Music Magazine Drafts

Here is my front cover and contents page designs. I have written brief descriptions of what articles will be featured and the images I will need to take and include. I have also thought about the layout of the pages and have an idea of what text and images will go where.

This is the design for my double page spread. On one page, I have decided to have a large image with a title, subheading and quote and then on the second page, I will have the main body of text with smaller images and a quote taken from the article.

Best shots from photo shoot with Clara

Target Audience

The target audience of my music magazine will be lovers of modern and classic pop music, who follow and purchase charts music. The target audience will be similar to Q magazine, however it will be aimed at a younger audience of around age 16 to 30. This means the cost will be slightly lower that the usual Q price. It is targeted at both genders. It is more formal than casual, but I do not want it to be too formal, like a magazine targeting professionals might be. This means that my language will be easy to understand and there will be large images to appeal to the younger audience and grab attention.

Equipment Planning

• Camera - I will be using my Panasonic camera, which I feel is god enough quality for my magazine. I have full access to it, to I able to use at any time.  I do have access to a tripod; however, I do not feel I will need it, unless I am photographing myself (which I could use for the ‘Editors message’). I find it much easier to photograph my model, when I am able to move and position the camera freely without having to worry about the tripod.

•  Photoshop or other photo editor – I will need Photoshop in order to edit the photos I take.  I will only have access to Photoshop when I am at school, because I do not have Photoshop at home. However, I often use free online editors, that aren’t as good as Photoshop, but still produce quality outcomes. The online editors I use are Phixr.com and Picnik.com.-       I will also be using photoshop to design and create typography for my magazine, for the front cover masthead and double page article heading to make it more attractive and unique and also more professional. I will be using these online tutorials for ideas, when making the fonts:
  -       http://blog.spoongraphics.co.uk/tutorials/create-a-cool-wet-ink-typography-effect-in-photoshop
  -       http://www.photoshopstar.com/text-effects/creating-cardiac-rate-effect/
  -       http://www.tutorial9.net/tutorials/photoshop-tutorials/colorful-glowing-text-effect/

• InDesign – I will definitely require access to InDesign, in order to make the four different pages of my magazine. Like Photoshop, I do not have InDesign at home; so will only be able to work on it at school. This means I should work on taking photos, editing and writing the magazine text at home, leaving the rest of the time at school to work on the magazine in InDesign. I will use Word at home to write the names of articles to go in my contents page and the text of the main double page article, and then copy and paste it into InDesign at school  

• Clothing and makeup – It is important to think about the style of Clara’s clothing and makeup. We worked together to decide on the outfits she will wear and chose three different looks. Most of the clothing was hers, but I also lent her some of my accessories, such as a flower garland and shoes. I felt her clothing was quite fashionable and wasn’t too over the top or edgy, as I felt it would too much against her red hair. She did her own makeup, which was also not overboard, but still pretty and natural
• For my other images for the cover and contents pages, I will get my friends to wear their own clothes, in order to show they are normal music fans. For the images of my father, as a classic artist, I will get him to wear maybe a suit or smart shirt, in order to make him look like a realistic musician who is performing for people.

• Props – For the props, I will ask Clara to pretend to play a guitar, belonging to my brother. This will help to create a character that accompanies her singing with playing the guitar and produce a more realistic picture. I could also take a good quality photo of Clara, edit it and design an album cover, print it out and put it into a CD case. I could then photograph it, to make a convincing picture of Clara’s new album that she is advertising through the article.
• For my other shoots, I will be using a variety of instruments, such as acoustic and electric guitars and my piano, equipment including microphones, headphones, and speakers. For the images of my friends as music fans, I will have to make one or two banners for them to hold. They could be for a specific artists or it could be for a music festival

Human Research Planning

I have planned to meet up with my friend, Clara, during the half term week to take the photos needed for my magazine. She will be the model for the front cover and double page article celebrity. I chose to photograph her, because she has had experience in modelling and has the look that I want for my magazine, mainly because of her bright red hair, which adds an edgy and eccentric vibe to the magazine. I initially planned to photograph her inside my house in front of a plain backdrop; however, I feel the quality of the photos is much higher when taken outside. I live near fields, and I thought this could be a good environment to do the shoot, as it will give the images a natural feel. I have chosen to do this because I want the style of Clara’s music to be very raw and consist mainly of her voice and her guitar and having a natural backdrop will go well with this. I will also use several building walls around where I live, that have graffiti on them, to add an urban aspect to the images as well. Also, I want to make sure my magazine is believable and professional and because Clara looks quite young, I will write that she is a young artist, recently recognised via YouTube. Examples of other artists like this, in real life, are Justin Bieber, Cody Simpson and Birdy, all very young and still very famous and successful in the music industry.

For my cover page and contents pages, I will need to have other images that I had taken, other than images of Clara. These could be pictures of other artists, fans or concerts. To do this, I be asking my friends and family to model for me, whether they are fans, or musicians. Luckily, my family is very musical, so I have access to many instruments and equipment, such as speakers, microphones and headphones to act as props.  I will photograph my father singing and playing guitar, and this could be an image of a classic artist, who was big in the 70’s or 80’s and is having coverage in my magazine. I will also group all my friends with banners and t-shirts etc. to act as fans at a concert or event. This could work well, as music fans are generally quite young.

