Final double page spread- changes made

Final contents page- changes made

Final front cover- changes made

Evaluation

In order to complete my brief of creating a front page, contents page and double page spread of a new music magazine I researched the conventions of music magazines and did a LIIAR analysis on 3 different magazines. This gave me a better understanding of what a music magazine generally includes and how I could create my own. It also gave me inspiration in how I wanted my magazine to look, what I wanted the magazine to represent and what audience I wanted to attract.

I started the process of making my magazine by creating a mind map enabling to get my ideas on paper and think in detail about the Audience, Image, Text, Genre and format I wanted to use. I originally wanted to create a R&B magazine but soon realised the images I had taken were more suited to a ‘pop’ magazine.

I analysed three music magazines these were; VIBE, Flavourmag and Billboard.

These helped me a lot in the process of making my own music magazine as i quickly picked up the main conventions I needed to include and chose which bits I liked and did not like in their magazines in order to make my own. Such as Masthead, datelines, taglines, headlines, barcode and images.

After looking at the three magazines I had analysed I decided I wanted to target a similar audience so chose the age range of 16-25 year olds and social economic grade C2 hwo are most likely to be students, in the hope to attract their audiences also.I then started to plan what the title of my magazine was going to be. At first I was unsure whether to call it BEAT or B.A.M (Bust-A-Move), however I decided to go with BEAT as it was more suitable for pop music whereas I felt B.A.M was aimed precisely at R&B music.

I decided to use two of my friends to create my front page; I wanted their costumes to clash, so I dressed one of them quite casually and the other quite dressed up. I also decided to dress one in bright colours in quite a revealing dress whilst dressing the other model in darkish colours with no flesh showing to create in order for the artists to contrast, therefore heightening the versus headline. I decided that I wanted to keep the mise-en-scene bare as if they were in a “blank canvas” studio. I think I could have maybe been more imaginative with this and chose an appropriate background for my front cover instead of just creating a green gradient along a blank white background. I had my models stand in a stance against each other as if to show rivalry which fits with my headline “Anya VS Kiara”. I chose to use long shots on my front page in order to show rivalry through my models body language and show contrast in their outfits. I have used the house colours of purpley-blue, red and black to make my front cover stand out, whilst also fitting into music magazine conventions. The colour scheme fits in with my genre of music as supported by my feedback where 4 out of the 6 responses agree that it fits in with the genre.

I chose to price my magazine at £1.50 and publish the magazine once every two weeks. It is therefore affordable for my target audience who are stereotypically students therefore with low income, it is also not published too often, but the readers are not left long enough either. I conventionally placed the barcode in the bottom right hand corner so it doesn’t appose upon any of the magazine. I attracted the audience through my choice of image where both artists are staring directly towards the reader, however both have stern looks upon their face which connotate serious musicians and would therefore attract readers who also take their music seriously. I used the same font for my cover lines as I did in my contents page to make use of continuity and continue the house style throughout the magazine. I included the headline “Noughties top 50- who will you crown the winner” which addresses the reader directly so they therefore feel involved.

To make my contents page appeal to my audience I used the same simple background idea as in my front cover uses a black background with a pink gradient which will appeal to my predominantly female readership. This has worked well as shown in my audience feedback, where one of my interviewees said my contents page looked elegant. I decided to use a similar layout to billboard by using the features and regulars section separated by lines. To make it easy to read. I have also put them in numerical order of page numbers so the reader can easily find the headline they want. I used the same font as on the headlines on the front cover to create continuity. I think this works well however, I think I should have chose a different colour for the features section as it doesn’t stand out enough from the background. I used three images on my contents page, each page numbered to show which headline they are covering. The main image, takes up the whole left hand side of the contents page. The pose works really well as it is as if the artist Is pointing towards the magazine title, creating synergy for the artist and the magazine. The expression on her face also works well, as it connotates that she is amazed by the magazine, however the image itself is a little bit blurred and would have been better if it was better quality. I used the magazine title and dateline on my contents page, another convention of music magazines, in order to create a link throughout my magazine creating continuity. For the contents masthead I used the font Trajan pro to create a harsher look contrasting to the quite soft background colour. I think that I should have used a different font for my masthead as it doesn’t stand out enough.

My double page spread is of one of the headlines from the front cover “Kiara- love, war and music”. I used the conventions of a double page spread by allowing the image to take up a whole page. However I went against conventions of double page spreads by finishing it on the second page, whereas it is usually continued onto another double page spread. I decided to use a black background which allowed my text and image to stand out. I decided to use a black and white image of the artists in the background and place a colour in the front slightly overlapping. Both images are looking the reader in the eye, creating audience involvement. I used baby blue, pink and white text which will attract my predominantly female audience, these colours are also variants of my house colours, purpley-blue and red. I also used the contrasting colour of white to represent the black text. I used the font Myriad pro for my interview so that it was easy to read, and stood out well. The pull quote is direct and pulls the audience in, as it is quite comical and will intrigue the reader. I used the font Chopinscript for the masthead and pull quote, to make it stand out and portray the artists personality. I used the convention of putting the interviewer and the interviewee in different colours to show the reader who is who and create continuity.

