Sketches

Front cover

Contents page

Double page spread

Publication Plan/ Decisions

The genre of my music magazine is indie/alternative

Title- 'Amp'

Positioning statement- 'Love indie, Live indie'

Frequency publication- weekly

Price- £2.40

Distribution- Newsagents, Supermarkets, Music Stores.

Rationale- The magazine is indie and based around new music and sharing fresh artists/bands that are generally popular with the target audience, and shares the audiences' opinions.

Style- Informal. Uses alot of sarcastic humour, and will offer it's opinion in many places. Uses simple syntax, but sometimes the vocabulary may be specialised for musicians/music fans. As it is for a young target audience, it may also use fans.

Regular content-
Editor's letter,
'Amp' playlist- what bands/artists are recommended by 'Amp',
News,
Gig reviews,
Album Reviews,
Tabs- How to play your favourite songs,
'Backtrack'- Final page, an artist/band gives their opinion on the present music scene.
'Bandscopes'- 'Amps' chart predictions.
Profile- Interviews a member of a band each week (Bassist from Hippys on the Hill)

Feature content-
'Arctic Monkeys'- Where'd it all go right?,
Rated: 'Echo Arena',
'Muse', best band in the world?,
On the road with 'Kings of Leon',
Inside the mind of: 'Paramore',
How do fans affect the artist?
Cd's or downloads?
Who said girls can't drum?
'Lostprophets' :Home again?
Battle of the 'tars- which is the best guitar
Track to somewhere: 'Train of the parallel'
Why cheesy pop is in decline
Download takeover?
'Dear Believer' drummer Adam Price
Drugs?, Alcohol? It's about the music!

House style-
Drop capital
Colour scheme: Black, grey, red, orange

Results Graphs4

Results graphs3

Results graphs2

Results graphs1

Questionnaire results analysis (sound)

This is the evaluation of my questionnaire results, recorded.

Questionnaire tally

Questionnaire tally

1. Gender- Male- 5

Female- 15

2. How old are you?

15-20- 15

21-25- 1

25-30- 1

30-35- 1

35 onwards- 2

3. What music magazine are you most likely to buy?

Nme - 13

Kerrang - 4

Q - 1

Mojo - 0

Other (please specify) – ‘Rocksound’- 2

4. How much would you be prepared to pay for a new music magazine?

£2.00- £2.20- 6

£2.30- £2.50- 9

£2.60- £3.00- 5

5. What is your favourite artist/band?

Killers- 1

Kings of Leon- 1

Black eyed peas- 1

Paramore- 4

Arctic monkeys- 4

The libertines- 1

Forever the sickest kids- 1

Michael Jackson- 1

Michael Buble- 1

Boys like Girls- 1

Scouting for girls- 1

Muse- 2

Moby- 1

Slipknot- 1

Maroon 5- 1

6. Write down three words you think of when you hear the word ‘indie’

Music

Band

Bass

Mosher

Black

Scary

Brit pop

Skinny jeans x6

Independent label

Drugs x6

Albums

Fringe

Guitar x4

Unsigned x2

New

Noobs

Singing

Depth

Converse

Energy

Amps

Plec

Cool

Punk

Good

Big hair

Mixture of colours

Bands

Old fashioned

Wooden

Hat with feathers

Wig wam

Leather jackets

Skinny jeans

Black

Rock

Checked shirts

Different

Alternative

Small

7. What is your favourite colour?

Turquoise x2

Orange x2

Pink x7

Rainbow

Yellow

Purple

White

Blue x2

Black

Red x2

8. Circle these contents in order of importance

Interviews

1-12

2-

3-2

4-1

5-

6-1

7-2

8-

9-2

10-

Gig reviews

1- 3

2-1

3-4

4-3

5-5

6-3

7-

8-1

9-

10-

Album Reviews

1-5

2-3

3-2

4-2

5-2

6-3

7-1

8- 1

9-1

10-

Free gifts

1-1

2-2

3-2

4-2

5-3

6-5

7-2

8-2

9-1

10-4

News

1-2

2-4

3-4

4-

5-1

6-3

7-1

8-

9-3

10-2

How do you purchase your music?

