Ideology of my music magazine

Whose interests does the magazine serve? Who or what does it represent?
The magazine is intended for teenage girls, and so it represents them and their interests, such as celebrity gossip and other insights into celebrities personal lives. I will use my reader profile to consider the content of my magazine properly, so that I can interest my target audience with as much impact as possible.

Who is present and absent in the magazine?
As my magazine is a music magazine, the vast majority of the people featured are going to be music artists, including soloists and band members. I may also include talk of music moguls in my articles, as well as other celebrities when discussing featured artists' personal lives. Apart from these instances, there will be no talk of anyone else in the public eye, such as politicians or actors. I may also include some unsigned artists, but otherwise I will not really feature any other 'everyday' people.

Powerpoint Presentation on my Features Page

Features page

View more presentations from HannahLuise.

As part of a peer marking scheme in order to enable us to accept constructive criticism about our features pages, I created a presentation of my features page so as to explain the decisions I made while creating my features page. This can be viewed above.

Photos for my features page

In these photos I wanted to create a believeable setting. Therefore, I used a keyboard and headphones, and by doing this I also depicted that my magazine is categorised in the 'music' genre. I wanted this shot to be natural, and this is why I asked my model to sit at the keyboard and play it; I did not want the photo to look too staged, as a lot of the other photos are. I experimented with using different facial expressions, and decided to use the one in which my model is smiling because I wanted this photo to be more relaxed and show the 'artists' 'fun' side. The lighting in these photos is quite clear, but I put the one that I used into black and white as it made it look more professional.

In this photo I wanted to really create an appropriate set. This is why I used a guitar and amplifier, as well as the headphones used in the previous shot. I wanted this photo to be more of a serious, action shot, perhaps recreating a live performance, and this was why I included the amplifier. By using these props the photo also depicts the type of music that the artist creates. The lighting in this picture is too dark, giving it an unclear quality. I used this photo for my features page, but altered the contrast and put it into black and white so as to make it look clearer.

I wanted these photos to look as though my model was standing around casually. Therefore, I have him standing in a laidback pose against a white background. The lighting in these photos is not very good - particularly the bottom one - and so I did not use either of these photos in my final features page, as I could not alter them in such ways that they could look more professional. Both of the photos have an indirect address to them, which adds to the casual feel of them.

The main focus of these photos is the headphones that my model is wearing. This is why he is sitting against a blank white wall, and the photo is a close up shot. I wanted my photo to focus on the headphones so that it helped to convey my magazine as a music magazine. By using an indirect address, more attention has been brought to the headphones. The lighting in the photos is bright enough to ensure that the image is clear. I did not use any of these photos in my final features page because I found that the background was slightly dull, and I only chose 3 photos in the end. I asked my model to experiment with facial expressions, as I did not really know what sort of mood I wanted the photo to be.

This photo would have been more successful if I had asked my model to keep both feet on the ground, as it looks slightly as though he only has one leg! I asked my model to stand in the far right part of the frame, and to look at the bottom right hand corner, as this created an interesting effect with the majority of the photo being the white background. The focus of this shot is, again, the headphones, so as to once again depict my magazine as a music magazine. The lighting on the photo is perfect, as I did not want this picture to look too bright, seeing as it is a serious one. I did not chose to use this photo in my features page, simply because I thought that the other 3 were better photos in the way that they conveyed more clearly that the magazine is a music magazine.



I took these photos against a brick wall outside, as I wanted to experiment with lighting. These photos are intended to be more casual yet thoughtful, and my model is once again wearing the headphones to show my magazine is a music magazine. I was inspired by some photos I had seen on the internet to create these photos, and a lot of rockstars have famous shots taken of them against a brick wall, so I have tried to mimic these photos. I used the top photo in my features page, as it looks professional and a realistic album photograph.



For these photos, I used the same background and scenery. I placed my model on a stage, against a black background, as she is wearing light coloured clothes and I wanted her to stand out. I experimented with a variety of camera angles, but kept most of the distances the same because I wanted to feature the same amount of my model. I ended up using the photo taken from the high angle, as I thought it looked interesting and flattering. It also gave my model an inferior look, whereas some of the photos taken from the floor (low angle) made the model look authoritative. However, by directly addressing the audience, the high angled photo also made my model look authoratitive, and this was why I used it in my features page. The lighting in these photos is too dark, so I edited them, making them brighter and airbrushing my model's face to give her a flawless, cover-girl, glamourous look, like the popstar she portrays.

