For my AS level Media coursework we were asked to create our own music magazine using and following the conventions of current music magazines.
Audience Research
For my audience research I decided that a mixture of two methods would help me to achieve a unbiased and vaired including a survey over Facebook would be most helpful to my research as it targets my age group of 17-21 year olds and also video reasearch of my peers. I asked a variety of questions all including things that would help me achieve a realistic magazine. The results I have attained have been through a questionnaire of 25 people who are within the ages of my target audience. I have asked a variety of individuals who have different music tastes, giving a large range of information.
Why did I use Facebook?
Facebook has over 500 million uses across the globe allowing people to share what music they may be enjoying at the moment. Study shows that music tastes are shared second highest. This means that I can relate my own research to how people react to music on facebook.
Sample of my Questionnaire
Genre:
- What is your preferred genre of music?
- Who are your current favourite artists?
- Which artist don’t you like?
- Which artist first made you love music?
- Do you see your preferred genre of music live?
- Which radio station do you listen to the most?
Current Music Magazines:
- Which magazines do you currently read? Why?
- What do you enjoy about them?
- What do you dislike about them?
- How much do you normally pay for a magazine?
- How often do you buy these magazines?
Images:
1. For a front page, which type of image would you like to see?
-Large close up
-A few small pictures
-Large medium shot with background
-If other, please state:
2. For a contents page, which type of image would you like to see?
-Small images
-Dominant image
-If other, please state:
3. Are there any specific photograph techniques which you like to see?
4. For a double page spread, which type of image would you like to see?
-Image dominated
-Main image with two or three smaller images
-Small images
-If other, please state:
Font and Colours:
1. Which colour scheme do you prefer?
-Red, black and white
-Yellow, black and white
-Grey, black and white
-If other, please state:
2. Which type of font do you prefer?
-Bold and curved
-Harsh edges
-Clear and recognisable
-If other, please state:
3. What style do you like most for the magazine?
-Stylish and minimalistic
-Busy and colourful
-Bold and minimal
Contents of magazine:
1. What type of double page spread do you prefer?
-Linear
-Q&A
-If other, please state:
2. Which articles are most memorable to you?
3. Will you buy a magazine simple because of the front cover?
4. Is there anything you stereotypically expect to see inside?
Results
For genre and personal favourites, I found that alternative/indie were most popular within the group, because of this I have decided that I will create my magazine for that genre.
The majority of the people who said they preferred alternative music said there favourite artist were musicians like Arcade Fire, Kasabian and The Smiths.
The same people said that they disliked music from the likes of Justin Bieber, Westlife and Chipmunk.
80% said they would go see there chosen artists live, which indicates that they would like to know about artists on tour.
For the layout of the front page, I found that the majority of people preferred a dominating picture of a famous artist. They also said for the contents page they favoured a blocky effect, because it was easier to read. For the layout of the contents page, the favourite choice was for as dominating picture, with a smaller one on the opposite side. The red, black and white colour scheme was also more favoured along with, a strong blocky font. In regards to the double page spread, Question and Answer were the most popular form of interview.
MOJO is an iconic magazine and is targeted at audiences who know like both new and old bands. This particular front page again is image dominated, although unlike the other magazines I have analysed shows The Beatles to have a back ground.
Unlike the other magazines, MOJO doesn’t stick to the colour schemes as well as other do and mainly focus’ on the white and grey.
Clash is a stylistic magazine which shows no bias to genre as you can tell by the mixture of music named on the front cover such as Lady Gaga, Magnetic Man, Interpol and Beth Ditto who are all in different genres of music.The image dominated page shows a long shot of Interpol. The band is dressed in blank and white suits which are used to fit in with their 3 colours of black, white and yellow. The bold colouring of the page stands out to readers, implying that the whole magazine is stylistic, bold and relatively formal (due to the costume choices of the band) The masthead takes up the top third of the page and is set back from the picture suggesting that people already know of Clash magazine. We can tell the audience is of an older age, perhaps hitting the age of the ‘young-professional’ by the formality of the layout, photo’s and text. It follows the conventions of magazines with the masthead, bar code and headings.
NME is one of the leading music magazines in England generally targeted at alternative and indie music. It has become a major brand in the music industry, having its own radio station, TV channel, stages at festivals such as Leeds and Reading, as well as the magazine having a massive fan base. For this magazine cover, the use of the main image dominates the whole page. NME keep the colours very simple with the black and white contrasting with her bright red hair. The general look for the magazine is minimalistic for this front cover, this is presented through the image dominated layout with a close up shot of Florence and the Machine, showing no back ground, and the plain font type. Florence's makeup is made her to look dark around the eyes and pale face, linking with her white top to perhaps suggest an edgy look. Her posture also suggests this attitude, both things will appeal to the audience that NME are aiming for. The bold font style used for the masthead and the main article draw attention to the page mainly due to the colour contrast, this will draw the eye to the page. There are 3 types of font to keep the interest in the page. It also targets its audience by putting the names of bands belonging to the genre of music they are trying to create. "THE STATE OF MUSIC TODAY" suggests the magazine is going to be critical and honest about there opinions on todays music, persuading the reader to think that the magazine is right and a helpful source of knowledge. The normal conventions for a magazine are used, with things like the bar code, date, issue number and masthead itself.
