Final 3 pieces:

Final Cover:

Final Contents Page:

Final Feature Article:

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

6) What have you learnt about technologies from the process of constructing your magazine?

I learnt a huge amount regarding Photoshop, as I was a complete beginner with absolutely no experience starting in September. These three videos encapsulate my learning and how I constructed my work:





I also learnt a lot about using still cameras and depth of field to take a good quality of image, as well as downloading fonts from 'www.dafont.com'.

5) How did you attract/address your audience?

4) Who would be the audience for your music magazine?

The above moodboard shows my target audience to be males ages 18 - 35, who are interested in rock punk/mainstream rock, that want a music magazine and not the latest gossip.

3) What kind of media institution might distribute your magazine and why?

by adamdavies6074047

2) How does your magazine represent particular social groups?

This is how my magazine represents particular social groups:

https://magic.piktochart.com/output/1791271-question-2

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

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

Front Cover -
I created this analysis of my use of key conventions on website thinglink.com:


Contents Page -

Feature Article -


In conclusion, I believe I have obeyed the key conventions real music magazines use to create a believable and realistic product.

Changes To Original Plans

It is worth noting that I made the decision to change the main band name from 'The Rebels' to 'Uprising', as I found this both made me cringe less and portrayed the rising nature of the band as well as their rebellious ways.

Furthermore, the difference between my original flat plans and finished pieces of work is startling, with my ideas change and adapting hugely over the drafting process. The most notable changes are as follows:

Cover -
Changing the key image to a solo model to represent a three man band, meaning the page wasn't too busy.
I kept the idea of the sticker but changed the text and positioning so that it was less lost on the page.
I added more cover lines for less 'white space' to maintain a reader's interest.
I streamlined the menu strip for a more clear cut look.

Contents Pages -
This was the piece with the most change and the one that consequently took the most time, with my final piece being extremely different. However, I kept much of the content the same with the 'What's hot' circular section and the idea of the main band 'The Rebels' (to become Uprising) spreading over the two pages. I also kept some stylistic ideas the same, such as the page numbers in the corners and the 'resonate' at the top of each piece to add brand identity.

Feature Article -
I kept the sidebar down the far right hand side the same, as I liked the extra dimension the technique brought to the page.
I moved the key image to below its original position and inserted the film strip across the page.
I therefore moved the pull quote to the top of the page to maintain balance and make the page even.

I also changed many of the fonts, such as the body text as this simply was not clear enough on a small scale, and I also changed the masthead font as when this was on the actual page I much preferred my final choice.

Selecting Fonts

After all my research into music magazines, I have learnt the following about fonts:

Planning original images

Name of photo (which page?)	Background/location (int/ext.)	Lighting	Shot size (portrait/landscape/angle)	Costume and props needed	Pose, facial expression, body language, positioning within the frame	Intended connotations
Front cover key image	Grey background	High-key, clear	Medium close up of main model in portrait	White t-shirt,	Staring at camera, intense	Rocky, slightly upbeat connotations
Contents no.1 – Flame (match?)	Black background	Dark	portrait	Lighter		Connotations of heat and what’s cool
Contents no.2 – shot of ‘Rebels’	Same colour background to be easily removed	High key – prevent shadow	Portrait, slightly low angle		Happy, relaxed. ‘Brothers in arms’ kind of feel, togetherness	Recurring theme of them shows their importance
Contents no.3 – ‘Kyle Walker’	Light background – yellow tint?	Slightly darker, moody, some shadow	Portrait	Guitar, leather jacket	Head of guitar in focus with rest of image slightly out, though still about to clearly see face.	Moody, interesting, traditional retro rock. Also that the music is the main focus with guitar.
Contents no.4 – ‘Jay Hawks’	Easily editable background to lift image off of	Good, no shadow on face or guitar	Portrait	Guitar	Model looking at guitar with it in a slightly raised position, as if playing a solo.	A guitar soloist of similar age to target market (about 20)
Contents no.5- ukulele	Grey background? Not hugely important	Bright	Portrait	Ukulele	Focus on main body of instrument, then fades as moves up	Fun, interesting
Contents no.6 – shadow	Background is shadow on wall	Behind model to create shadow	Landscape	Guitar, jacket with collar	Holding guitar at waist	Dark, mysterious, contrasting, music, light/dark
Contents no.7 – Guitar neck shot	Black background, white foreground	High on guitar, neutral  on model	Portrait	Guitar and denim jacket	Guitar held by neck, balanced on the floor	Metal, music, perception
Contents no.8 – Female vocal	Dark background. Neutral on face	Half in shadow other half in light	Portrait	Microphone, dark clothing	Holding microphone to approx collar bone height with distant look	Female musician, vocals, punk
Contents no.9 – Group shot	Bright background, colourful foreground	Lighting on faces	Landscape		Group shot, arms interlinked	Friendship, band, group, fame
Contents no.10 - Eyes	No background	Bright on face	Landscape		Wide shocked blue eyes to match colour theme of page	Focus, sight, blue
Feature Article no.1	Easily editable background	Shadowy	Landscape	Microphone	Main model lifted up in a crowd-surfing pose	Very rocky
Feature Article no. 2 – Crowd shot	Dark background	Some shadows, but band members clear	Landscape	Microphone	Three members of band on elevated position, with crowd below looking up	That the band is fun to see live, close with the fans
Feature Article no. 3	Complete darkness	No light except lighter, which illuminates model’s hand and face lightly	Portrait	Lighter	Model holding lighter up to about nose height, staring straight at the flame.	Perhaps that the band are a little dangerous, and that they’re definitely the ‘hottest’ new thing.
Feature Article no. 4	Dark	Face well lit, no shadows	Portrait		Modal holding arm out in front of himself in a rock gesture	Clearly illustrates the band’s rock genre
Feature Article no. 5	Light background, possibly white	Try to restrict shadows, though the odd one isn’t a big deal.	Portrait		Very similar to Contents no.3 with main model’s arm raised in a rocky gesture	Continuous theme of friendship within the band

