Second Photo Shoot

These photo's have been used to reflect the more lighthearted side to the magazine, and to reflect my teenage audience. They have been taken in a "selfie" style to humanise the band and so the audience can relate to them.

First Photo Shoot

 I think this photo is very eye catching because of the interesting contrast between the two models. Will 

is taller than free and wearing brighter colours whereas Free is wearing dark clothes and is smaller than Will.

Trying Out New Ideas

I have decided to use this dark background in my magazine images. I will take the photo's with a white background, crop it out and replace it with the darker one below. I have experimented with this technique in photoshop using the Image of Fallout Boy.

Here is my finished experimental photograph. This picture only took me a few minutes and still looks very effective. When I have taken my own photo's I will take great care to completely remove the white outlines. 

Costume

My models will be wearing typical pop punk/Rock clothes.

This Shirt is bright with contrasting colours. Wearing a shirt similar to this will catch the audiences eyes. The shirt is branded with Blink-182, a Popular band my audience would like.

This branded Shirt is from Blink 182's Drummer's clothing line. This brand is well known in the music industry.

This look is similar to the green day photo shoot and I would like to emulate it. Skinny jeans and Vans compliment the look and are easily attainable by my model. 

My Models will be wearing:

1. Skinny Jeans
2. T-shirt
3. Vans pumps
4. Leather Jacket
5. Loose Belt
6. Messy Hair.

All of these things combined will create the Rock/pop punk look I desire. This will be greatly effective in advertising my magazine to my audience. 

Background

In my research of Pop-punk bands, I have noticed a trend in their photo shoot locations. All of the bands have used a blank white or black background. This is because the attention is drawn to the band and band members.

There are no distractions in the background that would take away focus from the band, and the plain background means that it can be edited out if needs be.

These would be a good background to edit my models into after I have taken my photos. I will use the darker background because this fits my genre better than the lighter Image.

Photo Inspirations 2

This photo shoot of All Time Low utilises bright colours instead of neutral and drab colours like the others. This connotes the band as more light hearted and serious. Like all the others, the band are using direct address, but this time they are making less serious faces. 

You me at Six are posed in the same way as the other bands. The members are spread out facing the audience with neutral faces. The band are wearing denim jackets, tying the band together for a uniform look. The frontman is in the foreground and the middle, drawing attention to him and catching the readers eyes.

This Green Day photo shoot makes use of leather jackets as a defining feature. Each member is wearing a jacket and it gives the band a uniform look. The front man is posed in the foreground as with other photos. This gives him the impression of being taller and more important. There is a green tinge to the photo, which connotes the band's name, Green Day. Two members of the band are wearing striped shirts which tie them together as a band.

Photoshoot Inspirations

Before I take my photoshoot pictures, I have ensured they will match my target audiences tastes and also be similar to other magazines with the same genre.

I researched Pop-punk and Alternative band's and their photoshoot conventions. This is what I have discovered.

In this photo the Band Sum-41 is posing behind a wall of abstract shapes. The band members are pulling funny faces, painting them out as light hearted and immature. This reflects the bands nature and style of music. I want my magazine to be received as a more mature magazine, so I will have my models using more serious facial expressions. There is no style or look for the band, they look messy and not uniform.

In this Image, the band blink 182 are posing using a direct mode of address. They are all wearing black clothes with white motifs and logos. They have similar poses, and use the same drab facial expression. This portrays and connotes the fact they are a band. There is no background to draw the readers attention to the band members. This contrasts Sum-41's photo which is more light hearted. T-shirts are a dominant feature in all of these images, so my models will wear T-shirts. 

This Image is similar to Blink 182's.  Fallout Boy's members are all wearing black and white clothes, and using neutral facial expressions. The second member is stood infront of the other members. This shows he is the frontman of the band. The band are wearing T shirts apart from the singer. This connotes he is different or more popular than the other band members.

This image of My Chemical Romance has a black and white filter applied to it. This portrays the band's genre of emo/punk. All of the band members are using direct address, looking straight at the reader. Again, the front man of the band is in the foreground as they are a more important feature of the band.

I will take this into account when posing my models.

Audience and Research 2

Task 2

A typical reader of my magazine

My typical reader is John Smith. He is 19 years old and his hobbies are playing instruments, listening to his favourite pop-punk music and going to concerts with his friends. His favourite films are  

• My target audience is aged 16-19. This is because the bands in my magazine will all be made up of young people, which allows my target audience to relate to the bands, and for the younger readers, idolise them.
• My target gender will be males, although I won’t alienate female readers. This is because most Rock bands are made up of young males who can, again, relate to the bands. My female audience will also like these bands but I will focus on males.
• They will be from the C-D demographic. My magazine will be low cost. I will not compromise on quality in my magazine, but I am setting my price lower because I am appealing to a younger audience who will not have as much disposable income to spend on magazines.
• Their hobbies are playing musical instruments, reading music magazines, and going to concerts. These interests will be covered in my magazine, encouraging my audience to buy it. 
• Their musical tastes are Pop punk, All spectrums of rock and alternative music. My magazine will reflect these tastes.
• My target audience's fashion style will emulate the bands that appear in my magazine. They will wear the brands Atticus, Macbeth and Famous stars and straps for example. They will wear casual " Rock" attire. 
• As my magazine will be lower cost,  my target audience could be either employed or unemployed. Both will be able to afford my magazine and the magazine will appeal to them both because of the gritty style and rock look. 

