College magazine research

Here is the research that I used to give me an idea on what I should put into my college magazine.

Front Covers

 

https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgtPOsZgBz9ep8Rj1E1ux9lUrsJeifWbCN6HkaCPvK0jLUliYvikh-O9_tFjPorgp-SkodR6BemOwrcEH9yrO-tTA1UgfHSqFAGYShtdswKN-OQ77frj-6KppjI1hgaRGYeOVZtc6LwIiMf/s1600/college+magazine+2.jpg
I like the black/gray/white background on this magazine.
I don't like how much clutter there is around the page, to me it seems like there is too much on the cover.

http://behance.vo.llnwd.net/profiles4/118428/projects/692711/87db20f6144e66554408975fa5d7bebb.jpg
I like the colour scheme of this cover, the blue and yellow text fits well with the background.
I also like the font and how some less important text is a smaller size than other more important text.

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I don't like the editing on this cover, nothing seems to blend well together and there is too many different colours.
I do like how the cover clearly shows the magazines low price as this will tempt more people to buy it.

http://bradmedia.weebly.com/uploads/1/0/7/6/10760910/6146100_orig.jpg
I like how this magazine has a variety of contents, from revision tips to new music and prizes.

Contents pages

 

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I don't like how inconsistent the text is on this contents page, some is higher and thinner when it doesn't seem like it should stand out in any way.
I do like how the colours contrast on this contents page.

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I don't like how squished the text is.
I don't like the borders of the images because they are different sizes and widths and it looks inconsistent and rushed.

http://jadeheagren8.files.wordpress.com/2010/09/contents-page.jpg
I like how professional this contents page looks.
I like the how the background fades from one colour to another.
I like how all the information is spaced out, giving it a tidy, organized look.

http://shaunaharrendence.files.wordpress.com/2009/10/2175964086_25f79a70ca2.jpghttp://shaunaharrendence.files.wordpress.com/2009/10/2175964086_25f79a70ca2.jpg
I like the symmetrical design of this contents page.
I like how organized the layout of the text is, the different pages are split into categories.

Questionnaire results

Here are the results I gathered from the questionnaire I made. I have put the results into graphs to give a more visual representation of what the answers were.

Do you read magazines?

 
 



  What gender are you?



How old are you?

What social class would you say you belong to?

What nationality are you?

 

 

 

 

Where are you from?

What music genres do you listen to?

What factors do you think affects your choice in music?

 

 

 

 

 

What are your hobbies?

 

 

Who influences you the most?

 

 

 




 

What magazines do you read?

 



What do you want from a magazine?





Initial photographs

Here are some photos my group taken when we were learning about different types of camera shots and techniques.

This photo is an example of an extreme close up on a texture, which in this case is a broken/eroded brick.

 

These next 3 photos are examples of  medium close ups.

 

The next 2 photos are high angle shots.

 

These 3 photos are low angle shots.

Updated college magazine

I have done some work on my magazine cover and contents page for prior pursglove college since the last time I posted it, so here is the updated version of it.

Questionnaire

I have made a questionnaire to get a better idea about what my audience wants from a magazine. I will embed it in this post. Please take the time to fill this questionnaire out as it will help me create a better end product.


The four theories of media are:
The Hypodermic Needle Model
Two-Step Flow
Uses and Gratifications
Reception Theory

I tried to use these four theories to design my questionnaire to be more helpful to me as it will give me more helpful results.

The Hypodermic Needle Model suggests that audiences passively receive the information transmitted through media text, without trying to process or challenge the information.
This theory was not useful in this task I was not trying to pass on any information.

Two-Step Flow is the idea that information does not flow directly from the media into the minds of its audience unchanged, but is filtered through "opinion leaders" who can pass the information on to associates that they have influence over.
This was useful as I could design some of my questions to find out who influences the audience the most, both by straight up asking the audience who influences them the most and by finding out what they enjoy doing as its likely that they have a role model related to that hobby.

