Flatplan Feedback (My Response)

I am happy with my flatplan feedback as I now know what to include in my music magazine. Receiving feedback from my peers is always beneficial as they know what to look for in an Indie Pop magazine. This will help me as it will allow me to meet my brief much easier as I will have conventions in my music magazine to make it look more realistic and along the lines of being an Indie Pop magazine. I want people to be able to distinguish the magazine and recognize that it's an Indie Pop magazine.

Flatplan Feedback

Heleni Kapris

Front Cover – The title needs to be bolder and I think that there should be more writing, especially near the bottom of the page. Consider using another colour because you’ve only got blue and black because of the magazine that it is in comparison with is quite vibrant and stands out. There should be some sort of bleed as it will look effective.

Contents Page – The title is fine. Make the part that has all the contents in a bit bigger because there is a lot of room on the page. The pictures will work better. Make it link to your cover with the font and colours.

Double Page Spread – I think that it’s a good double page spread and I like the layout. The title is good, but I’d go for a different colour as you’ve already used it on your front cover and contents page. Maybe have another pull quote that would be pretty cool.

Sabrina Boukhalfa 

Front Cover - The title is very cool, but needs to be bigger and bolder. There should be a lot more writing on the cover and more graphics should be used to make the magazine look a lot more like the style of genre you want to achieve.

Contents Page - The contents page looks nice, but the colours should be a bit different or the style even.

Double Page Spread - I think that it looks good but you need to change how the model is going to pose so that it looks closer to the style of genre you want to achieve.

Scan Of My Double Page Spread For My Music Magazine (Flatplan)

Here is a scan of my double page spread I created, which is also my flatplan. This was a quick sketch of what my final product should be similar too. This benefits me so that I have a rough plan of my final for meeting my brief and know what to change further along the line.

Scan Of My Contents Page For My Music Magazine (Flatplan)

Here I created my contents page for my music magazine. I got many inspirations for indie pop magazines for the contents page. My inspiration for my contents page actually came from Pop magazine 'Bliss' as I liked the layout. However, I took various colours such as the blue and red from 'Kerrang' magazine as they as fun colours which relates to my brief which is creating an indie pop music magazine.

Scan Of My Front Cover For My Music Magazine (Flatplan)

From my previous research for my music magazine, I created a front cover for it. This is my flatplan which I will produce my magazine front cover to be as close as possible to it. As I gathered information from other indie pop magazines with their prices on the front cover, either being £2 or £3, I then decided to price my magazine at only £2.

Visual Magazine Profile (Extended)

I created a visual magazine profile using images and text which I though related to my magazine genre. As I am doing the indie pop genre, I decided to choose various artists from that genre to include in my video. I also came up with some names that relate to the genre, such as the word 'authentic' as indie means different and pop is popular, so if you put the words together, the next possible outcome of the word is authentic. Over the video, I used indie pop artist, James Blunt's 'Bonfire Heart' which is a popular indie pop song. This will allow me to meet my brief as I am using a collection of ideas to have a possible outcome of a decent music magazine.

Words That Inspired Me For My Masthead (Front Cover)

As you can see from above I came up with six possible names I would call my magazine which relates to the Indie Pop genre. I decided to do this so that it would be a lot easier for me to visualize my front cover with the masthead on it so that I could also see where I might want my text to go.

Visual Magazine Profile

Above, I have created a moodboard of images that emulate my magazine genre, indie pop. Most of the magazine covers above attract me, however some of them don't. I decided to put some front covers of magazines that don't attract me so that I could change up their style a bit and add visual effects that I think will look nice and meet my brief. Their a similar comparisons I can make with all of the magazines, as most them use vibrant colours, such as pink to attract their audience. This can help me meet my brief as I will know what colours of have a brief idea of what colours to use on my front cover, contents page and double page spread of my music magazine. The artists on the front cover of each magazine, except the 'Bust' magazine with Lily Allen on the front cover, are all posing and looking in relation to the indie pop genre. The 'Bust' magazine with Janelle Monáe on the front cover, she's posing, covering her mouth which can illustrate fun or wildness which is a connotation of the indie pop genre. This will then allow me to be closer to meeting my brief as I can now collect some ideas of how I want my model to pose on the front cover of my music magazine. 

Analysis Of The Titles

As you can see, the text all link as they are all the same font and colour. This is useful for me so I can take this idea and link all of the titles in the magazine together, so that readers can see a link in the magazine I want to produce. 

