First lesson we started our Music Magazine.

We've recently started our music magazine coursework and after planning, giving our surveys etc, we finally started the front cover in class. My music magazine will be called 'Lyric', contains artists in the rock/alternative genre, aimed at both sexes and potentially for 14 years old and over. We're all using 'In Design' to design our music magazines and it's gradually getting easier to understand the program, especially the more we use it.

I've currently only got half of my front cover done as all I need is some photographs to add so then I can include my features and cover lines too so it all fits. I made my background black, my font white as well as a 'pink/purple' over glow. I added the 'over glow' using the effects on the edit/tool bars. The reason I also used this colour scheme as it got the most votes in my survey, despite the fact I was hoping to at least use black and white anyway. My masthead is large, white, with an over glow of pink/purple and in italics. I may change the pink/purple colour scheme though incase it looks too feminine as well as the font if it all doesn't stand out or fit nicely. I've also used the same colours for my selling line and the words, "Music is the rhythm, Lyrics are the rhyme. Sit up, plug in and go." hoping to attract the audience, although I may change it later on as well as the font used. I've also included the bar code, the issue number and the skyline. I also helped a few people in the class about how to use tools and colours which educated myself even more!

Audience Research

I have created a survey about my music magazine 'Lyric' for 20 people to fill out and collect data.
The aim is that I have 20 responses from all different types of people, i.e. age, gender etc, so that it gives me more suggestions/ideas on how to improve my magazine. I also receive information from these people, judging by the answers in my survey, about what they assume/think my magazine will be like from their own perspective.

I created my survey on 'www.surveymonkey.com' which had a selection of different types of sample questions. I commonly used an essay box so that I could receive suggestions/comments from the surveyors and an example of this was a question about what musical artists they expect to appear in my magazine. Other questions used were called multi choice questions, ratings and open comments which gave a surveyor more of an opportunity to write their own personal opinions or suggestions. The sample I will be using to complete my survey will be to several friends and family, also notifying them to take this seriously. This means that my survey could be bias as they are people I know and don't want to be too critical.

My survey link is: http://www.surveymonkey.com/s/W9ZJRNN

College Magazine: Contents Page

College Magazine: Front Cover

Research & Planning: Comparisons with other music magazines

'Lyric', my own designed magazine, is quite similar to the magazine I am comparing it with. This was not intentional but I will probably make some alterations so that there are much more differences. 'Rock Sound' is a rock/emo/alternative genre based magazine that has an audience of teenagers+ and particularly the white race. Although my magazine is a rock/alternative genre, music is changing so much in this generation that 'emo' may slip into it the category, depending on publicity and fame. I have also aimed for my audience to be 14 year old+ and will most probably attract the white race as the majority of white people listen to these types of music. Although, I want it to be of a wide range and any race can read it but everything is stereotyped nowadays.

I have planned to have my front cover's main colour scheme as black, white and blue whereas once again, Kerrang is very similar. Fortunately, Rock Sound change the colour scheme of their front covers most weeks but they have used black and white a fair few times. I have looked at many of their magazines and they change weekly; one week it'll be a theme of black, white & yellow, the next it will be white, green, black & yellow whereas another week it will be blue, red & white etc! I, on the other hand, would personally keep Lyric with the same background every week even though Rock Sound have used a very clever and eye catching technique by changing the cover several times. The advantages would be of keeping the readers interested, guessing what the colour schemes would be next and Rock Sound can relate the colours to the features of the main bands. The disadvantage is that because it changes so often, the audience would not be able to identify the magazine very easily. 


I also want a big, bold heading of my magazine's name whereas Rock Sound have theirs this way too. The difference would be that I would prefer mine to be grammatically corrected with a capital L and the rest of the letters lower case whilst Rock Sound has chosen to have it's name in all capitals. This is a good way to have it as it's eye-catching and very bold but quite boring at the same time. Also, their main images overlaps their heading and I want to have 'Lyric' at the front and nothing to overlap it or for it to overlap the main image either - this is also an example of an editing style. Other editings made are of images tilted to the side, jaunty and different angles that you would not expect which I hope to use in the future with my own magazine.