Cds- 3

Downloads- 6

Both- 11

Do you prefer bands or solo artists?

Bands- 13

Solo artists- 7

Have you been to any gigs recently?

Yes- 9

No- 11

If yes, which artist?

Slipknot

Pink

Muse

Hodgson and the plant

Go: Audio

Lostprophets x2

Little boots

Beyonce

What makes you buy a music magazine?

Front cover-8

Free gifts-1

Bands/artists featured- 10

Name-0

Colour scheme-1

Analysing 'NME' double page spread article

*Always include a drop capital at the start.

*Limited colour palette (as can be seen on the left; blue, white and black). This is to save printing costs.

*Subsidiary images. 'NME' usually have little slots of info with the subsidiary images on one side of the page. (See right).

*Main image usually takes up one side of the page, unless-as it is and indie genre- they want to produce it differently which may attract the indie audience. (Uses and gratifications theory)

*Informal mode of address, as the indie audience would not be able to relate as well to a formal mode of address, and it may put them off.

*Name of the band always included.

*In the headline the name of the interviewee is highlighted.

*Quotes are usually included in the music genre on the images. Snippets from the main article, to give the reader a taste of the main article.

*Issue date and website usually included on each page.

*Stand-first always included next to headline. e.g 'He pioneered laptop djing and still gets sent thousands of records everyday...'

*Columns always between 2 and 4 (again, unless they are trying to make a statement and produce it differently-uses and gratifications theory)

*Magazine name included at the bottom of the page- 'nme'.

*Always has to include who the article is written by- bylines.

*Images are alternative/indie to link with genre and audience.

*Short, snappy headline to attract readers' attention.

Preliminary evaluation

I had to put this up late as I had technical difficulties.

To create my front cover and contents page for the school magazine, I have used certain codes and conventions. I made a list of these codes and conventions at the start of the task and referred to them throughout.

Firstly, I had to decide what I was going to call my magazine, details of the mise en scene for the cover and slo, I had to create the coverlines for the front cover.
I chose to call the magazine 'WHS' as it is an abbreviation of the school name and school magazines usually involve the school name in the title. I then decided that the settings and mise en scenehad to be strongly linked with the school and therefore, only took pictures in school.
The coverlines that I came up with are as follows; 'Ties, time for a change?', 'Ice radio goes live!', 'Win:iPhone', 'BOTB-Who's your winner?', 'Common Room Blues', 'Exclusive with Mr Dyment!'. I chose to do six as the codes and conventions stated that the average is 6-10.

Secondly, I had to produce a rough sketch of my front cover and contents page which I would refer to throughout. I then scanned these and uploaded them to my blog. I ended up re-arranging a few things that I had sketched when I actually started to produce the front cover and contents page.

After I had created my sketches, I had to come up with a list of the regular content which would appear in my school magazine. I chose to include 'Ask the teacher', which is sort of like an agony aunt feature, 'Ice Radio Playlist' which is a playlist that has been used over the week on the school radio show, 'Win' where pupils can enter a competition to win, 'Poll of the month' where students' feelings about different topics are polled, 'Picture Gallery' where pictures from the week are printed and 'Letters' where students can voice their opinions on certain topics.

I also had to create feature articles, which were my 6 coverlines and also; 'How to de-stress', 'So, how do teachers think?', 'Get organised, Get results', 'Higher ed:What's it all about', 'Be active' and 'Behind the scenes: Staff Stars in their Eyes'.
Then I had to decide what images I wanted to use on my front cover and take them. I took a picture of a pupil holding her tie and looking disgusted to go with the coverline 'Ties, time for a change?', I also took a picture of a drumkit and bass to go with the coverline 'BOTB: Who's your winner?', A picture of 2 students in the recording studio for the coverline 'Ice radio goes live!' and a picture of the common room looking messy and using a tilt shot to add to the effect for the coverline 'Common Room Blues'.

