RESEARCH AND PLANNING - STRAPLINES

I have done some research into straplines, as they will be useful to the production of my music magazine. I collected research to give me information I need to add on my music magazine. I looked at different music genre's to see the sort of information they include. Below are the straplines I looked at:
                                                                     MIXMAG

                                                            

                        

              REWIND
                                                         

      

                                                                      NME
      

                                                                                

                                                                                                  

RESEARCH AND PLANNING - MUSIC MAGAZINES

This is the magazine which is most similar to the magazine genre that I want to create. This will be great help to me as I will form my ideas from here to see what and how they apply their techniques to their target audience. For instance, you can see that the font and colour schemes used on the cover of this issue is consistent which is what i have done for my magazine front cover. you can also see that mixmag have based the layout of the cover around the main photo of the artist which i have also incorporated in my music magazine. i have also kept to mixmags layout quite well for example the placement of the price tag, issue number and straplines.

EVALUATION QUESTION 3 - What kind of media institution might distribute your media product and why?

Through my research and planning of magazine publishers, i have discovered that magaiznes are distributed and delieverd to its audience in very different ways. Some are extremly focussed on web-based forms and their website is a huge percentage of the mechindise. However most are mainly printbased and have poor websites, this is to attract people to buy the magaizne pirntbased rather than just go online all the time.
Traditionally, The institutuion my music  magazine might me distributed in newsagents and big supermarkets such as tescos and sainsburys. Prehaps not supermarkets like Marks and Spencer as it is a general Luxury supermarket and mainly caters for higher incomes. This also applies because the target audience are not going to be on high incomes so they would be shopping ast supermarkets such as tesco's not Marks and Spencers.
My magzine would definately not be distributed in shops such as HMV as the genre of music that i am promoting is dedicated to the underground aspect of music. despite this, my magazine will most likley appear in underground music shops which are dedicated to underground music mostly visited by Dj's or undergound music enthusiasts. My magzine would also definately not appear in formal shops such as Borders which does have a large array of music publications.
More modernly, my magazine will be massivley distributed through an online based distribution. I developed this idea through my research and planning by looking at existing magazines websites (e.g.  
http://www.mixmag.com/). The website would be very engaging and loaded with useful relevent stuff for example free mp3 downloads and links indate clothes shops to engage the audience. Apps for ipods/iphones and mobile phone applications would also be a relevent way to distribute my music magazine to the target audience as the target audience i am aiming at is a very digital screened social group. 
Useage of puff and earpeice is also quite important to my music magazine theme. As festivals, events and raves for young people are often partly based around dubstep and drum 'n' bass, this is significant because to my advantage, i can advertise freebies including tickets to places which will act as a lure to the audience. I will also be promoting the club nights and raves.

EVALUATION QUESTION 6 - What have I learnt about technologies from the process of constructing this product?

Throughout this process, I have expanded my knowledge on construction on technology programmes such as photoshop and pages.  I found using photoshop both challenging, useful and interesting because photoshop as a whole is presented as a very technological, complicated however useful piece of software. I soon got used to the methods of layers and tools although it was quite tricky at first because some things did not go to plan. One advantage of photoshop is that you can just about to anything on it. For instance, you can apply as many layers as you like including text, styles and images. when using photoshop you will find that there are no limitations as to what you can create which i think is why i liked using photoshop soo much. One disadvantage of this process would be very minor however I did have some problems with applying the text on to the background as it was extremly colourful in which i had problems spacing the text onto the vibrant backgound.

However using pages was great because it allowed me to be creative using a more simpler form of software in comparison to photoshop which is a lot more longwinded. pages was simple and straight forward and allowed me to create layers without complicating anything. I managed to copy and paste my article easily and apply my images. One detail i found of pages very good was the fact that you could simply lock down your layers easily so they would stay in place which helped me a lot because before i discoverd i could do this it was very frustrating as everything kept moving out of place.

EVALUATION QUESTION 4 - How does my media product represent a particular social group?

