Production Log #18 (28/12/2012) - Gig review

This week I have been looking at how the existing magazines write Gig reviews for their articles. These are some I have drawn inspiration from:
   

Production Log #17 (21/12/2012) - Continuing with Evaluation #1

I've continued with my evaluation today. I have added two more pages and more pictures.

Production Log #16 (14/12/2012) - CS5 to CS6

Yet again we have moved up in terms of software. We are now using Adobe Indesign CS6 and Adobe Photoshop CS6.
Indesign seems to be almost exactly the same. Although, now we are unable to open CS6 files in CS5 meaning that if we find ourselves without a machine that has been updated then we will not be able to save our work.

Sell Line Ideas

Corey Taylor Exclusive

Slipknot Talk Albums

RISE OF THE PATRIOT - Mechanised Patriot

"-Quote-" Cancer Bats Interview

Are Stone Sour Metal?

Download 2013 Line Up Rumours

System Of A Down Speak Up

+
Sylosis
Enter Shikari
Stone Sour
Skindred

Production Log #15 (7/12/2012) - Starting Evaluation #1

I've just started my first evaluation. It's a little bit difficult because not everything is complete yet, but I'm getting there.
I'm using Adobe InDesign CS6 to make it. I've got the free  trial now on my home computer. This means I can now work on everything at  home.

Production Log #14 (2/12/2012) - Photoshop

Today I'm trying to explore new pieces of Photoshop so i've looked up some photoshop tutorials on google.

http://photoshoptutorials.ws/

Contents Ideas

Tea with Slipknot - (because tea is very calm and relaxing which is the opposite to Slipknot's music)
The same old System - (System of a Down),
Liam lets the Bats out of the Cave - (Cancer Bats lead singer is called Liam),
Top 10 songs,
Top 10 albums,
Tours you shouuld go on 2013,
Must see Gigs,
Festival Tips,
Download 2013 rumoured bands

Production Log #13 (25/11/2012) - Featured bands

Today I've been thinking about featured bands in my magazine. I'm thinking of what bands to include and how to include them. As well as considering which ones are going to be featured on each individual page and which ones are going to be one my contents page.

Production Log #12 (18/11/2012) - Featured Band's Name Part

I've decided on what I'm going to call the band that will be appearing my magazine. it will be, Mechanised Patriot. I have chosen this name because I feel that it could refer nicely to industrial metal and political commentary.

Draft Article

Our Chief Editor Jake Josling sits down with up and coming metal band "Mechanized Patriot" and asks them your questions on what it's like being the new comers to such a developed genre.

Jake: Ok, I'm here with Mechanized Patriot, tell us a bit about yourselves and your past guys.

Ciaran: Hi, I'm Ciaran and I'm the lead singer of the band. Erm, I grew up in London where I got a lot of inspiration from my surroundings because I lived in quite a developed area of London where my father worked in a factory.

Chris: Erm, I'm Chris and I am the lead guitarist of the band.

Luke: Don't you have to say more than that Chris? (Laughs)

Chris: OH! (Laughs) I'm sorry, Erm, Ah, I live in Greater London and I grew up in the country on my dad's farm. I met Ciaran through a fan forum for an old band I like.

Luke: That's better (Laughs). I'm Luke and I'm the drummer for the band. I grew up near Ciaran and I remember him in school but we never really spoke until he found out that I played the drums and then we formed our first band type thing. It never really worked until we got Chris on board and changed our name to Mechanized Patriot.

Jake: Speaking of the name, Mechanized Patriot, how did you come up with that?

Ciaran: That was actually our friend's idea.

Chris: Yeah, there was this old video game that featured an enemy called the Mechanized Patriot and he spoke about it quite a lot and then we sorta made the connection and thought it'd be a good name.

Jake: Your first album is coming out next month, Do you want to just give us some information about it?

Luke: This album is just all of our demo stuff and some of our new tracks thrown in. We've been working on it for about 6 months.

Chris: This album is called Rustic Ruins, because we thought it was a cool name. It doesn't really have any significance to anything but we just liked it so we used it.
Ciaran: It'll be available on the 3rd of December!
Chris: Just in time for Christmas!

Jake: Have you got plans for a tour?

