This is also another planning sheet I used, this was basically to go into more detail about the points in the previous post. :)

For this I focused on 5 main areas:

Genre: The genre I went for initially was indie, going along the lines of NME or Q. I also wanted to focus on mainly new and upcoming artists, struggling to get a record deal who want to promote their music and get noticed. This was not continued to the final peice, as I decided I wanted a more refined magazine, focusing on big artists worldwide.

Price: I made the price 2.99 initially, but decided to increase the price to 3.99 as the number of features and pages means that it was worthy of a higher price. Also the more sophisticated look to the magazine means that it is worthy of a higher price.

House style: "This magazine is going to be very independant, unlike anything on the market today. I want it to be a very simple cover focusing mainly on the artist in the main coverline, while still showing potential buyers that there is a multtude of other artists included in the magazine." This is reflected in my final product, as the front page comprimises mostly of the main artist, but still showing audiences that their are other story's to read inside. I also said on the planning sheet that I wanted to include the chance to win tickets to DOWNLOAD festival; which is true to a degree, however I decided to change it to CREAMFIELDS festival instead.

Audience profile: "I think the audiences for this magazine would be 16 - 26 year olds, both male and female, people who are interested in discovering and enjoying new and unfound music, brought to light by this magazine." In the path to creating my magazine I swerved from this notion of "promoting new acts" as it could be a very risky move for a magazine to make, also, I wanted to make a more established and defined magazine, recognising well known artists but moving away from the glamour and gossip magazines.

Font and Colour: In my plan I stated that I wanted to keep the font and colour very simple, moving away from rival magazine Kerrang! which uses jaggedy and brash colours. For my magazine I wanted to make it a very 'clean' look but with a bright and distinctive colour scheme so it looks good on the shelf. I think this is true, as the magazine has a recurring theme: the colour red. Also the front cover is fairly reserved compared to some rival magazines, which I think makes the artist on the cover have more precedence over the cover.

This is the preliminary planning sheet for my main piece of media coursework, here I explain the genre, price, audience, house style, images, double page spread, offers, USP and other things. I had a vague idea of what type of magazine I would like to make, it would be a magazine where people can find out about new UK artists, I also wanted to go to London to take my pictures. My plan for my double page spread would to have a page of text and a page of 4 pictures. For offers, I explained that I wanted to give away a chance to win free tickets to a festival. I also made sure that it would be an indie magazine, and definitely not pop, that it would be unique, bright and stand out, and not put too much stuff on the front cover.


How this compares to the finished article:

-it looks much more like a pop magazine than an indie magazine because of the use of colour and language
-its not specifically for new or UK artists
-I decided to go for a cleaner more reserved look, so I decided to take the pictures closer to home. My front cover would initially hvae some sort of photographic background, but after experimenting with adding text, I found it would be easier to use a plain background in order to make the text stand out against the picture.

How this is similar to the finished article:

-I did include an enticement for someone to win tickets for a festival, as I though the idea would help entice more readers to buy the magazine.
-I did stick to my original idea for my double page spread, in which I have text on one page and four main pictures on the other  

    

This is a double page spread in Q magazine about artist Emili Sande. This shows my inspiration for my own double page spread. I was researching double page spreads, looking through various music magazines when I cam across this article. It caught my eye because of the contrast between the headshots and the body of text. I decided to adopt this style and create my double page spread loosely based on this. This just goes to show that research meant that I was able to find inspiration and credible ideas for my magazine which I wouldnt have found without research. On the text page I admired the sophisticated language and how it was different form an interview. Instead it descibed and analysed an artist in great detail. On the picture page I liked the way the four camera angles were used to show the artist as a very diverse person with different sides to her personality. I also liked the way that her hair contrasted her clothes, and how they look like passport photos's. This article was immensely helpful in my research, and inspiring my final product.



This is my completed right side to my double page spread. I think the four pictures on this side, compliment the text on the other side to become the complete picture. I like the way that pictures are all different and show a different side of her physically, but also used to represent different sides of her personality. I am very pleased with how this has turned out! The next post will show you my inspiration!

This is the left side of my double page spread, today I wrote the story to go with the name. To do this I read lots of different aricles and interviews and decided to write about the life of one artist. Writing is my passion, and I really enjoyed making up things about a pretend artsit! I tried to make it sound as proffessional and authentic as possible, taking inspiration from other articles. At first I had one huge block of text, which I decided didnt look very proffessional, so I split it into paragraphs, to break the text up a little bit. This made it look much nicer on the page, and far more proffessional. Tomorrow I'm going to come in and check it again, finish off the right side of the page and go through all of my pieces to make sure everythings spelt correctly and looking as good as it can!

This is how far I have got with my double page spread today:

- I have changed the background colour to the colour of the text on the front cover

- I split the page down the middle, which I didnt know how to do at first so I had to ask a technician, who showed me how to use the ruler tool

- I also added text at the top, using similar fonts to the front cover to keep a continuous flow going through the magazine

I have added two pictures to my four picture page, but I havent yet decided which two pictures to use yet! 

I have come in today to get started on my double page spread! I hope it all gets done by the end of easter, I will have to come in every day until its finished :(

Today I think I may have completed my front page and my contents! I have to go check with Mrs. Breen when we go back to school though, as for the past couple of media session it has been the easter holidays, but I feel I needed to come in to get this done! I added more stories to the right hand side, added a bar code from the internet and added the price, for now I think im done!

This my completed (for now) contents page, I have added more stpries down the right hand side which I have not copied from anywhere, I made all of the storeis up myslef, and have added extra emphasis to the main story. Im so happy I might be done!

Today I added more stories to my contents page, and also added in a story for the two artists in the bottom left corner, I feel like its coming along nicely!

This took some more time to complete, as I had trouble with how to position the text and what size it should be. I feel like I have made good progress though, and only have a few more stories to write! Also, I have added a bubble on the right hand side to help entice readers with the front cover, I like this, as it adds another element to it :)

Today I created my logo! To do this I simply added a red box like I had previously on my double page spread and added a large M in edwardian script, and I also created a strapline; Music Made Marvelous. AS you can see I also added my main coverline too, using bold letters for the artist and smaller text for the explanation underneath.