Music Magazine - Evaluation
From the research that I gathered I decided that I would create a rock music magazine. Whilst doing the research I have found that they were usually aimed towards the older teens to young adults. It is this age range of 15 - 34 that appears to be most interested in the bands which are included in the rock genre. The members of rock bands also tend to be slightly younger resulting in a younger target audience being brought in. I will also aim my magazine to this same age range as it is this age range of people from 15-34 who are most interested in this genre of music. The rock magazines I have looked at are aimed at both males and females. This is shown through their use of colours and the bands they have shown. I am going to aim my magazine to both males and females so as that it will have a wider target audience. By having the target audience as both it puts no restrictions onto creating the magazine. I created my rock music magazine to appeal to people with a rock 'n' roll image who are more edge. This was because in all the magazines I looked at all the bands and people in the magazine were casually dressed or sometimes smart casual. It also helps to show the idea that the audience viewing these types of magazine are very much normal everyday people with chilled out attitudes and simple opinions. Their interests were mostly on popular rock bands and their ways of life. I incorporated this into my double page spread article by discussing the normal everyday things which people will face. This could be seen through their use of informal language. So when I created my magazine I used a relaxed tone and included the normal everyday problems which people would face such as missing home. I also used darker colours to portray the idea that the rock genre involves a lot of anger and heightens any emotion. They also were mostly interested in the general idea of rock music and all that involved. The audience of people looking at these types of magazine also had interests in gigs and new music releases. I involved this into my magazine by including these ideas into my article. When planning my music magazine I made sure that it would appeal to a wide spectrum of readers. I made it so that it would appeal to the older teenagers who tend to be more open to a wide variety of music bands. The magazine appeals to a specific audience because it will discuss stories that are relevant to people who listen to and are interested by rock music and its background. Kerrang! Identifies its audience as ‘individually minded, independent of thought and musically experienced, an audience defined by attitude, passion and loyalty’. It is people who are like this that my magazine will also most appeal to so I made sure that when writing the double page spread article that I had information relevant to peoples passion of rock music and will remain on the topic of rock music. Most of the target audience for rock music magazines will be very contemporary and up to date with their looks. The writers of the Kerrang magazine have said 'It is the edgy, underground and individualistic style which appeals to rock readers and draws them in, this is a crucial element of any successful magazine'. I tried to use this advice when I created my magazine by using edgy and unique font styles and images which reflected the attitudes of the majority of its target audience.
I used a male band and used a male model as the focus of the magazine as male bands are the most popular in the rock music genre. Out of all the magazines I looked at and analysed a large percentage used male bands. Even those that didn't made the women look much more masculine.
When conducting my research into other magazines I found that there were many conventions which most magazines kept to. I tried to apply some of these conventions into my work.
I used a short and memorable title (AmpOverload) that was relevant to the rock music genre. This is a general convention that is used in rock magazines. I did this so as that the magazine would be recognisable and memorable. I made this title large and put it in block colour so as that it was clear and stood out. The photograph was the main subject of my cover and was a representation of the rock music genre. This is a convention because it is used in all music magazines of all genres. It is also able to convey the message and heighten any emotion that is included through the use of facial expressions and colours in the image. I used bright colours throughout the magazine and in my cover in the use of fonts. This was to appeal to the younger target audience and to make the magazine standout. However a convention that is usually used in music magazine covers is thumbnail images. I chose not to use this too much as when conducting my research I found that many of the rock magazines did not conform to the usual conventions of music magazines. So I chose to use my research and to apply just the relevant text to the cover of my page. I also included a price and a bar code on my magazines cover I did that as if this were a real magazine those features would be needed.
When creating my contents page I also followed and applied many generic conventions. I had the title 'contents' located at the top of the page inside a block colour box. I kept to this convention as it is able to identify the page and looks very bold so stands out. I used a house style in my work in order to make my magazine link continually and fluently. I used a continual colour scheme throughout the contents page and all the pages which I created. This was so as that all the pages would link together as one magazine. I was able to use the colour scheme to separate pieces of information. For example in my contents page I used red as the main headings and subheadings this was because the red would standout strongly above the other colours, I then used yellow to show the remain contextual information as the yellow still stood out but the headings was still able to standout. I followed the convention of using dark and bright colours throughout the magazine. In the NME magazine cover which I analysed a mixture of reds, blacks, yellows and whites have been used this is to standout and to attract the target audience. In order to have structure to magazines the strap lines are usually located on the sides of the page. I have also done this. I was able to place the strap lines around the main image to keep structure. The strap lines are also able to relate each of the pages I created together.
I placed the bar code on the right hand side of the page as this is how most magazines would position them. Going from the preliminary task to the production of the magazine I have learnt that I need to consider the target audience in each and every aspect of the production of the magazine. I have also learnt how colour schemes need to work together to give a certain message or to convey certain meanings. For example dark reds and blacks can show anger which is usually associated with the rock music genre. I have also learnt that everything that I include must be perfect and has to be done for a certain purpose. For example the font size and styles that I selected had to show and represent the message I was trying to convey in my music magazine which was the idea that rock music isn't all angry and loud but that it is just a group of normal everyday people who enjoy the music and a good time.
I think that my sort of magazine would be distributed by large companies such as IPC media this is because they are very wide and well know. IPC media are known as the UK's leading consumer magazine publisher who engages with 26m UK adults - almost two thirds of UK women and 42% of UK men. This means that they are able to get a lot of publicity making the magazines become more popular and making it reach larger audiences. IPC say that they aim to deliver exceptional value, service, innovation and creativity this would be good for the publication of a rock music magazine because a magazine is very creative and will become very popular. Although IPC publish a number of magazines they only publish a limited number of music magazines. Therefore I think that having a company such as IPC to publish my magazine would be very beneficial for both me and the company.
