I've Finished

I have enjoyed this unit of work allot. Now i am signing off from my blog as i have finished.

Self evaluation

Evaluation of my music magazine

Finished Magazine

This is my finished product. I have done all of the editing that I could have done and have tried to make it to suit my audience purpose.

Contents Page Draft

This is my contents page draft. It needs some improvement and I would like it if you could comment on this post and tell me what i can add.

Double page Spread draft 2

This is what my double page spread will look like. I still have a few changes to make. Could you please comment and tell me if their are any changes i should make.

Double page spread draft

This is my double pag spread draft could you comment on it and tell me on how i could improve it?

Draft 2 of my music magazine

Masthead designs

These are my Masthead ideas. Could you possible comment on this post and tell me which you would prefer to be my Masthead

Treatment sheet

Target audience

Joint Bass is a music magazine aimed at people who love or appreciate the sound that is drum and bass. The target audience for my magazine is 16-25 this is as young people like drum and bass as it is a rave type of music which most young adults like to dance to in clubs and at festivals. Most people who love drum and bass would quite happily pay £1.99 to buy a music magazine with their favourite drum and bass artists every month.

Form and style

My drum and bass magazine is going to be an A4, colour magazine. It will contain some of the newest and most ambient drum and bass ever shown in a magazine. The magazine will also include monthly competitions and quizzes about drum and bass, a winner of these competitions and quizzes will be announced in the next month’s magazine. There are opportunities to win chances to attend some of the best drum and bass events around the world.

Themes and Features

Joint bass will contain the normal features for a music magazine. For example it will contain a drum and bass CD every month free with the magazine and their will be lots of chances to win competitions. The magazine will contain articles from up and coming drum and bass artists and reviews from recent drum and bass festivals for example: Innovation in the dam. The way that I will present this magazine will be suitable for the target audience and will be an interesting thing to look at and read.

Potential advertisers

The places of which that I will get my magazine advertised will be mainly in music shops such as, HMV and Power play. But I know that my magazine will do very well in convenience stores such as Spar, Tesco’s, and other leading stores.

Editorial Team

The Team of which that will edit my magazine will be a specific group of my friends who all love drum and bass, this is so that we can hopefully show our passion of our music and portray it by how we present this magazine. We will also be going to lots of drum and bass nights/festivals to bring you exclusive interviews with the top drum and bass artists.

Draft of my music magazine front cover

Analysis of Audience questionnaire

I have looked at all my answers that I have got for my questionnaire, and the votes that i have had on my poll and decided that my music magazine will be called Joint Bass. The cost of the magazine will be £1.99 and will be produced once every month. The magazine will be aimed at the age group 16-25 and will be about Drum and Bass. I will have lots of information on up and coming Drum and Bass artists, including MC's and DJ's.

Big Cheese Magazine

·        Big Cheese Magazine is a magazine that was first published in 1996. It is a competitor to such magazines as Kerrang as they are both monthly sold products and has the same types of music in it.

·        . The layout of Big Cheese Magazine is quite busy and lively to show that it’s a ram packed magazine with lots of interesting information. It is a very eye catching magazine as Hayley Williams the lead singer of Paramore has a very vibrant hair colour. This draws the readers attention to the image and makes you want to read about how their image portrays the as being scared of an event. It is a clever lay out as Brian Fallon who is the lead singer of The Gaslight Anthem looks like he is actually part of the band Paramore, as he is knelt down next to the band. Brain Fallon has a white boarder around him which makes you realise that he actually isn’t part of the band. He also looks very smug but you don’t know what about so this entices the audience. Even though he is knelt down and looked like he has just been shoved in the corner he is holding 5 cards which shows the metaphor of him holding all the cards which makes him very powerful in this image.

·        The name Big Cheese is quite random and quirky almost as if a teenager created the magazine themselves. This is obviously to show that they are trying to aim for teenagers to buy their product. The product has a lot of the feel that it was aimed at a younger audience as it has a lot of clashing colours, but this makes it stand out on the shelves to them. 

·        The Price of the magazine is in small writing near to the barcode. It costs £3.90 which is as it is an average priced magazine, but obviously as they have it in small letters they don’t want you to make a choice based on the price but on the standard of the magazine.

·        The cover lines of this magazine are quite simple as they want to draw more attention by the picture. They have things such as Bands and singers names down the side in white and pink writing. They have a main cover line by Paramore which says “We’ve never done anything this big!” this makes the reader want to find out what this band is doing in the near future and want to read on.

