AS Media Music Coursework By Jack Lippett

In what ways does your product use, develop or challenges forms and conversations of real media products?

Magazines I looked at were NME and Kerrang as they are similar in the music genre. Looking at both of their magazine front cover s I took how they tend to lay out their magazines to how much they include and do they fill the front cover and make it cramped or to space everything out.

As all magazines do I’ve put my masthead at the top and by having it big and bright it will stand out on the shop shelf catching the publics eye. I went with the colour yellow it went with the main photograph as the front cover is taken from a concert and there will be bright lights including yellow.

NME and Kerrang only include one main photograph on the front cover, the photograph included on the front cover will be what the main article inside the magazine will be on. I found that the colour scene of NME and Kerrang change to match the main photograph. With all the colours I have included are bright and happy colours.

I have included freebees which is similar to other music magazines and by giving away freebees helps entice people to buy the magazine for example if their is a poster of the band/artist that people like they will buy the magazine so they can have the poster up in their room.

NME magazine and Kerrang magazine include subheadings to keep enticing people to buy their magazine, they usually have theirs down either side of the front cover whereas I have include mine down the bottom to keep the front cover spaced out and not crammed full.

Main article , big and in the middle catches the eye of the reader.

Free posters to give away will help sell the magazine as people like free stuff and with music they could like the band/artist who is on the poster

Mastheads stretch from left to right at the top of the magazine makes it easy to see when put on a shelf and being big and bold helps it stand out more than others .

Subheadings down the bottom keeping the magazine in proportion something big at the top and something at the bottom. Including more stories that people would want to read about.

By including the website address for the music magazine shows I have thought about other forms of media, by including the magazine website allows fans of the magazine to visit the website at home to read more stories and/or to compete in competitions it will keep people talking about your magazine and keeping interest.

For my contents page I didn't use ideas from other music magazines I went for a unique contents page I listed what was included in my magazine centrally compared to listing them down the left or right side of the page.

I have included bands/artists album covers instead of photographs of the bands/artists. By including album covers adds a different way for readers to know what is included in the magazine and as one of the major topics in my magazine is albums so it all links together.

Linking my contents page to Kerrang’s contents page is the use of the contents heading, most weekly magazines have “This Week” instead of contents but by having “contents” it keeps it short and adds more room for more subheadings.The subscription box allowing readers to get magazines sent to their homes

For my double page spread I got inspiration from this double page spread included in NME magazine. I did a question and answer format.

Similar to the NME double page spread I have one main photograph before the questions start. The main photograph included on a double page spread has to be a positive photograph of the band/artist.

This NME double page spread doesn’t include a lot of photographs compared to mine NME’s is more wordy which states their target audience.

By having question and answers in your double page spread makes it more appealing for people to read instead of reading paragraphs after paragraphs people will lose interest.

In this NME double page spread example they use clearly indicated colours between the question and answer to add no confusion for the reader

For my double page spread I used a bright colour background which is the same colour to what I had on my front cover introducing this band.

I have a big title going across the two pages to make it stand out and by putting a part of the band name in the title readers will recognise who its about.

I have changed the question font colour to the answer font colour as by having it the same colour for them both will add confusion as the reader would find it hard knowing what the question was to what is the answer.

I have added a space between the question and answer as it also makes it less confusing to read as by spacing the Double page spread out helps with the professional look and helps make it easier for the reader to read.

Like NME’s double page spread on the previous slide I have place a big main image placed on the first page of the two, by having a photograph which was taken at his concert it has the instrument he plays so it shows the type of music he plays and what type of music genre will be included in my music magazine.

I have included images of ‘Darwin Deez’ down the right side on the second page which continues to show the type of music ‘Darwin Deez’ plays visually, this helps by showing how he dresses.

How does your media product represent particular social groups?

My chosen target audience for my magazine are students who are attending secondary schools and colleges.

The music genre for my magazine is alternative rock and this is a very popular music genre bands in my music magazine will include the names of Kings of Leon, My Chemical Romance and more big names like these in the alternative rock music industry. By including these big names it will attract my target audience and then over time introduce my target audience into new upcoming music will keep the audience interested.

The image I've used on my front cover is a natural photograph I haven't dressed or staged the band in anyway being dressed the way they are represents how people who read this magazine will commonly be dressed, the tight jeans and plain designed t-shirt nothing too expensive.

The usual ideas when talking about my target audience is they drink but the representation I’ve created in this magazine is that they are into music they like to dress well and be presentable mainly the idea they like to go to concerts with friends and enjoy listening to music.

Interesting features included in my magazine such as concert tickets, festivals with line-ups and how to purchase tickets will attracted my teenage audience.

The colours I have used represents my intended audience, I haven't used the girly colours such as pink and baby blue which represents a pop magazine and using the colours such as black, orange, red and mid blue keeps it to my particular social group.

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

IPC MEDIA

IPC media reaches out to almost 26 million producing over 60 media brands with their websites reach 20 million viewers each month.

