Love the 'interview central' bit, not too sure about the rest.
Sunday, 26 February 2012
Saturday, 25 February 2012
double page spread. first draft.
Friday, 24 February 2012
edited tests.
These are all my edited versions. I really like the ones in black and white with the guitar in focus. I like these because the black and white is quite conventional of the indie scene and the guitar in colour puts emphasis on the fact that its a music magazine.
test shots. working out my recce.
These are all original shots I took to begin to gather an idea of what kind of images I wanted. I then looked at my favourite ones and edited them to see what I could make, these will be on my next post.
risk assesment.
Before taking my photos I had to check that the equitment and area was safe. As it was the middle of the day I didn't need any lighting equitment and I planned to use natural light. The camera I was using was borrowed from school and already had a safety neck band which decreased my chance and dropping and breaking it.
The only other equitment I was using was a guitar which was only as a prop and so I didn't need to check much about it. I did have to make sure however I had a back up camera and guitar for the unlikely possibility that one was damaged.
When checking out the area I was taking the photos I removed any rubbish from the ground so it was safe and also made sure that no cars would be driving by to ensure safety for me and my model.
Once I had prepared and check all of this it was safe to take my photos. There was still risk of injury from trivial things like tripping but this was something that couldn't be help, jsut everyone around had to be sensible and safe.
The only other equitment I was using was a guitar which was only as a prop and so I didn't need to check much about it. I did have to make sure however I had a back up camera and guitar for the unlikely possibility that one was damaged.
When checking out the area I was taking the photos I removed any rubbish from the ground so it was safe and also made sure that no cars would be driving by to ensure safety for me and my model.
Once I had prepared and check all of this it was safe to take my photos. There was still risk of injury from trivial things like tripping but this was something that couldn't be help, jsut everyone around had to be sensible and safe.
Thursday, 23 February 2012
niche audience magazine.
This is a magazine that only sells 26,000 copies a month. Compared to the hundred of thousands that NME and Q sell this is a tiny amount. The magazine is published 6 times a year and is targeted at a very niche audience.
The main types of music that Shindig advertise are; Mod, Garage Rock, Psych and Freakbeat. These are very targeted music genres that are typically based in the 60s.
So far they have only released 25 copies and a standard copy costs £4.95 but they also sell annuals that cost £11 each. Although this price seems extreme the people that will buy this magazine will have to be very into their music and so wouldn't mind buying the magazine.
Shindig are on both Facebook and Twitter which are free social networks and a great way of advertising for small businesses. This must work due to the 26,000 subscribers but not well enough that no one else in the class had heard of it.
The front covers are all very similar. They have a constant 60s theme and the writing and cover image will follow this. The three code color scheme is present on the cover with the use of Yellow, Orange and Black/White. The artists feature on the cover have the same laid back, 'i don't care' look.
Wednesday, 22 February 2012
inspiration.
This is what i want my magazine to be. This is a band I mentioned to be on my target readers top 5 most played called Two Door Cinema Club and they are a huge inspiration for my magazine. Their music is sound that allows you to just get lost in the moment and that's exactly what students need. I wanted to put this song here 1. to break the 'picture-writing-picture-writing' layout i had going on, 2. to give an idea of what I want my magazine like and 3. because it's an amazing song.
POP MOOD BOARD.
Although I'm not doing pop as the genre for my magazine I wanted to create a contrast to my indie board to almost see what not to put in my magazine.
this is what they'd look like. maybe.
This post links back to my target reader and who I plan to aim the magazine at.
This is a photo i'd expect to find on my readers profile. I personally got this photo from tumblr which is also a website I think they would be interested in, forgot to mention that before, woops.
This is a photo i'd expect to find on my readers profile. I personally got this photo from tumblr which is also a website I think they would be interested in, forgot to mention that before, woops.
target reader profile.
Socio-economic Group; Upper middle class
Age; 17-25
Gender; Prodominantly male but also targeting some females
Ethnic; White caucasian
Lifestyle;
Age; 17-25
Gender; Prodominantly male but also targeting some females
Ethnic; White caucasian
Lifestyle;
- STUDENTS - either university or sixth form, wouldn't want to be too specific
- Fesival goers
- Messy looking, that 'i didn't need to try to look this good' look
- Many friends - Uses social networking, on trend so maybe a twitterer?
