Music Magazine Questionnaire

1. How much would you spend on a weekly music magazine?
 Anonymous: £3,£2.50,£2.00,£2.50 

2. How often do you buy a music magazine?


Anonymous: 
Never. 
once a week.
Two or three times a week on the way to work. 
As much as i can.

3. What attracts you to a music magazine?


Anonymous: 
The cover image.
 The price.
Who's on the cover. 
The colour scheme and language used. 




4. What colours would you like to see on the cover of an electro/ indie music magazine?

Anonymous: 
Green/yellow/blue.
 something bold and eye-catching.
Colours that work well together. 
Pastel colours or just black, white and red. 

5. What kind of artists do you listen to?


Anonymous:
Coldplay, The script, courtney pine.
Warpaint, Arctic Monkeys, The Maccabees. 
Blood red shoes, Band of skulls.
SBTRKT, U&I.
James Blake, The Weeknd. 

6. Do you visit gigs/festivals if so, which ones?


Anonymous: 
Yes... Rihanna,Coldplay and Tina Turner.
Glastonbury, Reading and leeds, Benicassim. (x3)
Download festival (x2), summer sundae (local). 

7. What music magazines do you currently buy?


Anonymous: 
Idon't but any.
NME, Q.
I love fakeI-D and Indie magazine. (X2)

8. Do you prefer male or female artists to be on the cover?


Anonymous:
 I don't mind if they are male of female. it's about the music. (x2) 
 I prefer strong female artists on the cover.
 I like to see male bands on the cover of good music magazines. 

9. Do you prefer to look at pictures or read articles?


Anonymous:
 Pictures  are more interesting but articles are also informative. 
I would rather look at pictures. (X2)
 I like reading about the artists but i also think pictures are important. (x2)

Cover image Ideas

My music magazine 'Download' will feature a 4 piece girl band on the cover. I have studied girl bands that are current in the music scene to help me work out what kind of image/costume and poses i want to have with my band. I like the idea of having over dramatic poses, to make the image more interesting to look at. It also portrays the bands personalities. The high angled shot of the band below make them seem less significant and the reader get an overview of the subject being photographed. However i would prefer to use a eye-line/mid-shot that conventional magazines use and that i know work well. Or  a side angle shot to create more dimensions in the cover image. Costume wise i would have the band dress in casual/smart edgy clothes and it's vital that the costumes my band wear  co-ordinate with the pastel colour scheme for the magazine. 

  

Band names

I will be featuring a girl band on the cover of my magazine. The girl band have to represent the indie/electro theme of my magazine so the name of them needs to fit this idea.

Possible names..

- Vex
- Outcasts
- Basement chicks
- The Chunky Torpedo
- Junk Pit

Inspiration for my music magazine.

Here's a few magazine covers that i think best suit the style and theme that i'm trying to created in my music magazine 'Download'.

Pitch Feedback

The theme of my magazine was shown well through the short animoto clip and people seemed to like the concept of having a electro/indie magazine for young people aged 16-25.  Some other things i needed to have included in my pitch; The idea of 'Download' being a weekly magazine. The cost being around £2.50 and the colour scheme.

 
Colour Schemes




I have come up with a few ideas about the colours i want to use in my magazine. I have only created pallets using three different colours like real music/fashion magazines do to simply save money printing. Therefore it's important i get the right colour scheme.

The first colour pallet consists of a dark maroon colour that could be used for a border around an image, text or coverlines. The second colour is fairly neutral, i like this colour and think it could work well as background. Then finally the grey. This would work best if it was used for font. The colour scheme all together blends well and would make my magazine look different to others who use conventional black, white and red.
The second colour pallet uses balck, which would work well for text against the white or red backgroumnd. The black, white and red colours scheme matches the conventional music magazines, such as NME and Q. Therefore i have evidence that the colours work well and sell issues. However i wouldn't want to take a 'safe' option.
I like the pastel colours here in the third pallet, i think they would fit the theme of my music magazine being 'electronica and indie' and show a bit more character about the magazine opposed to again using black and whites. This colours scheme would make the magazine interesting to look at, it also fits my young target audience of 16-25.

