PLANNING

I have been looking at music videos for some inspiration for my magazine cover and the double page spread. I wanted to create a modern and arty feel for the images of my band. I particularly love the video for 'Florence and the machine- dog days are over'. This is because the images used are distorted and different. The costumes used within the magazine are also modern and different and don't fit the typical trend.


For media at school we are creating a short film with Reelescape and the director of this short film is Vanessa Caswill. I was looking at some of her videos for some inspiration and was inspired by one called 'a fairytale of the city'. This film used the theme of art and emotion through out, which emphasized the idea that image is just as emotive as words. Another film that she created was 'Neopolitan Dreams' which is the music video for the upcoming artist called Lisa Mitchell. The video uses a variety of props to create an arty feel, similar to the artist Fiona Rae who uses bold, bright patterns to create emotion.

Above is an image which is featured on Vanessa Caswill's webpage. I liked hte idea of polaroid cameras and i like how the lighting on the photograph gives a 70's feel. The location and the clothing is also appealing and i liek the contrast between the two.

RESEARCH

I have been looking alot at Q magazine, as well as Kerrang latley. I feel as though this magazines have a specific house style which i like and feel is appropriate for my target audience and genre of magazine i want to create. Below are some styles of double page spreads that were published in Q magazine. I like the layout and the grouping of photography on the 'Top of the pops' spread. However in contrast i like the idea of the Billy Joeldouble page spread, as it has one main image, and alot of text which allows th epiece to be informative. Despite this i have a minuim allowance of 4 images, which may be difficult if i follows this layout. I like how the 'What the world..' doubel page spread uses bold colours, fonts and prints to attract the reader. The use of graphics is also highly appealing and the bold lines aorund the boxes help to emphasize the images and allow them to stand out.

For my research i decided to carry out a questionnaire. The idea of using a questionnaire would allow me to understand the point of view form my target audience. Therefore i asked people between the ages of 16-29 the same questions which would help my magazine appear successful.

The results of the questionnaire are as followed:


1. Favourite music magazine genre?
INDIE
METAL
ROCK/ ALTERNATIVE
ROCK
ROCK/METAL
POP
INDIE
ROCK/METAL
INDIE

2. Most appealing colour scheme for a front cover
RED/ORANGE
RED, GREEN AND BLACK
LIME
RED
RED/SILVER/BLACK
BLACK/NEON
BLACK/WHITE/ORANGE
LIGHT/CONTRASTING COLOURS,BLACK AND WHITE
BLACK/WHITE/RED

3. What questions are appealing in an interview of a band?
SILLY ONES
ANY NEW MATERIAL, TOUR DATES
TOUR DATES (UK)
HOW DID YOU COME UP WITH THE NAME, WHERE DID YOU MEET?
WHAT DO YOU DO IN YOUR FREE TIME
PERSONAL/ NO RELATION TO MUSIC
‘WHY ARE YOU CALLED THAT?’
‘HOW DO YOU COME UP WITH YOUR LYRICS?’
HOBBIES
GOOD POINTS TO BEING IN A BAND
TOUR DATES
PERSONAL QUESTIONS

4. Should i use an individual artist or a band for my front cover?
BOTH INDIVIDUAL AND BANDS
DEPENDS ON CONTENT
BAND
BAND
BAND
BAND
BAND
BAND
BAND

5. Should the magazine include a freebie, if so what?
NO
MUSIC TABS
FREE MUSIC DOWNLOAD
ANYTHING
NONE
CONCERT TICKET DISCOUNT
NONE
POSTER
BADGES/STICKERS

6. What types of fonts should be used on the cover? Should there be a variety?
VARIETY, EYE CATCHING, STAND OUT
BOLD
BOLD AND VARIETY
BIG AND BOLD
BOLD, SANS SERIF
LOTS/MODERN
BOLD AND SIMPLE
VARYING BOLD FONTS
SIMILAR FONTS

7. What would be a good title for this new music magazine?
JUICE
BANG
FOAM
MUSIC OF TODAY
MESSY
LOADED
HARD
GVM
GRAZED
THE RIGHT NOTE





Analysis of existing texts

I decided to use the genre of Indie for my music magazine. For further research i looked at the front covers of several magazines which share a similar music genre. Therefore i deconstructed the cover of Q magazine and SPIN magazine.

This Q magazine cover the colour theme of pink,whites and blacks,which isn't typical of this magazine genre. I personally like how the image of Brandon Flowers overlaps the magazine logo. I think the magazine effectivley coorporates the colour theme into the clothing Brandon Flowers is wearing. The setting of the magazine is also effective as it helps to create an eerie, chilling atmosphere as Brandon is standing on what appears to be a ship. The magazine uses typical music magazine conventions. This can be shwont hrought he use of fonts in particular which has a varitey of serif and sans serif fonts, which are mainly used in upper case. The magazine also has typical conventions such as the issue number, date, barcode and price which is required for magazines. Q magazine uses a tagline, this is typical of a music magazine. Sell lines are also used int his magazine such as 'TAKE THAT UNCENSORED'/

SPIN magazine uses a unique and different technique to attract the reader through their cover. For the background instead of Lily Allen standing in front of a plain layout, the magazine has used font prints if artists in the background. I also like the composition of Lily Allen and how she is placed in front of the texts, with a shadow outlining her figure. The costume that Lily Allen is wearing is also different and bold,and helps to create an individual style like the house style of the magazine. The magazine title 'SPIN', also relates to music, and the idea of the effect music can cause. Sans serif and serif font are used through out

THE SKELETON

We were given the Preliminary Task a few weeks ago. We were told to construct a cover and a contents page for a school magazine.

When beginning this task i immediately searched for my ipod, the only way i can ever usually find some creativity within me. The first song on my shuffle was Skeleton Boy by Friendly Fires which gave me a few ideas straight away.

I decided to use Skeleton as the title as it appeared to have some egde to it, and the idea of a black and white theme shortly followed. I thought this theme may appeal to those still in secondary education, which is suitable as that is the target audience for the magazine. I wanted to keep the magazine cover simple and less crowded to allow it to be more appealing, and to also allow it to look realistic.

For some further research i investigated topics and articles that would be suitable for a school magazine, as well as interesting. By doing this i asked some fellow sixth form students for their opinions. This included:

Driving lessons
Prom
Upcoming events
Revision tips
University guides
Reviews
Clubs
Exam dates

The Cover

This is the cover to my school magazine called the skeleton. I deicded to use a black and white theme which relates to the idea of a skeleton which can often be shown through costumes of skeletons. I thought by using some colour it would attract readers to the magazine. The image used relates to the idea of school work getting on top of students, which i used in the literal terms for my image.

I decided to use a simialr layout and style to Glamour magazine for my contents page. I kept house style by using the same font and colour theme in my contents page.