Feature Spread

For my feature spread, I took inspiration from the James Bond film posters, as well as looking at the trends of hip-hop and rap culture, two of which are women and guns. Because of this, I drew silhouettes of a woman and a gun, before putting them onto the background. I used the program InDesign for the feature spread.

For my second edit of my feature spread, I have not added much. I added a new layer of text, curved around the record that is the focus of my feature spread.

Contents Page

For my contents page, I used the same shade of orange as I did for the strapline of the front cover. This adds continuity to my work, and makes it seem more like it is part of the same magazine.

Above is the second edit of my contents page. I redesigned the text, and added a border to my feature spread's picture.

Above is the third and final edit of my contents page. I completely changed the design, looking at the style model of Vibe magazine.

Front Cover

This was the first model of my front cover, however I realised that it wasn't very much in keeping with the common conventions featured on music magazines. Because of this, I have made several changes, including the addition of some more teaser articles.

Above is the second design of my front cover. I have changed the layout a lot, and re-sized the main image. I have also changed the fonts and added text.

Flat Plans

Above is the flat plan for my front cover.

 Above is the flat plan for my contents page.

Above is the flat plan for my feature spread.

Feature Spread Text Draft

Feature Spread – Interview with Goldman (Draft text)

Rave: So, it’s great to see you again Goldman. I just want to say from the start, what a year it must have been for you. I mean, going from recording raps in your room and performing at your friends’ parties, to going on tour with Wretch 32. How did that happen?

Goldman: Well, I started while I was round a friend’s house. There were four of us there, and we were bored, so we started playing Def Jam Rapstar on the Xbox. Each of us had a go at doing a freestyle, and when I rapped they were all really impressed and told me I was really good. So I started to actually record my music and sent out demos to all of the A&R’s at the record labels. Eventually, I got a message on Facebook from the record label Ministry of Sound, the same one Wretch 32 and Example are on. Apparently, Wretch had been in the studio recording for a mix tape and he saw some demos on the desk. He picked one up at random, and it was mine. He gave it a play, loved it and told someone to go and sign me. After this, I dashed up to London to record in their studio.

Rave: So what happened next then?

Goldman: Well, I asked Wretch to record a song with me on the album, I also got Example to go on one song as well; those became the first two singles from the album. When my first single, Blame (with Example), reached number three in the charts I was so surprised. Straight after this, Wretch and I reached number one with Deal with the Devil, and that was probably the proudest moment of my life. The album, Welcome to the Madhouse, was released a few weeks later and shot up to five in the charts.

Rave: You’ve clearly done a lot of gigs this year. Tell us, apart from the tour with Wretch, what was your favourite show?

Goldman: Probably the Not For the A-List party with Kano and Mikey J. That was one of the craziest nights of my life.

Rave: Remind us, why were you on that guest list again?

Goldman: Well, I’d stopped by during the shooting of Top Boy to be an extra, in one of the club scenes, and Kano and I got to talking. It wasn’t long before he invited me into the studio, because of course he’d heard me on YouTube and stuff. After that, we just got to rhyming and it turned into Freedom, the fifth track from the mix tape. I came along to perform Freedom, as well as some of my other tracks, on stage. The best part of the night, though, has to be when all of us; me, Kano, Ghetts, Wretch and Rapid, all went on stage together and dropped freestyles to Kano’s classic single: P’s and Q’s.

Rave: So, when is the follow-up album coming out?

Goldman: I actually have written about half of the tracks already and recorded a few of them as well. In fact, at the Not For the A-List party, I lined up a collaboration with Ghetts. He’s a guy I’ve always respected, I’ve been listening to him for years, and it’s been a long-time goal to record with him. It was awesome when we recorded it the other week, because I had no idea that Ghetts was bringing with him the rest of the Movement, his classic grime crew who were only just reuniting. So I was there, waiting on Ghetts, then he shows up with Scorcher, Mercston, Devlin and Wretch 32 as well. I was so surprised it was unbelievable and I ended up getting the whole crew on one track with me.

Rave: What do you say to the people saying that grime is a dying genre?

Goldman: They are wrong. They have not a clue what they are talking about. Look at the artists coming through, and look at the mix tapes and free download songs people are releasing. Recently, you’ve had several free grime mix tapes from Kano, Ghetts gave away one at Christmas, you’ve got Bashy’s one, and people like Sway are now charting too. With the likes of Tinie Tempah, Chipmunk, Wretch 32, Tinchy Stryder, Devlin and Skepta in the charts, grime is far from dead. I think this year, grime will make a major comeback, and these people will be in for a surprise.

Studio Lighting Research, Props and Equipment List

In the studio, lighting techniques are often used to add effect to the photos and make them appear more realistic and natural.