Rock Sound contains several advertisements, reviews, features and images just like I hope my magazine will contain. More images that are contained are big and 'in your face' so that the audience is able to see some of the best pictures of those bands and the language used attracts the audience to read on and buy more magazines. I hope to use both these techniques in my magazine so that it comes out in the best quality. The features and reviews, in Rock Sound magazine, also take up a few pages which is what I am hoping to do with my own magazine as well as sections for the advertisements. It gives the audience a pull perspective about the bands and due to having a large amount of space, gives an excuse for the magazine to get as much information about them as possible.

Research & Planning: Ideas development

Brain Storm

• Music Magazine:
• directed at a teenage+ audience. (14 - 25s?)
• interviews of bands - 'clever' titles? - band/music/lyrics related titles?
• maybe contain gossip.
• advertisements - clothing, piercings, gigs/concerts etc.
• features - whole page on a band
• genre: rock/alternative
• a few bands: Paramore, Stereophonics, Muse, Snow Patrol, Keane, We The Kings, Evanescence, Foals, Nickelback, Flyleaf, A Day To Remember, Enter Shikari etc.
• names: rhythm, tunes, plec - may research parts of guitars, amps etc.
  
  

About Music Magazine

I plan to design and make a magazine based on the music genre/s rock and alternative that would be directed at a teenage+ audience (14 - 25s) of both sexes. Rock and alternative are some of my favourite genres and my magazine specifies this audience because most young people listen to these genres of today.

Rock is a form of popular music arising from and incorporating a variety of musical styles, especially rhythm and blues, country music, and gospel. Originating in the United States in the 1950s, it is characterized by electronically amplified instrumentation, a heavily accented beat, and relatively simple phrase structure.
On the other hand, alternative music (also called alternative rock, alt-rock or simply alternative) is a genre of rock music that emerged in the 1980s and became widely popular in the 1990s. Alternative rock consists of various subgenres that have emerged from the independent music scene since the 1980s, such as grunge, Brit pop, gothic rock, and indie pop. These genres are unified by their collective debt to the style and/or ethos of punk rock which laid the groundwork for alternative music in the 1970s.

My magazine will contain several advertisement articles for subjects such as clothing, body piercings and gig/concerts coming up in the year. I hope that it will also have several pages of gossip, features and interviews. The reason is chose to include these articles because they are all very popular nowadays, especially for young people. I will make sure that there is a certain section of pages, in my magazine, for advertisements so that the audience can either skip or head straight to that section if they are in need of contact details for that marketing or want to have a look at what there is to offer. It will not contain too much information on these advertisements but enough for a person to be able to contact the businesses. I have also decided to include gossip, features and interviews in my magazine because they are also very popular to the audience I have targeted my magazine towards. I am hoping to have music related or 'clever but funny' headings for the features and interviews so that they are still related to the band/music and they will capture the audience.


I'm planning to use a colour scheme of mainly black, blue and white as well as big, bold writing for the heading that hopefully will capture the eye and become recognisable. I want my magazine to look 'trendy' as well as having a formal structure that is easy to read. If you were to stereotype my magazine as a colour, you would automatically think black because of the genre/s of music and the bands used so I'm going to continue with that stereotype. I've chosen blue and white too as I like the idea of bright over dark so that it stands out and captures the audience more. Although doing this, it could be considered slightly masculine despite my aim being towards both sexes. 


I have considered several names for my magazine, such as; Rhythm, Tunes, Crunk, Plec and have researched parts of guitars, amps and several other instruments/technology that relates to the genres of music I have chosen to base my magazine upon. I originally chose 'Amplifier' as my magazine title but unfortunately another magazine had called it that. In the end, I chose Lyric as my magazine name, although I may change it soon as I'm still unsure. I chose this because lyrics are the meaning of a song, the story behind it. Lyrics are very important in a song to express their feelings, stories etc.