From having constructed my magazine I have been able to learn a lot about technologies.
When collecting images to put onto my magazine pages I had use a camera to shoot multiple photos shoots. The camera that I used was a digital camera meant that I was able to instantly upload my images to the computer in a few simple steps. I was also able to see my image once I had taken them which meant that I was able to delete any images I no longer needed or that I felt were not suitable to put in the magazine. The fact that it was a digital camera was also very beneficial in the fact that I was able to take images with the effects on rather than having to edit the images to fully in Photoshop later. This was a skill I was able to gain through the production of my preliminary task. When taking photos for my preliminary task I stuck to one shot and used little imagination in taking the images however going onto the real task I was able to use a range of shots and locations in order to making the magazine more attractive and appealing.
In the construction of my magazine I used the Photoshop software multiple times in order to edit my images to make them more suitable to be put onto a rock music magazine. Photoshop allowed me to add certain effects and to fix little pieces of the images that I had previously taken. Photoshop allowed me to make these changes very quickly so was very good to use in the construction of my music magazine. The image I used on my front cover originally looked very dull as the colours did not standout of the image. In order to improve this I was able to use Photoshop to autocorrect the colours and to then increase the colour intensity. The difference between this task and the preliminary task is that I was able to use more of a variety of techniques to make the images more appealing through different techniques I was also able to make the images appeal to its correct target audience.
Another technology that I was able to use when putting my magazine together was a user interface called Microsoft Publisher. I was able to use this technology in order to do the actual construction of the magazine. On this interface I created the layout of the magazine including areas for the mast head and the article. Once I had finished the editing of my images and the creation of my mast head I was able to put all the pages together in order to complete the magazine. When I created the preliminary task I used publisher to just collect the image and text together in one place. However in my real task I learnt that I was able to use the publisher to change my images in small ways E.G. the brightness. I used this in a image I included in my contents page to darn an image.
Having created my preliminary tasks school magazine I was able to learn a lot about the layout of the magazine and the actual content that needs to be included. Considering these things when I was creating my real magazine was very beneficial as I was able to know exactly where to position certain aspects of the page such as the straplines and mast head. I was also able to make sure I considered the target audience more effectively so that the magazine would appeal to a certain target audience. For example when I created the preliminary task i made sure i only used information which was relevant to people of a certain age range and of a certain social groups. I also did this in my music magazine by the use of colour, images and the stories I included in the main article.
Magazine Analysis
The main image that I used is of a rock musician. The image is able to relate to the front cover as some of the strap lines relate to the band. I used a medium shot in the photograph this was so that the person could be shown in more detail, the shot also allowed you to see the model and to see who he was as the image tells you something about him through his appearance: hair style, stretchers, tattoos and clothing these are all things which are able to help the audience relate to the magazine and are very important in the rock Genre. The person in the image is dressed very casually in a very unique fashion style; this is able to show how rock music has its own individual identity that is unlike anything else. The colours I have used where red, yellow and white, these colours are able to work well to make the magazines very colour and standout so as that they attract an audience. The strap lines I decided to use where very simple and gave away little information this was so that people would know what was included in the magazine but would still read on. However I used one strap line which was a quote from the main article this is to relate to the image I used and the double page spread. I set out the page so that the title was located at the top of the page this made the title easy to see as it is the first thing people are likely to see this is also why I chose to use a big bold font. This is also how my magazine will be recognised. The image is framed in the middle of the page which leaves no empty space. The image again also takes up the main space. This is because for the cover of a magazine the text should be very simple so as that the image is able to pull in the attention and the text can give some minimum insight into the content of the magazine. By the small pieces of text being moved towards the side of the page it means that are eyes are drawn mostly to the image in the middle of the page. The language I used was very simple this was so people could easily understand it and could instantly know what to expect from the magazine.
I applied my house style to the whole of the magazine.The colour scheme that I used on the content page is the same as i used on the cover and the double spread this is able to link the magazine together to show a flow between the pages. This page is set up with all the text and the images separated onto different sides of the page. This gives the page some structure and makes it easier for the readers to read the information. However the image is made to standout over the text as they take up about two thirds of the page. All Subheadings for articles from within the article are written in a bolder text with all the extra information written in a smaller font. This is written in a smaller font as it is considered less important that the rest of the text. The colour red has been used to highlight the background on certain pieces of text. The colour red is able to make these pieces of writing standout. The target audience was involved with the contents page as I included a competition to win a chance to see a band live. This is able to make the audience look through the magazine and helps them gain an interest in the magazine. The images on the contents page shows an image which is related to article within the magazine. In the image the people all have their hands in their pockets this shows how they are laid back and relaxed. A casual feeling is also put across by the fact that each of the band members is wearing casual clothing. By showing each of the band members in casual clothes it is able to show how they each have a unique and different identity and personality.
The double page has nearly got an equal amount of text to images ratio. This is because both are being given equal importance to each other. It is also because the image is there just to accompany the text so both together are able to give insight into the bands lives. The heading of the double page spread is written in a larger font to the rest of the page this is so that it will stand out. I also chose to highlight one of the words in the title by putting it in a different colour and putting it in a larger font size. The colour red has connotations of both love and danger so I used red to highlight the word as it tells you about the bands experiences. I have used a collage of images as well as a larger main image. These smaller images have been used as each of the images is able to convey a different meaning and story which relates to the band but is also able to relate to the audience. All the smaller images together tell one huge narrative and can give insight into the band and their identity. The language used is relaxed and informal which is because I aimed the magazine to a certain target audience of people who love and enjoy life but don't take it too seriously. In the article it told a story which makes it easier for the audience to relate to the band and is able to make the article interesting and easier to read and understand.