The original idea that I had for my features page was to have a Christmas feature. I have kept this theme throughout my magazine, headlining my main article 'Winter-oducing Simi'. This explains the Christmas tree in these photos. In the bottom photo, I used a window to take the photo through, in order to convey my model (Simi) decorating a Christmas tree. Neither of these photos really work, as the background is plain white and when I tried to edit in photos of Christmas objects such as presents, the photos looked unprofessional and unrealistic. This is why neither of these photos ended up on my features page.

I wanted a close up, direct photo for my features page, and so I took this one. I tried to incorporate the Christmas tree, but because this photo is against a black background and the tree is quite dark, the efforts are unsuccesful. By having the model's hand up to her head, the photo looks very staged and almost uncomfortable, and the lighting is once again too dark. These factors compelled me not to use this photo for my final features page.

This is the edited version of one of the photos that I used on my features page. I cut out the background and brightened it as well, and the effect of this is that the photograph looks much more glamourous and professional. Though the background is now white, and the model's tops are white, this does not have much of an effect, as my model's hair is so dark, and also the hood of her fleece stands out. I wanted to create a different looking, staged look on this shot, and this has made my photo look much more professional. I airbrushed my model, and this has made her look more glamourous, depicting the type of 'artist' she is portraying.

These photos were taken with a folk artist in mind. This was why I used outside to take the pictures, and included trees in them as well. I wanted the artist to be a little bit like Jason Mraz, and this is why I asked my model to wear very casual clothing. I took the photos outside in the dark as I wanted them to contrast with the other photos that I had taken, which were outside. I used the second photo down, and this has been made brighter, though it is still obvious that the photo is taken in the dark. I made the photo brighter, and asked my model to sing, so that it portrayed a concert scene, as I have not really taken any live action shots for my features page.

Mindmap - Contents of Features Page

I have created a small mindmap of what I intend to include of my features page for my music magazine. By doing this I have organised my ideas and now have a clear idea of what will be included.

Features page analysis

As a research process for the creation of my music magazine, I looked at other features pages and looked at the conventions used, as well  as the mode of address. This particular magazine is Kerrang!, specialising in rock and metal music. My annotations can be seen below.

Images
The images are spontaneous, and mainly performcance shots. This is because the readers of the magazine are interested in the fundamental foundations of the artists - music- and wish to see them in their 'natural' environments.
The images are often low angled shots, and this gives the artists a sense of superiority, authority and general importance.
The images aim to also create the atmosphere of the scene. There is a shot of the crowd, displaying the chaos of the venue and therefore reliving the event. The shot of the audience also shows how important fan support is, not only to the band, but also to the magazine.
The images are randomly scattered around the page, depicting the chaos of the gig as well as the kind of music the band makes.
The images have a white border, looking almost like a polaroid picture, again bringing a very natural and spontaneous feel, as well as creating an almost nostalgic atmosphere.
The main image has a yellow spotlight which continues to the next photo. The position of the man's hand also draws the eyeline to the other shots, cleverly drawing the reader's attention to the other pehotos.

Mode of address
The photos do not generally show people looking into the camera and therefore portray the band in their natural environment.
The heading of the article is the name of the band featured, therefore clearly showing the reader what to expect from it.
This 'KKKK' rating featured helps to create a brand identity for the magazine, as it is a feature unique to it. The folio in the bottom corners of the page also have this effect, as does the 'Kerrang! Week of Rock' heading in the top right corner.
The singer in the main image is depicting not only the sort of music that the band create, but also the genre of music that the magazine represents. He has a cropped haircut and heavy tattoos, depicting aggression and authorit.
The main article is much more ordered than the rest of the page, using clear photographs, and this shows some professionality.
The sans-serif font shows masculinity, purpose and functionality, again being professional yet also depicting the kind of music featured.

SurveyMonkey response

https://www.surveymonkey.com/MySurvey_ShareResults.aspx?sm=TBctE%2fTvuhen0ANxZXN92gdgHitQWBtPoszE34pF95Kq1tUBhXJcFqFL0VdOi2Kk

This is the response for my survey, created on SurveyMonkey. In this questionnaire, I tried to target specifically those who I wanted to include in my target audience; teenage girls. I tried to include questions which I had not had answered in my previous questionnaire. I have analysed the questions below.

1. 50% of the girls answering my survey stated that their favourite genre of film was Romance, the other half chose Romantic Comedy. This shows that they watch films that are light-hearted or sad; more feminine films such as 'Dear John' and 'Mean Girls'.

2.  The results of this question were fairly varied. 16.7% chose 'Once a week' as their answer to the question 'How often do you watch films?'. 33.3% watch films twice a week, another 33.3% watch them once a month, and 16.7% unspecifically chose 'Other' as their answer. This shows a variety of different personalities, but a fairly frequent amount of film-watching.

3. 66.7% of my target audience have a job, showing that they earn their own money regularly. This is important to me, especially considering a price for my music magazine and ensuring that customers get their value for money.