Audience Profile

Freddie is a 20 year old student living in the centre of Nottingham at university. He is studying music production and enjoys electro and indie music. Freddie shares a flat with two of his friends who are also on the same course. The three of them all play an instrument weather it’s a mini Casio keyboard, drums or guitar. On weekends Freddie and his friends enjoy going to a local club/bar in Nottingham that plays all their favourite music such as SBTRKT, The XX, James Blake e.t.c. As well as socialising in bars with his friends, Freddie also uses websites such as twitter, Facebook and music sites like Soundcloud to discover new artists and upload some of his own 'homemade' music. Freddie and a few of his friends are hoping to go to Benicassim this year to enjoy live music. Another way that Freddie keeps up to date with all his favourite bands is buying music magazines such as Paste magazine (indie/rock), Wire and I-D. 

Short Animoto clip to go alongside my pitch.

Final masthead font

 This font is almost a combination of the two style's previously. It's not as 'rocky' as the 'plane crash' font which represents rock and heavy metal. It is much bolder than the retro fonts which would make the magazine stand out more to buyers. I'd prefer my magazine to focus on inide/electro music rather than heavy rock. This type of music comes to mind when people think 'Download' being computerised and technical.

Possible Titles:

The name 'Download' would suit the young target audience of my magazine that now download music off sites such as iTunes. The mock up mastheads have a rough printed texture that also fit in with the feisty and outspoken theme for my music magazine. 

There are two different directions i can take with my magazine. The first group of mock up mastheads would represent a rock/punk theme of the magazine. Whereas the two second approaches would be more subtle and could represent a wider range of music.

Magazine analysis

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Mood Board:

Music magazine 

I've created this mood board by taking various images, magazine covers (NME, I-D and Spin), music artists that i like and fashion images that i would want my magazine's style to portray. I'd like to use similar brightly coloured images in my music magazine. The women included in my mood board are strong female acts that have a feisty rock and roll side. Facial expressions/poses are a bit quirky 'in your face' and make the magazine eye-catching. I have also including a few ideas on what i would like to include in my magazine:

- Interviews
- Mix-tapes
- Festival information/ survival guides
- Reviews
- Free downloads

In what ways does your media product use, develop or challenge forms and conventions of real media products? 

I have created a front cover and contents page that replicates professional magazines. I have used three main colours, being black, white and red (in the style of NME) and then consciously added the green because my magazine is a 'Christmas issue' so i used festive colours. Real media products would normally have their models in the centre of the front cover. However I’ve chosen to put my model in the bottom left corner.

How does your media product represent particular social groups?

My prelim magazine features music, fashion, art and culture. Therefore it would appeal to teenagers who are in education, possibly teachers who are interested in the art/culture and music lovers. They layout of the magazine is simplistic and not too busy because i wanted it to have a clean and professional look. Students studying art or music would be interested in this magazine. By having a slang title being 'SKWL' teenagers can easily relate to it, the informal language also makes this magazine less boring to read compared to more upmarket/intellectual magazines.

Who would be the audience for your media product?

By having a school magazine brief, i would say that my magazine is predominantly for teenagers. The magazine also features a 'free EP' to collect, which i thought would be appropriate seeing as most teenagers like music and free stuff. I’ve used a basic yet effective colour scheme that would appeal to boys and girls.

What have you learnt about technologies from the process of constructing this product?

My magazine cover and contents page was created by using Photoshop. Therefore I have learn’t to cut out objects and created layers. I also accessed ‘Colour Lovers’ and ‘Da Font’ to help contribute to what colour schemes and fonts worked best. I have also learnt about the rule of thirds and different camera angles. For my magazine cover I used a mid-shot.