Photographs for the music magazine front cover.

Plans

Planning production.

Front cover:
Photograph

• Mise-en-scene- Plain background (Like used in NME, Uncut and Q.) 
• Makeup- Natural and soft makeup. .
• Hair- Naturally waved, slightly back combed.
• Clothes- Dark colours, simple. 
• Poses- Aggressive.
• Magazine name at the top of the image.

Tag lines and title.

• Title: Upbeat.
• What the cover image is related to (Interview with Stephi Lariene)
• DPS (Icons: Jarvis Cocker.)
• The UK's best concert venues.
• Rip off ticket websites.
• This year's best new-comers.

Contents page:

• Articles arranged into sections in numerical order. E.G Regular,feature.
• Four images to match some articles.
• NO editor's letter (not many music magazines have them.)

DPS:

• Indie Icons: Jarvis Cocker.
• Include information about him and his history in music.
• Fan's comments.
• What he is like live (Written from what I've been told by fans.)
• Images- Record Covers, Ticket stubs, Fans.

Publication plan.

Title: Upbeat.
Positioning statement: All you need to know about indie.
Frequency: Monthly.
Price: £3.

Distribution: Newsagents, Supermarkets, Music stores, Music venues.

Rationale: There isn't really a magazine out there for this specific sub-genre of Indie and, as i do, many people enjoy this type of music and would like to hear more about their favourite artists. The reviews would be written by the fans to give them the chance to voice their opinions but the rest of the magazine would be written by payed journalists.
Style: Informal and humorous (to appeal to a wider range of people.) Simple lexis and syntax so it is easy for everyone to read.

Regular content:Editor's letter.
                          Fan's letter.
                          Reviews (gigs & albums.)
                          The months music news and gossip.
                          Gig listings.
                          Interview on the inside back page (short Q+A.)
                          The week in pictures.
                          Column written by radio one DJ (Fearne Cotton.)
                          Ads so fans can advertise equipment, needed band members, gigs e.t.c.
                          Competitions and give aways.
                          Free posters and CDs.
                         

Feature content:  Interview with new artist (Image on the cover.)
                           DPS- Article on Jarvis Cocker's career.
                          Article discussing the years best new comers.
                          Article about the best concert venues in the UK.
                          Interview with a record company boss: what he looks for in a new act.
                          Introducing unsigned acts we think will be big.
                          Why you should and shouldn't follow a tour over seas.
                          Festivals: The good, the bad and the ugly.
                          How to make it as an unsigned acoustic act.
                          Album of the month (regular but different each month.)
                          Rip off ticket websites.
                          Music videos you must see.
                          The effect of illegal download sites on the music industry.
                          Interview with an artist currently recording a new album.              
                          Posters.
         

Questionnaire

Questionnaire results: Charts.

This shows that people favour the idea of having competitions and giveaways included in my magazine. 

This shows that interviews are the favoured feature to have in a double page spread. 

This shows that the people i questioned would prefer my cover image to be arty over all else.

This shows that my target audience would prefer interviews with artists as the main article.

From this survey I found out that these where the most popular Indie and/or accoustic acts.

1.Tuung.

2.Biffy Clyro.

3.Paolo Nutini.

4.Arctic Monkeys.

5.The Killers.

6. Belle & Sebastian.

This shows that the age range that buy the most magazines are the 15-20 year olds.

 This shows what the participants said would be the best colours to be used in a colour scheme in my magazine. Black was the most popular colour.

This shows what were the prefered features to be shown in my magazine.

Questionnaire results: Tally.

What magazine do you read?

None: 12345

NME: 1234567

Q: 123456

How much do you pay?

£1-2: 123

£2-3: 1234567

£3-4: 1

£4-5:12

Age?

15-20: 12345678910

21-25:

25-30:

31+: 1234

M/F?

M: 12345678

F: 123456789

What colour?

Black: 12

Purple: 123456

Red: 123

Blue: 12345

Green: 1

Competitions and giveaways?

Yes: 1234567891011

No: 12

Frequency?

Weekly:

Fortnightly: 1234

Monthly: 1234567

Quarterly:

Features?

Posters/CDs: 12345678910111213

Interviews: 1234567891011

Reviews: 12345678910

Pictures: 12345678910

Five bands?

Echo and the bunny men: 1          U2: 1

Adele: 1

Arcade fire: 123             Arctic monkeys: 123456

Belle+Sebastian: 1234 5      

Snow patrol: 123             Kings of Leon: 1234

John Power: 123          Billy Ryder Jones: 12345

The killers: 1234         

Nirvana: 1       Biffy clyro: 12

Paolo Nutini: 1234567           Tuung:12

Ed Sheeran: 123          Emma’s imagination: 12

Dps?

Interviews: 123456789

Reviews: 123456

Cover image?

Aggressive: 1

Happy/funny: 123

Arty: 12345678910

Calm: 1

Five words?

Upbeat: 12

 Good: 123   nice: 1

 Happy: 12    fun: 12

 Relaxing: 1      energetic: 1

 Real: 1    unique: 1

Lively: 1    interesting: 12

Loud: 1

What kind of articles?

Interviews with artists: 1234567891011

Interviews with fans: 1234

Interviews with music producers: 1234567

Reviews of gigs: 12345678

Reviews of artists careers: 123456

Reviews of albums/tracks: 1234567

Sound clip: Questionnarre answers

Questionnaire results: Video.

Analysis of double page spread

Drop capital at the beginning of the article.
A quote as the title -"People think I'm an attention seeker, but I'm just honest."
Large image of artists on the right hand side.
Four columns- Short paragraph.
Short introduction underneath the title.
Artist's name in bold in the introduction sentence.
Journalist's name by the title.
Image only slightly uses direct address.
Artist's clothing, makeup and hair depict genre.
Not many colours- mainly red, black and white.
Page number and magazine logo at the bottom.

