First Mock ups of contents Page

These are an example of how i may like my music magazine's contents page to look like. Using a conventional simple layout to create the contents page. I am intending to have 3 or more images along the right hand side page, and the majority of all written content including page numbers, editors letter, regular and special features along the left hand side of the page.

Initial ideas-thought showers

Audience:

Gender-Male/Female

Age Group- 18-30, Teen (13-19), 30+, 16-25

Class- Working/Middle/Upper Class

Social Group- Adults, Adolescents, Students, Stereotypes, Businessmen, Labourers

Image:

Angle- Wide/High/Low

Shot-Close-up/Long/Medium Close-up

Props- Costumes/Models (Artist/Band)

Editing- Colour schemes/Contrast/Brightness/Cropping/ Use of Photoshop etc.

Text:

Masthead

Cover line/Dateline/Selling line/Tag line

Font-Size/Style/Colour

House-Text/Colours/Repetition/Features/Regulars

Genre:

R&B/HipHop

Rock/Metal/Emo/Gothic/Indie

Dance/Rave/Electro

Opera/Classical/Jazz

Format:

Double Page Spread

Contents page

Editors Letter

Front Page

Features/Regulars

Reviews/Advertisements

Music Genre Choice

I have chosen to create a music magazine within the R&B/HipHop music genre. I have decided to create a music magazine based within this music genre, because it is one in which i am most inspired by. I feel this will give me greater insight into how to produce a magazine like this as i have experience in reading similar products. Other magazines that exist within this music genre is Vibe, Flabour and Billboard, these are big successful magazine companies which shows there is a big target audience for this type of magazine but also that there will be stiff competition against my magazine.

LIIAR analysis of Billboard- Double Page Spread

This is a very simple layout of a double page spread that works really effectively. The typography is all easy to see, and the house colours of pink, balck and white work well together and appeal to a predominantly young female audience. The artist is represented to be quite small as she is trapped in a corner, also connotated by the headline "girl, youll be a woman soon/2 suggesting she is trying to hard to grow up and is being shot down again, and put back  in her place.

LIIAR analysis of Billboard- Contents Page

This is a conventional look of a contents page. containing a list of page numbers and storylines along the left handside of the page, aswell as features on the right handside contained with a mixture of images of both females and males. The house colours of blue and black work well on the simple white background and the age numbers are clear. The main image is of a woman who looks happy which connotates to the audience that they enjoy their music. There is a mixture of close ups and long shots in this contents page, which suggests a mixture of up close and personal interviews aswell as information of favourite artists.

LIIAR analysis of Billboard- Front cover

This Music Magazine uses conventions similer to alot of Music magazines do for their front covers
They use a Mast head the colour of this is white this works well as a contrast to the black background there is also colours used in the font this links with the genre of pop music. The text is bold which is succesfull as this again links with the genre.
The Main image takes up most of the page, this works well as the audinece are direct to the artist. The picture is also of the artist performing again this draws the reader in.
The sub headings down the side allow the audinece to know whats inside, this persuades them to buy it again. The colour of the text is turqioise this is used regulalry throughout the front cover creating a theme.

Different music genres

Dance/Electronica - Basshunter
Pop - Lady GaGa
Rock - Kings of Leon
R & B/Hip-Hop - Usher
Indie - The Wanted
Drum 'n' Bass - Swedish house mafia
Classical - Katherine Jenkins
Metal - Slipknot
Blues - Jimmy Reed

LIIAR analysis of Flavour-Contents page

This is a very simple contents page, using the house colours of blue and black. Keeping the background whitre keeps the page looking clean and smple and allows the images to stand out. The contents page uses the conventions of using text and page numbers along the right handside and using images on the left handside, however they are a bit bigger than normal conventions. The page reaches to a predominantly female audience as most of the images contain women.

LIIAR analysis of Flavour-Double Page spread

This is two double page spreads of alexandra bure from flavour magazine. I shall be talking about the first image, however this just shows a convention that a double page spread is usually four or six pages long. As we can see the double pae spread uses the convention of one main image, taking up at least an a4 side, and an interview using a simple colour scheme of black and pink. The iage is a medium long shot, and the artist is ressed in a very short dress, therefore appealing to a male audience also. However the article is mainly aimed at females, which we can tell through the connotations of the pink font which connotates girliness. The artist is portrayes in a sultry way as shown by her dress and pose in order to entise readers.

LIIAR analysis of Flavour-Front cover

Flavour magazine, is a pop magazine aimed towards 16-24 year olds. We can tell this by the fact it is a free magazine, therefore ideal for students who have low income. It aimed predominantly at females as shown by the image of JLS who are a big hit with young teen girls. The houe colours of gold, black and white, work well together and are consistant throughout. The magazine uses the convention of a tagline, showing artists that are included within the magazine. It also uses the convention of a bold masthead in an easy to read font. A medium shot of the band is used to include all band members and the shot is at eye level allowing the readers to feel connected with the band and as if they are looking directly at them. There is not much text used on the cover, however the simplistic stle works well and because of the big image including four males not much text is needed. The convention of a website is included on the front cover, however a barcode is not used on this magazine, instead the magazine is free which challenges conventions of music magazines.

