Publication plan

Publication plan

Front page

Title/Masthead- ALT
Frequency of publication- Every month
Price- £3.75
Who will distribute the magazine ?- Bauer because it is an established company that has lots of links within the industry. Also it mainly handles rock and pop which is a similar genre to my magazine.
What my magazine offers- My music magazine is an alternative-pop magazine that features famous and rising artists, artist interviews, events.
Target audience- The target audience is specifically female but also males with the age range of 16-19
Conventions- Masthead that stands out, image of main cover star, artists name, anchorage text, cover lines around the main image, barcode, date and price.

Contents Page

-What's featuring in the magazine
-Secondary image of cover artist
-Images of supporting artists
-page numbers
-other links i.e twitter and facebook handle

Double page spread

For the double page spread I plan to have an interview format and the text is integrated around the image of the artist.
Also the title of the article will be at the top of the page.

Reaserch into a potential target audience

I've been researching into a potential target audience for my music magazine so I decided to use social media as it is a great way to get information quickly from the public. Twitter has recently introduced polls so I thought I would take advantage of this and create a poll to find out what age range is most likely to listen to alternative-pop music the most, as this is genre the artists that feature in my music magazine. From the results above it is clear that 16-19 is the age the public thought would listen to this type of music and this is helpful for me as I too thought that 16-19 is the most suitable age range, however 22% thought 12-15 is the age range likely to listen to alternative-pop music which I do have to take into consideration as a younger audience may like my music magazine too. Doing this has helped with my target audience choice as knowing my demographic before hand will help me create a better magazine.

Organisation

I have been thinking about what I should call my music magazine and after lots of research and consideration I have finally created a name for my music magazine.

So I have decided to call my music magazine 'ALT' because the word is an abbreviation of the word alternative and this links to the type of music the artists featuring in my magazine will be producing.

Also the word alternative means a lifestyle that is diverse in respect to mainstream ones, or generally perceived to be outside the cultural norm and this will appeal to my target audience as being different is seen as cool to them.

Organisation

I'm currently in the process of creating a name for my artist and there are a few names I have come up with.

- Indiana
- Saint
- Ava
- May/Mae

Indiana is an elaboration on the feminine name India. India comes from the name of the country and began as a name in the 70s when Indian culture became a real interest in British society. Also the film 'Indiana jones' the main character, who is a male has the same name and he is seen to be an adventurous/courageous person. This relates to my artist as she is adventurous with her music and a confident person.

Saint has religious origin and means holy person. The reason why I like this name for my artist is because its daring to use as it does have religious origin so it relates to my artist as her music will be 'breaking boundaries' and slightly edgy.

Ava has Latin origin and the meaning of birds. I liked this name because the meaning of it suggests a carefree tendency as birds are seen as this, and this relates to my artist as cool/calm vibe to her.

May/Mae has Hebrew origin and means star of the sea and also has links to the calendar month. I liked this name as my artist is a star so the meaning of it is very fitting and because its a bit girly which relates to the feminine side of my artist. However I have not decided upon which spelling of the name I like best so I will decided upon that when I have finalised my artists name.

Here are a few combinations I have came up with using the names from above.

Ava Saint May/Ava Saint Mae
Ava Mae/May
Indiana Saint
Indiana May/Mae

From looking at these my Favourite is.............Ava Saint May/Mae because I like how poetic it sounds, however this may change but for now it is a strong contender.

Drafting and planning

So for my draft version of my music magazine I have been looking into makeup and hair looks for my artist and I have decided upon a look I will want my artist to wear.


For the make up look I have decided that my artist will wear quite a heavy eye look but natural every where else as I don't want my artist to look like she has too much on and I want the main focus to be the eyes so it can help draw in the readers attention. So for the eye look I'll be using a dark brown/grey in the crease and a light silver on the lids. Also I'll be using black eyeliner as I want a very dramatic cat eye look and I want this because it very edge and cool which help to relate to my artist genre and ethos.


 
 
                                                                                                       

For hair I want my artist to have their hair curled with a bit of volume as this is very glamorous and my artist does have a girly side to her, but also it is very 'old Hollywood' which relates to the retro elements of the artist. Furthermore I'm wanting my artist to have shorter hair as this is very 'chic' and has been a current trend, making my artist look more relevant and up to date.

