Pitching my Magazine

From my research into similar music magazines and music magazines in general, I have found that there are certain codes and conventions that appear in majority of magazines. This includes the consistency of colours and fonts within the magazine. Within each music magazine, there is one specific genre that is focused on throughout the magazine, in order for it to appeal to it's target audience. They also write their content for it to be suitable to their specific age group appeal.

My magazine will be successful due to the following reasons:

I have set the magazine price to an affordable amount of £1.50, in order to attract more people to at least try the magazine out as it wouldn't be so much of a risk or money's loss if they feel that they didn't like it.

I have also set my colour scheme and fonts to be consistent throughout the magazine in order to make it professional and of a high standard.

I also have brought something new and original to the market, some people may have been bored of the same out music magazines therefore mine would be a magazine that may appeal to them.

Within my music magazine I had included a puff, to ensure I maximize the amount of people buying the magazine.

Magazine Inspirations

This front cover inspired me to have a close up picture for my front cover as it looks as if the artist is directly looking at the audience. The use of the quote also inspired me to do that too as it gives a sneak preview into an interesting article and would allow the audience to know what the content of the magazine would have.

This content page had inspired me as it had originally attracted me to look at it due to it's layout, therefore as it attracted me I thought if I have a similar layout it may potentially attract others too.

Both double paged spreads that look very similar, had inspired me to use that layout as I thought it was more informal but presentable at the same time. The huge quote also is bold and stands out in the article, which would be the first thing the audience would read, therefore it would have to be catchy and make the readers want to read the rest of the article.

Conventions of a Magazine

Conventions of a Music magazine front cover.

Short memorable masthead that covers the width of the top of the magazine.

1 main image predominantly of an artist, which covers majority of the front cover. This is to keep the front cover professional and clean.

Colour scheme is consistent (No more than 4 main colours)

Few cover lines, to engage the audience for the contents however only a few in order to not overcrowd the page.

Date and Issue of the Magazine

Barcode on either bottom left or right of magazine.

Puffs such as a free gift or competitions.

Conventions of a contents page.

                                       

One or two main images.

Subscription / information.

Page number written next to each subscription.

1 or a maximum of 2 pages.

Contents page follows the magazines colour scheme.

“Contents” written on the page

The masthead of the magazine written on the page too.

Page numbers on the bottom right or left side of the page.

Conventions of a double paged spread.

Drop cap

Text is written in columns to make it easier for the audience to read, and keep it clear and professional.

Page numbers to help the audience know what they are reading, from reference to the contents page.

An image or more is added to decorate the page; a page of just writing can bore audiences or make them not want to read it.

Fonts that are used tend to be simple, in order for the audience to be able to read it.

A quote from within the article as the header, to attract the audience.

  

Magazine Schedules

PRELIMINARY TASK: (SCHOOL MAGAZINE)

20th September - Good and Bad school magazine analysis.
23rd September - Pictures taken for my magazine.
24th September - Style Board and Style Sheet.
27th September - Questionnaire
6th October - Results of questionnaire onto Pie Charts.
12th October - Possible names of school magazine and contents plan.
15th October - Mock ups/Flat plans.
20th October - Getting used to Photoshop (Experimenting.)
1st November - Final for Front Cover.
8th November - Final for Contents.
10th November - Evaluation of Preliminary Task.

MAIN TASK: (MUSIC MAGAZINE)

12th November - 4 Music Magazine front cover analysis.
15th November - Music magazines content and double paged spread analysis.
18th November - Questionnaire.
22nd November - Pie charts and analysis of results from questionnaire.
26th November - Possible Names for Music magazine.
28th November - Pictures taken for Magazine.
29th November - Additional pictures taken.
2nd December - Style Board.
4th December - Style Sheet.
5th December - Magazine inspirations.
8th December - Mock ups/Flat plans.
12th December - Contents plan.
15th December - Additional research into music genre.
18th December - Additional research into music publishers.
21st December - Additional research into target audience.
23rd December - Conventions of a magazine.
25th December - Music magazine (Front, Contents and double paged spread.)
13th January - Question 1 of Evaluation.
15th January - Question 2 of Evaluation.
18th January - Question 3 of Evaluation.
21st January - Question 4 of Evaluation.
24th January - Question 5 of Evaluation.
27th January - Question 6 of Evaluation.
30th January - Question 7 of Evaluation.
3rd February - Pitching magazine.
12th February - Final Deadline for all coursework (with additional corrections.)

