Evaluation question 3

what kind of media instition will distribute my media production

One of my tasks is to choose what kind of media institution will distribute my product. To do this I have taken into account what kind of shops I think people would be likely to buy my magazine in. I think followers of my magazine would be more likely to buy the magazine in music shops and record stores rather than in big supermarkets. This would mean the magazine would be sold in stores such as HMV as well as in individual cd shops or reggae shops. This is because the magazine is less likely to attract a mainsteam following as the music featured is rarely played in popular culture. Another important factor is the followers of the magazine will be more likely to be found in a more diverse cd shop/record store which would sell music from around the world.

Jamguide will also charge £5.30, which could be considered more expensive, but followers are encouraged to subscribe for £10.00 per month for a weekly issue, meaning it costs significantly less. This is important as the magazine is trying to establish a loyal following who consistently read the magazine. I will also have my magazine sold mainly in cities, as it is an urban magazine with a large multicultural following.

My magazine will also have a website where followers can get all the information from the magazine as well as set up their own user accounts where they can interact with eachother and discuss the music featured in the magazine. They can also download an app for their i phone which updates you on all the news featured in the magazine.

Audience response

Photoshoot planning drawings

My magazine double page spread

This is the double page spread for my music magazine. The article is an interview and a brief bit of information about a fake reggae music artist 'Ragman.' The artist is being interviewed by a questioner, who''s interest is the inspiration behind the artists music.

The headline for my double page spread is 'Ragman talks to us' which shows that the interview is exclusive to my magazine. 

 For my double page spread I also used several images of the artist. These images are important as they are the hook on the page, and without them the spread would just be writing and may be considered boring. The images show the artist playing guitar, mixing and a close up of his face. This range of images show the different talents the artist has as well as immediately showing the audience that he is a musician.

Also, for my double page spread I enlarged important quotes from the article and changed their font as well as adding colour. This is the first thing the audience looks at at gives them an insight into what type of article/ interview it is.

The interview in the article is laid back and has a conversational feel. This is important as one of the running themes in my magazine is a relaxed, welcoming tone. I used this because it means the audience can relate to the conversation featured, and means the interveiwer seems interested rather than interregating. This is shown through the use of conversational, every day speech such as 'its quite funny actually.' I also use laughter to reflect the upbeat, warm tone of the interview.

My magazine audience

I created a reggae music magazine called Jamguide. I aimed to attract an audience who were interested in the magazine genre I was producing. This meant I was appealing to a wide range of ages, but mainly younger people as I was aiming to get young people interested in the music genre. I attracted this audience by using bright colours (red, yellow, green) and using a font with a modern style. (california downloaded from dafont.com)
I also put a 'conte crayon' effect on all of my photos, which made the pictures black and white, relating them to photos of reggae artists of old, as well as giving them a modern touch. This attracted a young and old audience.

My target audience are young people from Britain with an interst in reggae music. The magazine is produced weekly and is relatively cheap meaning people from a lower income could afford to buy the magazine on a regular basis. This is important because many of my target audience could be on a low income. The younger generation of my audience would download their music and go to gigs, but some of the older generation would be listening to cd's and vynils. I think my target audience would have a range of interests and hobbies depending on their age. As I was aiming at such a wide range of target audiences this could include anything from partying to relaxing and listening to the music. 

My music magazine

For my music magazine I chose to produce a reggae magazine. My task was to make a front page, a contents page and a double page spread article.
Firstly, the font I chose for the masthead was found on Dafont.com. The masthead had silhoutted palm trees on it which reflected the hot, sunny setting from which the music was based. After installing this font I used colours of red, yellow and green to further reflect the magazine genre. This meant when the target audience looked at the masthead they immediately knew it was a reggae magazine.
The name I chose for the magazine was 'JAMGUIDE' which is appropriate for the magazine genre as 'Jam' is short for Jamaica, which is where a great deal of the music comes from, and 'Guide' tells the audience it is giving information about the music genre. Using photoshop I put a black banner behind this masthead, so it stood out more than anything else on the page.

