RESEARCH Internet Effecting Magazines?

Internet Effecting Magazines?

• Fashion info is easier to get access to for free online. For example Google and YouTube.
  • Social media
  • Radio online/apps for new music.
  • Advertisements go for bigger audiences. For example TV or online social media no magazines.
  • Info online spreads faster. for example Michelle Jackson's death spread online in 7 mins. 
   

  Pre-internet:

  Info on favourite artist.
  
       New music
  
  
       Music news
       Event dates
       Advertisement brands
       Exclusive pictures/info
       Freebees
       Sense of community
       Charts
       Fashion/brands
       Autographs/ competitions
  
  

  Today:

  
  
  Collections
  
  
  Refreshing
  Nostalgia
  Freebees/competitions
  Bigger exclusives
  Internet links
   

 

RESEARCH The History of Music Press

The History of Music Press

1950's-1960's

• To start, music magazines were largely uncritical of musicians' output - everything was always good!
• Their content was mainly charts and singles, gig listings. These two were often referred to as ‘inkies’.
• Both New Musical Express and Melody Maker played a huge part in developing a tabloid newspaper format for music news. They offered weekly information on all upcoming record releases, with articles on artists and their music.
• During the 1960s and 1970s, these magazines dominated UK newsstands, as they were the only up-to-the-minute access to the music scene at the time. This is important because music was a huge part of youth identity.
• Changes in society in the 1960s with the arrival of bands like The Beatles and The Rolling Stones, plus the rising drug culture, changed the nature of music and music writing.
• The music fanzine is considered to have emerged in the 1960s – these magazines included Crawdaddy (which is still available today online), Mojo Navigator and Who Put The Bomp!. The creation of such amateur publications highlighted a desire to document a ‘scene’ of music. Fanzines are very much alive on the internet, even today. 1960s continued.
•  Rolling Stone was created by Jann Wenner in the 1967. It was a fortnightly publication which contained a mixture of current affairs, celebrity interviews and coverage of the music industry. Its appeal lay in the way the journalists addressed the youth audience. Rolling Stone was less about factual information and more about music culture.

1970's

• Mid 1970s In the mid-1970s writers began to move away from simply writing about music and started writing about “serious” issues such as politics, philosophy, etc. The “Music Press” became divided between Musicians’ papers such as Melody Maker (techniques, “proper music”) and Political papers such as NME (the meaning behind the bands and their songs).
• Late 1970s – Early 80s However, readers started to abandon NME because it no longer wrote about “normal” bands and was too obsessed with itself and its politics. In fact, 1978 saw the start of a new type of music magazine…
• The NME changed its style in this period to meet the changes, especially the introduction of Punk, head on. New writers were recruited from the magazine’s own readership, with ads like ‘wanted: hip young gun slingers’. Julie Burchill became a top NME reporter overnight.
• 1978 Smash Hits launched a new glossy mag catering for a younger audience in a smaller magazine format. Its focus was on “trivia” – favourite colours, food, pop-musicians’ lifestyles, etc. It included polls, letters, surveys, fan club information, all in an attempt to keep in touch with their readership – People wanted lyrics, posters, free gifts on the covers...so they got them! The emphasis of these magazines was pop, which paved the way for contemporary celebrity magazine obsessions.
• Late 1970s – Early 80s Style in pop music became more important than content: make-up, clothes, the video, fashion and hair. 

Preliminary task: Final Analysis

Final Magazine Cover Analysis

What conventions have I used or challenge? 

 Used?

• A standard, bold and simple masthead at the top of the cover above the central image.
• There is a clear central image at the center of the cover, which is related to the cover line and the main article of the magazine.
• Big bold subtitle around central image with sixth form related plugs around it.
• A Barcode

• Advertorials that would be helpful for students at sixth form of just starting University.

Challenged?

• Social Media advertising for the magazine at the bottom of the cover.
• A black and white central image is normal not used, colour to attract readers is usually used.
• I would next time make the cover more bold and pleasing to the eye.

What was the thinking behind the design?

• For the whole look to look modern and appealing to a festival audience. E.g: the central image is of a girl wearing festival clothes in a field with a black and white filter so I could use the text for bright colours and youthful colour combinations.
• I wanted to get a very festival feel with my magazine so it wasn't all about school events because sometimes a magazine full of school stuff isn't very appealing to sixth formers and people of their age. However the cover does say that there is still some school and sixth form information within the magazine.

How successful was my final page?

• I feel that the overall look and feel of the cover is very appealing to people in sixth form and that information inside the magazine is what they would be interested in reading about.
• I like how the colour combination came out and that the colours chosen work well together and give a modern look and feel.
• I think that the advertisements related very well to the target audience.

What do I need to work on for future coursework?

• My photo edited skill could be improved and could be done using more advanced software.
• Be more clear on a chosen font style and font colour.
• Maybe be more related to sixth form life and not what people were likely to do in the summer holidays.

Time Management?

• Time management could have been less rushed. I finished tasks very fast and probably could have spend more time and but more detail into it.

Overall....

Overall I am pleased with the overall look and feel of my magazine cover for sixth former's.
Next time I wont let the font chosen be to widely varied.                

Preliminary task: Final Magazine Cover

Final Magazine Cover

 

 

Preliminary task: Article Plan

Article Plan and Information

"Festival Flu is Free" Article -

 In this article will be?

• Information about Festival Flu at Reading Festival on the weekend of August from 26th to 28th.
• What the line-up was.
• Pictures from this years festival.
• Views from people at the festival before and after.
• Celebrity interview from artists that played at the festival and Fearne Cotton who is very festival interested and talked about reading festival on the radio.
•  Information about next years reading festival.
• Links to YouTube, Facebook and Instagram pages for this years festival with more information and pictures in.

 

 

Preliminary task: My Mock Up of my Cover

Mock Up of my Cover

 Idea 2: In idea 2 the cover image is more related to the cover line and feature article. However to improve upon have a less busy background that is one colour tone so it easier to read the text on the sides of the photograph.

  Idea 1: Idea looks good and professional, however the cover image makes the magazine look only directed to males and not to females. Also the image has nothing to do with the feature article topic, the image will have to be changed.

Preliminary task: Magazine Plan

Planning My Magazine Cover...

Magazine Name Ideas-

• Urban Frame
• Urban Outline
• Art Q
• Jigsaw
• Vinyl 
• Vinyl Circle

  
 Possible Colour Schemes-

• Black, white, yellow and purple
• Pink, brown, green and grey
• red, yellow, black and white

Cover Line ideas-

• I'm on center stage this year at...
• Festival flu is free?
•  It's my first time... on stage
• 16 and in the spot light

Winners....

Urban Outline (a U in a circle)

black, white, yellow and purple

festival flu is free...