Main Task

Codes and Conventions of a music magazine front cover
-Photography is a lot more creative
-Small number of colours used
-Strip at the bottom or top - list of artists conveying there is a lot inside the magazine
-Main image: No smiling, make contact with the audience, conveys an attitude
-Smaller images of performance
-One word or letter title
-Follows most of codes and conventions from any magazine

Codes and conventions of a music magazine contents page
-Follows all codes and conventions of a contents page

Codes and conventions of a double page spread
-One large/main image - half the article (whole page)
-Quotes sometimes used on main image
-Drop Capital
-Pictures often bleed across from one page to the other
-Headlines across the two pages
-Strapline or a border used to bleed across double page spread
-Bold text in a first paragraph and sometimes slightly larger font size for first paragraph
-More than one image - smaller images are used to break up the layout of text and make it more inviting
Other techniques such as panels or quotes
-Byline ~ the name of the journalist that wrote the article - positioned in or by the Standfirst or at the end of the article.
Photographer is also credited
-Standfirst is always by the headline and before the start of the article
Introduces the article
Works with the headline to tell the reader what the article is about - larger font size
-Headlines - creative, eye catching
-The artists' names are highlighted
-Page number/title of magazine/issue date/ website address
-Limited use of colour
-Layed out in columns
-Strapline - heading/tab
-Creative use of photography
-Informal style of writing - personality of the journalist will come through the article and sometimes add an opinion


Planning my Music Magazine






Magazine Research


Top of the Pops in the 1990's
Price: £1.35
Frequency of publication: Monthly
Issue Size: 88 pages
Regular Content: Not available















Questionnaire Results

1. From the 20 people that I asked 8 people said that they bought a music magazine monthly, whereas 7 people out of my target audience had never bought a music magazine. This shows that I should make my magazine monthly and make it appeal to those 7 people that said they had never bought a music magazine.






2. Who is your favourite band or artist?
2 people chose Stereophonics
4 people chose Beyonce
14 different people chose :-
The Killers
Metro Station
Jennifer Hudson
P. Diddy
Pink
Foo Fighters
Miley Cyrus
Lady Gaga
The Beatles
KT Tunstall
The Red Jumpsuit Project
All American Rejects
Black Eyed Peas
Blue October

I can see from this that most of the people prefer different bands or artists, so this shows that I should use different artists to make my magazine appeal to different people.


3. I asked the people what was their favourite colour so I knew which colour would be liked on my magazine. The outcome shown that more people preferred the colour blue which 6 people chose; the next highest chosen colour was pink which 4 people chose. So I have decided to make my main colour blue and then use a range of different colours.






4. I had to decide what price my magazine would be for I asked people what they would spend on a music magazine so that I didn't price it to high or to low. 9 people said they would pay £2.50 - £3, so that mean I will price my magazine between those 2 prices.







5. Deciding what to put as my converlines and in my double page spread, I asked people what
they liked about music magazines. Most people said that they like news on bands and artists, so that had helped me to decide what kind of coverlines will be on my front cover.








6. So I didn't put in my magazine things my target audience wouldn't like, I asked every person what they disliked about music magazines. 7 people said that they didn't like adverts.







7. What 3 words would you associate with pop music?
Cheesey (9)
Upbeat (5)
Bright (3)
Fun (8)
Dance (4)
Loud (2)
Party (2)
Teenagers (2)
Festivals (2)
Boy Bands (3)
Girly (4)
Cringy
Popular
Lively
Pop
Rubbish
Exciting

I decided to add this question into my questionnaire because I thought that it would help me decide the name of my magazine. 9 people said that pop music was cheesy and 8 people said it was fun. I got a range of answers from the 20 people that I asked, but I don't think I will use any of these words.


8. I had asked my questions to 17 females but only 3 males, so I think hat this survey is bias towards males, as it does not show their opinions towards pop music magazines. Although my target audience would be teenage girls who prefer pop music I did ask 3 males thinking that I would be able to make my magazine for both males and females.





