Music Magazine: Conventions of a music magazine.

The conventions of pop music magazines

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Music Magazine: Researching POP Artists.

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Music Magazine: Annotating Pop Magazines.

The first magazine I annotated was 'Top of the Pops'. I chose this as it specifically targets the younger pop audience, from about 7-13. This is not the target audience I want to make my magazine for, and not the style I want to do it in.

The second magazine I annotated was 'Q' magazine. Although it perhaps isnt a predominantly pop magazine, it featured Adele on it, and she is a popular pop artist for the older target audience of 14-24. This type of style is what I want my magazine to be like.

Music Magazine: Genre.

There are many different music Genre's that can be on a Magazine.

Certain Artists represent certain genre's - my mind map below gives some examples.

My chosen Genre is pop, also known as chart or commercial music. It specifically targets the younger generation from 7-14, but recently with new upcoming artists it is becoming more appealing to Older Teens and early 20's. I am going to create a Pop magazine, but focus more on what the older target audience would want to read, not the younger predicted audience.

Music Magazine : Target audience.

Every magazine is published for a specific Target  Audience. That audience should be able to tell from the front cover that the magazine is for them to read.

Target Audience is categorized in terms of:

     

Student Magazine Contents Page.

When making my contents page I chose a colour scheme of Blue. I think the colours I have used work well, especially with the bottum photo of BTEC Dance students, they are wearing blue too. I was in the Dance show, and thought it would be a good story to put on my contents page, so I took my camera along and got a group photo. It works very well. Although this was only a mock up of a contents page, I took it very seriously as it will help me when it comes to designing our music magazine. I am very happy with the way my contents page looks.

 

Student Magazine Front Cover.

At first I wasn’t going to use this photo. I felt that because the student was on his phone it looked to casual, but once I thought of the idea of an Ipod App for UCAS, and added this text to the magazine - it looked more studious. I created the pug shape on Microsoft word and added a glow effect around it, which I thought looked good with the colour scheme I chose (blue, purple, and grey). The barcode is copied from the internet, and I feel this makes the magazine look realistic. I kept the fonts sophisticated and tried not to make them girly as I didn’t want the magazine to only to targeted at females. Overall, I am really pleased with my magazine cover, and feel more confident using in design, so that when it comes to making my Music Magazine front cover, I won’t struggle.

Learning how to use in design.

Using one of the photo's I took around college, I uploaded it to In Design CS3.

 I added my chosen title and have tried a variety of different colour title's and put together my photo and my masthead. It helped me learn the basics of In design and will help me when it comes to making my Student Magazine. 


I have decided to use this photo for my student magazine as the intersection points are all clear and the colour has a dark and wintery feel.

Student Magazine Photography.

We took some photo's around college, in preperation for our Studen Magazine front cover. After what I learnt in the first part of our lesson, I had to be very precise when taking my photo's.


I had to consider;

• if there was room above the students head so the mast head would fit it
• if the arms were fully in the picture
• if a gap had been left for coverlines
• if the head is the main focus( intersection points)

Here are the photo's I took;

My idea behind this image was that the student would look casual and not typically studying to give a more relaxed feel on the magazine. I think the lighting in this photo is good, but could be better by making it a bit brighter. I could do this on photoshop. The facial expression is very bland, and I want my image to give a happy vibe. The position of the photo is good as his eyes are on the intersection points.

My idea behind this image was that the student would be typically studying, and portraying a studious vibe for collage. The same as the previous photo, I think the lighting could be better. The facial expression in this photo is very focused on the folder, and if I decide to use a photo like this on my magazine this is the expression I want. The position of the photo is good as his eyes are on the intersection points.

My idea behind this image was that the student would look casual like my first photo, but I wanted to use a girl.  Again the lighting in this photo is the same as the other two, as they have all been taken in the same place.

I have decided to use the first photo as I feel the photo is good, and the intersection points are all correct and his arms are fully in the photo. But when I come to creating my music magazine I am going to spend much more time on the photography section so that I can get the exact photo I want.

Preliminary task: Brief - Proposal.

Who are you aiming your magazine at specifically?
My magazine will be targeted at college students. The age will range from 16-19 years, male or female.


What will your magazine be about?
My magazine is going to be about life as a student. It will include sucsess stories to motivate students, things to do in and around college, and discount vouchers for a variety of shops, both clothing shops and stationary shops.


