Representations for my MUSIC MAGAZINE.

REPRESENTATION ISSUES TO CONSIDER

•As you develop your research and ideas you will need to consider the representations exist within existing products and the representations that you will construct in your own products:

•Representation in the media is concerned with how individual and groups of people, events and ideas are presented to audiences. What we see, hear and read in the media is a re-presentation of a subject it is not a real version of events it is constructed. Even a live broadcast is a representation, because you only see what is filmed by the camera operator. As a media studies student, it is important that you are able to identify and understand these representations in the products and texts that you analyse and that you construct.

•You must show evidence of considering these representations in your own work and using them to construct your products and texts if you are to reach the higher grades.

_____________________________________________________________________________

For my music magazine:

I will be constructing representations for gender, age, race and genre. 

I will represent both men, women and different races however, I will try to make my magazine gender neutral, because the majority of the bands in the genre alternative rock are predominantly white and male. 


In the genre alternative rock women and men are represented as quite punk and non mainstream. Both men and women are equal when clothing is represented, for example by wearing  non conventional clothing such as leather jackets and trousers,and what mainstream stylists would class as ''miss-matching'' top and bottoms with non conventional hair stylings, such as a ''bowl hair cut''. In addition to this the artists are quite young between the ages of 16-30.


This will mean I will not for example be presenting old men over the age of 75, who look frail and weak dressed in a suit and tie, because there are no bands with old men who are over the age of 75 with good manners and braces.  I will have to represent females and males, of a younger  aging with an alternative fashion sense. However I will have to present artists over 30 because there are popular groups / artists of that age group.

Age is represented in different ways in the music industry. For example the 16-30's are seen as young, fresh and popular, where-as the older generation are seen to have more experience, even more so if they have had a longer career so are usually respected more. 

Religion isn't represented at all in alternative rock, possibly due to the artists either not having religious beliefs or not wanting to sing about their religion. And if they wanted to sing about their religion, they wouldn't be an alternative rock group / artist.

Due to this I won't be representing any specific religion. 

The artists I will represent will predominantly be young ( between the ages of 16-30 ) due to the fact that all the artists that are popular at the moment are in that age group. Because they are young I will represent them as fresh and energetic. I will make them appeal to my audience by the use of clothing and the genre of music the artists will play.

>Bastille

>The Killers

>The 1975

>Imagine Dragons

>The Lumineers

>Fall Out Boy

>Artic Monkeys

>London Grammar

>Red Hot Chilli Peppers

>Coldplay

>Lana Del Rey

>Kings Of Leon

>Of Monsters & Men

>Kodaline

>Mumford & Sons

>Bombay Bicyle Club

>MGMT

>Arcade Fire

>Muse

>Paramore

>Foster The People

>Florence & The Machine

>30 Seconds To Mars

>AWOLNATION

>Busted

>You Me At Six

>Oasis

>The Beatles

>David Bowie

>Queen

>Nirvana

>The XX

All of these artists feature in the recent Alternative / Rock charts. I will take the representations from these artists and incorporate them into my magazine. They are all seen as 'punk' or 'indie', with a different fashion sense. My audience who will be aged between 16-25 will like artists such as the ones listed above

___________________________________________________________________

I have chosen to my music magazines genre to be alternative rock / pop. This is because the majority of music I listen to is within this genre. I enjoy listening to the music and I'm familiar with the genre and know I could produce a music magazine based on the genres. My audience will niche audience, but there is a large following of alternative rock music.

I have chosen my audience to be between 16-25 because the genre 'alternative rock' won't appeal to younger children at the ages of 7 for example, due to the fact that conventionally children of that age prefer music that is quite up-beat and pop-sounding, where-as alternative rock can sometimes be the opposite. 

My magazine will focus on up-coming and present artists, with popular artists from the 1990's for example.

My selected audience shop in shops like Urban Outfitter, Cow, Top Shop and River Island. They will wear things like Skinny Jeans, Converses, Shirts over T-shirts, Over-Sized Jumpers, Band T-shirts, Denim / Leather Jackets, Shorts etc...

I will advertise the shops / clothing they tend to wear, to make it more appealing to my audience. Also I will advertise new technology such as latest phone models.  

My audience will be people who spend their time going to concerts, listening to music, and spending time with their friends, therefore able to discuss what they've heard or read. 

Rolling Stone Brand Identity.