- The Wombats
- The Vaccines
- Two Door Cinema Club
- Livingston
- Vampire Weekend
Tuesday, 21 February 2012
genres.
A genre is a category of artistic composition, characterized by similarities in form, style, or subject matter.
Music magazine genres;
Music magazine genres;
- Rock
- Pop
- Indie
- Dance
- Folk
- Dubstep
- Country
I have already planned that I'm going to do a magazine with an Indie genre. I found it really hard to find any existing Indie music magazines but i did manage it in the end. Some magazines that currently work with the genre are;
'The Fly' and 'Under The Radar' are both indie music magazines that are available in the UK. 'Avenue Sixtyone' differs from them because it is an online magazine. All three are quite unique looking with their images but still follow the typical conventions of a magazine.
Sunday, 19 February 2012
Q - 'discover great music'
HISTORY
Q was first published in October 1986, automatically setting itself apart from much of the other music press with monthly production and higher photography and printing standards. When starting out the magazine was sub-titled 'The modern guide to music and more', but this later changed to its now 'Discover great music'. It was originally going to be called Cue (as in the sense of cueing a record, ready to play), but the name was changed in oder to avoid confusision for a snooker magazine. Another reason which was ucovered in Q's 200th edition is that a single letter title would appear more prominent on newsstands.
TYPICAL CONTENT
The typical cover on Q is quite similar to that of NME's. There will be a main artist - although on some issues there is more than one or not even a person - this will be accompanied by the artists name being the most prominent word on the page, excluding the 'Q' of course. Also alike with NME is the changing colour scheme taken from the main image. For example on the issue above the blue colour scheme is taken from Florence's eye make-up. The colour scheme will normally have only one extra colour added to it as issue will usually comply with the red and white colour scheme first and foremost.
The typical Q issue will use around 150 pages but this may change with special/limited editions. Many artists including Adele, The Kings of Leon, The Killers, Madonna and loads more. The issue will start with the 'Q Contents' followed by its monthly features that are all subbed at the beginning with Q. These features include things such as 'QNow' and 'QLive'. There will be some recent music news and then feature articles on special stars for each different magazine. The magazine will often include things with statistics such as in the most recent issue 'The Superbowl in Numbers'.
The page layout within the magazine is fairly consistent, the red and white colour scheme is carried throughout the magazine with a different colour featured on various pages. The Q is also very often featured on various pages.
TYPICAL READER
Using the national readership survey tells us that between October 2010 and September 2011 we can see that 476,000 people brought the magazine. Like for NME this will only show the amount of people that brought the magazine apposed to how many that would have actually read it as more people than the one that brought it are likely to have read it. As with NME you can also see the percentage of men and women that buy it, by this we see that 0.9% more of the male population buy the magazine as opposed to women. This seems like a believable statistic as Q is quite targeted at the male population and you can see this on the cover and throughout. For the most part, readers of ‘Q’ will be fans of indie or alternative genres of music, because this is the genre that the magazine mostly writes about. Although quite often Q will feature artists such as Rhianna or Lady Gaga who would fit more under the 'pop' genre.
HOUSESTYLE
Q is an instantly recognisable magazine by its large red and white developed logo. This is always found in the top left corner although it may sometimes be slightly covered by the main cover image. Q is not only a magazine now but a household brand, with a successful website, hosting many TV events and having many links with charitable organisations. The cover will usually host a main artist or sometimes even film stars or a special edition cover.
PRODUCTION AND DISTRIBUTION
Q is published monthly by Bauer Media Group. Brauer is a german publishing company which operates in 15 countries worldwide. There magazine circulations amounts to around 38 million magazines a week. Brauer owns two media brands Q and Kerrang which are both heavily based around alterntive/rock music. Their publishing brands consist of women's weekly magazines; namely Bella and Take A Break. And also TV listing magazines such as TVChoice and Total TVGuide.
SOCIAL GROUP REPRESENTATION
Q shows a softer side of some artists and presents a new look at the music industry. With its quite frequent use of statistics and ratio graphs it presents the Indie genre as an intellectual and logical one. Reading the words in the magazine allows you too see its very often use of sarcasm; a widely used form of wit. This creates some humour in the magazine giving it the 'softer' side compared to NME.
ANYTHING INTERESTING?
The title dropped 10, 718 in the 12 months to December 2011, sliding 12.1% from 88,240 to 77,522. Q magazine is feeling the credit crunch like everyone else..
