The main task we have been given is to create a front page, contents page and a double page spread for a new music magazine, must have a minimum of four images, all images and text have to be created by ourselves. I had to do some research into existing music magazines, I was to look at the conventions and see how they affect the reader and how they make the magazine look professional and appeal to a specific audience. A conventional music magazine uses pull quotes, large bold masthead, this helps the reader to identify the magazine, plugs are used to make giveaways and important information stand out so the reader notices them. I had to choose a target audience, I analyzed Metal Hammer magazine, Q magazine and Decibel magazine in order to complete my research.
For my front cover, I wanted to have a red and black theme with white text, this was my initial idea, however, I adapted this by over lapping red and white together for important sub headings on the front cover and used white for the information. The font I used is called Royal Acid, this is similar to the “Rolling Stone” magazine font, I used this because I felt it looked vintage which is the area I wanted to touch with my magazine. For my splash I used a canon 550D in order to take a high quality picture, I connected it to a soft box light, this gives an ambient light effect and enhances the depth of field giving the focused point a higher quality and a much more professional look. I made sure I used a medium shot in order to get all of my subjects in close proximity and using up one third of the shot each, this allows us to see their emotions as well as being able to see the majority of the character in full. I chose to call my featured alternative rock band “Royal Acid” this is the name of the font I used for my masthead and sub information, however, it seemed also appropriate as a name for the band because alternative rock bands tend to have unusual names. I wanted to keep the date, price and website small so it didn’t take up a lot of space, but also large enough for people to be able to read it. I also decided to feature a festival band line up list on the right hand side, this fills the page but also gives people some informative information in case they were thinking of attending the festival.
I took a number of photo’s in order to get a varied selection, the one I chose I felt was the best because the height of the three subjects was the same, they all had mutual or slightly gloomy faces, this fits the alternative rock genre quite well as the genre mainly focuses around blues and ballads. At first I wanted a strong dominant title so it stands out from other magazines, I had a very solid black background behind my text, however, I felt this was too much of a sharp contrast and I changed the gradient so it looked more of a smooth transition. The pull lines on my front page reflect the music genre, I did this so it would appeal to people who want to read about alternative rock, They are a large font and bold red with over lapping white, this stands out amongst the dark background, this means the reader can see what the cover says and gather the information easily.
I wanted my magazine to represent the teen to early adult age group, so I used three people for my main photographs, they are all 17, this means that the reader can relate to the people on the cover. My magazine represents teenagers who are interested or have a following towards Alternative rock, these individuals tend to have a random dress sense in which they like to call their own, this reflects my chosen target audience because these people seem to follow the individual dress sense in the same way that the artists do, people from other social groups see them as sad all of the time or depressed, so I’ve chosen a facial expression in my splash to represent this “depressiveness”. I’ve tried to attract my audience by featuring popular alternative rock bands such as Coldplay and the Gorillaz.
I believe my magazine would be published by an institution such as Bauer, this is because they publish such magazines as Kerrang and Q, these magazines are very similar to my magazine because they follow very similar artists and try to bring an excellent quality of news and information laid out in a professional style which makes it reader friendly and easy for the audience to consume.
Moving onto my contents page, I kept the same theme of red and black I also used the same font for the masthead and the subtitles, this time however, I wanted to have a harsh contrast from the black and the red, this makes it easy to see and follows the house style, this also ensures continuity throughout the magazine. I decided I wanted to make a double paged contents page because it creates more space for a featured page as with the left side of my page which is a picture of “Royal Acid” the band on my front cover, however, there is only two band members in the photo because I wanted to make the it more interesting to look at rather than have the same picture again. The text is mainly on the right hand side, this lets the audience see “Royal Acid” first, this is because they are featured in the left third of the page and this is were the reader looks first. I used white text for the information so the page wasn’t all dark and gloomy.
I wanted to attract the reader more so I decided I would have a free giveaway of a Paolo Nutini album, this makes the audience want to read on, and possibly buy a magazine next time for more free giveaways, I placed a picture of “the one million dollar man” this gets people of all ages interested and then I captioned “how he did it”, this also makes people want to read on to find out what he did. I wanted my subject to pose with a big smile on his face to show that he was overjoyed with his achievements. I also used a picture for “The largest music collection EVER!” I needed this to be a smart looking youngster to reflect the individuality and thoughts of the young people, this relates to my audience by showing them how young people can achieve massive things too.
The image on the left of my contents page was again taken with a Canon 550D and connected with a soft box light for the same ambient glow provided in the front cover splash, I wanted my subjects to strike a cool relaxed pose in order to show that they are calm collective people, but I also placed a cigarette on my left subjects ear, this connotes rebelliousness and reflects the behaviour of the band members.
My double page spread follows the same technique regarding to taking the initial photograph, however, I wanted to have my subjects strike happier poses because they are telling us about their achievements with their band and what they hope to be doing later on in their career, I had one of my subjects face away, I felt this gave the impression that he was a less important member of the band and that he didn’t get to say much or have very much to say. This is also amplified by the fact that he is on the next page and cut off from the other two band members.
I decided I wanted a more clean look to my double page spread, and to achieve this I only used the red and white in the name of the band “Royal Acid” the rest of the text is written in Times New Roman, I feel this is a clean text that works well and makes easy reading for the audience. I chose to place a pull quote in the top left hand corner, again this is the first place that the reader looks when opening the page, it directly relates to a piece of text in the interview and I feel it’s interesting enough to make the audience want to read more about the band.
From taking on this task, I have learned how to utilise Photoshop in order to manipulate photographs and create a professional looking magazine Front cover, double page spread and contents page. Furthermore, from when I started the task to now, I realise that I have learned a great deal thanks to research of the media syntax, it has also made me realise just how much work goes into creating a music magazine.
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