Research and Planning: Music Magazine Moodboard

Research and Planning: Initial Idea for Music Magazine

I am going to produce a mainstream rock music magazine featuring bands such as AC/DC, Black Sabbath and Metallica. The target audience will be mainly males aged around 18-30. Magazines such as NME, Kerrang and Total Guitar have influenced me; dark colour scheme, informal mode of address, overall content.  

Research and Planning - Analysis of Music Magazine Double Page Spread: NME

This is an article for ‘The Killers’ from NME. The article uses 3 columns which makes it look more sophisticated, like a newspaper, which is part of NME’s house style. This makes the magazine seem more up market. Another trademark of NME is mainly the use of black and white, again making the magazine seem more sophisticated. The mode of address is quite formal, it is also quite light hearted: “they’ve been shopping for Stetsons and enjoy a bit of a hoedown”.  Considering this is a double page spread, there is not much text in the article. The ration of pictures to text is about 1:1. This appeals to the audience as it will not take them that long to read the aritcle. The main iamge in the article is a group shot of the band. They all have quite serious facial expressions. The article has quite a lot of praise for the band; “The Killers are in a more playful mood”. This makes NME seem more friendly and light hearted. There are a couple of drop caps in the article, one at the start and one near the middle, this is another part of NMEs brand identity and an attempt to make the magazine more sophisticated. 

Research and Planning - Analysis of Music Magazine Double Page Spread: Top of the Pops

This is an article on “N-Dubz” from the Top of the Pops magazine. The main colours used on the page are red and pink wich appeal to the target audience of young girls. The launguage used is very informal and slang is used; “just leave her alone, init”. The format is very blatant; questions are highlighted with bold red writing and awnsers from each of the band members are listed below, this simplicity appeals to the young audience. Additonally there are quite a lot of pictures on the pages which has a simmilar appeal. There are several puffs on the page with lures for example: “Dappy has the most bizzare crushes” and “There are ways you can avoid drama”. These quotes tie in with the gossipy, chatty brand identity of the magazine, and attmept to hook readers in to reading the article. Questions are asked that refrence other media that the audience are familiar with; “Are you team Edward or team Jacob?”, “Is Lady Gaga really a man?”  Tese references to popular culture appeal to the audience as they are probably fans of; in this example “Lady Gaga” or “Twilight” and want to hear other celebrities insights.   

Research and Planning - Analysis of Music Magazine Contents Pages: Top of the Pops

This is the contents page from an issue of Top of the Pops magazine. It uses a very chatty mode of address that appeals to the target audience-young girls. For example the magazine uses abbreviations and text speak that the audience will be familiar with-“Inside the mag”, “we <3 shopping”. This contents page is much more conventional than the NME one. It is much easier to navigate; there is a picture of the front page with arrows pointing to cover lines and giving the reader the related page numbers. Also featured articles are highlighted in yellow, which stands out. This ease of use will appeal to the young target audience. The colour scheme will also appeal to young girls; mainly pink. 

Research and Planning - Analysis of Music Magazine Contents Pages: NME

This is the contents page from an issue of NME. It is quite different from most contents pages as it does not simply list the articles, but instead has a picture related to an artist or festival and an anchor and page reference. This appeals to the audience as it is quite alternative.  The colours used are mainly black and white, this gives the page a newspaper feel and makes the magazine seem cool and sophisticated. There are lots of quotes that anchor the images and attempt to lure the reader in by giving them previews that make the articles sound exciting and dramatic-“I ended up crying in the first aid tent covered in blood”. The main image on the page is of a man, obviously performing, balancing on one leg and waving. This represents band members and friendly and energetic. 

Research and Planning - Analysis of Music Magazine Front Covers: Top of the Pops

Top of the Pops magazine is published by BBC Magazines. This magazine has a very informal hose style. For example the language is very chatty; ‘partying till dawn’. The layout is very busy, adding to the informality. There is a puff: ‘free pop badges’ obviously attempting to get children to buy the magazine or, more likely, attempting to get them to ask their parents to get it for them. In addition to this there are ‘4 sets to collect’ encouraging more devoted readers to buy 4 copies of the magazine. The masthead is located in the top left, ensuring it is the first thing the reader sees. The main colours used are pink and purple, indicating the main target audience as young girls. The central image is a medium shot of Britney Spears her facial expression is quite serious reinforcing the ‘bad girl’ image. The cover lines are fairly conventional-bullet points down the left hand side. The articles reflect the chatty informal house style: “which pop star was a school misfit?”, “win a call from your favourite pop star!”  

Research and Planning - Analysis of Music Magazine Front Covers: Classical Music

Classical Music is published by Rhinegold publishing and has a more niche market than say NME. It has a very up market house style. The font of the main cover lines and masthead is very sophisticated and overall the layout is very neat. The mise-en-scene is also very high class as the man is wearing a suit. He appears to be sitting outside a school or academy, which adds to the upper class mise-en-scene. The cover predominantly uses calm colours such as white and blue that indicates the magazine is relaxing and laid back. The central image is a long shot of a man sat on a bench. His body language is quite formal again highlighting the upper class nature of the magazine. The cover lines attempt to pull the reader in by referring to articles similarly to the NME cover. Also like the NME cover part of the masthead is obscured.  

