Music Genre and Magazine names

The producer of the music magazine that I will be creating is Future. I have decided to go with Future publishing because they haven't yet produced a music magazine in the genre which I will be creating. Future already has a number of music magazines out there, these include:
Total Guitar Classic Rock
Guitar techniques Metal Hammer
Computer music
Computer music specials



Magazine names:
Bang
Discord
Uproar
Turbulence
Boundless

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Hip Hop Connection (HHC) is the longest running monthly periodical devoted entirely to hip hop culture.

Under the editorship of Chris Hunt, the magazine published its first issue in 1988. The early issues were its biggest selling and saw Hunt bringing together a talented group of writers and photographers, including Malu Halasa and Normski, the future television presenter and celebrity, who was given his own section in the magazine to showcase his rap photography. Dave Pearce was also an early contributor to the magazine.

In April 2006 Hip Hop Connection published its two-hundredth consecutive edition, re-running many of the classic rap interviews from its 18 year history. It is now owned by Cambridge.

analysis

Kerrang is a weekly rock music magazine. Karrang was first published on the 6th June 1981, edited by Geoff Barton. During the 1980s and early 1990s the magazine put many thrash and glam metal acts on the cover, but later discarded them when grunge acts such as Nivana rose to the fame. Readers often criticised the magazine for repeating this process every time a new musical trend became popular.

Kerrang remains the market-leading music weekly with a devoted audience of rock fans driving sales of 60,289.

The title of the contents page has been set out in white capitals, parts of it is broken up and is scattered around the title. This has been done so it doesn't look complete, which looks effective. Red lines go across the top of the page and behind the title, theses lines are there so there isn't any blank spaces. These lines have also been added behind the sub-heading of 'This week', they have been added here because the font and colour is the same as the title, this keeps the theme running through the page.

There is an editors section which is based on a black background, in this section there is a photograph of the editor and some writing which he has added.



There are three photographs next to each other, these are the same size and each have the name and page number on the bottom of the image, because they appear inside the magazine.



The main photograph is of a singer out of a band, it is the main photograph as they will be a large story about them. The edges of the photograph fades away into the black background, this fading away effect makes it look part of the background.



There are sub-titles in the contents page, these separate the different subjects up, underneath each sub-title there is the page titles and numbers.


At the bottom of the page there is a plug which shows three magazines and along side there is writing to advertise there offer.



Along the side of the page in small writing there is a small section which says who took the photographs in the front page and on the contents page.

Analysis of Rock Sound

Rock Sound is a British monthly music magazine, the genre of music been alternative.

Rock Sound was launched in March 1999 by the french publisher Editors Freeway, it was then bought out in December 2004 by its director Patrick Napier.

Rock Sound has an ABC of 23,260. Its a completely independent magazine. The magazine is put together by music fans for music fans, the passion and attitude is reflected in the writing.

Rock Sound aims to bring new music to the masses and covers music from rock genres, giving many bands their first print media exposure.

The monthly magazine costs £3.60 and has a glossy front and back cover page so it is more likely to last longer.

The name of the magazine is Rock Sound. The font of the title is in bold, it is the full width of the front cover and is in large font. The colour of the font is white, this colour has been chosen because the background photograph has a lot of dark colours. The title has small rips and tears on the edges, this as been done to give it a slight rough look to go with the genre of music which the magazine is about.

The main photograph is off the band Funeral For A Friend, this image has been used as the full background of the front cover as they are the main feature of this issue. The photograph is at a medium close up to show all of the band members and there style of clothing. The background in this image has been blurred out, this is so that the audiences eye does not get distracted from the main subject. The person's head which is stood in front of every one else in the photograph goes over the name of the magazine. This shows that he could be the leader of the band and that the magazine is well known because you can't See some of the letters.

At the top of the front cover, above the title there is a small image which has been edited and shaped into a circular shape, and along side of this there is a puff, this shows the names of artists which will appear inside the magazine and it also says that they are posters inside.

