Preliminary task: Student magazine contents page

Preliminary task: Student magazine cover

Evaluation Notes

Preliminary task:

To gain experience on how to construct a magazine we were given a preliminary task of creating the front cover, contents page flat plan and a double page spread for a student magazine. I decided to aim my magazine at female students. I did this by making the main colour pink and including a cover story about finding love at a festival and a section on what to wear to a festival. Completing this task gave me a chance to look at the conventions of a magazine in general and learn how to relate different codes to target audiences.

Conventions:

To ensure that my magazine was going to be successful I researched into different target audiences for different magazines. This helped me determine

what type of magazine I wanted and what audience to aim it at. I first looked at the conventions of music magazines.

I researched MOJO and NME to get a feeling of what different conventions matched different groups

The typical conventions were, Masthead, dateline, a main image, cover lines, main cover line, and a selling line, the left third, this is used because in shops magazines will be stacked only showing the left third of the magazine

Target audience:

I found that NME magazine was aimed at a much younger audience because it focuses on new up and coming bands and the general layout of the magazine is quite quirky. Whereas MOJO was aimed at an older audience you know this because it focuses on older bands. I also made a survey on survey monkey. I used the results to determine my target audience

Because of these results I decided to have my target audience to be 16-25 year old individuals and innovators. My secondary target audience will be mainstreamers as this is the biggest group of people, this will help sell the magazine. To make this apparent I have used modern colours like black, red and white which are conventional to a music magazine and I also have used relevant stories for teenagers like gigs and fashion tips. Most of the people like rock and indie music, so I will make the genre of my magazine indie rock. To appeal to my audience I will make sure that the bands that feature in the magazine are popular indie rock groups.

Genre:

The genre of my magazine is Indie/Rock. I decided this from analysing the results from my survey. I found that indie and rock music was the most popular genre of music. I tried to reflect this in my images and in the band that I created for the interview.

Planning:

I planned my magazine by making Flat plans of all of my pages. This was an effective way of planning because once I wrote the articles and cover lines I was able to just position them in the correct place. It also made it easier to change the size and structure of the magazine. The areas of my magazine I feel I planned well were the photo shoot and the article in my magazine. this meant that all of my photos looked professional and my article interpreted the style of the magazine. I feel that the layout of my magazine was not planned as well as I wanted it to be because I had to change it quite a lot. This meant that it took longer to construct the final outcome.

Photos:

For my magazine I wanted my photos to reflect the style of the magazine. I decided to hold a photo shoot in a bedroom and bathroom. I used two of my friends to model as the band. The pictures were used on the contents page, front cover and double page spread. I decided that the outfits for the models needed to be quirky and fun to reflect the style of the band. As they were an indie band I wanted them to look quite cool and stylish so I used lots of colour. i wanted to include pictures of the band in there rehearsal area. I decided to use a bedroom as this to convey what the bands life is like. There were lots of random colourful objects to show the carefree approach the band had to there work. I then took some pictures in a bathroom with a tiled background to create a nautical feel.

Psychographics and social groups:

I wanted my magazine to represent Individualist young female adults from 16-25. You can tell this because my magazine is aimed at females which are not common in a music magazine. I did this by having the models on the magazine cover to be about the same age as my target audience. Also I made sure that in all of the pictures of teenagers they looked presentable to represent them in a positive way. I also wanted to aim my magazine at mainly the social economic groups A- C2. I decided this because it broadens the range of people who would read the magazine. From the initial research of other music magazines I found that the prices ranged from £2 to £3+. I have decided to have my magazine at £2 as it is an affordable price that most people from each economic group will be able to manage.

Font and Graphics:

The graphics for my magazine were inspired by Q magazine. I decided to make it quite simple and not look too formal to suit my target audience. I used ‘Word art’ on word for the ‘M’ and then created a white box to go around it. I tried to use this as the logo throughout my magazine so it connects all the way through. I then used ‘word art’ again to write magazine, I made the whole masthead italic. I used Harlow solid italic for the masthead as it was quite simple legible and bold. I chose this font because it looked smooth and it flowed like music. The font I used for all of my text in the magazine was Arial; I used this because it’s very easily read and its recognisable. I used it in all of my text to make it look more neat and presentable.

