The first
stage of my music magazine production was to identify the acronym LIIAR, which stands for Language, Ideology, Institution, Audience and
Representation, and define each, this helped to get my head around creating a
music magazine as it forced me to think about what I would want my magazine to
represent, how I wanted it to convey it’s message and who would be reading it.
I then looked at magazine conventions, including those specific to music
magazines such as artist interviews, album reviews and music-related
classifieds. This, again, helped me to understand the many elements required to
produce a magazine.
I then
created some initial mind maps and mood boards to help me create some ideas for music magazines of my own. After this
I then analysed, in great detail, three magazines’ front covers, double page
spreads and their contents pages. The magazines I chose to analyse were Q, NME and Kerrang! magazines. These proved to be
extremely helpful when thinking of how to create my own magazine as I could see
every convention I had already identified at work in each of the magazines,
such as the realisation that most double page spreads (on main features of the
magazine) were very rarely only two pages long, most were four pages long and
some were even six pages long (although these were usually primarily photographs
of the band or artist). This helped me decide that I would definitely create a
four page feature for the artist I chose.
I then
began to think about the target audiences of these three magazines and what the target audience
of my own should be. I decided that I should be aiming my own magazine at 16-25
year olds to combine the majority readership of NME and Q magazine and it
should cover indie rock (British and American), pop rock, metal and pop music,
therefore attracting readers from Kerrang! too. Although the majority of music
magazine readers are male, I would try to attract female readers by including
more articles on female bands and artists.
Then I
began to plan my magazine in full, beginning with the magazine’s title. After coming up with several different names
including Ash, Ember and Burn (to connote fire and the fiery passion my
magazine would have for music) and Chaos, Ruin and Oblivion (to connote the
destructive force the music has that would be featured in my magazine), I
settled on the name Discord, as it is easy to remember, makes an impact on the
reader and most importantly, the definition of the word is a loud noise, that
is jarring to a person's ears. This is what the older generation, 40-50+, would
stereotypically describe music these days as and as I’m aiming my magazine at
the 16-25 age range, this audience consistently embraces things that
differentiate themselves from older people as they want to stay young forever.
Next, I
started to think about my magazine’s selling line. I wanted a selling line that sounded
smart and would appeal to a more intellectual demographic. I then began to look
at quotes relating to my magazine’s title, Discord and came up with two quotes
that I liked. These were, “From discord, find harmony,” by Albert Einstein and,
“So musical a discord, such sweet thunder,” by William Shakespeare. Out of the
two I thought that Einstein’s quote sounded much punchier and wasn’t as hard to
understand as Shakespeare’s. I felt this adequately filled my want of having an
intellectual selling, that my target audience would still be able to
understand.
I then
began to focus on planning out each page I would create for my magazine. These
are the cover page, the contents page, two double page spreads (with one
feature) and an advertisement. The advertisement wasn’t mandatory but I decided
to create one anyway because I enjoy production.
I decided
that I wanted one straight on, close up image for my front cover as I felt that magazine covers work best with only one image for the
reader to fully focus on. I will also include cover lines down the right third
as I want the left third to be free from text apart from the main cover line
which will be placed at the bottom left of the cover and half of the model’s
face will be visible in a magazine rack as is the purpose of the left third.
For my contents page I decided that I would take inspiration from Q and
NME magazines and create a layout that was split into clear blocks (in the
style of Q’s contents page) and instead of listing every feature the magazine
had I would create a alphabetical band index at the left hand side which I, and
other magazine readers have always found very effective, as it allows you to
search for your favourite bands and cut straight to their article first.
However the rest of the contents would conform to convention and include a
regulars section and several photographs of artists.
As I
previously stated, I decided to actually make four pages of an article. However
the first page of the first double page spread is usually a large image with most
articles so I applied that idea to my magazine as well. The article would be
based on a fictional artist "Lily & Her Heart," who would also be
featured on the cover and prominently in the contents page. I also decided to
feature a mini-review of her fictional album, "Fractured," for which
I will also create a CD cover using my own original artwork combined with
Photoshop.
For my advertisement I decided to advertise a fictional singer, Spectra
Diamandis and her fictional album entitled, ‘Incendiary.’ I decided to have the
album cover and the advert itself feature fire prominently as to tap into the
same ideology I previously stated about the connotations of fire.
The next
step was creating a layout for each section of my magazine. I did this by
drawing hand drafts and making IT drafts on Photoshop. I felt that the hand drafts were a little redundant as my IT drafts were identical and a lot more helpful to the production process.
Next I will
discuss the software and fonts I used to produce my magazine. I used Adobe Photoshop CS2 to create
each page. I feel that I am very capable when using Photoshop so it was a
natural decision for me to use it instead of other desktop publishing software
(DPS) such as Microsoft Publisher. I also downloaded and tested many fonts from
the free font download website http://www.dafont.com/ and found some great fonts to
use in my production, including ‘Chopin
Script’ and ‘Telegrafico.’
