Mission Statement

Anthem a new exciting and stirring music magazine that celebrates and promotes current artists in the music industry. The name Anthem summarises the fact that this magazine will feature musical content. At the same time the name symbolises that the magazine will become known throughout the nation just like its national ‘anthem’, it will sound-off loud for all to hear.  

There is a brand new generation of artists with great talents that just want to burst out and make it big. These artists have a strong determination to make an impact on the world and these are the type of people I would enjoy having featured in my magazine and something I know the readers would enjoy reading about in Anthem magazine.

The magazine will be distributed monthly at a price of £2.50. It will be available for purchase at all large newsagents and supermarkets like Tesco, Sainsburies and WHSmith. It will also be available in most music retailers. The readers will also have the option to the magazine via the magazine’s website www.anthem.co.uk or through post.

Anthem is primarily a music magazine, which will be reflected in its content. The magazine will include content like interviews with new up and coming bands; reviews of gigs, albums and singles; inspiring articles of bands that have made it and want to share their experiences with the new generation. There will also be the reader’s favourite artist profiles thus the magazine will fulfil the general interests of its readers. Articles will include things like top 10 songs of the month and feature articles on one specific artist along with competitions, reviews and music news. The readers like live music so the magazine will also include news of up and coming gigs. The magazine will also occasionally commemorate a specific time in history where rock was embraced all around the world thanks to artists like Elvis and The Beatles.

As a magazine, Anthem promises to deliver information on the latest music news on artists, albums, gigs and competitions. Anthem also promises to entertain its audience will excusive interviews and inspiring stories of successful artists that hope to inspire the readers to follow their musical dreams. The magazine will also promise to reward its readers for staying faithful and continuing to purchase the magazine. Once in a while, the magazine will have some kind of cover mount, such as a code for a free download, CDs of featuring tracks by current artists, or smaller cover mounts like guitar picks. The CD's could sometimes be by 'yet to be discovered artists', that the magazine is helping to promote and pull in readership that is looking for new sound, at the same time helping to support the aims of the magazine. Some of the artists we are looking forward to presenting are The Foo Fighters, My Chemical Romance, Gorillaz and Simple Plan.

There are also chances for readers to win prizes with each issue of the magazine. Some might give the opportunity to win tickets to gigs, others might give the readers the chase to become VIPs at a concert and meet their favourite artists and everyone has a chance to register with the website to receive all of the up to date information and exclusive offers.

This magazine believes that it is important to celebrate music because it is such a dominant part of our lives. It will feature a range of artists, but just because the music industry tends to be dominated by males does not mean we will limit the content to mostly males because we believe that females have had the same impact in the music business as men, so there will be articles of female artists that will not try to de-feminise.

The magazine will encourage the reader to embrace their musical side and feel uplifted enough to help them recognise their own strengths and potential.

The style of Anthem can be described as unique and modern with a touch of youthfulness and free spiritedness. The readers will find it stylish and informative, but also that it can be friendly and almost childish at times to show off a slightly juvenile side. The style of my magazine therefore matches the style and qualities of my audience ensuring that they can feel that they can relate whilst enjoying reading the magazine. 

Target Audience Profile

The readers of my magazine are both male and female between the ages of 16 and late 20-ies. They have a range of different qualities that when put together allows them to be unique with their own scene of style. The readers are sociable and are not afraid to strike up a conversation which shows off their confidence and general interest in current events. They have their own vision about music and are not afraid to promote it, but also accept that others have their own visions and respect the diversity. The target audience are not the type to follow fashion trends and instead wear clothes that express their personality and possibly point towards their interests. They believe that fashion is not a way of developing their uniqueness and not about following the crowd.

Since the age range is so wide, some readers might still be in education or working on their degree, so they will not have a lot of disposable income. They are hard workers, but always try to find time where they can brake away from their routine and have some time for themselves.

The group of readers that have finished education are settled in a secure job with good income that lets them treat themselves on a regular basis. They like their jobs because it’s not just pencil pushing, but where they can express themselves and give ideas that are rewarded for their contribution. Because of the good income, they are able to feel independent and secure. Some of the target audience may be in a long-term relationship, but they choose to live alone because they don’t believe in the old fashioned ideas of what a relationship should be like.

The readers of my magazine have a common interest of trying out new things and having new experiences. They love making spontaneous decisions to add a bit of excitement to their lives and hate the feeling of boredom. They love being with their friends and going to pubs and clubs to have some fun and meet new people. They enjoy exercising and eating a healthy diet, but sometimes forget about those things and end up indulging themselves with fast food like pizza and chinese and having lazy nights in watching their favourite TV programmes like ‘X-Factor’, ‘MTV’ and ‘True Blood’ or ‘Hollyoaks’.