Music Magazine

Evaluation 7. Looking back at your preliminary task, what do you feel you have learnt in the progression from it to the full product?

During the time I had from my preliminary task to the main task of creating a music magazine, I feel that I have been much wiser and feel that my skills had improved from previously. I feel that I have also learnt more about Photoshop than what I did with my preliminary task.

With the music magazine task, I feel I done much more in depth research, this may have been because there are not many oriental music magazines, and therefore I needed to have a bit more guidance on what to do. I also had put more time and effort on what institution i wanted to publish my magazine, as I realised that is one of the most important features to make a magazine successful and I needed to know in addition if it would cater for my music genre.

Looking back at my preliminary task I feel that the magazine I created now looks much more professional, partly for the layout and colour scheme I had chosen this time round. My previous magazine had too much writing on the front cover and too many colours too that weren't consistent onto my contents page, for example my background colour on my preliminary tasks front cover was blue whereas on the contents it was green, however now with my music magazine both front and content pages have a white background.

I feel as well just with more experience your performance and creations improves therefore my second product would be better than my first, as I have slightly more knowledge on what to do. The font I used for my music magazine I also feel is more professional and not basic either, I reckon my masthead is much more creative and have more meaning than the masthead I had picked for my preliminary task.

Overall I feel that since I had created my preliminary task I analysed other magazines to see what makes them a good music magazine and ensured that I included majority of the forms and conventions of the majority of music magazines in order for my music magazine to be classed a good one and sell to the public.

Evaluation 6. What have you learnt about technologies from the process of constructing this product?

A major piece of technology I had used was a digital camera and  having to use an SD card to transfer the images onto the computer I was using. However, within the construction of my music magazine what I learnt the most about technologies was Photoshop. The original picture I had used for my magazine front cover wasn't located in a Reese environment, as I had taken it by accident but had liked it more than the other pictures I took, that I was planning to use, therefore I had to crop the artists face out, to leave a transparent background so when I was to open the image on publisher it would have been white. As I had to crop out the artist from the image with the magic wand tool, it had left the edges quite sharp and rigged so I had to result in using a mixture of both the blur tool and smudge tool to even out around the ears, hair and the jacket.

I also had to get used to using the heal tool brush and spot healing brush, as the artist had quite a few blemishes and spots that needed to be removed and usually on the front cover the pictures are flawless. The artists beard was also a bit messy and needed a bit of touching this is when the spot healing brush came in handy too as it took away the excess hairs to give a more even and clean finish.

The clamp tool was also another tool I learnt on how to use. On the original photo of the artist, there was cracks within the lips, so I used to clamp tool to clone an area of the lip that I saw no faults in and then duplicated that sample onto the areas of the cracks to hide them, to leave a result of ‘perfect lips’.

Evaluation 5. How did you attract/address your audience?

How I attracted my audience at first is by the image that I had chosen, I feel that it is a professional picture that is also not seen as childish. I also used a young adult rather than a child or elderly person, as I feel it would lose its purpose of trying to attract the young adult audiences.

I also attracted my audience by;

·         Using variety of bold font and colours to attract my audiences.

·         Use of imagery, having a clear representation of an oriental artist, but also adding something new to the market.

·         Using a bold title/masthead that was clearly visible to gain the reader’s attention first, therefore a name that stood out was what I needed for my magazine. It also drew attention to the audience in order for them to read the content inside.

·         Using stories that can be seen as influential to the audience or can be seen touching to the heart that gained sympathy from the audience.

·         Advertisement of my magazine on billboards, even transport when it was possible to market my magazine to the best of my ability, in order to attract as many people as I could.