The main image of my music magazine consist of a DJing group which i am looking to promote. The DJ's are wearing similar items of clothing which represents the genre of dubstep. Several of the male models are wearing shirts with hoodies which may be seen stereotypical to the genre i am basing my magazine towards. One of the male models has a spliff in his hand which portrays the lifestyle of my target market.

The clothing that is worn by my artists my be seen as intimidating however, smart. In comparison to the magazine i researched, mixmag my magazine does not contain the sterotypical indie look. My magazine appeals to the market that i am hoping to attract as it demonenstrates youthism, which my consumers can relate to. There are a mixture of various cultures.

music magazine

EVALUATION QUESTION 1 - In what ways does your music magazine use develop or challenge forms and conventions of real music magazines

My music magazine uses some forms and conventions, which are symbolic with many typical magazines. For example,  masthead, lures, tag line, cover line, date, issue bar code, large central image, props. This was because from my research my magazine had to have these conventions. I also used a traditional layout of a contents page with writing down the side. My magazine is underground dubstep and drum'n'bass genre therefore have used mixmag and get darker as an example because it is a dubstep magazine.

mixmag uses bold capital letters, which is symbolic of the genre. The colors used are reds, grey and blacks. This is because they are popular contemporary colors. As well as using street iconography makes it market friendly  and connotes the target audience.

My masthead connotes the music genre as underground dub uses street iconography and colloquial language. It's a large bold font which symbolizes this by using a dubstep theme. My main image anchors the masthead. I used mixmag and get darker as a template for  music magazine as it represented a close audience.



I developed the use of lures with muscle building, this is because it more about the target audience. I didn't challenge any codes or convantions as I based my magazine around what was in other magazines as they seemed to be doing well and so therefore didn't improve any conventions just related them to a more teenage audience.

EVALUATION QUESTION 5 - How did you attract/address your audience

when constructing my front cover i addressed the audience my the font style and colours, which were green, purple, white and red. I used plasma drip and meltdown font styles to attract an underground dub audience. I used reds and grey which are complimenting colours and also represent indicate danger, blood, violence and anger whcih goes with the life style of my magazine, drub step and drum and base. My design layout is very luminous and eye catching as i used stereotypical rave colours which protryas dub step and drum and base. 


I also adressed my audience through the use of colour, images and text. The use of colour adressed my audience as its colours there intom expect to see and are able to infer tha t colours like red show drum and base. Secondly, the image adresses the reader as the image is stereotypically like doctor p.  The props used in the image adress the reader as it gives the reader what it wants to see and read about. Finally, the use of text adresses the reader as its simple text that has meaning about dub step as its bold, strong and powerful.

EVALUATION QUESTION 2 - Who would be the audience for my media magazine?

The music magazine i will be creating will contain a mixture of genres underground dubstep and drum’n’bass. I have chosen to combine the two as the stereotypical listener to either of these genres will listen to both. In my music magazine there will be articles, which cover a wide verity of topics other than music, just, like the music magazine i researched, The Source.  Topics will include; fashion, music, music events, lifestyle, technology, etc.

My target market is aged between 16-19. My target market does not have a specific full time job as this age period is when the move onto higher education. At this age they are mainly on a part time job, therefore they may be earning a basic salary.

My audience would listen to fair bit of music as they will need to have a solid enough knowledge about the various artists. They may be listening to music from a download illegally (e.g Limewire) or legally (e.g iTunes). They also may attend live performance of the various artists in which produce music in the same genre.

If the stereotypical point of view is taken on people will often say that my target market spends their money on alcohol, cigerettes and drugs. This view is true in some cases however, my target market often spend money on tickets to music events and attend the cinema. Therefore there spare time is mainly occupied. the other hobbies which they may take up is sport, such as; Basketball, footballl and boxing or may skateboard, bmx or take part in other extreme sports.

The type of products I will advertise in my magazine, will be items of clothing, trainers, hats, bags and technology which will have a link with the artists i am promoting and will be items desired by my target market.