Preliminary Material: Initial Ideas

Now my research has been completed, I am now starting to plan and produce a school magazine that is used as preliminary material.

I have gathered some ideas for my preliminary material:

Firstly, I am going to go round my school and take photos using a DSLR camera that will capture some school-related stories to go into my magazine. Predominantly, the images will be used for the contents page. I plan to use several images I capture to tell the reader visually what will be in this issue, and these images will have a number placed on the image to inform the reader of what number page this story/article this will be in the magazine.

I feel that I should base my magazine around the news of the 'new head boy' and ''changes to the refectory' - as there have been in our school. I feel that having a enlarged portrait mid shot of either of the two topics will be the best layout/style for the front cover. 

The contents page, I feel, should have several images placed (as stated previously), and then a boxed-off section where there is a description of what is in the magazine - as typically what the contents page does (aha!). 

Research: Contents Page of Music Magazines (Q) - Feb 2012

Q Magazine - Contents Page: Issue 37

Research: Double Page Spread of Music Magazines (NME) - Savages

NME Magazine - Savages' Double Page Spread

The Savages are featured in a NME double-page spread, and have a very large mid-group shot of the band, which dominated a good three-quarters of the two pages.This image contains a grayscale filter, creating a serious style - reinforced by their unexpressed faces.
Along the bottom of the magazine features a large text, where NME described them as 'control freaks', which is in a turquoise blue. The word 'freak' has half of a rectangle box around the left side which drips down to the very bottom of the page - this giving a very simplistic, yet clever layout. There is text in line with the top of the half-rectangle which is in a 'type-writer' style font, again featuring the blue text for important text or the band/members involved.

The far right text column (the main body text in this case) is very small, which is a common convention of magazines. Also, another convention used commonly is the large letter which is coloured to suit the house colour scheme (in this case, turquoise blue), to start the main body text.

In the far-bottom left and right contain a page number which is very small and looks as if it has been added the font style of 'bold'.

Research: Double Page Spread of Music Magazines (NME) - Paul McCartney

NME Magazine - Paul McCartney Double Page Spread

In this double page spread, Paul McCartney has been interviewed by NME.

On the left page, there is a mid shot of McCartney with his bass guitar. There is a light (baby) blue background sheet or green-screen producing the background colour. The image creates a simplistic style with very basic background imaging - yet effective. There is also text underneath Paul's head which has a white box to make it visible - it states "Paul McCartney" in the same/similar colour to the background, association/linking colours. Underneath that is a quote made by McCartney in a charcoal colour, subsequently underneath that a much smaller description of what NME have wrote about Paul McCartney.
The text on the top-right of the page states 'Upfront', a noun to describe the featuring double-page spread.

On the right-hand page of the double-page spread, where the main body text is set. All of the text is in a very small writing so it can all fit on one page, again creating a simplistic style. There is a typical convention of a quote included in the page, which is wrapped in between the second and third columns of text. Again, there is use of the light blue colour for the quote reference of Paul McCartney. A greyscale image of Paul McCartney in the studio is featured in the top-right hand corner, and also has a description of the image (again) in a blue box. At the bottom of the page, there is a sub-section where the producers are referenced - again in a blue box, which is slightly darker as compared to the other shades of blue, with there faces split in each divided part of the box, including a small write up about the producer and their contribution; there is four in total.

This double page spread has split the two sections of media - image covering the entire page (on the left), and the story/interview text (on the right) with some images and sub sections to the page.

Research: Front Covers of Music Magazines (Q) - Muse

Q Magazine - Muse Front Cover


































Q have featured Muse to be on the front cover of their magazine for this month's issue. Very typical conventions have been used in this front cover with the use of a close up of all three members of Muse - each facing in different directions to each other; Chris facing left, Dom on the right looking more in Matt's direction however still looking into the distance, and finally Matt, the front man of the group, staring right into the camera. All members having a very serious expression, denoting the subsequent text below them.

Regarding the text in this front cover, Q states: "Their biggest challenge yet"... "Boldly go where no band has gone before" - making a statement of a plan that Muse have for a potential upcoming tour, or something completely out-of-the-blue, which excited the reader when they see this. The box text underneath that saying "Exclusive interview" implies that this news has been exclusively disclosed to Q for publishing, and Q giving the reader something other than just general news, otherwise important and exciting news for this genre of music readers.

Mentioning the logo in my last research post (The Smiths' issue), the Q part of the logo is in same position (top-left), however the 'The worlds greatest music magazine' is placed behind Chris' head on the left. This is probably accepted by readers (especially loyal ones) as the overlay can still be noticed but without being specifically clear - thus the audience still knowing what the content is.

