Organisation

I have decided when I am going to do my magazine front cover photo shoot and who I am going to include in it. Firstly I have drawn up five fake bands to use of my cover and the main cover stars will be a alternative rock due called D and B. I have decided to do a due as there are not many famous alternative rock due's out there so I thought it would be different, however I could still change it. I will use two of my friends for 'D and B' and will shoot it in the drama studio due to the lighting being better than other venues; ie my house.

I intend to use a mid shot for D and B so the audience can see their body language and can get a feel to their personalities. However I will also shoot a few more of my friends in the drama studio's so I can decide which band would look best on the front cover if I don't like how my D and B idea comes out. I will shoot 'Ancient Thirteen', which will include 4 friends and 'American Sound' as well in the drama studio. Hopefully I can get the shoot around the middle of November which will give me enough time to plan everything so it all runs smoothly.

Organisation

Using https://www.surveymonkey.com/s/BFM26QM  I have found out what type of music genre my magazine will be. I am gonna make my music genre an alternative rock magazine as that is what most people who did the survey enjoy the most.Also using survey monkey I found out that most people between the age of 19-25 listen to alternative rock so that is who my target audience will be! This helps me to find out what age group I should be aiming my music magazine at.

Drafting and Planning: How to improve my codes and conventions

Recently in class me and a partner analysed each others codes and conventions task,http://lewisglennonmediawork.blogspot.co.uk/2014/10/drafting-and-planning-5-cover-pictures.html.  This is my feedback on my work!

Looking at my partners comments I generally think that the fonts I used fitted in with the philosophy of each magazine and they all look realistic! Also I was praised with correctly sizing the fonts in some front covers (M magazine) used and all my cover lines are relevant to the magazine genre's.

Despite correctly sizing the fonts for the two M magazines, I did not use the right size fonts for the other magazines. It is important that I get the size of the fonts correct so other cover lines and pugs stand out more effectively. To help do this I shall look at other magazine fonts and try to size it using the fonts used on actual music magazine covers!

This task will help me in the future as I can figure out what sizes are the best to use to help benefit my magazine, and how to appeal to my audience using things such as pugs. All of this feedback will be useful when making my real magazine as I will know what to include to make the magazine look as best as possible and to stop me making basic errors.

Similar products: shots used on front covers

This is a front cover of the band the killers. There is a long shot of the band and this is used to make them the main attraction as there body takes up the whole front cover. It also let's the audience see the body language of each band member, and this helps show them what they are like and if they have attitude or not. The Killers are all standing rather casual implying that they have a bit of attitude (one of them with his hands in his pocket) but not very rebellious as the cover star with his hands in front of them looks very serious.

This is a front cover from NME. It has a mid shot of Arctic Monkeys. This shot helps make Alex Turner stand out as he takes up most of the cover with the rest of the band standing back implying that he is the main singer of the group. Mid shot's can also be used to help show the personalities of the band, but it is also used to show who is the leader of the band as shown here.

By doing this task I can decide which camera shot is best to use on my magazine front cover. I can decide which shot will best give the audience a bit of an insight into the bands personality.

Drafting and planning: 5 cover pictures

This is my magazine cover for the music magazine M. On the front cover is rapper Drake. As the magazine is a niche market I decided to look up other niche magazines and most the fonts they use is simple and brightly colored. So I used simple fonts for my front cover, I made my main cover line in red as it is the main story of the magazine so I want to keep it simple. Also the colour red represents Drake a little as the connotation of red is danger and Drake has the image of being a 'bad boy' with attitude. I then made the cover lines just looking up main stories from the music world. On one of the cover lines I also used a young up and coming music star and portrayed him as the next Drake, to complement the main cover star Drake, as well as pulling in the audience, by acting as a screamer, as the audience will be desperate to see who the 'new Drake' is and why he has been proclaimed as that.

This is my second magazine for M and I decided to call the band Quasi Hendrix. I got this name using the random band name generator, and I decided to make them a hip hop band as I think they look quite hip hop due to their glasses. I then added three more cover lines and once again kept it simple as it is a niche magazine again. I decided to put the main cover line in white to show purity about the band as well as complementing the background. I also included a screamer near the masthead to do with Eminem as this will help me attract an audience who perhaps are not a big fan off hip-hop but like rap.