·         Making sure that the colour scheme I use within my music magazine is consistent and clear, to not cause confusion or distraction of the magazine, it leaves an unprofessional impression to the audience.
·     Use of earphones in the front cover as it symbolises and represents music.

Evaluation 4. Who would be the audience for your media product?

The audience for my media product is for young adults, mainly those aged 16-24. This is because from my survey I was able to identify that, that group was most enthusiastic in filling my questionnaire and I was able to gain majority of my findings from them, therefore I am able to adjust the magazine to cater for them. This is because I was able to see what they liked and disliked in a music magazine.

In addition my music magazine costs money, and those with money are adults typically as they are the ones that work, therefore my audience would unlikely be those who are children or young teenagers as generally they’d get funded by their parents and would feel they have better things to spend their pocket money on.

Another reason why my audience would be aimed for adults as they are ones that typically buy magazines as entertainment, for instance after work they may want to read, but not a novel so they’d look for celebrity magazines or gossip magazines to either get their mind of things or just to keep themselves occupied, as novels can be associated to the older generation as statistics show younger adults are more into the gossip side of life.

Evaluation 3. What kind of media institution might distribute your media product and why?

My chosen institution: Bauer Print institution

Magazines:

Bauer have printed magazines such as “MOJO” which cater for all types of music, Bauer is also the world’s leading music monthly, with a huge fan base, reaching an unrivaled number of music fans in the UK and worldwide, showing it is highly popular, reiterating the fact that my music will be in the reach of millions of people, with a higher likely chance of being able to send as many copies as it possibly can.

Why Bauer?

Bauer print magazines for all types of music, and as middle eastern music is not as popular in the United Kingdom, using Bauer would be beneficial, as its already a worldwide phenomenon, it would be marketed to many branches that can then sell it in their shop. Having a huge fan base is also beneficial as some customers would buy the magazine to try it out as they’ve never been disappointed with their magazines so they would most likely buy it to try something new.

How would it be distributed?

My magazine would be distributed through local supermarkets and newsagents where it is easily accessible and where adults and young adults would most likely be to get hold of one. These areas are usually busy too, so you have a high chance of someone noticing your magazine. It could also be distributed to airports or train station where there is a high percentage of people there, some having to wait for hours for either their flight etc. and needing something to do, this is where most people tend to read, so a magazine is ideal for everyone, not to formal and not to informal plus being entertainment at the same time.

Target Audience; Do Bauer meet my needs?

My magazine is targeted for adults mainly however if teenagers feel like the magazine appeals to them then that is a benefit as it is targeting a larger audience. The magazines Bauer print already target all adults which can range from 15-65.

How much I am going to charge for my magazine?

From my questionnaire, my survey showed that the most people would pay for a magazine would be £1.50 therefore in order to make as much profit as I can, I wouldn't make it any cheaper. However the lowest people would pay is £1 therefore I feel to gain as many buyers as possible I’d sell my magazine for £1.

Evaluation 2. How does your media product represent particular social groups?

My magazine is aimed to target adults aged from 16-24 through having a young artist, that could connect with the audience more. It also has features that could target the female audience more as I have used a male artist as the front cover, and some of the females may find him attractive and buy the magazine in order to get to know the artist a little bit more. Based on my questionnaire my magazine would mainly be suitable for people who like pop music, however it can be suitable for many others as I also found from my questionnaire that many people would be willing to hear different music therefore my magazine can be seen as something new and fresh on the market for people to buy, rather than seeing and reading the same thing, some adults may be willing to ask for a change.
 In addition to target a bigger social group I have included belly dancing, as mainly belly dancers dance to oriental music due to the drums and drum beats they use, therefore I included them into the music magazine. This could attract many people that are into dance as well as music, therefore they could be getting 2 for 1 in my magazine, and see it as a reason to buy the magazine.
 I also think that my media product targets my audience as well as others due to the pictures I had used because with my research oriental magazines did not show flesh on men or women, unless it was socially accepted for instance with belly dancing, that is when it is acceptable for a women’s’ stomach to be revealed. Therefore even with my main image of the artist I made it a facial shot rather than a topless picture as I feel it would also contradict with my magazine name of Zarafet meaning elegance.
 The price I used for my music magazine could represent certain social groups, as for instance I’m targeting everyday young adults, they would spend ridiculous amounts of money as they may have better things to use that money on therefore my music magazine is £1.50 which is seen as a decent amount of money to spend on a magazine, not too cheap or expensive because even if the magazine was cheap some people tend to think it is of a lower quality compared to those that cost more.

