Evaluation for Music Magazine.

Evaluation for Music Magazine

For my AS Media Studies coursework I was given a brief, the brief that I was given stated that I have to create a front page cover for a music magazine, contents page and also a double page spread. This had to be of my own design and ideas and it needed to have my own images of a minimum of 4. To start off I had to do some research on conventions of music magazines and researched upon different types of genres of how they are laid out and what style they are created in. This was conventions such as text sizes, fonts, colour schemes used, images and strap lines etc. For this I analysed magazines such as Scratch, Kerrang, XXL, Q, NME, they was all different types of magazines so that I could show and analyse different types of magazine genres to see how they are created and what the differences are to help me when I created my own.

When I created my music magazine I used Adobe Photoshop to create it, on this I used various different types of editing techniques, this was things such as cropping, editing images, coloured texts, fonts, outer glows, strokes, paint brushing or blurring several things on an image and various other things. I used various different types of editing because this makes my music magazine look more eye catching and attracts the readers and viewers attention more if it was to be on a shelf in a stack of magazines.

For my music magazine front page, contents page and double page spread that I am creating, I have decided to target it towards the ages from 16 to 24 year olds, this is because I know how this age group like the music industry genres and it would be easy for me to target it towards them as I am in the same age groups. For my model that I chose to use for my music magazine I had to make sure that he and the front cover was represented well and made sure that it used all the conventions that a front cover must use such as strap lines, edited images, barcodes and the price. I controlled all aspects of my mise-en-scene such as the colours, texts, clothing and the themes and other internet images used. This was done by me on my music magazine by me adding the clothing that I picked on my artist, also I designed the colour scheme from similar grime magazines that have already been published. The colour theme that I used was mainly black and then orange with bits of white in some places such as on the outer glows of the images and texts. I used the colour black as this fits into my music category as the grime scene most of the artists dress in black, the orange colour came from some of the other music magazines that I have seen in the Hip Hop, Rap, Grime genres that it stands out and goes really well with the black theme.

I picked my particular model because I think he was the best person to represent the Grime music genre for my magazine. When I say represent I mean that he is a male and mostly in the Grime industry it is always males that represent it but sometimes there is also females, but for mine I decided to go with male as he is the most appropriate person that I could find to do my images on. When I took my images I made sure that I took several images and lots of different shots and angles so that I can make sure I have enough to choose from and then also some to show as I didn’t use them and reasons for why I didn’t use them. The shots that I took were of lots of different angles, this was such as close ups, medium close ups, long shots, close shots and also some from lower and higher angles. The lower angles ones were so that the artist looks like he is in power over the audience, but these wasn’t used as any of my images. The model was dressed in 3 different outfits and the 2 that I used were the best type and fitted into my music genre perfectly. These outfits were good towards my genre and fitted in because I made the artist wear black which goes with the genre of Grime and the theme is black and orange which means that the artist wearing black would make him be part of the splash.

For my front cover the image that I used was a medium close up shot, this was enlarged and made bigger on the page so that it shows he is in power and his hand made contact with the audience and attracted peoples attention. I edited the background out of this image as it was in a hall way of a house, this was then placed on to a plain black background which went really well with the image. On the models image I edited it in three different places, one of them was that I made an outer glow and stroke on the outline of the image so that it stands out on the black background and so that the audience can see where the image finishes. The second thing I did was made the ear ring shine and sparkle on the page, this was to show that the model is wearing a lot of “bling” as this is how the grime artists are to be known to wear a lot of shiny jewellery. The third thing that I edited/placed on my artists image was that I placed a Ralph Lauren logo on the hat to make it stand out as it looked to plain and boring so I made it stand out with a white logo. To edit all of my images and backgrounds I used Adobe Photoshop CS3, I edited the images because of the backgrounds I took them on were in a house and I needed to take off all of the backgrounds in the images so that I can paste the images on to my own modified backgrounds.

After I placed this on I then added a masthead this was made in big bold and chunky text, I then made the texts colour orange so that it stands out on the black background. The masthead layer was then moved behind the artists image so that the artists image overlapped the masthead and showed the audience that he is in power on this cover. On the right hand side of the artists image underneath the masthead this stated a slogan and it was created in the same font and text colour as the masthead so that it was seen as part of the music magazine and nothing to do with the inside of the magazine.

