in these magazines were things like the music genres all being rock and indie, this then lead me to think that I should base my magazine genre around this, as it obviously sells, and might make my own music magazine successful. I intended to appeal to the audience by using the same techniques as the magazines I researched. Which include by labelling them in socio-economic classes and targeting People by psychographics, by looking at the kind of lifestyles the audience buying my magazine would be.

3. Planning To begin planning my music magazine I sent out a survey from survey monkey which meant I could see what people liked and see who I should mainly focus on pleasing. After looking at the results of my survey, I realised that the genre of the music magazine I was going to do should be indie, this was because it meant there were a lot of different options I could do being as indie is a wide variety of different music, the bands are generally all different so it wouldn’t matter who I used as my models. To plan my magazine I started by writing a proposal, this is how I could look back and realise what I was going to do. I then looked at conventions of music magazines, and deconstructed other music magazines, this enabled me to understand what other magazines are like so as I could get my magazine to a professional standard.

4. I needed to organise a time which I could use my friends as models and take studio shots of them. This involved making a set date and inviting my friends to come and help me out. As well as organising the “band” I had to organise props and costumes, to do this I simply asked my friends to pick out a number of different outfits (so they wouldn’t be wearing the same in every picture) and that was all for costume however for the props I had to think about what kind of band they were and find the correct instruments to portray the right image. My shots were planned however using spontaneity within the shots allowed the look of the band to not look perfect like every other girl band, but normal human beings. I think this worked well as bands generally have busy life styles, so making my shots look quick and snappy seemed to work. My magazine represents an older youth in a different light, it shows two young adults setting a good example to younger ones. Also by using girls as my band I made my magazine more appealing to females, this is because generally bands are made out of males, sometimes a few females, but I think the idea of band enabled women to look like they were good at something rather than being in magazines for sex appeal.

5. Construction I chose the specific graphics for the masthead of my magazine by looking on ‘Dafont.com’ I chose the font because I thought it looked destroyed and eroded. This was good to add a kind of grungy feel to my magazine. The computers I used mostly was my home computer and the school computers, I used photoshop to edit my photos which enabled me to get my images looking quite professional. To put my magazine together I used Windows Publisher, this was also good as like the photoshop, it enabled me to get my magazine at a professional standard. I used a digital camera so that I could put my pictures on the computer and edit them. The lighting wasn’t really an issue as some of my shots were of practise times in a artificially lit room. My studio shots I took in day light, and as it was snowy it gave a crisp feel to my images. During the photo shoot I changed some of the flat plan ideas such as having my band on a stage, and having them posing in a studio, this was because i wouldn’t have been able to use a stage or a studio, so I had to work with what I had which was my house and the snow outside. In editing the pictures/images I didn’t really change or crop much, I generally just made the faces look clearer and increased the contrast.

6. The codes and conventions I used in my music magazine were technical (camera techniques & shots), symbolic (ie clothing, colours) written and audio (music etc). Which gave the text meaning to help to establish the response of the viewer. I used the conventions as a basis to help construct my music magazine, by writing my article, taking the pictures and generally what was in the magazine. Technical: I used a lot of different shots for my images, using candid and studio, from different angles such as a low angle shot for the front cover, to make my band look powerful and almighty. Symbolic: The main colour theme for my magazine was a dark pink/red, I thought this meant it was more women however the colour could be seen as burgundy which could be male, I decided to use a unisex colour. The clothes which my band are wearing seem to be a quite laid back type of dress code, and the colours I have used is mostly white, this was to show purity through the two girls, which means they are not rebelish and do good things. Written: I wrote about the band in a way that wasn’t too literary but not simple, I thought it was a well constructed article and appears to be well spoken which gives the magazine a more formal feel to it, as if it wasn’t too much of a light read, but not difficult. Codes & Conventions