Evaluation - 1. In what ways does your media product use, develop or challenge forms and conventions of real media products?

In what ways does your media product use, develop or challenge forms and conventions of real media products?

My media product uses form and conventions of real media products, as it follows similar traits of real media products such as a masthead that cover the length of the top on the page. It also uses one main image to keep the attention of the audience making it look professional and clean. I also used a close up picture of a male because from my research I found that most of the oriental magazines consisted of a facial image as the main image and they were all of males therefore I used that convention in order to fit the criteria of an oriental magazine. I also made sure that the artist was looking directly into the camera to make it seem as if he was looking at the audience.

I also used the form of real media product colour schemes, they tend to have no more than 4 colours so I made sure I used no more than 4 main colours to keep the magazine consistent and memorable, despite the use of yellow on the front cover to make certain words stand out to the audience. On my front cover I had also used a few cover lines in order to not over crowd the page and turn the audience’s attention away from the magazine. The extra space had allowed me to include a subline that allowed the audience to have a sneak preview into the article that is included in my media product.

I also used a convention many real media products use which is a puff, mine was a chance to win 2 tickets to see Kaan Isyan perform in Turkey, which attracts many people, as it is free, and I had used a puff because to gain publicity many magazines use puffs. In order for it to also be a magazine I had used a bar code on the bottom right corner, in order for it be scanned in big branched supermarkets, in order for their not to be a barrier in selling the magazine.

Music magazines tend to have no more than 2 images in the contents page to not distract the audience; therefore I used only 1 image. To keep the magazines name clear in the audiences mind I had put ‘’Zarafet” at the top. A convention of oriental magazines is class and elegance therefore I named my magazine Zarafet because of that reason, Zarafet translated from Turkish to English meaning politeness/elegance. Content pages are usually just 1 page long therefore my contents page is also a page long to fit with the forms and conventions of real media products.

My contents page also follows the forms and conventions of a real media product as the contents colour scheme is consistent and follows from the front cover which doesn’t allow there to be confusion to the audience and also keeps it looking professional and not childish.

However I also challenged the conventions of a contents page as usually magazines would have contents at the top of the contents page whereas I put it across the left side of the page in order to put the magazines name at the top. This was because it’s the magazines first issue and I wanted the audience to remember the magazines name.

A convention of double page spreads are the drop caps, which the first letter of the article being bigger and bolder than the rest of the article to tell the audience where the article starts, I done this too as I feel everyone is used to seeing a drop cap in order to know where the article begins. I also wrote the text in columns to keep the double page spread looking clean and easy to read. Another convention I had used was the page numbers at the bottom of the pages, to not confuse the readers and know what they are reading referred from the contents page. Also to keep the professionalism and creditability, I wrote under the article I wrote that I had taken the picture and wrote the article, in order to inform the reader.

Potential pictures for Music Magazine

Additional research into target audience

Additional research into music publishers.

Additional research magazine publishers

 The first institution that I would use to publish my magazine is Bauer Media. Bauer Media reaches over 22 million UK adults every week. My target audience for my music are late teens to young adults, as in my questionnaire the majority of the people that completed my survey where 16-24 therefore I feel I need to cater this magazine around them in order to sell copies. Bauer Media reaching out to adults it’s great for my magazine as I know they are targeting the audience I need to be targeted.

Bauer began back in 1953 with the launch of Angling Times and the 1956 Motor Cycle News, both iconic magazines within Bauer Media. Bauer Media also uses cross media convergence, as they have their magazines online as well as printed, however for my magazine I’d keep the magazine printed and not put online to be able to keep profit.