What are your ideas for coverlines?
For my coverlines I wanted to be in the same theme and style as the magazine. I chose 2 coverlines to use on my front cover. My first is 'Steps to student sucsess' this will encourage students to read how they can achieve sucsess. My second is 'Ways to save your money!'. I have used this coverline to encourage the more laid back college students to buy the magazines to find out how to do that, and will end up reading the sucsess stories and might be inspired.


What title have you chosen and why?
The title I have chosen is 'Student Weekly'. I have chosen this because it is simple and makes what is in the magazine clear to the readers. Other examples of options i had were 'Campus' and 'The national student'. I thought campus was too american for what I want to be in my magazine, and I thought The national student was too long and national was too formal for my magazine.


What fonts do you want to use?
I want my font to jump off the page and catch the raeders eye. Therefor I think it should be large and bold. I dont want  the writing to be girly as this will remove the boys from the target audience and I want my magazine to be approachable to all students male or female.


When in the year will it be published?
I want my magazine to be published in the autumn, preferably just before october half term. This means people will be reading the magazine a lot before exams start and this will give them methods to study and ways to control work over the upcoming months.


What kind of image do you expect to put on the front cover and how will you go about getting this image?
I would like my photo to be of a student, who is appearing to be a role model for all students. I want the photo to be taken at Southdowns, either in one of the cafe's or classrooms or the surroundings to get a feel of college on the front cover. I will take the photo in my media lesson of a friend on my camera.


How frequently will would it be published?
My magazine will be published every half term before the holidays start so it gives students something to read over the holidays.


What are the dimensions of the cover?
My magazine will be 11 by 4 inches. I chose this is this is the most popular magazine size.


What images/colour would you use on the contents page?
As my magazine will be published in autumn, I will stick to the theme of greens, blues, reds, oranges and yellow. I think these colours will work well together and will also represent the season. The images I will use will reflect to the stories listed on the contents page.

Preliminary task: Brief - Flatplans.

I have created 2 flatplans. One for my front cover and one for my contents page.

FRONT COVER.

On my front cover, I have included the main conventions of a magazine such as Masthead, image, coverlines, pullquote, date, pug, and bar code. I have put the coverlines and the pug on the Left Third as this is the only part of the magazine to be seen when lined up on the shelf. The reader can see the coverlines that entice them to want to get the magazine. I have included a date and a bar code so the magazine is realistic.

CONTENTS PAGE.

On my contents page, I have included the different features I would expect to see when opening a magazine cover such as header, image of editor, introdction to magazine, image with a main story, puffs,adverts, page number and various smaller stories. Although not all magazines have a picture of the editor and introduction to the magazine, I think that this is nessassary because it gives you a brief indtroduction to what the magazine will be about. I tried not to put too many stories on the contents page as readers may have found this boring, so I added a photo along with a main story to make it more exiting.

Preliminary task: Brief - initial idea's.

Before starting the construction of my Student Magazine I made a mind map showing all my ideas. I decided to do it by hand as I felt like it could be more creative and colourful. 




In my mind map I have included the following things;

• Title Ideas
• Image ideas
• Colour Scheme ideas
• Coverline ideas
• Puffs/Pugs ideas
• Font ideas

 I think I have completed this task well as I made it colourful and this will help me when I make my final decisions for my magazine. I am glad I did it on paper and not on the computer as it gives a contrast to all my coomputer based work.

Task 5; skills audit.

The things I didn't know how to do on the Skills Audit are;

• scan images onto a mac
• bluetooth files onto a mac
• how to use in design

As I didn't know how to do these things, I researched them on the internet. By doing this I will feel more comfortable if I am asked to do them.

Scanning Images onto a mac;

1. Go to Apple menu, then click on system preferences
2. Press print and fax
3. Double click your scanner in the list on the left
4. Click scanner and then your files will go through to the mac.

Bluetoothing images onto a mac; 

1. Go to Apple menu, then click on system preferences
2. Click on view menu, then on sharing
3. Click the 'On' box next to Bluetooth sharing
4. Close the sharing preferences menu.

How to use in design;

http://www.ehow.com/how_5065632_use-indesign.html 

Task 4; IPC Case Study.

History and previous titles;


IPC magazines have been running since the early 1800's. The first newspaper ever produced by the company was called 'The field', this become Europe's largest newspaper, it had 24 pages. In the 1900's IPC continued producing 'The Field', but also produced several more magazines such as Woman's Weekly, Ideal Home, Woman's Own, TV Times, Rugby World, and Whats on TV. Some of these magazines are still running today. In the year 2000, IPC magazines changed there names to IPC media to go hand in hand with a strategy based on being a brand centric business. IPC media continues to make magazines, and in 2007 it makes well known girls fashion magazine ‘Look’. In 2010 they opened a gaming site called Mousebreaker.