9. I decided to ask how old they were so that I could see which age group is more likely to read a pop music magazine. I did this by seeing who their favourite band/artists were and looking at what they like about music magazines. This shows that my target audience age range would be between 15-18 but suitable for under 15's.






10. A lot of magazines give away free gifts, I decided to ask the people if they liked the free gifts they received. 16 people said that they did like the free gifts and 1 person said that they liked it depending on what it was. This shows that I should give out free gifts with my magazine.








Publication Plan

Title: Rapture

Positioning Statement: Its Pop-tastic

Frequency Publication: Monthly

Price: £2.60

Distribution: Supermarkets, newsagents; HMV and other music stores

Rationale: The music magazine that I am creating is for teenage girls aged 11-16, which will include interviews and stories about bands/artists that have recently released a song or album. The articles will focus on what we think the fans will want to know and read. Questionnaires were filled out so that we could get the best possible magazine that will satisfy that target audience.

Style: The magazine will be an informal style offering a lot of humour and the fans’ opinions on artists and bands. My magazine is for teenage girls so will use vocabulary that they will understand such as slang.

Regular Content
• Quizzes, Competitions
• Exclusive Interviews
• Number 1’s
• Tickets to be won
• Free posters
• Future Hits

Feature Content
• Who has been number one this month?
• Concerts you have to see this year
• Who has reached the number 1 album?
• Interview with JLS (interviews with bands/artist will be a regular feature)
• The Pussycat Dolls vs. Girls Aloud
• Alesha Dixon and Peter Andre; fighting for number 1
• Win Jo Bro tickets (tickets will be won each month)
• Get to know Ruby Sykes
• The top 20 songs you have to hear
• Leona Lewis goes on tour
• Shayne Ward makes a comeback
• Future hits
• Alexandra Burke talks Love, Life and Music
• Cheryl Cole talks about life without the band
• The Saturdays: Free posters
• You think you know everything about the Jonas Brothers? Guess again.

House Style
Coverlines: Arial (bold and italic)
Headlines: Franklin Gothic Book
Standfirst: Franklin Gothic Book
Captions: Franklin Gothic Book
Features first paragraph: drop capital in Britannic Bold,
News first paragraph: first letter in bold capital
Body text: Times New Roman 11pt
Colour scheme: Blue and Pink


Final Ideas

Front cover images
One main image and a smaller image (if possible)
Female - 16-20
Dress and heels
Sleek hair and make-up

Coverlines for Front Cover
• You think you know everything about the Jonas Brothers? Guess again.
Plus you can also win Jo Bro tickets
• JLS: Our first album will be number 1
• Pussy Cat dolls vs. Girls Aloud
• Alesha Dixon and Peter Andre: Fighting for Number 1
• 20 concerts you have to see this year
• All you need to know about Ruby Sykes

Text for contents page
Who has been number one this month?
Find out who you have voted number one
Concerts you have to see this year
We give you the latest concerts for 2010
Who has reached the number one album?
We can now reveal who has reached the top spot
Interview with JLS
They are everywhere and we were lucky enough to interview them
The Pussycat Dolls vs. Girls Aloud
Which is the better girl band?
Alesha Dixon and Peter Andre; fighting for number 1
We witness these 2 pop stars go head to head for number 1
You think you know everything about the Jonas Brothers? Guess again.
An inside look on what you never knew about the Jo Bros
Win Jo Bro tickets
This is your big chance to win tickets to the Jonas Brothers biggest and best tour yet
Get to know Ruby Sykes
Rapture welcomes Ruby into the world of pop
The top 20 songs you have to hear
Songs that will blow your mind away
Leona Lewis goes on tour
Leona’s biggest tour has been set, find out how to get tickets
Shayne Ward makes a comeback
He’s finally back and bigger than ever before
Future Hits
We give you first look at the songs that will make number 1
Alexandra Burke talks Love, Life and Music
Alexandra tell us everything that’s going on
Cheryl Cole talks about life without the band
The Cole tells us about the solo life and how she misses the band
The Saturdays: Free posters
We give out free posters of The Saturdays and more!


