Target Audience

There are two things every music magazine uses to help bring in their target audience as well as the main cover star. They are pugs and screamers! Pugs are used to offer prizes mostly to the target audience thus making them want to by it so they have a chance of winning. They are scene on most front covers in a circle.The pug of this front cover of NME is the circle saying 'Farewell Astoria'. This does not contain a competition as pugs can also be used to mention a famous place to once again bring in target audience as the fans will know all about the place and will want to read about it, however pugs are mostly used for competitions. There is also a screamer on this front cover and it is at the top about Arctic Monkey's new album. Screamers opt as another big interview or story in the magazine but is not the main cover line. This is to make the target audience think 'what two big stories' wanting them to buy the magazine even more. Pugs and screamers are incredibly useful when trying to pull in target audience and when I make my real front cover I will plan to use appropriate one's to help me reach my target audience.

.

Organisation: Photo's I did not use for my contents page

This is one of the photo's I chose not to take of 'D and B' who star on my contents page. I only took a few pictures of them as they are only on my contents page and I chose not to use this picture for a few reasons. The first one is that my friend on the right is slightly grinning, which make's it look more like my friend pretending to be famous than a member of a big music due. It does not look professional enough and that is the biggest reason I decided not to use it. The second reason I decided not to use this picture was because there was to much high key lighting. Due to this it makes both the stars eye's look squinted and once again this does not make it look like a image for a music magazine. I soon changed the lighting when taking the one I eventual used so you could see the stars more clearly.

This is another image for my contents page I chose not to use of 'Nick Frost'. Just like the first image there are two reasons I decided not to use this image for my contents page. The first reason is the fact that you can see his finger sticking up in the shot. Like the previous picture this does not look professional as the finger salute he is doing is one used by 14 year children now and days, and not something you see on a contents page of a music magazine. If my target audience was 14 year old teenagers then I would of probably used this image but because it isn't I had to go for a more serious and professional picture. The second reason I decided not to use this image was due to my reaserch into Q magazine. In an addition of Q, Ed Sheeran was the cover star and they shot his interview at his old school. As I have based 'Nick Frost' on Ed Sheeran, (the ginger hair is just a coincidence), I decided to do this as well to help pull in target audience as it is something different. Therefore for my contents page of Nick Frost I shot him with some boards of work behind him as I plan to do his interview about his school life which lead to him getting into music. Therefore the plain background of this picture won't tie in with that story which is why I opted not to use this image.

These are the images of 'Neb' which I did not use for my contents page. For the first image I decided not to use it because it is an extreme mid-shot, as you can see most his body as well as his face. These type of shots are rarely on contents pages of music magazines, and when they are it is usually for the main interview. As Neb wasn't my main interview I thought it was useless to choose this picture because it does not go with the connotations of a contents page. The reason for not using the second is the fact that 'Neb' looks serious but slightly depressed. Oblivious I want him to look serious but I don't want want him looking to down as my story is about how happy he is on going solo, therefore I want him to look serious but a but more upbeat then he is in the second picture. 

Organisation

When I made my draft front I struggled with my background, and ended up having to re due my photo's and putting in the white background, before deciding just to keep in my original background. So to help me for my real front cover I have decided to look at front covers I have analysed before from Q,NME, and LadyGunn to help me see what is needed to improve my front cover. The backgrounds for each front cover are simply a plain white wall, so the main cover stars are the main focus but also it makes for an effective front cover. Also in each magazine there is different lighting, and in my opinion Q's front cover looks the best due to the bright lighting, which really complements the background making the main cover stars stand out effectively. In each cover the main cover stars are also giving direct address which helps bring in target audience as they are addressing them. Finally the use of props is effective in the second magazine it links in with the cover lines. This shows how props can make for an effective front cover.

This blog has helped me a lot because it has showed me that when it comes to organisation photo's for my front cover I need to plan better, and pick out the a plain background, the appropriate lighting, whether or not to use props and to driect my cover star into giving direct address. 

Organisation: Photo's I did not use

These are the photo's I decided not to use for my double page spread .There are many reasons why I chose not to use these pictures.