The equipment I am going to use in my studio photography is:
Canon SLR Digital D600 Camera
Props (glasses, hooded baseball jacket, hat, headphones, studio decks)
Background cover
Umbrella
Model
Reflector

One piece of equipment I am going to use is a reflector. The reflector, as the name suggests, is used to reflect light from a light source towards the area you want the light to be at. Reflectors can be made from a wide range of materials, and the more reflective the material, the more directional light will be reflected. Reflectors are commonly used in studio photography to get rid of shadows, however they are also used to provide directional light to any scene.

Another piece of equipment I am going to use is a photographic umbrella. They are made of materials that help to control and direct light. They tend to have lighting units mounted inside the umbrella, as shown in the image above. When activated, the light is bounced around the inside of the umbrella, then scattered towards the subject of the photo, providing non-directional lighting.

Institutions Research and Analysis

Prezi

On this Prezi, I worked on the section about IPC Media. IPC Media is one of the four main companies in the oligopoly that own the majority of magazines, alongside Bauer, Hearst and Conde Nast. Amongst the music magazines IPC Media owns is NME. IPC Media is a long-running company, having been publishing magazines since 1963. IPC Media is split into five different smaller companies, each of which works into a different section of magazines. One section covers men's and music magazines, one covers high-end women's magazines, one covers mass women's magazines, and one covers advertising.

The Magazines That I Have Analysed

RWD - RWD is a self-published magazine based in London. RWD has been running since 2001, and you can currently read the magazine online as well as buying it. RWD has been involved in a scandal in 2007, when discussion on the website's online forums about a scandal with footballer Ashley Cole led to the forums being shut down. RWD magazine mainly focuses on the rap and urban genres of music, however it also covers sport, gaming, film, technology and style as well. RWD, being self-run, is not connected to any of the four companies in the oligopoly.

Billboard - Billboard is owned by Prometheus Global Media, an American company, which claims Billboard to be "music's most powerful brand." Billboard has been around as a brand since 1894. Billboard's main office and headquarters is located in New York. Billboard's website, Billboard.com, was set up in 1995 and has over 10 million visitors every month.

Because neither of my magazines have any connection to the companies in the oligopoly, and I can name several other significant music magazines, including Clash and Spin, which are not connected to the oligopoly, this suggests to me that the main oligopoly have less influence on the music magazine industry than it used to in previous years.

My Magazine

I believe that my music magazine would fit into the market as an independently published magazine, similarly to RWD. Being mainly a hip-hop magazine, it would appeal to a similar audience to RWD does as well.

New Technologies in Music Magazines

With the developing of new camera technologies, opportunities for new photography styles are becoming readily available. One example of the use of a new photography style would be the RWD February 2012 front cover image, taken to look like the featured artist has been decapitated and his head left on the roads of a street. In previous years, such technology would not be readily available for an independent company like RWD.

Another new technology available is online magazines, found on websites like Issuu, and magazine apps on the iPad. These allow more people to read magazines without spending the money to buy the magazine, as long as they have access to the technology. This, in the terms of a music magazine, allows readers to come from any demographic, and access magazines that may not be published or sold in their area.

Case Study - Andrew Cotterill (Photographer)

Andrew Cotterill is a photoghapher who has worked with many big names of every genre of music, including Kanye West, the Foo Fighters, Pete Doherty and Arctic Monkeys. He started by working for the company Dazed and Confused, before he moved onto large exhibitions and a deal with the Big Issue, both of which have helped raise his reputation in the music photography industry.

This photo of Kanye West has been edited to be in black and white. This is an effect that is commonly used in photography. He is shown staring distantly into a pair of glasses. This makes West look contemplative, as though he is thinking of new lyrics to write and perform.

This photo shows the Foo Fighters performing in someone’s house, in what appears to be a kitchen. This seems to be suggesting that this is an average day for them, with constant partying, extending even to the man passed out on top of one of the cupboards. The camera lens has used a fishbowl technique, which makes it appear slightly disordered, as though the photo has been taken after a few drinks.

Case Study - Mick Hutson (Photographer)

In order for me to understand better the genre of music photography, I have decided to look at the work done by leading photographers, who have worked for NME, MOJO, Q, Kerrang, Metal Hammer and Uncut. More specifically, I looked at the work of Andrew Cotterill and Mick Hutson.

Mick Hutson is a leading photographer who has worked for music magazines such as Q and Metal Hammer, and has worked with artists including Plan B, 50 Cent, Metallica and Kings of Leon. His work has covered all areas, from world tours backstage, to inventive photos in studios and on location, and he has taken some of the most memorable images of the past 20 years. 

This photo is a low-level shot of rapper Professor Green, holding back a dog, that looks as though it is trying to attack the photographer. This photo looks like just a casual shot of him, while taking his dog for a walk, and ends up as a very good overall effect.
The background is a gritty-looking urban tunnel, which reminds me of the urban setting that stereotypically appears similar to the background of a rap video.

This photo is a black-and-white shot of the band Metallica walking down the street. This appears as though they are just casually out for a walk, and have just spotted the photographer, and are reacting to this.

Designing a Masthead

I decided my magazine was going to be an urban magazine, with features on hip-hop and dubstep mainly. After this, I chose the name “Rave Magazine”, to further enforce the image of a club-music magazine.