Drop capitals used at the beginning of some paragraphs.
Paragraphed- Three columns.
Large red drop capital used in the back ground of the writing- Artist's initial. (L-Lady Gaga.)
Image of the artists on the left-hand side.
Artist's name at the top of the page.
Month, page number and magazine logo at the bottom.
No title.
Not many colours used- Mainly black, red and white.
Image doesn't depict genre as much as the previous image (Lily Allen.)
Direct address makes the image appear more aggressive teamed with what the artists is wearing (Just chain.)
No quote, which is unusual for a double page spread.

The features they share:
They each use the same colour scheme.
Each have an image of the artist covering one page.
They each have the magazine logo and page number at the bottom of the page.
They each use at least one drop capital.
They each state the artist's name in bold.

I will apply these features to my own DPS, since they are the things each of them include.

Analysis of front covers.

-List of artists included in the issue.

-Date and issue number.

-Bar code and price.

-Main image of an artist/band, usually direct address.

-Main artist/band name in bold on or next to the image.

-Sometimes have a quote from the artist/band next to the name.

E.G. On the second picture of Uncut, above Paul Weller's name it has the quote "I'm a survivor!"

-The image often depicts the genre, Especially on the covers of NME.

-Stick to a specific colour scheme.

E.G. NME is white, red and black.

-Cover lines around the main image.

Analysis of contents pages.

-Articles split into categories.

-Articles in numeric order.

-Images (3-7.)

-Sticks to a colour scheme.

-Editor's letter.

-1 or 2 bigger main images that are linked to the main article.

-Date of release.

-Magazine logo.

-The word 'contents' in bold at the top.

-Images have numbers on to tell the reader what article they are related to.

-In a 3 column set out.

Researching the market place

Genre: Indie.

Published: Weekly.

Price: £2.20.

Main image: Direct address.

Includes: Posters, interviews, reviews, general music news/gossip.

Genre: Indie/rock.

Published: Monthly.

Price: £3.99.

Main image: Direct address.

Includes: Interviews, reviews, guides.

Genre: Indie.

Published: Monthly.

Main image: Direct address.

Includes: Free CD, reviews, interviews.

My magazine:

Image will be direct address, price will be between £3-£4 pounds and it will be released monthly.

Initial plans.

Genre: Indie/Acoustic.

Inspiration magazine(s): NME, Uncut, Q.

Released: I have chose to publish my magazine monthly, like Q and Uncut.

Target audience: My magazine will be targeted at 16+, mostly males (yet still readable for women.) This is because -from the research i have done on music magazines of my genre- they are mostly targeted at males between 16 and 25.

Main image: I am using two pictures I have of inspiration. One of David Bowie in the late 70s and the other of indie band The Horrors. Both pictures are softly coloured and have a slight hazy look to them. I think this both depicts the genre and makes the picture look more interesting and arty. I am using the location of The Horrors image as the inspiration for mine. The photograph is taken in a forest so I am going to take mine in a nearby forest and the fields around it. I think this works for the genre because it creates a calm and interesting atmosphere, which is exactly what Indie music does.

Codes and conventions of a music magazine double page spread.

Image: One image usually on the left. Signifies aspects of the artist/band/article.

Date and page numbers at the bottom.

Byline: Article and photo.

Drop capital for first letter of the article.

Title: Short and snappy.

Stand first: Bold paragraph underneath the title/above article.

Drop quotes: In big letters to stand out from the rest of the story.

11pt font.

Informal mode to connect with the audience.

3/4 columns.

Consistent colour scheme.

Artist's name in bold/highlighted writting.

Codes and conventions of a music magazine contents page.

-Have reference to the magazine name.
-Have word 'contents' on.
-One main image.
-Set out into 2/3 columns.
-Grouped pages.
-Each section numbered in order.
-More than one image.
-Set colour scheme (2/3 colours)
-Images include related numbers.
-Date.
-Website/ way of contact.
-More images that writing.
-Advertisements.
-Editor's letter.
-Different font for section headings (sometimes includes graphics)
-Banner to highlight important things.
-Usually 2 columns of pictures/photos and 1 column of writing.

Codes and conventions of music magazine front covers.

-Mast head at the top.
-Main story line.
-Main image links to main story line.
-List of other artists in the magazine.
-Bar code and price.
-Contact details.
-Date.
-Different fonts (3-4)
-Graphics around the text.
-Sub-images.
-Direct address used in main image.

Codes and conventions of a magazine contents page.

There is usually from five to seven fonts. There will also be from seven to eight images to do with the stories, they will often be numbered to show what article they go with. The images will often be scattered around the page, placed my what section they are related to. The page numbers/article names are in order and split into sections so the reader can find what article they want. Every contents page has an editors letter, which also usually includes a photograph of the editor. The dates are also usually at the bottom of the page, close to the contact opptions (email, phone number e.t.c) The masthead will be at the top of the page. This page will also follow the colour scheme that is shown on the front page.

Codes and conventions of a magazine front cover.

There will be one main image (Usually a celebrity using direct address in a mid-mid long shot) This is surrounded with three to seven converlines, often accompanied by pictures to match. The Masthead is in the top left hand side and the date, price and time are often close by.The barcode will be at the bottom of the page. The front page will follow some sort of colour scheme that will also continue onto the contents page.
There is usually a range of two to three fonts, the masthead font will be unique.

Screen grab of front cover.

This is almost finished, I need to fix some typing mistakes. (I need to put in some capital letters.)