A2 Media Studies: Magazine Advertisment

RESEARCH: UK MUSIC MAGAZINES

This was my first insight into print within the music industry. Before today, I knew very little about music magazines and that is shown through my knowledge of UK Music Magazines, knowing only Q and that was because it was told to us. Furthermore, this tells me that my particular age group (being teenagers) doesn't know a lot about print in the music industry as a lot of others couldn't identify UK Music Magazines. However, I did know other magazines such as NME and Kerrang, I was just unsure whether they were UK or other. The next stage was to do some brief, initial research into UK Magazines and define what they are. So, I discovered; The Wire, Mojo, Bearded, Classic Rock, DIY, The Fly and Uncut. All of which deal with either single genre or multi-genre. I know that Kerrang and Classic Rock deal with rock, punk and metal, whereas, Uncut deals with older style music.

We then researched how the print industry is declining as the years go by. Since they came out they have been declining, only more recently have they reached a rapid decline due to digital technologies such as E-Zines and also online copies. This means that they are losing profit from the consumers and it proves a problem for future as the companies could "die out". For example, in 2013 NME sold 20,011 copies (not the amount of readers), whereas, in 2014 they have only just got 14,000. This is a massive drop by 28% and in 2013, their drop from 2012 was 16.4%.

Photograph of knowledge on UK Music Magazines.

RESEARCH: POTENTIAL MAGAZINE FOR MY ARTIST

Furthering my knowledge, I looked at some media kits and how my artist would likely fit and what sort of magazines they would possibly be categorised into. I looked at Acoustic, however, this proved to be a problem as their target audience was more of an older generation and mine is probably all rounded but more precisely late teens to early adulthood (age range 16-35). Below are some screenshots of their media kit;

Overview of what is to be expected in this media kit and the particular
categorisation of what is expected of the magazines.

This shows what they offer - more to the point, how it is presented to
the consumers and what is to be expected.

This is their demographics and statistics including age, gender and
the income of those who purchase the magazine.

This is the cost for a person to be able to advertise a band or artist
and for them to be featured in the magazine.

As said before, this poses a problem for me as the audience is older generations and the typical gender is male whereas I would expect both male and female to listen to Jack Johnson. The positive to this is that it is genre specific and that it would be more to the point and be a magazine where artists like Jack Johnson would be likely featured. However, I don't think this is suitable as my target audience would most likely never read this magazine.

Another magazine that would not be suitable for my artist is Kerrang. This is because Kerrang is quite genre specific and deals with music such as rock, metal and punk. This would not be suitable for my artist as he is more acoustic and soft rock. However, the target audience for Kerrang is more suitable as it is aimed at an all round age group but more specifically early 20's. Below is a front cover taken from one of their magazines.

I am now thinking that maybe a multi-genre magazine would be a better option as the audience would be a much greater range, so maybe something like Q would be a suitable place for an advertisement to appear. This would therefore ensure that my target audience would be included within the range and also because they are multi-genre there will also be a more diverse audience as well.

Front cover of Q magazine.

Following are screenshots from the Q magazine media kit;

This tells me that the age group will fit my criteria and, although it is not

even, the percentage of male to female is quite good. This means that the

artist I am promoting will be known by a wide range of people.

This lets me know what there statistics are for the amount of people who

read their magazines, which is relatively high.

Again, this is the same as above.

This shows me the demographics and the costing to advertise.

RESEARCH: CONVENTIONS OF AN ADVERTISEMENT

Looking at the conventions of a music magazine advertisement I have discovered the following;

These are the conventions of a Music Magazine advertisement. I can see the similarities and can also see what needs to be included when it comes to producing my own advertisement. As well as this, I can see extra's that have been added and can possibly think about what else I can include on my advertisement.

PLANNING: DECODING MUSIC MAGAZINE ADVERTISEMENTS

Chris Brown - Fortune.

This magazine advertisement gives off the impression of something that is very modern - maybe even to the point of it being futuristic. This is supported by the use of colour and the presentation of the image as the blue gives off an impression of future, maybe just a stereotypical colour for representing the future, and also the cleanness of the image. Everything in the image is placed and structured, there is no mess. In addition, the typography used gives the futuristic impression also as it is created using symbols and the colour blue. These symbols say 'Fortune' which, is the title of the album. This is also used on the album cover as the advertisement is also promoting the album as it is positioned in the bottom left hand corner. Maybe the album is making a statement about money being the success for future? Supporting the idea of fortune and how it can be used?

However, the image is suggesting something quite misogynistic as the women have been objectified in a stereotypical representation. They are flaunting around, wearing revealing clothing and also posing in a sexual manner. This is supported by the woman on the couch who has her legs open and Chris Brown is hugging her leg. In contrast, this could be saying that women have dominance over men, through a provocative manner as Chris Brown is situated on the floor whereas the women are standing and almost appear to be taking control. Maybe this is another statement about what the artist thinks?