Photos and Editing:

For my pictures I used a 7 mega pixel digital camera. The mis en scene in my images worked well because of the style of my magazine but it caused problems because I had to edit out the background in most of my pictures. I used natural light for my pictures, the issues with this was I had to do my pictures before dark this created a time deadline that I had to complete my work to. I used Photoshop to edit all of my images. This gave me a chance to add lighting affects and make the colours more vibrant. In the front cover image I edited out the background because it was too busy. I also did the same in the two shot in the double page spread.

Final magazine:

To make sure my magazine was successful I tried to stick to all of the conventions of a music magazine. I have challenged forms and conventions of music magazines by having a picture of a girl band on the front as most music magazines have males on the front. My music magazine would be positioned along side NME magazine as both magazines are indie rock magazines. I have appealed to the target audience by using models that are around the same age, colours that will appeal to both sexes and having interesting cover lines and stories that they would want to read about. The feedback from my focus group suggests that my magazine is appropriate for my target audience and genre of music magazine. I took the constructive criticism and re did the front cover, contents and double page spread to improve it. The most likely industry to publish my magazine would be IPC as they are responsible for 80 magazines in the UK including NME. The sections of my project that I feel could be improved are research into the industry as I feel that my knowledge of different industries isn’t as good as I would like. this product is successful because I feel that it appeals to the target audience and it looks like a conventional magazine.

What I have learnt:

From the process of constructing this product I have learnt what different conventions are included in creating a music magazine and how the magazine industry works. All of the research into the different genres of music magazine helped me learn more and helped me decide what style and genre I wanted my magazine to be. By creating the blogs I learnt how to structure my work and present it in a neat way. Using the internet enabled me to do the relevant research necessary. I was able to asses and re-do parts of my magazine that needed changing by getting constructive criticism from my peers. This ensured that my magazine was appropriate for my target audience. Looking back on my preliminary task, I have learnt how to structure a front page and how to identify different genres and styles of magazine. I have progressed from the preliminary task to the music magazine by making my music magazine more suitable to both sexes instead of just female. Constructing both of these magazines was a great way to get an insight into the industry and I am very pleased with the result of my music magazine and I feel I have learnt a great deal on how to create a conventional music magazine.

Evaluation Slide show

http://www.slideshare.net/secret/jA6Bey1VN3Fbl9

interview with The Polkadot Peacocks

1) What’s the name of your band? What’s the origin of that name? Have you changed the band’s name before?

Rhiain: We named our band The polkadot peacocks…it sounds quite random really doesn’t it? Ha!

Shannon: Yeah. Well we wanted something quirky and fun, something totally new and that’s what we came up with.

Rhiain: well you don’t really find peacocks with polkadots and you won’t find any music quite like ours.

2) Please list the name, age, school, and respective instrument of each band member.

Rhiain Lyne, 20, keyboard and vocalist

Shannon Grant, 20, electric guitar and vocalist

3) What genre of music do you consider your work to be? Who are your major influences?

Shannon: I would say we were a kind of indie electro rock, its quite unusual.

Rhiain: it reminds me of the 80s, I suppose that decade has influenced us really, the music, the fashion (gesturing to there clothes)

Shannon: our influences I would say are The Human League, New Order and also bands like Muse and Radio head.

4) How long have you all known each other? How did you meet?

Rhiain: We went to the same school (Cowes High School) for six years but we didn’t really become friends until 6^th form I think?

Shannon: yeah we had the same music lesson.

Rhiain: oh we got put together to make a modern composition didn’t we, ha that was a laugh!

Shannon: haha yeah. That was where it all started really.

5) When did you form your band? What inspired you to make music together?

Shannon: we formed the band during the first year of AS music just as a hobbie really.

Rhiain: well us and a group of friends were regulars at the Studio a local club where they used to play a lot of electro 80s music and we both really liked it and thought, why not try it ourselves? S

hannon: and we did and hopefully people will like it too!!

