Our music magazine front cover does not have a banner, which challenges the conventional music magazine front cover. However, we do have the basics, such as a masthead, straplines and main cover photo. We used graphics, such as the star-shaped photo in the bottom corner, the photo of the iPod which was to be the competition prize, the three musical notes at the top, middle and bottom of the page, the microphone in the top corner and the headphones under the masthead, all of which use normal forms and conventions of real music magazines. We also use a home-made barcode in the bottom corner on top of the star-shaped photo, which includes with it the issue date and number, and the price of the magazine. We use no boxes, text or otherwise, instead putting the text directly onto the background image, using the stairs in the image as a sort-of set of guidelines. Most of our front cover uses the basic forms and conventions of real music magazine covers.
How does your music magzine cover represent certain social groups?
Our music magazine cover uses the colour and wording of the title “Bounce: Girl’s Edition” to draw in and represent girls who would read “Bounce”. The cover photos are both “successful female artists”, which appeals more to teenage girls than teenage boys, as it shows that girls and women can be just as successful as boys and men. This appeals to a large female audience.
What kind of media institution might distribute your music magazine cover and why?
This magazine would probably start off in smaller, less well-known shops, like local newsagents, but then might move into slightly more mainstream shops like general newsagents, finally ending up in places like WHSmiths etc, whilst still being sold in the general newsagents. Though, I suppose that’s what any “newcomer” might say about their magazine.
Who would be the audience for your music magazine cover?
The typical audience for our music magazine would probably be female, early to mid-teens up to mid-twenty’s and more likely to be a student than anything else, possibly with a part-time job. They and their friends would probably be classed into the same sorts of categories, preferring R’n’B-style music above all else, and possibly going to dance clubs on Friday/Saturday evenings. If they are students, they probably don’t care as much about their work as they should, and therefore don’t always achieve their potential. These people probably sing a little, or rap/mc to impress their friends. Most would probably own a bike, or use public transport to get around, one or two might own some form of run-down, half-broken car. These sorts of people would probably think McDonalds or KFC as the heaven of food, and may not look much further for their meals. As for TV shows, they probably watch the basic soaps and TV dramas like Eastenders, plus the music channels like The Hits. The younger members of this audience would almost certainly live with their parents, probably in a flat, but possibly in a house, their room being a sort of shrine to their favourite artists; the older members are probably more likely to live in student accomodation if they’ve made it to university. They are probably less likely to go out and get horribly drunk every night, but they may still on occasion. Favourite drinks would probably include some form of caffeinated energy drink. I think the furthest away these people would go on holiday is probably somewhere like Manchester rather than a foreign country, unless they have family elsewhere.
How did you attract/ address your audience?
The pink in the title would tend to attract girls rather than boys. Also the sub-heading “Girl’s Edition” is more potent to girls. The images are more suited to girls, as they are all feminine in one way or another.
What have you learnt about technologies from the process of constructing this magazine front cover?
I’ve learnt that Photoshop is the best image editing program in the universe! Using this program, I’ve learnt how to make an image look more professional than I have been able to using somewhat cruder ways of image editing (i.e. MS Paint and MS PowerPoint).
If you were to make another front cover, what do you think you would do differently next time?
If we were to do this all again, with the knowledge I have now, I think I would make sure everything was more organised for the photoshoot, so that we actually had the right props with us, and were wearing the right clothes etc. I’d also make sure we had one or more spare camera batteries with us, as the battery in the camera we had stopped working, as did the spare we went to collect. I would probably also ask for a better camera. I would make sure we knew roughly what sorts of photos we wanted for the magazine, both for the cover and the inside page/s, and then be sure to take those photos. As far as photoshopping it all together goes, I think it went alright this time; however, next time I would make sure to look at the front cover of a magazine more often for a better sense of what a real music magazine looks like, as I don’t buy or read magazines, and therefore don’t really know what the cover of a magazine is generally like. Of course, with the knowledge I have now, producing the cover on photoshop would be a much faster task, as I actually know how to do it, mostly, and know a few tricks that can be useful. If I had enough time the next time I did this, I might try my hand at writing an article rather that going into default and doing a contents page, but only if I had enough time.
Front Cover
Contents Page
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