Thursday, 25 February 2010

Focus Group

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I recorded one of my friends voice where I asked him a couple of questions to help me when producing my magazine. As I am aiming my magazine at teenagers using my friend who is a teenager will help me to get an idea of what they expect and want from a music magazine. The first question I asked was "what do you look for in a music magazine?" By asking this question I am finding out what teenagers like in a music magazine and from the reply I found out that most teenagers like to see a lot of images that look appealing to them, vivid colours and they want gossip and competitions. The second question I used was "When you hear the word magazine, what comes into your mind?" and the reply I got was "gossip, famous people, fashion, quizes and competitions" this again tells me what they like in magazines and what they want to see in a magazines. this helps me as I know what type of features to use in my magazine. The last question I asked was "what typical conventions would interest teenagers?" and I got the reply "competitions and lots of images of teenagers" From this answer I can see the features that teenagers would like. From this research I am planning to put competitions as a feature in my contents page and use a lot of pictures of teenagers.

Tuesday, 23 February 2010

Results From Questionnaire

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Sunday, 21 February 2010

Draft of the contents page

This is the first draft of my front cover. I am planning to put lots of images. I am planning to put the page numbers near the sub-headings  and under the sub-headings I am planning to put a small description of what the article will be about.  I am planning to keep the contents page to be simple with a few colours like red and black or blue and black. I am planning to put the date and page number at the bottom of the page. Overall I want to make the contents page appealing with the simple layout and lots of images.

Draft of a double page spread


This is the draft of my double page spread. As you can see I want the name of the article to overlap in the two pages to connect the pages together. I am planning to put the main image of the artist on the second page. I am planning to use floating quotes in between the articles. I have laid out the article in  columns as most of the double page spreads that I have seen use the same format. I am going to put the date and page number at the bottom of the page. I think my double page spread will be about an artist or a interview with the artist. I am planning to use more additional images to make it more appealing to the reader.

Analysis of a double page spread

This a double page spread of Q magazine which I have scanned myself. As you can see the second page has only got an image of Cheryl Cole which is the main focal image. In this image Cheryl Cole is looking at the side and has one hand up which makes her look appealing and makes the reader interested to read the article.
Lots of conventions are used in this double page spread, for example the text is laid out in columns. Floating quotes have been used from the text. A simple text font has been used. Also the date and page number are conventions used in this double page spread. An additional image is also used on the first page. The text is in standard english which is commonly used in most articles. In the first paragraph a cliche is used 'sick to death', this cliche makes the article interesting and amusing to read.
The layout of the article is different compared to other articles for example the 1st paragraph is written in a story type of format as it telling us everything Cheryl is doing like a story. The next paragraph is about how successful she is and what she has been nominated for and which awards she has won. Then the paragraphs after are about her life and what other people think about her. So it is structures differently but it makes the reader interested in the article.

Wednesday, 17 February 2010

Questionnaire For Music Magazine

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Tuesday, 16 February 2010

This is the questionnaire that I made and gave some of the people to fill in. In this questionnaire I have put 12 questions so that I can get an idea of who my target audience will be, for example one of my question was 'What type of music do you like?' and I had given many options for them to choose from. This question would be ideal to use to help me figure out what type of genre I want to use for my magazine. Also I have used the question 'If you buy any type of magazine/magazines, how much would you pay for one magazine?' and again I have given options for them to choose from and from this question I wanted to see how much people want to pay for a magazine so that I could aim my magazine at that price. Another question I used was 'What kind of freebies do you like with your magazine?' and I gave options for them to choose, from this question I wanted to know what people wanted with their magazines so that  I can create the freebies and make my magazine successful. As you have noticed I have mainly used closed questions as when people do questionnaires they don't want it to be long and they expect it to be easy and quick to fill in and if I used mainly open questions then most of the people wouldn't do the questionnaire that is why I used mostly closed questions

