Main Task : Music Magazine - Research

My Main task is to create a music Magazine to start my research i will look at Music Genre

MUSIC GENRE

The genres i have chosen are Rock /pop. The Key Features of Rock music are electric guitars ,bass guitars , drums , keyaboards rock has a significant impact on worldwide fashion and film styles the impact has been positive and facilitating chrity events (live Aid /Live Earth) . The key features of Pop music are that it it stands in contrast to classical music and traditional music and consists of a number of sub genres including pop rock and dance-pop.

The Different Genres Of Today's Music

• Indie
• Pop
• Rock
• Electro
• Dance
• Rave
• Alternative

To find the correct genres for my magazine i have included a list of popular music in the pop and rock charts as well as 10 artists from my own music.

Current Pop Chart

1. Lily Allen - The Fear
2. Lady GaGa featuring Colby ODonis - Just Dance
3. Tinchy Stryder featuring Taio Cruz - Take Me Back
4. Eminem featuring Dr Dre & 50 Cent - Crack A Bottle
5. Alesha Dixon - Breathe Slow
6. Kid Cudi versus Crookers - Day N Nite
7. James Morrison featuring Nelly Furtado - Broken Strings
8. Daniel Merriweather - Change
9. Beyonce - Single Ladies
10. Kevin Rudolf featuring Lil Wayne - Let It Rock

The Current singles chart doesnt really give me alot of information on the genres i have chose and the only artists i can see that would fit the genre well are James Morrison featuring Nelly Furtado - Broken Strings, Daniel Merriweather - Change, Beyonce - Single Ladies, Lily Allen - The Fear.

Current Rock Singles Chart

1. Muse - Feeling
2. Nickelback - Gotta Be Somebody
3. Bon Jovi - Livin' On A Prayer
4. Kid Rock - All Summer Long
5. Nickelback - Rockstar
6. Linkin Park - What I've Done
7. Muse - Supermassive Black Hole
8. Guns n' Roses - Sweet Child O' Mine
9. Goo Goo Dolls Iris/ Stay With You
10. Queen - Dont Stop Me Now

The majority of the current rock charts are older rock songs being downloaded off the internet and the only new song actually in the chart is Nickelback - Gotta Be Somebody , this shows that the majority of rock music fans prefer older bands compared to the newer bands.

My Music

1. Beck
2. Foo Fighters
3. Cold War Kids
4. Feeder
5. Red Hot chili peppers
6. Duffy
7. MGMT
8. The Killers
9. Jack Johnson
10. Kasier cheifs

From my musical taste i have realised that its very male orientated with the only female being Duffy as well as that MGMT and Cold War Kid are New Music although all of them i would say except for Cold war kids are main stream music within the pop and rock music genres, Kaiser Cheifs and The Killers are Indie and Foo Fighters and Red Hot Chili Peppers are Rock and Beck and MGMT are Alternative Pop/ Rock.

Q Magazine covers these genres so i will be focussing heavily on the magazine for ideas and using it in my research often.A feature that ties in with their audinece expectations is the Q50 which gives you fifty tracks that Q magazine has selected as the best of that month. as its a regular feature people bying the magazine will see this as part of the identity of Q magazine.

Now that I have found the genres i can now find my target audience. I want my Target audience to be Males and Females between the age of 16 to 23 who have an interest in new music and rock music.So in Order to keep the female audience i will have to Include in My Magazine Female Content.
I have created a Questionairre to make sure i am right about my target audinece by targeting what i believe my magazines target audience is i will get a Difinitive answe to the genre I need.

Here is The Questionairre:

my results are that



Music magazines

As i said earlier that i would look at music magazines inparticular Q magazine which fits into my chosen genres exactly.

Q Magazine

Q magazine started being published in 1986 in the UK and showed higher standard of photogrpahy and printing. the magazine uses a star system to rate albums and singles ,every other month along with its sister magazine also owned by bauer have a specail edition magazine about musical times, genres or important musicians. a usual feature is the Q50 wihcih i have mentioned earlier in my Research.

Front Covers and double page spreads

this front cover from a recent issue is still the same conventional style of every q magazine in that it has a bold picture the Q logo in a red box in the top left corner , bold fonts and plugs describing whats inside the issue.

here is an earlier issue from 2002 the main difference is there are no boxes round the text and the font is more spreaded around the page

the same applies to this though this one has many more plugs and a much bolder font with an outline the cover is cramped but there is still some blank space around the image.

the new look Q magazines double page spread as shown above and below consist of one page with the image and the other with the text the page with the text has alot of blank space.