The kind of media institution that would distribute my magazine would be mainstream as this music is constantly in the chart. Looking into the various institutions the most successful one is Bauer media, who produce magazines such as Q, MOJO and pop! All these magazines have a similar target audience and have high production value, therefore would be the kind of institute to distribute my magazine. Looking back at my preliminary task, I feel I learnt the basics of a magazine production, taking in account the conventions of other magazines, aswell as the time and effort to create a publication. I fell my skills on Photoshop have really developed and  they were enhanced by the preliminary task. I used Photoshop to obtain a professional look for my magazine. It was useful as I was able to use layers and create effects and different colours to create the look I wanted. I have found blogger to be very useful for my work as I have been able to access it everywhere without having to worry about lost memory sticks etc. I used a digital camera to take my original images which allowed me to upload them on the computer and then edit them on Photoshop.

The feedback I have received about my magazine has mainly been positive, and quite fair, they showed that I was attracting the audience I was aiming for. The main negative comments were about my colour choices and font, which I have since changed from their feedback. Although half of my respondents said they wouldn’t buy my magazine, it was because they didn’t like R&B music which is expected for a music magazine. Overall I feel the feedback is okay, and I took all the comments on board and changed the things where I received most negative comments.

Overall, I think my music magazine has been successful and I am really happy with the outcome and the feedback I received. I think the changes I made to all my pieces, especially the front cover have really improved it, and make them look more professional.

Feedback-Questionnaire

Questionnaire

What genre of music do you think my magazine covers?

Answer 1: R&B

Answer 2:HIP-HOP

Answer 3:POP

Answer 4:R&B/HIP-HOP

Answer 5:R&B

Answer 6:POP

Personal response:

I am a little bit disappointed with this as I did want it to look like a R&B magazine however, looking at it again after this feedback I agree it does look quite a bit like a pop magazine. But on the other hand a lot of the ‘pop’ artists now a days are also associated with the R&B scene so this may not necessarily be a bad thing as it may also appear to a wider audience.

Which gender do you feel my magazine is mainly aimed at or both equally?

Answer 1:Female

Answer 2:Both

Answer 3:Female

Answer 4:Both

Answer 5:Female

Answer 6:Female

Personal response:

I did try to aim my magazine at both genders how I do feel it has turned out to look feminine and as if it had purposefully been aimed at females as I have only used female models and used quite feminine house colours.

What age range do you feel my magazine targets?

Answer 1:16-25

Answer 2:16-19

Answer 3:15-24

Answer 4:17-25

Answer 5:16-25

Answer 6:16-24

Personal response:

I am very happy with this result as all answers cover some part of my 16-25 target audience and 2 people actually guessed this correctly.

Would you buy my magazine if it was on the shelves? If not why?

Answer 1:No, I don’t like R&B music

Answer 2:Yes

Answer 3:Yes

Answer 4:No, I don’t buy music magazines

Answer 5:No, it looks to feminine

Answer 6:Yes

Personal response:

Only half of my interviewees said they would buy my magazine if it was on the shelves how ever out of the other 3 two people said it was because of the type of music or that they just didn’t buy music magazines however one of the answers was that the magazine was too feminine which I do now agree with.

Do you think my house colours, fit in with the genre of the music magazine?
Answer 1:Yes

Answer 2:Could have been a bit bolder in colours for example the purple

Answer 3:Yes

Answer 4:No, not in your face enough

Answer 5:Yes

Answer 6:Yes

Personal response:

I am quite happy with these results however the two people who did not think my house colours fitted in with my magazine said they were not bold enough so I shall work on the colours to make them stand out a bit more.

Do you think my magazine looks professional?

Answer 1:Yes

Answer 2:The front cover doesnt

Answer 3:I think the contents page and double page spread definitely do

Answer 4:Yeah its amazing

Answer 5:Yes

Answer 6:No

Personal response:

 There is a bit of a mixture of results here although overall there are more yes' than no's so i am quite happy with this. There are a couple of comments that my front cover doesnt look proffesional but the contetns page and double page spread do, so this is something that could be improved.

What is your least and most favourite part of my magazine?

Answer 1:Double page spread is favourite, least is front cover looks less professional

Answer 2:Photoshop isn’t too good, the contents page is elegant

Answer 3:the image on the contents page hasn’t been edited very well, double page spread is good.

Answer 4:Front page is really good and the images look really good and professional, font is a bit plain

Answer 5:Fave-images are really good, least- background on front page

Answer 6:layout is really good, images are a bit repetitive not enough variety

Personal response:

There is a mixture of results here, although the least favourite thing seems to be on the subject of images so i could improve on that.

