- the title of the magazine
- mise-en-scène of images
- costumes and props
- people
- title font and style
- written content
- music genre and how your magazine suggests it
- layout
- contents pages
The title of the magazine and title font and style
Selection of titles from before
Above you can see a selection of popular music magazines titles and the one I have produced myself. 3 out of the 4 magazines titles use capitals so that they are large and eye-catching attracting in more readers. I have used this method as well for my title. The same 3 using capitals for their titles have also used a sans-serif font, to create a modern look and so that it appeals to a younger generation, which their magazines target audience is. On the other hand ‘Rolling Stone’ uses a serif font; the name of the magazine is named after a Muddy Waters song and when the magazine was initially introduced in 1967 the target audience was the older generation and it was about music, politics and popular culture, so the old fashioned title appealed to readers. However in the 1990’s the magazine changed it’s format to attract younger readers, but did not change the title so that the magazine was still noticed as being popular and a good product. I have used a sans-serif font as my magazine was aimed at a younger generation ranging from 13-25 year olds; surrounding the main sans-serif font is a messy design which reflects the creativeness and freeness of music.
From the magazine titles only one of them immediately struck me to be related to music, and that was ‘Rolling Stone’ as I thought of the well known band, however this is not even the reason why the magazine is named this. ‘NME’ stands for ‘New Musical Express’ but I did not immediately think the title related to music as it is the initials. I think a weakness of the magazine titles is that it does not initially reveal to the reader what the magazines are about if they quickly look at the title, therefore I wanted my music magazine to relate to music. I named it ‘Anything but Silence’ revealing the magazine is about noise and so obviously music.
Mise-en-scene, people and props in images
From my research I found that Kerrang! had very much a similar target audience of my own and uses the same genre of music so I thought that I would compare my own pictures to the ones they have used. Before researching magazine covers I wrongly assumed that many of the cover photos were pictures of bands playing live music; this rarely happens. The majority of the photos (as shown above) are taken in a photo studio and the artists have been told exactly how to pose. When taking this in to account I realised that taking pictures of a live band would not be a good idea as customers will expect to see professional photographs in studios; one of the reasons music magazines do not use live photos is because the artist can sometimes not be clear, which for many readers is the main attraction seeing someone on the front who they want to know more about which makes them want to buy a copy to find out more.
In the main image on the front cover not many props are used; above only the Avenged Sevenfold cover has tools that could injure people, revealing their violent genre of music. The other five do not use any props.
Costume: In the top left and right images they are wearing everyday clothes which could reveal that they believe the music they produce is more important than the clothes they wear. In the top middle image they are all in suits revealing they are very serious about the music they make, but the lead singer reveals they are still a heavy rock/ metal band by showing his heavily tattooed hand which relates to this music genre. Avenged Sevenfold are all in black, with black hats, make up and sunglasses, which convey their dark style of music. Marilyn Manson’s dark, long hair, dark eyes, and comparatively pale face convey his gothic rock theme. Slipknot is a band where all the members wear masks, which are meant to terrify their audience; these frightening masks reflect their extremely heavy metal music and their dedication to the band by putting so much effort in to everything they do.
It is obvious from the images above, and most magazines there are, that the people directly look in to the lens of the camera; this is done to attract the readers’ attention as it looks as if the magazine is directed at them personally and so will want to read on.
As soon as I found out I needed to take pictures for my front cover I organised my first model and researched different poses and props he could use. I first thought of the idea of him being topless with wires wrapped around his neck, a fag in his mouth whilst pouting.
I received the majority of these ideas from the images above when doing a google search; I wanted the model to be topless, in the centre, with wires wrapped around his neck. The first lot of pictures I took are shown below. I decided to also use different costume, including day to day wear as this could reflect the artist being more interested in the music rather than clothes and fashion; for this I have included a selection of different shirts and skinny jeans.
The images that I liked the most from my first photo shoot are shown below.
I was pleased with the outcome of my photos, at first until I realised that he looked too young to pass for someone big in the music business, the fag may not be appropriate nowadays as people may see him as a bad roll model, encouraging others to smoke, and there is not enough space above his head to include the title. So, I decided to use a different model using different costume and props. I have used the top image from my three favourites as one of the free poster images on my front cover.
The new model I chose is older, and I have put him in less interesting clothing, to reveal he is more interested in his music than what he is wearing, which I have said in the double page spread.
I definitely preferred the new model, but I was not keen on his clothing and the quality of the photographs as he does not seem to look dominating enough.Even though on many music magazine covers they do not reveal their instruments I have included their bass to convey what they play in the band, as he will be a well known bass player for my magazine.