For the
photographs within my magazine I took several different photos from several
different shoots, shoots that I had already planned out previously. I shot three main photo shoots, the
first being for ‘Lily & Her Heart’ which took place in my back garden, as
it was a feature based on her returning to her family home after touring
America. The second being for a solo male called ‘Polygraph’ for use in the
contents page and a shoot with two people acting as the front women for the
band ‘Rose with Shards,’ also for use in the contents page. For the ‘Polygraph’ shoot I wanted my model to be sat informally on a motorbike to ensure
that my magazine would still attract males but that he still looked
approachable and a friendly person to interview. For the ‘Rose with Shards’ shoot I wanted my two models to both look serious to
show that even though they were female, and may stereotypically not be as
interested in rock music as males, that they were still serious about their
band. I then edited the photograph in Photoshop and merged the two images
together to create the feeling that they are close with each other as the bands
front women. Some of the photographs I took from these shoots I deemed
unsuitable for the representation of my magazine so I decided not to use them.
When constructing the actual pages of my magazine I felt that I had prepared extremely
well for it, with my planning and research helping me along the way. I carried
out the production of my magazine almost exactly as I had planned it, with only
a few minor changes, for example, I made a big change to the layout of the
contents page with regards to where I placed the images as I had misjudged the
size each image would need to be in relation to the page, I also slightly
changed the layout of my first double page spread and instead of having two
columns on the right hand page, I increased it to three as I felt it suited the
spread a lot better as I was producing it.
I will now
deconstruct each page of my own magazine, like I deconstructed the three music magazines.
The layout
of my front cover is similar to many front covers I have seen, with there only being one
central image to draw a prospective reader's attention. The model is looking
straight into the camera with one eye to directly engage with the audience, yet
she is winking with her other eye to demonstrate a sense of informality around
the artist, another attractive quality for my key demographic of 16-25 year
olds. She is wearing an open checked shirt, which are in fashion at the moment
and would be at the time of print, this is to let the audience know that she
keeps with the times and is a fashion conscious "twenty-something" as
this is one of the groups I am trying to represent in my magazine. The model I
chose also has three piercings, two lip studs and a nose stud, which again
represents the demographic I am aiming to attract as many young people these
days have facial piercings. The text of the masthead and the cover lines frame
the model's face, this is to get the most information possible about the
magazine's contents to the audience while not detracting from the engaging
effect of the close up image of the artist. The fact that the model has bright
red hair is coincidental but works extremely well with the colour scheme I had
chosen for the entire magazine, as well as connotating that she is a woman with
a fiery passion for music. With regards to the cover lines I decided to cover a
wide range of possible stories, which include joint tours, homecoming gigs, new
albums, an aspirational band story and a competition to win a live music DVD,
as well as the main cover line telling the audience of 'Lily & Her Heart''s
return home after success in America, something that would be resonant with
many young people reading the magazine as lots of my target audience would
aspire to become successful (in any way) and live in glamorous L.A. or New
York.
With my contents page I tried to create a layout that was presented in
clear sections so that readers could easily pick the section that was relevant
to them, which is reminiscent of Q magazine's contents page as theirs is very clear and concise
unlike Kerrang! magazine's contents page which is visually stimulating but would
require most readers to read the entire page to find what they want. My
contents page consists of six main sections, excluding a header and footer
containing the title 'CONTENTS' and the page number and a link to the
magazine's website, respectively. Three of the six sections are photographs of
the bands and artists featured within the magazine, I wanted the images to be
as large as possible so that they had an impact but also make sure that the
main article, on 'Lily & Her Heart' was the largest, as to identify to the
reader that it is the main feature. Another section is the band index which
contains a clear list of bands and artists that are featured in the magazine,
with the page that they are featured on. This is a very useful tool to use when
reading magazines, as I have personally discovered from reading the NME magazine's contents page which also uses this feature. I decided
that instead of using pre-existing bands for the contents page I would create
entirely new names for fictional bands, names that I feel represent my target
audience's band interest's typical names, such as; Altered Youth, Ghosts, Julia
Rose, The Lacklustres, Oohlala, The Telephones and Zero Pulse to name but a
few. I also created a regulars section which informs the audience of features
that make up the magazine besides band articles. The page numbers in this
section and in the band index all correlate to each other, so you could tell
what section the bands within the band index would be featured in. Of course,
most readers would not bother to check as they would see the band they like and
go straight to that page, but for continuity purposes I wanted to make sure the
page numbers had meaning too. The last section I included is a small insert at
the bottom left of the page which features a competition in which the reader
can win a year's subscription to 'Discord' and win tickets to a fictional
festival 'D-Fest.' The fact that I have included a competition where one of the
prizes is a ticket to 'D-Fest,' a festival that is being held by 'Discord'
itself. It is not expressly stated but with the fact that my magazine is being
created as an institution means that if it were real, readers would already
know what D-Fest was and that it is being held by the magazine. This section
also contains the front cover as it would be sold to demonstrate the
subscription prize.
