Research: Kerrang! Quiz

Above are two examples of the Kerrang! Quiz that is featured in every issue of Kerrang!. I really like this idea, therefore i may incorporate this in my magazine.

Questionnaire Results

An overview of the answers from the 46 participants of my questionnaire:

The answers from those who buy music magazines:

The answers from those who do not buy music magazines:

The results from this questionnaire will help me to decide large things like what sort of age range music, in particular Metal magazines are popular with. As we can see, this is the 15-18 age range, which supports my choice of target audience, with most of the participants being male, i can also deduct what sort of content to include in the magazine. Even smaller things like the price are influenced by the questionnaire, as we can see most said that they do or would be willing to buy a magazine that was priced £2-£3.

Analysis of 2 Front Covers

Analysis of 2 Contents Pages

Analysis of 2 Double-Page Spreads

Theories In Media

Cohen's Moral Panic:

A moral panic is a mass feeling expressed within society about a supposed threat to the normal social order and conventions. In 1971, Stanley Cohen named deviant groups as folk devils. The 'panic' that is created through this, turns other people against these groups. A prominent example of this, that is still witnessed today, is the British press reflecting immigrants in a negative light to turn the public against them, and the nations that they originate from.

Richard Dyer's Star Theory:

Richard Dyer theorised that instead of being a person, they were simply an image created for audiences. He based his theory on two paradoxes; with the star having to be present yet absent, while being both ordinary and extraordinary. Dyer said that they were commodities, ultimately being produced and consumed on the strength of their meanings.

Laura Mulvey's Male Gaze Theory:

Laura Mulvey, a British feminist and film theorist, came up with a theory in 1975 called the 'Male Gaze Theory'. Within this theory, Mulvey stated that cinema audiences look at films in two different ways, fetishistically and voyeuristically. She states that this results in two effects, a narcissistic identification of an ideal shown on the screen as well as the objectification of females. Mulvey used her theory to prove that the media of the time and to much extent today, is created on the basis of satisfying males, with females being used as mere 'objects of desire for their visual pleasure'. This theory has formed the basis of many arguments used by feminists who campaigned for women's representation in the media.

Analysis of St.James' High School newsletter

As a part of the research for the preliminary task, I shall look another school newsletter, that of St.James' Catholic High School. The initial impression of this newsletter is that it is quite formal in both design and content. Due to this, i can assume that the target audience for this newsletter is the parents rather than the students of St.James', which is also supported by the opening words being 'Dear parents/carers' which makes it quite clear who the newsletter is for. 

The first page is very formal and mature in it's style of presentation due to the large amounts of text and quite bland colour scheme. It opens with a message from the Head teacher, which is then followed by a prayer and  key information. There are some downsides however, especially in relation to the production of the newsletter, which has been created using software such as Microsoft Publisher or similar, making the text boxes, lines and inconsistent use of font come across as quite unprofessional, which is not what you want when trying to impress and inform the parents of your pupils.

Throughout the newsletter, the colour scheme is very inconsistent and bares little resemblance the school's colours. This can be seen in particular on the third page where several different colours are used, giving the impression that there is no formality to the structure, which instead just consists of random colours to try and attract the reader's eye, which is only partly successful. The main website for the school is predominantly dark blue, purple and gold, so to include colours such as red (as well as leaving a lot of white space), it can give the impression of unprofessionalism.

Furthermore, the images that have been included on page one and four, although useful in supporting the surrounding information, are not very professional. To combat this, a more professional camera could be used, which would help to create a more mature impression and feel to this newsletter. Overall, I believe that this newsletter was mostly successful in reaching it's target audience, the parents, but still has potential to enhance the overall structure and feel to the newsletter. I will take into account my criticisms, such as those about the lack of consistency of the colour scheme and unprofessional photographs, and make sure that I avoid these when making my school newsletter.

Analysis of Deyes High School Newsletter

Deyes High Newsletter Analysis

As a preliminary task I shall be creating a school/college newsletter. To do this, research and analysis of the existing newsletter is required. On a whole, the first impressions of the 'Deyes High Newsletter' are quite poor.

It seems to be quite basic, and opts to use colour schemes that can be unappealing to the eye.  The banners at the top and bottom of the first page consist of colours that are bold, bright and simply do not suite each other. For example, the footer of the page has a bright red background and contains white writing. This comes across quite garish. Furthermore, the spacing of the pictures and text used in some areas of the newsletter often comes across quite unproffessional and amateurish as they often overlap one another, or consist of uneven gaps. The amount of text, in some intances, is overbearing and will put students off from reading it. Although the main target audience is the parents, the students still need to be considered when producing the newsletter as they are the ones who read it first. Also, the images themselves give quite a childish impression, such as the Mickey Mouse picture shown below.

