Category: Music Magazine

1st Draft of Content Page

The contents page in a magazine is very important in order to give the audience an insight into what the magazine is about once they pick it up. My contents page in my metal music magazine gives my audience an idea of what they will be reading with a small description to give enough information to spike interest, whilst not giving too much away.

PDF

CONTENTS PAGE PEER ASSESSMENT

• What type of shots have been used to create a variety of shot distances and how has the camera been used to communicate meaning? A mid shot is used in order to capture both the position of the model as well as the chosen costume to convey its relation to the genre. This demonstrates an understanding of positioning and lighting which results in an image that is conventional to the metal genre with a clear display of body language.

 

• What choice of Mise en scene is appropriate for the star image and genre? The outfit worn by the star is plain yet is appropriate for the metal genre with the dark tones contrasting the pale skin of the model creating a melancholic aura conventional to the genre. The positioning of the models hand displays the jewelry and proxemics whilst maintaining an aspect of mystery as the models entire face is not visible.

 

• How far is the font used readable and reflects the genre? The bold, sans serif font is clearly legible and generates an aspect of volume representative of the music found within the genre however lacks variety as the same font is used both for headlines and body text which leads to a lack of variety in graphic design.

 

• What technical conventions of a Contents page are present and used effectively? The lexis used within the headlines is conventional to the genre and all conventions of a contents page have been made use of with the dark background contrasting nicely with the lighter tones of the headlines and heading of the page.

 

• How has Indesign been used to layout the page to convey a brand? The layout of the page leaves a generous yet appropriate amount of space for headlines and body text and the space available has been maximised in order to create a product that is fulfilling but not overbearing which would drive the reader away.

 

• How well have the text and visuals been integrated together? The colour palette of the images and text parallel nicely with contrasting tones and there is an appropriate amount of space consumed by both text and images ensuring one is not overpowering the other.

 

• Where has photoshop been used to manipulate the photos to enhance the star image or genre? Photoshop has been used well to sharpen jewellery and highlight key tones however the cutting out of the model is rough with the original background still visible resulting in a more unprofessional look however the lighting used is fitting for the genre as half the model is still cast in shadow furthering the aspect of mystery.

 

• How is the language used appropriate for the genre and target audience? The language used is appropriate for the genre and the target audience will be able to identify it with the use of alliteration of ‘Live and Loud!’ connoting high intensity music which the target audience will associate with the genre further drawing them into the product.

Clearly, strong, good, satisfactory, conventional, well good sense, B grade

5 Targets

• Cut out model better
• Change some fonts to add variety
• Add image into box
• Replace placeholder text
• Edit the photo with Photoshop

 

Language Analysis

The article I am analysing is Alt-J, ‘Cash For Questions’. The article has evidence of use of the 5 Ws and H in questions to the artist. The article is a Q&A and it is evident due to the layout of having question, followed by an answer from the artist as well as having not a lot of lengthy text and it being broke up into many paragraphs with subheadings. I am aware of the presence of the journalist through the types of questions being asked. The article creates a scenario that seems like a two way conversation which makes the text seem more less like a story and since different people are answering questions it allows the reader to imagine the journalistic engaging the entire band. The article is written in 1st person which makes it feel more real and personal, as well as increasing credibility due to the answers being direct quotes compared to being paraphrased from the journalist. There is a clear introduction which is helpful in giving context to the audience before reading the Q&A, so people who haven’t heard of them can understand their past and current situation. However, there is no clear conclusion because the article carries on onto the next page.

Very relaxed and colloquial language is used in this article and it allows it to have a more conversational tone as well as portraying the artist as real, authentic people that also speak how others speak. Examples of this are ‘troublemaker’ and ‘stupid’. This language provides a rawness and excitement to the Q&A that others could be lost in written interviews. Using direct quotes is essential to keep this engaging language because it allows the reader to almost envision the conversation happening in their heads.

In conclusion, the journalist represents the artist as down to earth, and like regular people by having the artist tell colloquial stories that most people can relate to, whilst also celebrating their achievements as an artist. This puts them in a perfect light where they seem big and famous, whilst also being relatable to the average consumer.

What is a Contents Page?

5 catchy headlines

• Rig Rundown
• Tour stories with vocalist ‘Oscar Torode’
• The Rise of Metal in 2021
• Live and loud!
• On the radar

I’d like to use my contents page as a deeper insight as to what is in my magazine. I have already attracted the attention of my target audience through my front cover and sparked enough interest in order for them to want to read the contents page so I need to present them with some more information, in more detail, to allow my audience to gain an insight of what is inside the magazine. In terms of design, I would like some continuity from my front cover so I will likely use the same font, colour scheme and background, as well as modifying areas to differentiate between the front cover and the contents page to keep my audience entertained and interested by the new features on the contents page. I will include cover lines and page numbers to ensure that my magazine conforms with the conventions of a magazine and, through this research, I will be able to create a competent contents page to go with my front cover.

