Photo-Shoot for my music magazine

Indesign Practise

I practised using Indesign today to help me get used to using it for when I come to make my music magazine. I took some pictures from the internet and used them for the practise magazine cover.

 

My magazine should be a music magazine but just for practise today I created a celebrity gossip magazine but used my own made-up title 'LOUD!' which will be the name for my music magazine.

 

The large image that is used as the background/cover of the magazine is Kendall Jenner. The left image is Olly Murs and the right image is Robert Pattinson.

 

The two images of Robert and Olly have sharp edges so next time I practise on Indesign I will take away the sharp edges to blend in with the background as these edges can make the magazine look quite unprofessional.

 

When I do come to make my magazine I will use bright colours and fill the whole front cover so that it doesn't look to empty. When I take my own photos I will take a similar shot to the one of Kendall Jenner as I think it looks quite eye catching. I will also design my own barcode.

Practise Photos

These two images are photos I took myself for my music magazine. These were only practise photos just so I could get the hang of using the camera and practising different camera angles and lighting etc.


I will be taking photos again on Tuesday that I will use in my magazine. I will then use Photoshop to make the images look more professional for a magazine.

Double page spread magazine essay

The We Love Pop magazine is mainly for teenage girls because it is a bright and colourful magazine full of recent celebrity singers and bands. The Q Magazine is mainly for older men/late teens who are interested in rock music, which is easily noticeable on the magazine double page spread because it has an image of three men with tattoos and long hair, drinking beer which would often signify a rock/heavy metal type band which is stereotypical.

The first magazine ‘We Love Pop’ layout is quite full of images, text, quotes and colour. The main colours used on the spread is light blue, pink and yellow which is quite girly and eye catching for the target audience. There a lots of quotes over the page which are really trying to grab the audiences’ attention that they will read the interview underneath. This is used a lot in We Love Pop magazine as there a many quotes in big, bold writing that have eye catching quotes from the interview for example ‘PEOPLE ARE SO JUDGEMENTAL’ in bright, white, bold font with a large blue box which to pop music fans would be very eye catching. However Q Magazine used only one quote ‘Just a vodka please’ this quote may attract the audience but the font is hardly noticeable as it is in quite similar font just slightly bigger than the interview font therefore some people may not be interested even if they are rock music fans because the font is not eye catching it does not seem important.

The pictures used on the 'We love pop!' page double page spread are quite similar as the story used on the pages focus a lot on Tulisa (pop music star) all of the pictures are either of just herself, or with her and another celebrity singer. This has most probably been done to remind the reader of the magazine what the main story is about and to attract them to the celebrity figures. A variety of posed individual shots and group pictures have been used on the magazine double page spread for varied effect, however the bigger pictures are the of just Tulisa alone, which are long body shots. The smaller pictures have been used to support some parts of the conversation. For example, Tulisa is asked whether she knows a member of One Direction, Harry Styles, and in the middle of the paragraph a picture of them both has been placed for entertainment purposes and to back up the story which is bound to attract pop music lovers especially because One Direction are loved by many females.

However, the Q Magazine double page spread pictures are slightly different. The only picture on the spread is the a large image on the back which takes up the whole of the page which could mean it is important and really wanting to grab attention. The picture is of three male singers, who look like they are having a party, as the picture contains empty bottles of alcohol everywhere, they also have no tshirts on and there is a lot of mess as if a party has just ended. On the bottom right hand corner of the picture, the words 'having a quiet night in’, this is clearly sarcasm and would amuse the audience because they would be intrigued to know what the story is about.

The last feature on these two double page spreads is the layout of the magazines. The 'We Love Pop!' double page spread seems to be set out a lot like a  newspaper article. The headline along the top and a smaller font telling us more information on the story, below the headline, a picture is in the middle of the circle of text and the layout of this page makes the picture really stand out which is the most important part of the page as this is what attracts the audience, and suggests the text links to what the message of the picture is. Below the image shows a quote from the text, again hinting parts of the story to make the reader intrigued to read it. The second page is a large image of Tulisa using the whole page which could mean the story to this image is important, as smaller images may not be as important hence why they are small.

In the Q  Magazine double page spread, the layout is very basic. There are no images on the first page and the text is set out again like a newspaper article as it contains very basic font style and size with little colour. The text is written in 2 columns and takes up a big amount of the page. Much like the 'We Love Pop!' first page. The main headline 'Biffy Clyro' is central along the top, with smaller font below it is explaining more about the article. The text layout has been set out with interview names, with the speech next to the celebrities initials and the question they are being asked above it. 

From studying both completely different magazines I have found that a magazine with more colour, exciting font, lots of images and eye catching quotes attracts the audience much more than a magazine with basic colour, simple font and very few images. Therefore I know that when creating my magazine that I need to use lots of eye catching features that will really attract my target audience.

Publication Plan

Name of magazine: LOUD

Font of name: HOBOSTD

Positioning statement: Britain's favourite pop music magazine

Frequency of publication: Weekly

Price: £1.50

 

Rationale: To produce an up to date pop music magazine that attracts all young people (females) who enjoy the latest singers gossip.

Style: Pink and black

 

 

Images I would like in my magazine

Here are some images I found from the internet that I would like to include in my magazine, the photos I take I will try to style the models in a similar way.

I really like the style of this image of country/pop singer Taylor Swift. I like the close-up as it shows her hair-style and makeup. I think this style of image would stand out on my music magazine.

I also really like this image of model Kendall Jenner. I like the way in which she is posing, along with her hairstyle and choice of clothing. I think this style of image would stand out on the front cover of my magazine, therefore I will attempt to style the model for my photo-shoot in a similar way.