I have several bands that I have considered to be in my magazine, bands that are obviously within the rock/alternative/alternative rock genre/s. Some of the bands I have chosen will also advertise (in the advert section) their merchandise, gigs etc and others also help charities which can also be mentioned. Charities such as 'To Write Love On Her Arms' (TWLOHA) will also be considered and mentioned in my magazine to help promote, this will most probably be in the advertisement sections. Bands such as; Paramore, Stereophonics, Muse, Snow Patrol, We The Kings, Evanescense, Foals, The Killers, Linkin Park, Nickelback, Flyleaf, A Day To Remember, Enter Shikari and many more.

Everything we have learnt in our Media lessons so far;

As well as everything we have done so far in my past 2 blogs, we have also learnt...

• Ideology
  - the way in which people think about the world and the ideal concept of how to live in the world. (single)
  - shared beliefs of a group of people (everyone)
  
  
• Newspapers
  - how to analyse
  - headline - puns; comical words, headlines, joke in headline
  - font
  - images
  - quotes
  - exaggeration
  - target audience
  - stereotypes
  - who/what/where/when/why
  
  
• Jobs in the media industry
  - Broadcast journalist
  - Radio Traffic Manager
  - Radio Presenter
  - Camera Operator
  - Editor, etc.
  
  
  
• Stereotypes - an assumption made that people are the same as each other rather than different .i.e. drink beer to act like a man or look presentable and have your legs crossed to be lady like.
  
  
  
• Richard Dyer
   - an ordering process (helps us make sense of society)
  - a short cut (macho man; strong, muscles, tall, brave etc.)
  - a way of referring to the world (identify with a group of people they don't know)
  - an expression of "our" beliefs
  
  
  
• The definition of 'news' and understand what makes a good story.
  - Current events presented to the public
  - Breaks stories to the public
  - "A report of a current event given by a newspaper, TV channel, radio show etc."
  
  
  
• Broadsheets
  - The Guardian
  - Telegraph
  - Independent
  - The Times
  - Financial Times
  - Sunday Times
  
  
• Tabloids 
• Black Tops
  - Daily Mail
  - Daily Express
  - Evening Standard (regional)
  - Sunday Express
  - The Mail on Sunday
  
• Red Tops
  - Daily Mirror
  - Sun
  - Star
  - Sport
  - News of the World
  - Sunday Mirror
  
  
  
• Movie Genres
• Movie Dramas
  - Comedy Drama (Shameless)
  - Sci-Fi Drama (Torchwood)
  - Fantasy Drama (Queen's Nose)
  - Supernatural Drama (Trueblood)
  - Horror Drama (Vampire Diaries)
  - Soap Drama (Eastenders)
  - Medical Drama (Doctors)
  - Documentary Drama (Taking The Prince Harry)
  - School Drama (Waterloo Road)
  - Crime Drama (The Bill)
  - Teen Drama (Veronica Mars)
  - Kitchen Sink Drama (everything in it) (Coronation Street)
  - Political Drama (State of Play)
  
  
  
• Magazine Covers  
• Masthead - the category, the name of magazines
                  - big letters, colour etc for the audience to remember
                  - to fit the audience of the magazine
   
• Main Image - the important of the magazine .i.e. the main subject - who will star in it etc.
                     - centerpoint
  
  
• Selling line - brief of what the magazine is. "The magazine is for..."
  
  
• Main cover lines - the main topic of the magazine
                            - the selling point
  
  
• Bar code - it has to be there.
  
  
• Dateline - date
  
  
  
• Genre Conventions
  - Camera shots
  - Camera angles - (close ups, bird's eye view, pov view)
  - Camera Movement
  - Sound - diegetic
               - non-diegetic
  - Sound effects
  - Editing
  - Mise en scene (everything you see in the scene; props, costumes, location etc in the shot.)