Q was first published in October 1986, automatically setting itself apart from much of the other music press with monthly production and higher photography and printing standards. When starting out the magazine was sub-titled 'The modern guide to music and more', but this later changed to its now 'Discover great music'. It was originally going to be called Cue (as in the sense of cueing a record, ready to play), but the name was changed in oder to avoid confusision for a snooker magazine. Another reason which was ucovered in Q's 200th edition is that a single letter title would appear more prominent on newsstands.
TYPICAL CONTENT
The typical cover on Q is quite similar to that of NME's. There will be a main artist - although on some issues there is more than one or not even a person - this will be accompanied by the artists name being the most prominent word on the page, excluding the 'Q' of course. Also alike with NME is the changing colour scheme taken from the main image. For example on the issue above the blue colour scheme is taken from Florence's eye make-up. The colour scheme will normally have only one extra colour added to it as issue will usually comply with the red and white colour scheme first and foremost.
The typical Q issue will use around 150 pages but this may change with special/limited editions. Many artists including Adele, The Kings of Leon, The Killers, Madonna and loads more. The issue will start with the 'Q Contents' followed by its monthly features that are all subbed at the beginning with Q. These features include things such as 'QNow' and 'QLive'. There will be some recent music news and then feature articles on special stars for each different magazine. The magazine will often include things with statistics such as in the most recent issue 'The Superbowl in Numbers'.
The page layout within the magazine is fairly consistent, the red and white colour scheme is carried throughout the magazine with a different colour featured on various pages. The Q is also very often featured on various pages.
TYPICAL READER
Using the national readership survey tells us that between October 2010 and September 2011 we can see that 476,000 people brought the magazine. Like for NME this will only show the amount of people that brought the magazine apposed to how many that would have actually read it as more people than the one that brought it are likely to have read it. As with NME you can also see the percentage of men and women that buy it, by this we see that 0.9% more of the male population buy the magazine as opposed to women. This seems like a believable statistic as Q is quite targeted at the male population and you can see this on the cover and throughout. For the most part, readers of ‘Q’ will be fans of indie or alternative genres of music, because this is the genre that the magazine mostly writes about. Although quite often Q will feature artists such as Rhianna or Lady Gaga who would fit more under the 'pop' genre.
HOUSESTYLE
Q is an instantly recognisable magazine by its large red and white developed logo. This is always found in the top left corner although it may sometimes be slightly covered by the main cover image. Q is not only a magazine now but a household brand, with a successful website, hosting many TV events and having many links with charitable organisations. The cover will usually host a main artist or sometimes even film stars or a special edition cover.
PRODUCTION AND DISTRIBUTION
Q is published monthly by Bauer Media Group. Brauer is a german publishing company which operates in 15 countries worldwide. There magazine circulations amounts to around 38 million magazines a week. Brauer owns two media brands Q and Kerrang which are both heavily based around alterntive/rock music. Their publishing brands consist of women's weekly magazines; namely Bella and Take A Break. And also TV listing magazines such as TVChoice and Total TVGuide.
SOCIAL GROUP REPRESENTATION
Q shows a softer side of some artists and presents a new look at the music industry. With its quite frequent use of statistics and ratio graphs it presents the Indie genre as an intellectual and logical one. Reading the words in the magazine allows you too see its very often use of sarcasm; a widely used form of wit. This creates some humour in the magazine giving it the 'softer' side compared to NME.
ANYTHING INTERESTING?
The title dropped 10, 718 in the 12 months to December 2011, sliding 12.1% from 88,240 to 77,522. Q magazine is feeling the credit crunch like everyone else..
Wednesday, 8 February 2012
NME - 'the ultimate guide to the week in music'
HISTORY
The paper's first issue was published on 7 March 1952 after the Musical Express and Accordion Weekly was bought by London music promoter Maurice Kinn, and relaunched as the New Musical Express.
SOCIAL GROUP REPRESENTATION
NME creates quite a realistic view on the celebrity culture that we have become accustomed to and also often presents it from their point of view. Although NME will vastly only represent a small cross section of the music industry - the 'indie rockers' - it will sometimes venture to produce articles with more commercial artists as the muse. Previously this has included artists such as Lily Allen and Lady Gaga who are obviously international starts, a great reason to have them on the cover of your magazine.
