Double Page Spread

Although these double page spreads have been taken from magazines such as 'Q' which feature rock music, I like the layout they have used. I think the way the left side of the double page spread is taken up by a large image of the cover star is effective as it illustrates to the reader who the article is about. I also like the way they have used the large letters on the right hand side of the double page spread as it is different and catches the readers attention.

Results of Questionnaire

I interviewed 10 different people with my questionnaire and below are the results:

Q1. Which is your preferred genre of music?
A. 6/10 people said pop, 3/10 people said R&B/Hip Hop and 1/10 people said Rock/Alternative.

Q2. How often do you buy music magazines?
A. No one said 'Daily', 2/10 people said 'Weekly', 3/10 people said 'Fortnightly', 4/10 people said 'Monthly' and 1/10 people said 'Never'

Q3. Which type of articles would you most like to see in a Pop music magazine?
A. 6/10 people said 'Artist Reviews', 2/10 people said 'Reviews of music, film etc', 2/10 people said 'live Reviews' and no one said 'Editorials' or 'Readers Letters'

Q4. What connotations do you associate with Pop music?
A. Most people answered that Pop music should always portray a 'positive' image and when listening to it should feel emotions of 'happiness' therefore meaning my Pop magazine should also present these ideas.

Q5. What tone towards should a Pop music magazine adopt?
A. 10/10 people said that it should have an informal approach

Q6. How much do you spend on an average music magazine?
A. 5/10 people said '£3.00-£4.00', 4/10 people said £2.00-£3.00' and 1/10 people said '£4.00+' meaning no one spends £1.00-£2.00

Q7. Who is your favourite artist in pop music?
A. 5/10 people said Katy Perry, 3/10 people said Taylor Swift and 2/10 people said One Direction

Q8. What colours would you like/expect a pop magazine to follow?
A. 9/10 people said 'Bright colours: pinks, blues, yellows, purples etc.' and 1/10 people said 'Light pastels: Peach, sky blue, meringues etc'

Publication Plan

AS MEDIA STUDIES: G321

PUBLICATION PLAN

Your magazine:

Does it have a positioning statement/selling line? (eg World’s No 1 Magazine) – World’s Biggest Pop Magazine

Frequency of publication – Monthly                           

Price – £3.00

Distribution – Well-known magazine but mainly aimed at teenage girls (14 upwards)

Rationale: what does your magazine offer; what makes it different? - Exclusives of new popstar every month, exciting for audience

My magazine will offer an exclusive to the audience’s favourite pop singers

Style (who is your target audience)

My target audience is mainly young, teenage girls as the music genre of my magazine will be pop

What is the regular content?

Each month it will include a main story of a cover star/ band and other exclusives of other pop artists. It will also include 5 or so free posters of famous pop stars

   

House style

I will keep the house colours relevant to my target audience – so possibly pinks and purples? However, I do not want to strike out boys or older people reading it

Contents page

Where will the features be presented?

Where will the news be featured?

Where are the other cover lines featured?

Double page spread

My double page spread will feature the star on the cover of the magazine. The left page will be an image of the cover star different to the one featured on the front and there will be part of the article picked out and put in large font in speech marks to entice the audience into reading the rest of the article. The right page will then feature some more images of the star but only small and then there will be questions which the star will have answered.

How will you integrate images, text and graphics?

I will include an image of the cover star on the front cover and then use different images on the double page spread.

Magazine Questionnaire

Pop Magazine Questionnaire

I came up with the following questionnaire to get an idea for myself about what magazines are popular and what people would expect to see in them:

Q. Which is your preferred genre of music?

-         - Pop music            

-         - Rock/Alternative

-         - R&B/Hip Hop

-         - Other

2   Q.  How often do you buy music magazines?

-        - Daily

-        - Weekly

-        -  Fortnightly

-        - Monthly

-        -  Never

3  Q.Which type of articles would you most like to see in a Pop music magazine?

·         - Reader Letters

·        -  Editorials

·        -  Artist Interviews

·        -  Reviews of Music, Film, Books & TV

·        -  Live Reviews

·        -  Other (please specify)   _________________________________________________

4  Q.What connotations do you associate with Pop music?

______________________________________________________________________

5  Q.  What tone towards should a Pop music magazine adopt?

#

·       -   A formal approach

·       -  An informal approach

·       -  Other (please specify)___________________________________________________

6  Q.How much do you spend on an average music magazine?

·         - £1.00-£2.00

·         - £2.00-£3.00

·         - £3.00-£4.00

·         - £4.00 +

7  Q.Who is your favourite artist in pop music?

_________________________________________________________________________

8   Q.What colours would you like/expect a pop magazine to follow?

·         - Bright colours: pinks, blues, yellows, purples etc.
·         - Sophisticated colours: reds, gold, silver, blacks etc.

·         - Dark colours: Violets, navy, black, browns etc.

·         - Light pastels: Peach, sky blue, meringues etc.

