Summary of Research into existing Magazines

After researching into existing magazines, I can see how current magazines target their audience effectively, and how front covers, contents and double page spreads are done in real magazines. I now also know current music trends and what is covered in magazines. By exploiting a gap in the market, I will lean towards less covered sub genres such as Ska and Hardcore while still covering major bands. My audience is within the 15-23 age category, and very similar to that of Kerrang. My audience will be those who enjoy less mainstream rock and metal but still within the accepted mainstream.
I also know I will produce my magazine as if I would be distributing through a major company which has a national audience.

Research and Planning: Distribution

Large publishing companies such as Bauer use distributors such as Frontline to spread their magazines throughout the country. This is different to independent publishing groups such as Vice who use small retailers to sell their magazines. On the other hand, by using Frontline, Bauer can distribute to large retailers around the country, such as supermarkets, to corner shops.
Vice publish a magazine aimed at individualists, whereas Bauer publishes mainstream magazines such as Heat and “Take a Break”, aswell as more specific magazines such as Kerrang and Q. These target specific audiences whereas Viceland is aimed at a larger audience of general people interested in alternative brands. As Bauer aim at a large mainstream audience, they need to blanket the market to gain the most sales, whereas companies such as Vice know there audiences will seek out their magazine. Magazines such as Heat are available in all supermarkets, newsagents, aswell as more local stores. Viceland on the other hand are only available through certain retailers also associated with alternative culture.
The audience profile of Viceland is of a unique individual metropolitan aged 18-34. These people reject current convention by accepting alternative fashion, brands and music. However, while Kerrang is aimed at older teens who see themselves as unique and have a love of metal music, Kerrang is still mainstream.

My audience is within the 15-23 age category, and very similar to that of Kerrang. My audience will be those who enjoy less mainstream rock and metal but still within the accepted mainstream. I will be using a major distributor and publisher to gain the most of my chosen market. This is because the target audience is small, so to maximise profits, the magazine will have to be distributed widely. The magazine will have an accompanying website to begin with, before widening out later.

Detailed Research into Forms and Conventions

I am covering the metal and rock genre and I have researched by looking at Kerrang, Metal Hammer and RockSound. I will also highlight sub genres such as Ska and Nu-metal. This sub genres are not well represented in the current magazines.

The magazines appeal to the audience firstly by targeting its specific genre, and covering bands in said genre. By covering bands and events popular with its audience, it instantly makes the reader want to read more. As there audience consists mainly of older teens, the magazines use appropriate language and by covering topics of interest to underachievers or hedonists. The title addresses the reader instantly, as they use the genre in the title, as well as related words to conjure a recognisable title. These titles reflect the audiences interests through the way the font and style in used. Usually, it seems the title is written in a scrawling fashion, or an informal rough handed approach. The text in general is used to contrast with the background, usually a dark font on a plain background. In various articles, depending on the background, the text is changed. Saying this, it is always kept readable. The font on titles is a more creative “rebellious” font, whereas the main body of text is a simple font such as Times New Roman. Articles are laid out sometimes in a “funky” way, or use slanted borders to produce the effect of them being placed carelessly.
The content covers the usual topics for a music magazine, which include reviews, interviews, previews, information about upcoming albums and live gigs. The cover story is usually a band that is currently popular, or releasing new material. This draws readers in and is also used to compete with other magazines using the genre. The magazines address the reader with both a rebellious attitude, and a professional one. This more “crazy” approach is only used when directly conversing with the audience, in the letters page for example. When covering a news story, or reviewing an album, a more professional style of writing is used. This shows that while the magazine is still rebellious, it takes its work seriously. Photographs also show this. While the are intending to show a more chaotic side, there is still a level of professionalism about them. The people represented are shown in a good light. Contents page is shown to be varied, but still readable. A typical double spread will also show signs of rebellion by having a varied layout, with lots of edgy borders around paragraphs. All the magazines are published by large publishing companies that own many magazines in several areas.

I conducted this research to see what current metal magazines cover, aswell as how they target their audience and compete with other magazines. I am going to challenge the current convention of these magazines by covering less popular sub-genres such as Ska or nu-metal. Other genres such as Hardcore and industrial music could also see coverage.

Intial Reasearch into Forms and Conventions

I have been analysing magazines of different genres so as to see what conventions real magazines use, aswell as to see how a magazine appeals to its audience. By looking at the genres covered, I can find a niche in the market unexplored.

Kerrang Magazine

This magazine is aimed at the middle class, teen audience. It covers rock/metal music, mostly the more maintstream bands among the genres.

Kerrang usually features interviews as their main draw, as these are usually mentioned on the cover. Bands either currently touring, or promoting a new album is usually the band featured. The magazine also shows tour dates, aswell as release dates for upcoming CDs. Also, new albums and live gigs are reviewed.

A competition is also usually found within, as are "free" posters or gifts to draw the audience in to purchase the magazine.