I really like this image of girl band Little Mix. I like the way are standing, their similar choice of clothing (black skirts) and their facial expressions. They really look like a close-together girl group who would attract a similar target audience to the one for my music magazine.

Double page spread magazine

I analysed and completed an essay about the differences between the following magazines. I wanted to get a good undertanding of how both magazines presented images, text, colour etc to help me produce a good music magazine that is very eye catching for my target audience.

Results from my questionnaire

The results from my questionnaire will now help me to plan my music magazine. From the results I have been able to view roughly what kind of music my target audiences' age group enjoy, the price they are willing to pay along with roughly how often they buy music magazines or listen to music.

I have now been able to work out what sort of images I will include in the magazine, the genre of music I will base the music magazine on and the age group I will target at. I will use specific images, colour and font that I think will best suit this target audience. I will also conduct a number of drafts for the magazine and will improve and add to it as I go along. The final media product should look the most professional out of all of the previous drafts, it should also suit my target audience perfectly.

Questionnaire Analysis

 I wanted to find out the age of the respondents so that when they answer the other questions e.g. 'What kind of music do you like?' I can discover if there is a link between age and the genre of music they like.

 

 

 

 

 

I asked this question so that I can get a good idea of what age groups enjoy listening to music so that I could design my music magazine for their age group.

Music Questionnaire

This is my music magazine that I handed out to my target audience 8-16. I got 20 questionnaires filled out to collect as much information as I could about what magazines this age group like.

Analysing Contents Pages

Analysing Contents Pages

I looked at four different magazine contents pages and analysed each one. The magazine contents pages I analysed were ‘Mix mag’, ‘we love pop’ ‘Q magazines’ and ‘NME’. Each magazine share some similar features, however they all both differ in their own unique way.

The first magazine contents page that I analysed was Mixmag. This magazine is a dance/music magazine. The target audience would be young adults up to the age of around 30 who enjoy club/dance music. The contents page does not contain much language as the majority of the page is filled with big images. This could be because a lot of people enjoy just looking at the pictures rather than reading lots on a magazine. However, at the bottom of the first page of the double page spread; it contains the words ‘your free CD’. This is informing the reader on the artist of the CD and the songs that are included. Where the page numbers are, are the title of the article and underneath is a brief summary of each story included inside the magazine.
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This is similar to the NME (New Music Express) magazine. On this contents page of the magazine, there are 8 images that all vary in size. The text on the page are all quotes that come from the stories inside the magazine. For example, on page number 6, under the picture of a musician playing the guitar, the quote is ‘Someone’s gonna have to go to the hospital’ this is in capital letters which suggests it is an important quote or story in the article. Under the quote, there is smaller but bold font, which says “Howler visits everywhere on the NME tour.”  Both magazines also state the page numbers on the bottom of the pictures and the contents and page numbers are not the main part of the magazine, the pictures are the most important as it can tell the audience a lot just by glancing at it.

Another magazine contents page I analysed was ‘We love pop’. The main target audience would be teenage girls who enjoy listening to pop music. The pictures on this page are varied; there are 6 main pictures. The biggest picture in the middle is of a pop artist Tulisa, which could mean that she is quite famous and popular in pop music, therefore this would persuade the target audience to buy this magazine. Also on the magazine is a strip of 11 little images along the bottom, which are previews of posters that are included inside the magazine. All the pictures are of pop artists, which is relevant to the target audience.

‘Q magazine’ also has pictures on their contents page that are similar to ‘We love pop’. The images are all of musicians; there is one main picture on the right hand side of Adam Ant, which is similar to the main picture of the pop singer Tulisa on ‘We love pop’ magazine. The layout of the contents page is a block containing the title ‘Inside this month…’ along with 10 stories being shown with their page numbers. This layout is similar to ‘Q magazine’ as this contents page also has a box with the words ‘REGULARS’ with a few stories mentioned along with their page numbers. The layout of both magazines are similar because the contents pages are in number order. This has been made so that it is easier and less confusing for the reader.

One other magazine I analysed was ‘We love pop!’ This was the one of six magazines that had their own logo. Their logo was ‘WE ♥ POP!’ and is situated on the top right of the page next to the title. The rest of the magazine contents pages have the name of the magazine (Mixmag) along the top, such as ‘CONTENTS’ on Q magazine or ‘Inside this week’ for NME magazine. Fonts are also varied on some of the magazine contents pages. NME magazine font is different for each story that is briefly mentioned on the contents page. This could be to not make it look simple, but to also give an impression that there is a reason for the font to be different for each story and to make it look more interesting and attractive to the target audience.

Once I begin to create and develop my own music magazine cover and contents page, I will use the magazines I have analysed to get a gain a good understanding of other magazines layout, colour, images and use of language and text. I will also use this analysis of the magazines to see which features looked better than others and which ones could be improved so that I can use this to help me create my magazine so that it is eye-catching and attractive for my particular target audience. I need to gather plenty of research so that I design the music magazine to suit the age of my target audience.

Contents pages

These are 6 contents pages that I annotated in class to help me write an essay about target audience for magazines that will help me discuss and learn about my target audience for my music magazine that I am producing for my coursework task.

Final draft for preliminary task

This is my final draft for my preliminary task, I slightly changed the contents page by taking away the banner and adding two bubbles to make it stand out more. I also changed the front cover only slightly by also adding two bubbles on the top left and right to make the magazine look more interesting and to fill the grey background otherwise it could look quite boring.

Type of music magazine

For my coursework task, I am going to produce a music magazine on the latest music in the UK top charts. I chose to do the magazine on this because I feel that it is quite popular especially with the teenage audience. Below, is the mood board I created which shows some of the artists I will be using and talking about in my magazine.