OCR Media Studies – AS Level

Unit G321: Foundation Portfolio in Media

Planning & Research

Name: Jon VillacciCandidate Number: 1248Center Name: St. Andrew’s Catholic SchoolCenter Number: 64135

Set Brief - Print

Music Magazine – Production

Preliminary Task Progression and Planning & Research

Section 1) – Preliminary Task

Preliminary Task Progression– EvidenceFront CoverStep-by-step

Step 1 – Create blank canvas – Photoshop//file//new//international paper//

Step 2 – Change background //Gradient tool

Step 3 – Start adding in the main conventions such as masthead and cover lines. (Added in St Andrews logo and masthead with dafont font)

Step 4 – Social media icons added to barcode and background deleted using magic eraser tool.

Step 5 – Puff promotion and any further advertisement e.g. Frog added.

Step 6 – Header and tagline addedIn to make the front cover look professional.

Step 7 – Rest of the conventions are all added in especially cover line which are created with text tool and edited with the stroke effect.

Step 8 – Finally the main image was added in complete the front cover, imported from my phone camera on to Photoshop and the background was cropped using the quick selection tool and the inverse selection. And here is the finished product.

Final Preliminary Front CoverMast head

Puff Promotion

Cover Lines

Logo

Barcode/ issue date

Main Story

Preliminary Task Progression– EvidenceContents PageStep-by-step

Step 1 – create the document //file//new//international paper//

Step 2 – Change the background colour from white to whatever colour you have for your front cover, (I had the same gradient pattern selected)

Step 3 – I started adding in the main codes and conventions such as the editorial and main stories. Also the title page “contents”

Step 4 -

At this point I need to make sure that everything is following my house style, this includes colour and size layout along with drop shadows and embossing important bold text.

Step 5 –After laying out the boxes for my relevant data I then had to fill them in, for example the main stories box had to be filled with stories and their relevant page numbers.

Step 6 –In order to achieve high marks I needed to include a header and footer with the relevant conventions within. This included adding the website URL which was made with the text tool as well as the page number and issue date.

Step 7 –This step was the simplest one, it included dragging over my mast head from my preliminary front cover ‘ New Testament’ to the contents page from one file to another.

Step 6 –The final of part of putting together the contents page was filling in the empty space once all of the conventions where added.

This included gathering relevant images and placing text on to.

The completed and finished product – Contents Page.

Final Preliminary contents page

Brand identity

Date

Editorial

Sign Off

Masthead

Main Images

Content stories

Section 2) – Log Book

Music Magazine – Genre research (Alternative Rock)

• A music magazine is magazine dedicated to music and the cultures, and sub cultures within. Examples of music magazine include – ‘kerrang magazine’, ‘Rock sound magazine’, ‘NME magazine’ and ‘Q magazine’ (all examples of alternative Rock magazines).

• UK consumer magazines lost nearly 1m print sales in first half of 2014 – ABC (The Guardian)

• All five titles in the paid-for music magazine sector, including Q, Kerrang! and Mojo, reported double digit sales losses in circulation the first half of 2014. "Certain genres are struggling," said Douglas McCabe, a media industry analyst at Enders. "There are a number of titles where physical sales are falling to a level that makes the business look quite difficult, NME would be a very good example. Music discovery has moved online.”

• http://www.theguardian.com/music/2015/jul/06/sink-or-swim-for-nme-as-long-running-magazine-becomes-free-from-september

“But the problem with NME is that the core target audience is 15-, 16-year-old kids who live in the middle of suburbia who are getting into music and use the magazine as a portal to get into that world.” – Douglas McCabe

Established Magazine for my Research

Masthead

Main Headline, Bold block capital writing denotes the stars importance (Star appeal)

Cover Lines – short and sweet, highlights main stories as well as gives an insight to the readership.

Main Image (Ian Brown front man of stone roses) Star Appeal (Richard Dyer). The main image is larger than the magazines logo which connotes the stars importance and presence they have on the readershipBarcode/date issue, this is important as it notifies the readership on the current releasing and when it will be release on the next month.

Strap line ‘greatest; denotes their success in the media industry and suggests how they are known for publishing for mainstream world known genres.

Target Audience – Katz, Maslow, Hartley and/or socio-economic needsUsual customers of Q magazine, music lovers and fans of the ‘Star Appeal’ in this case the Stone Roses. In terms of age gaps Q is stereotypically aimed at older upper class people, usually to males who are white and only few black or other race. The majority of Q magazines readers are in the range of A-C1 on the socio-economic table. Which implies it is aimed for more upper class people. However Q reaches out to all ages as certain artists appeal to only certain age groups, for example ‘The stone roses’ are the musicians of young sweaty youths living life free without limits. However an artist such as John Lennon may more drift to the age group of late 60’s as they where the big icons of that era. The purpose of Q magazine is to entertain that specific social group (Katz) in this case fans of rock music fans primarily in the A-C1 section of the socio economic needs. The music has a ‘personal relationship’ to the readers and how they interoperate the music (Katz). The consumers of Q magazine may be considered as ‘social climbers’ (Maslow hierarchy of needs) because they idolize the starts that appear on these magazines and want to be just like them (star appeal-Richard dyer).