Double Page Spread

DOUBLE PAGE SPREAD

The double page spread above is from the music magazine 'Bliss'. You can tell as there is two logos on the page which make it relateable to the front cover. I like this double page spread as it is spaced out and not that much is going on, but it still looks professional.

This could benefit me for my music magazine as I could take several ideas such as the models pose and the use of colours into my genre. 

Contents Page

CONTENTS PAGE

As you can see from above, it is clear that this contents page is from 'Bliss' magazine as there is a small image of the front cover of the magazine. This is useful for me so I can maybe use this idea for my music magazine and it will allow readers to know that the front cover, contents page and double page spread all look like they're from the same music magazine which I want to achieve. 

Apart from the links with the magazine, I also like how the page numbers are spread out, so it makes it clear for the viewers to find a page or article they want to read more about. This is beneficial for me so I can take on board their use of style and make my readers clear when reading the magazine. 

Front Cover

FRONT COVER

As you can see from the front cover of the magazine 'Bliss' the masthead is very clear and vibrant, which makes it easy to read an attractive. Although the music genre I want to produce is indie pop, there are certain aspects I can use from this magazine above. The aspects I could use could include the colour of the masthead or the pose the artist is doing on the front cover. This could help me to meet my brief as the angle of gaze is happy which can relate to the indie pop genre and the colours used are vibrant, which also relates.

Even though I'm focusing on the indie pop genre, the text around the central image is attractive and very clear which I could therefore use for my music magazine. This could help me meet my brief because one aspect is to make my music magazine clear and easy to read. 

Moodboard On The Indie Pop Genre (Glogster)

Here I have created a moodboard on the genre of magazine I plan to focus on to meet my brief. The genre of music I am looking at is indie pop. I have spoken about history of the genre and why I have chosen that genre of music. I created my moodboard using a site named Glogster.

Reader Profile

Here I created my reader profile using a girl named Stacey-Mae Head from my focus group. She spoke about her favourite artists as their genre of music relates to my brief which is beneficial.

Focus Group (For Music Magazine)

I conducted a focus group for my music magazine with a target audience between the ages 13-19. From the questionnaire I did on surveymonkey.com, I was able to find the people that liked the two genres of music I wanted to carry forward and put into my music magazine. Those genres being pop and indie. I asked my focus group a few questions, roughly nine and this helped me have in mind what I want my magazine to look like or at least have a brief idea. The equipment I used to film this interview was my iPhone 5, as the quality is very good.

Quotes from the focus group: 'The colours on the front cover of the indie pop magazine are quite bold which stand out for me' 'The cover page of the indie pop magazine is very clear and an easy read' - The feedback and quotes from the focus group will further allow me to know what my audience look for on the front cover of an indie pop magazine visually. This also helps me know what colour and price readers expect when it comes to buying an indie pop magazine.

http://youtu.be/rh1Oq2nMBZg

Findings/Analysis Of Results

This is a prezi and in it I have presented my findings of people that link the indie pop genre. This was beneficial for me because the genre of music that I want to do is indie pop. I can now begin my front cover baring in mind what genre of music people are into and what they look for on an indie pop front cover.

Analysis From Questionnaire/Survey (Question Six)

As you can see from above, I annotated the graph finding the results equal. The two results that are equal is one and three, as I found information for how many magazines people buy each month, This was beneficial as I was able to figure out who I could find for my focus group that were frequent magazine buyers.

Analysis From Questionnaire/Survey (Question Five)

As the results from the questionnaire on the bar graph show how many people think that a music magazine should be released relatively once a fortnight. This showed me that the people I asked to do my questionnaire buy their magazines quite frequently. This is beneficial as now I can find those people to be in my focus group.

Analysis From Questionnaire/Survey (Question Four)

As you can see from the results above from my questionnaire on the bar graph, the people that did my questionnaire preferred pop and indie. This is beneficial for me because I want to produce an indie pop magazine. I can also now find the people that chose those two genres for my focus group.

Analysis From Questionnaire/Survey (Question Three)

The results from above are beneficial to me, as now I know what my target audience are interested in when they look in a music magazine. I will keep it in mind what they enjoy seeing and aim to produce so that I can meet my brief.

Analysis From Questionnaire/Survey (Question Two)

I now that from seeing the results above from the questionnaire, I know how much to charge for a music magazine if I were to sell one. This also indicates that I need to make the magazine look up to scratch and worth how much my target audience would pay for it.

Analysis From Questionnaire/Survey (Question One)

From the results above about what encourages my target audience to buy a music magazine, it is clear that the central image on the front does. This allows me to think long and clearly about having a good central image which will attract them to buying the magazine and this is also one step closer to meeting my brief.