IPC Media produces magazines which attract each gender for example “Women's weekly”, “TV Easy” and “Look” magazine for females and “World Soccer”, “Golf Monthly” and “Rugby World” for the male population.

NME is the only music magazine produced by IPC Media so in the IPC Media production there is room for my music magazine.

As my target audience for my music magazine is teenagers plus which is the same for NME so if I went with IPC Media to produce my magazine I wouldn’t be attracting a different audience group.

Bauer Media

“Bauer Media is a multi-platform UK-based Media group around two main divisions, Magazines and radio”

Bauer Media produces over 300 magazines in 15 different countries with also producing online websites, TV programs and radio stations.

Bauer Media reaches out to over 19 million readers from producing the magazines they do and also producing other media forms, TV and radio makes Bauer Media one of the highest producers.

Bauer Media produce “Kerrang” and “Q” magazines which attract rock fans . “Kerrang” is more similar to my music magazine than “Q” as “Kerrang” aims at teenagers whilst “Q” aims at older adults due to the rock music they include in their magazine.

I would go for “Bauer Media” to produce my music magazine instead of “IPC Media” as they reach out to more readers and as they produce TV shows and also radio channels so going with them readers of my magazine will be able to keep up to date with that is going on with my magazine. My magazine would fit in perfectly with this production as they already produce rock magazines reaching out to millions all over the world.

who would be the audience for your media product?

The audience for my music magazine would be secondary students and college students both male and females will be aimed at.

Other interests this target audience will have will be to play a music instrument themselves, they would have interests in listening to alternative rock music .

They will be interested in looking when near by gigs are happening and if they like the band/artist they would possible buy tickets to experience the music and in their spare time they will go out with friends and just chill out and listen to music as a group.

They will be interested in attending festivals and mingling with other music people.

Other forms of media the audience I am targeting with come across will be listening to radio stations whilst travelling in cars and music channels on their TV’s at home they will be visiting bands websites to get the latest news on then and also buying other music magazines such as NME and Kerrang .

Main things my target audience will do in their spare time is chilling out with friends whilst listening the music. Teenagers look to music as a way to relax .

How did you attract/address your audience?

To attract the audience I had to include topics that teenagers would want to read about relevant to music I included talking about big well known bands/artists and then introduce them into upcoming bands/artist to widen their alternative rock listening. By including both well known bands/artists readers will want to always by my magazine as they know big bands/artists will be in there and then as they get into buying my magazine introducing them to knew bands and artists they will want to get into them as they know my magazine includes good bands and artists in the alternative rock industry.

On my music magazines front cover the masthead stretches from left to right up the top and in a bright yellow colour so this will attract readers as it would stand out in front of all the other music magazines on the shop shelf, the colours I have used on my front cover are bright which shows the bright, happy side to alternative rock music as its not all black which is a dark and gloomy colour and wouldn't stand out which wouldn't be good for a new music magazine trying to stand out.

Having an image of a band taken from their gig will attract readers as it shows what music genre will be included in the magazine as people may find it hard identifying the genre of the magazine by looking at the photograph if they aren't dressed as they usually are and if they will be in a staged. The setting of the front cover image is usual to music lovers as they will tend to go to gigs to see there favourite bands/artists perform.

The layout for “NME” and “Kerrang” magazine which I took inspiration from for creating my magazine not too busy it looks cramped and unprofessional, angling some text and photographs included on the front cover still gives off a rock theme.

Looking at previous “NME” and “Kerrang” magazines they change their colour scheme depending on what the main feature is on so the colours I used for my front cover represent the band my main feature is on, a band that gets you in a good mood so I used bright colours.

Other ways to attract and address audiences is to advertise using social networking sites such as “Twitter” and “Facebook”, by advertising on social networking helps because thousands and thousands of people use social networking sites now-a-days and things get around them very quickly by friends sending it to others.

Indicating on social networking sites allows people to see what kind of magazine we will be without actually producing the magazine itself, by including short snippets from interviews with big bands will entice people to buy the magazine when it comes out. These social networking sites are also free to sign up so adds to a free advertising scheme.

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

Creating my magazine I started using “InDesign” on an Apple MAC, at the beginning of creating my magazine I found it very hard getting used to working with InDesign with adding the effects and correctly but towards the end I got used to it towards the end. Before creating a magazine I would just simply use programs such as “Publisher” and unable to for example add images inside shapes and make a magazine look how a magazine should do which I wouldn’t be able to get with just simply using “Publisher”.

I already used “Photoshop” at home but I advanced my knowledge of this program as cutting out an artists without having to include the background, also to blur the background adding more effect of a specific point i.e the main person in a band.

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

Comparing my preliminary task on a college to my final outcome which was on music, in both I used one main photograph which covered the front cover but the fonts I used on my preliminary task aren’t very attractive, they don't catch your eye as well as the fonts I used on my final outcome magazine. The layout is similar but the visuals are different I have included more images on my final outcome to make it more visually attractive.

I learnt how to download fonts which are more visually better and go well with the magazine and use them effectively