Institution Research

Within this post I have researched different UK Publishers to find a suitable publisher for my music magazine. Out of these four institution's I will use Future PLC as my publisher because of the similarity with their already produced magazines. They offer online content for tablets and smartphone, which will be highly suitable for my target audience, especially since I'm producing an indie/rock magazine for late teens early twenties.

Institution	Details	Publications
PPA	The Professional Publishers Association (PPA) represents around 220 companies, ranging from consumer magazine publishers to business-to-business data and information providers, customer magazine publishers and smaller independent companies.	Beano Vogue Cosmopolitan Radio Times
Hearst	Hearst magazines UK is the largest digital publisher in the UK their reach extends to 1 in 3 UK women and 1 in 4 UK adults.	Best Men’s Health Reveal
Future PLC	Future is an award-winning international media group and leading digital business. They reach more than 51 million international consumers a month and create content and advertising solutions for passionate consumers online, on tablet & smartphone and in print.	Guitarist Total Guitar
Warners	Established in 1988, Warners Group Publications plc is a magazine publisher specialising in niche titles.	Campers Collectors Gazette

 

Stage 2 Planning

Brief:

With the inspiration of other magazines, I plan on producing an indie/rock music magazine which will have a target audience of late teens/early twenties from both genders. My magazine will include the major conventions of which a magazine should have as well as others in order to make it a successful magazine. I will use a range of images with different angles/shots in order to make my magazine look professional and to stand out from the competition. Within the production of my magazine I may face difficulties that I hope to resolve throughout the production.

Genre/ sub genre:
Similar texts/music magazines which have inspired my thoughts are magazines and downloadable versions of NME, Q and Kerrang! However NME is my biggest inspiration simply because I follow this on Twitter, have the downloaded version on my iPhone and this is the magazine I purchase the most as opposed to the other two.

Target audience:
My target audience, like already stated in Stage 1 will be for late teens/early twenties of both genders. This target audience will share similar interests, with ‘introducing acts’ as well as though who are avid gig/festival goers and love live music, since there will be chances to enter a competition in my magazine to win free tickets to a gig/festival, this relating closely to the personality of my audience.

Major conventions

The major conventions within my magazine will be that I ensure that my mastheads are clear and stand out well enough from the background. I will use a specific colour scheme in order to allow my magazine to ‘flow’ well for the reader. This colour scheme will be colours related to ‘rock/indie’ music, with the use of reds to show passion and blacks to emphasise power. I will also use the obvious conventions on my magazine, a barcode on the front cover as well as a range of coverlines of the articles inside my magazine.
These coverlines will stand out from the main image on the background of my front cover. On my contents page I will emphasise selected arcticles from my magazine by increasing the font size but still keeping it professional. My double page spread will include a large main coverline as well as other major conventions such as captions under my images etc.

Conventions:
The conventions in my magazine I may change may be the camera angle on my images, as these may not be as best as possible for what I’ve already stated.

Original images:
As stated in my stage one planning I plan on using one large main image for my front cover, with this either being a single person (if so, an extreme close up of he/she) if a group (a medium close up from an high angle shot). On my contents page I plan on using three/four primary images of the ‘introducing act’ pictures from previous gigs/festival and a possible music instrument in order for my audience to be aware of what is involved in the magazine.
My double page spread will have large images of the main article which will be an interview with the ‘introducing act’. This will have a large image on one page, the full A4 with the text on the opposite page to it. Yet, judging on the presentation of my magazine this may also change and I may have a few images on the DPS in order to show different actions of the act.

Potential difficulties:
The potential difficulties I may face whilst producing my magazine, other than the things I have already mentioned, may be that my models for my images may not show up the shoot when needed. Other academic studies may result in me falling behind in my coursework for media also since it is my first time using Photoshop I may struggle to use it correctly, and it may take a while for me to get used to the software.

