Draft layout/sketch

This is my chosen draft for my magazine and will provide me as a basis to build and change aspects of my magazine around to suit specific rock/music conventions. In this draft, I have included a Masthead, skyline, puffs cover lines and bar codes that I can use base my actual magazine off of when creating it using Photoshop. Although my artistic skills are not great at all, i was still able to clearly identify the conventions from this draft to include in my main task which helped out a lot during the main task process.


This image also allowed me to see what conventions I could add and what conventions I could get rid of. This allowed my magazine to be very conventional as a had a good guideline as to what to include and what not to include making my front cover appeal to magazine lovers and rock music fans.

Front cover draft layout/sketch

Questionnaire analyse

For my questionnaire, i used a website to create and build my own questionnaire. This website is called Polldaddy which allows you to create your own questionnaires. My questionnaire consisted of eight different questions which provided me with ways i could produce my magazine around the consumers wants and needs.

Down below is the layout of my Rock magazine survey

From the questionnaires I have received back, I have managed to create some sort of idea of what the consumer wants to see.

 question 1)  I found that people expected to see some sort of prop like a guitar as it represents the rock genre.

Question 2) I found that 2 people would want around 3-4 colours on the cover of the magazine whilst one person wanted 1-2 colours on the cover.

Question 3) I found that all three people suggested black,white and grey would suit a rock magazine the best.

Question 4) I found that all three people said a direct image would suit a rock magazine the best

Question 5) I found the all three people would pay £0-£2.99 for a rock magazine

Question 6) I found that 1 person suggested Black and white rock, whilst the other two people
suggested Rock classics for the masthead of the magazine

Question 7) I found that all three people said that they would enjoy reading an interview the most

Question 8) I found out that people said that a rock magazine needs to have a messy look to the cover as its a conventional design of a rock magazine. I also found that people would expect lots of puffs and cover lines around the magazine.

Overall, these questionnaire have given me a foundation to start producing my magazine on as i know what people would expect to see and therefore, i can aim to hit these conventions and these expectations of the viewer to produce the best possible product.

Mood board

What target audience does my publishers aim for? - The publishers I have chosen aim at the rock genre of music and therefore, target fans of rock music. However, they also produce and publish a magazine called the blues, which is not based on the rock genre. However, this may double the target audience as fans of the blues may want to see what other magazines TeamRock publish, this means that i will gain a greater target audience.

What attracts people to the magazine? - The codes and conventions that attract people the most to a magazine is the main image. This is because if its a image of someones favourite music artists or an artist that has a huge fan base, they will be attracted to the magazine and therefore, buy the magazine as a result.

What puts them off the magazine? - The aspect of a magazine that could potentially put the audience off buying it is the colour scheme. This is because, if to many colours are used on the cover, the magazine could end up looking unprofessional and messy.

What would the audience expect to see? The audience of a rock magazine would expect to see the main image relating to the rock genre in someway. For example, props like a guitar or a drum kit as these are commonly associated with rock music. Also, the audience will expect to see a good colour scheme that can be associated with a rock magazine, for example, darker colours like black and grey.

Classic Rock use the conventions of the rock genre to maximize the potential customers that will consume their magazine. Classic rock are able to do this as they like to use images of older rock stars as their main image. This means that they are able to use conventions to match the masthead of the magazine as they use classic rock stars to cover the Classic Rock magazine. Classic Rock, also follow conventions by using a limited amount of colour as seen in the bottom right image down below of one of their magazines front cover so they reduce the amount of people that will be put off by the magazine. Classic rock also like to use props the are typical from the rock genre, as many of their magazine covers feature a rock star holding a guitar. They use these conventions to maximize appeal the fans of this genre.