Overall response:

I am quite happy with these results as they are mainly positive, i also feel they are very honest and have given me quite a lot to improve on, i shall take these into account for the future.

How would i promote my music magazine

To promote my magazine, i would create television adverts which i would play on channel 4 and MTV as they are the likely channels to attract my 16-24 year old audience. I would have it played between 8 and 11 o clock as these would be the most likely time for my target audience to be watching these channels. I would also place advertisements in fashion magazines as they would then also further reach into my predominantly female target audience.

I would also create a website to go along with my magazine. On my website i would include the latest news and stories from the magazine. Some online competitions and a chart section letting my audience know the latest chart positions of their favourite artists/bands. i would also include some exclusive backstage video footage and music videos.

Double page spread Article

Since i have changed my double page spread all together i have also decided to change the article to go on it. Therefore i have produced an article with the artist "Kiara" in order to fit in with the new idea for the double page spread.



Kiara has had many peoples backs up recently, and we at
BEAT are keen to find out why she has offended so many
artists. She talks to us about her Love, War and Music in this
exclusive interview with us.
So Kiara you’re here to set the record straight for your fans,
why have you been insulting so many different artists?
The truth is i haven't, not all of them! Yes i may have said a
few things which could be seen as insulting to certain
artists which you know it isn't hidden that we don't get on.
But a lot of the ‘alleged insults’ are made up by the press
you know what its like. They either print stuff that is
completely untrue or just twist slight things that may have
been said and make them completely untrue and in most
cases completely unrealistic. For example them saying
i have recently sent a spy round to Anya’s house to set off
stink bombs. I mean come on yes, i don't exactly get on with
her but a spy where the hell am i supposed to get one of
them from. (laughs)
True, probably not the most realistic story! Is it true though
that you bought 100 of Anya’s latest albums and through
them on your fire on bonfire night, to kick off your
celebrations?
(laughs) Actually yes that is true, it sounds worse than what
it was though. We were very drunk. My friend had thought it
would be funny to buy a 100 of her CD’s and give them to me
as a joke. So as i unwrapped them i was stood round the
bonfire, i very drunkenly through them onto the bonfire, yes.
And it did kick the celebrations off with a very big bang! ha
I'm sure, Is it also true that you sabotaged Jazmine’s bush
on the way home from a night out?
YES!! (laughs) goodness, that sounded so funny the way you
put that. (laughs) Again we were drunk, in the taxi home as
we past her house and thought it would be funny to chop a
few leaves here and there, and turned it into a suggesting
shape! oh it was funny tho, and its not as if she doesn't have
a gardener who will of sorted it out straight away. Although i
think i would of kept it if it was my bush, looked much better
than her old one! (laughs)
Now we know that the issue of former fiance Malle pas, is
a sensitive issue for you. But how do you feel about the
rumours he is seeing Anya now?
I  think its a load of crap if I'm honest. I know for a fact he
isn't seeing her. I know they did become close when
recording their single together, but i spoke to him last night
and he has his eyes set on someone else, right now.
Any chance of you two getting back together?
I don't know about that i would like to but i just don't think it
would work anymore. he knows how i feel about his and
Anya’s relationship and how much it hurt me. I just don't
think i could trust him again, but i think he is willing to try
and persuade me, whether he will be successful or not
is a different question altogether!
Didn't he recently say in an interview with B.A.M, that he is
currently seeing Anya and they have already started
planning their future together?
I don't know. I haven't heard anything like that, if he did then
there is no chance, but there again i know what the press
are like and they could of just made that up, who knows?
On a positive note though, you have a new album coming
out next month don't you?
Yes i do, I'm really pleased with it, i love the sounds that have
been created.
Whens the release date then?
16th April, its being released in the UK. i think it will be a big
hit. And as always it has some really meaningful lyrics in
there as well.
Great, well we look forward to hearing it, thank you for your
time Kiara.
Its always a pleasure, thankyou.

Finished Double Page Spread

After speaking with my media teacher i have decided to completely re-do my double page spread as i felt it did not fit in with any conventions and was quite empty and bare. I feel this version looks a lot more sophisticated and more realistic for a double page spread. I have decided to completely change the interview so this time it is on 'kiara' instead of 'anya' with different topics. Therfore i have chose to use different images also. I have also used a different font than before by now using 'chopin script' for my mastheads and quatations. I decided to use a black background with coloured font to make the text stand out more, i think this has worked well also with the images, in which i made one of them black and white and left the other one in colour to create some contrast. I feel that in the background image the artist looked quite inosant where as in the colour front image the artist looks more edgy which is the impression given within the interview.

I am overall happy with this double page spread as i feel it fits in well with the conventions of a R&B magazine double page spread whilst looking elegant and not too 'busy'. I think the font i have used looks a lot better than in my previous draft. I also think the images work better than the ones i used in my original double page spread.