My reader profile

On a spreadsheet document I created an outline of My own reader profile for my music magazine. I looked at the amount of readers (from my target audience) owned an iPod, CD player and other criteria such as how often they go to gigs and the percentage that go to gigs and festivals. This allowed me to have an understanding of how to create my magazine around the target audienece. For example the high percentage of people who own iPods may be interested in winning an upgrade or having a free iTunes voucher with each magazine purchased,
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Writing up my interview

Due to the fact that I am a Community Correspondent for the Croydon Guardian online, I write one article per month. This month, I was able to write an article on the Gig I attended on the 20th of February. In the article I included a few of the many interviews I did with artists and bands. Incorporating quotes into the article was difficult because it had to be written in a formal format. When writing my interview for my Indie music magazine, I found it easier because I already had previous experience which made me more confidence in my writing.

Bellow is the link for my article called Kicking Gig in Croydon.
I used this as my title as a play on the word of the winners at the Gigs "RizzleKicks" who played in Croydon.

http://www.yourlocalguardian.co.uk/yoursay/yourneighbourhood/5024302.Kicking_Gig_in_Croydon/

Task: write a letter to the editor of a new music magazine

In order to run a successful music magazine there are many things that need to be taken into consideration. There are many challenges that one may face when running a magazine.

A major focus point when running a music magazine is the constant need to refer to the target audience of the magazine. This is due to the fact that magazines are more likely to sell if they are focused and aimed at the specific target audience for the magazine. Therefore, every piece of information and all the content in the magazine need to be appropriate to the target you are aiming at.

When considering the target audience, you are basically considering all criteria of the audience such as their age, gender and their shopping habits and all their preferences. This way you will be able to incorporate their personal styles to make a magazine with layout and content that speaks to its audience in the same fervour and style they prefer and enjoy.

In addition another factor that should be taken into consideration is the promoting of new and up coming bands as well as bands and artists that are better known. This encourages a wider audience and encourages people to try something new and appeals to those who appreciate listening to new artists.

Another focus point is to receive sufficient advertising and sponsorship. In order to manage payments for printing on a regular basis, it is a good idea to have a long term source of income such as advertising. Majority of magazines use this method in order to help with the running of a music magazine. The advertisements that are chosen to feature in your magazine should appeal to your target audience and are vital in making profit and help towards the success of a magazine. For example a rock magazine would advertise the latest rock clothing and a magazine that had a male target audience wouldn’t advertise a female perfume. Having sponsorships and adverts can also help to bring in new readers as help make a profit through competitions for example.

Lastly, by adopting a unique style of language instead of general boring language it is good to aim at being more edgy by using some slang or other techniques such as alliteration and onomatopoeia. In addition, having new by using the techniques I have mentioned above, I hope they are a good basis to making a successful music magazine.

Writing up and doing my interview

I have finished writing up my interview and as you can see bellow I wrapped the text around the image of my artists. I used conventions such as a red banner bellow and later I will have a comment from my magazine that will be in text form and will swirl around the two artists.

My previous photograph of Sylvester and Jordan was very square. I wanted to add some depth into the picture, therefore, I used the lasso tool on Photoshop to cut out the main figures and insert them into my interview page. This makes it feel as though they are in front of the text and therefore, makes them further prominent on page.

Using the lens flare I further edited my photograph of RizzleKicks playing at the gig. The extra ligting and flare from the light provides a more party feel and gives the overall image a glow.

Official images for my double page interview spread

The first image has now been edited. I used a sepia tone in order for the audience to see the difference in the pictures and a veriety. My Final image is now edited. I have removed the junk in the background and I have edited the lighting in order for the main subjects to be seen.

Planning and pictures I have taken for my Interview

The first image is of the Indie band 'RizzleKicks' on stage performing. I edited the lighting of the picture but I intend on further changing the colours for my actual interview pages. The mise-en-scene is a vibrant scene of an Indie Gig.