Under the slogan/strap line I then placed the date in a different colour but the same text font, the colour was changed to white so that it stands out and that it will be easily seen of what months magazine this is for as a convention. Below this I then added text area which stated there is a free mix tape included inside this magazine with an image of an album cover, this is because this would attract lots of audience customers to buy the magazine just for the free CD inside. After I had filled in the space on the right hand side of the artist, I then filled in the left hand side by adding what is inside this magazine in big white text and then below this I added two different white texts stating main things inside this issue and then below this in orange I stated a interview which is on a double page spread with the artist “Kay”.  Kay is a new artist, I think people would buy it more as he is new so that they can see what he is like as he is a new artist coming on to the Grime scene and he may become big and also may be really good at making songs within the Genre industry.

On the left hand side of the artist that I have taken an image of, I placed a car which goes with the theme of my magazine cover as the colours are orange and black which is the same colours as the background and texts that are on my overall splash. I used a car as lots of Grime artists are known to have nice and flash cars, this attracts lots of people towards them as then they are seen to have lots of money and some seriously good style. The car also relates to my genre of grime artists, this is seen by most of the grime genre artists having flash and expensive cars which represent that they are rich and that they know there cars. On the car image I added a outer glow and stroke in white so that it stands out with my main image of the artist, but the glow that I added on the car was a thinner and smaller one so that my artist is still the dominant and main part of my splash.

Below the car within the bottom left hand corner I added several logos such as “Star In The Hood” and a few others which relate to the magazines artist and the overall music magazine genre. Star in the hood; is a big make in the Grime industry that lots of artists wear and represent as they are famous and try to say they are the star in their home hoods.

Opposite this on the bottom right hand corner I added the barcode for my music magazine which is used to be scanned and entered into the till in the shops, above this I added the price which was stated at £2.99 and placed it in not too big and not too small just above the barcode. It is at this price as it is reasonable and cheap for anybody to buy, for example students who do not work or people who cannot afford a lot of money would be able to afford it. Also at the bottom at the centre on the artists top I added the website URL for the magazine, this will help the readers know that they can see more about the artists and the music genre on a website.

Finally overall I think that my front cover looks very professional and the image that has been captured of the model artist looks really well edited and has been set out on the splash very well and the theme that has been used goes well together excellent.

The next thing that I am going to talk about is my contents page that I made for my music magazine. On this I used the same colour schemes and the theme carries on from the front cover and on to the contents page.

The colour theme has been passed on in to the contents page by the masthead text colour being orange and the same colour as the front cover was, also the background was in a black colour which is exactly the same as the front cover. On this I added an image of my artist with another outer glow and stroke around the person, this glow was a lot thicker and more solid than the front covers, this shows that this image is not meant to be seen as a main area on the contents page and is meant to be seen as a background. This is because on top of the image I added a grey area which text will of gone on, the grey area was a transparent area which you can still see the background of the artist and his microphone and you can still read the main text and areas of the contents page. The microphone represents that he may be in his studio and he likes his microphone in the background as it shows he is a music artist.

Below the masthead I added a tribal pattern, this was to fill in the empty space but it also goes with my magazines theme as it could also represent tattoos and lots of grime artists are seen to have tattoos on themselves. They connotate as when they have tattoos as they are known as rough and to be tough people which means that they could be very violent.

At the bottom of my contents page I added a big banner which says Grime Factor, this attracts a lot of attention to the reader as they will want to know what this is about and they will want to know more so they will look through the magazine and find out what this is all about.

Finally I created my music magazines double page spread, on this I carried out the same colour theme. The black was used for the background and then I created a masthead which stated “Kay’s Time Is NOW!” this was done as the artists image that I had taken and used had the artist looking down towards his watch. This shows that it is his time now and the word “now” was written in a big capital lettered text. The shot I used was more of a close up and medium close up as you can see more of his top half of the body than just his face along with the watch.

The image of the artist was edited as so was the homepage and the contents, it had been edited by adding on a stroke and a outer glow in white which faded outwards this shows the reader that they are still reading the same magazine and it will help them know that it is the same artist with the same editing that has been done to the splash.