Rolling Stone holds a different Brand Identity to NME. This is because it features a very heavy variety of artists, but not only music artists, but actors as-well.
It features music genres such as Pop with Katy Perry, Lady GaGa and Taylor Swift, Hip-Hop / Rap with Jay-Z & Eminem and Rock with Jimi Hendrix.

It then shows actors such as: Johnny Depp, Kristen Stewart and Brad Pitt.
 This shows that it's not just a music based magazine. Rolling Stone does this because whoever is ''popular'' at the time or is being newly recognised  will be on the cover; for example President Obama is featured on the cover because he had just been elected President of the United State.
 Due to this it's clear that Rolling Stone values people of importance and like to promote people / artists that have achieved a new level of success and will support them in their new found fame.

The Rolling Stone masthead has changed, from Serif red bold font with a black border, and a drop shadow, to a Serif bold green font, to a blue serif bold font.
Even though they have changed the colour of their masthead, you can still recognise it as Rolling Stone because it still has the same serif font, bold-ness and drop shadow.
If you are a regular buyer of the Rolling Stone magazine, you will be able to differentiate between the publication date of the magazine issue due to the change of the masthead. 

The layout of the magazine has been consistent throughout the years Rolling Stone has been published. This is with the central image of the artist or person of significance with the text in columns both on the left or right of the image.  

This helps create Rolling Stone's Brand Identity.This is because when someone sees the themed Red and Black, masthead and the specific layout, they will know or relate those things to the Rolling Stone magazine. 

The text is always ''superimposed'' around the image.The images are always either a head shot or a mid-shot of a single person or a mid-shot or a full length shot of a group.

PREZI NME ANALYSIS

MUSIC MAGAZINE - Second Draft of MASTHEADS.

This is the first draft of my Music Magazine Mastheads. They all (apart from one ) consist of one short word, which is what conventional mastheads consist of. They have a range of different sized letters, and fonts. From here I will add a variety of colour and decide which Masthead title and style I think fits the genre of my magazine best. In addition in my next questionnaire I will add  a few samples of my mastheads so my audience can decide which ones they like best, therefore incorporating my audience's in-put. Since my original ideas I have gotten rid of quite a few. This is because I felt that the words didn't fit with the genre I wanted my magazine.

Final CONTENTS PAGE SCHOOL MAGAZINE.

This is my final contents page with it's pictures.

I have included all the conventions needed for a contents page; Such as a:

 title, Issue Number, Columns which creates a structured layout, Page Numbers (Without the 'P' or 'No.' next to it.) I have kept the font consistent so it matches my house style of Red, White and Black. I will have two images in the right hand corner which will relate to some of my articles. I have information about what will feature in my magazine. Also I have used a variety of font sizes to differentiate between what is most important for example my Headline ''Free Pretzels'' is bigger than the information underneath.

SCHOOL MAGAZINE - Content page

 This is my final contents page without the pictures. I have included all the conventions needed for a contents page; Such as a:
 title, Issue Number, Columns which creates a structured layout, Page Numbers (Without the 'P' or 'No.' next to it.) I have kept the font consistent so it matches my house style of Red, White and Black. I will have two images in the right hand corner which will relate to some of my articles. I have information about what will feature in my magazine. Also I have used a variety of font sizes to differentiate between what is most important for example my Headline ''Free Pretzels'' is bigger than the information underneath.

Final Questionnaire.

1) What age are you?

10-14 [ ]
15-24 [ ]
25-34 [ ]
35+ [ ]
2) Are you male or female

Male [ ]
Female [ ]

3) What part of the jicnar scale are you in?
( The Jicnar Scale consists of Group A (Professionals)

Upper middle class, e.g. Barristers, Doctors, Executives

Group B (Managerial)

Middle class, e.g. Bank Managers, Teachers

Group C1 (Non-Manual)

Lower middle class, white collar workers, e.g. Office Workers

____________________________________________________________

Group C2 (Manual)

Skilled working class, Blue collar workers, e.g. Car Mechanic, Machine operators, Construction workers

Group D (Partly Skilled)

Semi or unskilled manual workers, e.g. Assembly line worker

Group E (Unskilled)

Casual workers, dependent on state benefits, students ) 

Which category do you fall in?

ABC1 [ ]
C2DE [ ]

4) What draws you to a music magazine?

Name / Brand of magazine [ ]
Photos [ ]
The artists featured [ ]
The genre ( of the magazine ) [ ]
The headlines [ ]Other [ ]

5) Would you prefer a music magazine to have short or long articles?

