These are some of the images that i did not use but changed to suit the design of the magazine. The colors used in these pictures were digitally created using photoshop as for an eye catching purpose. However i decided as a new music magazine a natural image and conventional color scheme would appeal to the target audience. Which would allow my magazine to compete with the established music magazines as well as offering something different.

This is my music magazine production that i have produced, using the codes and conventions of established magazines in my genre such as mixmag i made a bold, contemporary and enticing masthead that appeals to my target audience of teenagers, unlike mixmag which does clubbing aswell giving it a glitzy commercial look my magazine uses street iconography such as a graffiti background for the main image give the target audience the feeling of exclusivity over the publication which may be considered niche in the publication market giving it a distinct selling point. The technologies i used in creating these publications were pages and photoshop which enabled me to manipulate images and add detailed images. 

Looking back at your preliminary task, what do you feel you have learnt in the progression from it to the full product?

            

Using my preliminary task i can cleary see that their has been a transition between the preliminary task and the main task. In music magazines their is a consistency in the colour scheme, layout and fonts. Which i did not incorporate into my preliminary task however doing my main task i realised my mistake and did not repeat it which is vital to producing a proffessional music publication. In the picture above i used an unconventional colour sceme of purple yellow with a multi coloured back ground image. Which would not be suited as a music magazine and therefore  would not represent the target audience. In my main task i learnt from this and used a more conventional colour scheme which the target audience could identifiy with.

What kind of media institution might distribute your media product and why?

As my media publication is a from a contemporary music genre and therefore it would be unlikely that a traditional retail outlet would sell W.H smith might be an exception as it aims to offer a variety of choice. Large supermarkets such as Morrisons, asda and tescoes would be a good place to market my media product as families shop there and our target audience (16-25) would be able to access it regularly.

HMV specialise in music publications and media products and is widely known to our target audience as afforadable and accessible. Online distribution is a lucrative marketing proposition as it is widely used by our target audience and to everyone with internet which opens up the magazine to a wider audience. A wider audience would be older ravers 30+ looking for older Dubstep songs they new they could use my magazines website to access an archive of Dubstep songs for a monthly subscription. My website would not only offer the target audience access to the lastest news and brand new songs coming through but more than the magazine with exclusive competitions and links to clothing brands that are associated with the artists. Therefore providing the target audience and a wider audience with more than a monthly publication but a weekly place where they have access to gossip, competions, a music archive this is fulfilling the audience gratification theory as the audience are giving a distraction from their working lives and a lifestyle they can buy into which gratifiys them.

As a promotional push the magazine could be sold with an already well known music publication like mixmag. You could sell the distributing rights to a distributing company like IPC are specialists in selling publications in the market owning a whole range of titles. For example IPC distribute NME magazine.

  

In What ways does your music magazine use, develop or challenge forms and conventions of real music magazines?

In What ways does your music magazine use, develop or challenge forms and conventions of real music magazines?

My music magazine uses some forms and conventions, which are synonimous with music magazines for example barcodes, masthead, straplines these are generic  features of magazines i used all of these to construct my magazine. My magazine is Dubstep genre and i have used mixmag as an example because it is a mainstream music magazine symbolic of Dubstep.

Mix mag uses bold and bright colours symbolic of the genre as ravers use flourecent bright colours to go to raves i did not use this colour scheme as i felt a more conventional scheme would work well as my main image of graffiti represents the genre. Yellow, red, white and black  is a popular conventional colour scheme with other genres aswell as it is often symbolic of the lyrical content potrayed in the genres Kerrang, Rolling stones and XXL all use this colour scheme. Though these genres are different to Dubstep the content potrayed and the lifestyle symbolized by these magazines and the genres they represent is similiar to Dubstep’s lifestyle and lyrical content therefore incorporating a conventional colour scheme which the target audience can identify with, as well as using street iconography makes it market friendly and connotes the target audience.

My masthead connotes the music genre as Dubstep uses street iconography and colloquial language to appeal to its target audience of mainly young male and female teenagers. My masthead symbolises this by using a graffity style font to denote the theme of Dubstep. My main image uses the rule of thirds to give it a realistic edge and a graffiti background which anchors the mast head.

I used mixmag as a template for my music magazine as it represents the genre Dubstep in the market currently. However Mixmag also incorporates clubbing into its magazines which brings the target audiences age up. I used the outline of the mixmags contents page and front page to construct my magazine using a masthead, strap line, cover lines and a barcode. In this way i used conventions and forms of a music magazine however i also challenged conventions using an unconventional graffiti style masthead and main image to represent the target audience.

These are two contents pages from established music magazines in the market. Mixmag is a dubstep and dance/clubbing magazine that uses contempary and unknown artists. Kerrang is a rock/ metal magazine that is more established in the market and uses more established artists. I used these as a template for my contents page in its construction. Compared to these established contents pages my contents page follows the codes and conventions such as title top right, writing on the side, pictures anchoring writing. With an edgier look which can be considered unconventional because of the genre my magazine represents.

This is the research i did into mastheads of real music magazines in my genre and outside of my music genre.

Mast Heads:

Dance music is closely associated with DJ’s and clubbing the wording of MIXMAG symbolizes this using MIX and MAG which cleary identifys it to the target audience of that of a dance magazine. The colours used bright green sygnifies the illuminous bright vibrant colours worn to go clubbing and raving. The black colour anchors this as it as it is dark, bold and aggressive. The fontography of the I has been made to look as if its a microphone to appeal to a young target audience.

Rolling stone magazine is synonomous with rock and roll. Rolling stone sounds rock and roll and fontography used looks formal but is not because it originated a long time ago. The colours used are symbolic to rock red can sygnify love, lust, anger and passion. Key issues brought up in the lyrics of rock songs. Grey is the nuetral colour however not naturally suited to red it symbolifies the rebel nature of rock and roll.

Is a mordern hip hop/rap magazine XXL stands for large and this symbolizes the size of everything represented in rap and hip hop lyrics, clothes, bling, cars. The use of red and white as colours is symbolic of the culture of rap and hip hop. White signifies the white ruling class who undermine rap artists from the “ghetto”. Red is in reference to sex, love and violence connoted in rap and hip hop lyrics.

Kerrang is a rock and heavy metal magazine the wording symbolizes this kerrang is the sound made by a bass electric guitar. The fontography is of a smashed window which connotes the violent imagery depicted in heavy metal lyrics. The colours used black sygnifies the dark and depressive nature of the lyrics in heavy metal and white as a contrast colour.

In my main coursework magazine i want to appeal to a young target audience of 17-20 who is interested in a wide variety of genres. It will be a special edition on Dubstep and young up and coming dubstep artists in the genre. It will be UK based and will be issued monthly.

http://www.rollingstone.com/
This is Rolling Stone magazine, its genre started as rock but over the years its has developed into a life style magazine covering contemporary artists and new genres.
For instance www.mixmag.com which is a DubStep magazine a genre that as only surfaced as mainstream in the last few years.

This music magazine research that i did independently, this is textual analysis of different genre music magazines to aid the decision of my magazine.

This is Mr Rascal one of my recent favorite artists!!!

Hi
I am Matt Senior a yr 12 student at Acland Burghley school Laswap sixth form colledge. This is my media coursework blog for this coursework we are making a music magazine front cover, contents page and double page spread. So far i have been learning media terminology, image/textual analysis, front cover analysis.