Coursework Stage 1 Planning

The type of magazine I will produce will be a music magazine. At the moment the name of my magazine will be ‘Musicrocks’ however this may change later in the production of the magazine. The audience for my magazine will be late teens/early twenties for both genders as there will be a range of music genres which can relate closely to both sexes. The attitudes and interests of my audience will be those who enjoy reading interviews/reviews as well those who enjoy attending gigs, as I plan on using my own primary images from previous gigs/festivals to help relate to my target audience which will be a great selling point for my magazine.

My magazine will be able to be bought from main superstores, i.e. Tesco, ASDA as well as music stores like HMV near the genre of music that will be in my magazine, in order to increase revenue. I will also make downloadable versions for tablets/mobiles as technology is in our everyday life and this will be a lot more necessary for those who are ‘always on the move’ and use their electoronic gadgets a lot more.

The necessary information which will be on my magazine will involve the selling price, information if explicit lexis is used pre-warning the reader and ensuring the right target age purchases the product, as well as the issue number and date of the magazine. My magazine will have a range of selling points, some of which I’m unsure exactly what however some ideas may be a ‘free large poster’ or chances to win tickets to a gig, once again, this relating back to my target audience.

The theme of my article will be an interview to an ‘introducing’ act where I will be using primary images and relating it closely to my inspiration bands which has already been uploaded on my blog. This will be so my readers can relate closely to magazine and hopefully keep reliable customers. For my front cover I plan on using one large main image of the ‘introducing act’ which will be in my article so my readers are aware of what the main coverline will be about. This will hopefully be an impressive selling point for my magazine as I will use an interesting camera angle. The images inside will all be primary images, some of which from previous gigs (for the contents page) also different primary images of more ‘introducing acts’.

Front Cover Deconstruction

 

Front Cover Deconstruction from itc6swa

This is where I deconstructed three magazine front cover's and analysed what techniques were used from the publishers. I will use this knowledge to later on help myself when producing my own music magazine. 

Evaluting a Selection of Previous Student Work

Analysing Previous Student Work

Name of Magazine	Strengths	Weaknesses	Grade I awarded and reason
Reckless	Ø  Consistent colour scheme Ø  Use of primary images Ø  Varied contents page, i.e images, articles Ø  Range of page numbers Ø  Use of essential info on front cover	Ø  Lacks of structure on the front cover, their coverlines aren’t in a specific order Ø  There’s no set font style Lack of information on DPS, background also clashes with colour Ø  Lack of structure	I would give this magazine a D, due to his primary images which are quite good however since there’s no set font the magazine looks unprofessional compared to most other magazines.
Rockhound	Ø  Creative fonts, relating to the ‘rock theme’ Ø  Has essential info on Ø  Good use of colour scheme Ø  Wide range of primary images Ø  Use of taboo language relating to the target audience	Ø  The magazine hasn’t used the same masthead on the front cover and contents page Ø  Doesn’t have a page number on DPS Ø  There is a range of font styles Ø  Some colours clash with their background (white on yellow)	For this magazine I would give Rockhound a C/B because of the use of primary images as well as the creative article. However the range of font styles and clash of colours brings down the grade.
Unheard	Ø  Large image on front cover Ø  Bright background, gives us a ‘live effect’ Ø  Use of essential info on front cover Ø  Clear contents page	Ø  No specific use of colour scheme Ø  Unclear images although primary images were taken Ø  No set font style Ø  The use of the drop caps on the DPS doesn’t ‘fit in’ well with the text	For this magazine I would give it a grade of a D because the structure and colours don’t really flow like a magazine should, making it hard for the audience to read it. However there are a range of primary images used and creative coverlines.

What have I learned from looking at last year’s student work?

From looking at last year’s student work I have learnt that font, colour and presentation are a key essential to make a successful music magazine. Without a clear ‘flow’ to a magazine readers won’t be interested in the articles never mind the images as well as key information is essential to put on a magazine.

How will I apply this to my own work?

I will apply this to my work by making sure I use all the essential info a magazine needs as well as following a set scheme of fonts and colour in order to make my reader interested and to keep presentation key in order to make my magazine look as professional as possible.