Final Name For Magazine: Pulse

This is what my Magazine name looks like:

After thinking of different ideas for each of the names I came up with and experimenting with each, I chose “Pulse” as my Hip Hop and R&B title for my music magazine.

I thought it would appeal to my target audience, and went well with my music genre.

I chose this word because when you listen to music your pulse increases and your mood changes, because music and songs have that effect on you. I put speakers on either side, to indicate the “base”.

Youngsters nowadays love music with a great base, it attracts them to the song, Base was also in my brainstorm when deciding a magazine name, but I went with Pulse, I thought it sounded different and would be quite catchy…

Possible Names For My Music Magazine

A few possible names for my music magazine:

I brainstormed possible names i could use for my music magazine on a rough paper. I had to make sure they suited my genre: R&B and Hip Hop.

All had different meanings and concepts behind each, which is why it was so hard to choose one, as i liked them all.

Eventually i chose "Pulse" as I had a distinctive idea on how to illustrate the word as my magazine name.

Main Image Edited

This is what my image looked like after i edited it on PhotoShop.

I cut around the image and airbrushed her face, I then made a white outer glow around the picture, so that it stands out and is visible in the front cover.

Photography

This is the original picture, which i had taken of my model.

I took a full view shot of her through the mirror, I thought that it would be appropriate to take a picture of her looking through the mirror. Reason being, I thought seeing as she is a new singer, and an upcoming artist, it would make sense if I showed her looking through the mirror, in order to capture the change. So she would look in the mirror and see how much she's changed or if she's still the same.

Her looking into the mirror makes her look back through the years and see the difference, and what situation she is now and will be in the future.

The name of my Magazine

Originally, this was how I wanted my title to be presented.

I chose the magazine name to be “PULSE” with the speaker type approach to resemble music and sound.

I also used the word “pulse” as in, when you check your pulse via the pulse machine in hospitals, because when you listen to music you pulse increases and moves more rapidly.

Test shots

In this picture, the model is showing attitude, and is holding a mike with attitude, so that the theme of music is still in tact. The model is staring right at the camera lens in order to make contact with the reader, her pose is also very well thought out, she is laying on a table and I have taken a Medium Close Up Shot of the model.

The only criticism I received for this photo was the fact that she was holding a mike, may symbolise a sense of “pop” genre.

Test shots

I experimented with different types of instruments, seeing as the magazine is going to be a music magazine I thought it would be a good accessories to use. The reason I got her to stand in front of the instrument instead of making it seem as though she is playing it, was because i wanted to show a bit of attitude, because my magazine is going to be a Hip-Hop/R&B magazine, I thought it would make more sense for her to stand in front showing attitude.

Test shots

I tried making my model stand in different positions, while posing with the instrument, i didn't want her to seem as though she was playing the instrument. I wanted her to look directly at the camera lens, so that she would be making eye contact with the reader, to show a sense of attitude within in the model.

Test shots

This was one of the first pictures I took, the pose of the model was correct but her facial expressions wasn't exactly what i was going for. The model is smiling in this picture, but i wanted her to give attitude, which is why I took more pictures to get the attitude across in her facial expression.

Questionnaire..Target Audience Research

I carried out a questionnaire on my target audience to see what type of content they would like to see featured in my magazine.

Advertising simulation

We were put into pairs and our task was to make a advertising simulation task. We were told to create a magazine front cover for young people aged 7-12 or also known as the 'pro-teens'.

Then we were told to decide how much I would charge an advertising company for an A4 colour advert.

As this was a completion with the class, we had to quickly come up with a design of a magazine, then stand in front of the whole class and say why we chose to do the magazine how we done it.

Making this magazine helped me think of new ideas when making my own magazine, i was able to discover how to use Photoshop and i now know different ways in which i can make my magazine stand out. After producing this magazine i had a few ideas of what i could do with my magazine and how i could present it, and what i could do on Photoshop with images and words, ect.

Overall I thoroughly enjoyed this task as it helped me gain many new skills such as Photoshop and it was good practice for planning my final magazine.

Now when I first hear the words ‘pop music’automatically the typical stereotypes of thousands of young girls screaming for a well known pop artist or pop group comes to my mind.

Now with this my partner and me thought that keeping our target audience in mind we have to do like a more feminine, girly house style, as they are whom we were targeting.

Therefore we used a baby pink background and we used ‘Britney Spears’ as the main image. We used her because in the description it said that she was an iconic role model to the proto-teens at the time. Now this leads us to the name of the magazine. We chose the name ‘iWannaBe’ as young children of this age look up to many artists and try to aspire to be like them, whether it’s the way they start to dress, talk, walk etc.