Down below is a mood board of some things that will appeal to my target audience. For example, Outfits, props and colour scheme of a magazine

Institutional research

                                    Institutional research

One of publishing companies I have chosen to pick is TeamRock as they publish Classic Rock which has influenced my own rock magazine. TeamRock brought Classic rock back in 2013 along with another magazine called Metal Hammer. These magazines were brought off publishing company "Future" who was responsible for publishing them before 2013. Now Classic Rock is part of a chain of magazines published by TeamRock as they publish its sister publications Metal Hammer and Prog magazine.

Classic Rock Focuses on bands dating back to the 1960's through to the early 1990's and stared bands such as Guns N Roses and Queen and even featured Jimi Hendricks on the cover a couple of times. This publisher would be ideal for me as our magazine fits into the idea around the magazine classic rock as its a rock magazine, and therefore, share the same Genre and interests. Furthermore, the reason why I feel this is a great publisher to chose is that they have experience within the rock industry and have the budget to oversee any project that comes there way and also has become one of the biggest music magazines in England with a total circulation of 56,714 as of December 2012.

I also like the ideologies the TeamRock has which is to produce High quality and in depth material from the rock and roll world which consists of reviews, interviews and videos to entertain and please the fans of rock. I think that this suits the wants and needs of my Music magazine as I want to be able to produce a high quality magazine that's going to appeal to my target audience which is what TeamRock are specialists at doing.

Another thing that will benefit my magazine and is a huge strength of choosing TeamRock as my publishers is because they have many different ways to engage and advertise to the audience listening. This will be great for my magazine as I will be able to advertise my magazine on their radio stations which will attract the audience as they are already a fan of rock due to the fact they are listening to a TeamRock radio station. Therefore, I will be able to display and distribute my magazine to my target audience effectively very early on as they have the facilities and a large fan base already. However, TeamRock are an independent publisher unlike Bauer Media Group, Future Plc and IPC Media which, puts them at a disadvantage because of the much more powerful competition they are up against. This means that, my target audience might be significantly smaller than the mainstream publishers due to it being a smaller brand, however, Classic rock currently has the highest amount of circulation in the UK over magazines like Kerrang, which means the rock culture in the UK have a greater interest in 1960's 1990's rock vibe, which is what my magazine is going to be focusing on.

However, their are companies like Kerrang who have been around for substantially longer than Classic Rock and therefore, are less of a household name as a result. Kerrang, also are owned by one of the more dominant publishing companies, Bauer Media Group, which are also one of the big three publishing groups in the magazine industry and therefore, I would also choose Bauer Media Group as my publishing company as they have experience in the rock magazine industry. Furthermore, another reason why I would Choose Bauer Media Group is because, they have 50 radio stations based around the world. This would allow me to advertise my magazine across the world to the majority of my target audience (Fans of rock) which will appeal a lot to fans of rock and especially if they like Kerrang who are owned by Bauer Media Group.

Furthermore, this will  increasing the distribution of the magazine i have created by using the radio stations Bauer media group to broadcast my product to the rock fan base. own to benefit my magazine. I also think that there policy is good as they want to connect audiences with excellent content through their broad multi-touch point brand platforms, wherever and whenever and however they want. They also have a wide portfolio of influential brands which gives them an advantage over other magazines and competitors. This will be very beneficial for my magazine as marketing and advertising the magazine will not be a problem as its something that Kerrang and Bauer Media Group  specialise and excel and something that they are very passionate about getting right as mentioned by themselves. Also, the fact that Bauer Media Group are a mainstream business means that they are more popular and well known than other magazine publishers which, gives you a better advantage than maybe choosing a independent publisher like TeamRock which are less of a mainstream company and therefore, less well known and puts them at a disadvantage due to the tough competition of bigger competitors.

