AMP Magazine: Mission Statement

AMP is a new indie music magazine, being sold monthly for the price of £3. AMP can be purchased all mainstream supermarkets, most newsagents, music stores and bookstores, making it easily available to its readership.

 AMP strives to personify the raw, unadulterated side to music that comes from the indie genre. Indie promotes the less mainstream artists, and AMP encourages and supports these artists including many who aren’t signed or are looking to be. But whilst AMP supports the un-heard voices, it also aids the heard by having a double page spread on a popular artist, an up and coming artist and a new artist each issue. AMP aims to help aspiring musicians by providing a yearly competition to get signed by a music label and produce a record, tracking the contestants progress over a series of issues, and then getting the readers to vote at the end of the time period, videos, audio and articles available on the magazine’s website as well, all helping to draw in the audience and get them invested in the magazine. In every issue, there will be tips on different aspects of the music business, from getting the best sound from your amp to how to use the space on stage to the artist’s advantage. AMP prides itself on its strong support and connection with artists across the nation, helping them to strive in the cut throat business world.

AMP will supply its audience with fresh, up-to-date articles, news and gossip from the music world. It will also deliver reviews of concerts, albums and songs as well as a new playlist of the hottest new indie tracks and the music download charts each issue. Readers are encouraged to write in fan-letters, their own reviews, photos from gigs or with their favourite artist and are offered prizes in return. The double page spreads mentioned previously will cover the artist entirely from their history to their future and a full in depth interview with them. Each article will contain lists of all the things the artist is enjoying right now, such as books, movies and music, to create a bond through the magazine and to give the fans an insight into the life of their idols.

AMP promises to provide its audience with informative, in depth articles and reviews and all of the important indie music news and gossip and to do so in an un-biased, comprehensive fashion. AMP hopes to be a breath of fresh air in the music magazine business and to provide a new outlook on the genre of indie music.

AMP Magazine: Mind Map

This mind map is to help determine not only my name, but the basic idea of what the product will look like. Upon examination of the indie music genre, chosen as I have personal knowledge of it, I have produced a mind map of terms related to it. From examination of this mind map, I was able to narrow down my name choices of the magazine between 'AMP' and 'M'. 'AMP' would not only represent the amplifier used to amplify sound from a guitar, but stand for American Musical Productions, as the magazine is focused on American indie music, and 'M' would simply stand for 'music'. After deliberation, I have decided that 'AMP' is the better choice, following the in the tracks of great indie magazines such as 'NME', rather than the likes of 'Q' which is more focused on rock music.

AMP Magazine: Introduction

The task for this project is to create a music magazine for our chosen genre. We are to produce a front cover, a contents page, and a double page spread each featuring an original artist along with the necessary research and planning.
To research for this task task, I will need to complete:

• A mind map to gather ideas and sort them to form a conclusion on what genre to pick.
• A mission statement for my magazine.
• A target audience profile to attempt to understand who I'm aiming my magazine at so I can adjust it's features accordingly.
• A questionnaire to gather relevant information from my target audience in regards to what they like about the genre I have chosen, and how I can achieve their readership with the layout and content of my magazine.
• The results and analysis of the results from the questionnaire
• Explore the codes and conventions of existing media (front covers, contents pages, and double page spreads)
• Analyse existing media
• Explore the stereotypical costume's within my genre
• Explore the mise-en-scene of existing photoshoots
• Summarise the artists to feature in my magazine
• Draw my mock-ups of the final peice

 And then I will finally create my product. By completing all of the research and planning, it will be easier for me to achieve a magazine that fits my target audience with the content and layout.

DM Magazine: Evaluation

For my preliminary task, the objective of creating a Sixth form Magazine for my school was set upon me, detailing the need to include a front cover, containing a medium close-up of a model in an environment related to school, the conventions of a magazine, and a mock up of a contents page, containing all of the conventions of a magazine’s contents. This task was set with the hopes of helping me achieve and show full understanding of the magazine medium before creating a front cover, contents and full page spread for a music magazine.

