Music Magazine Pitch

Genre - Pop Music (current music)

Weekly/Monthly Price - The magazine will be a monthly edition and would cost £1.99. This is because my intended audience will not have jobs yet as they are still at school. Having a monthly magazine also links to my target audience as it means that they have enough money to want to pay for it. If it was a weekly magazine the magazine may not get a proper following by the audience.

Audience - Teenage Girls who are at secondary school.

Audience Profile - They will be aged between 12 and 16, they like reading about things and do like to hear gossip. They like learning different crazy types of dance moves; they are in a group of friends. They are both clever and academic. I believe they are not that into their looks, but do like to look good. The fact that they love to learn different dance moves links to the feature shown on the front page of my magazine where it advertises "15 Greatest Poses/Dance Moves". These will includes hit dance moves such as Gangnam Style and also different poses and dance positions featured in Pop music videos and also Just Dance.

Name - Lemon Popisobel

Colour - Metallic blue colour, however could possibly have hints of baby pink. Use clear and bright colours. This links to the audience as they are attracted to bright colours and like them. These colours will also make my magazine stand out from the others.

Font - Arial Rounded MT Bold I have chosen this font as it doesn't look formal and also is easier to read for a younger audience.

Images - The pictures should all be directed to the audience to make them feel as though they are connected to the magazine and the people in it, it also it a convention of magazines and pop culture. I think there should be an image used within the magazine of the target audience for the magazine, possibly in school uniform performing the different crazy dance moves for the offer within the magazine of "15 Greatest Poses/Dance Moves".

Double Page Spread - This will be an interview with a Boy Band. The use of an interview will make the magazine seem personal as it will be a band talking heart-to-heart with an interviewer and in turn making the audience feel connected to them. In the double page spread there can be a fact file of the lead singer. I also think that I should use a picture of each band member with his questions by the side of them. This double page spread links to the intended audience as they are interested in boy bands such as JLS and One Direction at the moment and this is seen as current.

Inducements (offers) – The inducements for the magazine I am creating will include: 15 Greatest Poses/Dance Moves and a free glowing rubber with the magazines logo. The greatest poses/dance moves links with the intended audience as they like to either create or re-create poses/dance moves of their favourite pop stars or would also like to make up dance routines to their favourite pop songs. The glowing rubber links with the audience because of their age as they become entertained by anything, but can also be used at school as it is part of the equipment they are meant to bring in. However the glowing rubber could also be a way that the magazine could advertise itself for other potential buyers.

USP - The magazine offers something different from other magazines as it aims to be personal with its readers and try to make them all feel like they connected together, for example like a type of fandom. This links to the audience profile as they are in a group of friends and like to feel closely linked with them. It is also different as it offers the chance for this audience to learn cool dance styles from their favourite Pop artists.

The Secrets of Magazine - Cover Design

Key ingredients to use on a front cover

• The way that the cover looks is dictated by the publishing and editorial strategy that is designed to put across.
• The cover is the most important.
• Consumer magazine editors worry more about the cover more than any other part. In the UK 90% of sales are in newsagents.
• No absolute rules.
• Generally photographs work better than illustration. It depends what genre. Models will be chosen younger that intended audience, however for teen magazines models are older.
• Note that faces are not centered on the nose, but instead the eyes. People prefer images of others with wide open pupils which shows attraction.
• Avoid white, black and green. Red stands out, but can be over used. Contrast between colours may be more important.
• Numbers are used to suggest there is a lot in the magazine. The bigger the better, with many editors prefering figures such as 162 to rounded numbers such as 100.

My Preliminary Task and Evaluation

This is my preliminary task for a school magazine; it consists of a front page and a contents page. I completed this task through trying to follow my design that I prepared before I started working on it using Photoshop.

 

Inevitably there were some changes that I made to the design of the magazine throughout the process. For example: I added a picture to the contents page of a student at the sixth form, I did this to add more interest for the audience. I also removed the giant circles that in the design were decorated all over the front page. I removed these as to make the magazine look more professional.

Overall I feel that the contents page is better in design and layout than the front page. This however makes my magazine ineffective as it means that it would not attract an audience as the front cover is the first thing they see in order to take an interest. As this is the case, I will try in my music magazine to make the front cover as good as the contents page so as to attract audiences to read and buy my magazine.

 

I feel that there is a lot that I can improve on and work on with this magazine, and I will keep this in mind when I create my music magazine so it can look overall better and be more effective.