To make the masthead stand out more from all of the other text, I considered colouring each letter in the word RAVE in different colours, to further represent the image of a club, with multitudes of flashing colours, like you would actually see in a club. However, in the end I decided that this was a bad idea, because the name did not look as good as I had hoped. Instead I chose an orange colour, because orange is not commonly seen on a front cover, and therefore it would make the magazine stand out.

This is a prototype idea for my masthead. After having created this, I realized that the font I had used, Myriad Pro, was too bland and plain, not very suitable for a youth magazine. Therefore, I had to find a more appropriate font.

The next font I considered was Cooper Black, however I felt that this font appeared too childish and therefore I decided not to use it.

The next font I tested was Marker Felt. I felt that this font was a good font to use on the front cover, however I did not want to use it on the masthead.

The next font I thought about using was Bauhaus 93. I thought that this was a good font to use elsewhere, but not on the front cover. I decided to keep this in reserve for use in the contents page or double page spread.

Another font I conidered for use on the masthead was Chalkduster. I felt that this looked like an appropriate font, appearing as though it has been partially torn up, which follows Hall’s theory about the youth, and how they enjoy destroying things. However, in the end I decided against using it on the front cover.

I considered using the font Che Lives! from UrbanFonts.com, however I felt that the fire effect on the bottom of the word detracted from the overall image.

The next font I looked at was Alpaca54, also from UrbanFonts.com. I thought that this looked very representative of the youth, and therefore I chose to use it as the masthead.

Analysing SurveyMonkey Results and Identifying A Target Audience

The first two questions I asked were to identify the target audience in terms of age and gender. I found that the majority of my audience were aged between 14 and 19, and were male. This is partially representative of the primary genre I have chosen, hip-hop, whose main target audience is between 15 and 25, and male. However, I posted my survey on my Facebook page only, and not many of my friends on Facebook are older than 20, so this may not be fully representative of the true potential audience.

The third question I asked was how often the target audience read music magazines. I found that the majority of my target audience read music magazines moderately often.

My fourth question was to identify the genres of music my target audience are interested in. The three most popular genres amongst my target audience were rap/hip-hop, dubstep/drum and bass, and techno. To represent this, I decided to change one of the articles in the contents page to represent a well-known dubstep group.

The next question I asked was to find out how many teaser articles should appear on the front cover, alongside the headline. The majority of the target audience felt that 2 teasers would be enough for the front cover, however I have chosen do do more than this, because the front cover I made looked empty with only two teaser articles.

The sixth and final question I asked was for my feature spread, to find out what styles of story appeal the most to the target audience. The story that appealed the most to my target audience was an interview, and as such I have chosen to do an interview on my feature spread.




Identifying My Target Audience

The primary target audience for my music magazine is working-class (social grades C1-E) males, aged between 16 and 26. They will primarily be fans of rap and hip-hop music, however there will be articles referring to dubstep/drum and bass music, as well as techno music. They will have part-time jobs, and generally be located in more urban areas.

Audience Research

For my main task, I realised that audience research would provide key information regarding the style of my music magazine, from the style of the masthead to the positioning of the teasers. This allows me to clearly represent what the audience wishes to see. I have decide to create a SurveyMonkey, as I did in my preliminary task, so that I know what my audience wants to appear. According to Fiske, the aims of the producer are not very important, because consumers will "rip" the existing texts, and apply their own views to whatever is written. I feel that if I use more consumer input, there will be less such usage, because they have had a more direct influence of what is featured.

Of Hartley's seven pre-existing groups that define a person's social position, I will be directly collecting information about three of them; gender, age group and class.

Genre

The genre I intend my music magazine to be is predominantly UK hip-hop and rap. Hip-hop originated in New York in the 1970's, and has spread to be a symbol of urban culture throughout the world. Pioneers of the genre included NWA, Public Enemy and Run DMC. Nowadays, American hip-hop is led by artists including Eminem, Jay-Z and Kanye West.

In London in the early 2000's, a new genre of UK hip-hop, based around the style of UK pioneers Wiley and Dizzee Rascal, was established on pirate radio stations and called grime. With the commercial success of albums such as Boy in Da Corner (Dizzee Rascal), grime developed a large following. One of the main details about grime is that it is mostly produced by the youth, with well-known artists such as Dizzee Rascal and Kano being only 16 when they hit success. Leading artists who have been involved in the grime scene include Chipmunk, Devlin, Wretch 32, Skepta and Ghetts.

Overall, hip-hop has received large amounts of criticism and bad publicity from the media, with violent lyrics and racial discrimination present in many songs. Reporters have even gone so far as to state that "killing is almost a fashion accessory" in hip-hop culture. Also, hip-hop artists have been known to include political messages inside their songs, both with US artists like Lupe Fiasco and Immortal Technique, to UK artists like Lowkey, Akala and Dizzee Rascal, who said in his lyrics, "I'm a problem for Anthony Blair".