Their not really interested in shopping but love cycling and occasionally participating in hiking or paintball to fuel their want for excitement and danger. Some of the target audience may even be aspiring musicians and even play a musical instrument like guitars or keyboards, and try to buy music magazines as often as they can to keep up with the music news.

  

Music is a passion of the target audience, and one that they are proud and serious about. They listen to music on a daily basis and can’t think of a time where music is not accompanying them through their day. Weather they are listening to their iPod whilst on their daily commute or watching their favourite music channel when they get home, or even listening to the radio as they drift off to sleep; music plays an active role in the reader’s life. The readers enjoy listening to live bands, and are always the first to buy tickets to their favourite concerts. They listen to mostly rock style music because it can both excite the audience and the soft rock can be a nice way of ending the day.

The reader likes listening to old classic rock bands like Queen, The Beatles and Elvis, but they also enjoy the sound of current rock bands like Simple Plan, Arrowsmith and Metro Station. They like these artists not just because of their music, but because of their refreshing and inspiring confidence and uniqueness.

The readers of my magazine are currently reading other magazines like Kerang, but are looking for something that is more laid back with a wider range of artists. But the target audience also like reading non- music magazines like Empire because movies are another thing that happens to give them joy and pleasure. They enjoy horror, action and comedy genres the most. They prefer watching these movies with friends, but will occasionally curl up in a soft couch and watch them at home. They are also constant internet users and like to spend some of their free time on social networking sites like Facebook and Twitter, watching videos on YouTube and even playing video games by themselves or with online buddies.  

Codes and Conventions of Rock Music

Rock has many sub-categories and the most contrasting are hard rock and soft rock. These types of music are all considered rock, but grasp the complete opposite ends of the spectrum when it comes to style of the music. 


These are examples of what hard rock and soft rock can sound like and the obvious differences in the style.

Some of the codes and conventions of rock music are things like the bands instruments. Whenever you see media with rock music, you will nearly always see iconography like microphones, guitars and drums. This makes us think of the loud, electric music when it is being played. You can also see pictures of fans smiling and bright stage lights beaming down on stage. This lets us know that the fans are having a good time and adds excitement to the atmosphere.

Another code and convention is that sometimes the artists can wear dark eye make-up, which makes them seem dangerous and rebellious.  Unlike in soft rock where make-up is softer or non-existent so show a kind of more natural beauty side which is reflected in the softer music. which makes them seem dangerous and rebellious. 

         

This style of rock also comes from the fashion convection which usually includes items like jeans, jackets and shirts in dark colours, or bright light colours if it is soft rock. This supports the stereotypical male gender by making them seem strong, dangerous, daring, confident and courageous at times.  Back in the 80's and 70's it was more common for rock bands to wear matching costumes eg. KISS and The Upper Crust.

But now rock bands are more commonly seen wearing clothes that are unique to the other band members. This creates a feeling of originality, individuality and may even inspire fans to show off their own unique styles.

One more feature of rock is the style of hair which is also usually quite messy and the artist themselves can look disorganised, but they manage to contain a kind of nonchalance and mysterious look about them that can reflect in the music as well. Whilst in soft rock, the artists can have messy hair, but to a lesser extent.

 

In rock, the body language can be quite fierce and with a kind of ‘in your face’ attitude.This makes the artists seem aggressive and with a 'ready for a fight' look. It also means that the audience get railed up as well. Fans of hard rock tend to go a bit wild with 'rock on' gestures and head banding, emulating the wild acts of their heroes on stage. Or like in soft rock, the music can be very relaxing and make the audience easy up. There is nothing being forced on the audience and becomes very easy to listen to. These two contrasting types of rock can have two very opposite effects on the listener. 

In hard rock, the theme is often of explicit displays of emotion through aggressive and gory lyrics and are on dark and depressing subjects. Whilst soft rock can deal with lighter or even sorrowful subjects like love, loss or freedom. The lyrics are not shouted or yelled and there are more times when there is harmony in the music.  I like that this genera has such variety which means I can take my magazine in many different directions.

Type of Music Magazine

Before starting my research into music for my music magazine, I must decide on what type of music magazine I will want to do. 
I have decided that my music magazine's style will be rock. Some of the bands that could represent the style of music the magazine is projecting are artists like Foo Fighters, Simple Plan, Coldplay and Gorillaz.


The words I would use to describe the style of my magazine and it's music is "strange but with awe", "lose", "expressive", "pulls you in".