The brand identity is of a cool, edgy one, that rejects the mainstream to a certain point.

NME Magazine

NME is aimed at a slighty older market than Kerrang, with the target audience being older teens or people in their early 20's. The magazine covers mainstream rock and pop, with most of it being success bands and artists. However, some parts also cover slighty more alternative music.

The magazine covers the usual features, such as interviews, reviews, latest news, information about tours and gigs.

The brand identity is of a cool, but conformative one. It covers the "coolest" of mainstream music. The brand image is of a sophisticated but trendy image.

MixMag

MixMag is aimed at older teens, from 16-25, as it covers the genre of dance and DJing.

The magazine covers mainly things related to DJing, with details and features about current bands or artists. It also covers the club scene, which include worst clubbing tatoos, club related scares, and how a DJ reads the crowd. It also covers recent gigs and live shows, with details and reviews accompaning this. The dance charts are also mentioned, with the big releases in this genre being reviewed.

The brand identity is of a cool, fun persona. It comes across as a "loud" magazine, seemingly hyperactive, with its varied colours used on the cover alone.

I will now begin looking at magazines in my chosen genre. My genre will generally be Rock/Metal, with a lean on sub-genres such as Ska and nu-metal.

Main Task: Magazines

My task is to create a music magazine that consists of a front page, contents, and a double spread. The task also consists of planning and research, construction, and evaluation.

The deadline for research and planning is 8/01, deadline for production is 15/01, deadline for post-production is 12/02 and the evaluations deadline is 5/03. I will need to follow these dates to keep my project on course.

The breakdown of the marks are: 20 marks for presentation of planning and research
60 marks for the construction
20 marks for the evaluation

3 Points I could of Improved On

1. Syntax such as spelling and punctuation is poor in parts. Alot of the posts coul do with more paragraphing, or spacing to break up the information.

2. The final product only had a basic level of understanding, such as photographing items for the cover. I should of shown more variety in the shots, thus showing more understanding.

3.A greater use of ICT to produce the magazine cover and contents. A greater use of ICT would of brought a greater level of professionalism to it.

What have you learnt about technolgies from the process of constructing this product?

The new technologies we have used during this project is QuarkXpress with Adobe Photoshop to construct our front page and contents page. This has enabled us to achieve our task as it is more professional and easier than using Word or Publisher. We used a Nikon D60 Digital Camera to take the pictures. This camera was easy to use and had a wide range of different shots and ranges that we could of used to take the picture.

In adobe Photoshop we used the magic wand tool and the lasso tool to cut around the pictures as to the picture a more professional look.We were not able to put into our front cover female model which would attract our male target audience. When placing text or a picture in the wrong place, you had to go back to the start if you made a mistake and start again.

If you were unfamilar with the software, it was difficult to use, such as QuarkXpress and transferring the picture from QuarkXpress to our blog was difficult as we could not do this, we had print screen it to adobe photoshop and turn it into a JPG. In adobe Photoshop, the layers got confusing and you could delete something you didnt want to delete.

How did you attract/address your audience?

Our target audience would want to buy this magazine because it has features that apply to our target audience age and gender. They would also want to buy this magazine as it applies to them in college and advices them on subjects such as student cards and buses. The font and colours is a mature style and gives it quite a fashionable approach to the magazine of our target audience. The magazine consists of day to day things that you need to know when you are 16-19 such as latest style and music downloads and latest technology.The model in the picture is smiling to the camera in a relaxed chilled way. Appealing to the target audience.It does stereotype people in any way, it just gives advice on college and the latest technology on need to know things on day to day life.

Who would be the audience for your media product?

Our audience of our magazine is Male from the age of 16 to 19. The demographic profile would be C1-B and our psychographic profile would be Aspirers, Acheivers, Hodonists.

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

Our magazine is similar as the text remains the same throughout and keeps to the target audience we are trying to attract much like similar magazines like Stuff magazine. Our masthead appears were every masthead appears at the top of the magazine with the date, issue and price in small to the right of the masthead. We have short bits of text on the front cover and in the contents page to keep the readers attntion and not make it too bulky to read. We have pictures to go with the subtitles that make reading the magazine a little more fun to read and interesting. The barcode appears on the bottom right hand side like many magazines have it like some Sight and Sound magazines. Our contents page has adverts in of new movies coming out soon like the magazine Empire this appears on the top left of the contents page. Just like any other magazine we have the features that are appearing in our magazine with pictures to the left hand side illistrating them. Page numbers are also with the features to tell readers which page that feature is on.

