Pop Music Mood Board

Within this mood board, I included all of the different aspects, that I feel link well with the pop music genre. I added images of YouTube, capital and x-factor, the main reason for this is that they are closely linked to the genre. For example, capital radio station is known for playing popular music throughout the day, and YouTube & X-Factor are known for discovering new pop artists. This leads on to the artists within the genre, as you can see, it seems to be a female based genre with artists including Rihanna, Taylor Swift and Adele. This is something that I could show within my own magazine (follow the convention of using many female artists). I must not forget the addition of Michael Jackson, as he is seen to be the biggest icon for the pop genre. The collage also consists of various instruments, I incorporated this because pop music covers a variety of musical instruments. In terms of my magazine, I may choose to draw the attention to the music rather the conventions of artist gossip.

Music Magazine Plan

What genre of music will the magazine cover?
I think that it will cover the Pop genre because apart from the fact that it is  popular genre, it is not usually featured on magazines. Also there are many sub-genres of pop such as acoustics that I could choose to feature in the music magazine.

Who is the target audience?
I will probably target young adults ranging from 16 years of age. This is because most magazines focus the younger generation when it comes to pop music, by creating a magazine for another generation you then have a larger target market.

What will your masthead look like?
I feel that I will probably go towards the theme of acoustics, therefore the masthead could have this interpreted into it in some way. Whether have shape of an instrument ( i.e. guitar) interpreted into the masthead or have the font seem like note forms.

What will be the focal image for the front cover?
I think that it will preferably include an artist with a couple of instruments surrounding them. It could resemble something such as the artist Taylor Swift holding a guitar to represent the country and instrumental genre. In fact, since I am focusing on the acoustic sub-genre, I could manipulate the main image to consist of a number of artists.

What photography will be required?
I will probably have to conform to the convention of a mid shot for the main image of the cover, but I might experiment with different shots and angles before the final composition of the cover just to test whether the altering of positions would enhance the appearance of the cover.

What mise en scene will be required?
There are many elements included within Mise-en-scene, which is why I will have to ensure that I consider all of them for my front cover. Things such as the location, lighting and the use of colour should be highly considered when making the magazine because they can be used to emphasise the natural form of acoustics. Of course the iconography will play an important part in this as well, as instruments are key in representing this genre of pop music.

What items/feature articles would you need in the contents page?
I think that for the contents page I could include various topics that link in with the pop genre. This could include feature articles on topics such as popular acoustic artists, bands, top songs of the pop genre at that moment of time ect.

What will be the focus for your double page spread?
 I believe that I will focus it on a musical group, that preferably remake popular songs into acoustic versions, various instruments they use. But the most important aim will be to focus on the actual genre of music within my magazine rather than more on the artist.

What photography will be required for the double page spread?
Just like for the main image on the cover page, I will have to experiment to different angles and shot types that can be used. With the double page, you can be much more experimental with the photography and include many effects as well as you don't have to follow a specific convention as much.

Pop Magazine Cover Analysis

Music Magazine Analysis

Drafts for Student Magazine

Front cover of the student magazine

Contents page of magazine

Magazine Cover Photo

I would say that this image has much better focus on the model, as the close up ensures that the books do not draw as much attention. The only problem I would have with this image, is that it looks a little grainy. Thus meaning that the lighting needs to be improved. However because of the location, that is not something that I was able to control as much. 

This image's lighting seems to be lighter which gives the impression that it is blurry. The biggest problem could be that it seems to be focussing on the books more rather than on the model, drawing the attention from the main focus point of the magazine.

Overall, I think that I will be using the first image as the picture for the front cover because the model is in focus more and the lighting doesn't give an impression of blurriness. It also seems to be in perfect layout for the magazine, with enough space for the masthead, headline and the subheadings. This would ensure that the cover doesn't seem too overcrowded. As I have mentioned in the plan.