Preliminary Task - Evaluation

Introduction

In the preliminary task, we set out to create a cover for a school magazine and a mock-up of the magazine’s contents page.

It was important that we were given the preliminary task because completing it meant we would be ready to start the main task head on. Completing the preliminary task meant that we would be able to recognize what our weaknesses were whilst making them. This way we could work on those weaknesses and make sure they don’t drag us down when we are completing our main task. This was also a good way of finding out what our strengths are which we could take with us when completing the main task. It also helped us to get to know the codes and conventions of magazines and their purposes, some of which also re-accrue in music magazines.

Making the student magazine also allowed us to get to know the software we were using to make it better. This let us develop our skills on Photoshop and gave us a chance to see how our photography skills were and improve them. Since we had to upload all of the tasks we did for the preliminary task onto our blog, this also let us get to know the blogging site we use (blogger.com), and learn how to properly use the features it gave us. I was new to blogging, so the preliminary task let me find out the site’s feature’s strengths and weaknesses are. This way, when we start the main task, we will know how to use the software we are given properly and make use of its tools for our advantage.

The preliminary task also let us see what kind of research and planning we need to do and how much in depth do we need to do it. This will help us by letting us know which areas we will need to research into the most by giving us a taste of the planning and research to come for our main task. It also means we will need to spend less time on planning and researching since we already know what we need to find out.

The Evaluation

I think that ‘Step Forward’ follows the codes and conventions of magazines quite well. I have included a mast head, which is present on all magazine covers; there are sell lines that are meant to grab audience’s attention by giving them a teasingly small bit of information about what’s in the magazine, but big enough to make them want to find out more e.g. “Top Tips for keeping cool in Interviews”; I have also included a date-line of when the issue was published; a main image and a puff that can give some kind of offer, or another bit of info on the contents of the magazine. I have challenged a convention of magazines by not including a banner at the bottom because I wanted the magazine to look more sophisticated and refined, and a banner, to me, takes some of that sophistication away. However, magazines that are aimed at youth often include a banner.

For my contents page I tried to keep a 1:1 ratio amount of text and images. I also included a page number next to each of the sub-categories so customers can simply go to the article they want without having to flick through the whole magazine, and the articles slowly move from educational to trivial as you go down the contents.

I feel that I could have done a better job at making sure there is a symbiotic link between the cover and the contents page. However I did use the same type of fonts as present on the cover. But I could have used a similar puff or more colours that were on the cover, because an important thing my magazine must create is a brand identity that can be identified by readers no matter what page of the magazine the readers are on. This is something I wish to improve on before starting my main task.

I also feel that some of the fonts were hard to read which could put readers off if text is unreadable, so I will need to make sure my text is clear and doesn’t blend into the background.

I have made it clear to the target audience that my magazine is a school magazine by making sure the title ‘Step Forward’ is referencing education because 6^th form, in a way, is a leap to the next stage of your education and life. It is also commanding the readers to ‘step forward’. The cover’s main image is of a 6^th Former with one of their books to reference studying and the main sell-line is talking about interview tips. Interviews are a recurring event in 6^th Form and are one of the most nerve-wracking things for 6^th Formers. Also CVs are mentioned frequently in 6^th Form which point towards education and moving forward from education.

However the sell-lines about fashion and driving tests don’t really fit in with education as much, so the readers will know that the magazine is not all about work but has some trivia as well. This will make the magazine seem more laid back and friendly, so readers can relax and enjoy reading the magazine instead of feeling it’s something they have to read.

The front cover will appeal to the target audience of male and female readers because the main image is of a fellow 6^th Former, so they know for what age this magazine is, what stage of education and can relate to her. The educational sell-lines pinpoint some of the main, important or challenging events that all 6^th Formers know they will have to go through. But the more trivial sell-lines like the ones about fashion will appeal more at girls. In the contents page, it states that there is a sports section which will appeal more to boys. So there is something for both genders, and there is something for all 6^th Form students. The mode of address is casual and uses current slang so the students can relate through that e.g ‘Need 4 Speed’ or ‘mugged’.

I think that some of the strengths of my produced pieces are the shots I took for the cover. I took many of them in case lots of them wouldn’t work out. I also think I chose appropriate sell-lines for this type of magazine and the title worked well to reflect the type of magazine it was. The strengths of the sell-lines were that they work well in drawing attention and interest and they reflect both the educational and the trivial sides of the magazine’s content.

I think some of the areas I could improve on are the ways I place the sell-lines and the colours, making sure they don’t blend into the background. Another area that needs improvement is my ability to create a symbiotic link between all of my pieces.