LIIAR analysis of VIBE- Double Page Spread

This double page spread uses the conventions of one big image, and textalong the right hand side. It uses a long shot of the band, however three of the members slightly out of focus, to highlight will.i.am (the person who they are interviewing. He is dressed in gold, which connotates money and power, whilst saluting as his pose. The text on the left hand side is quite hard to read as the background i quite dark and the font colour is black, however the txt on the other side is easy to read. The audience is yet again still predominantly male as three of the band members and the female is dressed quite provocatively.

LIIAR analysis of VIBE- Contents Page

This is an unconventional contents page, as it contains 5 big images, and not much text. The masthead is split into blocks, of letters making it harder to read, and the magzines logo is quite small. The images are not very clear nor bright, but they all contain either a long shot or medium shot, making the contents page quite distant to the reader. Four out of the five images contain "black" men which is stereotypical to the listeners of R&B/hip-hop and all of the images contain men making thiss appeal to a predominantly male audience. The men are all quite oung and look like they come from a middle/working class background. This contents page uses a simple layout, and will appeal to someone who is just interested in their music rather than dressing it up.

LIIAR analysis of VIBE- Front Cover

april/may 2010

VIBE magazine's masthead is in the stereotypically conventional colour of red, it is also in a big block, bold font all in capital letters. The fact the masthead is in the colour of red, connotates an impression of power and anger within the VIBE magazines context in this issue. Also the fact that some of the masthead has been covered by the artist shows that the magazine is popular enough to be recognisable even with having some of the masthead covered up. The colour of red is continued throughout the front cover of the magazine through the use of text it is contrasted against white text, creating both sets to be bold and stand out. In the use of text red and white are the only colours used on this front cover thus creating a house style. VIBE have used a medium close-up shot of a famous R&B star Trey Songz. This allows the act to show off his facique and endorse for Calvin klein briefs (synergy). It also shows off his tattoo's which connotate a hard man impression which is also supported by the backgroud of the magazine which is like a metal grill fence conontating the ideology of being in prison. Which fits in with the headline Trey Songz 'The hardest in R&B'.

The magazine is aimed an audience who like R&B and hip-hop music, although this is a niche audience, most of the music we know find in the charts are classed as R&B therefore the magazine is hitting a bigger audience than before.
The ideology behind this magazine cover, is a stereotypical 'hard man' as conveyed through the use of language, and the image used on the front cover.

This magazines audience would be a niche audience, however in the mainstream age range of 16-25. The magazine is mainly aimed at a male audience as its features are "4 ways to rock a suit" also talks about being the hardest which is stereotypical for men. We can also tell it is aimed at men by the picture of the male on the front and the red and white house colour.

The representation of the R&B artist on this front cover is stereotypical of a 'black man' or a 'gangster'. As he is placed half naked, showing off his tattoos infront of a grilled fence connotating the barriers of prison.

Conventions of a Music Magazine

Conventions of a Front Cover page:

• Masthead
• Main image
• Main cover line
• Sub-cover lines
• Date line
• Issue number
• Price
• Bar code
• Selling line
• House colour scheme
• Smaller Images

Contents Page:

• Page numbers
• Headings
• Sub Headings
• Emphasised cover stories
• Contact information
• Featured images
• Regulars section
• Features section
• House colours
• Simplicity
• Editors Letter
• Title of magazine and page number at the bottom of each page

Double Page Spread:

• Large Masthead
• Short description of the article
• Inserts relating to the article
• Drop cap to begin the article
• Full page Image
• Quotes
• Website link
• Smaller Images
• Title of Magazine and page number at the bottom of each page

Conventions that could be used to create the stereotypical Music Magazine:

• Gig listings
• Artist/Band interviews
• Music reviews
• Posters
• Music-related advertisements or target audience related advertisements
• Music chart listings
• Music/live gig news

LIIAR interpretation of the Brief

Language- For my front page i will need to include a masthead, dateline, issue number, barcode and price. I will also need Main feature Headlines and subtitle's. I will need a main image and maybe some smaller images also. I will also need to choose a house font and colour scheme to be used within my music magazine. Synergy is used within a lot of magazines and would be an important factor of any music magazine. Synergy is the promotion of the magazine because of the celebrity, in return the promotion of the celebritys new project/album from the magazine.

Institution- For institution i will be looking at which publisher i could use to produce my music magazine. If i wanted to create a monthly glossy magazine i could use a company called BAUER MEDIA, they publish magazines sich as Kerrang, Mojo and Q.

Ideology- For the ideology of my music magazine i need to think about what values i wish the magazine to contain. Also what moral's and messages i wish to contain within it this can be through storylines or through the way the images are produced and the way in which the whole magazine is portrayed. I will need to constantly consider my target audience throughout all the decisions i make whilst creating my music magazine.

Audience- I will need to decide who my target audience will be. I think a younger generation would be more interested in a music magazine than an older generation. Also depending on which genre i choose a gender preference may also need to be consider. I could also take into consideration what sort of background theyre from, wether they are wealthy or poor, wether they are a student or a high flying businessman.

Representation- I intend to represent my target audeinces intherest in the artists and music used within my magazine ina positive and stereotypical way. I will be using house colours, bold mastheads, stereotypical looking main images etc to create a familiarised intizing magazine.

Music Magazine Brief

I need to create a front page, contents page and doublepage spread of new music magazine. All images and text must be original, and my music magazine must contain a minimum of four images.