AS Media Coursework: Research and Planning

During the research and planning I am going to analyse several magazines to widen my knowledge and improve my understanding of a single genre of music magazine. The genre I have chosen is 'indie'. I will research this genre and the magazine I am going to create will also fit to this.


Research Existing Magazines

Clash is an award-winning (Magazine of the Year – PPA 2008) monthly music magazine bringing originality and independent opinion in a truly unique style. Clash follows more of the independent music market while still keeping up to date with the all the latest news within the entire music industry. Clash uses a very minimalistic technique keeping the front cover very empty (December issue seen on the left). However this does not make the front page any less eye catching or less effective, if anything more so. The centre of visual interest (CVI) is clearly the photograph of Florence Welch (Florence and The Machine). Her vivid red hair and pail skin is would catch your eye straight away, if seen in amongst other magazines on a shelf. Her eyes gazing upwards could connote a religious belief look up the the sky, it could also connote a gaze of thought, things on her mind. The materialistic layout of the cover is reminiscent of upmarket magazines of the 1940's as seen below.


The old-fashioned style and minimalistic nature of 'Clash' is one that appeals to a specific audience. One that thinks of themselves as 'Indie'. You also need to have quite an artistic personality as the inside content is organised and displayed in a very unique but clever way.

     




The only word other than the masthead on the front cover is the word 'Heavenly'. In a serif font, 'heavenly' stands out dramatically. On the other hand the masthead (seen below) uses a sans serif font which contrasts the up market nature of the magazine. Using this sans serif font could connote an informal approach. They want the buyer to feel like they are getting good quality for their magazine but they want to give it in a casual more informal way.

The contents page in 'Clash' is very clean and structured. It is all contained in lines and boxes. Nothing is out of line, this makes it easier to read. I want my contents page to contain lots of lines to make it quite quirky and unique also making it legible and quick and easy to read. 

There are several double page spreads in 'Clash' that vary in their content. This one seen on the left is quite busy and includes lots of writing, however the on seen below it is more minimal and the main image takes up the whole of the page. For my magazine I am going to try and combine the two, so I will try and get a good balance between images and text. This way I can attract different types of people, those who like reading more but also those who are engaged more by images and seeing what it happening.

NME is another popular "indie" magazine. Originally a newspaper NME started becoming the magazine it is today in the 1980's. The layout and structure of NME is completely different to 'Clash'. Much more is included into the front page, cover lines and different titles. This busy nature appeals to slightly different people, people who are wanting to get more value for money can easily see that there are a lot of stories included within the magazine. Also a call out is used to grab the attention of the audience either on a magazine stand or once they have bought the magazine. The call out usually contains something that is later involved in the magazine or possibly even advertising for something else like this one.

  

The contents page in 'NME' is heavily image based, with only little text telling you the title of the story, this again is appealing to different people. Giving the reader a very clear idea of what is happening on that page.

The double page spread is also heavily image based, this shows that 'NME' believe that their audience want see what happening and not just read about it. The type of images and the amount is something i would also like to transfer across to my magazine. 

  
From my research I now know that I want my front cover to be completely image based, with a very minimal feel. I want the main image to be very crisp and crystal clear, this will take a lot of time and effort to get it how I exactly want it but hopefully it'll pay off. For my contents page I want to have every item aligned like in 'Clash' but with actual lines, blocks and boxes keeping everything together. I also want to include many images so that way I can attract different sorts of people, getting the balance between image and text is very important though. For my double page spread I want to have one image taking up the whole of the page with blocks of text here and there. Also the text should relate exactly to the picture, I would possibly like an image of some musicians in a recording studio looking very busy, with wires and instruments everywhere. Then have the text relating to their next album or single being released, or and interview with them talking about their progress.