Media Studies Coursework evaluation

8/7/2019 Media Studies Coursework evaluation

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The New Music

Issue:10 New Artists

for 2011

Media Studies Coursework: Evaluation

Conventions:From researching popular music magazines I was able to find out the typical codes

and conventions of Indie/ Alternative genre music magazines; for example, NME andQ.

FRONT COVER:

I found that on the front cover there is typically a bold and eye-catching masthead

sans serif; this is the first thing that attracts the readers route of the eye and so has

to be aesthetically appealing to the consumer. In my magazine I attempted to create an

outstanding masthead; above is a comparison between my NOISE masthead and a

successful NME masthead.

In comparison both areeye catching and

conventional of music

magazines.

There are also many coverlines relating to the topic of the magazine on the front

cover; these are helpful to the consumer/ reader as it gives a brief insight into what

features will be articles within the magazine. This is an example of one of the

coverlines from my front cover in comparison to a Mojo front cover Coverline.

Both coverlines have a bold

title Coverline and give anidea to the reader about the

article that will be featured

in the magazine.

Theres usually a main image focused on the band/ singer of the issue in the

centre of the page; a convention of the front page of music magazines. To the

left on my NOISE magazine I used a long shot of one of the main featured

artists Jake Wignall. The costume of the artists are representative of the mise

en scene and clich of the Indie genre of the music magazine; as Jake is a indie/

alternative singer, he wears conventional Converse; a convention on NME,

where Vampire Weekends motif are sunglasses; these create band association.

Another typical front cover convention of a music

magazine is a bar-code, price and date; I placed the

date of my issue and price directly on each other as

they have the same relevance to the reader.

25th December 2010

2.30


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FREE POSTERS: Ellie Goulding,

Marina Diamandis & Florence Welch!

I also used a lure of free posters; these are conventional as they give the readermore of a reason to buy the magazine as they are also getting something for free;

which is also brand marketing. This is similar to NME AND Q magazine who give

away "free V Festival Tickets!" This consequently encourages the target audience to

purchase the magazine.

Another convention of the front cover of a music magazine is a scrolling

coverline of the names of bands featured in the issue, althoughsometimes this is featured on the contents page rather than the front

cover. This gives the target audience reader an idea of what artists are

going to be featured in the specific issue; this helps them to decide if

they find the bands featured interesting or not and is a typical

convention of music magazines.

The choice of colour scheme is conventional

of a music magazine as the colours connote

and relate to the target audience! NME has

Red and Black this is representative of

teenage magazines. I tried to incorporate this

style of colour scheme into my product

throughout the whole of my front page,

contents page and double page spread after

creating a survey given to 20 members of

my target audience. On the front cover two

of the artists have the colour red on their

image; Chris on his hoody and Jake has a red

guitar I have accomplished colour continuityby making the background colour

surrounding the text red to create a constant

colour flow.

CONTENTS PAGE:

A crucial convention of music magazines such as

NME and Q are that next to each Coverline or

image on the contents page there is a page number

that allows the reader to easily navigate through

the magazine; if they only want to read a specificarticle then this is useful to the consumer.

Band Index: Vampire Weekend . Klaxons . Foals .The Drums . White Lies . Kings Of Leon . N*E*R*D







Band Index: Vampire Weekend . Klaxons . Foals . The Drums . White Lies . Kings Of

Leon . N*E*R*D


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DECEMBER

The date of issue sometimes appears on the top of a contents page, but it is not

typically conventional as the date of the magazine has already

probably been revealed on the front cover. However I decided to use

a san serif outstanding font so that members of my target audience

who buy NOISE magazine every month/ week would be able to order

the magazines chronologically; making it easer for the reader toassociate a certain feature from a specific issue through a clear date on the opening

pages.

An eye - catching masthead is also fundamental to the contents page of the magazine

as again it is one of the first things that attracts the readers route of the eye. I chose

to go against the typical NME style THIS WEEK masthead, instead I repeated thetitle of the magazine NOISE and then not far too the right I wrote ON THE

COVER so the magazine still looks like a typical music magazine contents page.

Sometimes on the contents pages of NME and Q there is an Editors

comment, usually placed on the left hand side in a *newspaper article

style*; therefore it is in some ways a convention. I incorporated this

and created an editorial note so that the target audience reader

becomes familiar with the magazine and feels excited in a way that

they are getting to read something written by the editor of the

magazine.

There are usually subscription offers; these are another

form of a lure to give the target audience reader more of a reason to purchase the

magazine annually as they will be saving money or getting something for free after a

certain time period. This is typical of nearly every magazine; not just musicmagazines and therefore is a clever convention to attract the reader further. For my

magazine instead of giving the reader

money off an annual subscription, I gave

them the opportunity to have a free CD

from the main featured artist in the

specific issue.

