INITIAL IDEAS FOR MUSIC MAGAZINE

-Lauren Homer

INITIAL IDEAS

PHOTOGRAPHY

TARGET AUDIENCE

CONTENT OF MAGAZINE

GENRE CONVENTIONS

PHOTOGRAPHYAs my music magazine is for indie music, I have some photography idea’s for the front cover, contents page and double page spreads. I personally know quite a few bands who play indie music, so I would like to take some photos of them performing and feature them in my Upcoming bands story. I am in a band myself, so I could also get some photos of the people in my band performing as well. I would like to use close up and mid shots, as well as using low angle shots. 48.8% who answeredmy questionnaire said that a mid shot would be a good idea for my front cover image. Thisevidence is partly the reason why I want to include this angle in my magazine. MISE – EN – SCENE In mise-en-scene you need to include ideas for costume, lighting, makeup, props, setting and acting. These ideas are all for TV shows, Film or magazines (Forms of media). Acting wouldn’t obviously be used in a magazine as it is all photography based. For my magazine, I would like to have a contrast in my lighting. For some images, I would like the lighting to be quite dark as I have ideas for my photos to be taken in a club when bands are performing, or I would like to have considerably bright lighting as that the magazine does not seem dull. I would like the setting for my photography to be either in a venue (club or bar, wherever they would be performing. Somewhere on a stage). Or if that is not possible I would take photos of the band outside with instruments. These settings obviously have a contrast in lighting. Props that I would use in my photography are going to be the instruments that the bands play. If I take photos of them performing, then they will be playing the instruments. Or if I take the the photos of the band outside, then I will have the band holding their instruments. Costumes that I would consider for my photos will all be based from my research of indie bands that I can refer back to. My research task, such as the collage, will help me when it comes to picking what costumes I would to use. I would like to see a variety of costumes. Males: Bomber/Denim jackets, flannel shirts, black or blue skinny jeans (preferably ripped), Converse/Vans/Dr. Martens. Females: Short skirts or jeans, fringed/ripped clothing, strapless or short sleeved tops (tight fitting). Hair should preferably be down and look a bit messy. The makeup that I would like to have on the people that I am featuring in my magazine will be quite neutral. I will not want the males in my magazine to have any makeup on, but the females will have quite a natural look. Maybe some females will have quite dramatic eye makeup or bright lipstick, but overall, I imagine the makeup to be natural.

COSTUME DESIGN

This is a costume that I have designed myself. I wanted to make the costume look as though it could be seen/featured in an indie music magazine.

I have drawn a flannel shirt on the model, with a plain white t-shirt underneath. The jeans I have drawn on will either be black or blue skinny. This is seen to be quite an informal look and something that you would see to be worn in a indie magazine , or within the indie music. I have drawn on a choker necklace too, as an accessory. I would imagine the shoes to be some kind of pumps, such as converse or vans as this is a popular choice that is worn by many people in the indie music industry.

PHOTOGRAPHY INSPIRATIONDENIM JACKET

SHORT SKIRT

FLANNEL SHIRTS

BLACK SKINNY JEANS

LOW ANGLESHOT

GUITAR (PROP)

DARK LIGHTING

MESSY LONG HAIR

BRIGHT LIGHTING

GENRE CONVENTIONSFrom the research I have carried out, I now have some ideas that I want to include in my magazine regarding typography, colour scheme, images and content.TypographyI noticed that most indie music magazines that I researched or looked at all had the same sort of typography. Most mastheads and cover lines were bold and bright and pretty much all fonts were written in sans serif. The sans serif fonts made the magazine look very informal which was appropriate to the target audience. This is what I also wish to achieve in my magazine.Colour SchemeThe colours that I have in mind for my colour scheme are the colours that got voted most popular in my magazine. These colours are: White, Black, Hot Pink and Turquoise. I have noticed that lots of indie magazines have the colour theme of red. As this colour is reoccurring, I think I will consider using this colour as well. ImagesThe images that I would like to include in my magazine will be the front cover, maybe some secondary images on the front cover or contents page and finally the main image on the double page spread. For the main image I would like to include an image of the main band that I am talking about on the double page spread, or to do a different front cover story all together – which means getting a new front cover image all together.