Current Publishing;


IPC media are currently publishing around 60 magazines. They have a very wide variety varying from lifestyle, to men's, to women's magazines. Here are a few examples of the different types of magazines they sell and examples of titles;

• Women's - Woman's Own, Marie- claire.
• Men's - Rugby World, Wallpaper*.
• House and home - Living ect, Beautiful kitchens.
• Sports - Golf, World soccer.
• TV+Music - NME, TV times. 
• Country - Country life, The field.
• Boating - Yachting world, Boat owner.
• Hobbies and leisure - Fitness, What digital camera.
• Fashion - Now, Look.

Structure;


As of January 2010 IPC media was organised around 3 audience groups; men, mass market women and up market women.
 IPC inspire will be the mens division. This will include magazines based on Lesuire persuits, men's lifestyle and music brands all directed by Paul Williams.
IPC connect will be the mass market women's division. This will include magazines based on woman's weeklys, good to know networks, and TV entertainment, all directed by Fiona Dent.
IPC southbank will be the up market division. This will include magazines based on fashion, beauty and home interest brands, all directed by Jackie Newcombe.


New about the company.


October 7th - Matthew Gerry is hired as IPC inspire's digital strategy director.
October 6th- L'oreal Luxury haved partnered with Marie-Claire and In style magazine to promote Armarni code.
October 4th - Living ect appointed Dina Kouella as creative director.


What types of magazine and target audiences has IPC been associated with over the years?


IPC have been associated with a huge variety of magazines and target audiences.  There main types of magazines are music, fashion, sports, and TV magazines. While there main target audience's for these magazines are Men, Mass market women, and Up market women.


Why might IPC be an appropriate publisher for a new music magazine?


IPC media already run a few of there own music magazines such as NME, uncut and hi-fi news. By already running this magazine, they have an existing target audience so they know exactly what they expect from the magazines. This gives them an easy group to target if producing a new magazine.


What sorts of genres of music/types of magazines might they be likely to publish?


The music magazines they already produce are based on modern/popular music genres and rock. This makes it likely for them to produce another magazine simular as they already have a strong target audience who would buy the magazine. Although, they may look at other genres like country and/or hip hop because they want to make a magazine aimed for an entirely new audience.


Why might alternative publishers like Bauer  be appropriate?


Bauers price range is a lot lower that IPC, therefor this will attract an audience who may not have the money to purchase glossy expensive magazines. Also, Bauer sells real life magazines based on music, film or puzzle magazines, unlike IPC which is more lifestyle, sports and fashion. Bauer produce more well known magazines to young people, and they are the main target audience for most magazines.

Background information on the Media Industry.

According to Periodical publishers, in 2008 1.103 billion magazines were circulated in the UK.

There are 6 types of magazines;

• Consumer- sold in newsagents.
• B2B- for people at work.
• Customer publishing- for organizations to give customers for advertising.
• Part works- a set number of issues builds up into an encyclopedia on the topic.
• Newspaper supplements- free as part of the daily or Sunday paper.
• Academic journals- University students level discussion on all sorts of topics that are usually found at the university itself.

The UK boasts 3.409 consumer magazines. A combined annual consumer spends 1.6 million a year. The total circulation for consumer magazines in the UK is now at 46 million. 69 new magazines were launched in the first 6 months of 2010. 1.6 billion is spent on advertising in consumer magazines every year.

The most popular magazine in the UK is TV choice, with a circulation of over 1 million. The most popular woman’s magazine in the UK is glamour with a circulation of 489.461. 

In time, the circulation of magazine sales is going to decrease. This is because people of today would rather view the same gossip/news online. 

Magazine publishers and some examples of magazines they produce;

• Bauer Consumer media- FHM, Zoo, Heat, Closer.
• BBC Worldwide- Easy Cook, BBC Top Gear, Top of the pops.
• Conde Nast- Vanity Fair, Easy Living, Glamour.
• Dennis Publishing- The week, Custom TV, Mens Fitness.
• Future Publishing- MAC Format, Official XBOX 360.
• H Bauer- Bella, TV Quick, Take a Break.
• Hearst Magazines UK- Cosmopolitan Bride, Good Housekeeping.
• Hay market Consumer Media- Classic FM, Autocar.
• IPC Media- New Musical Express(NME), Loaded.