Above is my final picture that I used for my magazine, he is wearing basic clothing to reveal that he is more interested in the music than fashion and I have included the bass to reveal what he plays in the band and to show how attached and dedicated he is to playing music.
I have taken my pictures so that they look suitable for a music magazine, using suitable people and costume. I have used a greater number of men on my magazine than women; this is because if you look at the selection of Kerrang! front covers that are above, there are absolutely no women in them. They do occasionally have women on the front which is why I have included one. I have used one of the photos from my original model, as I like the fact the wires are wrapped around him with the microphone which has connotations to music. I have used high quality photos where the people are wearing average clothes, as that is what people from the rock genre usually wear.
Written Content
I first read a selection of double page spread articles from Kerrang!, Q and Rock Sound to get an idea of the writing style for my own. I have realised that the magazine is addressed to the reader as a close friend which invites the reader in and makes them think that the article is aimed at them. This is done by the relaxed speech of the bassist talking about being on time and complaining about other bands which makes the reader think they are part of the conversation.
Written Content
I first read a selection of double page spread articles from Kerrang!, Q and Rock Sound to get an idea of the writing style for my own. I have realised that the magazine is addressed to the reader as a close friend which invites the reader in and makes them think that the article is aimed at them. This is done by the relaxed speech of the bassist talking about being on time and complaining about other bands which makes the reader think they are part of the conversation.
I took some ideas from a Paramore article in Kerrang!, which attracts the reader by making them seem as if they are there by setting the scene and conveying that Hayley is in charge, I have done this also in my article his superiority conveyed as he takes up the whole sofa and amazes the interviewers with his skills.
This relaxed and friendly attitude towards the reader making the article almost seem like a conversation is conveyed in the following double page spread article from Kerrang!
Click on the image below to enlarge. Speech from the artist is included to make it seem as if the artist is talking directly to the reader making it seem more personal, and more likely that the reader will want to buy the magazine.
Music Genre
I have made my music magazine cover suggest the correct rock genre by mentioning names of famous bands that people who like rock music would be interested in, for example Paramore, Fall Out Boy and You Me at Six which are continuously found on the front of Kerrang! and Rock Sound. The general dark colour of the magazine, reflects the 'darkness'/ 'heaviness' of the music. Another way in which I have conveyed this genre is by having a 'Top 10 Songs' section revealing the magazine is about music. The fact my model is carrying a bass guitar reveals he is part of the music business, conveying what the magazine is about. There is an album cover on the front which is another indication. The costume and long styled hair of the people conveys a rock genre. The 'messy' layout of the front page, contents and double page spread has connotations to the creativeness of music. The final way I have done this is by naming my magazine 'Anything But Silence' which has immediate connotations to music as rock music is meant to be played loudly.
I have made my music magazine cover suggest the correct rock genre by mentioning names of famous bands that people who like rock music would be interested in, for example Paramore, Fall Out Boy and You Me at Six which are continuously found on the front of Kerrang! and Rock Sound. The general dark colour of the magazine, reflects the 'darkness'/ 'heaviness' of the music. Another way in which I have conveyed this genre is by having a 'Top 10 Songs' section revealing the magazine is about music. The fact my model is carrying a bass guitar reveals he is part of the music business, conveying what the magazine is about. There is an album cover on the front which is another indication. The costume and long styled hair of the people conveys a rock genre. The 'messy' layout of the front page, contents and double page spread has connotations to the creativeness of music. The final way I have done this is by naming my magazine 'Anything But Silence' which has immediate connotations to music as rock music is meant to be played loudly.
Layout
Before producing my magazine cover, contents page and double page spread I produced paper layouts of how I wanted them to look, which can be seen below.
When first producing my front cover I tried some different ideas but in the end returned to my initial ideas as I preferred them. To generate the layouts I flicked through a selection of magazines from Q, Kerrang! and Rock Sound to gain some ideas and then drew what I wanted my magazine to look like. One of these different ideas I had when making my front cover can be seen below.
Contents Page
My contents page looks similar to the one above, as not everything is perfectly neat, but is purposefully made to look a little scruffy and artistic, to reveal the creativity of music genre being revealed. They have used a selection of images which are rectangular and some that have been cut around, which I have on mine too; both have an editorial as well to convey what the magazine is about and what is included in this issue. In comparison, Rock Sound's contents page has a regulars section which I have not included in mine, which I could have to show what is usually included in the magazine due to popularity in the past from the audience reading it.
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