7) What made you choose the instruments you have now?

Rhiain: I come from a musical family so I was introduced to the piano from when I was about 3ish then I moved on to keyboards at middle school and really enjoyed it.

Shannon: I started playing the guitar at about 10. I was always a fan of rock music and I just really wanted to be involved in making and playing music.

8) Where have you performed? Do you have any upcoming shows?

Rhiain: We have performed at the mayflower theatre and Portsmouth guild hall and we are hoping to go on tour quite soon to promote our new album, Peacock Dreams.

9) Which songs do you perform most frequently? Do you ever play any covers? Do you have a set play list?

Shannon: one of the most requested song is, Sleepy Sundays, I don’t know what happened people just went mad for it!

Rhiain: well as we are relatively new we usually do covers of vampire weekends, APunk, Florence and the machines, Kiss with a Fist, and some of OMD

10) Who writes your songs? What are the main themes or topics for most of your songs? Do you think these topics will change over time?

Shannon: We write our songs together

Rhiain: we usually write about happiness and random childish things hehe.

11) Could you briefly describe the music-making process?

Shannon: usually I will come up with a melody on the guitar and then rhi will bring in the keyboard. Then we add in the lyrics.

12) What are your rehearsals generally like? Do you have a set time each week in which you practice or are rehearsals more spontaneous?

Rhiain: we aim for about 2 rehearsals each week but sometimes more. We usually rehearse for about 2hours

Shannon: im playing most of the time anyway, if I get bored or I get sad. Music is a great way to cheer someone up!

13) How has your music evolved since you first began playing music together?

Rhiain: we used to just focus on the music more than the lyrics making our music not that memorable but then we realised that they are as important as each other.

Shannon: now we take time in writing the lyrics, so they have a stronger meaning.

Rhiain: also I have helped Shannon out with her guitar she isn’t as skilled as me ha

Shannon: hey! Hehe

14) What has been your biggest challenge as a band? Have you been able to overcome that challenge? If so, how?

Shannon: I think the biggest challenge was getting noticed in the first based. Being a new band limits any gigs you get. Club managers find it scary to hire new bands because they could be ridiculously bad.

Rhiain: But once we started getting the gigs and playing well we got recognised for our music.

15) What’s your ultimate direction for your band? Are you seeking fame and fortune?

Shannon: I think to be recognised for our music would be the best thing we could ever want.

Rhiain: Exactly. I think the best thing is getting paid for doing something you love everyday!

16) What advice do you have for people who want to form their own bands?

Shannon: practise, practise, practise!

Rhiain: also don’t let people put you down! If you want something you should go for it!

17) How can fans-to-be gain access to your music? Do you have a website with sample songs or a demo CD?

Shannon: we have our website, www.thepolkadotpeacocks.com on there you will be able to find our latest singles, tour dates and more.

19) Any last words?

Rhiain: so far it has been the funnest experience of my life at it is only the start of my career! All I hope is that this will last forever!

Shannon: my words exactly!

Okay so thank you girls! May I just wish you the best of luck for the future. I’ve got a feeling that everyone will be going polkadot mad!

Contents page after adaptations

I feel that this is my strongest page in my magazine as it is visually interesting. The changes I made were:

Change all of the numbers- I had to re-arrange the numbers on the page to make it more like a music magazine.

Change the pictures- I changed two pictures on this page. the picture in the bottom left: I cropped it to make it fit on the page better making the whole page look neater. the picture in the right of the page: I photo shopped the background out of the picture as I thought that it would make it look more professional.

I also tidied up the page by making the boarders of the headings in the contents match up better. I also made the title 'What's inside' more wider to match it up with the width of the contents.

finally I added in the page number at the bottom.

Double page spread after adaptations

I didn't make that many changes to this page as I thought that it looked quite professional already. the changes I made were:

I made the main picture more centred and did the same to the bands name to make it look more balanced.

I added the appropriate page numbers to the page. this was essential in making the magazine look professional.

I made sure all of the 'M's' were in the right place, this made the article look more neat.

I made the black outline line up with the picture.