 This is my third magazine for Music X which is appeals to a cult audience. As you can tell by the background its is a very dark background but the picture of 'BJORK' has a bit of red in it which is why I made my main cover line red to complement it! I then made the other covers line white as it compliments itself on a black background. The fonts I used were more sketchy then the simple fonts I had used before. This was because the image is very dark and sketchy itself so I made the fonts like this to complement and tie in with the cover.

This magazine was mainly rock oriented and has Marylin Manson on the front. Them background is not that dark so I made the cover lines red bar one so they complement the background. I then used a black sketch font, which you usually see on rock oriented magazines as the main cover line. Once again I had to look up bands like Ghost Dance and find out what type of stuff Manson says as I don't know to much on this type of music.

I personally found this the hardest magazine cover to do as the main cover line was supplied for us at the bottom of the page and in a weird font. However I added to that and made it big and bold so it's easy to read. However I kept the main cover lines simple and not as big as usual so that it does not take it away from the main cover stars. I put them in red to fit with the background and to make it similar to the masthead.Red is also used in alternative rock magazine which I decided to make this magazine. I also included bands and events that are similar to Kings Of Leon to help attract alternative rock fans. I also included a screamer by showing the reader that inside is a segment on how Kings Of Leon got to top. This will appeal and attract hardcore fans of King Of Leon as it gives an insight into their career.

Drafting and planning: Fonts

These are 5 fonts I have drawn up for the masthead of my music magazine. I have decided to call it LGM music magazine because LG are my initials and the 'M' stands for music. My magazine is an alternative rock magazine and is based on NME. Due to this I made my first font big and bold to grab the reader and also it helps get the name across. It will help with my left third to! I really like my second one as it is very modern and is similar to the fonts NME use. My third one is similar to the second one and is more like Q's font as it is modern but slightly bigger so it can catch the readers attention. The 4th font is nice and big and will once again help with my left third, but personally I think it is the worst of the 5 as I don't think it seems serious enough. The last font I also really like as the style makes it easy to read, it is modern and I think it would really fit on an alternative rock music magazine!

Just like my typography blog ( http://lewisglennonmediawork.blogspot.co.uk/2014/10/drafting-and-planning-investigating.html) this blog post will help me decide what font is best to use for my magazine, when making the main cover lines and the cover lines.

Targert audience survey questions

https://www.surveymonkey.com/s/BFM26QM This is a target audience survey I did on survey monkey. It will help me find out what is my target audience.

Organisation:Response to Blog feedback

Using a tracker I now know that I have posted 8 blogs on similar products, 1 blog about target audience and 5 drafting. I have none in organisation. My strengths so far is my research into similar products. It is good that I am spending so much time towards similar products, because by researching into other magazines I can understand what is needed into making my music magazine a really effective and positive magazine. My drafting and planning is also a key part in making my magazine it shows me what the most effective way is to producing a really good magazine, as well as letting my experiment with things without having the pressure of it being the real thing. This helps me pick out the key elements to include and make a solid music magazine.  However it is important that I start focusing on my organisation. This is because my organisation will play a big part in making my magazine as I will need to clearly organize the time from getting my photos to actually constructing my magazine.  Finally it is also important that I start improving my target audience as I will need to distinguish who I am aiming my magazine at. This will also play a big part in the construction of my magazine as I will need to consider what layout to take and what to include to help me pull in my target audience.

Target audience

I am yet to decide my target audience for my music magazine, but I do know that it will either be fans of Indie/alternative rock music, heavy rock music, or rap.

Indie/alternative rock
The main age for Indie/alternative rock fans is 16-25 and it is usually people who are studying for school, college or uni, but they still like to socialize. It has large following from both men and women but is mostly followed by men, so if I do decide to do this I should be aiming for males age about 17 as that fits in with the age range. Bands such as Coldplay and Arctic Monkeys are well known Indie bands so if I use this genre for my magazine I will portray my artists in their style to appeal and pull in my target audience. NME and Q magazine are famous Indie rock bands and they have a light happy mood on their front cover with a simple colour scheme. This appeals to their target audience as it symbolizes Indie rock as upbeat and simple. I will take this approach to my music magazine if I make an Indie Rock magazine.