Planning Ideas for Music Magazine

These are the flat plans for the first planning draft of my music magazine:

Cover - 

I have worked using the principle of thirds, having the model's eye line resting on the top intersection. I also liked the idea of a sticker, but I'll need to work out how to do this. 

Contents Pages - 

I went for two pages to make the magazine a lot more laid out instead of mimicking one of the many magazines I've seen which pack all the information together which makes for a very hectic page, and is therefore hard to access as a reader. 

Feature Article - 

I wanted wrap around text as I liked the way it integrates a picture into a page, and so decided to use the technique in my work 

Research into the Music Magazine Industry

Looking into circulation figures in 2013, I think that magazine readership has declined due to:

1. the expansion of internet article which are both free and easier to transport as people can access them at any time on their phones.
2. Bands have their own websites and social media pages so there is simply no need to buy a magazine.
3. Arguably, due to the recession and more economy of today, people just don't have the money to spend on a magazine: especially when they could have the contents for free on the internet.

These are the circulation figures as reported by The Guardian:
'Rock title Kerrang! fell under 40,000 monthly sales in the final half of last year, as sales dipped 4.1% to 38,556. The Bauer Consumer Media magazine is down 8.4% compared to the final half of 2011.

Mojo remained the market leader among the paid-for music titles, with sales at 83,676 despite a modest fall of 1.7% compared with the previous six months. Bauer Consumer Media's monthly rock title slipped 4.4% year on year.

The number two in the paid-for music market, IPC Media's Uncut, slipped just 1% on the previous period, to 62,361 – although circulation was up 0.1% on the final six months of 2011.

Bauer rock rival Q shed 4.8% of its sales in the second half of 2012, to 61,485, as circulation dropped by a fifth compared with 2011.


NME reported another sales squeeze, with period-on-period circulation down 3.7% to 23,049. The IPC Media music title, which appointed Mike Williams as editor in May last year, saw its circulation drop 16.6% compared with the six months to December 2011.'

Looking at Media Theory

In today's lesson we've studied and explored Maslow's Hierarchy of Needs and Uses and Gratifications theory.
The theory states that human behaviour reflects a range of needs, from basic to higher aspirations. The theory ranks these needs as follows:
We then applied what we learnt with the Uses and Gratifications theory, which is an extension of the Hierarchy of Needs, in groups to a front cover of music magazine Kerrang. The four categories are diversions, personal relationships, personal identity and surveillance. On the cover we found that the 'surveillance' category was used the most to make the reader feel like the magazine had to be bought for them to be in the loop and therefore they had to buy it.

Key learning point: The magazine I produce must employ the Uses and Gratifications Theory to make my magazine seem to have vitally important information that the reader must obtain.