Music Magazine Survey

As you can see from above, I created a survey on a site named surveymonkey.com which I found very useful. My survey is related to my music magazine research which I got a few people to complete. The people that I found were between the ages 13-19 which corresponds with my target audience. Altogether I got 13 respondents that completed my survey. I can now start my focus group for people that are into the genre of music magazine I want to create (indie and pop)

Here is the link for my questionnaire - https://www.surveymonkey.com/s/QPJN32M

Research Rationale (300 Words)

1. What age group do you have access to?

I have access to mainly teenagers, as I attend a sixth form. Seeing as my target audience will be teenagers, this is beneficial as the age range is from 13-18. My aim is to film students in my sixth form or someone aged between 13-18 outside of school. My reasons for my target audience being aged ranged between 13-18 is that in my previous research for a pop magazine, there was a gap in the market which illustrated that mainly teenagers listened to that type of genre.

2. What types of research will you conduct and why?

The research I will conduct is using a site named survey monkey to find out what genre of music people like. This will then allow me to try and meet my brief as hopefully the people that do the questionnaire will be interested in the music genre I would like to produce for my music magazine. I will also use the internet to research what kind of style or look I want my magazine to achieve. I aim to ask random individuals what style of magazine they like and what genre of music they are in to. This allows me to produce my focus group and then hopefully have a clear idea of what music magazine I want to produce.  

3. What resources will you need?

The resources I will need would be a camera, the internet, an audio microphone so that you can hear what is going on in my focus group. Having a camera will allow me to create my brief a lot more frequently as I will gather the information needed. The internet will allow me to create my survey as I will be using a site named survey monkey which will tally up information for my focus group.

Indie Pop Magazine That Inspires Me

Here is an Indie Pop magazine I deconstructed as my inspiration for my music magazine. As you can see, the price on the magazine is only £2 and I feel that if I use that price on my magazine, it will attract people into buying it because it's a reasonable price.

Three Music Magazines (That Inspire Me)

Here, I chose three indie pop music magazine covers I liked the look of and thought about ways in which I would take my magazine. As you can see from above they vary in genre which I thought was interesting because different genres use different colours which may be vibrant or unique. I wrote an analytical paragraph after I chose the front cover of the magazine I liked and thought was the most effective out of the three. As you can see, I chose the front cover of the magazine called 'Brink'.I chose it because I liked the fact that it was unique and had many connotations of what their target audience is. Also the magazine 'Brink' is symbolic with what genre of magazine I want to achieve for my brief, which is indie/pop.

Deconstruction Of A Front Cover (Rock Genre)

As you can see from above, I deconstructed a music magazine from the rock genre named 'Kerrang'. Advertising for them on the front cover is lead singer from rock band Paramore, Hayley Williams. Being signed to Atlantic Records tied in well with this music magazine Hayley Williams advertised for, as they both are associated with the rock genre.

Deconstruction Of A Front Cover (Pop Genre)

Above, I annotated the music magazine 'Top of the pops'. The genre of the music magazine is pop and features the famous pop singer, Justin Bieber on its front cover. I explored the different media techniques in advertisement for the magazine and why they would decide to put various different celebrity on the front cover for fans to buy the magazine.

There are many similarities between the rock and pop magazine I deconstructed. Similarities such as angle of gaze are a key point on the magazine. Both artists that feature on the two magazines are at angle of gaze to attract people into buying the magazine. Also the use of celebrity on the front cover are similar as in attracting fans into buying.

An Example Of An Artist From The Indie Pop Genre (Lorde)

Here is an example of indie pop music. I have taken this from Youtube and the song is by an Indie Pop artist, Lorde. The song is called 'Royals'.

Introduction - The Music Industry (Brief)

Hello, my name is Lois Douglas and on this blog I will be meeting my brief given which includes creating a music magazine front cover, a contents page and a double page spread. In my previous lessons my teacher, Miss Mottram showed the class different blogs from past media students. We looked at how they explored different music genres in order to meet their brief. Influences from themediamash.blogspot.co.uk shall be evident on this blog. My aim for meeting my brief is to create an indie pop magazine as I am very interested in those two genres. To be honest, before 2012 I was not that interested in the indie genre until I consistently listened to the band Coldplay which influenced me into downloading their entire album off of iTunes and after seeing them live at the Summertime Ball in 2012 made me even more of a fan of the indie genre. This blog will follow my journey into creating a indie pop music magazine front cover, contents page and a double page spread. I hope that you enjoy this journey because it shall be interesting.

- Enjoy J