The double page spread was split into two sections, the left hand side had the artist filling up nearly all of one half with his name “Kay” and the second half on the right hand side had “Time Is Now” and the interview which was mentioned on the front cover. The interview that is shown for the artist is about his life and he replies with honest answers and tells the reader what his life has contained and how he got into the grime music genre and the grime scene. Finally at the bottom of the right hand side on the bottom I have added another image of a car this could represent that the artist is interested in cars and the main cars would be Audi’s, the front cover has a Audi Q7 and this double page spread contains an Audi R8. To the audience this will look like that he has very good taste and that he also has a lot of wealth.

Finally I added a website URL link for Facebook, this is of the artist as then the audience that it targets towards can then follow him and keep following him up on updated news through the internet on Facebook.

Final Front Page, Final Contents Page & Final Double Page Spread.

Above is my final and finished front cover for my Music Magazine.

Above is my final copy of my contents page for my music magazine

Above is my final copy of my double page spread for my music magazine.

Images For My Music Magazine Cover, Contents Page & Double Page Spread

For my music magazine front cover, contents page and double page spread that I designed I had to take many pictures. For this I went to a friends house and made sure I dressed them to the standards of a GRIME genre style of clothing, this is because my music magazine I chose to do was going to be about Grime. I took lots of images, but out of them all I only used 4, this was because most of them wasn't the best of quality or the camera angles didn't look good on my designs. 


Below are all of the images that I took and used or didn't use:

This image was used on my Double page spread is the masthead was named as "Kay's time is now" and he is looking at his watch which is iconic.

This image was used on the front cover for my magazines page, it was a relevant image as it has been taken at a very good angle, shot and shows a lot into the grime scene with the finger gestures.

This image was used for my Contents page, it is a simple and good angled photo and doesn't look as much as the others so I picked this to be for my contents page.

As you can see above is all of the 10 images that I had taken and only 3 so far have been chosen to be on my pages that I designed.

First Analysis of Music Magazine Double Page Spread



Here is my first analysis of a music magazine double page spread, I have taken this double page spread from the NME music magazine. It includes the band "The Teenagers" and goes across the two pages with an image of the band and texts.


Language:

This NME music magazines double page spread it is published weekly inside the magazine. The masthead on this double page spread is within the center of the page more than either of the sides it has been created in black bold text, but then to give it that extra hint of eye catching affect it has a blue outer glow and stroke on to it. The left of the page contains a huge image which takes up more than half the double page spread, then towards the right of the image is text about the band and next to that is a heading with lots of text stating "everyones talking about"..
The top left of the page contains a blue background square with white bold text saying RADAR, this must be iconic to the band or the genre of music it is in, in some sort of way.
Also above the masthead there is a small puff which states NME LOVES, then the masthead comes in THE TEENAGERS, this could make people think they are a big and famous and really good band if NME say they love them. 

Third Analysis of Music Magazine Contents Page

Language:
This contents page is from the Kerrang music magazine, Kerrang is a Rock genre and this has been shown by the images that have been used. The masthead shown on this music magazine's contents page has been created with yellow text and a black background. Also all of the other sub-headings that have been placed are on the opposite type of the colour scheme rather than the masthead which is that they are in black text and yellow backgrounds. The overall colour scheme that has been used on this contents page is quite plain which is black, white and bits of yellow on a few places.

The information has been well organised and presented, it has a lot of different information and there is also a box on the top left hand corner of this magazine which shows the front cover of this particular music magazine. This is good for the reader because it reminds them what magazine they are reading and that they can still see the colour scheme.

On this contents page there are also 9 images that have been used with number of the pages, they are all the same size apart from one which has been created bigger and stands out more which shows the reader that this image is the main part of this magazine and contents page.  The images tell the reader what is inside the magazine and also the images will let them know who or what it is instead of just written text being placed.

Institution & Ideology:
The institution and ideology for this magazine's content page is that they want their reader to understand the contents page correctly, understand the images and text that has been used and finally to make sure that the readers are capable of keeping on track of the colour scheme and the way that it has been presented.

