Aims and
Introduction
My name is Harry Lynch-Bowers
and I am an AS Media student at Farnham College. In this piece of work I will
be discussing my aims and I will have an introduction to the task. Firstly, my
target audience will be quite a wide range as I have chosen to do a rock
magazine which spreads over all kinds of rock music. My demographic is open to
a range of possibilities as the ages of people that read the magazine will be a
wide range, from 15 to over 20’s. This gives the magazine the chance to make
more money and entertain a large amount of people. Even with the gender, males
and females will be interested in reading it as it hits a wide range of people.
The income will work as the magazine will be popular with a lot of people and
therefore profit will be gained. Most of the people’s psychographics will be
independent as rock encourages this and possibly reformer as there is that
inspiration to change things. All this will be contained in the content. My overall
style will be similar to other rock magazines but a bit more of a wider range
of people will be attracted by it as it won’t stick to one genre of rock. The
magazine will be affordable as this will suit my demographic because the people
who will read it will be a wide variety of people, rich or poor, so it will
appeal to everyone.
The inspiration for my music
magazine came from just listening to some rock music and thinking about the
connotation and colours that could be used. I studied NME (New Musical
Express), Kerrang and Rolling Stone. Rolling Stone appealed to me because of
its general target audience and genre. NME appealed to me for how it addresses
the reader and its layout. And Kerrang appealed to me because of that music and
content contained in it. I would describe my magazine as a new magazine that
follows popular and independent rock music with new up and coming artists
featured inside. It’s a rock magazine with a contemporary twist. It will affect
the stories I write about, for example a cover line will be about an older band
whereas the main story will be about a new one. The basis of the issue I am making
is looking at a new band that is storming the nation with comments and gig
guides from older artists. Inside the
magazine there will be interviews with Iron Maiden, Slipknot and Rammstein
about preparing for headlining Download 2013. The focus will bring more sales
as these artists are very popular. The artists attract the demographic as these
bands are popular in my certain demographic because they appeal to their codes
and conventions. The artists all work in the heavier side of rock but they’re a
bit different as they have all been around for a while and gained a lot of
fans.
The images I will use are
going to be based on the genre, by having people wearing black in red backgrounds
etc. I am going to use a band at my college; they don’t resemble anyone as they
are unique. My alternative shot will be in a classroom with the band standing
on tables etc. This is to show that the band is anti-establishment, which is
what people in the target audience like. The lighting I am going to use will be
hard to represent the genre and the lights are going to be bright to show the
band fully. The affect of the lighting will be the reader getting drawn into
the image and then buying the magazine because of it. My models will wear
blackish clothing to stick with the genre. My final shoot will be dramatic and
realistic because it must be attractive to the reader otherwise they won’t buy
the magazine. I will introduce contrast in my image by having the location
bright but the clothing dark; also I will add shadows in the image to contrast
with the bright colour of the room. By choosing a number of people and asking
them which one is more attractive. The image that is more attractive will be
chosen over the others. This will be my front cover and then the next ones will
come on the contents page and the double page spread. My feature article is
going to be an interview with a new band, an article on the history of the band
and information about upcoming albums and gigs. This whole double page spread
will be introducing the artist to the readers.
The layout of the front cover
is going to be similar to NME, meaning the image will cover the whole front
page serving as a background. The masthead is going to be in the left third
with the main coverline in the middle of the left hand side of the page. There
won’t be any other coverlines apart from something bellow the main coverline
saying “and much, much more”, this serves as repetition, alliteration and three
of a kind, to attract the reader. The contents page will be sticking to the
codes and conventions by having the words “contents page” at the top with the
issue number and date next to it. The actual contents will be shown with page
numbers and a synopsis next to it, this is to connote to the reader that there
is more to the story so they will read on. I will use a couple of images around
the stories to give the reader more information about them. I am going to use
an image as the background and fade it slightly to make the page more
attractive. The double page spread is going to be all about a new band, with
pictures around the paragraph of them together and of them performing. On one
side of the page will be the interview with information about their new album
on the left side going down in a column and on the other will be the history of
the band with information about upcoming gigs with prices on the right side
going down in a column. The title of the article will be going across the top
of both pages. My colour palate will be black and red with bits of white around
to give the magazine a contrast. I have chosen these colours because they
represent my genre the best and they will make it more attractive to the
reader. It wasn't hard to choose my colours because I knew how I wanted the
magazine to look, so I used mood boards to decide if the colours will work or
not.
The title I have chosen for
my magazine is ‘Rock Portal’. I have chosen this title because it connotes to
the reader that by reading this magazine, it will tell them up to date
information about rock music. It suits my demographic because it is short and
snappy (which is what people like) and it suggests to them that it’s a magazine
that contains a lot of information as it says ‘Portal’. So, with everything, I
believe my magazine will attract my target audience as it connotes to them that
it’s about their genre and it will attract them with the range of colours and
images.