Organisation

For my draft version of my music magazine I want my artist to wear carefully selected clothing that will help convey what kind of artist she is. After doing some research and some consideration I have decided what my artist will wear.

 I want my artist to wear an embellished playsuit as they are a very popular trend which will help my artist look current. I've chosen a black playsuit in particular as black is a 'grungy' colour meaning that my artist will look cool which is useful as it relates to the alternative side of my artists music genre. Also the reason why I have choose an embellished playsuit is because I want my artist to have a girly element to her and also a bit of glam as she is a famous star.

 

I am also wanting my artist to wear a flowery bomber jacket. The reason why I want her to wear a bomber jacket is because I want my artist to have 'cool/retro-ness' about her as this is the kind of music the she produces, so the jacket helps to show that. Also the bomber jacket helps to add abit more of a personality to my artist as its quite quirky and you would not normally pair it with a playsuit, so by my artist wearing this is shows her originality. furthermore as I've said in a previous post part of the photo shoot will take place outside so the jacket is a practical
way of keeping the artist warm.

I'm having my artist wear all white high top converse as they are very popular trendy shoes that young people wear meaning that they can relate to my artist wearing them. Also it add to the quirkiness and originality of my artist style as converse are quite casual but the play suit isn't.




As you can see I have carefully considered what is my artist wearing and why and by doing this helps me do my photo shoot quickly and effectively as I have already planned what my artist is wearing.

Organisation

As I've said before I am current making a draft version of my music magazine and right now I'm in the planning stages of it. Today I've been thinking about the location of my photo shoot and here is what I have come up with.

 For my main images I want a background to them so that's why I'm planning to take them on a wall with a mural like this. I've decided on this because i think it looks cool which helps with my magazines ethos and its looks interesting to have as a background. Luckily for
me a friend of mine has one so I'll be using theirs at their house.



 

Part two of the photo shoot will take place out side and I'm looking for a garden that has quite a lot of trees and forestry as taking photos in this setting will give the images a more relaxed feel and my artist will look more a natural as its in a 'real life' place.



By using two different locations for my photo shoot it will give me more of a choice as to what photos to use in the magazine.

Organisation

 I have looked into different props I could use when I do my photoshoot of my artist for my music magazine, and here are three that I thought may be a good idea to use.



The first prop I though of was a guitar because it helps to represent the genre of my magazine (which is alternative-pop) and because I am going to have a female artist a guitar will help them look abit less 'girly' and more cool, which will help a wider variety of people to like my artist.





The next prop that i thought would be appropriate to use is the CD the artist has created. The reasoning to this is because most music artists that feature in a music magazine are there to promote their new songs, so by my artist having their album as a prop will help my magazine look more realistic.



The final prop that may be effective to use is a microphone. I think this because as my artist is a singer it will help the audience see what they do by simply glancing at the magazine cover. Also I could get my artist to actually sing while I'm taking photos which will help them look like a proper singer and the shots of them will look naturalistic.



Using props can help my photos of my artist look effective however i don't want them to be the main focus as the most important thing is my cover artist. when I go to do my photoshoot of my artist I will try and bring a verity of props with me to the set as I want to have choice and I want to see if it works or not.

Organisation

 Photography effects play a big part in the ethos of a magazine because it can help convey a message. For example using a black and white effect can give a timeless look to a magazine suggesting that the genre is older music and also it has connotations of style and sophistication. The use of a lenses focus will need to be considered as if you are taking a photo of a single artist the face should be in focus as it needs to draw the reader in. When I start to take photos for my music magazine I will play around with different effects and the amount of focus used, so I can get some successful shots. Also I will look into editing the photos as many effects can be added on to the photo.