FRONT COVER, CONTENTS AND DOUBLE PAGE SPREADS INSPIRATION

TARGET AUDIENCEAgeMy target audience for my magazine will be based around 11-20 year olds, as this is the age range for most indie bands that will be featured in my magazine. I will have to take it into account that I might have an older target audience as well for my magazine. The reason for this is because I have based quite a lot of my decisions for my magazine on the answers that were most popular in my questionnaire. 40% of people that answered my magazine were aged 41+. 40% of my answers from my questionnaire are from this older age range. Therefore the remaining 60% are answers from people aged 11-20. GenderAs I don’t want my magazine to look biased I will also have to take into account the amount of females that answered my questionnaire. 86% of people who answered my magazine were female, so the remaining 14% were male. Certain options that people may have chosen may of been because of their gender, and I want my magazine to have an audience for both male and female. On some occasions, this may mean me having to not always go with the most popular answers that were on my questionnaire, so that my magazine isn’t biased.Social ClassSocial class will not be an issue at all as the people who answered my magazine questionnaire are either students or working class people. The only thing this will effect is the price of the magazine which has already been discussed in a previous research task. The social class target audience for my magazine are all students and working class people anyway, so none of my planning that I have so far for my magazine will have to be altered, as all my design ideas are aimed more informally towards students of the particular age range and working class people. Ethnicity9.6% of people who answered my questionnaire said that they were all White British. This will be very useful to my magazine as the answers they have chosen in my questionnaire will be based around bands that are all mostly British. Most of the indie bands that I have chosen to feature will mostly be British, so if the majority of people who have answered my questionnaire are white British, they will probably know what bands I am thinking about featuring in the magazine.

I will aim to try and make all of my stories appropriate for the age range of who answered my questionnaire, but more so for the age range that I wish to aim my magazine at. I intend to keep referring back to my questionnaire to make sure that all of the stories, designs and image relate back to the target audience.

CONTENT OF MAGAZINEI do have some idea’s that I would like to include in my magazine so far regarding stories and cover lines and the types of bands that I would like to include in my magazine.STORIESThe stories that I would like to feature in my contents page are:Fashion Guru’s – This story will feature popular indie bands and their fashion. It will feature a variety of photos and a short description for each one. I will probably use this story as a top 10. A fashion article was voted to be the most popular article in my questionnaire, that people would like to see featured in my magazine. New and upcoming bands – This story will feature 1 or 2 new bands that are fairly new. The story will also tell the audience about the band and maybe feature an interview. Interviews was another popular article that people would like to see featured in my magazine. Bands on tour 2016! – This story will tell the audience about indie rock bands that are planning to go on tour in 2016. It will feature the dates the bands are playing and what venue’s they are playing at. Indie music is the best music? – This story will state all the good things about indie music. It will include a question and answer from a small group of people who like indie music and what they like best about it. Band merch! – This story will be about where you can get the best quality band merchandise that is cheap and a good quality!These are all the stories that I have in mind so far. For my double page spread, I would like the main topic to be ‘new and upcoming bands’. The reason being that I would include an interview, and I feel as though I could write a good story on new bands as I am in one myself, and know a few new bands personally. For my front cover, I would like the main cover line to be ‘Bands on Tour 2016’. I would live 2 or 3 smaller cover lines that are ‘Fashion Guru’s’ and ‘Upcoming bands’.BandsI have an idea of what types of bands that I would like to include in my magazine. These are based on what have been voted in from my questionnaire. Artcic Monkeys, The 1975, Haim, Kings of Leon, Oasis, Walk the Moon, Catfish and the Bottlemen, Two Door Cinema Club, Paramore and Jake Bugg.