Underneath the name of the magazine to the left, it says '+ FREE CD', this is in the same font as the title but it is smaller and its of the colour yellow. The difference in colour is to show that it isn't part of the title and its just there to show people the offer they will be getting, which is they by the magazine and get a free Cd.

Underneath the title of the magazine to the right, it says 'music with attitude' this has been added to make the audience more interested in reading more. The font is in capitals, white and based on a black background.

The name of the main band 'Funeral For A Friend' is in blue font and capitals. It has been done in blue so it makes the magazine look a bit more colourful and interesting, it also makes it stand out from the background more. Each letter then casts a black shadow this is to make it stand out even more. On the letters there are gaps and cracks wear it looks worn away. To the left of 'Funeral For A Friend' there is a white circle, on it it tells you what is inside.

Underneath the name of the band there is a quote, this has been done in a handwriting style font this gives more of an impression that the person is really saying what he said. The colour of this is in yellow.

In the middle of the front cover to the left there is a .... which says that you could win some tickets. The two main words have been highlighted in yellow, these are 'WIN!' and 'CARLIN' these two are the main words which will appeal to the audience because they will like the chance to win some thing and the second highlighted word is of what they could win.

To the right of the front cover there are two more photographs. These two photographs have been cut out of there original background and been put on top of the front cover background, a white glow has also been added around the edges of the images otherwise they wouldn't really stand out as there colours of clothing are similar.

Towards the bottom of the page at the right and left hand side there is some additional writing in blue and white, this is there to tell the audience what else is in the magazine.

At the very bottom on the right hand side of the front cover there is a bar code and above this it tells you the price of the magazine the issue, date and the website address.

At the top right hand side of the contents page it shows the name of the magazine, date and the issue number. The same type of font and colour has been used. The colour was chosen because it is similar to the top which the artist is wearing so that the colours .

Underneath it shows the main features which are in the magazine and there page number. They have chosen to do the page numbers in the red colour to keep the same colour running through the page, and the artists names are in black. Under each name and page number there is some smaller writing which explains what the story is going to be about. The main features list is on a transparent background, it has put on a transparent background to make the list stand out more, if it had been put on a solid colour background then it would cut out to much of the background image.

In the bottom right hand corner there is a quote from what slash said. The quote is in black font and based on a white background.

The double page spread consists of four photographs. The main photograph is the biggest one and shows all of the band members. The leader of the the band is at the front in the middle and is the most focused so when people open the page that is the first thing which they will see. On the right hand side of the double page spread there is another photograph of one of the band members which is in focus. In front of where both of the photographs join there is another photograph which is of the band leader which has been cut out of its background.

At the top left hand side there is a section of writing which tells the audience about the bands new album, the font is in white whilst the background is black.

The name of the band takes half of the left page up and it looks like it has been printed onto it. There is also a yellow shadow casting of each letter. Below the band name there is three words which are been used to advertise the band, these are 'Better Than Ever'. Under this it also tells you who the photographer and the writer is.

The story is on the right hand page and is on a white background. Across the middle of the story there is a quotation. This story also has a drop cap which is typical of a double page spread.

In the bottom corner of each page there is a number and the website address.

Foundation Portfolio - Main Task

The foundation portfolio main task involves producing a front page, contents and double page spread of a new music magazine. All the images and text used must be original, produced by me and have a minimum of four images.

As the beginning of this task I looked at how the media key concepts could be apply, I have done this by looking at the acronym LIIAR.

Language

The language which I will be using through out the magazine will be informal, fun and entertaining. The style of writing is going to match the genre of the magazine and set a theme running through out it, such as the title of the music magazine Kerrang which is a onomatopoeic and derives from the noise made when smashing an electric guitar. The colour of the font has to relate with the genre as the magazine will then look more effective.

Institution

There are a number of different music magazine publishers. Below is some publishers which I have researched to find out which music magazine publisher hasn't already produced a magazine with the same genre which I will be producing.

Bauer: The Bauer publishing group was founded in Hamburg 1875 by Johann Bauer. The publishing group has 238 magazines world wide in 15 countries as well as TV and radio stations. Bauer is the largest consumer magazine publishing company in the UK.

