Product - Level 4

To achieve a level 4 in my magazine brief, I need to:

• Create effective photos using appropriate shot types
• Use mise en scene to and appeal to the audience and create professionalism
• Edit photos using photo editing software to improve the ones taking
• Use approapriate language to relate to the audience and genre of magazine
• Effective integration of pictures and font to look appealing
• Understand magazine conventions of the music genre I am doing including layout and page design
• Use a variety a fonts and text size to make the magazine stand out more
• Use my ICT effectively to create my magazine

What they have done well:

• Used an effective colour scheme that relates to the music genre and stands out.
• The photos were appropraite and relevant - and shot well
• The language was appropriate and appealing
• The layout + page design followed magazine conventions
• They used a variety of fonts and text sizes to show that some is more important than others

I think they both got a level 4 because they created an appropriate and effective music magazine that follows the genre well. They used appropriate language and fonts while using a colour scheme that makes it stand out. The images were shot and placed effectively to fully appeal to the audience.
Possible improvements for 'drowned in sound' - the front cover is a bit crowded to be an indie music magazine, and there is quite a lot of various colours which is a bit too in your face.
Possible improvements for 'supremacy' - The picture on the double page spread isn't very effective as it isn't shot too well and the clothes don't relate to the genre. Also the way the text is arranged is a bit confusing.


I think I will be able to achieve a level 4 as I am planning to use a wide range of photos that are all appropriate to the magazine genre and target audience. There will be a variety of shot types, distances, and locations to keep it looking fresh and professional. My locations are going to be simple but effective such as a brick wall/fence to make it look a bit old fashioned and effective. The questions and answers I plan to use for my interview contains appropriate language which will be appealing to the target audience and relevant to the genre. I will do this in an informal way so I can use my language to appeal to that specific target audience. My planned layout follows the conventions of indie/pop music magazines although I plan to change my layouts slightly as I go along to make them better and more effective. My fonts are suitable for the magazine genre and I have quite a few appropriate possibilities for my product that I have pointed out the advantages and disadvantages of.

How to Improve Research + Planning

To improve my research and planning I will:

• Carry out a focus group to get a better idea of my target audience for my product.
• Add photos of location ideas + models for my production plan
• Improve the presentation of my blog
• Scan in the contents pages + double page spreads I analysed

Pitch of my magazine

My idea for a music magazine will be indie/pop themed aimed mainly at girls aged 15-21 and ABC1s.
Main selling points:

• The front cover is ordered so mature - appealing to the T.A
• The colour scheme is appropriate and is appealling. Also it is quite colourful and bright to stand out
• There will be celebrities on the front cover that are young so that the audience will know them and be able to relate to them
• The articles relate to both girls and peolpe who like indie/pop music so are appealing.

I plan to appeal to this target audience by the things i am including in it. I will do this by making the front cover of the magazine the most appealing it could be to draw the audience in and make them buy it. I will do this by arranging it in an ordered and mature way, while keeping the coverlines about relevant subjects and in places that they will be seen through the route of eye. It's colour and font scheme will also be clear and attractive to make it easy to read and appealing. This colour scheme will be the overall theme for the magazine to keep it simple although different or additional colours may be used to make certain articles look more appealing or different. For example the feature of the magazines (interview of artists on front cover) will have a different colour scheme that perhaps relates to that artist in some way as well as the audience to tell you more about them. On the contents page and throughout the magazine there will be articles about festival coverage, interviews with music stars, a music chart, reviews of artists, singles and albums, tour dates and and codes for free downloads of music to appeal to the music loving audience. The interviews will be of music stars who are young to relate to the young target audience. As it needs to appeal to girls, I will also include recent news about music stars and things that they have been wearing as in my T.A questionnaire the interests on girls included gossip and fashion.The image of the celebrity on my front cover willn either be a girl who is fashionable and successful or a boy who its attractive and succesful to appeal to the female audience as well as music lovers. I think my magazine will be successful based on my audience research as i have taken account all my results that i found out from my questionnaire. I am planning on aiming it at mainly girls aged 15-21 as that was where my questionnaire results mainly come from. I have taken into account their interests + hobbies and also what colour scheme and font they would prefer to produce as magazine that will best appeal to them. I think it will be extremely successful as i have made sure that i will include all the things they said they would expect to see in a music magazine and the other answers will let me appeal to my specific target audience well. I also plan to keep it at a reasonable price of £2-£3 so that it is affordable for the young T.A.

2nd Drafts - with font and colour scheme ideas

Image will take up whole of front cover so there is only the background seen on the photo ^

Font drafts and colour schemes

Production Plan - photos

Production Plan

Loacations for photos:
(and various loacations in london)

Draft text for my main article

Draft of text

For my text in the double page spread, rather than a large article, I will have questions and answers to give an interview feel to it. The questions will cover some personal topics but also talk about their music to keep audience appealed. Examples of questions + answers I will put are:

• We hear you have a new album coming out soon, what can we expect from that? Yes I do, and it’s called (album name) and will be released on (date). I am really pleased with it and so grateful to everyone who contributed to making it. It really took a lot of hard work.
• Do you feel you have matured since becoming a music star? Definitely, since I was a young naive teenager when I started. I feel like I’ve really changed since and figured out what I’m doing and where I’m going.
• How’s your life away from the music? It’s great, even though I love the fans it’s nice to have a break and just relax in the comfort of my home with my family.
• Anyone special in your life at the moment? Maybe...Hahaa no not at the moment but I hope to get married and have kids in the future.
• Have you ever had your heart broken? Nahh, but I have had some bad breakups in my bad boy phase when I was younger (laughs)
• So your family fully supports you then? Oh yeaa completely! They really love that i’m pushing myself everyday to reach my goals.
• We love that you write your own songs, are they about your life experiences or just general ideas? Most of them are reflect moments or events in my life but I have also written a fair few about friends lives and just general ideas i have.
• You have totally turned your life around since your short rehab stay last year. What motivated you to do it? I think it was mainly cos of my family. I was just so selfish and I didn’t realise what I was doing to them. When i realised it, it really hit me hard and pushed me to changed.
• So you’re a complete good girl now? Hahaa, I don’t think any girl is really completely good. Every girl has a bad side inside of them just waiting to shine. (laughs)
• What’s in the future for you?  Well I have a tour in the USA soon that I am so excited about but really I just want to stay with the flow at the moment and see what happens.
• So do you have any celebrity crushes? I have a few, but i’m not mentioning names...
• The question people always get asked, who inspires you? My sister. She’s so strong even though she’s been through some rough patches and she really helped me push myself to get into the music industry. I am so thankful to have her.

My artist that I am interviewing is a girl who writes indie/pop music and is in her mid twenties. She is really friendly so willing to answer any questions, even the personal ones. Her answers will always be relevant and passionate when asked about music. She will also use lots of slang as she is young. This makes the interview seem more personal and informal, appealing to the audience.


Ideas for coverlines for my front page/contents page: 

• Festival coverage e.g. Glastonbury/ v fest
• New albums + singles
• Reviews of new artists and current artists albums and singles
• Tour dates
• Interviews and factfiles of music stars
• News about music stars
• Music award coverage e.g. ema's/ vma's
• A music chart for singles + albums
• Free posters

My first drafts for my magazine