Photoshop Tester

On Tuesday 22nd I had my first trial learning how to use Photoshop which is the program I will be using to create my magazines. I learnt how to use this software through help, but also trial and error. The learning of the software will greatly help me to improve my skills in creativity and also help me to create a successful looking music magazine.

Analysis of the Contents Page of Kerrang

(Created on paint)

The RadioTimes Magazine Analysis

Analysis

 

The RadioTimes is a magazine informs their audience of what is on the television and the radio. The front cover of this magazine, as with Kerrang, doesn't need to make their name that evident as, it is somewhat blocked by the picture in front of it. It also uses a slightly angled banner for their main headline, this draws attention to what their main feature is. In their contents page they include a "message from the editor" which is a commonly used feature of a magazine, this makes the reader feel connected to the magazine. The RadioTimes also use within their contents page a screen shot of their front page. This makes sure that if a reader bought this magazine purely because of what was written on the front page they would use this to find out where the story they wanted was located. The contents page is also well structured and the page numbers can be easily read.

 

What I Have Learnt

 

I have learnt that having a basic front cover for a magazine means doesn't mean that it isn't effective for it's purpose. I also think that making the title of the magazine partly obscured sounds like a good idea to use for my own music magazine front cover. I like the different features shown within the contents page of the RadioTimes. I like the use of the "message from the editor" and I would like to use this idea within my magazine as it adds a personal feeling to the audience. I also like the use of the screen shot of the front page of the magazine. I like this feature as it is an easy way in which the audience of the magazine can find out where the main stories of the magazine are, and I would like to use this idea for my own music magazines contents page.

Design for Preliminary Task

These are my designs for both the front page and the contents page for my school magazine. This is a rough idea of what I want it to look like. I will be taking my photos for the magazine through the planning ideas of the design I have created. I have included some ideas that I saw were used in other magazines such as the "letter from the editor", or in this case a student. I have also decided to include a screen shot of the front page to show the audience of my magazine where to find the main features shown from the first page; I have seen this idea used within the RadioTimes’ contents page.

Pictures for School Magazine - Part 2

This image is a good two shot and shows two people laughing. I will be using this image on the front page of my school magazine as it shows that the sixth form is a fun place to be.

 

This image will not be used in my school magazine as there is a person in the background of the picture covering her face from the camera.

 

 

I will be using this image in my contents page for my school magazine. This is because it shows an clear expression and also is a different shot from others that I have taken.

 

On Friday 18th I took photo's for my school magazine. I have used the my design and have taken pictures according to this. However, all these photo's will not be used within my magazine as some are blurry or are poorly lit. I have learnt that I need to make sure to take quite a few photo's so that if some are poor quality I will be able to replace them with one better.

Pictures for School Magazine - Part 1

I will be using this image in my school magazine. This is because has a good mise-en-scene and also shows a sixth former in a medium shot.
 

I will not be using this image in my school magazine isn't really showing the emotion I wanted to portray is showing a random position. I also don't like the way that the model is looking away from the camera and as this image will be used on the front cover I want the model to be looking directly at the audience.
 

This image will not be used in my school magazine. This is because it is blurry and doesn't show the same quality of the other photos.
 

The image above will be used in my school magazine. This is because it is a decent shot and shows emotion.

On Friday 18th I took photos for my school magazine. I have used my design and have taken pictures according to this. However, all these photos will not be used within my magazine as some are blurry or are poorly lit. I have learnt that I need to make sure to take quite a few photos so that if some are poor quality I will be able to replace them with one better.

Analysis of Front Cover of Kerrang

On Tuesday 15th in groups we analysed the front cover of the music magazine Kerrang. In this lesson I have learnt that many buyers of magazines do not need to see the whole of the name of the magazine to know what the magazine is. There is an idea that I might like to incorporate into my own work, this is the use of the left hand side of the magazine used to attract readers when in a pile to show what they are offering the readers who buy their magazine.

Deadlines

Preliminary Task: Friday 25th January

Rough Draft of Magazine: Friday 15th February

Final Drafts: Friday 1st March

Evaluation and Blogs: Friday 15th March

The Brief

Preliminary Exercise

Produce the front page of a new school/college magazine, featuring a photograph of a student in medium close-up plus some appropriately laid-out text and a master head. Additionally candidates must produce a mock-up of the layout of the contents page to demonstrate their grasp of the programme.

Main Task

Produce the front page, contents and double page spread of a new music magazine. All images and text used must be original, produced by the candidate with a minimum of FOUR images per candidate.