1st Draft of Front Page and Self Assessment

First Draft PDF

Now that I’ve completed my first draft of my magazine, I can reflect on what I did well and what I can do to improve my product. Despite, it being an average magazine cover, it has given me the opportunity to reflect and work out how I can improve the magazine cover. Although there are things that could be improved, some parts I am happy with, for example, the language and colour scheme which is conventional of my genre and will appeal to my target audience to stimulate personal identiy and social interaction. My magazine could probably provide more entertainment on the cover in order to try and get potential customers to pick up the magazine and buy it.

Front Page Layouts

The main inspiration taken from these magazines are the bold fonts, simplicity and unique designs. For example, the Morph Magazine is extremely simplistic with cover lines at the bottom which allows it to stand out because it is a different layout to normal as well as not requiring so much reading. The Forbes one in the top left has big, bold numbers as cover lines which draws attention to you as typically people don’t put numbers in the cover lines. The uniqueness of these covers is something I’d want to implement into my magazine in order to make a front cover that stands out. The main cover stars mostly have an imposing, confident look which is essential to creating the right image for my cover star.

Production Meeting Agenda for 1st Photo Shoot

Creating a production meeting agenda is important in order to organise my shoot. If me or my model are unprepared then the shoot could end up taking far longer than needed and won’t allow me to get enough high quality photos for my music magazine. Organising everything prior to the shoot allows me to be more efficient in the process and waste less time.

My Audience Profile

Bring Me The Horizon – Audience demographic: 46% female / 54% male, age 16-24, UK

 

 

 

 

Bring me the horizon in the USA

 

 

 

These statistics are from ‘yougov’ to show what age group of people listened to a band called ‘bring me the horizon’ in the UK as well as in the USA and allowed me to outline what age demographic my target audience is.

Although metal was very big in the 80s and 90s and is popular with the 35-44 demographic, a new resurgence of a more modern metal sound is popularising and is most prominent in the 16-24 age demographic. This task has allowed me to visualise what my target audience would be in more detail and capture what they are like as a person as apposed to just a number on an infographic. Taking into account psychographics and demographics, I will be able to apply the theory of Uses and Gratification to make a music magazine that my target audience will decode and relate to their personal identity and social interactions, whilst being educated and entertained.

First Shoot Contact Sheet(s)

Overall, I am very happy with how my shoot went. Everything went to plan, I got roughly 100 photos which has enabled me to have a wide range of possible photos to choose from. As well as this, I managed to capture the correct aesthetic with my model by ensuring that a big focus was put on mise-en-scene which I did by adding chains, jewellery, black clothing and a microphone to my model in order to present him as a metal/alternative vocalist. Body language was a big factor in my shoot that I successfully used. I valued this because typically, confidence and slight arrogance are common features in metal vocalists and will help to present him as a God-like figure which is essential in modern metal vocalists to create the star image.

These are two of my favourite images from the shoot due to the high quality of them as well as the confident body language displayed by the model. The second is likely to be my cover image due to the headroom available at this top for the masthead as well as the a good amount of space for the cover lines.

Masthead Designs

When establishing a magazine brand, the masthead is arguably the most important feature. The magazine allows you to show the audience what your magazine is about and helps them recognise your magazine in future. In order to make my masthead relevant to the contents of my magazine, it is vital that I at least somewhat conform with the genre conventions of metal. Old school metal typically uses a serif font which is heavily linked with the genre, however, since I am going with a more modern, innovative approach to my metal magazine, I have chosen to use a sans serif, blockier font to separate myself from other metal magazines and to appeal to a younger audience that link blockier fonts with popular metal bands.

Final masthead

I have chosen this as the final masthead. My reasoning behind this decision is due to the fact that the font is blocky, whilst also keeping a bit of flair and serif to make it more eye catching to my audience. The red is also a genre convention of metal and will help towards the audience identifying my magazine genre as metal.

So what am I up against? – The competition

Researching about my competition has allowed me to inform myself and what problems I may face when releasing my magazine. I became aware of different magazines in my genre that could potentially make it hard for me to appeal to my target audience due to them being more established than me. This forced me to analyse what these magazines were doing so I could take inspiration but more importantly, find my USP to win over some of the audience by separating myself from the competition.