I then had to edit the pictures that I had taken so that they would fit on the front cover. I did not manipulate the image of the common room as it did not look right cut so I had to keep it as a square image. I cut round the students in the common room but left one straight edge which I put on the edge of the frontcover so that it fit well. My main image was cut out completely and I put it against a gradient. I also, put a shadow underneath all of the images so that they stood out and I also put a glow around the main image.

I then completely produced my front cover and contents page, the colour scheme was limited and was navy blue, purple and pink to match the school colour scheme. I changed my font quite alot to make the cover look busy and attractive, however I did not change the font much atall on my contents page as I wanted that to look organised. I also used some shapes to place behind my text if there wasn't an image to go with the text and this helped make the cover look more busy and interesting.

Overall, I think I did well with my preliminary task, however, if I was going to do it again I would try and stick to my sketches and organise the work abit more.

Preliminary contents page

This has had to be put on late as I had technical difficulties.

Analysing 'NME' contents page

* It sticks to quite a strict colour scheme to save cost and also to make it look organised as the point of a contents page is so that people can navigate their way around the magazine.

* The website is written on the contents page for reference.

*Everything is numbered or grouped into columns so that people can find their way around the magazine.

*Buzz words also used in the contents page.

*Font does not change too much to give the contents an organised feel so that people can find their way around the magazine.

*Band index used in 'NME' to show the reader which bands are in the magazine and where to find them. Again, good for reference and also to encourage readers, if they like a certain band, to buy the magazine.

*More images used of popular bands or artists that feature in the magazine and also a page reference is attached to each image.

Analysing 'NME' front cover

*Not much white space, this is to make the magazine look busy.

*Popular artist/band on the front cover;the artist will have more fans and therefore it will attract more people to buy the magazine.

*Limited colour scheme to save cost. The colours scheme will have been chosen through audience research.

*Variety of bands to attract a wider audience.

*Tagline; 'New Musical Express'. Supplements the title and tells the audience what the point of the magazine is. In this case to promote new music and news.

*Banner with extra content that couldn't be fitted onto the main body of the magazine. This makes the magazine look interesting and busy.

*All image subjects looking at the camera; to involve the reader.

*Quotes to show that the magazine has actual artists/bands opinions, proving that the magazine is successful.

*Font does not change much to give the magazine a continuous feel.

Initial decisions about my magazine

Price- £2.30. This is reasonable and a commonly used price in the publication industry.

Frequency of publication- Weekly, as the magazine should have upto the minute music news and the music scene is constantly changing.

Averae issue size- approx. 60 pages.

Regular content- News, Letters, competitions, album reviews, gig reviews, recommendations and new bands.

Feature articles- 'Paramore:Looking up', 'Muse- from the beginning', 'Battle of the fans', 'New Moon:Soundtrack unleashed', ' Over Oasis', '10 years of:Blur'

Research into existing music magazines

The price of the music magazine is £2.30, which is quite reasonable for weekly music magazine.

The frequency of publication is weekly (every wednesday). It may need to be published so often as the music scene is constantly changing.

The issue size is approx. 66 pages. It is not a large issue size as it is printed weekly.

Regular content- interviews, recommendations, new bands, news, letters, album reviews, gig reviews.

Feature articles- 'Liam Gallagher:the future', 'Bard of battered Britain', ' So James Allan, about that time you went missing...', 'What's the story, new tory?', 'New Moon Rising', 'The song that won't die', 'What Rock 'n' Roll has taught me'

NME

I will analyse and base my magazine on 'nme' which is the same genre as mine will be.