Overall evaluation of Team Rock and Bauer Media Group

Overall, the publishing company that will suit my magazine the best is TeamRock. This is because I want my magazine to reach and achieve the same ethos and views that they have but to also deliver similar and high quality content which, meets the wants and needs of the rock audience which, TeamRock manage to accomplish with their magazine Classic Rock and  therefore, appeals and satisfies the audience as a result of the high demand for this genre. Furthermore, Classic Rock has a bigger fan base than Bauer Media Group's counter part Kerrang which, suggests that people have a much larger interest for a classic rock themed magazine. So, by choosing TeamRock, I will be able to distribute and give the audience what they want, which is a classic rock vibe to the magazine. Furthermore, I also know who my target audience is as people who like classic rock are generally more older people, where as Kerrang have a wide range of audiences as they have all sorts of bands, new and old, in their magazine, which is why it would be harder to pinpoint an exact audience, and appealing to each individual one in some sort of way.

Article research

                                   Article Research

Classic rocks style of writing if seen as informal and a lot of the text if very direct to the reader so feel more involved as the magazines writing makes the magazine become more interactive with the fans. Therefore, I would like to replicate Classic Rocks style of writing as our magazine wants to be able to interact more with the consumers of our magazine. This will also appeal to the consumer as they want to feel included into the rock world especially if they are big fans of the genre. T

This example of magazine is very simplistic due to the spacing of the fonts as well as the font colour.

Classic Rock uses direct texts like "you" to gain your attention and make it feel like their talking straight at you. This appeals to people as they don't want to feel bored when reading and by constantly using these words, you are gaining their attention every time. Classic Rock also use cover lines like "You're top 10 picks" to allow the audience to get involved with the content of the magazine as it applies to each viewer individually and what type of rock music they like as a spectator of the rock genre.

I want to recreate this unique style of presenting, and writing as I feel classic rock's magazines stand out from the rest, by how different and creative they are. I also am just really appealed by their magazines, and would be something I would love to try and recreate.

Codes and conventions of a rock magazine

             The codes and conventions of a rock magazine

Colour Scheme - The common colour scheme for rock magazines tends to be dark colours like black and grey but sometimes a common background colour is white. Rock magazines also tend to mix white and black colours as well as adding in a brighter colours like red or yellow for the text on the magazine cover.

Masthead - The masthead is usually in the colours black, white, yellow or red and usually is in a big bold text and sometimes uses wacky font that catches the audiences eye.

Skyline - The skyline normally contains some of the rock bands that are featured in the magazine which attracts someone to buying it and also could appeal to a bands fan base if they are featured in a magazine

Anchorage text - The anchorage text establishes why the main image has been chosen by explaining how the image is related to the contents within the magazine. This appeals to the audience as they want to be able to find out why the star is on the cover of the magazine

Main image - The main image is normally a direct image that displays the rockstar with some kind of instrument. For example, a guitar or drum sticks. Props are used because they help establish the genre of the magazine and people who like the specific genre will see what the magazine is about from the props used and therefore, will purchase the magazine as a result.

Prezi  - Codes and conventions of a rock magazine

Pre-lim task evaluation

    Peer assessment of my magazine cover and contents page

What I have included in my media product
My preliminary task includes - Front cover of a school/college magazine - One original photograph that was taken by myself - Text - masthead - Contents page mock up. All these were on my magazine and were easily identified.

My preliminary task also includes theses elements - A variety of fonts and text sizes - A variety of images - Images and material fits the conventions of a school/college magazine. However, my magazine doesn't include a manipulation of images which is something that I will add in on the main task.

Peer assessment
My peer thought that the most successful part of the magazine was the colour scheme. She said that there is a good use of colours E.g green and yellow which matches the colour scheme for bitterne park school/sixth form. She also said that I utilised text (font and size) well and that I used codes and conventions well to fit the genre e.g student friendly and interesting.

The things that could of been improved for my magazine were use the individual image for the contents page. Try to manipulate images more and I need to make my contents page more interesting for the audience as it is a bit simple.

What have i learned?
I have learned that i need to be more creative with my use of images, for example, being able to manipulate images onto other images. This will make my magazine more interesting especially the contents page as the contents page is a bit simple due to the lack of imagery and this will appeal more to the audience if I make these changes by adding in more images and manipulating them.

Pre-lim final

                            Pre-lim task Finished product

This is the finished pre-lim task. It contains a front cover and a contents page, and will be used to enhance my main task, as I can identify areas I need to improve in.

