Music Magazine: Research and Planning, Task Five

The representation of people in indie-pop music magazine

I will be discussing the representation of both the musicians and the fans/readers. I will be focusing on mise-en-scene used in the cover images and photos used in double page spreads. This will demonstrate that I understand how magazines encode representations and this will then be evident in my photography for my music magazine cover.

In this front cover of "Under the radar", we can see that the famous musician - Grimes, is looking sideways with no eye contacts with readers at all with the back of her hand holding against her face. It seems as if she is lifting her face up gracefully, suggesting she is delicately to be looked at by the readers and that she is at a higher status with achievements unlike the general public. The touch of cold tones have been edited onto the front cover, the pink, purple, blue and white makes up a fantasy colour scheme. Along with the nicely fitted dress Grimes is wearing, it visualise her as a goddess who is unreachable by fans and the readers. The lacey dress she is wear is actually a very trendy at the moment, which we can say the same with her music as they're very popular right now, this relates to the audience because they will see the fashionable garments Grimes is wearing and likely to try and find something in stores in order to match with Grimes as fans tends to mimic their idols. By placing her in the middle of the magazine front cover, it clearly shows that Grimes is the main attention, reinforced by the cover line of "Post internet superstar". The background of the image is plain therefore it will not distract the audience from Grimes, the plain background also allows area for the taglines and other details. As for the audience, due to the pink and purple tones that can be seen on the cover, I believe that it is aimed at female as it's associated with those colours. From this cover, the readers are represented as faithful followers of Grimes the goddess, for which they will agree with the magazine that Grimes is the "Best of 2012". Furthermore, the uniformed font of the cover suggests that the readers like to be simple and be straightforward with life, as it is shown that the taglines are very simply listed.

There is only one photo in this double page spread from Spin magazine, which the article is about Florence and the machine. This one photo of Florence takes up over half of the double page spread, which allows the readers to clearly see who she is and admire her beauty. Even though "Florence and the machine" is the name of a band that Florence is in, she still have the main attention and the photo only features her because she is the lead singer in the indie-rock band who is the most important member. The way Florence is looking into the camera is difficult to deceive, but it can be diverted into two idea, first is that she is looking into the camera with despair due to the lack of  positive emotion shown. The second idea is that she is staring into the camera with confidence, I believe it's the latter idea because Florence and the machine is so successful that there's no way she has a lack of confidence. Florence is clearly seen as connecting to her fans/readers through the eye contact, which will make the readers feel like they personally know about her after reading this article about her. The colour scheme for the entire double page spread is monotone without a hint of hues. This suggests that Florence is modern which means her music is contemporary and that her fans are young and fresh and energetic.

Music Magazine: Research and Planning, Task Four

Comparison of magazine front covers - Spin and Kerrang

The magazines I have chosen are from two completely different genres. On the left is "Spin" magazine, it is an indie-pop/folk-pop whereas on the right is a rock magazine called "Kerrang!" This will allow me to see the contrary between the two so I can pick out the specific elements that are seen on "Spin" and use it in my music magazine. 

On this front cover of "Spin", the masthead is white with a red rectangular background, this masthead is seen on every other issues of "Spin" so it is a recognisable title which the target audience can easily identify. Similarly on the January issue of 'Kerrang!'. The name of the masthead is visible in black with white lines and some form of broken effect, although an area of the masthead is covered up by the image, the major audience will still be able to recognise this magazine because it is very well known.

The front cover image of "Spin" is of the popular indie-folk band called "Mumford & Sons", the photo shows the band looking cheery and playful as they stand in causal positions looking as relaxed as possible, along with them all wearing the colour scheme of blue, white and black clothing. On the other hand, the cover image of the magazines are the famous metal-core band - 'Bring me the horizon", who are an extremely popular for these few years amongst young adults, yet they are staring into the camera emotionlessly and somewhat fiercely as if they are piercing through the magazine cover at the readers.

The names of both bands are the cover lines which are white and black and placed on top of a contrasting background, allowing the cover lines to stand out so everyone will know who they are even if they only caught a glimpse of the magazines. Effective tag-lines are also attached to their respective cover lines. On the front cover of "Spin", the tag-line is "How the brits are leading the charge". This is quite an attractive tag-line as British readers will automatically be interested as it somehow relates to them. In addition, "Kerrang!" also has a tag-line of "Northern uproar!" which describes how popular they are becoming that they are spreading everywhere.

"Spin" on the left has a more of a simple colour scheme of white, light blue and black with a hint of red, which the baby blue makes the cover look more relaxing and soothing for eyes, just like how the indie-folk music is calming and soothing for ears. However, "Kerrang!" has the strong colour scheme of white, red, black and the addition of yellow, which all come together as loud colours that are bright and bold and eye striking.

Both magazines have names other bands of the same genre shown on the front cover. On "Spin", "The Felice brothers", "The low anthem" and "The head and the heart" are mentioned, which are all indie-pop and indie-folk. Other than more band names, there is the puff and plug of "Free albums!" that will definitely attract a huge amount of the target readers. As for "Kerrang!", the other bands that can be seen are "You me at six", "Avenged sevenfold" and "Metallica", which are all rock bands belonging in the genre of heavy-metal. By referencing other bands, it will attract more target audience because if they're not a big fan of the featured band, there is still a chance of them buying the magazine to read as they might be interested in the other bands that are referenced on the front cover.