Uses and Gratifications is another media theory. The results that were published in 1974 about this theory show that individuals might choose to use a piece of media for the following purposes:
Diverion - Escaping from their problems or boring routines.
Personal Relationships - Using media to substitute for other interaction.
Personal Identity - The audience finds themselves reflected in media, and can take on behaviour and traits from the piece.
Surveillance - Audience uses the text to find out information which could be useful for living.

I used this theory when asking what the audience look for in a magazine, this could help me find out anything I need to put into the magazine that would possibly make it more popular and useful to the audience.

Reception theory is the final theory of media. This theory states that text is encoded by the producer and decoded by the audience, and that the audience might not receive the exact same information that the producer wanted them to receive.

I used this theory to design a lot of my questions, by remaining neutral in my questions and not sending any opinions across, as well as leaving as much space as possible for the audience to type their own responses. By doing this I believe I did not "encode" my questions, so the audience will not have to "decode" the information, meaning that I can receive the helpful results I need with no misunderstandings.

Smore Flyer on Punk, Funk and Skate Punk Rock

This is a flyer I made using Smore, it briefly describes Punk, Funk and Skate Punk rock and shows an example of the fashion surrounding these genres.

College Magazine

I'm making a magazine cover and contents page for Prior Pursglove College as practice before I move onto my music magazine. This is what I have made.

Music Genres

Main basic music genres:

• Rock
• Hip-Hop/Rap
• Metal
• Classical
• Pop
• Traditional/Folk/Country
• Blues
• Childrens music
• Comedy
• Dance Factory
• Electronic
• Jazz
• R&B/Soul

The genres that might interest me are Rock, Hip-Hop/Rap and Metal.

Research carried out by the BBC to try and profile the majority of fans of certain types of music might help me in tailoring my magazine to the particular target market of my magazine.

This is the link to the research and what it had to say about genres that interest me:

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/7598549.stm

Rock/Heavy metal – Low self-esteem, creative, not hard-working, not outgoing, gentle, at ease

Rap – High self-esteem, outgoing

The Rock/Heavy metal profile most closely matches the music genre I am most interested in.

I agree with the research saying that Rock/Heavy Metal fans are usually creative, not hard-working, gentle and at ease. This is because lots of Rock/Heavy Metal artists display these traits, and the fans of music are usually very similar to the artists as they see them as role models a lot of the time.

I disagree with saying that most Rock/Heavy Metal fans have Low self-esteem, and are not outgoing. This is because lots of Rock/Heavy Metal fans have no problem with wearing things that make them stand out are seem weird, this shows that they do not have low self-esteem. Also, lots of Rock/Heavy Metal fans are very outgoing, always trying to get their point across and trying to make new friends.

In the past 10 years there has been quite a few big social groups that have formed around music and some of them have changed quite a lot. I am going to discuss my view on some of the main groups and how I think they have changed.

Goths: (girls) black clothes and lipstick, lots of hairspray; (boys) not much different.
Listen to: Fear, Marilyn Manson, The Cure.

This social group still exists but it is not as popular and has not changed much.

 

Nu-metallers: (boys only) oversize rock-band T-shirts, skateboards, three-quarter-length trousers.
Listen to: US heavy metal such as Limp Bizkit, Linkin Park, Blink 182.

This social group still exists but the music taste has changed slightly, this social group now prefers punk rock or skate punk.

Soulstrels: (girls) very short/tight clothes. Designer accessories and gold jewellery. Nail extensions and a mobile phone in permanent use. Bling-bling.
Listen to: R&B, hip-hop, soul and pop.

This social group still exists and has gone through very little or no change.

Indie kids: Seventies clothes from charity shops. Straight, floppy hair. Cheap, casual just-got-out-of-bed look.
Listen to: independent rock bands no one else has heard of.

This social group still exists and has gone through no change.

Pop princesses: (girls only) pink, silver and baby blue, plus add-ons from Claire's Accessories. Listen to: Britney Spears, S-Club, Gareth Gates, Will Young, Atomic Kitten.

This social group still exists and is very common with girls aged 8-15.

 

 

Clubbers: (girls) turquoise and white. (Boys) Ben Sherman shirts, black shoes, hair gel.
Listen to: Basement Jaxx, Faithless, Ministry Of Sound compilations.