Conclusion

The preliminary task has taught me more about the programmes I am going to use for the main task and has shown me areas that could use improvement. Next time I will work harder on creating symbiotic links and placing my sell-lines. Next time I will include a banner and will make the magazine have a less sophisticated feel, but if I feel that it does not fit in with the mise-en-scene, I will not put it in since it’s an optional convention. I found out that placing each line of sell-lines on a new layer can help by giving more freedom of where the words can be placed; and creating shadows behind words helps them to stand out more. I found it very useful when I was researching to ask questions to fellow 6^th Formers. I will do this again but change the questions to get information that is more based around music. 

Preliminary - Contents Page

This is the mock up of my school magazine's contents page that was drawn by hand. I tried to stay with the codes and conventions and made sure that there is a similar amount of text as there is of images.

Preliminary - Final Cover

This is the final version of my School magazine 'Step Forward' front cover.

I decided to keep most of the font styles from my draft but changed the colours so that it stands out against the background and it easy enough to read, and changed positioning a bit to fit around the main image. 

Preliminary Cover mock-up

This is my drawn cover mock-up.

I tried experimenting with some possible colours that would look good and make the cover look more sophisticated, but not make the cover look messy or unprofessional. I also tried many different types of fonts because only one type might make it look a bit boring, but different fonts in different sizes attract readers eyes to where the magazine wants them to be attracted to.

Preliminary - Mission Statement

‘Step Forward’ is a brand new fresh and exciting magazine aimed at 6^th Formers aged 16 to 19. This magazine will appeal to both males and females and will help them deal with their busy lives of school and socializing, as well as entertaining them.

Sophisticated but friendly with a touch of youthfulness is how I would describe the style of this magazine. This magazine promises to guide, advise and entertain its audience, with a selection of articles, advice and tips, making sure they improve their attitude towards learning, but also making sure they can enjoy their life outside of the classroom.

The magazine will be distributed monthly and it will be a free magazine that will be given out in the 6^th Former common room.

‘Step Forward’s’ main goal is to help students successfully survive 6^th Form and give advice on how to manage their school and social life.

‘Step Forward’ features a range of topics including: revision and private study advice; tips on how to create the perfect CV and how to keep calm in interviews; guidance on possible choices of what to do after 6^th Form; interviews with successful former 6^th Formers and much more. The topics will range from educational to trivia, for example tips on the latest student fashions; advice on how to pass their driving tests, because at this age the students are interested in driving and the independence that comes with it and even playlists of songs that are great to study to.

The magazines material will come in many different formats such as interview articles; quiz pages where the reader will be encouraged to interact with the material they read; articles with useful references that the students can use in their spare time, for example good revision websites or sites that can give them lists of university open days. All of which would come in handy for 6^th Formers.

The article will not be formal and may even use slang to that the students would find it easier to relate to. The articles will be unique and engaging so that the reader would not want to put the magazine down.

Preliminary - Target Audience Profile

My target audience for the school magazine will be between the ages of 16 and 19 which will place then in 6^th Form. This magazine will be aimed at both males and females. My target audience are currently in full-time education, some of which may be looking for or working in part time jobs, or be involved in some form of voluntary work. Since they are students, their income is limited and they still receive money from their parents. A part-time job would also give them more independence and financial freedom, which they crave at this age.

Some of the hobbies and interests my target audience might engage include: sports, like football, rugby and tennis; socialising and enjoying an active nightlife; learning to drive and working towards getting their licence; listening to music and creating playlists; going to the cinema or gym in their spare time; shopping for the latest fashions and possibly even getting involved in clubs or performance groups. At this age, they would be going to all the newest and popular movies, most of which would be horror or action adventure. They love listening to their music which can be a mix of styles from pop and rock, to indie or metal. Another interest that this age group would certainly be engaged in is social networking on sites like Facebook and Twitter where they would chat to their friends and share photos or videos.

This gives them friendly and sociable personality traits. They would be intelligent and keen to learn, hard workers who always try their best. They have a great sense of humour and a bubbly personality, which gives them a positive attitude towards learning and a curiosity to find out more.

They understand that education is a way of excelling and achieving their life goals, so one of their needs is to receive guidance on how to cope with their studies and exams to be able to achieve. They would need advice on how to balance their home/social lives with their school lives. They need help with deciding what they want to do after 6^th Form, whether to go to university, find a job or to become an apprentice.

The ways in which this magazine will be used by the target audience will be to help them improve the way they look at education and help them organize themselves for a new school year.