Bauer publishes three music magazines these are: Kerrang, Mojo and Q.

Kerrang! remains the market-leading music weekly with a devoted audience of rock fans driving sales of 60,289.

MOJO’s sales are up on the period to 106, 367 and is second only to stablemate Q in the sector. Combined Q and MOJO deliver almost half (43%) the share of the monthly music market. MOJO – which brings classic music to a new generation and new music to established fans – consistently delivers a bespoke fix of high quality journalism and iconic photography to music fans alongside.

Q retains its pre-eminent position as the number one music monthly brand in the UK and across Europe of 112,532.

Future plc: Future is an international special-interest media business, founded in 1985. Future produces about 100 magazines, over 70 websites and magazine exported to 90 different countries. Future sells more than 4 million magazines each month, they attract more than 18 million unique monthly visitors to our websites. They are also the number one for selling guitar magazines selling over 550,000 a month.

Future publishes twelve music magazines, these are: Classic Rock, Computer Music, Future Music, Guitarist, Guitarist Australia, Guitar Techniques, Guitar World, Guitar World Legends, Metal Hammer, Rhythm, Revolver and Total Guitar.

Ipc: IPC Media is a leading UK consumer magazine publisher. Almost two in every three UK women and over 45% of UK men read an IPC magazine. That's almost 27 million UK adults and produces 80 magazines.

Ipc produces three music magazines, these are: Guitar and Bass, NME and Uncut.

Guitar and Bass: Essential reading for the serious guitarist, with dozens of guitar tests, playing techniques, an exclusive bass section and in-depth features on guitar heroes past, present and future.

NME: The NME is the longest published and most respected music weekly in the world. Every week it gives its readers the most exciting, most authoritative coverage of the very best in contemporary music. The award-winning www.nme.com, launched in 1996, has grown to be the biggest commercial music news site in Europe.

Uncut: Uncut is the UK’s most authoritative music and movie magazine. Uncut celebrates all that is great in rock and film, both new and old, cult and classic.

Ideology

The aim for the music magazine will be to inform and entertain the targeted audience which I will chose. In my magazine I will be including the latest news on both new and recent and old bands/artists, upcoming shows and interviews.

Audience

The main target audience for the magazine is going to be aged between 18-24 years, both male and female.

Representation

As the main target audience is aimed between 18-24 years and both male and female, the magazine needs to represent this age group by making the language fun and entertaining but at the same time serious.

Foundation Portfolio Evaluation

Foundation Portfolio evaluation

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

The different forms and conventions used in my magazine front page and contents page are similar to those used in real media products. On the front cover I used the following conventions which appear on many magazine front covers; title of the magazine, date and issue of magazine, bar code, main photograph (of a student) and text to support the stories which will appear inside.

On the contents page I used: title, stories and what page they will appear on, photographs supporting inside stories and.....

· How does your Media product represent
particular social groups?

My Media product represents anyone who is interested in photography and would enjoy learning more about the subject and the technologies.

· What kind of Media institution might distribute
your media product and why?

The type of media institution which might distribute my media product would be some one who has distributed college magazines before, such as the media institution of the secondary teachers and primary teachers. My magazine is similar to these two products as it is free for every one who is interested.

· Who would be the audience for your Media
product?

The main audience for my media product is for people who are thinking on choosing one of the courses, and people who have just started the course that would like to more information about how certain things work, such as photoshop.

People who are also already on the course are likely to get a copy because there is information which could be useful to them, such as what you could the with your A level result after college.

· How did you attract/address your audience?

I attracted/addressed my audience by chosing bright, bold colours for the text and having a photographic background.

· What have you learnt about technologies from
the process of constructing this product?

From the process of constructing this product I learnt how to use a professional camera and how different lighting, angles and the setting can affect the appearance of the final image. I also learnt a lot of skills on photoshop, these where things like how to use the crone tool. I now feel confident in using this piece of software again.

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

Looking back at the peliminary task I feel that I have learnt a lot from the progression from it to the full product.

Final front page and contents page