Production Diary

28/10/13- Images And Promotional Methods Ideas


This week, I have continued to expand on my image ideas my looking at props I will include for my music magazine. I again talked about how important the clothing is when it comes to my model and also how props such as headphones will link to the style aspect of my magazine. I got my model to sign a model release form to agree to take part and then went on to do more research of different photo shoots as I will be going ahead with mine soon.

I also planned different promotional methods when thinking about promoting my magazine to gain a successful circulation and readership, especially for the first sales. I talked about advertising my magazine across busy locations (for example on billboards in shopping centres and also on buses across the city). I also talked about how social media would help raise my magazine's popularity and how including competitions may persuade my audience to buy the first issue and therefore continue to buy it if they enjoyed reading it.

Promotional Methods

Props/Costumes

Colour Ideas

 These are the different types of colour schemes which I may use for my magazine. As I am not sure what I want my overall product to look like, I have used a variety of colours that will be aimed at a variety of audiences. My target audience in particular will be a mix of both genders therefore using a colour such as pink may be a problem however I consider blue and red as netural colours, meaning they will be more appropriate to use. Seeing as most successful music magazines only have one main colour I will also go ahead with this idea meaning the other colours I use throughout will be basic shades like white, grey and black.

Production Diary

21.10.13- Name Ideas

 This week, I started to go into more detail when planning my music magazine. Earlier in the week, I started to come up with different names I might call my magazine. I came up with many ideas as I wanted my name to be quite original and unique. I also wanted my name to link to the indie genre well so even including 'indie' into a phrase or compound word may turn out to be successful. Overall, my favourite name ideas were Diverse, Altered, Outspoken, Ego and Think Indie however I am still unsure about what my final name will be.
 After I went over what my magazine may be called, I looked at different fonts to plan how my name might look. Most of my chosen fonts have an edgy look to them which I think makes them look interesting therefore unique and appealing to my target audience. Moreover, in my opinion the unusual and wacky fonts work well with the quirky style of the indie genre.
 Finally, I considered a variety of ideas for my photo shoot. I looked at poses, backgrounds, costumes, props, hair and makeup and made sure I researched the indie style so I could make my artist look realistic and appropriate within the music genre. I also think the types of images I thought about will interest many indie fans as they will be able to relate to my images.

Image Ideas

Model Release Form

This is my model release form which my model had to sign so I could gain her permission to appear in my magazine. By signing this form, my model has agreed to take part in my photo shoot as the artist in my main article. I may use these photos on my front cover, contents page and across my double page spreads. As I am the producer, I also had to sign this form to confirm that this my model.

Name Designs

 

As you can see, I want my masthead for my music magazine to look edgy and unique, again linking to the indie genre. Although my target audience is mainly females, a lot of males will also read my magazine therefore I thought the almost destructive fonts will be appropriate to use on my front cover to help advertise my product. I also thought these font designs will work well with the image I will use on my front cover as my aim is to make the images I take original because of outfits and clothes my model will wear. 

Name Ideas

 

These are the name ideas I came up with for my music magazine. I used a variety of different name types and put them into different groups (these were also the groups I researched for my previous homework). Personally, I found that connotative names were the easiest to come up with as I researched and thought about specific words that linked to ‘different’ and ‘unique’ as I thought these words described the indie music genre well. However I also thought the compound names I came up with were interesting as ‘indie’ seemed to go with other words better than other music genres.

Sketches

These are the final sketches I drew of how I wanted my magazine to look like. At this stage I knew how I wanted the layout to look like however I was unsure about some of the images therefore I drew some of them very vague so I could decide later on. I labelled every aspect that was unclear such as the sell lines, what some of the images will look like (for example, if they are in black and white) and other things that will appear on my feature article like the box out text. I also made a note where my text would go. As there are many different conventions presented on the contents page, this page in particular during my sketches looked the most complicated as does the cover page whereas my double page spreads look quite plain as they mostly only include the article text and images.  

