Firstly, we looked at a timeline of the magazine, New Musical Express. This showed us how magazines have changed, from colour and there printing paper, to the types of artists that were featured of the front covers.
As a class we looked at some leading brand music magazine but also looked at the different types of music magazines sold by shops like WHSmiths. We looked at their pricing, the genre of musicians that were typically featured on/in the magazine. This gave a quick idea about the type of readers that would be looking at these magazine.
We then looked at some magazines in more depth. We looked at the artists on the front page image, featured artists written on the front page, types of information that is given on the front page, the price, the colour scheme and any extras that come with the magazine.
This is mix mag that focuses on dance and clubbing music. We know this straight away as the catchphrase above the title is "the world's biggest dance music and clubbing magazine". As soon as we saw this catchphrase we decided that this magazine isn't for our chosen artist, Zara Larsson as her music genre is mainstream and pop. Therefore advertising her music in this magazine will not work and interest the correct audience.
Q magazine focuses on a variety of artists which we can see on the front cover as their is a large amount of music artist names on the front cover. For example, at the bottom of the cover it has "30 pages of reviews: Paul Weller, Kendrick Lamar, Vaccines, Hot Chip, Faith No More, Sam Smith & more!" this list of different artists that create music of different genres and tells us that they look at a range of genres. therefore we have come to a conclusion that our artist will be featured.
From looking at Kerrang's front cover we can see that this is a fun magazine but also focuses on punk and rock music. We know this as it has the iconic punk rock bad fall out boy on the front cover and headings of other artists around the page for example "slipknot", "MCR". The audience for this magazine would be teenagers/ young adults and this audience is suitable but the music genre for our artist is not suitable.
NME music magazine front cover for Glastonbury 2015. This magazine focuses on a variety of artists with the libertines on the front age and pictures of florence and the machine and Kanye west at the side who are from completely different musical backgrounds. This magazine suits our chosen artist but as she is a unknown artist and NME is the UK's most popular music magazine you wouldn't find new artists in this type of magazine.
After looking at these magazines, I have decided that my artist, Zara Larsson, would be most likely to have a magazine advertisement in Q magazine. This is because the magazine has over one million monthly subscribers, their audience range in music genre types and are open minded to different types of music genres. There average age of their target audience is young so people on Zara's target audience will be included in the people reading Q magazine.
Examples Of Magazine Advertisements
Individually, we looked at a series of magazine advertisements and then wrote down and tallied what conventions we found on the adverts.
Some of the conventions that were found in most/all of the magazine adverts were that they have the title of the album and the artists name appearing. This was the case for every magazine advert that we looked at however, the font colour and type was different for every art and was picked so that it would fit in with the theme of the album or artist genre. The ay was also different for the different adverts, some had the artists' name above the title of the album and some had it the other way around. Also the artists who's image was very important to them had a picture of them on the advert itself, as well as the front of the album. The theme and colour schemes were very suitable for the genre and type of artist it was promoting.
These are some music adverts that i found of artists that is in the similar genre as our chosen artist 'Zara Larsson'. I found these adverts from the internet and annotated it using powerpoint. I noted down some conventions that i identified from the previous task i had completed looking at a range of genres instead of one specific genre that we will be focusing on. Completing this task helped me understand the key points for the genre we will be basing our advert on and enable us to make sure that we use this in our piece.
Planning- Music Magazine Advertisement
As part of research and planning we drew out 2 different plans of our music magazine advert with each one having different covers and properties. After drawing out our plans we decided to practice the composition ideas of our advert and take our own pictures of the actress we are using in the music video. Completing this task was useful as it did not only allow us to see what photo would suit best but it also helped us come to terms with how the camera works and what we need to take in to account when filming.
Planning- Music magazine Advertisment
Here are some of the pictures we took using different poses, backgrounds and lighting to see what works best for the music advert.
Once we had taken all of the practice photos I uploaded them on to the mac and imported the photo I wanted to use on to photoshop. To start with I enlarged the photo to the size where editing could be completed and with the magic eraser got rid of the white background, then using a small individual eraser to remove the background in places you could only see when zoom is applied. As this was only a practice i got a pink marbled photo from the internet to use as a background. For our final music magazine ad we are planning on taking photos of patterned paper to use as backgrounds.
I then changed the layers on photoshop so the photo we took of our actress was on top of the background. To make the actress the focal point of the advert I enlarged the photograph, moving the photo working out where the photograph looks best, sticking to the conventions of the music magazine adverts in the pop industry. I decided on placing the photo at the bottom of the page so you can't see where i have edited and cut around the photo but enlarge the photo so the actress's head is at eye level with the audience. After this i added in text paying close attention to the size and colour scheme. As the main part of the advert is the artist name and album title i made these the largest written features on the advert. For the use of colouring I did a colour swatch making the writing the same colour as the scarf she is wearing this way their will be the same colour scheme throughout.