Double Page Spread Pictures

These are the four images I took for my double page spread, however I decided not to use these images. I was going to use the first one as it is a great picture with the natural lighting being perfect for the picture, as well as there being space for the pull quote. Also the hands in pockets, show a none caring attitude which fits in with my story about 'Jake.' However I decided not to use this image because I thought it was to spacious. As I used quite a small pull quote it would of left to much free space on my double page spread and looking at Q's double page spreads it has space but not to much of it. Also I wanted Jake to give the reader direct address to engage with his audience as he is retiring from music and while the first image is good, he is not giving direct address, and that is why I decided not to use that image. The second and third images are very similar and once again I like the light and the cover stars pose, but as he is standing centrally it would of been very difficult to add in my pull quote as I would be working in a very small space. Finally the final picture has the perfect amount of space for me to add in a pull quote and make a good double page spread as Jake is standing to the right. However after importing this image in PagePlus I discovered that Jake is hanging off of the two page spread which I do not want, and when I tried to crop the photo it did not look as good which is why I did not use the final image for my double page spread.

Drafting and Planning

This is the masthead I have used for my music magazine. I decided to make it it big and bold to catch the audience's eye and also because it is simple yet effective which I aimed to do as I am basing it off NME magazine, and they do that with their masthead. By doing this it also improves my left third which will help me pull in my target audience, as they will be able to distinguish my magazine even if there are a load of other magazines on top of my magazine.I also chose to put the colour as black as this masthead will not have a box, it will just go on the background of my front cover, as shown by this image as it is on a white background which I used for my last front cover. I did this because I know I will always use quite plain backgrounds and the black font complements the plain background well. Also the white background really emphasises the black font and makes it standout thus engraving the logo in my target audiences mind. Finally I decided to change the name of my magazine from LGM magazine to just LGM. LGM stands for 'Loud Global Music'. This name is short, easy to remember and represents Indie Genre which is my music genre for my magazine. The reason I did this was because LGM Magazine is to big a name for a masthead and by changing it to LGM it is short, and easy to remember like NME. It also make's my front cover look more effective as it does not take up as much room as my previous masthead. Also by keeping my masthead short and simple it provides an informal, simple, read for people quickly passing my magazine in the shop.

Organisation: Improved front cover

I have looked back at my front cover which I made last week (http://lewisglennonmediawork.blogspot.co.uk/2014/12/organiasationfront-cover-analysis.html) and I have decided that it does not look like a professional music magazine, as the cover lines are poor and I cropped out the background. So I decided to do it again keeping the white wall background in and looking at different fonts NME and Q magazine use. I also changed my masthead to just LGM instead of LGM magazine as it was to long and did not fit in with the codes and conventions. So i trimmed it down to LGM to keep it short and simple and it is like NME. I then imported my picture from Paint.Net to Publisher so I could work on cover lines. I quickly added a screamer at the bottom and a pug to help pull in my target audience as they will want to win the signed album of 'Crawling Back To You' as I have portrayed it as a massive album and Jake as a massive star. Also I have portrayed 'Flyn' as a big star so they audience will want to read his interview. I also re-evaluated my cover lines and kept the fonts simple, effective and easy to read. I also made the main cover line red, and the others as black to show the audience that Jake is my main story. I also made the name'Jake' bigger so my target audience will see his name and want to read his interview. I also used a pull quote to show the audience a glimpse of the interview. I also used a midshot so the audience can see the use of the prop, the guitar, and this will show Jake is focused on his music. The white wall background made it easy as it is nice and bright. Finally I kept to the codes and conventions of a music magazine by adding in the publishers, a barcode, the price and the dateline!

Drafting and Planning:contents page analysis

This is my finished contents page for my magazine LGM. I based it around NME magazines contents page as they are the magazine I have researched the most into. I decided to split my page into columns to make it look more professional but also to separate the main interview from the side stories. I decided to make one half of the side interviews in a red font and the other half in a black font to symbolism that the stories on the left are more important stories. I also added in a subscription advert to attract my target audience and featured pictures of everyone in this edition of my magazine to show my target audience who they are and once again to attract them. I kept my fonts simple yet easy to read and this fits in with what fonts NME use.I used mid shots for all the side acts but used a long shot for Jake as he is my main interview and so the audience can see his prop which shows he is very good at music. Also for the picture in the bottom right corner I decided to keep the background, because in Q magazine they had Ed Sheeran on their contents page at his old school, and as Nick Frost is the new kid on the block I planned to make him go back to his old school which is why I kept in the background. Finally I made my header big to show the audience that this is the contents page and what it will feature. I think to improve this contents page I need to re-organize another photo shoot or use some different pictures because it parts of the contents page it looks a bit plain for example the image of Jake I have used. Therefore to improve this I will use a different software to construct another contents page with different images to see how it looks. I will keep some aspects of this contents page as some images are real good images and I have used simple but effective fonts. I also like the use of columns for a contents page because NME use it and it clearly shows my target audience what the main story is as it is sort of separated from the other stories. 