Florence and the Machine - Lungs.

This is a complete juxtaposition for a representation of woman to the above advertisement. In this, the woman looks quite natural due to the floral background and the use of colour. The colours are quite pale and pastel and looks quite fleshy because of this. The woman is Florence and she also looks quite delicate and fragile due to the positioning of her. This is because her hands are flailing and she looks as if she is asleep. As well as this, the lungs could be for her berthing to emphasise the fact that she is closely connected with nature. In addition, the typography (artists name) looks like handwriting and is something that is natural - supporting the image in the advertisement. Also, the image looks like something from the pre-raephalite movement in art due to the floral work and also the colouring as it is pastel.

Overall, it supports the genre of music that she composes as it is quite folky and the image & text is something that is expected from this genre.

Kings of Leon - Only By The Night.

In comparison to the other two advertisements, this one is entirely different.

The division of 4 in the image, normally would be to represent symmetry and something that has been reflected 4 times. However, in this image it has not been reflected and there are multiple layers that have been blended together. As well as this, it looks like the image has been taken by a camera and that it is giving the impression of a camera due to the targets and also the typography. The text is obscure in a way that looks like something from an older computer system where the spaces would be presented by a line and that the arrows show the beginning and end of a sentence. This gives me the impression that the advertisement is computerised. Moreover, the colour scheme that has been used is green which was usually the colour of the font in older computer systems.

Maybe the image is trying to suggest that everyone is an animal, but only at night? This could be saying that, at night, even humans are predators - for love in this case. This is because there are songs that are featured such as sex on fire and use somebody which could be to connote the sensation of making love.

PLANNING: TESTING OUT PHOTOSHOP

I went to the following website to learn different techniques in Photoshop and to also work on my skills/expand my knowledge of what I could possibly create.

100 Photoshop Tutorials

I then looked at the tutorial called 'Create Abstract Photo Manipulation with Tree Bark Texture and Brush Elements'. I loosely followed this tutorial because it enabled me to play around more with the different kinds of effects and the following is what was produced.

This was the first stage of completion. Once I had completed the majority of the tutorial I didn't add any effects to this one.

On this one there is a Linear Burn.

This has an overlay.

This is using the Exclusion effect.

I then added some more colours.

Then reverted it back to the Exclusion.

I then added some more lights and darks.

I am quite impressed with the results of this as it has allowed me to take a more artistic approach when creating the music magazine advertisement. Although this is not the style that I will use, it has taught me how to do more things with photoshop and also taught me new techniques that I could use. For example, if I do want to test out colour spots and I can't necessarily create them in the photography - I can create them using Photoshop's brush effects.

To further this image, I may test out some font styles and see how it works with the image.

On this style, I used Chalkduster font and also changed the opacity of the font and
changed the effect from normal to overlay so that it blended with the image.

PLANNING: TESTING OUT DESIGNS

I have started playing around in Photoshop using my initial idea of using the overlaying of images and different effects such as luminosity and also the opacity levels. Below is my first idea and the process.

This is the process of the layers that I have used.

At first I 'filled' the background with a black colour and then added the image of Steven. To make this fit, I re-scaled the image to enlarge it and also changed the effect from normal to luminosity. This changed the colour to black and white. I then added the galaxy image and overlaid it - to do this, I placed it over the top of Steven and then swapped the layers. I followed the outline of the shirt using the magnetic lasso tool and then used a brush to change the background to black. Now the galaxy is only visible on the shirt. I then added font and this is it thus far;

Music Magazine Advertisent (Early stages of idea 1)

I am unsure as of yet whether to have the galaxy image in colour or black and white as well. Below is a preview for black and white;

There will be more added to the MMA as of yet, but again, these are the early stages of my initial design. I obtained the image by screen-shotting my footage and the galaxy was from google, but, for the real design, I will draw my own OR photograph my own. Here is the images I have used;

I then used the colour dropper tool to match it too the galaxies colour and added a circle of this colour (marquee tool). I then added the image of the hands over the top and deleted the background so that they were on top of the colour.

FINAL DESIGN : MUSIC MAGAZINE ADVERTISEMENT

This is the screenshot I used from my music video to begin the design for my music magazine advertisement.

By pre-preparing the black background and template,
I began by adding the text of the artists name and
name of the song (rather than album).

I then added the image of Steven and placed in the
desired position.

I then added the overlaid image of the galaxy which I painted and edited in
Photoshop. I then got rid of the extra imagery that was outside of the shirt.
I then used the opacity tool and added the screen effect so that you could
see the shirts outline.