I believe that my contents page needs the most improvement, as I find it to be particularly bland, and is lacking imagination, as well as creativity. I believe that improvements could of been made in appropriate areas such as the background colour, or importing a background image. I also believe that the layout could of enhanced the creative input, and the overall aesthetic look of the contents page.

I also believe that the front cover was up to a good standard, and I should input some conventions into my main task. For example, the cover lines are detailed, and are spaced throughout the page as well as maintaing the colour scheme throughout the front cover. However, there are some areas which I need to learn from, and improve for my main task. One of these improvements could be the style of font, as most of the font is constantly the same. This will make the cover look more interesting to the spectators.

College magazine ideas

Font and colour
The Font I intend to use is called Blackoak Std
I like this font as it is bold, eye catching and funky and is something you will see on a cover of a school/sports magazine. The font will also possibly be in green as its a colour that is associated with the outside/sports. The colour also represents the school/college and therefore, the colour green will be used in the magazine front cover. Down below is a example of the font I will use.

Why this font
I believe this will suit my magazine cover due to the connotations of green and how its a conventional colour of sports and other outdoor activities. Furthermore, the simplistic structure of the font limits the complexity of the magazine cover, which is good for me as I do not wish to over complicate the magazine, resulting in the finished product looking rushed.


College magazine examples - Fonts 

This magazine has a very slick and simplistic font, similar to my chosen font. They have also chosen a particular colour of font, yellow, to make it stand out from a black background. This indicates the vibrant life of college, and the happiness it brings to all students. Similar to my pre-lim task idea, I will also be using a colour that creates a message, and is not just something to look at. The colour green symbolise the outdoors, and a sense of freedom and enjoyment, which will appeal to the Fun-atics category of people in the Matrix Life Segments

Pre-lim planning for our college magazine

Photo shoots - Our group is going to take pictures of us so we can use the pictures for our main image on the cover of the magazine. We have a mixture of different shot in mind to use as our main image. These shots consist of High angle shot, low angle shot, canted angle and a medium shot. We will also take several other shots of us doing other sports related activities that can also go on the cover of the magazine or be used as a contents page image.




Setting/location of the photo shoot - The setting and location of our photo shoot will be based in the bittern park school facilities (Football pitch and/or sports hall) as this relates to our chosen topic of magazine. We would preferably like to have a cover image of the magazine set on the school football pitch as this will match the title of my magazine which will be "Free Kicks" which is a set piece tactic in football and therefore, a football pitch would suit perfectly with the magazine.

Photo of the school's sports field

Costumes - The costumes we will be wearing will have to be sports related. For example, football top and football boots. We have chosen this type of costume as the genre of our magazine is sports and therefore, we need a costume that is associated with this specific genre.

Some equipment we could use for our costume 

Props - The props that we will need for our magazine is a football and a football goal. We have chosen these props as they will match with the costume that we have chosen and therefore, will blend in nicely with the cover image of the magazine.

A photo of the props we will use 

School/college codes and conventions

                   School/college codes and conventions

In this post, I am going to talk about the codes and conventions of a school/college magazine, and how they use codes and conventions to engage an audience. This will be beneficial, as I can analyse the best way to used codes and conventions within our sports magazine, for our college. This will also help me attract my target audience, which is students.

Analysis of a magazine

                               Analysis of a magazine

This post shows each feature of a magazine, and why they could and have been used. I have also talked about what the most important aspect/feature is of a magazine, when considering producing and making one, and how to create the perfect colour scheme

Features of a magazine

    The main features of a magazine and their definitions

Masthead - The masthead contains the name of the magazine and is normally located at the top of the cover.

Main cover lines - The mains cover lines is text that is written and arranged around an image and are normally bigger than normal cover lines. 

Cover lines/puffs - Cover lines/puffs are writing that appears around an image. Puffs are normally in circular shapes that appear on the magazine and these promote the magazine by saying whats inside it and therefore, grabs the viewers attention. 