On a positive note, the parents of the students are targeted as equally as well as the students themselves. Part way through the magazine, there are professional photographs, clear cut and 'mature' paragraphing representing drama at Deyes High. I believe that this is a particularly effective section, and targets both students and parents well, as intended. Also, the sections that are labelled 'numeracy top tips' and 'puzzle time' are evidently targeted at the students, and i believe that these are effective in doing so (excluding the clip rt picture previously mentioned).

Mock ups and Conventions of Magazines

Key Terminology

Buzz Words: 'exclusive' 'wow' 'free' 'new' etc.
House Style: The unique and recurring design of a magazine that distinguishes it from others.
Puffs: A box designed to attract the attention of the reader, promoting features of the magazine.
Strap Line: A slogan or sentence that may reoccur.
Banner: Text upon a coloured background to stand out as much as possible.
Anchorage Text: The way text helps to define a picture or vice versa.
Copy: The main story/article of the magazine.
Pugs: Normally positioned in a top corner, the price, logo or an advertisement is placed here, known as the 'ears' of the page.
Motto: A memorable phrase that is recognisable to a brand.
Headline: Distinctive title for the main article of the magazine.
Sell Line: Text that is on the front cover to help sell the magazine to the reader.
Caption: Description of the main image.
Masthead: Name of the magazine.
Lead: The introductory paragraph to an article, usually written in bold or capitals etc.
Drop Capitals: The extra large letter that starts an article.
Bleed: The extension of an illustration past the type area to the edge of the page.
Folio: The page number, date, name etc given to the periodical of each page or spread.
Break of the Book: The allocation of space for articles, features and all material printed in the book.

Semiotics

Semiotics is the study of signs. A sign is something that stands for something other than itself.

The two main theorists behind semiotics were: Ferdinand de Saussure (1857-1913) and Charles Sander Pierce (1839-1914).

Sausure's dyadic semiotic system deducts that signs are solely psychological and that they only make sense within a formal abstract system. He also concluded that a sign is made up of a signifier The form of which the sign takes) that signifies the signified (the concept represented).

Pierce's tryadic semiotic system states that a sign is one of three things; an index, an icon or a symbol. An index does not have an arbitrary signifier, but is connected to the signified (ie the smell of smoke represents fire, yet does not necessarily indicate a fire). Icons have a signifier that resembles the signified (ie a drawing of a tree depicts a tree, but it not actually a tree). A symbol is when the signifier is conventional (ie letters and numbers).

I will have to consider semiotics thoroughly when making my magazine, as I have to ensure it targets the correct audience and gives the image and impression that I desire. The colours of fonts, images, backgrounds, the images i use and the contents of the images all have to considered through the eyes of the consumer. If the wrong sort or combination is used, then my magazine will not reach the required result. I will most probably be making a Metal/Heavy Metal magazine, ergo i would include things like a dark colour scheme etc.

Music Magazine Research

There are a multitude of different music genres out there today, with some being more popular than others and many having several music magazines to promote and provide information,news, tour dates etc specific to that genre. 

This is an example of a Kerrang! front cover, this magazine caters for those who listen to metal/heavy metal, which is my personal favourite. Kerrang!, to tie in to the heavier music genre, uses darker colours, often featuring a central image that partly covers the masthead (such as Rammstein in the issue above), supported by smaller images portraying some of the other bands featured in the magazine.

Above are examples of the magazine Rolling Stone. This magazine doesn't really dedicate itself to one genre of music, and sometime no music whatsoever. As you can see above, the first example features Grunge legends Nirvana, whereas the second features The President of the United States, Barack Obama. In relation to the music based issues of Rolling Stones, they tend to have a huge spectrum of genres, from metal artist Marilyn Manson to more pop artist Katy Perry.

This is an example of the music magazine NME. this magazine tends to focus on 'Indie' genre. The issue above features 'Florence and the machine' and depicts a typical cover of NME, with one central image surronded by text, with possibly one smaller image.

Above is an example of vibe, whose genre is quite evidently Rap/RnB. This issue above features Eminem, a prominent rapper, and is also an example of a typical cover of Vibe, featuring a mid shot of the artist, with text filling the space surrounding the image.

Music Magazine Questionnaire

As research for my music magazine i needed to gain a clear understanding of what people like and dislike about the music magazines already out there today. To help me to do so, i created a questionnaire that would help to decide what i should or shouldn't include in my magazine and would also help me to identify my target audience. To create the questionnaire, i used Google Docs. This allowed me to share the questionnaire online through social media sites such as Facebook and Twitter, meaning i could reach a wide spectrum of people. It also meant that the results that are gathered from those who completed my questionnaire can be quickly and easily collated into a table/graph, meaning that i see patterns and trends immediately.
When creating my questionnaire, i made sure that they're where not too many questions or pages, and created two paths, one for those who buy music magazines and another for those who don't. That way i make sure that my questionnaire is not too vague, but not too long as that can often discourage people from participating.



https://docs.google.com/spreadsheet/viewform?formkey=dFJDZVUwU3VRc2EwZks0bTFZMm92NGc6MQ#gid=0