Magazine Analysis & Magazine Production

Magazine Analysis

In today's lesson we looked at magazine covers and how they target their audience depending on what genre the magazine is. We were given the cover of "NME" which we then had to analyse. We learnt key words and their meanings such as:

• Masthead-Main title, always to the right or spanning whole width of page
• Main cover image-Usually looking straight into the camera to connect with the audience
• Main cover line-The main 'story' using the biggest font
  
  We were then put into groups of four and told were going to produce 2 issues of a music magazine.

Planning the magazine

We decided to produce a classical music magazine because it is not an obvious choice for young people. This would be a challenge because none of us listen to classical so we could have to do research in order to produce a convincing magazine. Then we had to come up with a name for our magazine. We narrowed it down to:
Classique
Classchiqe
Claschic

In the end we chose Classique because we felt it sounded and looked the best.

It was decided that our target audience would be young people (aged 16-25 approx.) and perhaps from ethnic minorities because this is not an expected audience for classical music and it would be a challenge trying to appeal to them.

Our cover image will be of two young urban musicians holding instuments facing two smart, upperclass musicians also holding instruments to show the contrast and challege the stereotyped classical audience. Their status will be shown by the clothes they are wearing, for example the urban musicians will be wearing casual clothes while the upperclass musicians will be wearing formal clothes.

The Photoshoot

We were given a digital camera and told to take pictures for our magazine's main cover image and features. Sadly we would have to alter our planned main image as we were no longer allowed to borrow instruments from the music department.

So then we planned to cut and paste instruments into our hands but later decided that this would be too tricky and it would be hard to make it look realistic.

We took lots of pictures in pairs (one young musician with one upper class) and a group photo which we would use on the magazine to advertise an interview with a new classical group.
We also went to the library and took pictures of classical books and CD's which we could adveritise as competitions to win and free give aways.

Computer sessions

In total there were three computer sessions but I missed the first one. At first we were going to use an image of a group member and I as the main image but decided not to because it was not a strong image. Instead we found a young urban violinist who was perfect for our magazine called Adaggio.

We found photoshop quite hard to use and had to ask for help to get the effects that we wanted. It took us a while to cut out the images because we had to be careful not to cut of fingers etc.

By the third session we have finished our magazine and I am pleased with the end result.

Magazine Research unfinished

Todays Lesson began with an analysis of the magazine, "Hip Hop Connection." When analyzing, we took into consideration :

• Construction of the magazine cover
• Cover lines
• The Background
• Dark Colours
• The Artists
• Poses
• Crest
• Main Sell Line
• Central figures
• Promo offers

In order to understand the work, we have to consider the terminology that is associated with covers. I have identified the 

masthead : is the title of the magazine and nearly always justified to the right

Banner :  A strap across the top or bottom of the page

Main Cover image : Usually looking straight at the camera to attract and connect with the audience

Magazine Research and Planning of Music Magazine

Today’s lesson was the analysis of music magazines and magazines as a money-making industry. As an introduction to the magazine industry we learnt that magazines are mostly part of a bigger institution and are usually owned by media moguls (e.g. Rupert Murdock) that own other fields of the media industry such as television channels, newspapers, record companies etc.

We then identified different magazines, their target audience and the genre they were. Then we evaluated a hip-hop music magazine cover and became familiar with magazine terminology (e.g. the masthead, strapline, banners and main image). We were then able to identify the target audience for this magazine and what aspects of the cover show that it is aimed at them.

In our groups our task was to identify the key features of a magazine cover and discuss the reasons for it (how it attracts the readers attention). The magazine cover that we were given was a Reading and Glastonbury special of 'NME' magazine. These are two popular indie/rock annual festivals and consistently sell-out. As this was a special edition of the magazine, most of the feature articles were based around this event leading to the magazine appealing to people who went to the festival. On the ‘right-third’ of the page was a list of celebrity musicians and the famous rock band ‘Metallica’ was the boldest and biggest name of the this implying that this magazine is mostly aimed at rock fans.

The main image of the magazine is a man singing into a microphone with is mouth wide open, he is young and has big ‘unruly’ hair and looks like a stereotypical ‘rock-star’. He looks as though he is singing live and the image was taken at a performance, this implies that he is a well known artist and was a headline act in one of the festivals also attracting the reader’s attention because they may be interested in the festival because of they like the artists that performed there.

Our final task was to plan our own magazine cover and prepare for a photo shoot in the following lesson. Firstly we chose a genre of music and decided that the classical music media that we have seen is mostly aimed at a niche audience ( middle-aged people) so we wanted to create a unique magazine but keep within the main codes and convention of ‘typical’ music magazines (e.g. freebies, graphics and feature articles).

The title of our magazine is ‘Classique’ to resemble the words ‘class’ and the sounding of the word ‘chic’. This was too appeal to both teenagers and young adults (ages 14-25) with he words ‘Class’ attracting young adults and ‘Sique’ the teenagers. Our slogan is ‘CLASS + KOOL = CLASSICALKOOL’. This is aimed at teenagers because the word ‘kool’ is spelt in slang and is similar to the word classical but instead it can be seen as a ‘modern’ and ‘trendy’ version of the word.

We then planned what images that we wanted to put on the cover and decided to take three images. As we were a group of four and wanted our magazine to target both the young and old audience, two group members dressed in young ‘trendy’ clothes and the other two members were styled as mature, smart but yet stylish and sophisticated. Our third image would be of all four of us promoting a classical CD as this would make a feature article and interest the reader because it would be two young members and two adult members forming one classical band. We shot all images inside of the college but used photo editing to remove the background and add our own. It was important that the images highlighted the difference between the younger and older people in the main image.

Magazine Research (not finished)

In today's lesson we were learning about different genres of magazines. For example: Heat, Ok! and Hello! are all celebrity/gossip filled magazines; whereas, NME, Smash Hits and Kerrang are all music magazines. This was a simple lesson starter which everyone in the class could contribute and identify with as everyone either knows of a magazine of reads one themselves.

We then spoke about how magazines make money through cover price and even though some magazines are free, they can still make money through advertising.

We were then taught the terminology of covers:

• Masthead
  
• Banner
  
• Graphic
  
• Main Cover Image
  
• Cover lines
  
• Bar code, price and issue date
  
• Mode of Address
  
• Boxed Text
  
• Main Cover Line
  
• Strapline

We were then put into a group of 4 and had to come up with a genre for a music magazine. Me and my group decided on having a Classical music magazine for young people as no one else was doing this in the class. For our next lesson, we are going to take pictures of for our front cover and have decided to have one person very formally dressed and another person more casually dressed to try and not stereotype classical music as something you have to wear a suit for.