Research and Planning - Analysis of Music Magazine Front Covers: NME

NME is published by IPC Media. On this cover part of the masthead is blocked by an image, this is a common convention used in a lot of magazines. This is known as a media code-the target audience will instantly recognise NME even if the masthead is obscured. The cover lines on the cover are all slanted and going in different directions. This is another trademark of NME and it appeals to the audience because it makes the magazine seem edgy and eccentric-which is probably what the readers want to be themselves. There are a couple of puffs that make reference to articles in the magazine, attempting to pull the reader in. There is also a lure-‘I can’t keep on living like this’ which makes the article and magazine sound exciting, again trying to pull the reader in. The central image is a medium shot of Lilly Allen. Her facial expression is very moody making the magazine seem serious and dramatic. The font of the cover lines is quite messy making the magazine seem informal and cool. The main colour used is red, which has connotations with passion and danger. 

The New Musical Express

The New Musical Express (NME for short) is a music magazine in the United Kingdom. It has been published weekly since March 1952. It stated as a newspaper but moved towards the magazine format in the 1980s. In the 1970s it became the best selling British music newspaper.

NME contains primarily music news and reviews; ‘NME.COM brings you the latest music news and reviews, music videos and gossip, as well as providing the hottest concert tickets and band memorabilia.’

NME is published by IPC Media, they produce over 60 media brands including: Country Life, Horse & Hound, Rugby World, Decanter,Look, Now, Chat and Woman. They target a fairly wide range of audiences. According to there website they have 3 core audiences: men, mass-market women and upmarket women.  

According to the NME reader profile ‘going out and spending is all part of the new music scene’. Additionally, the average reader will: go to gigs and live events; spend £532 on clothing per year and £1229 on audio equipment. The total readership buys ‘1.3 million DVDs per year’ and spends ‘£18 million on DVDs’. 71% Of NME readers agree that it is important to look well dressed. Also 92% agree it is important to be well informed about things. 69% of readers are male; with an average age of 24 and 52% work full time. 

NME uses the instantly recognizable bold red font for the title. The masthead is often obscured by other images on the cover as it is so well known. NME does not use a conventional contents page. Instead it uses an ‘Inside this week’ page. This is comprised mainly of photographs of bands with corresponding page numbers along with quotes from the band which anchor the image. In addition to this the page also contains a ‘plus’ section which is more like a conventional contents page with page numbers and titles for sections of the magazine.

NME feels more like a newspaper than other music magazines (which makes sense as it used to be one). This is mainly due to the headlines and columns. Also, the pages literally feel like newspaper pages, aside from the cover and back page. This is very different from the usual glossy feeling pages found in most magazines.

Overall I would say NME successfully reflects the views of its audience. The NME reader profile states ‘NME readers agree that it is important to be well informed about things’. NME reflect this view by publishing weekly as opposed to monthly like many music magazines and including up to date articles on things the average reader is interested in; concerts, festivals, new and upcoming artists. 

Plan for main task

16^th of January

·      Compare magazines and research the magazine marketplace.

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

24^th of January

·      Initial ideas.

·      Audience research.

·      Writing a treatment plan.

30^th of January

·      Layout/masthead ideas.

·      Plan photo shoot and take photos.

·      Drafting of pages.

·      Audience feedback.

6-27^th of February

·      Drafting of pages.

·      Audience feedback.

5^th of March

·      Evaluation.

9^th of March

·      Final deadline.

Music magazines

NME magazine

NME is published by IPC Media, they produce over 60 media brands including: Country Life, Horse & Hound, Rugby World, Decanter, Look, Now, Chat and Woman. They target a fairly wide range of audiences. According to there website they have 3 core audiences: men, mass-market women and upmarket women.  

Main task introduction

Now that I have completed the preliminary task I will be beginning research and planning for the main coursework task. The main task is to produce a front cover, contents page and a double page article for a new music magazine. Before I do this I need to research some existing products.

Evaluation

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

When I created my magazine I looked at other student magazines for inspiration. I noticed that in the examples I looked at there were references to references to local events so in my magazine I included an article on the ‘Christmas fair’. The covers I looked at had the masthead in the top left of the cover, and the cover lines down the left hand side. This is where I placed these features on my cover to make it look neat and professional. The contents pages I looked at both had titles for sections of the magazine in them to make for easier navigation (for example: features, sport and news). This was also a feature I included in my magazine.

2. How does your media product represent particular social groups?

My magazine represents student life. I wanted to represent students as friendly and confident. For the image on the cover I used a medium close up of a Ludlow college student. His facial expression and body language are quite happy and confident, which ties in with the representation I was trying to create. I used quite professional language that is not too formal; this connotes confidence. The images I used in the contents page are photographs from around the college and town. There is not much going on in the photos; this represents student life as peaceful and relaxing.

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

My magazine has articles mainly specific to Ludlow College, so would probably be made and distributed in college. A company could distribute it but this would raise the price, most students in the questionnaire voted the magazine should be free.

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

 My audience is students from Ludlow College (16-18 year olds). The magazine is aimed at both genders.

5. How did you attract/address your audience?

I attracted my audience by including content that students said they wanted in the questionnaire. I included both serious stories and gossip stories. I used a puff on the front cover highlighting the fact that the magazine is free. I used green and black for the colour scheme. The title on the cover is green as it is quite an eye-catching colour; also green connotes peace and relaxation.  I used a neat layout, especially on the contents, to make it easy to navigate and read. I also used quite formal language, which has connotations with professionalism. 

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

When designing my front cover and contents page I used Adobe In Design, which I had never used before. I found this worked well and was quite easy to use, although it was a little tricky getting the photos from the memory stick onto the software. I also used blogger, which again I had never used before.  It has been a very useful way of recording all my work. It was also fairly easy to use although it was a bit difficult to upload the slideshow presentation, cover and contents page.

Magazine contents

magazine cover

Preliminary task: Contents mock up

Preliminary task: Magazine cover mock up