Update: 01/02/10

i have now finished my final front cover. I have finished most of my contents page also, i am planning on doing the finishing touches on my front cover and contents page this week then next week starting on my double page spread. I have completed the text i shall use for my double page spread, I've also sorted out which pictures i will use. I took some pictures and chose the best picture i took to be the background of my front cover. I got rid of the background around Matt and replaced it with a light blue colour. I added text to my front cover related too the genre of the magazine. On the contents page, i used stars i found on google as the bullet points. The content page text is related to the genre of the magazine also. The font i used for my front page title, i used again for my contents page. I think that the contents page and front page are just similar in fonts but not so much in layout.

The colour scheme i used is black,white and cyan. I chose these three colours because they work well together and the colours are good for the genre of magazine I'm creating. You'd expect to see blacks in a metal magazine. As the magazine is for both genres I couldn't use pinks because then it would appear too girly. For my contents page i created a black border so it would appear more sophisticated. I made sure that the text looked in line with the star bullet points and the page looked tidy so nothing was out of place and everything looked professional. I will start writing up my double page spread next week and add pictures too it.

Update: 18/01/10.

I have now finished creating my drafts on quark express. These will be useful to look at when i am creating my actual magazine. I have taken most of my pictures and they are ready to be inserted into my magazine. I am now at the stage of creating my magazine on quark express, i will use one picture i have taken for the background image, i will also create my font which i am going to use on www.dafont.com

At the moment things are going well all i need to do is finish taking my photos which i will finish tomorrow evening and Wednesday evening. In the time being, i will work on my front cover font style and wording i will use on the page. In my magazine i will use the same font styles throughout to make the magazine look as if it flows well. I do not want my magazine to look too cluttered, i will refrain from doing this by limiting myself to pictures and text i add. I want my magazine to have a lot of pictures on it and a lot of writing but i won't over do it.

Planning: Shot lists

Shot One.
Technology required - camera
Props/costume - instrument
Type of shot - long shot
Date/Time - 15/1/10
Location - bedroom
Actors - dave



Shot Two.
Technology required - camera
Props/costume -
Type of shot - medium close up
Date/Time - 15/1/10
Location - bedroom
Actors - Gemma



Shot Three.
Technology required - camera
Props/costume - jacket, top, bright colours
Type of shot - medium long shot
Date/Time - january, saturday
Location - outdoors
Actors - matt


Shot Four.
Technology required -
Props/costume -
Type of shot -
Date/Time -
Location -
Actors -


I will take approximately 10 pictures for my magazins.

Planning: First Drafts

To get an idea of what i want my magazine to look like, i have created a rough draft of where everything will be placed on my front page. I used quark express to do this process. The programme i used to create this draft helped me a lot because the tools were easy to use and helped me complete my front cover quick.

Front Cover.
This is the first cover draft i created, i have placed text boxes and picture boxes of where i want everything to go in my final product. I will use this image to help me when i am making my real front cover. I think creating a draft before making the final thing is a good idea because having a plan to follow is a lot simpler and creative than just creating a final cover with no ideas. The colour scheme i will use for my front cover will be; blacks, whites and reds.

Contents page.
This is my contents page. I will stick to the same colour scheme i used with the contents page, it is important for a front cover and contents page to look similar. I will include a few pictures in my contents page so it doesn't appear boring. The font for the title 'contents' will be the same font style and colour used for my magazine front cover name.

Double Page Spread.












For my double page spread i will do an interview of a band member. The colour scheme will again stay the same. I will use a picture as the background on the second page with text overlapping it. I will use the same font styles and colours as my front cover and contents page.

Audience Research: Results

To get my results on my mood board, I asked a few people questions about my mood board and they responded with good, detailed answers, I did this process over msn.

To get feedback on my mood board, I asked a few people questions about it, like the font style and the colour scheme and they responded with good, detailed answers, I did this process over msn. To get my results i simply asked a few people I was talking to what they thought of my mood board, I sent it them and they responded with their answers and I copy and pasted them into my blog. I received good feedback which enables me to create the magazine I had in mind.


Questions I asked a few friends;

1. What do you think of the magazine name? Do you think that it have any resemblance to the genre of the magazine?
2. What kind of bands would you expect to find in this magazine?
3. What do you think of the colours used in the mood board?
4. What type of person do you think would buy this magazine?


Sophie responded;

1. What do you think of the magazine name? Do you think that it have any resemblance to the genre of the magazine?
The magazine name, well I have never heard of that word before but I’m sure its related to the stuff inside the magazine, the font style and use of colours used are nice though.
2. What kind of bands would you expect to find in this magazine?
dark scary bands like who produce screaming music! Not really keen on it myself.
3. What do you think of the colours used in the mood board?
VERY dark but relates to the magazine so the buyers of it would be interested in it! The background is just black though which could appear plain?
4. What type of person do you think would buy this magazine?
young, interested in the bands on the front cover, people who aren't into the popular rock bands, the music in here is more for a selected audience.


Dave responded;

1. What do you think of the magazine name? Do you think that it have any resemblance to the genre of the magazine?
i like the name because I think that it's relevant to the magazine and what you might find in it.

2. What kind of bands would you expect to find in this magazine?
I’d expect bands like dance Gavin dance, a skylit drive, august burns red and other heavy rock/post-hardcore bands to be in this magazine because the different pictures on the board, you wouldn't generally see many similar pictures if the genre of music was pop or dance

3. What do you think of the colours used in the mood board?
i think the colours are used well because there aren't too many to make your eyes go all over the place, also, i wouldn't expect to see lots of bright colours on the board because of the style of music that will be covered in the magazine


4. What type of person do you think would buy this magazine?
I would think that the type of person that would buy this magazine would generally be younger and would obviously like the bands that are in it, as well
as aspiring musicians in the same genre to find inspiration from.


