Planning and Production

Sketches

this is a sketch of my front cover

this is a sketch of my contents page

this is a sketch of my double page spread

This is my first version of my front cover which i have made changes to improve it



These are screen grabs of my front cover as i produced it



These are screen grabs of my contents page as i produced it

These are screen grabs of my double page spread as i produced it

Pictures

These are the pictures i took to use for my music magazine:

The picture above is a screen capture of how my contents page looked before i made changes

The picture above is a screen capture of how my double page spread looked before i made changes.

The picture above is a screen capture of what my front cover looked like before i made changes

The image above is the one i used for my front cover

The image above is the one i used for my main image in my contents page.

I used the image above in my contents page

I manipulated this image above so that it was in black and white to look like an album cover that already exists

I used the image above in my contents page

I cropped the cross out of this image and put the layer underneath my text on my Double Page Spread

I used the image above on my contents page

Publication Plan

Publication Plan

TITLE: NOTICE

POSITIONING STATEMENT: Everything you want to know about music

FREQUENCY OF PUBLICATION: Weekly

PRICE: £1.90

DISTRIBUTION: Newsagents, Music shops, Supermarkets, General store

RATIONALE: The aim of my magazine is to focus on what the readers would want to know about bands and to include opinions on each article that is published. We will offer a new band to be interviewed every week and have a write in section where the readers can give ideas on who could be interviewed next week.

STYLE: An informal style of writing will be used as the target audience would want to be addressed how they speak and not very formally. The magazine is for all indie followers and will use terms associated with this music genre which is simple to understand.

REGULAR CONTENT
- Editorial
- Crosswords
- Electronic equipment
- Main article about main image on front cover
- Strapline of bands information
- Competitions
- Tips on guitar playing
- Sent in photos of people meeting band members
- List of gigs
- Cartoon strip
- Readers’ letters
- New Band(s) just signed

FEATURE ARTICLES
- Best venue for live concerts voted for by readers
- Singing training
- Is it better to stand and play or move around and play?
- Interview with band member (this will be a regular feature and will cover mainstream acts – unsigned acts)
- Article about covers gone wrong
- Build up to the Leeds festival
- Interview with Robert Smith about his top 10 favourite bands.
- Interview with Caleb Followill About his influences to start Kings of Leon
- Article involving 100 best indie songs of the past 50 years
- How everything fits together – how bands started out
- Competition to meet the Editors and tour with them for a day – E.G of competition
- Have a chance to record a song with your favourite artist/band
- Interview with Alex Turner about his favourite Songs with Arctic Monkeys
- Article about past festivals and what has happened
- Pull out picture of the stage at Leeds festival
- Pictures of Live performances by different bands/artists at past Leeds festivals
- Unsigned band interviewed
- Article about White lies abroad in Ibiza
- Jack Penate secret gigs throughout Liverpool and Manchester
- Kasabian to end the music week in Liverpool

HOUSE STYLE
Coverlines: Cooper Std Black and Arial

Headlines: Arial

Standfirst: Arial 14pt

Captions: Arial 8pt

Features first paragraph: Drop capital Times New Roman, 5 lines deep

New first paragraph: First word in Capital letters

Body Text: Times New Roman 11pt

Colour Scheme: Red, Blue, white

Questionaire & Results

Questionnaire

Q1. How much do you buy a music magazine for average?

<£1.50 2

£1.50-£2.00 8

£2.00-£2.50 5

£2.50-£3.00 4

>£3 1

Q2. How often do you buy a magazine?
Weekly 10
Monthly 5
Seasonally 3
Annually 2

Q3. What is your favourite colour?
Red 7
Blue 7
Green 1
Orange 1
Purple 1
Pink 1
Yellow 2

Q4. Who is your favourite band/singer?
Arctic Monkeys 5
Kings of Leon 3
The Killers 3
Paolo Nutini 2
Kasabian 1
Muse 2
The Maccabees 2
White Lies 1
Jack Penate 1

Q5. What 3 words do you associate with indie?
Alternative 3
Good 2
Cool 1
Popular 4
Noticeable 5
Guitar 1
New 4

Q6. What features of a magazine do you like?
Shows concerts 9
Band interviews 4
Posters 5
All 2

Q7. What features of a magazine do you dislike?
Not enough text 5
Nothing 15

Q8. Do you sometimes but music magazines for the free posters?
Yes 8
No 8
Sometimes 8

Q9. If your favourite band/singer featured on the front cover of the music magazine, would you only buy it because they are on it?
Yes 11
No 9

Results

Q1. How much do you pay for a music magazine for on average?

I have covered a range of prices for music magazines. However, the majority people seem to buy music magazines between the ranges of £1.50-£2.50 on average. Using these results, I will price my magazine at around £2.00.


Q2. How often do you buy a music magazine?

I have covered a range of how often people buy a music magazine. Half of the people who filled my questionnaire said that they buy a music magazine weekly. Using these results, I will create a magazine that appears weekly as more people seem to buy this type of magazine.