My Music Magazine Synopsis

My text will be a pop music magazine called Sound Wave, which feature pictures and articles about artists that appear in the charts, such as Rhianna and Beyoncé and also some ‘classic’ artists and will include interviews with popular artists. It is inspired by Q magazine, but my magazine will be aimed at a slightly younger audience, of about age 16 to 25, both male and females. The contents page will contain articles such as top festivals and concerts to go to in the summer and top rated albums of the month etc. The main artist that will be on my front page and double page is a new, young female singer whose talent has recently been recognised through videos of her singing on YouTube and she has just recorded her first album. The interview on the double page will contain questions about her album and her response to her sudden fame. The format of the article will be similar to an interview with Lana Del Ray taken from an issue of Q magazine. The colour scheme will be quite simple and not too overpowering, similar to the style of Q and NME magazines, which generally stick with 2 or 3 colours.

I have decided to use the artists Florence from Florence and the Machine and Birdy as inspiration for the style of artist that will go on my front cover. I chose Florence because of her bright red hair, which my model, Clara has, and is the reason I chose her to be my model. I liked the two magazine covers with her in, as there is no background, just her face and hair, which I really like, as it more eyecatching and the eyes are bigger, meaning the viewer can connect easily with the image. I chose Birdy as inspiration, mainly because of her young age of just 15. I also loved her youthful style and natural style of photographs of her taken outdoor settings. I choses other images that I could draw inspiration from, such as the image of Lana Del Ray, as I liked the flowers in her hair, which I might include in my photos. My colour scheme will include reds, purples and blues. Like Q magazine, it will mainly include reds, because this colour is very eyecatching and assossicated with music magazines.

Magazine Audience Research

The target audience of most music magazines is adults from around ages 18 to 35, and generally aimed at both genders, however men tend to buy them more than women. Because these magazines are aimed at an older audience who earn a living, it means that they can afford to increase the price of magazines, meaning quality and content can be higher. Also, the fact that the audience is older allows editors and writers to include articles about classic albums from previous decades in order to suit their age range. Although some specific music magazines are aimed at smaller audiences, such as at professional musicians, teenagers or fans of a particular genre of music (Kerrang! is an example), the majority of music magazines being sold are targeted at the general public. For example Q and NME are magazines that target the general adult public. This may contain general music fans that purchase and listen to music in the charts; specific music fans who listen to a certain genre or artist and want to find out about concerts and new albums; musicians who look to famous artists for inspiration or even people who are interested in gossip about celebrities in the music industry. 

Historical Music Magazine Research

Melody Maker and NME

Melody Maker was first launched in 1926 and its focus was jazz, aimed at professional musicians. It had a small target audience, so its style was very technical and instructive, about the music, rather than the musicians, which is the main focus of music magazines today. For example reviews for musical instruments were often featured.

 Melody Maker’s competitor in around the 1960’s was New Music Express (NME), which began in 1952 and was created to cover the emerging rock ‘n roll genre. NME started the first ‘UK Singles Chart’, which became a popular list that music buyers based their purchases on, and the idea was borrowed from the American magazine Billboard.  

In the 1990s, Melody Maker became less and less popular. They received less artist interviews, and bands stopped advertising gigs, however, its classified advertising section stayed a highly read section in the music industry itself and Melody Maker was the first place musicians advertised when they wanted to find new band mates. But, when Melody Maker finished in 2000, it was selling just 32,500 copies a week, their lowest number in their 74 years. However, the institution IPC was able to merged it with NME, although many will say that there is very little of Melody Maker’s professionalism in today’s NME.

Smash Hits

One of NME’s most successful periods was in the 1970s when editor, Nick Logan succeeded in persuading it into a hipper, more irreverent editorial point of view. In 1978, Logan launched another magazine called Smash Hits, which targeted teenagers. The magazine published song lyrics, which is what made it so famous. Smash Hits stopped publication in 2006 but is still a profitable website as well as digital TV and radio.

Kerrang!

Kerrang! was introduced in 1981 and was one of the first music magazines to be genre specific, as it focused only on rock and metal music. Other magazines like this were mainly produced in the 90’s, such as Mixmag, which had a dance and clubbing music genre, The Source, was specific to hip hop and rap music and Classic Rock magazine, with a rock music genre aimed at an older audience. 

The Face

The face was created in 1980 by Nick Logan, editor of Kerrang!, smash hits and NME and was a monthly magazine very similar to Smash hits, but was aimed at an older audience and focused not only on music but also fashion and lifestyle. The magazine stopped in 004, but was the influence for many modern magazines such as Q, Mojo and Uncut.

Billboard

Billboard magazine’s first issue was published in 1894, but only became very well known in about 1936. From the magazine, a radio channel and record sales charts, called the Billboard charts were created. Although, the magazine was mainly aimed at experts and professional in the music industry, it was and is now, available to the general pubic

 

Rolling Stone

The magazine was first launched in 1967, and was known for reflecting on the changes in music culture and political concerns about music, whereas other magazines of the time provided factual information