Clubbers still exist and still listen to very similar music, not much has changed at all about this social group.

Grungers: Dreadlocks, baggy combat trousers, Converse trainers, hoodies. Hang out in army surplus stores and at the front of gigs.
Listen to: US "emo" (emotional) rock bands like Jimmy Eat World.

Grungers have changed In a few ways, they now usually wear skinny jeans, maybe with a tear in them, they still wear hoodies. They wear chequered shirts,  but don’t hang out in army surplus stores.

Skaters: Labels such as Converse, Dickies, Silas. A skateboard capable of serious tricks.
Listen to: Beastie Boys. Definitely no Grungers' bands.

Skaters have changed in a few ways, they used to wear very baggy jeans, they usually wear less baggy jeans today and skinny jeans are quite common. In terms of music they have changed too, its now common for skaters to listen to grunge music and lots of punk and heavy metal too.

A new social group which I do not have a name for has appeared over the last few years and is quite popular. They wear slim trousers with dropped crotches, high top trainers, oversized hoodies and “snapback” baseball caps, and have lots of accessories. They listen to RnB and rap.

Sub-genre : a subdivision of a genre of literature, music, film, etc

Niche market : a market in which a limited and clearly defined range of products is sold to a specific group of customers

I am interested in the Rock Genre. There is easily over 100 subgenres of Rock so I will note what I think are the most major ones and some examples of this sub-genre.
The major sub genres that are related to this genre are:

• Celtic rock/Punk – Flogging Molly, Dropkick Murphies
• Symphonic – Apocalyptica , Vanessa mae
• Industrial – Rammstein , Depeche mode
• Grunge – Pearl Jam, Alice in Chains
• Psychedelic – Jimi Hendrix , Iron Butterfly
• Rockabilly – Elvis Presley, Bill Kirchen
• Indie rock – The Killers, The Rapture
• Glam rock – Boston, Bon Jovi
• Punk – The Clash, The Ramones
• Heavy Metal – Led Zeppelin, Black Sabbath
• Ska – Sublime, Mighty Mighty Bosstones
• Alternative/nu Metal – Korn, System of a down

Out of these, the sub-genres that are related to the genre I am interested in are Punk, Heavy Metal, Alternative Metal and Grunge.

The niche markets that are related to the genre I am interested in is 14-50 year olds who are interested in Punk, Metal and Grunge.

The magazine Kerrang usually includes all of these genres.

Other magazines that include information about these genres include Spin, Billboard, Arena, Guitar World, Mojo and YRB.

I think I could write a magazine for the niche markets which I am included in, for example 14-19 year olds who listen to punk, grunge and metal. This is because as I am actually part of the niche market I should have a better idea of what that market wants from a magazine and I could tailor my magazine specifically to what they want.

Introduction

This is the first blog of my music magazine coursework project. Throughout this blog you will be able to see how I develop my music magazine from start to finish and have an insight into my thoughts and how they affect the magazines development.

I am interested in the rock genre of music , more specifically punk rock, funk rock and skate punk, artists I will focus on include Rancid, Red Hot Chili Peppers and Gnarwolves.


Here is a song from each of these artists to give you an idea of what the music I am interested in sounds like.

 

 

Along with Blogger, I will be sharing my progress through the following websites; Photobucket, Scribd, Vimeo and Voki.

The magazines I will study to get ideas for my own magazine are Kerrang, NME.

Kerrang’s target audience is quite varied as it has consumers who are teenagers and other counsumers who are older, ranging from 20-40. This is because Kerrang contains lots of information about older rock bands and sub-genres as well as new and upcoming sub-genres and bands that fall under the rock genre.

NME’s target audience is teens that are interested in indie, alternative rock and promising new bands.

The best selling magazines that focus on this genre of music are Kerrang and NME. Between July 2013 and June 2014 Kerrang had 746000 readers, with 655000 of these readers reading print and the remaining 91000 reading on a website.

In the same time space, NME had 1131000 total readers, with 642000 of these readers reading print and the remaining 510000 readers reading on a website.

The web address for Kerrang.

The web address for NME.