Monday, 8 February 2010

Analysis of a double page spread of NME magazine

This double page spread of NME magazine represents stereotypical teenager boys. For example we can see from the bedroom that there is a lot of girls pictures on the wall which represents the teenage artists on the cover as typical teenagers. Also at the top of the page it says "The Teenagers" the way it is in capitals makes it sound as if teenagers are wild which is a stereotypical representation of teenagers. Under "The Teenagers" there is a sub-heading that says "Young, dumb and full of filthy....tunes". This heading represents teenagers especially teenage boys as dumb and dirty minded.
There are some conventions used in this magazine, for example we have the website at the bottom of the article, which shows that they are a media convergence, there is also a lot of images used. There is also a limited amount of colours used, if you disclude the images there is mostly white, black and blue used. The main image of the three artists does relate to the article as the article is about them.
Also direct mode of address is used as the three boys/males in the image are all looking straight at the reader and this makes the article appealing to the reader. The text is laid out in columns which is a convention as most articles in magazines have columns. For this magazine we can see that the teenagers are the audience and to make teenagers engage with the article they have made the article stereotypical, they have based an article on young artists that teenagers will want to know about. They have shown a stereotypical representation of teenagers through the mise-en-scene as they are wearing plain casual clothes, they have a laid back posture and through the posters we get a stereotypical representation of teenage boys. Also the other images are of young artists so that it can draw teenagers attention.
One of the page has only got the image of the group but the name of the article overlaps on both the pages which links the image and the article together. Some of the quotes are in bold to appeal to the reader. Also the two page seems to be in three sections for example from the left we have the image of the group in the middle there is the article and at the end there is the banner.
They have also put floating quotes like 'Of course we're a sexual band. We're The Teenagers and thats all they think about' these floating quotes are especially picked so that the readers that are just looking through the magazine and see the quote will get interested in the article and read it. Also from the quote we get a stereotypical representation of teenagers associated with sex.
On the first page they have a box which has a sub-heading 'Need to know' and this section gives brief facts about the group.

First draft of my magazine cover

This is the first draft of my magazine cover. I haven't put the title on as I haven't chosen a proper name for my magazine. I have thought of names such as Tune, Line, Beat, Sensation or Affect, but I couldn't decide which one to use.I am planning to use one of these names becuase they connote music and as I am producing a music magazine it is better to have a name that represents music or has something to do with music. I am planning to put the date and issue number at the top of the page above the title. I am going to put the big MCU of a girl in the middles and I am going to make some of the sell lines to be on top of the image. I am planning to put the barcode at the bottom right of the page and at the bottom of the page at the footer. I am planning to put some names of the artists that I am going to include in the magazine so that the magazine can appeal more to the audience.





Sunday, 7 February 2010

Second Draft of my magazine cover

This is the second draft of my front cover, I am planning to name my magazine Tune as it related to music. I am sticking with a MCU of a girl looking straight at the reader (direct mode of address) because when I was researching other front covers I noticed that most of the images have got direct mode of address and this makes the magazine inviting and it appeals to the reader to read it, that is why I wanted to use mode of address.I am planning to put sell lines around the image of the girl and I am planning to put the focus story under the image of the girl who is meant to be the artist and the major story will be about the girl. I want the artist/girl to look like a proffessional artist which means that her make-up needs to very polished and good. As I am only using a MCU I am planning to make her wear big earrings as I am doing a HipHop and R&B magazine and most HipHop and R&B female artists wear a lot of big, shiny jewellery.