I think the way in which NME presents its reader is in a quite intellectual way by the format and content of its articles. The use of sometimes offesive images on the cover does manage to keep the edge that NME has created. Although many people may like to read it, it doesn't appeal to all due to its sometimes 'bad boy' nature.
ANY INTERESTING?
NME is mainly focused on selling to men. This is quite expected by the amount of attention paid to females within its pages.
And nothing else as of yet. If i find something, it'll be here shortly after.
The paper's first issue was published on 7 March 1952 after the Musical Express and Accordion Weekly was bought by London music promoter Maurice Kinn, and relaunched as the New Musical Express.
It was initially published in a non-glossy tabloid format on standard newsprint.
On 14 November 1952, taking its cue from the U.S. magazine Billboard, it created the first UK Singles Chart. The first of these was, in contrast to more recent charts, a top twelve sourced by the magazine itself from sales in regional stores around the UK.
TYPICAL CONTENT
The typical cover of a NME magazine will be of a single artist with there name as the prominent writing on the page. The colour scheme used are normally tailored to the magazine and take inspiration from the artist on the cover. The colour will normally be taken from something insignificant, for example, on a previous issue the colour scheme was derived from the artists nail varnish. I think this is so clever and gives the magazine a fresh look each month! The covers aren't normally too busy as everything is clear and easy to read but they are never to empty either. They often will have a burst such as the 'Blur comeback interview exclusive!' to highlight interesting things that are inside.
The typical NME magazine consists of around 70 pages though this will sometime change with special editions. Artists such as Oasis, Rihanna, Kasabian, Lady Gaga and many more have graced the cover and inside pages. The issue will normally start with news relevant to the time of release concerning the world of music. Which will then be followed by feature articles of different artists and pages for letters from the readers. You would also find advertisements, competitions. An unusual feature of the magazine is that it doesn't have a contents page but instead a band index which alphabetically lists all of the artists appearing in the magazine and which page to find them.
The typical layout of a page inside NME is very similar to that of a newspaper. This is especially evident on the news section where the prominent colour scheme is black and white, fitting with the conventions of a newspaper.
TYPICAL READER
The national readership survey is a website that is very helpful for finding out these sorts of things but only to a certain extent. From the web page we can tell that around 253,000 people brought the magazine between October 2010 and September 2011. This only shows who brought it though as many others may have read it, either in the shop, a copy of someone elses or even sitting in the hairdressers. The website also breaks down who brought it into ages. The two age ranges are 15-44 and 45+, these, especially the first, are very broad age ranges. If you take the two extremes from the first one, 15 and 44, their opinions and views on a magazine would be very different. So to have them in the same category doesn't really seem sensible, it's kind of like taking the views of Christians and Catholics as the same, it just wouldn't work.
The survey does however tell us the amount of men and women that buy the magazine and 0.4% more of the male population buy the magazine than the women population. This seems plausible as the magazine does seem to be aimed more at men due to its sometimes provocative images of women and the authority the male artists present when they're on the cover. Though again, this isn't totally representable as some women may read the copies that a male has brought and vice versa.
READER FACTS;
HOUSESTYLE
NME's housestyle is similar in nearly every magazine. The masthead 'NME' is always found in the top left corner which allows the readers to identify it straight away. The main artist of the issues name is normally always the most prominent thing on the cover. This will help in establishing creditability for the issue. The magazine is quite loud and in your face to comply with its 'indie rock' feel. This is because the ideology of indie rock is quite a calm loud, although that sounds absolutely absurd, it works.
PRODUCTION AND DISTRIBUTION
The typical NME magazine consists of around 70 pages though this will sometime change with special editions. Artists such as Oasis, Rihanna, Kasabian, Lady Gaga and many more have graced the cover and inside pages. The issue will normally start with news relevant to the time of release concerning the world of music. Which will then be followed by feature articles of different artists and pages for letters from the readers. You would also find advertisements, competitions. An unusual feature of the magazine is that it doesn't have a contents page but instead a band index which alphabetically lists all of the artists appearing in the magazine and which page to find them.
The typical layout of a page inside NME is very similar to that of a newspaper. This is especially evident on the news section where the prominent colour scheme is black and white, fitting with the conventions of a newspaper.