Photo analysis

 Some of the images I want to use for my music magazine were taken on the grounds of Acland Burley school. I used instruments in the photos to show the live music being played by the people featured in the magazine. Using photoshop, I used the 'conte crayon' effect. This made the images black and white, but also look as if they are drawn in using technology. I think this is a good combination as it relates to images of old reggae artist, but also has a modern touch to it. This use of effect throughout will also create consistency for my magazine.

Magazine photo shoot

-       My photo shoot will be based on rough drawings I did in media lessons. This included nine photos for my magazine.

-       I want to shoot my photos over the next few days

-       I aim to take my photos in a variety of different locations to reflect the mood of the picture.

-       The photos will be of people I know who

-                Photo	-                Where/ what/how	-                angle
-                1	Outside. Onstage. Person playing guitar.	-                mid shot
-                2	Inside. Bright lighting. Person looks Serious.	-                Close up
-                3	Person playing drums.	-                Medium shot
-                4	Person closing eyes singing into microphone. Sunshine in background.	-                Medium close up
-                5	Two people playing guitars. Onstage. Looking musical.	-                long shot
-                6	person singing into microphone.	-                Medium shot
-                7	Band onstage looking happy	-                long shot
-                8	Group with their arms round each other	-                medium shot

Research into the music press

Over the past few weeks I have been studying how the music press advertise to their audiences, and how different magazines appeal to different audiences. For example, NME appeals to an indie rock audience by publisising their music and using fonts and writing techniques that attract these people.  The name NME New musical express, is a simple but original name which isnt cheesy. NME also uses a colour theme of red, black and white which is evident throughout. These colours are used because they stand out and are bold on the page.
This is different to Top of the Pops magazine, which uses glossy fonts and bight, sparkly colours to attract a young, teenage girl audience. Another devise used by Top of the Pops is the people on all the front pages are smiling, which welcomes young audiences into the magazine as the magazine is freindly and not intimidating.

The publishers of NME also attract their target audience by using language throughout which the readers can relate to. This means they are critical of some music scenes and genres and keep a reputation by advertising unknown artists who may be famous just because of NME. The magazine also aims to report new music, meaning it doesent wish to appeal to its audience by advertising artists who are already famous, but wants to introduce new ones into the scene.
Top of the Pops magazine also uses language which attracts their target audience of young girls. An example of this is words like 'oops' and 'gosh', which are words the target audience may say and so will be able to empathise with. However, the magazine contrasts with NME as it does not inform readers of stars in the making, but it reports on people who are already famous. This shows the magazine does not aim to create celebrities, only to inform followers of what is happening in the current celebrities lives.

My magazine mastheads

These are some mastheads I picked out from 'Dafont.com' They are supposed to reflect the music my magazine publicises. eg. the palm tree silhouttes in the first font reflect the setting of the music in my magazine.
The colours of red, yellow and green also represent reggae music, as they are the theme colours of the genre.
this means the target audience can immediately relate to the magazine genre as the colours are closely linked to the music.

Comparitive analysis and evaluation of music press front page

Front covers of magazines are one of the main features of a magazine that attracts their target audience. The colours, images, fonts, layout and styles can combine to create a specific tone and theme of a magazines front cover. 

Kerrang

The colours included on Kerrang magazine of black, white, red and grey all combine to create a gothic tone, which is clearly unfreindly and dark. These colours also create a bleak effect and reflect the colour of clothes worn by many rock artists featured in Kerrang and its followers. The combination of the colours and the images often used in Kerrang can also create an aggressive feel. For example, the image of a man in a mask with the red splats on the front page connote violence, as the mask aims to look intimidating and weird, and the red splats could be seen as blood.

The fonts used on Kerrang, like the smashed masthead, suggest action and thrills that come with the magazine and its music scene. The front covers fonts mainly consist of unclean, stenciled or hand written. This suggests the magazine and its culture are rough and implys rebbellion against the mainstream of society. 