Heavy Rock
Fans of heavy rock are usually people who are stereotyped as emo's and live dark stuff. The age range for heavy rock magazine varies a lot from 17 to even around 40! Kerrang magazine is perhaps the most well known heavy rock magazine even though it is not fully heavy rock. If I use this I should aim to make my front cover and band dark and mysterious. I will base my solo cover stars on artists such as Marilyn Manson as he has the dark, mysterious look which is included in a heavy rock magazines. However I could also make a heavy rock magazine and portray it a bit like NME's front cover as Kerrang do use this. By doing this it helps pulls in more of their target audience as not many people are into the dark, 'emo' look about them. If I do choose this genre I will research deeply into heavy rock magazine's as I don't know much about it, and it will help me create one which fits to the genre.

Rap
Rap has a huge fan base and quite a lot of people like it as the catchy tune easily gets stuck into their head. However the target audience for rap is mostly teenagers between 13-19 but it can go on to adults as well. Most people like it as the lyrics are mostly about success which most people try and do. If I choose this as my genre my magazine will be aimed at teenagers and the layout will be quite simple. There are not many rap music magazines around but a famous one is Vibe. Vibe's layout sticks to which artist they have for example if they have Eminem it is a light simple layout to make him the main focal point of the magazine as he is such as huge star. However with other artists like Drake it is dark to represent the seriousness of the magazine. This is an effective way to pull in their target audience as each cover differs to represent the artist, and I will need decide how I want my artists to be portrayed first before picking which layout to choose best suited to my target audience.

This blog will help me in the future because it has given me a clear indication of the target age group for each genre. This gives me a head start in my research and I can quickly begin to research ways I can attract my target audience by portraying my cover stars in certain ways as well as the appropriate pugs and screamers to use.

Similar Products

This is a magzine cover from NME, which is a music magazine. On th front cover are the Arctic Monkeys which is clear by the big red writing. The colour of the writing is very effective as it is nice and bright which makes it easy to read! Also above the artists head is a red box with black writing in which is effective as the colour mixes well to mak it catchy, effective and once again easy to read.

In the middle of the four men is the lead singer Alex Turner. NME has made it clear he is the lead singer by putting him in sunglasses while the other memebers are not wearing anything. This modern look sets Turner out from the rest and lets the reader know he is the leader of the band!

The layout of the magazine is very simple yet effective as it has the main story mainly taking up the front cover but has all the other stories dotted around near the bottom or at the side which is still viewable to people looking at the cover.

 This is another magazine cover from the magazine Q. Once again this features Arctic Monkeys but is very different to NME magazine cover. For starters it all seems crammed in as the band memebers are very close together as well as the story's and the big Q. However just like NME they are making it clear to the audience that Alex Turner is the leader of the band as he is looking straight at the camera while the others look elsewhere.

Nearly all the writing is in white which on a dark background makes it effective and easy to read, the main stories are in quite big fonts with a little bit of info in a smaller font underneath. Like I said before the layout is very crammed in with the other stories on the side and one at the top.

 However due to the colours used and the crammed in layout it makes a very effective magazine as it is easy to see each story at a quick glance!

Target Audience:who will produce my magazine?

I plan to use  Q magazines a base for my music magazine However it is important to find a production company that can appeal to a major audience, as my magazine will be a major magazine. Therefore I have decided to research who produces Q and NME as my magazine is based on them. Q is published by German publishers Bauer Media Group. It's revenue is 2.4 billion euros which is not as big as Time Inc, but Bauer Media is well known around the world as it is a global publisher. As well as Q it also produces Kerrang which is another well known magazine. While it might not be as big as Time Inc I will still consider Bauer Media to publish my magazine, as it is well known around the globe, produces two big magazines and also has links with 4 music, which is a good way to advertise the magazine as bands which feature in my magazine would of been on TV. This would help me raise the profile of my magazine.

