Music Magazine Research

The main task is to create a music magazine cover, contents page and double page spread.

I will begin to get ideas for my own product by reasearching popular music magazines and genres and then from this I will decide a music genre for my own magazine.

The main popular music magazines are:

*NME
*Q
*Mojo
*Kerrang
*Rolling Stone
*Rocksound
*The word
*Mix mag

Most of these magazines are based on the rock/metal/indie music genre.

Well known music genres are:


Black Metal
Blues
Classical
Country
Dancehall
Reggae
Death Metal
Disco
Drum and Bass
Electro
Folk
Funk
Garage
Gothic
Hardcore
House
Jazz
Latin
Metal
Opera
Progressive Rock
Punk
R&B
Hip-Hop
Pop
Salsa
Ska
Techno
Rave
Alternatives
Rock
Ballad
Dance
Trance
Ibiza trance
Club
Streetbeat

LIAAR

I will use LIIAR to start to plan what ideas and decisions I need to create my music magazine:

Language: The language of my music magazine should be entertaining and fun as, no matter who the magazine is aimed at, these qualities will appeal to them. Most magazines use informal language but if my magazine was aimed at music professionals e.g. recording studio managers e.t.c it could be formal. The language and lexis used are all based on who the magazine is aimed at. Common music magazines such as NME and Rolling Stones use informal language and address the reader.

Institution: The institution of my magazine will be the publisher. I will research different common publishers of common magazines e.g: PCM, Emap, Future, IPC...

Ideology: The purpose of my magazine is to entertain and inform the audience about the particular genre of music my magazine is about. I will include articles, interviews and gossip about relevant bands/artists.

Audience: Each magazine has a different target audience and their magazine is created with their target audience in mind. When I choose a music genre I should have the target audience in mind as these are the people who are going to be buyingand reading the magazine.

Representation: The magazine will represent the genre of music the magazine is based around. It should reflect the music in a positive way and advertise appropiate bands/artists. E.g. Kerrang magazine represents rock and Mixmag magazine represents dance music.

Evaluation

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

My magazine cover uses conventions used in real media products such as plugs, mastheads e.t.c. My magazine cover looks like a real media product as I spent time studying real magazine covers and using the conventions in my own work making it look as realistic as possible. My product doesn’t challenge the forms or conventions of real media products as it is structured and looks like a normal magazine.

How does your media product represent particular social groups?

My media product is representing college students as there is a student on the front of each cover and it also says ‘Wyke college magazine’ but categorising them into two different groups: male and female. The male part of the magazine includes stories about rugby and NUS sports deals and the female part of the magazine includes stories about a fashion show and fashion tips. The male cover text e.t.c. is in blue and the female in pink. This is stereotypical of males and females but this is common in media, especially magazines.

What kind of media institution might distribute your media product and why?

The male part of my magazine is based on a sports type magazine as it includes stories about rugby, deals on sports items and there is a photograph of a rugby player. This is because playing sports is stereotypical of males and doing this shows clearly that that part of the magazine is aimed at the male students. The female part of my magazine is based on modern gossip magazines such as ‘Closer’. The magazine includes stories about a fashion show, Topshop deals and there is an image of a trendy female. This is because fashion and shopping is stereotypical of females and this shows clearly that that part of the magazine is aimed at the female students.

Who would be the audience for your media product?

The audience for my media product would be college students, the male part obviously aimed at males the female obviously aimed at females.

How did you attract/address your audience?

I attracted my audience by using bright, stereotypical colours for the fonts on the magazine covers and using professional looking photographs of attractive students for the main images. I have created the magazine covers to look bright and interesting but also realistic and smart so as to attract the reader. I address the reader as any other magazine would as this will attract the reader as they will be used to other magazines doing this.

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

I have learnt that making the magazine look as realistic as possible will grab the audience’s attention as it will look attractive and professional. I have also learnt that stereotyping is a good use in media.

Looking back at the preliminary task what do you feel you have learnt in the progression from it to the full product?

When I first heard what the task was I was excited as I enjoy creating things and I knew I would enjoy making a magazine cover. I think I am good at using the program Ulead Photo Express and I also enjoy it so I think this pays off in my work. I have learnt that to make your work look its best you have to spend a lot of time changing little things such as fonts and image sizes and borders. They are only little changes to make but they pay off a lot in the end result as they make your work look better if you spend the time changing things.

Contents Page

Final Cover ( Female )

Photographs