The Second image has not been edited yet. It needs to be sharpened as well as have better focus. The background also needs to be whiter and the junk in the bottom left hand corner need to be edited out. This is a picture of the band 'RizzleKicks' - (Jordan and Sylvester). I interviewed them backstage after the gig I attended on the 20th of February. When taking the picture I stood on a chair to get a high angle but this made the two guys look like young, innocent boys and I wanted to go for a more mature look, therefore I told them to look straight at the camera and be neutral.

In my free time I asked a friend to be my model for a test image that I could photoshop in the future, incase I need it in my music magazine. I used inspirtaion from my genre: Indie. I used props such as jewellery, a blazer, a guitar, speakers and a piano.

SYS Battle of the Bands Gig

I had the opportunity of going attending an all ages gig last night where some of the UK's unsung young talents were performing. Bands and artists such as RizzleKicks, MiLLion, Jake Bentley - Ross, MC Mozart (FunkieJunkie), Burning The Beginning, Access to Apollo The Special K's and The Indigos all competed for the prize of being able to perform to an audience at the 02 Arena. I thought this would be a great opportunity to get some interviews and pictures of the acts for my music magazine. The majority of acts where Indie artists which was perfect for my genre. I ensured that I emailed a few acts in advance and they were all happy to help out.

Here are a few of the questions I prepared in advance and asked all the bands and artists available on the night.

What genre would you describe your music as?

When did your passion for music start?

You are a young and up coming artist/band, do you want to become rich and famous?

What would you do if you did become rich and famous?

What hair products do you use to get your hair looking so cool?

Your still in education, is it hard to fit in music at the same time?

What’s your philosophy in life, what do you hope to achieve?

What artist or band are you loving atm?

Who is your music icon?

Who is your fashion icon?

High street clothing or high end clothing?

Do you get a lot of attention from boys/girls because of your music?

Who is your celebrity crush?

What are the 3 most listened to songs on your iPod?

If you could play a gig anywhere in the UK, where would it be?

Where does your inspiration come from?

What’s your favourite hangout in London?

What’s your favourite holiday destination?

You have a very dedicated fan base; do you think you would be as successful without them?

On a scale of one to ten how good was the gig tonight?

Where do you see yourself in 10 years time?

What advice would you give to other young talent who want to go into music?

What would you say makes you or your band unique?

What are the best musical experiences you have had so far?

What motivates you?

Do you write your own material – where do your ideas derive from?

Are there any dreams or goals that you have yet to fulfil?

What would you do if you were asked if your music could be used in a film?

If you could have a magical power or ability what would it be?

Do you read books? What’s the best novel you have read or the most recent one?

What’s one of your favourite movies?

What is the most recent film you have seen?

What do you think your chances of wininng the Battle of the Bands?

Details of target audience of my music magazine:

Genre of the music magazine = Indie-Rock
Target Audience are aged = 15 - 23
Gigs and festivals they are likely to visit =Glastonbury, Wireless, Reading and T4 On The Beach.
Majority of TA own mp3 players and are avid consumers of music and media.
Majority of TA are students.

Many of the TA plays an instrument of some sort.

The TA is very fashion conscious and fashion forward yet enjoy having own unique style.

Majority have mobile phones with internet access or internet access at home.

Research of Folk Style Conventions

Using a theme of the Folk music genre me and my partner imagined and planned the layout of a music magazine cover that was folk inspired. The following picture was taken using inspiration from the band Fairport Convention. The song we focused on was 'A Sailors Life lyrics'. The picture taken by my partner (who was the photographer); she directed my pose, facial expressions and positioning. In particular we looked at the lyrics ("There we lost sight of your sailing boat.") and used this to convey a calm and drifty ambience in the image which was similar to sailing and the folk vibe. In the mise-en-scene, we thought the floral dress and blazer went very well with creating the folk atmosphere in the picture. The Latter picture is the fully edited version with achange of lighting, contrats, sharpness and it alsohas a frame.

Analysing 'Q' Mangazine conventions

In a group of two me and my partner annotated parts of a Kate Nash interview and section dedicated to her in 'Q' magazine. The task allowed me to see the conventions of an interview and this helped me develop an idea of how I am going to lay out my interview. Doing the task made me realise that I need to appeal to specific social groups. I saw that my images need to address my target audience; the actual interview needs to be informative and also needs something extra that doesn't make it the usual question and interview. In this interview with Kate Nash the quotes were imbedded and the overall layout of the 'Q' interview was very clean and tidy. I intend on going for this sophisticated look so it appeals to my target audience who are young adults (15-23). I will do this by using the same technique of imbedding quotes into my interview.