Audience:
The target audience for this particular music magazine's content page would be that it is to do with rock which means that the target audience they are aiming at has to be rock genre fans. It would be towards middle aged teens up until middle aged readers. The main area is the rock genre, it is shown by the images that have been used on the contents page are linked towards the Rock genre.

Representation:
The representation for this music magazine is for rock fans, it has been shown from the way the artists on the images have been presented.

Second Analysis of Music Magazine Contents Page

Language:

Here is a contents page from an NME magazine, it is published weekly. The masthead on this contents page has been created in a black bold font on top of a white background. Next to this is the logo of the NME music magazine, this has been placed on the white background and the logo NME has been created in red with a space outlined with a black outline which makes a white border then a black outline to the logo. The left hand side has a red background and contains the Band Index, this includes different band names and artists. On the right hand side of this contents page There are sub headings in white bold text and black backgrounds on the fonts, these show the latest News, Radar, Reviews, anything that is appearing Live and finally what the magazine Features.

The bottom of this contents page there is a black area with bright text saying that if you subscribe today you will save 33% and it also tells the reader what to do and who to call if they are interested in this.

The bands images that have been used have been taken whilst they have been performing somewhere live last week as it says this in the text below the images of the band which also tells the reader that this was them recently at a tour performing live.

Another main part on this contents page is that one part of the text overlaps the bottom of the left image saying "The moment that..." and then under neath this there is big bold black text which reads "...Oasis kicked of their world tour". This shows the reader that it links to the images that have been shown and that this is where they all started from and where they became famous from.

Institution & Ideology:
The institution and ideology for this type of magazine contents page for the NME magazine is that they want their readers to read it easily and make sure that they want to read more. They also want to make the readers want to know what is included inside the magazine and make them read more and more of the magazine. 

Audience:
The target audience that the NME music magazine and the contents page target their audience to is late teens till middle aged people, also they want to target it towards the genre of rock fans. This is because not many young teens or very old people listen to this type of genre "rock" and if they do it is only a minority that do so. Another target audience for this type of magazine/content page would be for the audience fans who like to be like the band that has been represented on this contents page.

Representation:
The representation for this NME magazines content page is the rock genre this is because the images that have been used represent rock music and it is middle aged/younger people.
It will also be represented for the audience who like to dress up as the same as the band or artists that play or sing rock music.



First Analysis of Music Magazine Contents Page

Language:
Here is a contents page from the Q magazine that is published monthly.A contents page is to tell the reader what is included or featured within the magazine, they are always on the first page of a magazine which is a really good place for them to be because they help the reader know what each page is about and if they are looking for a particular topic, they will also know what page it is by looking at the contents page rather than searching through the whole of the magazine.

The masthead on this contents page is in white and it is also bold and stands out as it sits on the black background it has been designed on. Also next to this is the Q logo which also stands out as it is in white with a red background. The sides show that there is the monthly features in this magazine and upcoming monthly ones too, these are all designed in a red background with white text which then have the information underneath them. All of these attract the readers attention straight away as they are colourful and also bold texts, fonts and sizes that have been used. The features are what is inside the magazine, these are placed on the left hand side of this contents page as you can see from the image above. The Q magazine also add a "Every Month" section in the corner of the contents page, this will which is another thing that they have added for the audience and readers to know what is going to be included within this particular magazine for each month or the current month that they are reading the magazine in.

The image of a band that has been displayed on this contents page would be a full low angle shot, this is because all of the band members are seen from head to toe and they are all stood higher than the camera has been placed. This shows that the band are in a higher position than the readers which could suggest that they have more power than us and that they are more popular because of the music that they produce.

 

Institution & Ideology:

The institution and ideology for this type of contents page for the Q magazine is that they want there target audience to see it as an easy to read and understandable page to make readers look at it and continue reading what is inside this magazine and what else is included.

 

Audience:

The Q magazine generally targets it's audience at younger and older generations, this can be seen in some of there magazines they have young bands represented on there covers, contents pages etc but also on some they have older aged bands. But the main target audience for the Q magazine is rock fans, they always look at the target audience's who like the genre of rock music. Finally the age group for this contents page would most probably be more of a younger up middle aged people.

 

Representation:

The representation for this particular Q magazine's content page would be of the rock genre because it represents a young band that are well known to the fans of rock and they are liked by their target audience.