Main image - The main image is normally a single portrait that is put on the front cover and is the largest image on the magazine. 

Direct address - This is when the main image of someone is looking face on and at the viewer. This is why its called direct address as they are looking directly at you.

Covermount - This is a free gift attached onto the cover of the magazine. This can be something like a music CD. Covermounts can be used as a selling point as people who like music will be interested in buying a music magazine that has free music come with it.

Skyline/strapline - This is a line or bar of information that runs across the top of the magazine containing specific detail/information about the magazine.

Anchorage text - This is text that is directly linked to the main image and contains information explaining why he is the cover star for the magazine.

Price/barcode - This gives the magazine authenticity.

Colour scheme - The colour scheme is the colours that the magazine has chosen to use. Generally a magazine cover will use around four different colours on their cover as anymore could have a negative appeal on the viewer as it looks bundled together and maybe compact.

House style - house style is where the same brand/creator of a magazine will make different covers for the same magazine but they all will have loads of similarities between them.

Mood board

Camera shots

                         Different Types Of Camera Shots 

Extreme close up - Could be used to express emotion, or show something in detail, like an injury or something of importance.

Close up - Close ups can be used to capture emotion of the character/star. These are commonly used in magazine covers, to show the star in detail and attract audiences. Possibly linked with Richard Dyers Star theory, where he talks about stars being constructed by institutions to gain financial benefits.

 Canted angle - This could be used to show disorientation, and has effects of intoxication, as your vision becomes distorted as a spectator. This could appeal to rock fans, as their culture revolves heavily around being crazy on, with lots of movement, as well as mosh pits, where a massive crowd jump with each other.

 Establishing shot - This is used to establish the setting. This is mainly used in films and music videos, and would be something to look at next year, when constructing a music video.

 Extreme long shot - This creates mystery around the identity of a certain character, as their features are sometimes hidden, due to the distance of the shot. This can help engage the audience into a magazine, as they want to find out more about the particular star they are looking at.

 High angle - This is used to mainly show different levels of power. A high angle is commonly used to show the star/character as having a low level of authority or power

 Long shot - Similar to a extreme long shot, this shows mystery again, but includes less detail of the setting the star is placed in. This creates interest amongst the audience, as they want to know who he/she is, and what are they doing.

 Low angle - A low angle shot helps increase the status of the star, by placing them above everyone else. This is good for constructing star images by the institutions, as they want their star to be seen as powerful and to provide as an inspirational role model for the audiences to look up too.

 Medium shot - This helps show the characters features, as well as parts of his/her costume (mise-en-scene), which can help establish the genre of a magazine, if they are wearing conventional clothes that conform to a certain genre

 Over the shoulder - This shot places the audience into the stars point of view. This could help the audience feel more connected and involved in what they are reading, as they feel part of the characters journey, by using point of view shots.









These are the camera shots I have taken to show the types of camera shot we might use in our magazine. I have chosen these shots as they show off the subject the best which is what a magazine does.
The type of shot the magazines most commonly used has to be the medium/close up shot. Magazine covers like to use these type of photo shots as they can easily make the main image direct which engages people more as they feel immersed and involved as the image is looking right at them. However, with a non direct image, they wont get this effect as the image is not directly looking at you and therefore, wont immerse you into the magazine. This is why they tend to use Medium shot/close up shot and not a shot where the main image will be non direct.

Magazine ideas

                                Magazine ideas blog

We have chosen to create a school magazine and a music magazine for ASmedia. I have decided to create a sports magazine for bitterne park and a music magazine based on the rock genre.
Our group consists of Ben, Jack, Morgan and myself. Our group has an idea to create a sports magazine for the bittern park area which will include football and other sports. For our music magazine we are going to create a rock magazine which will contain information on different bands and contain pictures of us in the magazine. We have chosen these subjects because we have a general interest for them and therefore, will be passionate about what we are doing and creating.