Big Cheese Contents page Textual analysis

      Big Cheese contents page is very smartly lay out, with the names of all the people who helped create the magazine in a column down the left hand side of the double page contents page.  The Contents page isn’t in order of pages, but almost has the order of importance. I don’t think that the pictures are very good on the page, as it neither brightens up the page nor makes it enticing for the viewer. All of the images are randomly sized which makes it look quite scruffy and random, but heavy metal fans are usually quite scruffy and random anyway so I guess it portrays their own style.

Mixmag Textual Analysis

·        The Mixmag is a magazine that was first published in 1983. There are not many Dance and Clubbing magazines around so it is a market that is very open for new competitors. It also says above the masthead that it is “The world’s biggest dance music and clubbing magazine.

·        The layout to Mixmag magazine is quite busy in the sense of the information that is on the page. The back ground of the front cover is a portrait shot of David Guetta who with a caption over the image that says “2009: F**K ME, WHAT A YEAR” this makes the audience want to know why his year was so good. The colour scheme is a very smart colour scheme, there is enough colour to attract attention to it but not to make it look over the top like magazines aimed at younger audiences. The images on it are of typical party people like David Guetta and a small image in the top right of a blonde girl dancing. This shows the reader that the magazine will be fun of fun stuff and will tell you about the latest up and coming events that come to the clubbing and partying world.

·        The name Mixmag instantly takes the interst of any Drum and Bass fan as it has the word “Mix” in it, this makes it Drum and Bass specific as most people who listen to drum and bass listen to mix tapes that well known artists have made. Also as the magazine is giving away a mix CD it makes the reader want to buy the magazine as it seems to know how to make its customer happy.

·        The price of the magazine is £4.20. It is in small letters near to the barcode this shows that they know that it is a relatively expensive magazine but even though it’s quite expensive it is quite big magazine with lots of information the audience would like to hear about.

·        The cover lines of this magazine have been used as a boarder for the picture on the front cover. This makes you almost miss some of the cover lines as they are quite small and doesn’t look like they are very interesting. This is disappointing as some of the names in the cover lines are some of the biggest names in the dance scene.

Contents Page Analysis

      Mixmag Contents page has a very simple layout which makes it look very smart. It also doesn’t have much on the page which makes it easier to read and easier to find what you are trying to find. The images on the page are very smartly laid out so that it isn’t to empowering but makes it also more interesting.  It has an article at the bottom of the page on the free CD that comes in the magazine. This is interesting as it tells you about Diplo almost before all the information that is in the magazine has started.

Mixmag Double Page Spread Textual analysis

      The layout to this double page spread is very professional and smart. This makes the reader want to find out more about the person that the double page spread is on. The picture is on the right page of the double page spread, the picture is of the very famous Dizzee Rascal. Text that they have used in the written bit of the double page spread is very clear and nice to read which makes it easier on the eyes for the reader. The questions that Ralph Moore the interviewer asked were very were very casual but to the point so that it made Dizzee Rascal answer them as if he was talking to a friend but about things that the reader wants to know about. It has lots of interesting things that people would want to know about Dizzee Rascal and the dance music community.

Textual analysis of Q magazine

The image created on the front cover tells us that this magazine is going to be a fun filled read this is as they have used a wave to create a sense of excitement. Within the wave there are lots of people which show that the magazine will be full with information. The front cover is a special collector’s addition which also had a fold out extension to the front cover, and is created by Jamie Hewlett who is a very famous graphic designer who had created the animations for the world famous band called Gorillaz. As the title of the main feature they say “ Gorillaz & A Star-Studded Crew Set Sail Again” this is a very clever turn of phrase as the front cover is a image of the Gorillaz setting sail across a bumpy ocean, this could signify that they are going on a journey but it will consist of come troublesome times. Other article titles of the magazine are shown at the bottom of the front cover and are made to be eye catching after your initial look at the front cover. The articles seem to be quite strange for a music magazine for example one of the titles is “Wayne Rooney Interviews Stereophonics” this is strange as why would a professional football player interview one of the most famous bands in the world. Other sub articles include catchy phrases that would make you read on for example “Cocaine break anyone?” and “Sex with long hair is rubbish”.

Textual analysis

Action plan

This is my action plan for my media coursework peice. I have been told to create a music magazine. I have to create a Front cover, a Contents page and a double page spread. I think that this piece of coursework will be alot of fun and am very looking forward to create my magazine.

3/1/11 - Textual analysis of magazines: 3 covers 2 contents and 1 double page

10/1/11 - Audience questionaire and analysis poll to decide magazine name

17/1/11 - 14/2/11 - Colour analysis, front cover analysis, treatment sheet, photoshoot, layout designs and drafting of pages.

21/2/11 - Half term

28/2/11 - 7/3/11 - Evaluation, finishing off  and audience feedback.