The background to this issue features an outer-space theme, in comparison to my previous researched front cover - where it was merely plain white. Muse's theme and genre has always been described as futuristic-space-prog rock, and with there genre convention, the space theme suits their exclusive feature on the front cover. Furthermore, the text beneath them states "... Boldly go where no band has gone before", which could possibly connotes the space theme, with no one really going there; a polysemic, meaning two different meanings.

In the very bottom-right section, there is a box filled in red, with the barcode - as mentioned in my previous researched front cover. The barcode has the ISP code and barcode, with the price usually within the barcode section. Next to the barcode in the the red box, it mentions "Albums bonanza!", with famous bands' new albums - specifically mentioning 'Mumfords', Green Day', 'Dylan', 'Pet Shop Boys'. What Q have done in this section is shorten some of the artist's names - for example, 'Mumfords' would be shortened from the full name of Mumford and Sons, and also 'Dylan' would be a shortened name of Bob Dylan - probably with their target audience knowing the full names of the artists even if they are shortened for quickness; the magazine most likely doing this so they can fit all the bands in one small box in the corner.

In the middle-bottom (to the left of 'Albums bonanza' is other news that the magazine has added that may appeal to the audience, giving them little but further insight into what the magazine offers to the reader. The XX is mentioned, stating "The sound of young London goes global", next to that is Cat Power, playing on words with "She's having kittens!" and finally, on the far left states that it is National Blur month, and that a souvenir is attached for the the reader "to treasure". Not only is the text enough to reinforce the blur band, but also the front man of blur in an effective glowing star background as if he is prestigious in some way. This is also conventionally suits the theme very well, as Muse have their space-age theme with glowing stars in the background.

A final feature of this magazine front cover is the top section, which has the effect of a ripped piece of paper, whether it have the effect of it being stuck on, or the top part of the magazine is ripped looking as if it continues onto the next page. Within this, there is use of alliteration with the title of this feature - "Punk pig-out", including two artists with more news and a quotation (as analysed in my previous research) regarding the punk artists. Specifically speaking, the right-hand side artist (Strummer) has eye-catching tex to the reader, stating that the magazine has within "unseen pics, untold tales!" that may excite the reader and again, want them to read the magazine. This incentive therefore gives more chance of the audience reading and consequently purchasing the magazine.

Research: Front Covers of Music Magazines (Q) - The Smiths

Q Magazine - The Smiths Front Cover

Q have featured The Smiths to be on the front cover of their magazine for this month's issue. Conventionally, the front cover of a music magazine includes a mid, mid-closeup or standard close up shot of the artist that is featured on that particular music magazine. In this issue of Q that I have selected to analyse features a mid shot of The Smiths; with Morrissey looking into the camera and Johnny Marr hugging him from the right side looking towards Morrissey.
Text surrounding them is in the clearly and typically the biggest font size on the front cover - with the text saying: 'THE' in a black box with white font colour with a small font size, and then 'SMITHS' in a much bigger size, this time, being compliant to the other purple colour text that has been used to stand out. For example, the other purple writing has been used in alternating text (the band's names on the left-hand side of the front cover. Also, 'New Album Preview' above that is highlighting the word 'preview' in purple font colour so it appeals and stands out to its target audience. The word 'preview' suggesting exclusive content that could definitely be of interest to the reader.

A quotation from The Smith's interview has been added to the front cover to grab the reader's attention, an insight to the interview itself if you will. "We were one of the greatest bands ever" suggests it's in first person talking about themselves. They speak highly of themselves here, stating they were one of the greatest bands, however this needs to happen to not only show insight into how they feel about themselves, but also the attention-grabbing statement that can 'draw the reader in' and urge themselves to want to read why, how, etc., all of those questions would automatically be raised in the reader's head, and spur them to read, thus purchase the magazine.

'Q', the magazine I am researching into, has conventionally placed their logo on the front cover in order for the reader to identify this magazine, in the top-left of the front cover (again, typical of Q's style); taking up about a sixth of the whole page. At the top part of the 'Q' of the logo, it states 'The world's greatest music magazine', which is often included within its magazine logo - if denoted in such a way, their moto of their work in their music magazines, plus the reputation it has built over the many issues and sales it has had.

Another feature of this magazine front cover is the barcode in the bottom-left section. Quite self-explanatory, the bar code has to ISP code and of course the barcode representing its ISP. It will also have the price of this issue too.

Model for my Music Magazine

I have sourced a willing person to model for the music magazine. Due to the actor being more suited to the folk genre, I am initially planning to have the location of the photoshoot set in a woodland, with potentially some shots featuring the acoustic guitar.