Misc. Music magazine name research

(This entry should appear at the beginning of my blog, however at the beginning of term I had troubles using the online blogger, so I saved it in Microsoft Word.)

Music Magazine Name Research

I literally typed the word “bang” (as it emphasises and connotates something interesting/exciting) into an online thesaurus. I chose the following five which appealed to me the most;

Beat
Bounce
NRG- (energy)
Sound
Just

Beat- would make it clear that it is a music magazine, is “short and snappy” and easily remembered.
Bounce- would again make it clear that it is a music magazine, however it narrows the context of the magazine down vividly as the word “bounce” is often associated with dance/remix music- and although I want my magazine to be based loosely around R’n’B I also want to be able to associate with any chart music.
NRG- I love the almost abbreviation of the word “energy” to “NRG” although this isn’t clear at first glance, as the initials are phonetic it becomes clear once read. The word "energy" denotates hype, enthusiasm and fun, and conotates that this is what my magazine would be about.
Sound- This clearly makes the magazine out to be associated with music, is short and easy to remember, however after analysing it I feel it would simply lack interest from my target audience and be unsuccessful as a name.
Just- This is another name I am particularly keen to use, as it has all the necessary/essential qualities i.e. easy to remember etc. However I feel it would work better if I was producing a fashion/gossip magazine, rather than a music magazine. As although my magazine is generally based for young girls as “TOTP” was, I don’t want to stray to far away from the music concept of it.

I have decided to use “NRG” as my final magazine title as like mentioned above, the word energy itself denotates hype, enthusiasm and fun, and conotates that this is what my magazine would be about.

Evaluation

Overall I believe my final media product as a whole (cover, contents page and double page spread) were all a success in many ways.

My media product uses standard and necessary conventions of real media projects similar to itself. Such as; the layout, colour schemes, articles, and striking images. However I developed the basic layout of a young person’s magazine by, creating a unique, black and white front cover and contents page. I.e. everything is black and white, apart from the images of the young "celebrity stars". This is a subtle underlying message, that these stars are "the next big thing" or emphasises on how successful and important they are. The black and white colour scheme also conotates that the magazine is targeted at middle class young people. Finally as the black and white colour scheme is unique, it would simply stand out more on a shop shelf, and be more appealing to the eye, resulting in my magazine hopefully being more successful.

My media product represents my chosen particular social group (teenagers- mainly girls, interested in a mixture of hip-hop, r’n’b and pop) in a variety of ways. It does this through the striking images of “young” “attractive” people, bold oversized fonts, and particularly through the article titles. When deciding to buy a magazine, it is common knowledge that when judging on the cover alone, you take into account the main image and articles surrounding it. Therefore these components are crucial to “get right”, for a magazine to be a success i.e. sell well.
So when it came to choosing article titles I ensured I included names that would reflect the genre of my magazine i.e. Kanye West and Ne-Yo, also mentioning things such as myspace and the MTV awards, as these not only target my audience, but give an insight of the interesting content of my magazine.

Using the website www.ipcmedia.com/brands I found it particularly easy to research the existing music magazines not only in competition with mine, but to see average prices etc. For instance “Guitar and Bass” is sold monthly and costs £3.95, “NME” is sold weekly and costs £2.20, “Uncut” is sold monthly and costs “4.30”. All these facts and figures helped me further incorporate how much I would sell my magazine for etc.

The distribution of my media product would obviously be in shops, super markets, newsagents etc. as this is simply where the majority of magazines are bought/sold. However my media product could be advertised at concerts, particularly of the artists that appear in my magazine. This would endorse not only my magazine, but the artist in conjunction.

The majority of my target audience for my media product is teenage girls, with exceptions within age/gender. Also from my research I found that my target audience were mainly interested in a mixture of hip-hop, r’n’b and pop, therefore I tried to in corporate all three into my magazine. I addressed my audience with a questionnaire; asking questions about themselves, their interests and, specific details such as how much they prefer to spend on a magazine. All of the questions helped me to design my magazine, and gave me insight into what to include/not include.

Considering before constructing my product I had never used Photoshop before(!) I have learnt a lot! I.e. How to; create a new publication, insert photo's, add layers, work on the layers, deleting layers etc. I also learnt how to edit images within great detail i.e. changing the auto levels, colours and contrasts, cropping pictures, changing the filter of a picture e.g. "diffuse glow".
I also learnt how to download fonts from the internet using a website called www.dafont.com this was extremely helpful as there are thousands of fonts to choose from, for the specific brief that you may have.

Overall the feedback from my product was very positive, I noted some of the comments; "Very eye catching and bold! I want to read it!" - Rebekah Masters. "It looks very professional, and I like how its in greyscale." - Ross Nish. "The interview is really funny!! but the page looks abit plain." - Adam Magaughey. I took into account this particular comment, and added more detail to my double page spread, e.g an original orange border, and detailed lines under fonts, however I didn't want to over complex the pages, so I kept things "simple and sophisticated."

My preliminary definitely helped me to improve my final product, as when referring to it, you can clearly see what works and what doesn’t. Looking back at my preliminary task, I feel I have developed my designing skills immensely, and worked hard to create a more genuine/realistic magazine cover. Especially when cutting out a picture as I did an appalling job on my preliminary(!)
I have now learnt that using the “diffuse glow” tool, (and as my pictures were taken on a basic white background) the result was very effective, and I was particularly pleased with how the images turned out. I have also learnt since my preliminary that using necessary codes and conventions doesn’t immediately make a magazine credible/realistic. The design and intricate details of a magazine cover I feel are the most important in ensuring it to be a success.