Ciaran: This is a bit of a tough question really. We haven't really got any plans for our own tour but we are tagging along on a few other peoples tours (Laughs)
Chris: We are opening for Parkway drive in January, Cancer Bats in March, We're playing on the main stage at the Download Festival in June and 

Production Log #11 (11/11/2012) - Featured Band's Name

Today I've been trying to decide a name for the featured musician or band that will be appearing on my magazine. I've got a few ideas but no solid ones yet.

Concept Ideas

Production Log #10 (4/11/2012) - CS3 to CS5

In today's lesson we have moved from using Adobe Photoshop CS3 to using Adobe Photoshop CS5. It was quite a leap considering I was used to using CS3 and that CS5 brought a few changes.

Production Log #9 (28/10/2012) - Gig Review

This is the gig review that I am using in my main article. It serves as a variation and it mixes up the article. It is also bold and it stands out amongst the black text on a white background.

Audience Qualitative Data

New Media

The new media is a brilliant way for magazines today to get a wider fanbase and to advertise for free!
For example, if a new magazine is to set up a free twitter account and use hashtags (Quick tags that allow you to view everything that is tweeted with that hashtag) involving the genre that the magazine is they will most likely get some more fans who hadn't seen the billboards or the TV ads. Also twitter being free the company behind the magazine doesn't have to spend tonnes and tonnes of money on advertising their new magazine.

For example I have set up this twitter for my metal music magazine called "Kerosene". I may have only tweeted 3 times but in one of those 3 tweets I have tagged the artist Cancer Bats and all of their fans can see that tweet of mine by viewing the Official Cancer Bats Twitter page (@CancerBats) This would be brilliant advertising for my magazine because by tagging Cancer Bats and allowing their fans to see the link to the interview with them they would most likely end up buying my magazine to read the interview.

Promotional Methods

The main ways in which I would promote my magazine would be:

Online Adverts

Online adverts will be viewed by a very very large amount of people. For example: 

Youtube Adverts:

Seen by a countless amount of people because of the high traffic that there is to YouTube.com every single day. This could prove to be a worthwhile investment because everyone that views the YouTube home page would see the advert for your magazine. This means that out of the 200,000,000 people on Youtube a day (Estimated) about 1/3 would see your advert (This is due to web apps like Adblock and Adstopper) and from those people you will get more website views ultimately increasing your magazine sales.

Public Adverts:

Public Transportation Adverts:

Busses are ridden nearly every day by most people therefore it would be a brilliant place to advertise a magazine  Not only would the people boarding the bus see the advert but the people that the bus travels past will be seeing it. This is how I found out about the newest James Bond film "Skyfall". This means that this method of advertising is proven and works well. 

Props & Costumes

Props:

Guitar:

To highlight that it is a rock magazine because guitars are very very key to a rock/ metal performance and have been used as an icon for rock for ages and ages now.

Examples:

Dark clothing:

To demonstrate the darker side of metal and the key concepts of metal, being (heavy, rocky, rebellious and violent)

Colour

Institution

Target Audience

Age

The typical age for my audience is probably between 16 - late 20s. Its better to aim for this age group because they are the ones that will go out often and socialise with their friends meaning that we would get another form of advertisement and they would be able to pick up the magazine if they are out.

Gender Divide

My magazine will be for mainly male readers because the majority of people that listen to metal music are male. Due to the darker tone of metal music some people tend to avoid it meaning that I'd be able to tailor the magazine specifically for the people who like metal.

Social Class & Habits

My magazine will not be expensive because people don't want to be spending £5, £6, £7 on a magazine when they can just get the information on the internet. The social class I would aim for would be middle class (B1 & B2) because this means they will have enough spare money to pick up the magazine but they won't have enough spare to spend a lot on the magazine. 

Consumption Habits/How And Why They Would Consume Your Magazine

My magazine would mainly be consumed through the internet or on apps. This is because a lot of teenagers have smart phones and would prefer to use an app to view my magazine.

Typical Reader Profile
Name: John Johnson
Age: 20
Occupation: Student
Likes: Going to see live music and Going to festivals
Dislikes: Music played on stations such as Capital and Kiss
Why He Reads My magazine: He likes to discover new bands and he likes to keep up to date with the bands that he likes. Also he enjoys seeing what the bands have to say about their albums and their tours.

Production Log #8 (21/10/2012) - Double Page Poster

Today I spent the lesson on a double page poster for the band that is the main feature of my magazine. I used jagged text to make the image of the band more apparent. The text reads "Starting a worldwide riot!" this fits nicely with the image of metal and violence. The serious tone of the picture allows for the reader to gain an understanding of the serious tone of the magazine. The "Frontman" is the only one looking into the camera, this solidifies him as the most important person in the band.