Production Diary

13.10.13- Thinking About The Style Of My Magazine

This week, I created my mood board as well as carrying out more research of typical music magazines. Personally, I enjoyed the task of having to create our own mood board as I thought this gave me a better visual idea of what my magazine might turn out to look like. I thought this was successful as I wanted my magazine to carry out this specific style/look therefore I am pleased with what my mood board looks like.

Also this week, I researched different mastheads from various magazines. I learnt what it meant in terms of placing different magazine names into groups such as acronyms,  phrases, connotative and compounds. I also found out which ones looked more successful than others. Overall the more simple mastheads (due to both font and colour) seemed to look the most professional. I also took note on why this was and if in fact it was so the audience would  pay more attention to rest of the page or indeed if the simple colours were bold enough to stand out to make the reader aware of the name.

Masthead Analysis

Mood Board

 

One of the tasks we had to carry out was to create a mood board for my magazine (this included images of the specific style associated with the indie genre). I added pictures of the clothes indie fans normally wear, the type of activities these music fans take part in (for example festivals) and other quirky images linked to music. As I had already decided on the genre for my magazine, I was certain on what type of images I would put on my mood board. The main purpose of this task was to consider what I would include in the magazine I plan to create (the pages inside such as the main article). When I go on to take photos of my model and design my magazine, I would look back to my mood board for ideas.
 Overall my mood board gives a general feel of my magazine and the music genre. Although my mood board comes across as quite girly, it also creates a quirky and original vib - linking to the style of both the artists and the fans. My mood board also uses bold and bright colours which is the type of theme I will carry on throughout my product.

Production Diary

05/10/13- Deciding On My Target Audience And Looking At Key Concepts

 This week I considered the target audience of my magazine. I thought about the typical type of person that might want to purchase my magazine, depending on my music genre and the type of style and format I would use. I think my target audience is a really important aspect when deciding on how to promote my magazine. By promoting my magazine, this may include how it is presented (for example, what it will look like and how it will catch my audience’s eye).

 I wrote that my target audience are passionately into their music and enjoy keeping up with the latest styles and going to festivals. I will take this on board when designing my magazine and for my photo shoot.

 Also this week, I found about the key concepts of a music magazine. This included the audience again, the representation of the magazine and the institution. Therefore I wrote about someone likely to buy a music magazine, what they can offer and how they make money. I discussed a lot of things such as the age of the audience, what might be included in articles and advertisements.

Below are some images of the type of style linked to my audience and ideas about a magazine’s key concepts:

Magazine Key Concepts

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This post explains the typical audience of music magazines and the reason they still read them today, the representation of a magazine - what they look like, the institution of magazines (e.g. how they earn their money) and the codes and conventions of typical music magazines.

In terms of the audience, it is clear to see that magazines are still successful in the way they attract and please their readers through their circulation and readership figures (Q has a circulation of 52,781 and a readership of 377,00). Personally, I read magazines because I find it is easy to find out information/news this way as it has already been presented for you in an easy format to read - including all vital points. Moreover, I find music magazines obviously more accessible than the internet because you can read them at any time, no matter where you are. In my opinion, these are some of the important points about the type of people who read magazines and of course, music fans will enjoy reading music magazines for the content.

From my point of view, the representation of a magazine is clearly important when attracting the right target audience. This makes it easier for consumers to find the right product for them and as I mentioned before, this will help their circulation and readership.

I think the best way a magazine can earn money is by promoting itself and also from the adverts shown in the magazine. By a magazine promoting and advertising it through different platforms such as it's own website and social media sites, more people will know and find out about it and these can lead to more sales.

The codes and conventions of a magazine are quite self explanatory - I think a magazine that  includes most, if not all of the ones I listed on the PowerPoint, should be successful as long as the content is relevant and interesting and again, the representation is right. I will also be including most of these in my own magazine.