TYPICAL READER
The national readership survey is a website that is very helpful for finding out these sorts of things but only to a certain extent. From the web page we can tell that around 253,000 people brought the magazine between October 2010 and September 2011. This only shows who brought it though as many others may have read it, either in the shop, a copy of someone elses or even sitting in the hairdressers. The website also breaks down who brought it into ages. The two age ranges are 15-44 and 45+, these, especially the first, are very broad age ranges. If you take the two extremes from the first one, 15 and 44, their opinions and views on a magazine would be very different. So to have them in the same category doesn't really seem sensible, it's kind of like taking the views of Christians and Catholics as the same, it just wouldn't work.
The survey does however tell us the amount of men and women that buy the magazine and 0.4% more of the male population buy the magazine than the women population. This seems plausible as the magazine does seem to be aimed more at men due to its sometimes provocative images of women and the authority the male artists present when they're on the cover. Though again, this isn't totally representable as some women may read the copies that a male has brought and vice versa.
READER FACTS;
- total readership spends £326 million on audio equipment per year
- 52% working full-time
- 29% are still studying
- 71% of readers think it's important to look well dressed
HOUSESTYLE
NME's housestyle is similar in nearly every magazine. The masthead 'NME' is always found in the top left corner which allows the readers to identify it straight away. The main artist of the issues name is normally always the most prominent thing on the cover. This will help in establishing creditability for the issue. The magazine is quite loud and in your face to comply with its 'indie rock' feel. This is because the ideology of indie rock is quite a calm loud, although that sounds absolutely absurd, it works.
PRODUCTION AND DISTRIBUTION
NME is published by IPC media ltd. This is a UK publishing company which produces over 60 iconic media brands. With print alone it reaches almost two thirds of UK women and 42% of UK men, totalling almost 26 million UK adults. There male portfolio consists of brands such as Nuts, Rugby World and of course NME. As well as this their women's division also holds brand names such as Marie Claire, Look and Chat.
As well as the magazine NME now also stretches across many different media platforms such as nme.com, NMETV, NME radio and many live events and awards.
SOCIAL GROUP REPRESENTATION
NME creates quite a realistic view on the celebrity culture that we have become accustomed to and also often presents it from their point of view. Although NME will vastly only represent a small cross section of the music industry - the 'indie rockers' - it will sometimes venture to produce articles with more commercial artists as the muse. Previously this has included artists such as Lily Allen and Lady Gaga who are obviously international starts, a great reason to have them on the cover of your magazine.
I think the way in which NME presents its reader is in a quite intellectual way by the format and content of its articles. The use of sometimes offesive images on the cover does manage to keep the edge that NME has created. Although many people may like to read it, it doesn't appeal to all due to its sometimes 'bad boy' nature.
ANY INTERESTING?
NME is mainly focused on selling to men. This is quite expected by the amount of attention paid to females within its pages.
And nothing else as of yet. If i find something, it'll be here shortly after.
Tuesday, 7 February 2012
HISTORY OF THE MUSIC MAGAZINES
As part of the research for the main task of creating a music magazine front page, contents and double page spread I'm going to look into the history of two current UK music magazines. I've decided that I'm going to look at NME and Q music magazines.
Monday, 6 February 2012
research methods.
Primary research involves the collection of data that doesn't already exist.
examples; questionnaires, interviews and textual analysis.
- I will aim to use this quite a lot as i want my own information about magazines rather than using other peoples for example I will be doing a lot of my own textual analysis of existing magazines.
Secondary research involves the summary and collection of existing research.
examples; internet websites, cenus and books.
- I would use this when its come to things like finding facts and figures about the magazines and also for finding things like definitions, or information about existing material.
Qualitative research is that which involves words or a persons personal response.
Quantitive research is research that can be measured and evaluated to show trends or patterns.
examples; questionnaires, interviews and textual analysis.
- I will aim to use this quite a lot as i want my own information about magazines rather than using other peoples for example I will be doing a lot of my own textual analysis of existing magazines.
Secondary research involves the summary and collection of existing research.
examples; internet websites, cenus and books.
- I would use this when its come to things like finding facts and figures about the magazines and also for finding things like definitions, or information about existing material.
Qualitative research is that which involves words or a persons personal response.
Quantitive research is research that can be measured and evaluated to show trends or patterns.
Friday, 3 February 2012
ideology of music
'the ideology of music will affect the design. A pop magazine will use bright, primary colours and smiling pop stars. Rock magazines will be clashing, use aggressive fonts and colours and have grimacing bands, sometimes making rude gestures.'
- Mr Swain
- Mr Swain
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)