How Bauer reach to the 22 million people in the UK is through a portfolio of world-class, multi-platform media and entertainment brands. Brands that Bauer publish include Heat, Kiss, Grazia, Empire, Magic and Absolute Radio.Bauer also have made magazines such as “MOJO” which cater for all types of music, and cater for mine as oriental music is a minority music genre in the UK therefore few publishers publish these genres however Bauer is known for music of all types and I am confident that they would publish my magazine too.

Bauer’s magazines tend to cost money, therefore it is beneficially on publishing my magazine as I tend to sell my magazine for money, due to the findings of my questionnaire I know that my magazine would be between £1.00 and £1.50, not too cheap and not too expensive.

I understand that children are easily accessible to magazine, but as my magazine is oriental orientated there isn’t a problem with the front cover, as artists (due to cultural reasons) tend to be covered up anyway, and Bauer’s music magazine don’t tend to be revealing, therefore it caters the needs of having my artist body covered.

A welcome known music programme published by Bauer is 4music. We can see that all types of music are published on this channel, but predominately popular music of each genre. As my genre is oriental pop, it can then easily promote the music on the channel, therefore get more people aware of the artists that might be in on my front cover.

The other institution I would use is Emap who owns industries, one of being retail, which is highly popular in today’s day and age.Emap first began in the 2000’s, were their aim is to get professional communities to work together and help them aim higher and progress together as a team. One way in which they do this is through senior networking events. Emap also publish a wide range of media platforms, not just magazines, such as apps and websites.

Some magazines that they have published is MEED which is aimed towards the middle-east, this is seen as beneficial considering that my music magazine is dedicated to the middle-east itself. Just like Bauer Media, Emap also uses cross media convergence, however unlike Bauer Media, Emap are able to transfer the magazines they publish into apps, for iPhone/iPad as well as making an online magazine.

I feel that Emap are also able to cater for my target audience, as many young adults own a Smartphone, that allows installation of apps, therefore they could find it more useful to read magazines through apps therefore Emap publishing the magazines on the apps, would allow the magazine reach to as many adults as possible.

As Emap are able to publicise the magazine on free apps, if they were the publish my music magazine it would have to be free, as hardly any copies would be bought if the audiences know they are able to view it online for free. Therefore unless the app costs money to download, the magazine would have to be free, however if Emap were able to charge for the apps, the app price would be the same as the magazine price of around £1.00 to £1.50.

In the magazine itself I know there would have to be controls within the magazine, such as foul language, explicit images as children are easily accessible to them, however I wouldn’t include them in my magazine anyway due to respect to the middle-eastern countries that wouldn’t include them in their magazines either, however considering that, on the apps I could be a bit more lenient on what I produce and type as the apps requires an adult with a debit/credit card to purchase it therefore I know children are less likely going to be able to view it.

Overall I will use Bauer Media as my publisher as they publish specifically to music magazines but of all genres, therefore this is applicable to my genre, however if not I would use Emap as my next option as they do also cater for many magazines and so on but I’d pick Bauer over Emap as Emap does not specifically specialise in publishing music magazines.

Additional research into music genre.

Additional research into music genre:

Oriental music originates from countries such as Turkey, Syria, Lebanon, Iran, Iraq, Saudi Arabia and so on. Typically in oriental music, it is the drums and violins/strings that stand out the most in the instrumentals and often the music made can be used for belly dancers, however the music subgenre that I have chosen within oriental music is oriental pop music, as it is most modern and popular therefore gain a wider range of audiences.

Many of the artists and predominately male, due to the cultures and religious beliefs that women should not be involved in acts that are made public, however there are still female artists as well but more male.

Usually, they have facially stubble and mostly in suits, it’s rare to see them topless like most American artists. Majority have huge houses and fast cars associated in their countries. Women that are artists tend to be covered up, even if they are not wearing hijab, they would still wear clothing that covers the body, for their religious belief and respect from the citizens in the country.

Main Task Planning