Locations

Over the course of two days, I have taken some images of my chosen locations for my indie rock magazine. These particular locations will be featured throughout my magazine, on the front cover, contents page, and double page spread. As you can see, I have taken a variety of images, to ensure that I have a wide choice of images/locations to choose from.

Weekly Update/Progress Report

Last week, I completed the risk assessment forms, as well as asking the model's to complete my model release forms (asking for permission to appear in the magazine). Myself and Maisie have completed our final pitch, after editing and updating it because of some minor errors.

Social Networking Research

Maisie uploaded our final questionnaire to her Facebook and Twitter (as I don't have either) to gain wider research and a variety of different peoples opinions rather than just people in my year at my college, to help us get more inspiration and ideas.

Possible Locations

I have thought about quite a few possible locations to consider using for my magazine, I am going to go and look at all of these and take photos of them to see what I think would suit my target audience best. Some of the possible locations include graffiti alley ways, brick walls and dark stair ways. I have locations both inside and outside to try and give my magazine a mix and not make it too boring. With it being the middle of December and it getting dark at around 4pm I have found it quite difficult to be able to get decent photos of the outdoor locations therefore we have found it difficult to complete certain work to deadlines.

Final Pitch

Myself and Maisie's research has helped us make many decisions with our ideas for our rock magazine. Although no decisions we have made are final, we have got quite a few ideas that we think will more than likely make it to our final copy. The research that has influenced us the most is probably our textual analysis, this helped us discover the conventions of a music magazine which then gave us ideas and inspiration as to what to apply for our own magazine. We have decided that our colour palette will include the four colours: yellow, green, black, and white; this is because we thought that we would go against the stereotypical colour scheme used in rock magazines. This will hopefully create a more urban, edgy, individual look for our magazine, attracting more a wider target audience, making our magazine more popular within the ages 16-25. We have decided that we will feature an interview on our double page spread, as from our research we have found that our target audience feel that it is more interactive and fun, creating a more intimate feel, making the reader feel more involved, creating a more fun experience for the reader. Also, we have came to the decision to use an eye-catching slogan linking to the interview, so that it brings in the attention of the reader more, making them want to read into the interview to find out more. On our front cover, we plan to use mainly sans serif font, as this is quite a simple look, as we didn't want the cover to look too busy, in fear that it may look messy and overdone. Also, sans serif font is used in the majority of music magazines, and we thought it looked quite effective, and seems to be loved by the readers/audience of these magazines (this was also agreed by our target audience in our focus group). This type of font is very eye-catching and bold, meaning that it is more attractive to the reader. Our chosen target audience is 16-25 year old males, we have chosen this particular demographic/psychographic group because we feel that this is a good choice as rock magazines are mainly focused on male music groups and artists. This age group was chosen also, because we feel that as 17-year-olds, we can relate to them more, understanding what they might like. We have chosen to do a medium close-up shot for our main image, this is because it is more effective as the camera focuses on the facial expression of the artist(s), meaning that the reader can connect more with the artist(s). The costume of the artist will be fitted in with the music genre to create a more rocky look, using dark colours like black, grey, navy (colours associated with the music genre). On our front cover, we will have two female models, as a music group; one model will be dressed in a black bomber jacket, black ripped jeans, a white distressed t-shirt and black converse. The other female model will be costumed in a long, black, mesh t-shirt, with some distressed grey jeans, and white trainers. We will costume our chosen male artist/model (on the contents page) in black ripped jeans, a white distressed t shirt, and black trainers etc. (rest of the costume description found on the blog). We will co-ordinate the outfit of the model/artist with the music genre, getting inspiration from different magazine covers. e.g. a front cover of an issue from Rolling Stone magazine of Bruno Mars. I thought this cover was quite influential as the prop used (the cigarette in his mouth) adds quite an edgy look to the cover/artist, connoting many things (as seen below) We will lay out our contents page to be quite basic, nothing too complicated, and have pictures on the right hand side of the page; they will also all be in the same filter, but different shots of different artists, e.g. a band, the artist featured on the front cover, and another artist. The page numbers will be printed in a different colour to the text to make it stand out from the other text, highlighting it, and making it more noticeable to the eye.

Resources and Equipment

Focus Group Script

Preliminary Original Image

This is my original shot, which is on the front cover of my preliminary magazine. I chose this particular shot, because it fits the criteria set, and is based in a school environment.

Online Tutorial and Response

Focus Group Video

Previously, we created our focus group asking questions to our target audience on their opinions and views on how they think a rock magazine should be. We had finished filming our research, but when it came to uploading it onto our blogs, our recordings had been lost. This caused us to become slightly behind on our work, as we needed to re-film, however we are now back on track. Throughout this video research, we received many ideas on what we can apply to our future magazine, through asking several questions. One of which was about what colour palette we should use; the response was that darker colours would fit best with our rock magazine image, this is because these are the most typical colours associated with the music genre and the magazine type. We also asked the question of which gender would be the best to represent our magazine; the response was that we should have a male pose on the front cover. Our target audience thought it would be most effective as "both men and women would be interested in a male artist". This is because it attracts a wider audience, and male artists from this particular genre are usually more popular, however we may go against this stereotype and use a woman to create difference, or use both genders. All of our target audience said that they think an interview with an artist is much more personal, as it makes you feel more intimate with the artist, as if you know them personally, like a chatty interview.

Weekly Update/Progress Report

Last week, we completed our preliminary mock ups and finished the official front cover. We are now beginning to complete our resources and equipment, and online tutorials and response research. From completing our preliminaries, we have found what works on a front cover and what does not, e.g. small details like puffs are very effective on a magazine cover.