Task 3; essay.

Images and research links;

http://www.greatdad.com/tertiary/454/3662/why-teen-magazines-might-be-bad-for-your-daughter.html
http://www.associatedcontent.com/article/30544/popular_teen_magazines_and_their_possible_pg4.html?cat=25

To what extent should magazines be held responsible for the social ramifications of the representations they offer?

By looking at five different teen magazine covers,‘Look’, ‘Seventeen’, ‘Shout’, ‘Sugar’, and ‘Heat’ I was able to discover an ongoing theme. Beauty and fashion is a well covered subject in all of these magazine covers. These magazines are filling the young girls’ minds with images of celebrities and models, and this forces them to try and look and present themselves like them. Some of the images on the magazines are very revealing of celebrities, and this does not set a very good example for young teenage girls. But, some of the images are the opposite and show celebrities looking innocent and naturally pretty which is the image young teenage girls should have.


The girls will like the look of the celebrities in the images and think that’s how they would like to look. A sense of individuality is lost when everyone tries to look the same. The images on the front of magazines aren’t going to be of the celebrities looking at their worst; the majority of them will be of them in their best dresses and finery, to attract the readers. Some of the celebrities used on these front covers may be wearing a little amount of clothing, for example a short dress or low cut top, and even a heavy amount of makeup can brain wash the readers, as they want to become more and more like them. Also, information about dieting is occasionally comes up on front covers of magazine, which may help some people, but also may drop some girls self confidence with their body image, as they may think they are ‘too fat’. On the cover of look magazine, there is an example of dieting in the bottom left hand corner. It is an image of three girls from ‘The Saturdays’ wearing swimsuits on a beach. The quote next to the image is ‘WOW! The Saturdays super easy flat stomach diet’. By looking at the three celebrities in swimsuits this may lead girls to thinking that if they do not look like the girls in the photo, they need to diet. This does not set a good example to young girls. Another example of an inappropriate photograph is on ‘Shout’ magazine. Pixie Lott is the main image on the cover; she is a huge inspiration to many teenagers all over the country. In this photo, she is wearing a short dress and heels. This does not set a good example to teenagers as this may make them think it is expectable to wear this kind of outfit out. On this cover it also says ‘Yes, you can have Cheryl’s hair’. This will make girls try to get hair like hers which is taking their sense of individuality away. On the cover of ‘Heat magazine’ (a very popular and well known magazine to the majority of young girls) on the top of page is a boxed section about a few of the stars from ‘The only way is Essex’. It again is talking about losing weight which refers back to the idea of teenagers disliking their body image. Also on this cover the main focus is on well known celebrity Cheryl Cole. There are a series of images of her talking about her split with Ashley Cole. Although Cheryl is not wearing revealing clothes or setting a bad example in that sense, the story itself is purely about her and her life. Although this will interest the majority of young girls, the story is filling girls’ heads with junk.


 However, this isn’t the case with all magazines, some may show celebrities looking natural, rather than fake and exposed, and this is the right image to put in magazines. For example, on the cover of ‘Look’ magazine is an image of Kate Middleton. Kate is a member of the royal family who is a huge fashion role model to many women across the UK. This is a good celebrity to photograph for the front of a magazine as she looks elegant and classy all the time. In the photo she is wearing an appropriate length dress and heels. She is setting a good example of an image teenage girls should want to look and dress like. Also, on the cover of ‘Seventeen’ magazine, is an image of Rhianna. She is a huge fashion icon and a well known singer. Although some outfits she may wear on stage are revealing, in this photo she looks elegant and classy. She is wearing a simple purple top and not a great deal of makeup, this shows an example of beauty without looking fake to the young girls reading the magazine. This is a good example of a glamorous celebrity who can look gorgeous by being natural. Along with this photo of Rhianna, is the caption ‘Style of the year’. This shows you can look natural to be stylish. On the cover of ‘Sugar’ is a picture of pixie Lott, who was also featured on ‘Shout magazine’ although the image on ‘Shout’ may not have been appropriate, this image on ‘Sugar’ is very different. She looks incredibly natural and is wearing a pretty summer dress. She is also sitting on a swing, which shows her to be a more young celebrity. Pixie Lott is not showing inappropriate flesh in this photo and still looks beautiful; this will give teenage girls another example of looking gorgeous naturally.


