My Evaluation

My Final Magazine

This is the front page, contents page and double page spread of my final magazine. 

With the featured band called 'precious influence' who have the lead singer Ruby. 

My magazine has a 'grunge indie

' style and so does the band precious influence. 

My band name

I chose the band name of 'precious influence' as when looking at the names of similar genre bands they were all unique. The quirky names give a sense of the bands individuality.

The delicacy of the word precious reinforces the femininity of the lead singer whilst 'influence' suggest their power to change and influence the music industry which they intend to do. This therefore mirrors the personality of the lead singer, a woman who's femininity and dominance are both evident. 

My Target Audience

My target audience

My target audience are those interested in indie rock/ alternative music. The bands featured will be of this genre, and any features within the magazine will be geared towards the general interests of those who like this genre. For example, festivals with an indie rock band headline act is more likely to be reported in the magazine as oppose to if one direction were headlining.
http://www.looemusic.co.uk/looe-music-festival-previous-years/
This music festival has acts that would be perfect to feature on the magazine playing there, making advertising it a good idea for inside the magazine.

Magazines with a similar target audience include niche magazine like 'Arthur' that claim to 'give credit to the artists largely ignored by the mainstream music advertising'

First draft of contents

I had an idea to make my contents page like a collage of images so I decided to make a draft idea to see how feesable it would be. 

Although not the images I plan to use in my final magazine it allowed me to play around with the positioning of numerous images to see how they would fit. I thknk with more image manipulation the idea could work for my final contents page. 

Contents page

I plan for my front cover to have a collage of support artists to illustrate those artists inside the magazine.
Some of the photo's I'm planning to include the photos I take at the photo shoot I'm planning as well as others including two of males dressed in indie style clothes to emphasize their genre.

Organisation- photo shoot for supporting artists

I had a photoshoot with my main artist to get numerous images for my cover, contents and double page spread. I asked her to bring a range of outfits including black clothing to get the image for the cover page as I wanted the cover to be predominantly black and white. 

Also as I wanted to portray a softer side on the double page and contents I got her to wear 'flowing, warm' clothes and with the use of props we created a 'fun loving, happy' artist. 

I think the photoshoot was successful as we gathered many images that would be useful and illustrated the ideas I had for her. 

Masthead

I chose the masthead I did as I felt it portrayed the 'grunge' image I wanted for the magazine, aslo it has an element of a handwritten style that I got the idea of in the preliminary task 

Masthead font ideas

Organisation

These are some photographs of one of the models I wish to use in my magazine as a supporting artist. Apart from being undoubtably beautiful, I think she has a versatile look and so will be able to fit the style of any genre she is given.

The particular character I had in mind for her would be a solo artist, with a similar music style to Lana del ray. 

My magazine layout

Cover:
After comparing magazine covers of a similar genre to my own, I concluded that often the cover star is in a medium close up/ close up shot. This could possibly be because the genre of 'indie' is often associated with having very meaningful lyrics and stereotypically the singers are willing to share their experiences and inspirations. For this reason, a closer shot of their face on the cover may reveal emotion and draw people who want an insight into their lives.
Another thing I noticed about the covers was that they were less crowded than those for other genres for example; pop music magazines like top of the pops. With there being less clutter on the cover, focus is able to remain on the cover star.

 The close up of Florence used here highlights her vulnerability which is suggested in the quote 'I feel so alone' therefore it allows a reader to immediately sympathise with her and are more likely to relate or wish to read.

Although 'Indie' magazine is not specifically a music magazine, it aims at a very similar target audience of that I'm attempting to cater for. It also perfectly demonstrates the points I picked up in my research, such as the artistic portrayal of the cover stars as well as the focus remaining on them through the lack of distractions on the cover.

Double page spread:

Deciding how I might set out my double page spread was probably the hardest part of the layout to decide as I found so many different styles create an impact. In the remake of an existing magazine I created on page plus, the left hand side of the double page spread was an image of her whilst the other contained the article. I felt this was an effective style as it immediately drew attention to the singer while not distracting too much from the article. However, I did feel it created a separation between the two pages rather than assisting the article. Upon looking at similar magazines, I found some alternative layouts that I feel would make for interesting article that readers would be enthused to read.

The first image shows an example similar to the one I described, however the correlation between her and the article comes from the consistency. The colours she's wearing, including her blonde hair, are evident throughout. 

In the next two double page spread, their style involves the artist being centre of attention on the page by looking like they are 'in front' of the article. Lily Allen does this through her body language as her elbows reach over the headline whilst Nicki Minaj has the writing moulding around her to suggest she is the centre piece. Also both of the artists are wearing outfits that contrast the general colour scheme.

