30 Word Pitch

Bass is a rock music magazine aimed at teenagers who want to know everything they could possibly want to know about their favourite bands and find out about new ones.

Audience Research

I only used teenagers for my audience research as that is who I am aiming my magazine towards so I wanted to find out what they wanted to get from the magazine. I asked questions about their music tastes as well as towards general magazines and specifically music ones. I asked people who were generally interested in music, who were at music events, and also ones who did not have a specific interest.


From this I have discovered that most of the people I interviewed read or used to read Kerrang magazine so I will take a closer look at that to see how they attract a young audience. Many people also said they liked reading the reviews in magazines so I may do a review of a live gig as my double page feature.

The main image on the front of my magazine needs to be the most important thing on the front as all of the people I interviewed said that this is what they looked at first and what was attracted them to buy the magazine.

Music Photographers - Simon Pollock

Simon Pollock is one of Londons premier live music photographers; he has photographed a wide range of bands and singers from U2 to The Prodigy to Mcfly. He captures the essence of the music well and gets the lighting to coincide with the band as he captures the image.

The fire in the background creates a good effect as one of the flames has only one single colour at the time the image was captured, the other has both the yellowness and the orange of the flame. It has the traditional look of a photo rock pose as well as the singer has his guitar in the normal place while singing in to the mic.

This photo has a good effect, as it is in black and white the smoke from the background makes it more profound; you can see the spotlights but there is none directly on the singer who seems in his own world with the music. It doesnt have the full bodu of the man with his guitar so they can focus on the face

I like this photo because it is quite simple with the singer on the left side with just a black background. It fits with the singer as he looks to be singing a slow song and if the lighting for the shot had been bright then it would have looked out of place.

Magazine Cover Analysis - Mojo

The main image of this cover is the central picture of Syd Barrett; he is leaning back and dressed quite scruffily in dull colours, this may be an indication of the type of person he is, how he doesnt care what he's like, you can't really see his face which could mean that as he is so well-known that people are just expected to know who he is without needing a close look at him. The background is also a dull colour which wouldnt get much grab the attention of many people so the publishers want the reader just to see Syd Barretts name and want to read the magazine. His face is also covering part of the masterhead which shows how that he is the attraction of this issue. There is also a CD cover in the bottom left corner which comes free with the issue, this is taking up a lot of space as they want the reader to look at it and see its free to intice them to buy the magazine so they can get the CD. With the other coverlines a the main titles are written in white with a bit about the article written smaller underneath; this is so the major line grabs the readers attention then if they are interested they will look more closely for the explanation.


From this magazine cover you can see that it is mainly for the older generations, as its main feature is about an older rock star who was famous in the 1960s. The bands featured on the free CD and in the other coverlines are also fairly old which gives the indication the magazine is for people who want to remember the bands of their youth rather than learn about newer ones.

Magazine Cover Analysis - Kerrang

This issue of Kerrang has the cover group all standing at different levels which adds interest to the picture as they are not just all standing straight in a line. Some of the peoples heads are also covering parts of the masthead; this shows how the band are the main selling point of the magazine not the actual name itself, however you can still tell what the word says as it is a well known brand which might not need as much publising as other brands. All of the coverlines are placed mainly around the bottom half of the magazine so as not to distract the reader from the main image, the main cover line runs across the page and features the name of the band in the main image and tells the reader about the band. The other coverlines feature different band names and some are just the names on their own, this shows what the magazine is about, its main selling point is the bands it features and that is the main content of the magazine. The coverlines tell the readers that this music magazine is mainly about well-known bands as they expect the readers to know who they are without any explanation. The cover sticks to a colour scheme of white, yellow and blue and alternates the colours around which helps to keep it simple as the text is quite writing like rather than black text. This also helps the reader understand that this magazine goes against other magazines and has its own style. In the bottom left hand corner there are some more smaller images which publicise the posters that are mentioned in one of the coverlines; this draws more attention to it, as people usually look at the images before they read text.

From this cover you can tell that the magzine is mainly aimed at young people with an interest in rock music; you can see this by the way the main band are dressed and by the names mentioned in the coverlines.

School Magazine Research

This is the college magazine for Lewisham College. It has a simple name that would be easily recognisable for people from that school. The image used is one of a student that is going to be interviewed in the issue. It is quite simple and does not look posed as if he was just going about his regular school day. All of the coverlines are down one side of the page and are written in quite regular text. I feel that this is a good example of what a school magazine should look like as it is quite a simple layout and is not trying to be really out there with the design; which is a good thing as it is just an information source for the students. It also would attract a wide range of people as with other magazines who have a direct target audience would design it to fit with either there male or female target audience.

Magazine Pitch

Bass is a music magazine for people that feel that they need to know more about smaller up and coming bands, as well as ones that are all ready well known. Bass will include gig listings for losts of different venues and artists. Bass will include genres of music such as Rock, Electro and Pop-Punk rather than chart music that is generally well known to everyone. The magazine would help people find out about less well known genres and musicians that they are unable to find in other music magazines. The magazine is for people that already have a big interest in music or people that would like to become more involved in music by finding out new things and about local events. The magazine is not gender specific as music is something everyone has in common even if they do not like the same styles.

Media Portfolio

I have chosen to do magazine for my media portfolio as I think I will find it more enjoyable as I have an interest in both music and photography. I also find the planning and directing of films quite tricky and think it will be an easier choice for me personally.

Mojo Magazine

Reader profile - The average reader of Mojo magazine is in his 40s; they like to reminiss about the music they listened to when they were younger as well as find out about new music that is of a similar genre.

You can see this from an edition of the magazine as the main article is about The Police who were a famous band in the 80s. There were also other articles about older bands such as Blondie and Jeff Buckly. However there are also newer artists featured such as Feist. The magazine is well written with lots of block text which may show that it is aimed for people very interested in music as well as quite affluent.

Film openings

In most film openings you see the main characters and setting for the film. It helps the audience understand the background to the characters before the main feature begins.

The Graduate - You see a man moving through an airport - maybe going home or to visit someone - he doesnt look very happy. The music used ni this clip is very powerful as it is a well known song that takes the focus of a seemingly dull scene.

Trainspotting - This film went straight into the film fast paced but at the same time introduced you to all the characters and the sort of lives they live.

The Breakfast Club - It shows the hallways of a school empty different to how they would be if the students were there. The shot then goes outside to show some students arriving to school even though it is a weekendl; they all seem to be completly different personalities. The voiceover and the song are used to help the audience understand what is happening and explain why they are at school at the weekend.

Brainstorming

What do you want to achieve by your practical work?
I would like to make something that I know I did the best I could on.

Do you want to work individually or as a pair?
I would like to work individually so that I can work at my own speed.

What comments would you like to see on your work?
This piece of work is eye-catching and has been completed to a good standard and shows understanding of the topic.

Print - I think it would be interesting to make my own music magazine using photography and making my own design for the layout.
Video - It could be quite difficult to make 2 minutes of film using different styles of shooting and writer interesting dialogue as well.