The Music Magazine Industry

For my media exam revision I have been researching Music Magazines, both online and physical media, and also researching media Institutions.

The Vinyl Factory

"The Vinyl Factory is an independent British music and arts enterprise. In existence since 2001, the group encompasses a record label, vinyl pressing plant, gallery spaces, record shop and music magazine.

The Vinyl Factory manufacturing division, which is centered around our vinyl pressing plant, located on the site of the century-old EMI plant at Hayes, Middlesex, prides itself on crafting the best records in the world. Once the cornerstone of the British music industry, this is the plant that produced era-defining records by the Beatles, Pink Floyd, the Sex Pistols and more.
The Vinyl Factory also publishes FACT magazine, one of the world's most popular and influential music websites, with readership in excess of 3 million page views per month, and owns the iconic Phonica Records, one of London's best-loved yet globally renowned record shops.The Vinyl Factory record label collaborates with musicians and artists to produce and release limited edition vinyl, as well as create accompanying exhibitions, events and audio-visual shows. Our label roster includes releases with Massive Attack, Dinos Chapman, Florence + the Machine. Christian Marclay, Pet Shop Boys, Martin Creed, Bryan Ferry, The xx, Duran Duran and Jeremy Deller." 

- An extract from the Vinyl factory website

IPC Media

IPC media  is a consumer magazine and digital publisher in the United Kingdom, with a large portfolio selling over 350 million copies each year.

"With more than 60 iconic media brands, IPC creates content for multiple platforms, across print, online, mobile, tablets and events.  As the UK's leading consumer magazine publisher we engage with 26m UK adults - almost two thirds of UK women and 42% of UK men. Our award winning portfolio of websites reaches over 25 million users globally every month"  - ipcmedia.com

IPC Inspire is IPC's men's division. Its portfolio of 38 brands covers a huge spectrum of interests and includes famous names from Country Life and The Field to Nuts and NME.


Wenner media

Wenner Media, LLC, a privately held company headquartered in New York City, publishes Rolling Stone, Us Weekly and Men’s Journal magazines. The company's three brands collectively attract a gross monthly audience of 58.1 million – including 41.9 million readers per month in print, 9.8 million monthly unique visitors to its websites (UsMagazine.com, RollingStone.com and MensJournal.com), and 5.9 million gross mobile monthly unique visitors – and 5.3 million followers through social media outlets.



I will consider all of these Media institutions when creating my magazine, as I will need to choose a publishing institution that will represent my magazine well.

Audience and Research

Task 1

I have researched the target audiences of various different high profile, high selling music magazines. This research will help me narrow down my audience and aid in advertising my magazine to them.

The first magazine I researched was NME.

• NME’s readers are 69% male, 31% female
• The average age of their readers is 24
• They circulate 40,968 from January to June
• The magazine has a readership of 369,000

NME readers have a lot of disposable income

• On average they spend £532 on clothes per year
• They spend £1229 on audio equipment per year
• 52% of the readers own a digital camera.
• 94% of the readers use the internet, and spend 2.4 hours per day browsing the web
• They spent £108 on games and £197 on games consoles.

The second magazine I researched was Kerrang!

“Kerrang! will ensure that we are constantly appealing to our spectrum of readers. From the younger teenage readers who are more open to different genres of rock music – from emo to thrash etc, to the readers who respect Kerrang! as an authority when it comes to our scene’s heritage bands. Each issue will include a balance of bands and scenes to guarantee that we’re providing for our readers’ need for variety and their passionate appetite for their favourite bands as well as their desire to be introduced to new music within our world. We will focus on the BIGGEST things that are going on in our world each week, as well as guaranteeing that we are giving our main base of younger readers everything they need to get into, on top of this the interest in older, harder bands, cementing our role as an educator.” - Kerrang’s mission statement.

Breaking Conventions

Although music magazines follow generic conventions, some magazines make exceptions and break these conventions. In my research, I looked at special editions of magazines, and the conventions that they break.


For instance, this issue of Mojo is a John Lennon special. The Magazine features the main Image of John Lennon, and one Main cover line. The reason for this is because of John lennon's iconic status in the music industry. This issue of Mojo will attract readers just with the image of John's face. The masthead is in a transparent font to place emphasis on the image, and the cover line also uses a minimalistic font to compliment the image.

Generic Conventions of a Music Magazine Prezi.

Research and Findings Continued

Mode Of Address

Mode of Address is the way that the magazine addresses the audience. For example, if the main image is of a person looking straight at the reader, it is a direct mode of address. This draws in the reader because the image is at eye level. If the person is looking towards the side of the magazine, it will draw the reader to the cover lines on the side of the magazine.

House Style

A magazine's house style is the main theme that runs throughout the magazine. The House style ties the magazine to the brand by utilising the same colours across every issue, or uses the same colours for one specific issue in the case of exclusive issues. This magazine has a house style that uses blue, red and white

Strap line

A Strap line is a smaller headline attached to the Masthead or Main cover line. These give more of an insight into the contents of the article.

Main Cover line

The Main Cover Line is the main article on a page. Main cover lines are bigger than cover lines, and often use a different font or colour scheme to make them stand out.

Main Image

The main image is the most prominent image on the front cover, and is usually placed in the centre with the cover lines placed to the side

Cover line

Cover lines are used to show what contents is in the magazine. Content used in cover lines is not as important as the main image or main coverline, but still an important part of the magazine/

Date and Price

The date and price are sometimes placed on the barcode, or placed near the top of the magazine next to the masthead.