 On the double page spread the layout takes a different form altogether; instead of either the left or right being the options for the main image of the aritst, the top half of the magazine accommodates for it. In my opinion, this style unites the images with the article more effectively and is probably the layout I am most likely to use. I do like that there is still a large image where her outfit, like in previous double page spreads, is different an attention grabbing.

Organisation

This is one of the girls I am planning to use for my artists in the magazine. I think she will be able to capture the personality I want portrayed in the magazine.

Leigh shows elegance and sophistication but there is also an evident charm and quirkiness to her making her perfect for the style I am trying to create.

On friday the 24th of January I am going to be conducting a photoshoot at Birmingham university which will hopefully allow me to capture the photographs I need for the band.

There are aslo opportunities to take some  in the lickey hills where it overlooks the surrounding area, a location I feel would best portray the honest and natural nature of the interview, making it perfect for the double page spread.

My magazine name

I decided to do some research into the magazines that already exist that include similar music genres to those I plan to. Most of these magazines had short and simplistic names or abbreviated titles.
Some of them included:
Spin
NME
Q
The Rolling Stone
As you can see, aside from 'The Rolling Stone' all of the other titles are short and sweet, implying a one word magazine title is most successful.

Following this I decided I was going to have a magazine name that captured the attitude I want my magazine to portray but also for it to be simplistic yet creative. A name such as 'Mayhem' or 'Freedom' would capture the beliefs and attitudes of the artists in the magazine.

Supporting Bands/ Artists

In my magazine I wish to include a range of different bands/ Artists from similar genres, however there is some flexibility in to the extremity of each sub genre represented in the band.
One of the artists I want to have in the magazine, is a new comer male singer songwriter, with a similar style to artists such as; Ed Sheeran, Passanger and James Arthur.
Heres a link to James Arthurs music. Also on his site, you are able to see his unique quirky style I want in the artist.
http://www.jamesarthurofficial.com/uk/music

Also, I would like to include a male band in the magazine, one that is a little on the wild side, as I feel it would help as a feature on my magazine to sell more copies.
Bands such as the 1975 and Arctic Monkeys are similar to the style I want, with both having their own 'boy band' behaviour.

My Band Profile

My band profile

After doing much research into the type of artist I wish to create I decided to create my first draft of my band profile. Although already attempting to fit in with the genre of my magazine, it is subject to change as I develop my ideas.

Band name: Precious influence
The band name 'Precious influence' I felt was original and quirky, much like some of the band names I've researched from the 'indie' genre. Due to the band being indie rock, the connotations the name makes to a rock band are also relevant, however I feel it may not initially stand out as an indie band. Therefore, I play to do some research to see how my target audience would respond.

Band members names:  Ruby (Lead singer and main face of the band)
                                        Felix
                                        Cole
                                        Jamie (Other band members)
I've chosen to have a band of four but with there being a main singer who also is the most portrayed in the media, allowing the others to be less involved in the media pressures and focus more on the writing of songs and playing music. Ruby has done many photo shoots for the band alone, but also gives credit where due to her fellow band members during interviews and demolishes any ideas suggesting she does most of the work in the band.
The boys in the band are known to be quite shy and reserved, favouring a quiet relaxed life devoted to their music.

Music genre: Indie pop/rock
The band have been chosen to be this genre as this genre to fit in with my style and genre for the magazine. Also, the idea of having one person being the lead singer and the ''face'' of the band, has been used by bands of this genre before. Eg. Florence and the machine

Most recent album names: Revelations (second album)
Their most recent album is their long awaited second album, which includes their new single and also contains bonus tracks. The name 'revelations' could create anticipation for their fans who hope their songs are personalised and reveal something about them they've kept secret.

Other album name(s): Secrets (first album)
The first album was a huge success and the band toured with the track list two years ago. The 30 month gap between album releases has led to huge anticipation for the bands follow up album. The link between album names also shows careful planning whilst implying links to their band name also.

Tour dates: The band are touring in summer 2014
Tickets are already on sale and they will be travelling to arenas such as the O2 academy London, Birmingham LG arena and Nottingham Captial FM arena.

Band name research

I decided to collect information on band/artist names that already exist in order to gain inspiration and ideas to create my own band, as well as the supporting bands/ artists.

Indie:
Arctic Monkeys
The Kooks
The Shins
The Strokes
Arcade fire
Oasis
Pavement
Two door cinema club
Pixies
The Killers

The 1975

Lawson

Paighton

Room service

The last carnival 

All of the indie band names I knew or have discovered through research are quirky and original, a style I will adapt to my chosen band name in hopes their genre will be apparant through this. With the possible band names I have mind mapped previously, I do feel I am goin in the right direction as they suggest a similar originality and uniqueness.