Proposal

Type Of Magazine

Music Magazine (Metal, Industrial Metal, Alternative Metal),

Frequency

Weekly

Possible Stories/Content

"Cancer Bats New Album"
"Knotfest Line-up Rumours"
"Download 2012 Reviews"
"Metallica To Break Up?"

Mood

Dark,
Silvers,
Greys,
Blacks,
Reds, 
Sarcasatic,
Positive.

Unique Features

App (If you get the magazine you get you get a code that allows you to read the magazine on you iPhone iPad or Andriod Phone),
Interactive Interviews (People E-Mail in the questionsd that they want to to hear and we ask them to the artist),

Marketing Method

Online adds,
Sold in supermarkets and news agents,
Facegbook group,

Target Audience

16 to Late 20

Key Images

Stylisitc images,
High quailty,
Moody.

Main Features

Interviews,
Give aways,
Reviews,
News,

Wordle: Music

Existing Magazine Names

Kerrang! - the sound of a guitar being strummed violently. Kerrand has a dark tone and jagged lines to let the reader know that this magazine is to do with rough music. Also at the top of the E, the R and the exclamation mark there are parts that have been removed. This makes the magazine's masthead look more grimy and worn.

Metal Hammer - a hammer is an object used for beating nails into objects. Metal is metal music. The sharp tips to the end of the letters demonstrates the ferocity of the magazine. Also the red font connotates danger and rebellion whioch suits the music genre.


NME - when said out loud it sound like "Enemy" which is a reference to war or conflict. This symbolises violence again.

Production Log #7 (14/10/2012) - Music Magazines

Recently I've been wondering which Magazine to get my ideas from. Obviously I will use more than one. I'm just wondering which of these would directly apply to my magazine.

Firstly I looked at Metal Hammer:


Metal hammer tends to look at the darker side of Rock and Metal. Using bold blacks and reds as their mastheads.

The jagged and seemingly random placement of the subtexts further reinforce the darker and more rebellious side of metal.

I then looked at Kerrang!:


Kerrang uses straight and well aligned fonts and placements. This could be a good feature to use.

Interviews to Mimic

These are a few interviews that I have found that I might want to mimic or incorporate in my magazine:

I have chosen these interviews specifically because they are more casul and relaxed than other interviews. This is how I want to write my interview. Also the fact that the artists talk about things other than their music (Side projects, Family life, Merchandise and Sponsorships) My interviews will feature the whole band at once so it feels more like a free flowing conversation rather than a question and answer interview.

 

This will make my interview stand out more because it will be more fun to read. You would be able to gain more of an understanding of how the musician is as a person

Name Ideas

Codes and Conventions

Rock/ Metal Magazine

Genre: Metalcore, Industrial Metal, Alternatvie Metal.

Musicians that could be featured:

Free Gifts: Posters, Eps and Demo CDs also CDs containing our "staffs" favourite songs.

Eps

Posters

Gigs listings including where to buy the tickets and how much they cost. Making sure to include festivals and line ups for festivals.

Interviews with artists

Lists: I will be including lists in my magazine. Such as:

What to bring to  festival,

Top 10 music videos,

Top 10 albums,

Top 10 Undiscovered bands,

The song of the week.

Mood Board - Metal/Heavy Metal/Industrial Metal

Double Page Spread #3

Masthead

The masthead is slanted and this could be a reference to the band being rebelious or crooked. This works well with the "Pop Punk" image of the band. The white text against the black background really stands out and catches our eye. More than the red text at least.

The text has been texturized and looks like it has been sprayed onto gravel or onto concrete. Again refering to the rebelious nature of the band, it could symbolise grafitti.

Images

The images are shot in black and white to sybolise traditional or classic rock. These shots are mostly of the band recording and or playing. This gives us a behind the scenes look into the band and is almost a second exclusive to see how the band work behind the scenes.

NME Cover Analysis 3

The Masthead

The masthead breaks the norm for NME magazines. This one is a gradient from purple to pink. Traditionally the NME logo is black white and red. This instantly tells us that it's a special or new edition.

The Feature Article

The featured artcile is of Jimi Hendrix. As this is the 40th anniversary of his death edition it is only about him.

Surrounding text

The purple text surropunding the image are little previews. An Idea that I'm now considering.