We also used an image of one of the biggest boy bands of the country [JLS). We thought they would be an ideal artist to place on the cover as they are very well know pop artists and they have a huge fan base ranging from all types of ages. By using them on the cover and stating that there is an exclusive interview of them featured in the magazine, this helps attract more potential buyers, as they are a one of the most successful boy bands in music history. They also have thousands of fans that they seem to leave in some sort of hysteria and we kind of took advantage of this and placed them on the front in hope of it endorsing our magazine and attracting thousands of buyers.

A Mood board on Masthead Research

Here is a mood board of different Music Magazine Mastheads. I put this together to give me inspiration into creating and designing my own magazine name.

These mastheads are short yet catchy and most of them you can automatically tell which type of magazine they are from.

I did some research on current mastheads on current music magazines just to represent current conventions and to compare my own masthead to those of professional magazines i feel that i have followed current conventions as my masthead is white and 4 major music magazines have white mastheads.

Understanding My Music Genre

My main music genres for my magazine are R&B and Hip Hop, therefore i have quite a broad reach. I need to be able to understand the style and image these genres to construct my complete visual relating to these genres.

I have researched different R&B and Hip Hop artists and created a collage to help me with building up my magazine image and content.

Here is the collage of R&B, Hip Hop singers, by doing this i was able to think of different ways in which i could tell my model to stand, and pose. There isn't exactly a certain type of way in which they have to pose, everyone picture is different and individual.

These are different types of Hip Hop and R&B Music album covers.

Analysis of Mix Mag Contents Page

Analysis on NME Magazine

'Top Of The Pops' Magazine Analysis Interview With JLS

In a group of three, we annotated parts of JLS' interview and section dedicated to them in 'Top Of The Pops' magazine. This task allowed me to see the conventions of an interview and this helped me think of ways in which i could layout my interview page. Doing this task made me realise that I need to target a specific group. I saw that my images need to address my target audience.

The title: A pull quote from the article – What was your most embarrassing moment?

Well it had something to do with a concert and the wrong lyrics!

Target Audience RWD Reader Profile and Research

We were put into a group of three, we researched RWD magazine and its target audience. We put together a presentation displaying examples from the magazine and a moodboard on the target audience

Target Audience Mood Board

A mood board to show a collision of images representing the genre that I have chosen to use for my music magazine who is going to be my target audience.

This is a mood board for the magazine i am going to make, i did some research on the hip hop and RnB genre of music to see what their magazine covers usually consist of, so that it would give me an idea of what to put on my magazine. There isn't a permanent colour scheme as such, these magazines just tend to be very colourful and attractive. The magazines usually seem to have an full image of a celebrity usually a singer on the cover and have the writing all around the picture, so that the picture stands out and is visible.

Analyzing Front Covers (NME vs RWD)

Here are the NME and RWD (Rewind) front covers. I analysed the conventions that were used on these front covers.

The task we had been assigned to do, were to identify the differences and similarities between both the NME and RWD covers.
In addition I found that they are both different to some extent because they are both targeted at different audiences, they have differnt colour schemes and use several different fonts.

There are many similarities between the two, such as a large main image and cetral figuires, a large masthead, text and teasers.
I intend on using similar conventions for my front cover as it will reflect similar use of graphics, an image of a main figure that is recognisable to the Hip Hop and R&B music genre because I want my audience to connect to the main figure.

NME Reader Profile

Male dominated magazine - front cover of latest issue has lead singer of My Chemical Romance. It is used to attack certain audience (males in early 20s)

Colours are well fitted in the cover- Red, black & white.

Many albums are bought - so the magazine uses from cover to advertise new releases on albums, singles and other forthcoming events.

75% agree to listen to new bands - so the new bands are advertised in the front cover.

Other adverts include: online tickets (91% say they often go to gigs and 60% get their tickets online); competitions for iPod nanos as only 19% own one; opportunities for unsigned bands; promoting bands by advertising their accounts of MySpace, facebook, twitter, etc; also, NME endorses the bands they love.

Language used in this magazine is colloquial, edgy, expletive and masculine - so it's quite aggressive. They use street slang to connect with their target readers.

Other ways to connect with their target audience is by imagery e.g. guns, cars.

Music Magazine Unit

Main task: the front page, contents and double page spread of a new music magazine (if done as a group task, each member of the group to produce an individual edition of the magazine, following the same house style). Maximum four members to a group.
All images and text used must be original, produced by the candidate(s), minimum of FOUR images per candidate.

This unit is worth 50% of the AS.
The Assessment Objectives for this unit are:
AO2 – 10%
• Apply knowledge and understanding to show how meanings are created when analyzing media products and evaluating their own practical work.
AO3 – 30%
• Demonstrate the ability to plan and construct media products using appropriate technical and creative skills.
AO4 – 10%
• Demonstrate the ability to undertake and apply appropriate research.