in-depth analysis

What institution owns your magazine?

NME magazine is currently published by IPC Media, the UK’s leading publisher of consumer magazines and websites. Over 26 million people read an IPC magazine, and over 350 million copies are sold each year.

What effect does this have on the content?

The magazine is a certain genre which makes it successful as people know and like the genre. It also makes the magazine well known as people will associate that certain genre of music to the magazine.

Let’s discuss the flat plan – what have you learnt about the magazine?

The main layout NME is that it is similar to a newspaper throughout most of the magazine. There is a lot of use of the colours black, white and red, along with bold headlines and articles that have been written in columns. As well as this the inside pages of NME have a newspaper feel in comparison to the normal glossy magazine pages used in most other magazines.
It also often uses a full page photo for some articles, and then the text will be layered over the top. 

Discuss the mise en scene – what impact does this have on the audience?
They have used a simple colour scheme throughout the magazine, and kept the fonts the same. As they have kept the colour scheme the same throughout the magazines people may then start to associate those colours and font with NME magazine. The costumes that are used are often very punk, leather jackets, tight jeans and metal studs.

Who is the target audience? How do you know this?

The average reader of NME magazine is a 24 year old devoted music fan who loves the cutting edge culture of rock music. I found out that 69% of the readers are male, with 52% working full-time and 29% still studying, and typically the reader enjoys going to gigs and other events in their spare time. The standard reader spends nearly 19 hours per week on the internet.

What do they offer their readership?

They don't offer their readers anything tangible for example makeup, posters etc. However they do offer

exclusive interviews with current and up coming artists that other magazines may not have.

What elements would you like to ‘borrow’ for your own magazine?
I would like to borrow their layout ideas as it is organized but not boring. The reader is able to see where everything is and it is easier to read and make sense of.

List of equipment needed for my photo shoot

Equipment 
There is not much equipment that is needed but this is what I will need:

• Firstly I will need a camera to take my pictures.
• I will have a shot list of the pictures I plan on taking.
• A tripod to make sure that the camera stays steady so that my pictures do not blur.
• My costumes that will be used in each shot.
• The props that will be needed.

costumes and props

These are some examples of punk rock artists. I have researched them in order to help me with the costumes I will need to use. I have found that most of them wear a lot of denim and leather and also have tight skinny jeans on. The colours are often quite dull for example black, white, grey and sometimes red. Their clothes and shoes have metal studs or buckles on them which help add to the punk look. I also found that alot of the boys have long hair but as i am using a girl I wont need to worry about that.

Also they are wearing a lot of jewelry, for example bracelets and head bands. I will bear this in mind when finding an outfit to go with my genre of music.

By researching what other artists wear I now have a good idea of what costumes and props I can use in my photo shoot.

first draft of double page spread article

Double page spread article first draft.

“The band has decided to go their separate ways,” said a producer close to the band. Tensions reached a “boiling point” over the weekend when Chelsea joined her footballer boyfriend on his private jet instead of traveling from Los Angeles to London with her band mates.  Later Chelsea did a Skype call with the rest of the band and told them she wanted to go out but on her own. Chelsea is planning on doing a solo record and a record with famous artist Taylor Swift.

Fans were outraged and brokenhearted  - to say the least.  ”How can they break up when they are the biggest band in the world! They can’t, please tell me it’s not true,” said Amy Smyth from London. “I would die if they broke up.”

Chelsea, 18, wants to pursue business opportunities and her solo debut, without having to get the ‘okay’ from the other guys.

She feels that she is the biggest star in the band and has millions of fans worldwide.  “She gets offers every day for projects, such as her own perfume, a clothing line and even leading roles in top Hollywood movies.  The band is holding her back,” said Chelsea’s new manager.  ”She may even do arena shows on her own this summer to kick off her solo career.”

Remaining members of the band–Sam Horan, Jason Smith and Kirsty Tomlinson have decided to continue with the band and are on the hunt for a new member to fill the gap Chelsea has left behind. ‘Chelsea was an amazing rocker and a great person to be around, she will be missed however the band will pursue and we will be bigger and better than ever.’ Said and member Sam Horan.

Simon Cowell, who originally signed the band, is reportedly livid that the band broke up and he’s planning a major lawsuit against Chelsea.  Even though the band is signed with Columbia Records now, Simon still feels a close tie to the band.  ”Simon’s not happy and when Simon’s not happy – watch out!” said one of Simons close personal friends.

double page spread article final copy

Double page spread article.

“The band has decided to go their separate ways,” said a producer close to the band. Tensions reached a “boiling point” over the weekend when Ryan joined his model girlfriend on her private jet instead of traveling from Los Angeles to London with his band mates.  Later Ryan did a Skype call with the rest of the band and told them wanted to go out but on his own. Ryan is planning on doing a solo record and a record with famous artist Taylor Swift.

Fans were outraged and broken hearted  - to say the least.  ”How can they break up when they are the biggest band in the world! They can’t, please tell me it’s not true,” said Amy Smyth from London. “I would die if they broke up.”

Ryan, 18, wants to pursue business opportunities and his solo debut, without having to get the ‘okay’ from the other guys.

He feels that he is the biggest star in the band and has millions of fans worldwide.  “He gets offers every day for projects, such as his own perfume, a clothing line and even leading roles in top Hollywood movies.  The band is holding him back,” said Ryan’s new manager.  ”He may even do arena shows on his own this summer to kick off his solo career.”

Remaining members of the band–Sam Horan, Jason Smith and Kirsty Tomlinson have decided to continue with the band and are on the hunt for a new member to fill the gap Ryan has left behind. ‘Ryan was an amazing rocker and a great person to be around, he will be missed however the band will pursue and we will be bigger and better than ever.’ Said band member Sam Horan.

Simon Cowell, who originally signed the band, is reportedly livid that the band broke up and he’s planning a major lawsuit against Ryan.  Even though the band is signed with Columbia Records now, Simon still feels a close tie to the band.  ”Simon’s not happy and when Simon’s not happy – watch out!” said one of Simons close personal friends.

Since leaving the band Ryan has released a new single, which hit number three in the top 40 remix chart. The start of his solo career seems to be going well, lets see what the future holds for Ryan and the band he left behind. I added this last bit in to add some extra information and make my article slightly longer, I also changed Chelsea to Ryan as he was going to be my new model.                           

NME front page analysis

Here I have analysed the front cover of a popular music magazine. I pointed out all the different colours they had used: red, white, blue and black to link in with the american themed main image, special offers for example the chance to win tickets to a popular festival and main articles about bands or solo artists. By analysing the front cover it helped me decide on what I wanted mine to look like. I decided that I liked how the layout was simple but still interesting and not to over powering. This is the type of layout I will focus on when making my own magazine front cover. It has also given my ideas of articles and competitions that I could use for my own magazine.

Survey

I came up with a survey that consisted of 10 multiple choice questions. I used this survey and asked a variety of different ages to fill it in. This was to help me decide on what genre of magazine I wanted to do based on what was the most popular choice on my survey was. It also helped me to find out whether people prefer the pictures, the articles or the free things that are offered with the magazine. My survey made it clear what I needed my magazine to look like and what it should include in order to be popular within a wide variety of age groups.