4. Half of my target audience do not earn any money monthly. The other half earn different amounts; 16.7% earn up to £50, the same amount earn up to £100 and another 16.7% earn more than £200 monthly. This shows that I will need to be careful when pricing my music magazine, and once again will ensure I consider value for money.

5. I asked my target audience where they usually shop for clothes as I hoped that this would help me to identify different personalities and styles within the audience. The majority of my readers shop at New Look; a fairly cheap high street store. Half shop in Topshop, which is slightly more expensive; a third purchase clothes from the cheapest high street store, Primark, and one person regularly buys from River Island. This is important as it shows that most of my readers wear the same sorts of clothes, and so will have similar interests and personalities.

6. Most of my readers spend an average of between £20 and £50 monthly, so this means that they put aside as little as £5 or as much as £12.50 aside each week to allow for clothes. This could show that they buy a new outfit weekly, and so fashion is important to them.

7. Most of the girls taking the survey would prefer to see 'Famous men' inside a music magazine, and this is important as it shows what kind of feature will attract them to a music magazine. Obviously I will not be able to include an original photograph of a famous man in my magazine, but this has helped me to decide that a man should be included in order to appeal the most to my target audience.

8. 50% of my target audience stated that they would be most attracted to a magazine with a woman on the front cover. This has been very useful to me, as it has helped me to decide that a female will be on the cover of my own magazine in order to provide maximum appeal to the audience.

9. 3 colours in my 'Pick your favourite colours' question appeared with 50% of the votes. These were pink, blue and purple, and so I shall be using two of them as the house colours for my music magazine.

10. The responses of this question are evenly balanced, from up to £10 to more than £40 spent monthly on music. This shows again that I will need to carefully consider price and value for money, in order to cater for all of my target audience.

Reader Profile research - Target Audience

As part of my research for my main task in AS Media - creating a music magazine - I have done some research into the target audiences of similar magazines, NME and Uncut. Through ipcadvertising, I have been able to study the reader profiles for these magazines, and this has therefore helped me to establish my own target audience in my music magazine. Links to these profiles are below:

http://www.ipcadvertising.com/resource/hvcjivb3x8p8oqk9bw285ffu.pdf
http://www.ipcadvertising.com/resource/ie8ggqzju8kgqdditq67k9hj.pdf

The reader profiles on these two particular magazines have included statistics about the gender of the majority of the readers, their average income, relationship status, median age and whether or not they are a student. As well as this, the reader profiles give details about how popular the magazine is, and how much it costs to create the magazine. These reader profiles have helped the magazine companies to learn more about their target audience and therefore how to include features which will interest and inspire them.

In order to form a similar 'relationship' with the target audience for my magazine, I have created a reader profile for my magazine, which I have included below.

My magazine's target audience is a teenage girl, and therefore I have included a lot of feminine things on my profile, such as makeup and jewellery. I have also included films that are popular among teenage girls, such as Mean Girls and Twilight, as well as considering popular figures such as Katy Perry and Enrique Iglesias who also interest teenagers.

Music Magazine - Features Page Flat Plan

For our main task in AS Media - a music magazine front cover and double page spread - it is important to consider the basic layout and organisation of original ideas. Therefore, I have used Microsoft Word to create two flat plans showing my first ideas about the layout of my front cover and double page spread in my music magazine, the first of which - my features page - is shown below.

My magazine serves the interests of teenage girls. Therefore I intend my features page to include articles which will interest this audience. For example, though my magazine is a music magazine I intend to include interview questions which ask about relationships, as I know that teenage girls are interested in the love lives of celebrities.

All of the people featured on my features page are going to be from the music industry; all are going to be performers. I am going to think carefully about whether I include new or established artists, and will ask about the preferences of my target audience when making this decision.There will not be any other celebrities in my magazine, as it is strictly music related.

The institution creating the magazine is going to include mainly female employees, and this is going to be conveyed in my music magazine features page as far as possible. For example, during the interview, I will ensure that questions asked include phrasing such as 'here at FML, we are dying to know if you're dating', etc.

I plan for my magazine to be reputable, and therefore the accuracy of the magazine should be very precise. Though the aspects covered are going to be fairly laid-back so as to fit the mode of address for my target audience appropriately, I am going to think carefully about the information I include.

Other people should easily judge that the magazine is created especially for girls, and I intend to make this blatantly obvious through my features page, through the methods expressed above.

My interview is going to feature an artist with a 'rags-to-riches' type story. Therefore, my magazine is going to cover issues such as financial struggle, lack of support and even homelessness. Though my magazine is going to be fairly light-hearted, I want my audience to be able to be inspired by the people featuring in it.