Q3. What is your favourite colour?

I have covered a range of colours for people to fill i n. 7 people voted for red and 7 voted for blue making the majority vote split between these colours. Using these results I will use either blue or red in my constant colour scheme.


Q4. Who is your favourite band/singer?

I have recovered a wide range of band/singers that have been said by the people I have interviewed. A quarter of the people who answered my questionnaire said their favourite band was Arctic monkeys which only 2 more people than the other highest voted. Using these results, I will think about using 1 or 2 of the highest voted bands to feature in my magazine.

Q5. What 3 words do you associate to indie music?

I have received a small range of words that people have chosen to associate with indie music. The results show that the votes spread over different words but the main words were noticeable, new and popular. Using these results I will choose to use one of these words as my magazine cover.

Q6. What features of a music magazine do you like?

I have received certain features that are liked by who I interviewed. The results show that 9 out of 20 people like the fact that they show upcoming concerts and a quarter like the posters that are included. Using these results I have chosen to include posters and show upcoming concerts in my magazine.

Q7. What features of a magazine do you dislike?

I have received one feature that people dislike about music magazines. The results show that 3 quarters of people like music magazines the way they are but a quarter think there isn’t enough text. Using these results I will include more text and fewer pictures in my magazine.

Q8. Do you sometimes buy music magazines for the free gifts?

I have received answers for if the people bought magazines. The results show that equal people said yes and no and that only 4 people said sometimes. Using these results I will advertise a free gift as it will attract more people to buy my magazine.


Q9. If your favourite band/singer featured on the front cover of the music magazine, would you only buy it because they are on it?

I have received the results for this question and this will help me to include a picture of people’s favourite band/singer on the front cover of my magazines. Using these results has affected me to include an image of one of the band/singers that were chosen by the people who answered my questionnaire.

Research main task

Main Task
Here is a list of the codes and conventions used for a music magazine front cover:

• the small pictures used feature artists performing
  
• pictures convey an attitude


• list of artists in strip at top or bottom


• features musical instruments


• small number of colours for classy feel
  
• Photography is creative
  

Here is a list of codes and conventions for the contents page of a music magazine:

• Photography is creative

I have constructed research about different magazines and their contents here are the examples i have wrote about:

NME

Price- £2.20
Frequency of publication- Weekly
Issue size- 76 pages
Regular content- Reviews (albums + tracks),Radar, Live! (best gigs), crossword and gear, NME video chart, New videos out this week, editorial
Feature Articles- 2 Double page spreads about the artist/band on the front cover (Arctic Monkeys), other articles about bands/artists that appear in other cover lines on the front cover, information about bands that are in the strap line.

Q

Price- £3.90
Frequency of publication- Monthly
Issue size- 164 pages
Regular content- Reviews (Singles + Albums), Crossword, Monthly News, Editorial.
Feature Articles- Cover story about the main image (The Killers) about their lives up to date, other articles about bands/artists that appear in other cover lines on the front cover, information about who is mentioned in the plus section from the front cover.

Mojo

Price- £4.10
Frequency of Publication- Monthly
Issue size- 152 pages
Regular content- Reviews (Singles + Albums), Editorial, Crosswords, Monthly News.
Feature Articles- Cover story about the main image (Kings of Leon), articles about other band/artists that feature on the front cover of the magazine, puff on the front cover showing that you get a free cd with this issue.

Evaluation - preliminary task

My front cover and my contents follow the codes and conventions quite well. On the front cover i have used one main image of a medium close up with a main cover line. Also there are coverlines which talk about the other contents which feature in the magazine. The colour scheme is kept consistant as the font is blue and is always the same type of font. i have included a puff with my front cover which is allowing the buyer to recieve a free poster.
On my contents page, i have kept to the codes and conventions in many ways. I have used the main image from my frony cover and smaller images with page numbers on the corner to anchor the image. I arranged my contents in order so that it first reads the number of the page and then what article is on the page. i have included an editiorial on my contents page abd included the issue number and contact details.

To construct my front cover i used Adobe Photoshop and i used a picture i had taken to construct it to the full page of the cover. I also used it to insert text that is original and i had modified it so that it was bevel and embossed.
To construct my contents page i used QuarkXPress Passport and input my pictures into the layout that is used for real magazines. Also i used it so i could re-size the pictures and create text boxes to insert my contents page and editorial.

The advantages of my product is that the image can be seen clearly and the text can easily be read because of the serif font which has hooks on the ends of each letter. The disadvantages of my product is that the arrangement of the front cover is out of line with each new coverline down the side.

Production

this is my finished piece for my contents page

this is my finished piece for my front cover

i used this image for my frony cover and used it on my contents page

i used this image on my contents page

i used this image on my contents page

i used this image on my contents page

i used this image on my contents page

Planning

this is a sketch of my contents page

this is a sketch of my front cover