This task has helped me pick out some key bits of a contents page and showed me how to construct one. I can use this as a base for making my real contents page to help me create a proper music magazine contents page.

Organisation: Double page spread photo shoot

These are the 6 pictures I shot today for my double page spread. I used my friend Jake as the model as he is my main cover star, and did it outside for natural lighting and better effect. I used a mid shot so that the audience can clearly see that he has his hands in his pockets which sows his 'not caring' attitude. This ties in with my interview as Jake is quitting music because he does not care about it anymore. In every photo I got Jake to pull a straight face as I am basing my magazine on NME, and the artists in that are usually very serious so I tried to reflect that. In all but one of the pictures I got Jake to give the audience direct address so it was like he was addressing his fans about his decision to retire, but I decided to use the third picture where he is not giving direct address. I did this because once again it shows Jake's rebellious side and shows that he does not care about music anymore.

This is the final picture I made which I will use on my double page spread. Obviously I will add the interview next to it, but I decided to use a pull quote which sums up the main interview about Jake retiring from music. I really like this picture because the lighting, the colour of Jake's top and the colour of the quote all complement each other extremely well!  

Organisation: Who produces my magazine?

Every music magazine is produced by a company and I have decided to choose IPC Media-Inspire as the producers of LGM magazine. I have used IPC Media-Inspire as my producer for two reasons. Firstly they produce NME magazine which I have based my magazine on, so therefore I researched into them. IPC Media are a huge production company and sell over 350 million copies of magazines each year. It also produces magazines such as Chat and World Soccer which are well known magazines. Also it is a British magazine production company which ties in with LGM magazine as I want them to have a British air to it, ie it mostly features British artists and is a British magazine so it must be produced by a British production company. Also the second reason I want IPC Media producing it, is the fact that they are a huge company and I want my magazine to be portrayed as quite a popular music magazine so it must have a big production company backing it.

Organisation:Front Cover analysis

This is the front cover for my magazine 'LGM'! It features solo artist Jake who had decided to retire from Indie Rock music. I decided to use all my fonts easy to read and simple but quite bold to stand out. I also used the picture of my main cover star holding the guitar as he is not giving direct address which shows that he is rebellious but also shows no emotion which fits in with the main cover line about him retiring. I also used the 5 artists I said I would in my previous blog post,http://lewisglennonmediawork.blogspot.co.uk/2014/12/organiastion-who-else-will-feature.html, as cover lines and used a real band in the form of Coldplay as a screamer to help me bring in more of my target audience. I also used a pug to help bring in my target audience by offering a signed album which will be talked about in my two page spread. Finally I kept to all the codes and conventions of a music magazine by putting in a bar code, dateline, and a website.

Organiastion: Who else will feature?

On my front cover I will need other artists to use in my cover lines and to use on my contents page as they will feature in the rest of my magazine. I have drawn up a list of 5 other bands/artists to use. They are D and B, Ancient Thirteen, Flyn, Nick Frost, and Neb. This will tell you a bit about them:

D and B- A due who have been together for 2 years and are still a bright up and coming indie rock band. I am going to portray D and B as guys who like a laugh but take their music very seriously, so I will probably have a close up of them laughing for my contents page. I will not use a prop as I want them to be the focus so the audience can see their personality, due to them laughing. I will get to friends to pose as D and B and I will use their new album as the story for the cover line.

Ancient Thirteen- The 'three musketeers,' Ancient Thirteen are based around the Arctic Monkeys, and will poses that rebellious attitude mixed in with class as shown by their clothing and hairstyles. They have been on the block for a few years now and are well known for producing good quality music. I will get three friends to pose as Ancient Thirteen and will use sunglasses as a prop to give them that added class and 'swagger'. I will probably use a mid shot for the contents page to show their body language and their rebellious side, and will describe their cover line as ' A wild five years, but more to come' to show that they are not done yet. However I will probably have to shorten the cover line as that is to big to use.

Flyn- As seen before in my remake remodel task, (http://lewisglennonmediawork.blogspot.co.uk/2014/11/remake-remodel-task.html) Flyn is a solo artist with a bit of attitude but still a love for music. About to hit his prime he will discuss where his love for music came from. The Remake Remodel task has helped here as I have already built up a 'profile' for Flyn and will know how to portray him when taking my pictures. Once again I will use a mid shot for Flyn so the audience can see him with his hands in his pocket which will show attitude. No props will be used.

Nick Frost- Next to my main cover star, Jake, Nick Frost is the next big thing. Full of confidence and loving life he oozes class as he relives the last few months where he has broken into the music industry. The cover line will discuss his blockbuster few months and I will simple use a close up of him smiling to show his confidence and that he is happy with his new found fame. I will also use headphones as a prop to show his love for music.