Short [ ]
Long [ ]Both [ ]

6) Would you read a music magazine about new and upcoming artists?

Yes [ ]
No [ ]

7) Do you read any of the following music magazines?

Q [ ]
NME [ ]
Kerrang [ ]
Vibe [ ]
Uncut [ ]
None [ ]

8) How often do you read / buy music magazines?

Weekly [ ]
Fortnightly [ ]
Monthly [ ]
2-6 months [ ]
Yearly [ ]
Never [ ]

9) What do you expect from a music magazine?

New music [ ]
Music / Artist news [ ]
Reviews / Interviews [ ]
Upcoming tours / Concerts [ ]
Letters from readers [ ]All of the above [ ]
None [ ]

10)What artists do you listen to out of this list? ( You can tick more than one )


Bastille [ ]
The Killers [ ]
The 1975 [ ]
Imagine Dragons [ ]
The Lumineers [ ]
Fall Out Boy [ ]
Artic Monkeys [ ]
London Grammar [ ]
Red Hot Chilli Peppers [ ]
Coldplay [ ]
Lana Del Rey [ ]
Kings Of Leon [ ]
Of Monsters & Men [ ]
Kodaline [ ]
Mumford & Sons [ ]
Bombay Bicyle Club [ ]
MGMT [ ]
Arcade Fire [ ]
Muse [ ]
Paramore [ ]
Foster The People [ ]
Florence & The Machine [ ]
Oasis [ ]
The Beatles [ ]
David Bowie [ ] 
Queen [ ]
The XX [ ]
Other [ ] (Please specify ___________________________________________________)
None [ ]

11) How much would you spend on a music magazine?

£1 [ ]
£1.50- £2 [ ]
£2.50 - £3 [ ]
£3.50 - £4 [ ]
£4.50+ [ ]
Other [ ] ( Please specify ________ )
None [ ]

12) Which content page do you prefer?
A [ ]

B [ ]












13) Which name do you like the most: (Tick one )
Elusive [ ]
Basic Space [ ]
Radar [ ]
Reload [ ]
None [ ]

Names For MUSIC MAGAZINE.

>American
>Anthem
>Basic Space
> Electric Feel
>Elusive
>God& Monsters
>Little Talk
>Now
>Part II
>Proof
>Radar Detector
>Radioactive
>Reflektor
>Reload
>Runaways


These are some title ideas for my music magazine. They are all simple 1 or 2 words, because Mastheads are short and simple. They are all music related, or the name of a song from an artist.

What I have learned in my Preliminary Activity?

In the Preliminary Activity I learnt about Media Communication, Institution, Text and Form.In addition I have learnt about genre, connotation and denotation. I have learnt about representation and audience - with audience I have learnt about Primary and Secondary and how to decide on my target audience.With audience I have had to consider their age, what part of the Jicnar Scale they belong, either ABC1 C2DE, whether they're male or female, music tastes, background and hobbies. I've also learnt the key conventions of a  magazine front covers, contents pages.

These include:

Masthead: The name of the magazine, always positioned to the left hand side of the magazine ( Because thats where we look first. )

Headlines: The second largest text on the page, which tells you about the main article of the issue of the magazine. 

Coverlines: The text which talks about the content of the magazine. It's also smaller than the headline.

Pull Quotes: A quote that has been taken from a magazine article.
Features/Articles: Pictures, Information featured in the magazine articles. 

Lure: Something on the front cover to entice the audience / make them want to read the magazine and find out more.

Serif / Sans Serif font: Serif - Words with hooks, feet and brackets. Sans Serif - Words without.

Pug: A shape with text written in it to grab the audiences attention.

Layout: Structure of the magazine.

House Style: Colours, themes, text, that make the magazine.

Mode of Address: The way the magazine speaks to its audience. 

Visual Syntax: The way the readers eye follows the layout of the magazine.

Straplines: Smaller font headline below the main headline.

Banner: Coloured banner with text on it.

Photots: Images used.

Masking: Cutting around the photo to make it blend into the background.

Stand first: An introductory paragraph before the main article.

Drop-shadow: Shadowing around a text to make it stand out.

Cropping: cutting off parts of an image to emphasize a particular thing.

Graphics:the use of design for words and images.

Contents page:

Issue no. / Dates: the date that the magazine is published and the issue number.