What is the USP of this magazine? From the research completed into this media product, I think the USP is the ‘Star appeal’ (Richard Dyer) of Ian Brown on the front cover of this issue of Q magazine. Buyers of the magazine are hooked in from the initial front cover, if the front cover looks good e.g. with Ian Brown the public will buy the issue if they idolize Ian Brown or Stone Roses. Hence forth bringing in a higher selling number. Q magazine has a high status of successful sales in the magazine media industry and because of this ‘social climbers’ (Maslow) will be noticed of this and be interested in purchasing their magazines. The overall unique selling point of this magazine is the personal idolization and relationships that fans of famous stars have on their idols (Katz). The fact that this magazine issue involves stars which are of the white ethnicity (Hartley), may suggest that white fans of rock music are the predominant regular consumers and make up a larger percentage of the readership.

Publisher research

http://magazines.bauermediaadvertising.com/magazines/detail/Q

http://www.bauermedia.co.uk/brands/q

• Bauer (Distributer) – “We think popular” slogan – Gives the impression of the mainstream over played artists and ‘brainwashing pop music’. Which is stereotypically what Bauer media produce however they do distribute a lot of non mainstream music, for example hosting the Bauer awards which was involved with Kerrang and other similar non mainstream/alternative music media platforms (Magazines).

• Readership profile of the magazine – The readership of Q magazine range from white and black ethnicity's (Hartley) as mainstream music appeals to the majority of the public. The readership are likely to be fans of ‘popular’ music as well as attracted to the lifestyle of the artists that are within the magazine (Katz).

Q Magazine, is known for delivering quality to modern music fans (preferably modern rock fans) by distilling the un needed information and feeding the readers with the content which relates mostly to them (Katz). They have hired the best music writers and photographers to achieve the best content for their fans.

Conventions of my magazine of inspiration

• Rock sound Magazine• Rock sound magazine is a corporation who

specialize in creating rock magazines for Rock fans. Mainly for music more underground and alternative rather than mainstream commercial pop. It generally focuses on pop punk, post-hardcore, metal core, punk, emo, hardcore, heavy metal and extreme metal genres of rock music.

• Strapline - "For those who like their music loud, extreme and non-conformist“

• Primarily aimed at the British market, the magazine is also sold in Australia, Canada and the United States.

Masthead denotes the Reinforcement of brandIdentity (Bold red colour)

Cover Lines, bold black Text repeats the house Style (Steve Neale 1980)

Main Headline, ‘outlaws’ denotes The rock and roll Dangerous lifestyle.

Main Image (Lower than Atlantis), the fact that they are placed over the masthead denotes their important celebrity status and radiates ‘star appeal’ (Richard Dyer).

Barcode/Issue date, this is important for the readership as they are informed the date of the monthly issues that are released.

Give away,This feature adds to the readership interest and attracts customers into buying their magazine.

Target AudienceMainly aimed towards major rock fans and sub cultures down the line such as metal and hardcore. Aimed at anyone mainly between 13 and upwards, the biggest audience seem to be white males and fewer young female teens. Rock sound is a working class issue as it price ranges from 3 – 4 pounds. The idolization of the front cover stars creates a desire in the fans and makes the fans want to connect more with the stars (Maslow), this is all down to star appeal that the cover star radiates to the readers (Richard Dyer). Rock sound’s main purpose is to weekly update the music fans of alternative rock by entertaining them through the music that they love and can personally relate to (Katz). The target audience will mainly consist of a young demographic who belong to the E section of Maslow’s hierarchy of needs. This is due to the fact alternative rock music is connected to youths more than it is older people as they fall into listening to mainstream genres such as Pop music. My audience will be ‘exploring’ (Maslow) the social change throughout reading Rock sound presses. In terms of ethnicity, white males (Hartley) are the target of this magazine, there are many reasons for this, one of them being the fact that ‘stereotypically’ rock music sub genres such as alternative rock and grunge music have appealed more to white people as black ethnicity's originally created blues music, however the white race morphed the genre over time into rock music. (Source:https://www.quora.com/Why-does-the-black-community-say-white-people-stole-rock-music-Whys-it-so-bad-that-more-white-people-started-playing-it )

What is the USP of this magazine? I think the USP is the main mast heads and images on the front page, the bold masthead implies a great impact on the reader weather they buy it, or not. If it looks good they will buy it, rock sound magazine make their front covers eye catchy to hook buyers. Rock Sound’s front covers are commonly known for being the most eye gazing section of their magazines. The great front cover images creates rapport with the audience and creates desire for social climbers (Maslow) through the choice of star appeal (Richard dyer). The fact that Rock sound aim to target young males usually within the age range of 16 – 23 is clearly replicated through out the magazines use of language and design. In conclusion the main USP is the fact that it is predominately an exclusive magazine which only relates to certain readers.

Publisher research – Rock soundThe magazine was bought out by its director, Patrick Napier, in December 2004.The magazine is predominately targeted to British audiences, however also sold in Canada, Australia and also the United States. These four countries are ‘stereotypically’ the main founders of rock music and house the widest Rock genre fan base. Core target 15-24 ages, the magazines that are issued by Rock Sound are distributed by market force and target the young demographic who are avid fans of Rock music.

http://www.slideshare.net/CrudgeRockSound/rock-sound-2012-media-pack

Key areas to focus on:

• Publisher slogan – "For those who like their music loud, extreme and non-conformist“ – The phrase ‘non-conformist’ may denote that Rock sound are implying the Rock lifestyle of ‘anarchy’ and not conforming to society as well as mainstream music but however alternative rock.

• The magazine is available in most supermarkets such as TESCO and Sainsbury’s as well as commercial newsagents and petrol stations.

http://www.slideshare.net/CrudgeRockSound/rock-sound-2012-media-pack