Images for Contents Page
One photograph will be one I have taken from the Jonas Brothers concert, one will be a different image of the front cover girl and one will be an image associated with a celebrity from my feature content.

Article for Double Page Spread
For my double page spread I will be writing a biographical article of the Jonas Brothers using picture that I have taken myself.


Front Cover Pictures









































I decided to use this picture as my front cover image because I think that the pose is an appropriate way to show that it is a pop music magazine. I chose a dress for her to wear as I have researched pop music magazines and girls are normally dressed very "girly". Also I think that the pose will make people want to know more about her.


Contents Page Images

Making the Front Cover

Preliminary exercise

Codes and conventions of a music magazine cover

-Most magazines have a one word or letter title
-Title in top left hand corner of the cover which is usually the full width of the page
-Date, price and barcode.
-Band or artist is the main image - Medium close-up which conveys an attitude
-Unique fonts, the largest text is on the cover
-Consistent colour scheme - not too many colours
-Image - Direct address - looking at the reader
-Main coverline anchors the meaning of the main image
-Coverline - Main coverline is two lines
Other coverlines - two or three lines
- information about contents
- intrigues the audience
-Typography is consistent, only a few fonts are used.
Main fonts are: SERIF or SANS SERIF
-Connotations of font reflect target audience and subject
-Positioning statement - by the title
-MASTHEAD:
Title
Positioning statement
Date
Price
-Puff - Something extra, usually free
-Buzzwords, i.e. EXCLUSIVE
-Strip at the bottom or top of cover - list of names, topics

Codes and conventions of magazine contents pages

-consistent font
-same colour scheme as front cover
-letters from the editor
-main image/one large image, also smaller images
-uses headings to divide up contents
-pages numbers on images anchor image to written contents
-collumns 2/3

arrangement:

pg.no text
one or two words
smaller sublines


-subscription details
-white background
-title of magazine is repeated
-issue date
-the word contents
-bottom of page-page number, title, issue date, website address
-contact details

PLANNING

cover+contents





PRODUCTION

Final Cover and Contents Page

Evaluation

My task was to be able to produce a school magazine and contents page which followed the codes and conventions of a normal magazine. To be able to do this I had to research the codes and conventions and then plan out how I could produce my magazine. I also looked at different music magazine front covers and contents pages that helped me to decide what regular content showed up in each magazine and what I should put in my magazine.

I think that I followed most of the codes of conventions of a magazine front cover because the title of my school magazine was only one word and was the full width of the page. The front cover contained the date, price and a barcode and also one main image which was a medium close-up. I think that my front cover would intrigue the audience which is students because it has bold writing that would catch your eye but also because the articles would also appeal to students. I also think that followed most of the codes and conventions of a contents page because I have consistent font and colour scheme which is also consitent on the front cover. I have created 3 different columns,used different headings to divide them up and left the background white which most contents pages are. At the top of the contents page I have written the word "contents" and I have added the page numbers onto the pictures.

But I havent followed all of the codes and conventions that should appear in the magazine. For the front cover I havent got a main coverline and I havent added a puff which would attract the target audience. I also havent added a strip at the bottoms of the page that should contain names or topics. For the contents pages I havent added a letter from the editor or added one main image, although I have alot of smaller images. On the contents page I havent added the subscription details or repeated the title of the magazine, also I should of added a website address and contact details.

To produce my front cover I used photoshop which enabled me add a drop shadow to my title and writing which made it more interesting. I was able to make the main image cover the whole of the front cover like most magazines. I think that using photoshop helped me produce my front cover the way I wanted to and had planned. To produce my contents page I used Quark Xpress which enabled me to produce even columns with headings to divide them up. I could also add pictures which were paired with my articles and add page numbers to them.

To improve my magazine front cover I could add coverlines which would would intrigue the audience that would anchor the main image. Used buzzwords and puffs that would of attracted the readers attention to want to look inside the magazine and make it look more interesting. The way that I could improve my contents page is to include a letter from the editor and use one main image instead of all smaller images. To make it look more like a content page I should add subscriptions and a website address at the bottom which all magazines have.