Research for Double page spread article

INTERVIEW WITH SEAN MCMINN DAVIES-

What do you think sets you apart from other bands?
-We try really hard to concentrate on our live show and entertaining the crowds, but to be honest, as a whole it's hard to tell the outside opinion.

What is your greatest achievement with the band?
-Signing with management has to have been a big moment for the band. It opened up a lot of doors and opportunities for us.

Is there ever any conflict within the band?
-Not really, we're all really good friends so whenever we do 'argue' it's usually just creative differences which are easily settled.

What would you say is the best recipe for success?
-Don't give up, never give up.

How do you keep yourself grounded?
-Just never take anything for granted and take everything as it comes. Also we tend to keep eachother grounded.

Are you proud of what you've achieved in such a small amount of time?
-I'm very proud, and even more proud of my fellow band mates, we've watched eachother grow and improve.

What is it that keeps you going when things get tough?
-Our friendship with eachother, and also, how we know that there's going to be good times around the corner.

So what's next for Hippys on the hill?
-We're going to London to record and then we're also going on a tour of all the '02 Academies' around the country.


Other research-

-They won Classic Rock Magazine's battle of the bands 2009.
-The average age of the band is 17 years old.
-The band have hundreds of fans on Myspace and Facebook along with other music networking sites such as Pure Volume and Cerungma.

Main Task- Genre and and target audience

I have chosen to produce a 'indie rock' magazine, and will use magazines such as 'NME' and 'MOJO' to base my magazine on.

My target audience will be age 16-25 indie rock fans.

Contents page- had technical difficulties. Will be put up at a later date.

School magazine front cover (preliminary)

Manipulated images for front cover (preliminary)

I used 'Photoshop' to make all changes to my images.

I did not change the image of the common room as it was hard to manipulate into a shape that was both conventional and professional-looking.

Original Images for front cover (preliminary)

Preliminary- Task four

My rough contents page design

Preliminary- Task two

My rough front cover design

Preliminary- Task three

Regular Content-
1. Ask the teacher.
2. The 'Ice Radio' playlist.
3. Win!
4. Letters.
5. Picture Gallery.
6. Poll of the month.

Ten Feature articles-
1. Ties; Time for a change?
2. How to de-stress.
3. So, how do teachers think?
4. Get organised = Get results!
5. Higher ed: what's it all about?
6. Be active!
7. Behind the scenes: 'Staff Stars In Their Eyes'
8. Exclusive: Mr Dyment
9. Common Room Blues?
10. Battle of the bands: Who's your winner?

Images for contents page-
1. Tie
2. Person breaking pencil.
3. Picture of a band.
4. Picture of common room.
5. Pupil running.

Preliminary- Task one

Title- WHS

Mise en scene- School setting (eg. classroom, main entrance). Uniform to accentuate school vibe.

Coverlines-
1. Ties, time for a change? (Links to main image).
2. 'Ice Radio' goes live!
3. Win iPhone!
4. Battle of the bands: Who's your winner?
5. Common Room Blues?
6. Exclusive with Mr Dyment.

Codes and conventions of a magazine contents page

1. All have sections/ subtitles.
2. Images (small)
3. Numbers allocating pages.
4. Most of them have editors letter (to connect with the audience).
5. Masthead (again in same style as frontcover).
6. Issue date.
7. Ordered (alphabetical, topics/headings).
8. Colour scheme (usually same as front cover).
9. Columns.
10. Plain background.
11. Competitions.

Codes and conventions of a magazine front cover

1. Masthead at the top , often left or centre (sometimes overlayed).
2. Tagline
3. Clear colour theme. (limited palette costs less).
4. Buzzwords (eg plus, free exclusive etc).
5. Interviews.
6. Main image and main coverline.
7. Other images (mainly photographs).
8. 2-3 fonts (masthead in a diferent font from every other).
9. Central image relates to genre.
10. Banner with summary.
11. Between 6 and 10 coverlines.
12. Bright, attractive colours that attract target audience.
13. Web address.