Ryan responded;

1. What do you think of the magazine name? Do you think that it have any resemblance to the genre of the magazine?
The magazine name means loud, so yes the title is appropriate for the genre of the magazine because heavy metal music is very loud!

2. What kind of bands would you expect to find in this magazine?
Heavy metal bands and post hardcore American style bands, in other words, bands that aren't so popular.

3. What do you think of the colours used in the mood board?
Very dark, quite scary in all honesty! But the colours resemble the dark bands in the magazine I guess.


4. What type of person do you think would buy this magazine?
Someone who's into the heavy music I guess, guys and girls most probably.


My audience only gave me good feedback so I will not change anything, the readers like my font and colours used so I will just stick with what I originally planned. The only feedback I received that wasn't so good was about the plain background, in my actually magazine I will have to make sure that the background isn't just a plain black colour, i need to add more to it to make it appear more interesting for the readers.

Audience Research

The age group my magazine will appeal too is older teens and young adults aged between 15 - 22. The magazine is for both genres. The music will appeal more to people with a taste in death metal, post hardcore and rock music. My audience could be students attending the last year of high school, college or university. The magazine isn't suitable for children due to use of strong language and in decent pictures which would include smoking and alcohol. The reader’s favourite band could be; dance Gavin dance or carnifex. In the readers spare time they would go to college, spend time with friends and go to gigs, parties and pubs. They'd be into horror films and watch comedies and reality TV shows. The magazines they'd be interested in would be kerrang and NME. The reader of my magazine would have an interest in piercings possibly. In terms of class, I would say that the audience of my magazine would range from a - c2. The lifestyle factors of my audience would definitely be disconnected and possibly an innovator.



I have created a mood board to create a sense of what my target audience want to see in my final product.

Research: Distribution

Distribution -

The company Frontline was formed in June 1986. The company sells nearly 8 million copies of magazines a week through over 55,000 shops. Frontline are the biggest magazine distributor in the UK. Frontline offices are in central Peterborough. Frontline employs over 120 people. Frontline are a huge conglomerate company. They sell magazines in the smallest corner shops to the biggest supermarket stores. The company sells and distributes over 160 of its partner’s magazine titles, which include 54 out of 200 of the best selling titles in the UK.

Frontline distribute to huge shops such as Asda, Tesco and Sainsbury’s which ensure that magazines are displayed for customers to purchase. The huge company BBC take full responsibility for producing the magazine. These services are provided by a talented and experienced team which make sure they receive a lot of money for what they do. The team try to help reduce wasting materials and our carbon footprint.

Bauer publish magazines such as take a break, Bella, TV quiz and heat which could appeal to an older female audience, possibly mothers, older teens maybe even women in their 50’s,60’s for take a break. Frontline distribute Bauer to ensure that their magazines hit the shelves in the biggest supermarkets. Bauer publish take a break which is the number 1 selling women’s magazine as it sells over 1 million copies a week. This connotes that the publishing company is big due to selling successful, well known magazines. Bauer is the largest consumer magazine publishing company in the UK. Bauer has an interest in publishing magazines such as women’s weeklies, women’s interests and lifestyle, puzzles and games, TV listings, music and film and men’s lifestyle.

Kerrang are a huge business which have their own radio show, own TV channel, and their own magazine. The audience profile claims that the readers and views of kerrang are musically experienced and individually minded. Readers of kerrang are into rock music and are aged between 14 - 19.

The brand identity of the magazine 'vice' would not appeal to a mainstream audience because it isn't well known but it is actually a quite trendy magazine, it may be free but the producers of the magazine have chosen carefully who they’ll use to distribute it. The magazine may not be well known like 'Bella' but it is popular among the trendy teens and adults. The magazine is for more of a 'trendy' audience, the reader would go urban outfitters or other bizarre stores that a heat magazine reader wouldn’t go too. A heat reader would go to shops such as primark and new look. It seems a lot more up-market than 'heat' or 'Bella' which have huge distributors but it isn't as well known as them.

The distribution strategy is different because it doesn't sell loads of copies like mainstream magazines do; it is done in a cheaper way but could be more affective. The magazine is independent which means it doesn’t have a huge chain of people who publish; it's done in a much cheaper, simpler way but appeals greatly to the audience that read it. The audience for the magazine 'vice' could appear to be slightly bizarre but quite trendy.

Mainstream magazines go through a big process of publishing, distribution and the rest which can be very expensive where as independent magazines cannot afford to do this, that is why they look a lot cheaper than the magazines in the shops. Most of the time independent magazines don't even get sold in shops because they can't afford distributors, if an independent magazine cannot afford a distributor then the magazine stays as an online thing or gets given out for free like vice.

The mainstream magazines have to appeal to a set audience and make it into big shops such as Tesco and Sainsbury’s and with the independent magazine 'vice' you can find it online. Other independent magazines are found online and in small shops possible, but wouldn't be found in huge shopping markets like Tesco. Mainstream magazines tend to give out free gifts and posters where as in an independent magazine they don't. The magazine 'vice' has a different distribution strategy to mainstream magazines because; the people in the magazine aren't well known like the people in mainstream magazines.

My magazine profile audience will be older teens 15+ and younger adults in their early 20's. The audience for my magazine will be into heavy music and like piercings. My audience would attend the last year of high school, college or university, in their spare time they enjoy drinking, partying and listening to music. The distributor I will use for my magazine will be quite big but not huge, it will appear mainstream, it will be more independent, and my magazine will be in huge shops such as Asda, Tesco and Sainsbury’s. I might use a distributor like frontline for my magazine because it is well known and ensures magazines get sold in big shops, like I want mine too.