Whilst making the font larger I encountered some obstacles as I had not made the text box big enough to make the text big therefore this is something I need to remember when creating our final music magazine advert. From looking at existing adverts in magazines I realised that a convention was advertising social media sites such as twitter and facebook therefore I have added in social media site logo's and a website.
As we planned two different adverts i created a second plan using another photograph we had taken when we where doing the practice shot. Just like the previous photo i started by enlarging the photo and erasing the background using the magic eraser. As this photo had a different composition i found it harder to get rid of the background with a clean cut around the figure. I used the same background to help with comparison when doing audience feedback finding out what one people prefer. I made the artist and the album title the focal point of the advert also using a colour swatch again from her scarf creating a colour scheme of pink and purple. Underneath the album title i added in the artists name 'Zara Larsson' in a font smaller than the album title but still noticeable. I then added text about what song it features i found that the font colour didn't show up against the hair therefore had to change the font to a lighter shade on her scarf. When making the final advert this is something i will have to remember and find a way to overcome.
Construction; The final music magazine advertisement
Using the same process as we did with our practice music advertisements we took more photographs of our actor in the chosen costume and make-up. We then uploaded the photographs on to the iMacs and decided as a team on what we thought where the best photos and what is suitable for the advert.
We decided that this photo was suitable for our final music advert and is similar to our practice music advert knowing that the pose works well in the format we are going to present our advert in.
Then using the magic eraser i got rid of the background area and removed any wispy bits of hair, i then did slight touch ups on the face to give it more of a flawless and 'false' look which is a convention i spotted when looking at other artists music magazines.
To make sure the CD Digipak and music advert had a similar style as a team we decided to create our own backgrounds using photoshop and have the background in a faded filter effect. The colours work well as they are neutral and make the model our focal point although it isn't in the centre. I made the colour fade upwards as the white will allow the font to stand out from the background.
I then added in the font using the colour selector and swatching the colour from the models lipstick colour. I decided to do this after trying several different colour swatches on the music advert and decided that having an existing colour in the advert works best and we can also use the same colour across in the CD digipak. I made the album title '1' to a larger font compared to everything else as when looking at existing music magazine adverts the album title and artist name was the biggest font. I placed the artists name at the top as i believe it is the most important thing allowing the audience to find out who the girl is in the picture as quickly as possible.
I have then added in social media logos and a website for our artist, i made all of the logos the same size to give the advert a professional feel. I placed the font in a layered format framing around the models face, this has made the model the focal point but also brings attention to the writing and information on the album.
I have included Zara Larsson's record label logo as well at the bottom right hand corner of the advert, I did this as it was a common convention on existing music adverts. I put this is in the corner as its something our target audience won't pay attention too or need to know.
This is what the music magazine advertisement looks like so far , i have included all of the common conventions i have noticed from looking at existing music magazines giving it a professional feel. I think i have used an appropriate colour scheme that will stand out to our target audience and the positioning of the font gives all of the important information in an abrupt way. To find out if our final music magazine advert appeals to the target audience we decided to ask Lauren who is 17 years old and listens to pop music what she liked and disliked about the music magazine advert, below are some of Lauren's comments on the advert.
Does this music magazine advert appeal to you and why ?
"This advert appeals to me and i think if i saw it in a magazine i would definitely read it to find out more information on what the advert is about. I like the way you have kept the colours natural and not too bright to catch the eye. The font also appeals to me as it all in the same colour and in a chronological order. I also think i would read it because the girl in the photo looks young and around my age meaning we might have similarities and i could connect with her easier than an older person."
Do you think this advert works well against the music video and cd digipak?
"Yes i think this advert works well especially with the cd digipak as she is wearing the same clothes and you have used the same colour scheme and font. I think the cd digipak and magazine advert being the similar is important as once you have seen the advert you will then want to purchase the digipak and with them looking the same will be visually easier to find in the store or online."
If you could make any changes to the music magazine advert what would it be?
"To improve it i would add in where the album is available to buy and make your social media logos smaller to add in more information about the album or artist"
This audience feedback has helped me find out how i could improve what i have made so far in order to have a well executed final piece.
"Endless" Zara Larsson Completed Music Magazine Advertisement for Q Magazine (embedded as a .jpeg file)
This is the final music magazine advert after receiving feedback from Lauren and making slight changes.
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