All these elements clearly suggests that the target audience for 'Kerrang!' are young adults likely to be between the ages of 16 and 25 with the occasional exception of the older generation adults at mid-age who love the genres of metal-core and death-core. As for the target audience for "Spin" are also young adults between the ages of 16 and 25, except they would have love for indie-folk and indie-pop music that they would find more relaxing and enjoyable than metal-core music.

Music Magazine: Research and Planning, Task Three

Below is a short transcript of the interviews with my target audience identified, I have interviewed a number of people who fit in my identified target audience and have questioned them of what elements they like to see in the music magazines they read. This will influence and inspire me to create a product suitable for my target audience.

Interviewer: What genre of music do you like most

Beth: Indie-pop

Interviewer: What elements do you like to see in music magazine that you read

Beth: I like loads of pictures (.) I like posters (2) got to be loads of gigs and concert dates 

Interviewer: What type of design or colour scheme do you like best

Beth: Blues or reds (.) so it's really eye-catching

Interviewer: And what type of musical instrument would you like to see in the magazine

Beth: A guitar

Interviewer: What genre of music do you like most

Jess: I like all sorts

Interviewer: What elements do you like to see in music magazine that you read

Jess:  Like a monochrome theme (.) and like interviews of artists

Interviewer: What artists do you like

Jess: All sorts, ranges from like sex pistols to alt-j

Interviewer: And what type of musical instrument would you like to see in the magazine

Jess: Guitars 

From these two interviews with Beth and Jess who fit in my group of target audience, I have concluded that my magazine front cover and contents page will include a number of pictures and also "free posters to giveaway" tag-lines to my target audience. I will also definitely incorporate a guitar into my contents page or double page spread.

Music Magazine: Research and Planning, Task Two

Conventions of a chosen genre of music magazines
Indie-Pop

This presentation will enable me to identify the recurring elements of this genre on front covers, content pages and double page spreads, I will then make sure to incorporate theses conventions in my product.

Music Magazine: Research and Planning, Task One

Music magazine front cover analysis

  The magazine cover I have chosen is the January issue of 'NME'. The name of the masthead is clearly visible in white which stands out from the cover image and the colour can be associated with anyone at any age, suggesting this music magazine has a variety genre of music. The font for the masthead is the simplest of all - 'Arial black', this is one of the most common font in the world as it is bold and very easy to read. The masthead is an acronym for "New musical express", but since 'NME' has been established since 1952 and has been publishing weekly, it is a very well known magazine therefore there is no need to explain the acronym. Right underneath the masthead is the date of publication and the price of the magazine, this will allow the readers to notice whether if it is the latest issue. If it is the latest issue, the target audience would most likely buy it in order to keep up with the latest news in the music industry.

  The cover image of the magazines are the famous Lana Del Rey who has become rather popular these past couple of years amongst teenagers and young adults. Just in case anyone doesn't recognise her, her name is written boldly in blue across the magazine cover. acting as the cover line, allowing everyone to know who the character on the cover it. Since she has been gaining popularity, people would love to find out about her background, therefore the extra cover lines of "I'm a psycho!" and "The true face of modern american icon" will definitely intrigue and attract the target audience since they would like to find out the "true face" of her, which will lead the target audience to buy this music magazine at the  low cost of £2.40 that can possibly be found in changes lying around the house.

  The colour scheme of this magazine is mainly red, white, black and sky blue, the colour sky blue is associated with youthfulness, suggesting this music magazine is targeted at young adults. Furthermore, "Red, white, blue's in the sky" is part of Lana Del Rey's lyrics from her famous hit - "National Anthem", this clearly has a link to the colour scheme found on the front cover of the magazine.

  Puffs and plugs can also be found on the left third and right side of the front cover, along with the bold word "free" which will definitely attract a great amount of target audience.

  These elements clearly suggests that the target audience for 'NME' are young adults is that there are other musicians of different genres around the page, such as Enter Shikari, Biffy Clyro, Nirvana and Bob Marley. Even though there are a variety of music genres, the musician names listed are mainly popular amongst young adults.

Music Magazine: Research and Planning - Activities

The five research activities I will work on are:

Web-based research and report into the target audience
I will begin by providing details of the target audience groups for a variety of music magazine titles, which will then lead me to narrow down my research to the target audience group of the genre of magazine I will be creating. I will be selecting a magazine cover and post this to my blog and write an accompanying 500 word analysis of who the target audience is for the magazine, how the cover has attempted to appeal to them and what conventions of cover design are evident.

Transcript of interviews with identified target audience
I will be interviewing a number of people who will fit into my identified target audience group, they will be answer me what elements they like to see in the music magazines they read. Their answers could be influential for the product I will be creating.

An annotated example of a music magazine double page spread
This will allow me to demonstrate that I understand the conventions of music magazine as there will be new elements in the double page spread as I have already done cover analysis in my previous project. I can identify the different types of feature that may appear across a double page and this will then be reflected in my own product.

An essay discussing the representation of people in my chosen genre of music magazine
I will be discussing the representation of both the musicians and the fans/readers. I will be focusing on mise-en-scene used in the cover images and photos used in double page spreads. This will demonstrate that I understand how magazines encode representations and this will then be evident in my photography for my music magazine cover.

A Prezie detailing the conventions of a chosen genre of music magazines
By using an online presentation tool, I will be looking at a variety of titles from the same genre and identify the recurrent elements of the genre - covers and content, which these conventions will be incorporated into my product.

Ideas from the suggested activities provided.

'Chronicle' Front Cover and Contents Page