For the
first page of my double page spreads I wanted to fill it with a landscape
image of the artist as I feel that this is conventionally accurate when
considering other music magazines, such as NME magazine's double page spreads. Overlaid on the image of the model is
a quote pulled from the article I wrote for the magazine which states, "Everyone
needs their time alone to dress like a tramp, eat lots of Doner kebabs and not
have to give a shit, you know." I feel that this quote was the best I had
written for the article as it sums up her attitude towards life and even though
she is famous, her attitude is not that different from the reader's attitudes
towards life as many people in my key demographic of 16 to 25 year olds will
share her views. I did wonder whether or not to use the words 'tramp' and
'shit,' the former as it is politically incorrect and the latter as it could be
deemed offensive, however when reading magazines such as NME, I noticed that
they quite frequently swear and use non-PC terms and as I want my magazine to
appear that it is rebellious against mainstream values I decided to keep them
in anyway. The model's stance against the brick wall is quite rebellious in
itself which is designed to engage with the readers as my target audience are
naturally attracted to figures who rebel against authority, however in the
caption in the top left of the page, it states that she is striking a pose for
the magazine, meaning that she is not naturally like that. On the right side of
this page I included a flower design that I created in Photoshop and added a
layer effect to the brick wall behind the model to darken the wall and make it
seem as if it has been graffitied on. The flower effects looks like it is part
of the graffiti and speaks about her inner nature, that she wants to make a
statement to the world but that she cares about family values too, as it
explained in the article.
In the
second double page spread there are six main components: a footer
containing the page numbers and a link to the magazine's website which is
consistent with the contents page; another image of the artist in which she is
smiling, a contrast to the initial rebellious pose, now that article is further
on and the audience can understand the lesser need for a rebellious front; a
short bio section featuring basic details about the artist and a picture of her
and her cat in a loving pose which instantly makes her more relatable to a mass
audience as many readers will have cats themselves; a short album review
section which is a precursor to a longer album review in the review section of
the magazine, featuring original song names, a rating for the song and a short
sentence summing the song up, as well as a large original CD design I created
on Photoshop using text and an image of a piece of artwork I had created; the
article itself, which features two more pull quotes within the text, one
stating how much she loves her fans and one talking ominously about a fued
between her and another, something that would draw the reader's attention
purely because of gossip-filled nature of my key demographic; and finally, a
large landscape image of the model laid on grass that has been darkened enough
to use as a background for the entire spread so that the audience can visualise
that the interviewer and the artist are sat on some grass having a picnic,
something which the interview states that they are doing.
Even though
I did not have to create an advertisement as part of the task I decided to anyway as I felt it
would demonstrate that my magazine was part of a corporate institution, and
that the purpose of my magazine, like all magazines, was primarily for
commercial profit. I also thought that the outcome of my advertisement would
help define my magazine's genre, that is, as a magazine mainly focused on
female rock and indie music. I made the main motif, of the advertisement, fire,
as I think this connotates well the passion that the artist and my magazine
feels for music. At the bottom of the page there is a release date and a link
to the fictional artist's official website where readers are encourages to go
to find news, exclusive content and previews of the artist's music. This
further proves that my magazine is designed for commercial purposes as the
magazine would've been paid a lot of money to feature this advertisement for
which the artist's management will hopefully profit from, through the artist's
target audience (and the magazine's) reading the advert and becoming
interested.
The feedback I have received for my
magazine has all been very positive with people saying with the only real
negative comments regarding the price and the selling line, two things that I
would definitely change if I were to re-do my magazine, yet the rest of my
magazine was commended by my target audience, with all of them saying it looked
professional and most of them saying they would buy it, the only exceptions
being one person not being interested in music magazines and one person who,
again, thought the price was a little too much.
I feel that
I have represented my target audience well within my double page spread as I
made the article about the artist ‘Lily & Her Heart’ very relatable as it
is about her touring the USA, something I imagine most of my readers would
envy, but that she has now returned home and is spending time with her close
family and friends in her home town of Hull, something that all student readers
in my key demographic could relate to, ie. students returning to their own home
towns on breaks from university.
I would
imagine that my music magazine would be distributed by a publishing company
such as Bauer Media Group who also distribute Q and Kerrang! magazines or IPC
Media who distribute NME magazine as my magazine is very conventionally similar
to these publications. For example, the use of red, white and black as my main
colour scheme throughout the magazine.
Looking
back at my preliminary task, I feel that I learnt the core basics of magazine
production, such as taking into account the conventions of other magazines, the
time and effort it takes to create a quality publication and I feel that my
skills on Photoshop were enhanced by the preliminary task which helped me
greatly when creating the main task.
Overall, I
think that has been a very successful production and I am extremely happy with
the outcome and the positive feedback I have received.
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