Preliminary Magazine Cover

Preliminary Contents Page Mock Up

Preliminary Front Cover Mock Up

Weekly Update/Progress Report

This week, myself and Maisie have completed our social networking audience research requesting that our followers/friends complete our rock magazine survey. This is so that we could get an idea of what our target audience looks for in a music magazine, which will help us decide what features to apply to our magazine. We have also started creating our preliminaries of a college magazine using paintdot.net and Microsoft word, and have also started our final research and final pitch.

Conventions

Final Online Questionnaire

Create your own user feedback survey

Weekly Update/Progress Report

This week, we have formed our focus group and created a set of questions to ask our target market based on our possible magazine ideas. We booked the conference room to film our focus group video, which took several attempts to create. Also this week, we updated our conventions and textual analysis, and finished our theoretical research. Upcoming: We plan to finish our final pitch and update our form research.

Pilot Questionaire

Theoretical Research

Technical Research

Form Research

Weekly Update/Progress Report

This week we have been focusing on our technical research, audience profiling, target audience demographics, and theoretical research. We have discovered many things that we will apply to our magazine from this research. For example, the likes of photo editing will most likely be used, by using brightness/contrast to make the images stand out, making them more eye catching.

Email to a Professional

Textual Analysis of Existing Work Summary

After analysing existing work, I found that there are many strengths within the colour palette used in this person's magazine and across most music magazines from the rock/indie rock genres, e.g. red,black,and white; we will apply this to our magazine as it is used quite effectively in all other rock magazines, like Rolling Stone, Q, and NME. Also, the images used are quite good quality and link very well to the article clearly, however they could be a little more realistic. Although there are many strengths, there are also quite a few weaknesses to this magazine; the cover lines on the front cover of the magazine are in a white font, this doesn't contrast well at all with the background image as they are very similar colours, making it almost difficult to read what is written. They could have perhaps put a box behind each cover line, this would have made it more obvious and clear to read, also making it eye-catching to the reader. Also, on the contents page, the main artist's (Roxy Carter) image is one of the smallest on the page, this isn't very effective as she is on the front cover, which means she is the main feature of the magazine; therefore she should have a larger/the largest image.

Progress Report

During our research so far through doing our textual analysis and genre research, Maisie and I have became more aware of our likes and dislikes when it comes to print. Through looking at and analysing different rock magazines have shown me that I like the styles of the magazine and also the genre of music so I think we have chosen well. Some of my favourite bands are in this music genre, such as Red Hot Chilli Peppers, Kasabian and Arctic Monkeys, because I have an interest in this genre of music I really think that will help me achieve the grade I aspire for. Here are a few examples of some of my favourite covers:

Influential Figures

Textual Analysis of Existing Work

Summary of Findings

From analysing my first music magazine text, I have found that most magazine covers contain a long shot of the artist(s), this is something that I would like to apply to my magazine, as I think that it is quite effective. The main colour palette of the magazine is usually black, red and white, this gives it quite an edgy look, and also creates simplicity within the magazine. Also, the overlapping/letters covered (occasionally) on the front cover of the magazine, gives off a very rocky image, linking to the whole idea of how rock artists aren't particularly bothered about their image/attitude, this is something that we might apply to our magazine. This is because, it shows that the magazine has such a large mass audience that they don't need to have the whole brand name showing on the front cover, the public will instantly know who the brand is, and buy it anyway.

Textual Analysis - NME Magazine

Summary of Findings

From analysing my first music magazine text, I have found that most magazine covers contain a long shot of the artist(s), this is something that I would like to apply to my magazine, as I think that it is quite effective. The main colour palette of the magazine is usually black, red and white, this gives it quite an edgy look, and also creates simplicity within the magazine. Also, the overlapping/letters covered (occasionally) on the front cover of the magazine, gives off a very rocky image, linking to the whole idea of how rock artists aren't particularly bothered about their image/attitude, this is something that we might apply to our magazine. This is because, it shows that the magazine has such a large mass audience that they don't need to have the whole brand name showing on the front cover, the public will instantly know who the brand is, and buy it anyway.

Genre Research

Response to the Brief

Myself and Maisie Weaver have chosen to create a rock music magazine, this is because we feel that we will be able to achieve a better grade by focusing on a music type we know a lot about. We have decided that our target audience will be mainly focused on young people/teenagers(16+); this is because we our teenagers ourselves, which means that we will have a better understanding of what may appeal to them/want they want to see. There are two specific rock magazines that have influenced our choice of genre: NME and Kerrang magazine, they seem to have a very big fan base/audience which could be because of the specific content within the magazine, e.g. musicians/articles. Print Brief: Preliminary exercise: using DTP and an image manipulation program, produce the front page of a new school/college magazine, featuring a photograph of a student in medium close-up plus some appropriately laid-out text and a masthead. Additionally candidates must produce a DTP mock-up of the layout of the contents page to demonstrate their grasp of the program. Main task: the front page, contents and double page spread of a new music magazine (if done as a group task, each member of the group to produce an individual edition of the magazine, following the same house style). Maximum four members to a group. All images and text used must be original, produced by the candidate(s), minimum of FOUR images per candidate.

Welcome Note

Hi there, my name is Alice Porter and I am currently studying Media Studies at AS Level (which my blog will be based/focused upon) at Countesthorpe Community College. I have focused on the indie-rock genre for my magazine, exploring current magazines and former ones to gain inspiration for my production. My candidate number is 8266.

Summer Research Task