Narc is a less popular magazine music magazine targeted at music lovers in the North East focusing on future talent. Again, this front page is image dominated by the artists in the main article. The medium shot of the band Bright Eyes show their posture to look casual and unthreatening, suggesting the target audience is slightly older around the age of 20-30. The way in which the band has been styled presents an indie look, again targeting a particular audience of readers. As the image is in black and white this suggests that the band are quite old fashioned or that they have been around on the music scene for a while. The bright pink contrasts the monotone photo, making the masthead and text stand out from the image. The fonts used more or less link together making the front page appear simple. Alike other magazines, it uses the same conventions like magazine issue number and when it has been published.
Kerrang! is again a very large brand, having its own Kerrang! tour and radio station as well as a magazine. The genre to which Kerrang! belongs is rock, metal and screamo, this is shown through the way images and fonts are used. This front page is again image dominated although unlike other magazines I have analysed this front page has 4 images. The main image of Biffy Clyro is cold and dark, fitting with the connotations of the genre. The lead singer is positioned in front of the other members of the band in white holding his hand to his face which is shadowed by his hood, giving an overall serious look to the picture. The font for the masthead has the effect of looking smashed to illustrate to the readers that the magazine is hardcore. There is very little change for font type, in general the magazine goes for a blocky text to draw the readers attention. Like all magazines, they use 3 main colours for the front page, the colours being black red and white. In this case the associations of the black and red have meaning and can be portrayed as dangerous, targeting Kerrangs! audience as the genre it belongs to is generally thought to as passionate and quite tough. Again, the conventions of normal magazines are used.
This contents page goes for the blocky look as without lines it cuts the page into sections. The images on the left vary from concerts to album artwork to magazine covers. The use of this is effective and creates and arty look, helping determine the target audience the magazine are going for.
The text is all set to the right and split up into 3 sections, each repeated weekly with the magazine. The use of “regulars”, “what goes on!” and “the mojo filter” this gives quite a colloquial feel to the page. Like NME, under the name of the article a little blurb is given to describe what is being shown.
The main difference to this contents page is the bottom third of the page where the editorial is given by three people, next to their black and white pictures. I feel this looks disjointed from the rest of the page, and don’t think it is a good convention to use. Alike all contents pages, it sticks to the general conventions of numbering, text information and images.
The Narc. Contents page is very different from the others, because although blocky it only has one image. Under the picture, there is the editorial and under information about contacting them. The picture is just a plain picture of the band, but it is very effective. The positioning and colour of the band fit in perfectly with the entire page. The writing is quite colloquial trying to get the readers attention. This is shown through the writing underneath the features. The contents page seems to be pushed into the block on the right hand side. The entire page appears almost uniformed in the way it is sectioned off, although it does follow typical conventions.
Clash again goes for the blocky look. The whole page is filled with rectangles, and again uses the “features” and “regulars” and again having information underneath the pages.
The colours on the contents page have followed through the theme of strong colours. The combination of pink, green, black and white is an effective choice and draws attention to the page. There are 4 images on the page, all with different saturation, colour and poses.
The Kerrang! contents page is typical of its genre, looking quite threatening because of the images. The pictures used show the bands either looking angry or rough. The main image is of a man who has a tattoo on his neck, the picture is cold emphasising that it’s not a happy magazine. The 5 surround images are of bands holding guns, screaming and generally looking abit angry. Again like all magazines, it has a section to the right to tell you what is in the magazine.
This double page spread for MOJO magazine uses interesting photo's to target its audience. As you will know from before, MOJO is quite an artistic magazine and on the double page spread this is demonstrated through the image. The picture if a copy of the man doing 8 different poses but making him look like they're taken all at the same time. The plain colour scheme of the blues and whites contrast the complexity of the image. The image takes over half of the page, allowing the text to be on the lower half. We can typical conventions of articles with the collums and layouts.
The NME double page spread follows the same theme of minimalism, showing that it’s quite grown up. The main colour theme is followed through with the black, white and red. Through Florence and the Machines body posture we can tell she is quite confident and stands out, which is what the look of the article is going for. The font is made to look quite classy and appealing. The text is sectioned off into columns on the right side of the page to make room for the large long shot of Florence sitting.
Unlike other magazines, Narc is more original and simple which is a link portrayed thoughout the entire magazine. This magazine only used the page numbers and headline as conventions whereas the layout is completely original and unlike any other music magazine. The page doesn't use much colour and mainly sticks to black to keep a dark outline. The font is left into almost one long collumn.
Clash-
Compared to its front page, the image dominated double page spread is quite dark. Its full page picture of a band gives an atmospheric feel to it. The mise-en-scene of the room creates a the idea of 'forbidden'. The larger text links in from the contents page. Its text is split into two columns’ making sure none of the picture is covered, this is a convention of all double page spreads.
Kerrang! again follow a distinct theme throughout the magazine of darkness. In this double page spread this is demonstrated through the black and white imagery. The page is image dominated with another 4 pictures of the band. The posture and poses of the band follows the genre of music, making them appear emotional about their music. Again, only three colours are used- red, black and white, linking from the front page and also using the same colour connotations too. The text again is typicially put into collumns.