Another music magazine I like is NME. NME is produced by IPC Media-Insipre, which is better known as Time Inc. Time Inc is a British company. It sells over 350 million copies of the magazines they produce each year. It opened in the mid 1950's and soon started picking out its target audience which has grown largely over the years. Their target audience is mass market woman, mass market men and upmarket women as well as music fans. It has produced Chat, Look, NME and Uncut to name a few.  In 2012 it won best production team at the Professional Publishers Association production and Environment Awards. It is a very big name publisher and I think I could use this to publish my magazine as I am basing my magazine on NME and Time Inc is a big reason NME gets published. Also my target audience is amass market which is the same as Time Inc.

Both of these magazines are major production firms which shows  my music magazine to appeal to a major audience not a nishe market audience. It is important that I pick the right production company for my magazine as it will be a big help in attracting my target audience and it will reflect what type of music magazine my product is.

I am aiming to base my magazine on either Q or NME, so this will help me decide which publishers I will use for my music magazine.

More advanced contents page draft

This is my more advanced contents page draft for my school magazine. Like NME i have used the crammed in style as I really like that in a contents page because you can see the main stories at one glance. I have stuck with the things which were on my front cover such as the sports results and main interview, but I have also added in different things like the headteachers view!

Target Audience

The music genre I have chosen for my music magazine is an Indie Rock music magazine. Indie rock is a genre of alternative rock and is very diverse, with sub genres including indie pop and jangle pop. Indie rock bands include Arctic Monkeys, Blur, Oasis, Coldplay, Two door cinema club and The Killers. I have chosen to make my music magazine an Indie Rock magazine because that is the genre of music I enjoy listing to and it is the one I will feel more comfortable doing!

Drafting and planning:Fake band names ideas

For my music magazine I have decided to make 5 fake band names which will feature in my music magazine. I have 2 group bands and 2 solo artists! At the moment I am not sure if I will include more. The names I have made up I got using the random band name generator and just using initials of my friends. The names I have made is D and B which is the initials of my two friends, Flyn, Ancient Thirteen, which is a band and I got the name of the random band name generator. The other names I have used as HTTYD, and American F! At the moment I think that these are good names and 5 bands/solo artists are enough.

Drafting and planning investigating typography

This is a task I did in class looking at different fonts on a font cover. I personally thought that picture B was the best font, because the first bit of the writing is bolder than the rest of the letters which represents the difference between the cover stars human side and her machine side as shown on the cover.

I put picture E as the second favorite font as its is a rough edgy bold font which goes with the front cover as Christina Aguilera (the cover star) is known for being a very bold artist. This reveals a bit about her appearance and attitude to the reader as the bold font reflects the artist herself.

In third I put picture A as it is clear, which will bring clarity to the reader, it is also simple which is usually effective for a magazine front cover. However it did not make top spot because I think that it is to formal a font and that is why it is not the best or second best one. As it is a bit to formal it could bore the reader a bit, and by using informal language it makes it simple to read which is great for a reader having a quick glance at the cover in a shop.

I ranked F as number 4 because its is to clear and will not grab the reader. Also it looks like a magazine cover made in a word document not a well known magazine. This is shown by the main cover's font being in just a simple poor font, not once which really attracts the reader.

Second last is picture C simply because it has comic sands for a font and comic sands should only be used for little kids writing stories not a music magazine, as it simply isn't a professional enough font to use when making a music magazine.

However despite picture C using comic sands I thought that picture D was the worst picture because the font is really hard to see and this won't get the reader interested. Also that type of font is not usually seen on magazine's especially as a headline.

This task will help me learn what fonts are best to us for cover, and main cover lines I should use when making my magazine!

drafting and planning

This is my school contents page draft. At the moment it is pretty basic but I do intend to make it a bit more advanced soon. I looked at NME, Q's and Kerrangs contents pages and really liked their cramped in style. The main story features in the middle with the rest around the side of it and that is what I have done. As you can see I have included everything that is on my front cover (which is the post before this one), and I have made the main story the main picture. I like the layout of this contents page and will probably keep it like this when it comes to making my real contents page!