Target Audience Mood board

Above is the first mood board of images I created. I really liked the use of musical notes in these images and I thought they reflected the Indie style which is the genre I have chosen for my music magazine. There are also some notes on the PowerPoint image above because these are a list of things I need to do.

Above are some more photographic images that really helped inspire me to start research on where I am going to take my images for my magazine, who my models or artists/band are going to be. How I am going to contact artists in order to interview them. I also considered asking some of my friends who are in independent bands, however in hindsight I can see that they wouldn't suite my genre.

Above are two large mood boards I made regarding the layout and overall display of interviews in 'NME'. I saw that a common convention is the use of black, white, blue and red. The images are always layered or used as an entire background. The text is found on top of the images or the text is wrapped around the images.

Below is where I did some further research on the conventions of magazine covers based specifically on the same genre of music (Indie) that I want for my music magazine. The magazines I have used for inspiration here are Rolling Stones, Q, NME and ROCK. All the following magazines incorporate a vintage, traditional yet contemporary style that is unique. A main theme throughout all these magazines is mainly red. Whites and blacks are also prominent. Some of the artists bellow includes Prince, The Jonas Brothers, Paramore, Paul McCartney, Coldplay, Avril Lavagne and Bloc Party. I intend on using Bloc party as a feature in my magazine later in the process (when I will be doing a contents page).

Kerrang Reader profile and how they incorporate this into the magazine.

In my group of three we discussed how Kerrang aim to their target audince by using their reader profile to incorporate this.

Kerrang plays a crucial role in the UK’s Rock scene. Its reader profile reveals that male readers are dominant consumers of the magazine; they make up 60% of the entire audience. The median age of readers is 19 year olds, this conveys that Kerrang intends on reaching readers who are teenagers that actively consume music on a regular basis, and this is also shown through the average albums purchased per month (31). Full time students or students at work can enjoy reading Kerrang in their spare time as it provides them with entertainment and information about their favourite bands. The Kerrang magazine provides its audience with free posters of heavy metal rock bands. The posters allow readers to express their love and loyalty for the band by putting the posters up in their bedrooms. In addition to having a magazine Kerrang’s franchise extends to radio and TV channels. Furthermore, Kerrang highlights events and gigs through advertisements. They talk to their readers in an informal, straight talking and enthusiastic language which maintains the fervour they use to sell music, gig tickets and band merchandise. Female readers are just as crucial to target (even if they are 20% less than the male readers).

My Powerpoint Presentation on magazine cover conventions and the contrasts/comparisons of the covers.

Here are the NME and RWD (Rewind) front covers. I analysed the conventions that were used on these front covers and also noted the differences and similarities that are between both the NME and RWD covers.
In addition I found that they are both different to some extent because they target different audiences, furthermore, they have differnt colour schemes and use several different fonts. There are many contrasts between the two magazines, however, there are also similarities such as a large main image and cetral figuires, a large masthead, text and teasers.
I intend on using similar conventions for my front cover as it will reflect similar use of graphics, an image of a main figuire that is recognisable to the indie music genre because I want my audience to connect to teh main figuire.

Please click on images to enlarge and view more clearly.

Research on Kerrang magazine

In a group of three, we did some research on the target auience for Kerrang! magazine (based on the reader profile). This is a preview of our presentation.









My main task: to create the front page, contents and double page spread of a new music magazine
All images and text used must be original, produced by the candidate(s), minimum of FOUR images per candidate.

This unit is worth 50% of the AS.
The Assessment Objectives for this unit are:
AO2 – 10%
• Apply knowledge and understanding to show how meanings are created when analyzing media products and evaluating their own practical work.
AO3 – 30%
• Demonstrate the ability to plan and construct media products using appropriate technical and creative skills.
AO4 – 10%
• Demonstrate the ability to undertake and apply appropriate research.