Stage of Production

I have recentley completed my double page spread and contents page and I am very pleased with the end result of both.
Double Page Spread-
I created my double page spread in microsoft publisher and used a template provided by my media teacher. Firstly I seperated the page into columns to allow space for the interview article and to reconstruct the layout featured in many magazines. I then began to further edit photo's of my model Katie Hitchen, to comform with the theme of my magazine. I edited every picture in the same way, to ensure continuity. The settings I used to edit the photo's were firstly; I auto corrected all the levels, colours and contrast. I then simply added "diffuse glow" to all of the photo's, to add more contrast and vibrance to the pictures, and also clear my models face of imperfections. Once I had the basic layout and colour scheme (black and orange- to compliment my models image i.e. fiery hair/colours denotate a fiert personality), I then began to type my interview up. When this was finished it was basically just a task of fiddling and switching things around i.e. text boxes and images to create the perfect look i had in mind.

Progress

I am currently in the process of creating my double page spread and contents page. I am creating them both at the same time to ensure continuity within the colours and themes etc. Both are near completition, however I recentley decided to use a different model for the contents page, and am yet to take the pictures. This shouldn't be a problem as I have already created the layout for the contents page.

Cover Summary

I have recently completed my front cover and I am very pleased with the end result. The background image is a close up of my model Katie Hitchen (referred to as Zoe Sinclair in the magazine). Katie is looking directly into the camera fiercely and with “attitude”. The whole cover is in black and white, except the picture of Katie which I edited further using Photoshop and the “diffuse glow tool” to make the colours contrast, and Katie stand out more. The black and white theme also conotates an upper class “superior” ideology. I only used two different fonts on the cover to ensure continuity, and not over complex the page. The two fonts I used were “Capture It” and “Impact” I embossed and added a stroke to each piece of text to ensure it stood out and didn’t fade into the background. The necessary codes and conventions I included were; a barcode, tagline, masthead, price and date. Finally when it came to choosing article titles I ensured I included names that would reflect the genre of my magazine i.e. Kanye West and Ne-Yo, also mentioning things such as myspace and the MTV awards, targets my audience of teenagers, the majority of them girls.

The Photoshoot

The location of the photoshoot was my house/garden and was of a good friend called Katie Hitchen. Katie is around average height, slim build and has "the look" I needed for my magazine i.e. young and with attitude. I took pictures in several different rooms (for the lighting and different backdrops) and also outside. Within the photoshoot there was several different costume changes from high wasted skinny jeans and a leather jacket; to a purple skirt and waistcoat etc. I also changed her make up throughout the day, especially focusing on her eyes, to ensure variation within the pictures. Overall the photoshoot as a whole was a success, and I have several shots I believe would work as my cover shot and on the double page spread.

Magazine research-Target audience questionairre

Music Magazine Questionnaire
(Please circle appropriate answer)

Are you male or female?
Male
Female

How often do you buy magazines?
Weekly
Fortnightly
Monthly
Never

What type of music would you consider you’re favourite?
Hip-hop
R’n’B
Indie
Rock
Dance
Pop

Which of the following would you say you listened to the most?
Leona Lewis
Nickleback
Justin Timberlake
Scooter
Kanye West
Chris Brown
Kate Nash

How much would you usually pay for a magazine?
£1-£2
£2-£3
£4+
Subscription

What articles do you enjoy reading about?
Relationships
Arguments
Past experiences
Success stories

Is there anything you would like to see in a magazine but don’t normally come across?

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Using the above questionnaire I created to target my audience I found that; the majority of my target audience are girls. They buy magazines every 1-2 weeks, and generally pay between £1-3 for their magazines. I also found that hip-hop, r’n’b and pop were very popular however there were a few exceptions. Finally I found that in reference to the articles my target audience would enjoy reading; there was no specific favourite, as all the choices were equally well liked.

Music magazine research

The genre for this magazine is clearly based on hip-hop and R’n’B, and modern youth culture. The two young black males dressed in baggy designer clothes and lots of expensive jewellery; represent the image that lots of young teenagers aspire to be like- as it is seen as in fashion and “cool”. The design of the magazine contrasts with the ideology itself, in the sense that the context of the magazine is viewed as low class- yet the fonts and general design of the magazine denotate high class. The ideology of the magazine from the title “XXL” conotates that the magazine is “larger than life” and “on top of the world”. This makes the magazine subtly superior adding to the idea of it being high class.

The genre for TOTP is very obviously pop music and music currently in the charts. The target audience for this magazine is teenagers aged 13-18. The four young pop stars (A1) on the cover represent a fresh, up-to-date vibe of the magazine. The bright colours conotate the young glamorous lifestyle the stars live and what the readers aspire to be like and admire. The general ideology of TOTP is that pop stars live fun, extravagant, crazy lives and TOTP gives you an insight into that.

The genre for Vibe is based around and hip-hop and R’n’B, with hints of other artists/music within the current charts. As Janet Jackson is the main/only image on the cover, it represents strong independence and that the majority of the target audience are young black people. This is reflected in the articles on the cover, as every one of them is about a young black music artist. The design of the cover is very much low class, yet popular culture as it would most definitely appeal to the majority of teenagers- male or female. The ideology of the magazine is that young people are “becoming” and certainly do have a “vibe” about them.

Print Coursework-Music Magazine

For this piece of coursework I am going to create a new music magazine. Overall I will have created a front cover, contents page and double page spread for my magazine. Before I start I am going to research the different types of music magazines already present (to see what qualities are essential for my magazine etc). I am also going to research my target audience through things such as a questionairre, to see how to ideally appeal to them and ensure my magazine "works". I am working individually on my coursework as I feel it will be easier and I will be able to really focus and be more independent. I have found a style of magazine I would like to produce (as shown on the right), and already started most of my research and planning.

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