As i researched further i looked at music Videos for inspiration for The mastheads and the photographs I found Justice D.A.N.C.E which i think is a good way to show fonts and express meaning
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=49esza4eiK4

I will use the basic ideas of this video in my magazine to express the music genres i have chosen

Main Task: Music Magazine

After completing my preliminary task. i now will create the front page, the contents and a double spread of a new music magazine. I will use original images and texts and produce it by myself. i must include at least four images.To do this i need to look at the following:

Music Genre

• I will choose a genre on which my magazine will focus upon , showing the key features of the genre.
• Research magazines currently in the genre , with information on the features they have and how they tie in with the target audiences expactations of representations.
• Additional features wich i could put in my magazine to stand out and appeal to a wider audinece or an audinece not already being marketed to.

Target Audience

• I need to have a definite focus on my target audience as my magzine will not be able to appeal to everyone.
• I need to look at what my target audience expeacts and wants from the genre and the music publications.
• I need to look at how im going to appeal to my target audience, in terms of intitial advertising about my magazine.
• Consider the possibilty if selling advertising sace to potential advertisers (what will attract them t my audinece) in order to make my magazine profitable.
• What do i want from a music publication in my genre.

Preliminary Task - Final Piece

My finished front cover for a college/school magazine

Preliminary Task - Planning

I decided to make my cover look more like the EDGE magazine. the reason i chose this because i thought it was simple but expressed what it was about.

My Hand Drawn Mock-up

My Desktop Publisher mock-up

Preliminary Task : Research

My Preliminary Task is to create a School College magazine to start my research i will analyze two front covers from Secondary teachers.

Comparing the front covers of Secondary teachers July 2008 to Secondary teachers may 2008

In July's issue the main image has two boys with folders looking interested , above them are two Aresnal football shirts with the names of the subjects "Literacy" and "Numeracy". The image is split in the centre . used to seperate the subjects. The headline is "Playing to learn" and the subheading " how football can improve their maths and english skills, clarifying what the story is about.

The may issue's main image displays gender through food and shows that they are school students by a scool uniform inc. tie , collar ,skirt , school emblem.

Now i will look look at the conventions of a magazine.

Masthead - the identity of the magazine the title , usualy made with a bacic font to look modern and appeal to the teenage audience.
Headline - quick and gives an impression of what the story is about
Sub Heading - gives the reader more information about the story in clearer detail
Large Image - what grabs the expected age groups in to reading the magazine
Plugs - made to show what also is inside this issue
Date - the month its published or appears on sale
Font - the font is made to appeal to the target audinece by making it modern it will appeal to the reader it usualy reflects the magazine (e.g kerrang magazine has a scruffy font to resemble rock music)
Text - other pieces of text can be used to explain other stories or what is inside these are usualy in the plugs


Now I know the conventions i will now compare the magazines which students would read to explore the conventions and to realise what i need on my front cover.

FULL ON! magazine is a magazine aimed at students at college it gives information on subjects and studies as well as entertainment material such as music, films and tv.The Masthead is Directly at the top with the main image made to cover the whole of the cover with text of what is inside and the main headline is placed at the bottom is overlapping the image.It uses bold colours to attract the student.
[The following magazines are not specificaly college/school magazines but appeal to the same audinece of teenagers.]

EDGE is a popular Videogame Magazine aimed at Teenagers , It is made to look modern and "grown up" it does this by using a main image , The Masthead And Little text as Possible. To Made the font link to videogames they copy the style of the font for their headline and sub-heading.
Empire Magazine

Preliminary Task: Introduction

Breif
Using DTP and an image manipualtion program , produce the front page of a new School/College magazine, featuring a photograph of a student in medium close ups plus some appropriately laid out text and a masthead. additionally you must produce a mock up of the layout of the contenets page to demonstate a grasp of DTP.

Language
The layout of the the magazine, masthead, splash, Headline, Photos, Plugs, Secondary headings (if applicable), colour , size of text, colour of text, fonts used, process of photgraph

Institution
Wyke College, wyke achieves best relsults, more students for East Riding than Hull , Achedemic College

Ideology
The message i want my magazine to give out ,respect other pupils , equality , oppurtunities for the students

Audience
My target audience for the school/collge magazine are aged between 16-19, its aimed at the students of Wyke College, 64% Females at the College 36% Males at the college, students mainly from Hull and surrounding areas , Universities , employee's of the College

Representation
Representing the College, the photopraphs, types of angles, stories , lead story , promoting college , how my text font and photograph represnt the story

Research and Planning
In this cateogory of I will show evidence of the following:
Research into similar products and a potential Target Audience.Organisation of models, locations, costumes or props. Work on layouts, drafting and mood boards.Evidence of time management.Use of digital technology or ICT in the presentation.

Introduction to Media Portfolio

In this Coursework portfolio i will be producing two print artefacts from a set brief. I will progress from a pre production preliminary execise to a more fully realised piece.

• I plan to construct print products using the appropriate technical and creative skills.
• I will assess my aplication of knowledge and undertsanding, in evaluating my own work, showing how meanings and responses are created.
• i will assess my ability to undertake, apply and present appropriate research.
• i will make use of the different media technologies and help develop my skills in these technologies