Cover Pictures

I completed my photo shoot with my models and now have appropriate original images for my front cover of my magazine. I will be editing some of my images to change the brightness, size, hair colour etc... to fit them with my magazine.

Institutions - Who will publish my magazine?

So far I have researched 4 media institutions.

• Bauer Media
• Condé Nast
• Dennis Publishing
• IPC

Bauer Media

'Kerrang!' is the my style model for my magazine and is published by Bauer Media. Because my magazine will be very similar to 'Kerrang!', I would not decide to have my magazine published by Bauer Media as they are already publishing a magazine of the same genre. This would also be aimed at the same audience which would make our magazines competitors. It would not be good to have my new magazine published by the same company as that of a major competitor. Also, Kerrang! is already very popular so my magazine would not have much chance of becoming well-known if there was another very similar in the same institution.

Condé Nast

Planning - Make up

My model will be wearing dark black eye makeup as this will fit with the genre of rock and will automatically give her a more "rocky" look.

She will also be wearing bright red lipstick as this will give her an "attitude". This will also fit in with my magazine house style as it will be containing the colour red.

                   

Planning - Clothing

This is the type of clothing I would like my model to wear. It does not have to be exactly these as I do not own these exact clothes. However, they will need to be of a similar style. This style of clothing will show the audience straight away that it is a music magazine and that the genre is rock.

      

Change of mind

I have decided that I will be trying out some props within my picture but nothing huge that will distract from the model in the picture.

An example of what I will use is a box for my model to sit on.

Conformation!

The date of the photo shoot has been confirmed and all 4 of my chosen models are available on that day. I have decided that I am probably only using one person in my main cover photo but having different people will give me a more varied set of photographs to choose from.

Famous Photoshoot Photos

I have found some images that I like that would fit with my magazine and would be achievable with my Models.
Most of these images are taken from photo shoots for rock magazines such as Kerrang!. The genre of the magazine is shown through a number of things such as;

• Extravagant hair colour
• Lots of dark eye makeup
• Black clothing
• Alternative clothing
• Facial expressions
• Colours (eg. black and red)

Looking at other style models will help me to decide what to put into my picture to make is as authentic as possible and will give me ideas.

       

Q and Kerrang! Reader profiles

The reader profiles of Q and Kerrang! we would expect to be quite similar as the magazines are both of a similar genre and are published by the same media company (Bauer Media).

Gender
The gender ratio of readers of Kerrang! is close to 50/50 girls/boys which means that the magazine's target audience is almost equally both genders. However, Q readers are almost 30/70 girls/boys which shows that the predominant gender of their target audience is male.

Age Range
Looking at 75% of the readers,the main age range of Kerrang! reader's are between 15 and 34 as this is section where about 75% of their readers lie. Q readers range between about 15-37 as this is their main 75%. Both of these magazines, as expected, have a similar age range. However, this age range is very large to focus on as this is just an average. Each issue may be slightly more aimed at a smaller age range group. Both magazine's TARGET audience is between 15 and 25 however, their readers range beyond this.
Q has a less percentage of readers between 15-24 (35.5%) than Kerrang! (56.1%). Q put many adverts within their magazine and it is more expensive than Kerrang! This may be why younger people prefer Kerrang! as it is more affordable and it does not contain as many adverts. Q is aimed at people with more money which is not the lowest age of 15.

Picture Planning

These are not definite but this is what I am hoping to do for my draft pictures.

Who? - Amy, Megan, Hollie, Mollie
I will ask my friends to help with me with my task. I will probably not use all 4 people in one picture but I can experiment with different looks and people until I find a good mix.

Where? - My house. Possibly garden depending on weather.
Because of the time of year, it will be difficult to take pictures outside because of the weather. Also, people may not want to help if it is outside.

When? - Sunday 8th December.
This is just a date I am available but I have not yet checked with the other girls to see if they are free.

Props? - None
I am not planning on using any props such as instruments as I would like my image to just be the people.

Costume? - 'Rock'
I will have my friends dress in edgy clothing, mostly black with no bright colours as this will fit in to the genre well.

My Magazine Reader Profile

Mission statement - Kerrang!

This is 'Kerrang!'s mission statement which means this is what they want their magazine to achieve. This is good for me to read as I want my magazine to be similar to it and 'Kerrang!'s magazines are very popular which means that their goals were good. If I want my magazine to be as successful as 'Kerrang!' I will need to have similar goals.

KERRANG!

MISSION STATEMENT

Kerrang! will ensure that we are constantly appealing to our spectrum of readers. From the younger teenage readers who are more open to different genres of rock music – from emo to thrash etc, to the readers who respect Kerrang! as an authority when it comes to our scene’s heritage bands. Each issue will include a balance of bands and scenes to guarantee that we’re providing for our readers’ need for variety and their passionate appetite for their favourite bands as well as their desire to be introduced to new music within our world. We will focus on the BIGGEST things that are going on in our world each week, as well as guaranteeing that we are giving our main base of younger readers everything they need to get into, on top of this the interest in older, harder bands, cementing our role as an educator.

James McMahon - Editor

Target Audience

My Magazine will be a similar style to that of 'Kerrang!'. Therefore I will research this magazine and find out what I will need to put on my magazine to draw in my target audience.
              
According to Bauer Media, the target audience for 'Kerrang!' is almost 50/50 male and female. I would also like my audience to be a mixture between both genders. Their age range is between mainly 15 and 34 as roughly 75% of their audience are between these ages. I will aim my magazine at possibly a smaller age range of 15-24 as I feel this would be easier to achieve. However, it may also attract people up to the age of 34.

Trial Magazine

 

I have created this magazine to improve my skills on Photoshop and to see what editing techniques are available. Testing out the software more before doing my main task will help me to be able to do what I would like to on my main task without too much difficulty. I believe that this magazine turned out well and looks similar to the one on the professional one on the left!

My Presentation

Here is my finished presentation about 

Conventions of a Music Magazine. 

It discusses two different magazines and some of the conventions used in one or both of them.

More Conventions

So far within my research, I have discussed the Masthead, Sell lines and house style of each magazine and compared them. This will help me to decide these features when I design my magazine as it will be for a similar audience.

Convention Research

I have researched different conventions of a music magazine so that I can discuss whether these conventions are used or not and how they are used within the 2 magazines I have chosen.

Mast head - The title or logo normally across the top of the magazine.

Sell Lines - Text on the cover that helps to sell the magazine to the audience.

House Style - A magazine's distinctive design that distinguishes it from its competitors.

Main Headline - The biggest headline on the cover normally relating to the picture.

Strap Lines - A smaller headline, printed above the main headline.

Conventions of a Music Magazine

I have started to research the different conventions of a music magazine by researching 2 different magazines; 'Q' and 'Rock Sound'.

        

Research

For the first part of my research, I will be choosing two magazines and looking at the different conventions used within each. I will choose magazines of a similar genre to what I would like my magazine to be. This will give me an idea of what should be put into my magazine to make it look authentic.

Pre-lim completed Contents Page

On my contents page, I have used the same picture as is shown on the Cover of my magazine.
This shows that my magazine style is consistent and it adds a nice background to the contents page instead of it being white and looking quite plain. However, the filter I have used means that the picture does not distract attention away from the other pictures and text on the page.

I have added 2 pictures to my contents page to make it more exciting and interesting to look at. The pictures also fit in well as they are similar to the one on the cover. They both contain pupils looking happy, on school grounds. Also, having a picture of each gender early on in my magazine will show that the school is a mixed school.