Categories/ sections: categorizing the features of the magazine.

Columns:organizing the text in columns.

Caption: a small description of the image that the caption is directly below. 

Pictures: images related to the articles.

Structured layout: making the magazine structured and easier to read.Pull quotes: quotes taken from the articles.

Title (contents): large text to show that this is the contents page of the magazine.

Banners:blocks of colour with text on to make the text stand out.

Headlines:the main title in a large text.

Numbers: showing the page numbers the articles are on.

Colour scheme: colours that link to the house scheme.

NME's Brand Identity

These covers all feature a range of artists and styles. For example rock with My Chemical Romance, folk with Mumford & Sons, indie pop with Florence & The Machine. This shows that NME value different / diverse music. Also they majority feature young / current artists which will appeal to a young audience. Although some do feature artists such as ''Morrissey'' and ''Nirvana'' which were popular in the 1990's. This shows that NME value artists from the past not only the present and up-coming, because they have the sound as new music. It also shows that even if the artists were 'new' and 'upcoming' back in the day, that they are still popular now, and the younger generation can like them, because if they are featured in an NME then you're probably going to like them.
The NME masthead has changed, from is red bold writing with a white border, and a black background, to a bold red font, to a white bold font. Even though they have changed the theme of the masthead, you can still recognise it as NME because it still has the same font, bold-ness and capitalization. If you are a regular buyer of the NME magazine, you will be able to differentiate between the publication date of the magazine issue due to the change of the masthead. 

The banner on the top of the page is consists of either four colours: Red, Black, White& Yellow. This helps create NME's house style.This is because when someone sees the themed Red, Black, White and Yellow, they will know or relate those things to the NME magazine. 
The text is always ''superimposed'' onto the image.The images are always either a close up / head-shot of a single artist or a mid-shot of a group.

First draft of Questionaire

1) What age are you?

10-14 [ ]
15-24 [ ]
25-34 [ ]
35+ [ ]

2) What part of the jicnar scale are you in?

ABC1 [ ]
C2DE [ ]

3) What draws you to a music magazine?

Name / Brand of magazine [ ]
Photos [ ]
The artists featured [ ]
The genre ( of the magazine ) [ ]
The headlines [ ]

4) Would you prefer a music magazine to have short or long articles?

Short [ ]
Long [ ]

5) Would you read a music magazine about new and upcoming artists?

Yes [ ]
No [ ]

6) Do you read any of the following music magazines?

Q [ ]
NME [ ]
Kerrang [ ]
Vibe [ ]
Uncut [ ]

7) How often do you read / buy music magazines?

Weekly [ ]
Fortnightly [ ]
Monthly [ ]
2-6 months [ ]
Yearly [ ]
Never [ ]

8) What do you expect from a magazine?

New music [ ]
Music / Artist news [ ]
Reviews / Interviews [ ]
Upcoming tours / Concerts [ ]
Letters from readers [ ]

9) What artists do you listen to out of this list? ( You can tick more than 1 )

Lana Del Rey [ ]
Peace [ ]
Vampire Weekend [ ]
MGMT [ ]
Swim deep [ ]
Artic Monkeys [ ]
Foals [ ]
The XX [ ]
Miles Kane [ ]
Crystal Castles [ ]

10) How much would you spend on a music magazine?

£1 [ ]
£1.50- £2 [ ]
£2.50 - £3 [ ]
£3.50 - £4 [ ]
£4.50+ [ ]

BRAND IDENTITY

BRAND IDENTITY.

Brand identity is what you see that you associate the magazine / product. And if you see something like the Masthead, you will recognize it and know that it belongs to a specific brand.
For example, with NME you would associate new, upcoming bands, with alternative rock sounds. You will recognize the definitive house style, the masthead, and the visual of the magazine. For example on ID magazine, you will see the close up / head shot of the model, and they will either be winking or have am eye covered.

The BRAND VALUES links into the brands recognition. For example NME believes in new and upcoming  music / artists, so it will support and promote new and upcoming music / artists. 

Masthead ideas - SCHOOL MAGAZINE.

These are my model ideas for my Mastheads, for my school magazine. I used Fireworks to create them. I kept a consistent colour scheme ( red, black and white ) which is linked to the schools colour scheme / logo ( my house style ), but I experimented with several different styles and designs to see which worked the best. I used both Sans Serif Font and Serif font, to test out the two of them.