Drafting and Planning

I have used a visual thesaurus to provide me with synonyms of words that are related to 'cool'. The reason I have chosen the word 'cool' is because I think this will be my main premise of my music magazine. As I've said in my previous post about wanting my artist to be within the Alternative-pop genre, this is another reason why I have chosen 'cool' to be the bases of my magazine because artists in that genre are. From creating this visual thesaurus, one word I liked from it is "Poise' because the meaning of this word it 'graceful and elegant bearing in a "person' .. The word I think could also make a suitable masthead as I want my magazine too look elegant so by having it as my music magazine name it will help tie my magazine together. The word would make a short and simple magazine name like for example 'vibe' or 'Mojo' because it catches the audiences attention due to its lengths making it easily memorable. After using a visual thesaurus I have found this a useful tool with helping find a magazine name and even though I like the word 'Poise' I will continue with my research to help me develop my ideas to create a masthead that successfully captures my magazines ethos and genre.

Organisation

I have looked into the style of artist I want to create for my music magazine. I have decided that I want to have a female artist for my magazine because the style of music I majority listen to are female artists. The three photos above are of well known Alternative/pop artists which I would like my artist to be like. As you can see that these artist have a very 'cool' element to them as in the photo they have a quite blank expression. So when I come to create my artist I will use these three artist to influence the style of my artists and I will be referring to them closely to create a realistic artist that people can like.

Research and planning

Today I have looked into the typical stories found in music magazines. From reading a few different issues from music magazines, mostly the article consists of an interview with the artist. For example from the first magazine on the right featuring the interviewer asks "what defines a rock star" and this is important because It helps the artist to talk about a specific thing that the interviewer wants and that's related to the magazine, as this magazines genre is rock so the question will relate to rock fans which will make them interested and want to read on. In the second magazine featuring Nicki Minaj the article relates to the theme of the issue "Gospel according to Nicki Minaj". This is shown in the headings of each sections of interview because they are in the style of biblical commandments, for example "Thou shall walk tall" this is effective because it keeps a consistent theme running through the magazine which is professional. From looking at these articles I know now that to create a successful magazine article I need to make sure that the questions asked to the artist are relevant to the magazines genre and theme. So when I come to create my music magazines article I will need to carefully consider my questions in order to convey specific information about the artist.

Research into similar products

This here is the vibe magazines contents page and I have looked at this today because this may be the potential layout I go for when I create my own contents page for my music magazine.

The layout for this contents page is very simplistic however it gives of a stylish look which is professional and the use of only having one column under the artists arm makes it easer for the reader to read as there is a lot of focus on it.

Also by only having one image of the cover artist on the contents page clearly shows that this issue is about him which I find in my opinion very effective as it suggests to the audience that the main article, the double page spread will also be about him.

From looking at this contents page from the vibe magazine it has given me a better idea as to what I want to do for mine and I will take the successful elements of this contents page and input it into my own.

Remake and remodel task peer assessment

.After creating my remodelled version of the NME magazine (http://benitaasmedia.blogspot.co.uk/2015/12/remake-and-remodel-task.html) I showed one of my peers my finished product to receive some feedback from it.

I was told that the colour scheme of red, white and black was effective because these are the colours NME usually uses for its magazine and those colours are known to be associated with the NME magazine, so that fact that I used it helps the audience to easily identify the magazine.

Another thing I was told that my photography of the main cover star was effective as it was in a similar style to an NME main cover image and this helped to truly reflect the magazines ethos as the artist had a blank/mysterious facial expression and automatically shows what genre it is.

An improvement I was told was that I could have included a secondary image with the cover lines to help show what artists are included in the issue and also this is normally what professional magazines do.
From receiving this peer assessment I agree with my peer's comments because for example I do think the colours I used for my remade version of the NME magazine helped to show that it was an NME magazine that I'm recreating. So when I come to create my own music magazine front cover I can come back to this post to see all the successful things I have done and also the things I need to improve upon.

Remake and remodel task

I was set the task of remaking and remodelling a well known music magazine so I decided to do the NME magazine.
From my previous blog posts you can see the I have thoroughly researched the key codes and conventions the NME magazine uses to make their very successful magazine, which was very useful tome as it helped me to create this front cover.
Doing this task was very beneficial as creating this magazine front cover I now know what specific features NME uses to successfully create its magazine. So when I come to create my own music magazine I can look back on this task to help me create an effective music magazine front cover.