Aims and Introduction

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.