In my opinion, I think the majority of magazines for teenage girls are sending out the wrong image. Although a few do not show celebrities revealing flesh, the majority of magazines on the shelves do.  All of the magazines put forward the idea that Fashion and beauty is all that matters to a teenage girl, when actually I know personally it doesn’t. I think magazines should put forward images to represent natural beauty rather than sexy, because that is how I believe teenage girls should want to be. Magazine editors and publishers need to consider their choices in photographs and stories, because they have a huge effect on the young teenage girls who read the magazine. Girls today have many more life opportunities than just Beauty and Fashion, and I think this should be brought into the magazines.



Task 2; magazines and audiences- part 2.

Analysis of 'Look' magazine.



The magazine I have chosen to analyse is ‘Look’. This is a weekly magazine targeted for young teenage girl’s age ranged from 13-18 with an interest in fashion and celebrities. The price for the magazine is £1.50, which narrows the target audience down to middle class teens and students. Simply by looking at the cover, you can see many indications of why it attracts this particular target audience.  The title (also known as the masthead) is written in pink capital serif font. The instant opinion upon seeing pink on a magazine relates to girls immediately. The word ‘Look’ itself may mean that readers want to look at the magazine. The colour scheme of the magazine is very straight forward, pink and white is continuously used as they blend well together and create a girly effect. The main image on the front of the magazine is Cheryl Cole. This will appeal to the target audience as they inspire to be like her. She is famous for her music, fashionable style and looks, and this is something the Target audience inspire to have, therefore she is an idol to them.  There is also a picture of Alesha Dixon in the top right hand corner, another inspiration to the target audience.

The right third of this magazine is showing you some of the many things that are available to read in it. In the top right hand corner there is a white boxed section showing a variety of different dresses and the cover line ‘Designer to High St Looks’. This appeals to the target audience as it is telling them how to achieve designer looks, which they want to have, at affordable prices. It has orange puffs within the white box with prices of each dress to show the target audience the cheap prices. In the right bottom corner, is the cover line ‘Cheryl’s heartache, the truth about her and girls aloud’. This makes the target audience engaged as they want to find out why their inspiration is heartbroken.  

In the middle third is the main image of Cheryl Cole. The left third of the magazine is the busiest section. This is because it could possibly be the only section showing if stacked on a busy shelf. The main section on the left third is another white section showing clothing. The cover line is ’66 No-Regret Buys!’. It shows a range of different items of clothing such as a top, bag and shoes. It also has the words in black ‘From £14’. This attracts the target audience as they are interested in well priced clothing that is fashionable.

 This magazine is reinforcing the ideology of all girls liking pink, shopping and celebrity gossip. It uses informal colloquial language so the target audience feel comfortable reading it. In my opinion, the magazine delivers a well structured way of encouraging its target audience to buy it. By having two different celebrities on the cover this widens the target audience. Being a teenage girl myself, if I saw this cover in the shelf it would definitely be one I would buy.

Task 2; magazines and audiences- part 1.

Glossary of media terminology.


Genre - The classification of any media text into a category or type.


Ideology - A system of beliefs/values, which can be identified in media products.


Target Audience- the people who are intended to read or watch or play or listen to it.


Stereotype- An implied or inferred audience, that the producers of media texts have a 'typical' audience member in mind when they start to create it.


Colloqial language- Language used that is the same as the target audience.


Mast Head- A graphic image or title at the top of the product.


Denotation- What you can see.


Connotation- The message behind what you can see.


Close up camera shot- Focuses on the person or character we are looking at's face.


Mid Shot- Still focuses on the person or character we are looking at, but we see what they are wearing as well as their face.


Graphology- The style of writing (font).


Puffs and Pugs- Small sections of the page, usually in bright coloured bubbles or cirles to get across an important piece of information to the reader.


Pullquote- This is a quote taken from an interview or discussion that is placed onto the product.



Cover lines : Information about major articles given on the front page of a magazine.

Left Side Third- The page is split into three vertically, and the left is always the busiest. This is because if magazines are staked the left is all buyers can see.

Task one;getting to know blogger.

Things you can do with Blogger;

• create posts
• edit posts
• create pages
• upload photos
• upload links
• upload video's from youtube
• get feedback from readers

How I think Blogger will be useful for my coursework;

• I can have all of my Coursework in one place
• As the blogger is online, there will be less chance of loosing pieces of work
• I am able to keep up to date with what I am doing in my Coursework
• I can include photo's, video's posts ect to show where I am in the project
• By having all my Coursework online, I aim to keep up to date with what I do in each class so I dont fall behind