The front cover and contents page produced followed and displayed the conventions of a magazine, the front cover containing a mast-head, dateline, banner, sell-line, main sell-line, puff and a main image, and the contents containing a 50:50 ration of image to text, page numbers over images relating to articles, text in categories and columns, cover story is separate and highlighted, page number, title, and reflects style of audience, magazine and content. Several conventions are missing, but only because they didn’t fit the style of magazine that was to be created. Firstly, it was a free magazine, so therefore there was no need for a barcode as barcodes are only used on purchasable items, secondly, there are no feature article photos as it only caused to form a distraction from the main image and sell-lines on the front age, next, there is no strap-line because it made the product look cluttered and disorganized, something no reader wants a magazine to look like. On the contents page, the only convention missing is the date and/or issue number, although the school term of which the volume was issued is included in the title. It was in the best interest of the finished product to not include each of these conventions because, as detailed in my mission statement, “DM Magazine’s mission is to produce a modern, clean-cut, free magazine for Douay Martyrs Sixth Form…”, and to have squeezed in these facets would have compromised this promise.

The symbiotic link between contents and front page is presented through the text, color scheme, use of symbols for emphasis, font, and the same model and costume for the main story image. Each of these aspects of the products made the running themes clear; the use of the same text makes it a smooth transition from page into articles, as does the use of the arrow symbols, and the implementation of the color scheme not only represents the masthead and the text of the sell-lines on the front page, but the school colors of which this task is for. By using the same model and costume, there is a continuity that makes the magazine slightly more respectful and attracts the reader rather than repels them with a choppy, jumbled mess, and makes them come back for the next issue.

 The magazine is meant to be educational, as one would expect for a school magazine, and that is seen through the academic tips and support offered, but it also meant to be fun to make it seem a=more attractive to readers, and that can be seen through the style section offered and the article on “75 things to do before Uni.” This can help keep the reader entertained and continue reading all the while subtly picking up tips and learning from the magazine. It’s hard to make these articles appeal to both gender groups, but in an effort to do so; I have made sure that nothing on the front page or in the contents is gender specific by choosing very simple colors, article topics that can help either and a model that is appealing to both genders.

The strengths of my practical work lies in the organization and implementation of color schemes, text, and image. Using clashing colors like blue and red is a difficult task, but by cutting through it with white and black, it meshes to form a bold look that attracts readers. The text follows this color scheme and varies in size, attracting readers as well, as does the use of image. The model is formal, but casual, just as students as the school targeted at by the magazine is, and the slight smile is welcoming for the reader, as is the casual rolled up sleeves. However, there are weaknesses in the form of the image background, as it is too defined and too bold in it’s color that clashes with the color scheme. It took a long period of time and multiple adjustments to come up with the finished products, but even then parts don’t go properly. Were I to re-make this product, then I would consider reshooting the image in a different location with a background that it mainly one color so as to make the text more visible.

This task has shown me the complications and deliberations pertaining to the creation of a magazine front cover and contents page and the tribulations that come along with it. Whilst most was easy, as it is based upon my age and professional status demographic, it was the implementation and creation that was the hardest. When it comes to the creation of the main task, I will deliberate heavily on the main image, the location of shooting and lighting, and the text that goes on top. The methods I used to create the task, however, proved to be fruitful and easy to use, aiding me to create the final product; I fully plan to use these methods in my main task.

DM Magazine: Front Cover

DM Magazine: Mock-ups (Front cover and contents page)

DM Magazine: Mission Statement

DM Magazine’s mission is to produce a modern, clean-cut, free magazine for Douay Martyrs Sixth Form students containing high quality reporting and relevant articles to fully satisfy a variety of the readers’ needs; from their love of sport to their dedication to education and then even to their need to look their best. DM Magazine will strive to provide information vital for any students’ day to day life, as well as preparing them for the future. Examples of its contents include; seasonal sports and fashion predictions, tips and tricks for their academic life, music, film and television reviews, and many other things related to their age group.

 It will be distributed each academic term in a special vestibule in the sixth form common room.