research and planning : music magazine moodboard

research and planning : initial idea for music magazine.

Ideas for my music magazine.

I have decided the sub genre of my music magazine will be RnB. The magazine will feature well-known rnb artists like Beyoncé, Kanye west, Mariah Carey and Chris Brown. My magazines will also showcase and review new rnb artists. The magazine will also have a rnb singles/ albums chart of the most selling artists of the month. My magazine will be aimed at an audience of 18- 25 years old. The magazine is targeted at both females and male viewers and this will be reflected through the images .the magazine is aimed at demographics B to D. I came up with the idea to do and rnb magazine out of my own interests but I also researched other sub genres i.e. rap and pop music and looked at various music magazines and I realised that although magazines have a sub-genre they also expand on the idea i.e. not just looking at certain artist but also looking at different musical instruments linked into the certain type of genre . my magazine will also contain advertisements that link to the audience i.e. for brand trainers or brand and this  will appear to the male audience . the magazine will also feature advertisements for clothes in that are available in mainstream shops i.e top shop , new look and H&M 

Research

As the main task of my coursework is to create part of a new music magazine, I’ve decided to research kerrang, a music magazine devoted to rock music.

Introduction.

Kerrang is a UK based music magazine and is published by Bauer Consumer Media .founded by Geoff Barton and Editor James McMahon. has become the world’s biggest selling weekly rock magazine. Kerrang magazine was first published on June 6, 1981 as a one-off supplement in The Sounds newspaper. Launched as a monthly magazine, Kerrang began to appear on a fortnightly basis later, and in 1987 it went weekly. The original owner was United Newspapers who then sold it to EMAP in 1991. Kerrang prides them selves as the UK's premier multi-platform music destination ‘bringing the best in rock online, on the radio, on TV and in print’

The content of kerrang .

A regular issue of kerrang is 70 pages long and focuses on rock music and always has famous rock bands on the cover. The main image on the magazine features a different band every week. Due to the large circulation of the magazine, readers are given the opportunity to interact by writing letters and reviews that may be published in the magazine. Magazine always has new interviews with an artist or new articles about different artist. Kerrang includes full page advertisements for music companies such as HMV and Play.com as well as promoting other retailers

The publishing institution of kerrang

Kerrang is published by Bauer Media Group, which is a large German publishing company which operates in 15 countries worldwide. Europe’s largest privately owned publishing Group. The Group is a worldwide media empire offering over 300 magazines in 15 countries, as well as online, TV and radio stations.. The company was founded in 1875. Worldwide circulation of Bauer Media Group's magazine titles amounts to 38 million magazines a week. Bauer media group also publishes other successful magazines i.e. Bella, take a break, q magazine, closer and heat.

The typical reader profile

The magazine is aimed at a young audience, through the use of graphics, fonts, layouts and presentation. Kerrang is aimed at the youth and their lifestyles. It has a contemporary and up-to-date look. The magazine even accommodates the young readership by using advertisements that relate to their interests. Kerrang Aims itself more at a male audience and appeals to them by using content such as hard rock and metal iconic male bands on the front cover.

layout trademarks  of kerrang

The main colours are white, black, red and grey. These enable the magazine to be eye-catching and it allows certain cover lines to stand out. These basic colours are continued throughout the 70 pages creating a dark and moody ambiance. Kerrang has a house style and this makes the magazine instantly recognized by regular audience. The main layout trademark of kerrang is that it fits the genre of perfectly by using big black and white images and red fonts to add contrast. The variety of images makes it appeal to a wider audience.

Values of Kerrang’s audience

The magazine appeals to a specific niche audience because it concerns topics and themes 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’

Intoduction to main task

now that i have completed the prelim task , i am going to begin to research and plan for the main task , which is produce a music magazine . before i start producing the magazine i have to research existing product.

Action plan!

16 January

1.   Compare magazines & research the magazine market place.

2.   Research similar products: 3 x front covers, 2 x contents pages, 2x double page spread.

24 January

1.   Initial ideas.

2.   Audience research.

3.   Writing a treatment plan.

30 January

1.   Layout/ masthead ideas

2.   Plan photo shoot and take photos.

3.   Drafting of pages.

4.   Audience feedback.

6-27 February

1.   Drafting of pages

2.   Audience feedback

5 march

1.   Evaluation

9 march

1. Final deadline.

Evaluation

Evaluation for prelim task.

1.       In what ways does your media product use develop or challenge forms and conventions of real media products?

Before I produced my own student magazine, I researched other magazines to look at the codes and conventions of student magazines. One convention I have used is having a big central image with cover lines on top, informing you of what inside the magazine. On my front cover. For all the text I used one single colour and this challenges magazine conventions. Typically magazines usually have colour scheme that involves more than one colour to attract a wider audience. On my contents page i used a green and red colour scheme, had a list of contents and a few pictures and this is similar to most student magazines, a bright colour scheme, list of contents and pictures. looking at other student magazines I realised that they  included information about courses and content  to do with college work and that’s why I included features like ‘ top ten tips for revision’  and this did make the magazine balanced , because it now had information on courses and also on fun things to do around college.

2.       How does your media product represent a particular social group?

My magazine represents teenage students, so I aimed to make it fun and youthful but also aimed to make it informative. on the cover and the contents page I used a simple Arial font and also used standard English and this would represent teenagers in a positive light than using text speak  and having the words different sizes and fonts because this would just reinforce the dominant stereotype that teenagers are uncontrollable and troublesome . I used pictures that represented student life outside college i.e. pictures of students during the Christmas concert arranged by Ludlow College. This also represents student in a positive way because it shows teenagers can have good clean fun that doesn’t involve alcohol or troublesome behaviour.

3.       What kind of media institution might distribute your media product and why?

My student magazine is college specific and only features information about Ludlow College or events taking place locally, so the magazine would have to be published and distributed by Ludlow College. I think I would do well if I sold the magazine at the college because it’s not like other magazines that only focuses on the serious side of college and feature articles only about courses, careers and universities, mine is about the fun side of college i.e. like my article of the bake sale for red nose day.

4.       Who would be the audience for your media product?

my audience would be college students aged 16-19 , that attend Ludlow college . the audience all genders , any sexual preference , all ethnicities and any cultural background , the magazine ia already niche because its targeting on students ,if the audience was more specific it would limit sales .

5.       How did you attract / address your audience?

I attracted my audience through the front cover. I used a colour scheme that they had chosen in a previous questionnaire so I was aware they would respond positively to it. The central image was slightly dark and I also used the image as the background. So to make the magazine more contrasting and striking I decided to use red for the tittle and all the texts and this made my magazine look interesting and professional. The cover lines on my magazine were in little boxes that also included images and I think this made the magazine look less busy and serious. The images on the context page are slanted and this connotes a sense of fun and youth, it also makes the magazine seem more carefree and a lot of the students would relate to this.

6.       What have you learnt about technology from the process of constructing this product?

Technology was really useful during this task and I think I have learnt a lot during the production of the magazine. I have learnt how to use Photoshop to edit the images that I had taken using a digital camera. To make the magazine I had to use the software ‘InDesign’ to create the front cover and contents page , prior to this task I had never used ‘InDesign’ so it was fun having to learn how to use everything. It was also the first time, using a blog to post my research but I’ve learnt how useful it is to use a blog because you can keep track of your progress during the prelim task.

final outcome contents page

 

final outcome for front cover

 i choose this to be my front cover central image .