The layout of Kerrang places the features of the issue on the bottom leaving the top half image with lots of space to attract attention. This means the face on the front stands out more and seem more important, meaning the reader is drawn to the image and wants to know what it means.

The Kerrang magazines front page uses a dark style by a lack of colour, and serious facial expressions. The  words on the front page also create an aggressive feel eg. 'somebodys gonna get killed...' this suggests violence and straight away shows us that the target audience are against the mainstream of society.

Top of the pops

However, the colours included on the cover of Top of the Pops magazine are purple, pink, yellow and white. These are all bright, happy colours which immediately suggest to the reader it is a young girls magazine. The colours also have a sparkly, glossy effect showing the magazine will be celebrity based gossip and not serious.

The images on the front of Top of the Pops show smiley, happy young people involved in popular culture. This means the target audience are likely to know who they are and are followers. Their facial expressions are welcoming, meaning the audience feel comfortable and would wish to read on.

         The fonts used on the front page of Top of the Pops are clean and modern. This works better
         than a rough font for the magazine because the readers, young teenage girls, would be aspiring
         for a fairytale lifestyle where everything is perfectly done.

         The layout of Top of the Pops involves many small images over one main image. This attracts the
         target audience as they are pulled into the images shown with the smaller stories as well as the big
         ones on the front page. The people featured on the front overlap the masthead, highlighting their
         importance.
                                                                                                                                                                           Similarities                                                    Diffences
       Both magazine have the masthead                   The colours used on Kerrang are much darker than
       at the top of the page.                                     those on Top of the Pops.

       Both magazines have central images                The images and facial expressions highly contrast.
       aimed to attract their target audience.              Top of the Pops shows people smiling and looking
                                                                             happy wheras Kerrang will show more intimidating
                                                                             facial expressions.
      

Arts magazine analysis

View more presentations from stoliros.

Content analysis and target audience

NME is a rock music magazine, who mainly aim at an alternative audience. NME features interviews and articles with bands, and has a massive range of gig guides and album advertisements. NME aims at its target audience by focusing on the attitudes and lifestyle of bands as well as their music, to encourage a certain style which appeals to an alternative audience who wish to rebel against the mainstream of modern society. This means that the magazine will often publish famous musicians who are not smiling, but are looking angry, bored, suprised etc... The adverts in NME include gaming ads and internet websites.


NME includes 16 pages of features, which are articles and interviews with bands who are releasing new material, or old bands who are talking about their times playing. This means the readers of NME are up to date with the newest indie rock music, which can also cause them to become part of the scene (if they are not already) and be keen followers.

The target audience for NME are from the UK and can be from any religious or cultural background. The generally expensive cost of the magazine suggests the target audience are from a middle class or wealthy background, as to be buying the magazine weekly could amount to alot of money.

Kerrang is a heavy rock magazine aimed at an alternative, rebellious and loud audience.  This suggested through the design of the masthead which is big bold and smashed. Kerrang is a magazine that features interviews and articles with bands as well as festival reviews and gig guides. The demographics of the magazine are both genders aged 16+, who are often classed as skaters and or metalheads. These people aim to go against the mainstream of society, which is often reflected through the angry expressions of the people featured, which could also be aggressive.
The adverts in Kerrang relate to the audience because they are album and tour ads as well as violent gaming ads. This is relevant to the target audience because rebellious would not play a happy game, but would prefer a more thrilling, bloody game.


Kerrang includes 19 pages of features, which are articles and interviews with new and old bands, as long as they are releasing new produce. This is to inform the readers of what is happening in the music scene, as well as get them hooked onto up and coming bands.


The target audience of Kerrang are rebelious skaters and metalheads. These people predominantly come from a western society, which means they have more to complain about. 

Introduction

My name is David Stevens and I study Media Studies at La Swap sixth form.
In class we have been studying music magazines, looking at how they attract their target audience.
The magazines I studied were KERRANG! and NME. I looked at the demographics and psychographics of the followers, and studied how they were attracted to the content and appearance of the magazine.