7. The front cover of my magazine (Fuse) shows a long shot of a two girls band, they are both wearing bright colours which help them to stand out against the white background. This shot is a studio shot, which means they were prepared for it. To get focus on to the writing I have used denser colours for the text boxes, this is so it shows up against the brightness of the image. I specifically asked my models to wear blue as this means the colour theme (pinky-red) would stand out well against the image. The masthead for the magazine says “FUSE” which is the title of the magazine, it stands for. The masthead is off-centre but this means the band members can be seen fully, the masthead is clear and easy to read from a distance. I feel that the mastheads font should stand out more than the headlines, so I done the masthead in a more outstanding font. I think this works well because people might want to be able to recognise their favourite magazine which would be easy to establish from the masthead as it stands out most. I think I have used the colours well to contrast one another, the colours also show no specific gender, being a pinky red I think could be specific for both genders. The front cover I don’t think is gender specific however showing women as being talented rather than just having sex appeal might be more suited towards women rather than men. I didn’t use a left third I placed the cover lines all over the place to make it look more innovative. The cover lines play a big role of inviting the readers and I think using “50 best albums of the year!” to do this works well as it intrigues people to find out what is inside. The cover lines state lots of band names, which is good and a lot like MOJO magazine and NME magazine. The cover lines big up the magazine and makes it sound like the best in the world for example it says- “Number 1 in music magazines” There is not much information on the front cover which makes you want to read more from the inside and what the cover lines say, this means you would buy it to read it, this is good. I think this cover has a slight uniqueness to it, because generally other magazines have a lot of information on the front cover but where this one doesn’t you have to buy it to read it, this is good because it entices people like they want to read more. However, I do think that ‘NME’ is similar to ‘Kerrang’ music magazine, this is because they share the way they used an image of a whole band, rather than just one member of a band like other music magazines (MOJO). The font, colour scheme, type and even the way it is laid out is a lot like MOJO’s. I think people who would be most likely to buy my magazine would be mostly individualists as the two people on the front are quite odd looking, which could have an impact on someone wanting to be “different”. Deconstruction

8. Deconstructive Similarities My front cover compared to Q’s is quite similar, the mastheads are on the same side, the cover lines are in a similar place, as is the strip across the middle and the strip across the bottom. Alike to Q I have used a simple image as a background filler. Aswell as that The bar codes are exceptionally alike. All of these similarities makes me feel as though my magazine is at a professional standard as I have stuck to the conventions of a music magazine. Masthead Cover lines Middle Strip Bottom Strip Image Masthead Masthead Masthead Cover lines Masthead Cover lines Masthead Cover lines Masthead Cover lines Masthead Image Cover lines Masthead Image Cover lines Masthead Image Cover lines Masthead Middle Strip Image Cover lines Masthead Middle Strip Image Cover lines Masthead Middle Strip Image Cover lines Masthead Bottom Strip Middle Strip Image Cover lines Masthead Image Image Middle Strip Image Middle Strip Image Middle Strip Image Bottom Strip Middle Strip Image Bottom Strip Middle Strip Image Masthead Bottom Strip Middle Strip Image Cover lines Masthead Bottom Strip Middle Strip Image Cover lines Masthead Bottom Strip Middle Strip Image

9. From my first project of creating a student magazine I feel as though I have improved my magazine making skills as my music magazine looks a lot more professional than my student magazine. This is because my student magazine hasn’t got very clear writing and the colours don’t show any gender or race etc. specifications.

10. Finished Magazine I generally fulfilled the conventions of a music magazine by using them as a brief guide line for making my own magazine, this helped me to not miss out any of the conventions. For example; to keep at the right socio-economical group i priced my magazine at a reasonable price, not too expensive and not free/cheap. If my magazine was real I think it would be placed with NME and Q, being as they were my main inspirations for my magazine they a quite similar to my magazine. I think I have appealed to my target audience by sticking by what they said in the survey, this helped me to give the audience what they want, being as they are the ones that would buy it, it should be something they like/agree with. The evaluation from my target group indicated that I should change a few things about my magazine, the feedback helped me to appeal even more to my target audience being as my class are ages 16-20. The feedback comments they gave me suggested that I should sort out my spelling, and get rid of widows within large paragraphs of text. The feedback helped me to improve my magazine. The most likely media industry to publish my music magazine would be IPC as they publish NME and being as my magazine is similar it would probably be best if the same published my magazine. I think I could have improved my organisation, in getting everything done at a fast pace and also I think my front cover could be improved. i think that my contents page and double page spread went well as it is at a professional standard and use the codes and conventions of music magazines.

11. What I Have Learnt I have learnt more about using photoshop to edit my images, and I have learnt a lot more about using publisher to make magazines. By using Blogger to hold all of my coursework I have learnt how to use the website itself and I have also learnt about what blogs are for and what they generally have on them, this is good because I have stretched my knowledge of the internet, and will be able to use it in the future. Looking back at my preliminary task, the student magazine, I realise that my music magazine is a lot better, this is because I learnt about the codes and conventions whereas for my student magazine it was different. I think from the preliminary task to the music magazine I have progressed with my presentation, and professional standard, as I think my magazine looks like a real one, whereas my student magazine looks really amateur because of the construction of it.