Wednesday, 3 February 2010

Analysis of NME contents page

In this contents page for NME magazine there are many conventions used for example there is the date at the top right of the magazine, there is also an advertisement at the bottom of the contents page for the readers to subscribe their magazine, also in the advertisment they have written "Save 33%" which persuades the reader to subscribe and consider the 33% as their reward. There is a section called "Live" which has connotations of gigs and concert. They also have a section named "Features" which they have put their unique selling points about major artists such as Lil Wayne and Kings of Leon. On the right hand side, under the sub-headings they have written a bit about their unique selling points to make their selling points appeal to their reader. For example 'Glasvegas' stunning debut..' and 'The gossip, The Gaslight Anthem and more'. There is only 3-4 colours used like black, red and white which creates an eye-catching page for the audience as they are not bombarded with lots of bright colours. There has been only two images used and they both have been taken when the artist was in a concert or gig, this connects with the sub-heading "Live" as they both are on about live gigs and concerts. At the top right of the contents page it says "After a million US downloads, 'Paper Planes' is ready for take-off in the UK" from this we can see that the music and artist that NME explores is not just from UK. Under the images they have written a thank you note to one of their readers again this would appeal to the reader as it shows how much NME likes and appreciates their readers. Also they have numbered their articles so that the reader knows the page number to go to. At the left of the contents page they have a section called 'Band Index' where they have listed the name of the artists/groups and the page number. It stands out so when the reader reads it and finds a group/artist they like then they would want to read about them. at the bottom right of the contents page they have put 'UK's No1 Gig Guide' this appeals to the reader as it stands out becuase it is in a red box it appeals to the reader.

Analysis of Vibe magazine contents page


In this contents page of Vibe magazine there are a few conventions used, for example we have the date at the top middle of the page. The way they have put the word "Contents" differs to other magazines because usually in other magazines it is all together and goes across the top of the page but in this magazine the word is split up into 3 bits which makes it unconventional. Also there is seems to be a lot of pictures compared to writing which again is different to other magazines. They have used 5 big images. Another convention would be that they have written a brief discribtion of what the article is about under each sub-heading. They also have used a sophisticated amount of colours like black and red to make the contents page appealing and not bombard the reader with different colours. They have also put their website address at the bottom of the page which shows that Vibe is a convergence industry. Also on the pictures it gives information about fashion this tells us that the magazine is aimed at audience who are interested in fashion.

Monday, 1 February 2010

Textual Analysis of the front cover of Q magazine

This is a front cover of Q magazine, the target audience for this magazine would be women and teenagers. I can tell this from the sell line and the main focal image of Madonna. For example at the footer of the magazine we have "Women in Music" and image of a women this influences women to buy the magazine because it is showing the success of many women in the music industry. Also the main image is of a women too (Madonna) so again it influences more women to buy the magazine than men. This magazine has a genre of R&B, Rock and HipHop as Madonna and some some of the other artists that have been named e.g. Girls Aloud and Arctic Monkeys produce songs with the same or similar genre.
Mostly the colour red and black are used and in a way it makes the magazine cover look feminine and the picture of Madonna also builds the same convention. The typography that has been used on the front cover is very simple and plain unlike music magazines that are aimed for teenagers usually use many different types of typography. This magazine seems to be aimed at a wide range of audience as old and new bands have been named on the front cover for example, Rolling stones and Robert Plant which are example of old bands as well as Arctic Monkeys which is an example of new band. From sell lines we can see that they don't only use music to entertain their readers they also use other entertainments methods such as shows like Little Britains, they use Russel Brand who is not an artist and also they have used Mighty Boosh which is a sitcome.
Similarily to the Blender mazagine it has conventions such as date and issue number. also direct mode of address is used as Madonna is gazing right at the audience. From the singers that have been named we can see that the audience are around 30-40 year old as the music and artists named are from 1970s. Under Madonna's image her name is written in red  and it is big which makes it stand out and attract the readers attention.
It has the image of the 'Women In Music' booklet which is their the freeby that they are giving away with their magazine. By putting the picture of the booklet on the front cover interests the reader into buying the magazine. At the right hand side there is a circle with the british flag at the background and on the circle it has the sell line 'The 50 Best British Albums Is Voted By You!' we can see that the british flag is used because it related to the sell line. It is about the audiences votes so it is including the audience in their article which the reader will have an interst for as they would want to know what people like them like so its building a relationship between the magazine and the reader.