When created the masthead for my magazine I decided on the word ‘staged’. I chose this as it has connotations musicians playing at festivals and gigs (on the stage). In positioning my masthead on the magazine I made sure to stick to the usual conventions, placing it at the top left of the magazine. I did this as it is the first thing the audience will see and as it is the largest text on the magazine cover it should stand out to the reader. The font of the masthead “STAGED” comes across as slightly messy and stamped. This corresponds well with the name of the magazine associating the title with the intended audience, those who are interested in festivals and indie pop/alternative music.
A basic plain colour background is consistent throughout my magazine as it enables the magazine to look professional and more writing can be produced it also emphasis’s the main photograph. I kept to a basic for my colour scheme throughout using black as the dominant colour with some lighter colours such as white and grey, and a bright colour red.
Anchorage text is additional information designed to “anchor” the text to one specific reason, for example anchorage text relating to the cover image. I learnt that in the media industry if a caption is added to an image the image is supposed to be interpreted in a way related to the caption. In my main photograph on the cover Rob looks quite serious and possible stressed or tired. My caption with this reads “SEBASTIAN KING takes it to daring new levels”. Had a put a more light hearted caption, the image would not suit as well. A more cheery caption would suit the photo on the right. He looks relatively serious here. When taking these photos I told rob basic ideas of what I wanted him to do and he improvised also. I want the reader to know this is for older age groups rather then children. Stuart Hall's theory that the producer encodes meaning into the media product, they then have a dominant or preferred reading to the particular piece of text. The dominant reading is when the audience have accepted the meaning whereas the preferred reading is another reading that they prefer to adopt. This relates to what I have done.
Generally the main image on the cover of a music magazine is centred and displayed in colour, with the subject(s) using a direct mode of address. Often this means the person/people are making eye contact with the audience, which in effect attracts them to at least pick up and browse through the magazine, it also creates a personal relationship with the magazine and the reader. The person on the cover is also usually well known. My main image photograph has a direct mode of address; Rob is making eye contact with the camera. One way in which my music magazine cover differs slightly from a real one is that firstly I have decided to use a greyscale image. This does occur occasionally in music magazines although it is not the norm. I think it makes the cover look more effective and professional. I also like this photo. Another way in which my cover differs is that the man on the front is not a really famous musician; he is quite new on the scene.
For my contents page I have followed the basic layout of a Kerrang contents but using my magazine house style and colours. I think it is clear my cover and contents page are from the same music magazine as they share the same colour scheme and fonts used; this is consistent between the two. I have integrated text and image on the contents page. The text is arranged in one set column on the right hand side and six equally sixed small square pictures in two rows towards the bottom on the page. I have numbered these, using the same font and colour as the masthead, but a lot smaller if course. A lot of the pictures on my contents page were live photos taken at Leeds festival; however for the others I used different lighting and took them from high and low angles, to see which looked most effective to the style of band this person was supposed to be in.
My double page spread relates to the person on the cover, it is an interview with ‘Sebastian King’. It made sense to do my double page spread on my cover model as it is them who would be attracting the customers to the magazine. The interview consists of a mixture of musical questions, family questions and then a few random questions. I included these questions unrelated to music, such as ‘What would you spend your last £20 on?’ I did this to break up the interview and add some humour to the article. This also gives the reader more of an insight into the musicians life; making them feel as though they know them a little better. The colour scheme is quite plain on the double page spread; however I think this works as the picture is quite a strong image I included pull quotes to draw the reader to the article, these are in bright blue. The words Sebastian King are in the same font as the masthead but again smaller and at a slight angle. I included three smaller images in the bottom left corner of the page. I think this looks quite good as it breaks up the page and adds some more interest to it.
STAGED represents a particular social group of males and females interested in indie/alternative music. My magazine would most likely appeal ore to the younger generation, age 16-25. The image of rob on the cover appeals to both males and females as it could be seen as an ideal self or an ideal partner. In my main image rob is giving a direct mode of address to catch the readers eye and draw them in. keeping to a simple colour scheme of black white grey and red means fits well with the genre of the magazine. Just by looking at the cover you can tell this isn’t a heavy metal magazine or a rap magazine. I think the house style works well in getting the genre of magazine across to the audience without them having to buy it to find out. I chose to represent this particular social group as I enjoy this kind of music so know more about it than heavy metal or rap. Through research I also found out this type of music is growing in popularity.
The type of company that might make and distribute my magazine would be a conglomerate. I have chosen this as my magazine is mainly mainstream and the Indie Genre appeals to people on a large scale. The context within it is quite broad, introducing new bands and reviewing albums and festivals. It appeals to those interested in new music rather than older. Bauer media and IPC media are two magazine institutions that already publish well known magazines. Bauer media publishes and distributes, 'Q' magazine, 'Kerrang' and 'Mojo' and IPC media distributes 'NME' magazine. Seeing as my main focus and analyses was on NME magazine I think IPC media would be appropriate for distributing STAGED as it has a similar atmosphere and genre to the magazine it already distributes. The circulation would be large scale and would be distributed to people all around the U.K to promote my magazine to the public I will use a range of media texts to advertise it. My main source of advertisement would be television, this is because figures have shown that over 90% of the population watch T.V. meaning if I advertise STAGED on T.V many people will become aware of the magazine. The other place I will advertise STAGED would be on the internet, on social networking sites such as Facebook, MySpace and Bebo. I think this would be a very effective method of advertising as figures from the national cohort study show that over 92% of teens aged 16-19 use the internet on a regular basis. This means that I can appeal to more than half of my target audience. This magazine will be accessible in shops or over the internet, as the magazine expands readers will also be able to subscribe to STAGED. The more people know about my product, the more people will be influenced to buy it.
The audience for my media product would mainly consist of 16-25 year olds of both genders. STAGED is aimed at people who like music of the genre indie. I will also attempt to attract those who don’t particularly like this type of music. I have decided to appeal to both genders so that I have a broader range of readership.
During my practical work I have used a range of technologies and applications, such as Photoshop and Quark X press. From using the Photoshop application I have learnt how to import a picture into it and edit the colour settings on it. I have learnt how to produce text and change the font, size and colour of it. I now know how to can apply drop shadows to my work and also cut backgrounds out from photos. I have also learnt about the different layers, and how all of them combined make the final product. I have also used Quark Xpress I have learnt some of the basic features of this. I have learnt how to create picture and text boxes, and how to fill boxes with jabber to show where text will go. I have learnt how to save this then open it up in Photoshop to continue making the magazine. I am not as confident with this as Photoshop however I think in time as I continue to use it more I shall improve. I prefer using Photoshop to Quark Express I have learnt how to create a blog and how to post text, photos, and work onto it. Through the process of constructing this product I have learnt how much work goes into making a magazine.
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