Final Design

Contents Page

These contents pages both feature little descriptions of the main articles,a large picture in the middle or to the side,Broad main titles,Easy to read and find out lists of what is in the magazine. On a magazine front cover you expect to find lists of what is being featured in the magazine, Pictures of what is in the magazine and what they will be talking about, competitions that will be happaning. The contents page layouts are similar as the lists are to the side of the contents page, A large picture in the middle, bold main titles of the contents page, little straplines to show the different catagories, a white clear backround for easy reading. The language used is quite casual. The large pictures, short amount of text and black and reds as colours appeals to the audience as students. The content page matches the magazine cover as it has the same style of writing and language, it also has the same logos, the same colours.

Audience Research

The subject matter of our magazine will be a male based magazine with the top ten gadgets to be used for this year, The hot new music, new movies, humour and Student advantages. Are target audience is male student age 16-19 year olds, C1-B and aspirers,acheivers and hodonists.Are target audience gives the idea of1. They rather a lager over wine2.Go to clubs on the friday and saturday3.There into fast cars4.They like fast foods like a pot noodle,tin of beans and a donor kebab.5.They like comedy central south park over coronation street6.Love new action films7.Love their gadgets like mobile phones xbox 360 over wii8.Tescos over waitrose9.A wide range of music dance,hiphop,rap,rock10.Facebook over myspace

Five things i need to do to target my audience effectivly
Bright red and blues
Big font, punchy lines not long text
Good quality pictures
music,gadgets,movies and clothes
Freebies

Research

Are task was to analyse 3 different magazine front covers and see what audience they were aimed at. The 3 magazine covers show that the colours used are Bright with pink,blues and reds which stand out as a male magazine and makes the front cover a lot more bright. The plain white and grey bacrounds makes the bright colours stands out more and focuses in the model. The models of the magazine are mainly girls in stuff and famous artists there talking about in vibe. The female models turns this magazine into a lads magazine and famous point the view over to him and shows what they might be talking about. Most female models are young and attractive to attract their taget audience. The language used for their target audience is quite formal as there is no slang on the front cover of the magazine. There are lists so the information in the magazine is easily showed on the front cover. The layout of the 3 magazines tends to be that the writing is based around the model and there is not alot of writing. The model tends to overlap the title because the magazine is so well known that you know what the magazine is called. There is alot of pictures of gadgets to attract the audience and show what they are going to review. The magazines hold freebies like free music downloads and a free book based on what the magazine is talking about this this attracts the audience as they believe there getting a freebie it also attracts new readers to buy there magazines.

Preliminary Task

Our preliminary task is to produce a front page and matching contents page of a magazine aimed at new college students. The cover must feature a medium close-up shot of the student, with appropriate text and a masthead. This must be done on an image manipulation program, aswell as using a DTP.

We looked at Squash, a magazine created by a student last year. By evaulating the magazine, and using the key terms in audince segmentation, we can see how an audience is targeted.

I could identify it as a magazine by the use of "magazine" on the front under the title. A price and the usual information that is associated with magazine covers also feature.

It helps attract students through the use of a picture showing a relaxed or silly face. This helps show that the magazine is still quite relaxed, despite being about student finance, universities etc.
A light blue is also used, to help further impact this relaxed attitude. The slanted writing also projects an informal appeal to the cover. The big bold text is used to grab the attention of readers.

The target audience is college students, aged 16-19. The gender is likely male, as the colours and picture suggest this, but I think the information within would still be useful to females. I believe that the magazine is aimed at the aspirers of the psychographic chart. I know this as the magazine covers information about making and keeping money, as well as achieving well at university. I think this magazine is aimed at the B/C1 category of the Jignars scale. This is because only the higher groups would consider university, but as students are not likely to be massively well off, I doubt most would fit into the A category. I can explain this as all the main features are aimed at students, with information about student finance, revision techniques and university open days etc.

Initial Analysis

Our second task was to analyse the same front cover. We added connatations and denotations:

The main image ( the model on the cover) is large and striking and connotates fear , and terror. The mask and the dark colours lead you to suggest something dark and evil lieing underneath the mask.It takes up the majority of the page deliberately so it can try and make you think this. The way the model is bearing his teeth conotates a evil almost animalistic look , combined with the black lips and eyes makes him look strikingly evil.
The mask looks vaguely human, but missing some key facial features such as ears, which represents something evil, or hiding. Its weird mutation suggests something familiar, but still has a sense of something wrong.
The red areas, and the blood splat connotates violence and make an eye catching effect the certain bits of text.
The top of his head is obscured, which leads the reader to feel a sense of unknown. It also makes the image feel in your face, and striking. The eye hole is there, but as the eyes are missing and blacked out, it continues the sense of not knowing. You could also argue that as the eyes “ are the entrance to the soul” the models soul must be dark and black , which is a very sinister underlying feeling that runs throughout the image.
The mask has several colours, with dirty patches, which reinforces grimy and non-comformity image of the magazine.

Magazine Front Cover: Key Conventions

We labeled a magazine cover of choice, highlighting the key points.

Welcome

Hi, welcome to my Blog, where I will display my coursework for AS Media Studies.