On some contents pages of music magazines three is a weblink; for example,

"nme.com". These allow the reader to find out more on the magazines website about

a band/ artist than maybe they could in the magazine; allowing the reader more depth:

where to buy CDs, where the latest gigs are and what competitions are coming up.

38) One To WatchEveryones talking about him

and rightly so, Christian Smith

the new talent of the Indie

world, for next year. He pops by

and chats to us about

entering mainstream radio, his

debut album, growing up in

London and recording atAbbeyRoad .


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There is sometimes an image of

the front cover of the magazine

on the contents page; this shows

continuity but is not necessarilyessential to the magazine. In my

NOISE magazine I used an

image of the front cover; Im not

exactly sure what the purpose of

this was. NME usually instead

has a main image of the band

featured in the centre of the

page.

A final typical convention of music magazines are that the cover lines are split

into sections "News", "Live", "Albums", "Gigs" and "Radar"; I have done this

is in my magazine to follow the codes and conventions of already established

music magazines. Also, the reader over time would be able to familiarise with

the different sections. Also the colour scheme of my contents page follows on

from the colour scheme of the front cover to create continuity and give more

professional look to the overall magazine.

DOUBLE PAGE SPREAD:

A typical convention of a double page

spread of a music magazine is that there is

at least one large long shot or medium

close up image, usually on the right hand

page; this is the first thing that the readers

route of the eye is drawn to on the double page

apart from the main masthead. I chose to use a

plain background instead of a distracting

background that would possibly take the focus

off of the artist. Chris is holding a guitar; this

shows that he is an Indie singer as showing the

artist with an instrument helps to convey the type

of music genre they play. The guitar strap that

Smith has is of a Union Jack symbol; this

signifies his regional identity and cultural

background; showing that he is from England;

this is further backed up by in the article he

reveals that he used to live in London. I believe

that this kind of position of long shot is a kind of


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Look where Iam now; abouttorelease anamazing album

PIECES OF ME:Name: Chris SmithAge: 19

Record Label: SonyBMGGenre: Indie/AlternativeFavourite Band: TheSmithsFavourite Soloist:Jessie JFavourite Film:AvatarWorst Soloist: Justin

live image and connotes to the reader that when he plays live he puts emphasis into

not only his singing; but his performance.

Another typical convention of double page spreads is a "kicker" at the opening of the

article; this is one of the first things that catches the readers route of the eye other

than the masthead. W As it is in a bold font it appeals more to the target audiencereader and signifies the opening of the article interview; meaning they are more likely

to be interested and read it as it is eye catching.

There is often a pull quote in the top right hand corner of the right

page; this gives a brief insight into the interview within the article.

These are usually the most interesting quote from the artist as it

helps the target audience reader to decide whether or not they wish

to read the interview; if it interests them or not. I chose to use the

quote look where I am now; about to release an amazing album;

this signifies the artists cocky and confident style of personality;most artists have this type of personality so when choosing this pull

quote I took that into consideration. I also chose to use colour continuity on the

background of the text on the pull quote as on the front cover Christian Smith has a

red stripe on his hoody which is then continued throughout the magazine with the

background of the text boxes and the red stripe on his guitar strap. When comparing

with a pull quote from NME magazine; I believe that mine is more appealing as

Kerrang!s just states I had a meltdown; this could be to do with anything; not just

music, making it seem possibly irrelevant to the reader. Also the font colour that they

have used for the

artists name is barely

visible on a blackbackground whereas

mine can be easily read; however this could be due to the genre differences between

my NOISE (indie/ alternative) magazine and Kerrang! (rock/ metal) magazine and

there colour scheme may connote something different to a different style of target

audience.

In some music magazines there is a brief Pieces of Me section that

gives a brief insight into the artists favourite film,

artist etc. I chose to use this style of information as

it involves the target audience reader more as they

may be intrigued as to what is the artists favourite

song of all time is; for example. This in a way is

something extra/ free to the lure as they can

identify with some of the choices made by the

artist. In comparison with the NMEPIECES OF ME:

Name: Chris SmithAge: 19Record Label: SonyBMG

Genre: Indie/AlternativeFavourite Band: TheSmithsFavourite Soloist:Jessie JFavourite Film:Avatar


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COMPARISON OF FRONT COVER WITH NME:


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COMPARISON OF CONTENTS PAGE WITH Q:

COMPARISON OF DOUBLE PAGE SPREAD WITH KERRANG:


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Overall I believe that I have researched conventions of a music magazine successfully

and have created a successful music magazine that meets the typical codes and

conventions through my analysis.

9.

Documents

Media Studies Coursework evaluation