Peer Assessment of Magazine - Re-Make/Re-Model Task

Q1. Have all the magazine conventions been used? How successful are these compared to the real thing? 
(Masthead/Pugs/Puffs/Dateline/Main image/Cover lines/Left third rule/Bar code/Selling Line)

A. Out of the eight questionnaires completed, the majority of people agreed that most of the conventions have been used effectively and look professional. However, I missed off the web address of the online edition of the magazine which would have made my magazine look more like the real thing. 

Q2. Has original photography been used? Does the photograph match the ethos of the magazine? Would you expect to see this photograph with this magazine?

A. Most people realised that the photograph used was indeed original photography and thought that the image was very effective as the two people are using direct mode of address. They also agreed that image linked in with the 'Halloween Special' so was therefore realistic. One person however said that they would not expect to see this image on 'Q' magazine but would perhaps be more relevant on a pop magazine. I slightly agree with this however I tried to justify my use of the image by the main cover line.

Q3. Have they analysed their own magazine in depth?

A. Everyone identified in their questionnaire that I explained why I did certain things on my magazine in depth and justified it on my blog. 

Q4. Finally, give an honest opinion of the look of the magazine. Is it a good representation of the magazine it is replicating?

A. The majority of people said the overall look of my magazine was good and looked realistic. They also said that the layout of my magazine was effective and made it look professional. Final improvements some people gave were to make the stars name bigger and that the 'Halloween Special' may not be featured in 'Q' magazine. 

Target Audience

As I have decided to do a Pop magazine for my final task, I started to think about the target audience this genre would be aimed at. My magazine will include artists similar to Rihanna, Adele, Taylor Swift and One Direction which would appeal to a young, female audience possibly in the age range of 14-18.
As I have decided that my target audience will be a younger generation, this could suggest that the language used on my front cover, contents page and double page spread would be informal and could include some slang which would relate to young people today. The 'look' I want my magazine to portray is a positive one so bright colours could possibly be used. The image I will use will also link to this target audience and pop genre so the costumes of the cover star would also be bright and girly.

My ideal target audience member would be a young 15 year old girl who attends secondary school. Idealy she would be a typical 'girly-girl' who loves listening to pop music, the colour pink and things like flowers and hearts. She would aspire to be like pop artists like the one which will be featured on my front cover and would enjoy reading about her life and how she got to be where she is.

Paint.Net Practise

This is an example of some of the work I did in today's lesson. As this is the first time I have done Media, I wasn't familiar with the programme paint.net so decided to practise using it. In this magazine, I used the Masthead of Billboard magazine and the photo of me from the first lesson. I learnt how to duplicate layers to make the cover star's head in front of the magazine which is a technique often used in well-known magazines.

I then used the new knowledge I had gained and decided to find an image of a star that would realistically be featured in 'Billboard' magazine. I used the country/pop singer Taylor Swift on the front cover as she has been featured in the magazine previously. Again, I put the cover star over the masthead to reveal importance and to make the magazine look more professional and realistic.

Q Magazine

This is the magazine I created based around one of the biggest music magazine Q's style. I used the 'Q' masthead on the front of my magazine and stuck to the house colours of red, white and black as 'Q' often does to keep the magazine looking professional and consistent. I made the magazine a Halloween edition as the people in the photograph I took are wearing Halloween style make up. I added the main cover line 'The Young Reckless' which is the name I created for the band featured on the front page. The cover line 'We're innocent really!' under the main cover line is in speech marks to illustrate it is a line taken from the article inside the magazine enticing the reader to find out more. The make up of the two cover stars is scary however as the cover line illustrates, 'the young reckless' aren't actually 'innocent.' I also added a bar-code, date and price which are typical conventions of a magazine. I also added features such as a list of other stars featured in the magazine which 'Q' magazine often does. I then added a pug at the bottom of the magazine to persuade the reader to purchase the magazine.

Language

The language that is used in a magazine is very important in allowing us to identify the specific target audience of the magazine. Each word that is used is used for a particular reason, either to entice the target audience into buying the magazine or to put across a message etc.

Tone -  The tone expressed in a magazine reveals the attitudes towards the subject expressed by the editor or the people interviewed.

Style - The style of the magazine is the way it is written as opposed to what is actually written. This would differ due to different magazines having different target audiences such as a Top Of The Pops magazine being aimed at young teenagers so the language could be slang and more basic.

Vocabulary - The vocabulary in a magazine is the different words that have been purposely chosen for a reason. This would also differ due to different target audiences as differentwords would be used to create a different effect that links to the magazine.

Forms of address - The forms of address in a magazine could be the way text is aimed at different target audiences revealing the image the magazine wants to put forward.

Register -  Register in a magazine is the way a variety of language is used for a particular purpose or in a particular social setting. For example, the language used in magazines such as NME and Q would be more common and base then language used in a Classical music magazine.

Anaylsis of Double Page Spread from 'Q' Magazine

Analysis of Contents Page from 'Q Magazine'