Neb- Finally Neb has been in Indie Rock for around 10 years having being in the band 'Static Irony,' however after a bust up he is going solo and that is what his cover line will be about. I will use a mid shot of him holding up a prop which says 'a new Neb' but not giving direct address to show mystery about his new adventure for his contents page picture.

This task will help me when I come to take the pictures and draw up my new magazine, as I can use it as a checklist for how I want my bands/artists to be portrayed in my magazine, LGM!

Organisation: Artist profile

On the front cover of my magazine, LGM, I will have the solo artist knows as Jake. Jake was a highly rated British prodigy when he first burst onto the music scene as an indie artists. However with every high there is a low and after 5 albums such as Loving you, Look there, JM, Suit up and lets party and Crawling back to you he has decided to retire from the indie industry and will reveal all in LGM!

I have named my solo artist 'Jake' simply because that is the name of my friend and it gives him his own identity, and I have made him a British singer so I can write using slang and about all the pressure singers get due to them being British. On the front cover Jake will look quite serious as he is discussing why he is leaving the music world, I will have him stood straight faced with his hands in his pockets to not only portray his seriousness but also his rebellious and don't care attitude to symbolism how much he does not care about music anymore. On the two page spread there will be a hint of anger as well. This will give the reader some indication of why he is retiring as he feels betrayed and angry at the music world and certain people in it.I came up with the album names off the top of my head and they seem like names for an indie style album, as some of them show emotion (Loving you, Suit up and lets party and Crawling back to you) while the other two are sort of random album title's which is  based around some Arctic Monkeys and Coldplay albums. This helps attract my target audience as most albums are about love by having something crazy and random it mkaes it different. Despite seeming to be retiring I will make Jake around 29-30 which is quite young so I can tie it in with a pull quote on my two page spread. By having him at a young age as well I will be able to discuss the pressure of being a young up and coming musical talent and how it can crush you, as well as interacting with my target audience who are mostly young people.This magazine will help me get my target audience as I will use a plan background to make Jake the main focus of my cover. I will also have Jake giving direct address to engage the audience and pull them in as direct address shows the fans that the interview is for them thus creating a connection between Jake and the fans. Finally I have decided to make Jake a solo artist because it is not very often you see a solo indie artist, so I made a huge solo indie artist to spice it up and give something different about my magazine. This also gives Jake his own identity as it is just him making the decision of retiring not anyone else.

This task will help me when making my final product as it is a plan of what I need to aim to do and when taking the photos and constructing the magazine I will be able to check this and make sure I have done what I aimed to do.

Target Audience

This is a front cover for NME magazine. I am basing my magazine, LGM, on NME so I have looked at their target audience and their demographic. NME's target audience is teenagers and young people and they use things such as house colours to attract them. They use bright colours such as red and blue which appeals to a younger demographic. Also as shown by the main cover star sticking out her tongue it shows a rebellious side which most young people like as they see themselves as rebellious and against 'the man'. Also as the main cover star is a woman it shows that it is a unisex magazine which helps bring in more of their target audience. Also the main cover star is young and they barley use an older generation on their front cover. Also the magazine remains formal for the benfit of the younger demographic, and the use of a pug, in the free posters, appeal more to a younger audience as older people do not tend to stick up posters.

This task has really helped me because it has shown my what I can use to attract a younger demographic which is my target audience.

Organisation

On Thursday I am going to the drama studio to take some pictures for my contents page. The drama room is a useful place to take the pictures as the lighting is perfect. In total I will take a picture of 8 of my friends before making them into bands and artists and using it on my contents page. At the moment I am still deciding whether to use my phone or a camera to take the pictures. The camera is best for getting a big shot but as these pictures are for my contents page, it will probably be easier to use my phone as I can get some good quality close ups with it.On Friday after school I will then take the pictures of a friend for my front cover and two page spread. I will definatley use a camera for these shots as I want them to be nice and big and to catch the readers eye. I will shoot my front cove indoors up against a plain white wall so my cover star is the main attraction. I will then shoot my two page spread picture outside for betting lighting and to use the space. I am using a guitar as a prop for my front cover and two page spread as I plan for it to be a dedicated magazine album to my main cover stars career.After I have taken all my shots I shall decide which one's are the best one's to use for my front cover, contents page, and two page spread. I will then start making my logo for my magazine as well as cover lines, bar codes, datelines as well as the interview with my two page spread. After I have done this I will import them onto page plus to make my magazine come together and will hopefully have a good finished product!