Front Cover Research 4- Total Guitar

Main Image:

Guitar represents the acoustic genre, the guitar is larger than the artist in the image which shows that it dominates their genre of music representing the genre of magazine. 

Ed Sheeran, suggests the main article is about him as he dominates the cover.

The main colours used are orange (matches artists hair), yellow, black, white and a bit of blue. 

This magazine represents the acoustic industry and guitar fans; there are several references to guitars on the cover which shows that the magazine mainly focuses on guitars over the actual artist. The guitar dominates the image over Ed Sheeran himself showing how significant guitars are to the magazine. 

For my magazine, I want to focus more on the artist rather than their instrument, although I do want to have a theme of acoustic and guitars I don't want this to dominate my music magazine. 

Front Cover Research 3- Beyonce

Main Image:

• Beyonce suggests the main article is about her as she dominates the cover.
• Facial expression and body language is powerful and attractive representing girl power, this suggest women are perhaps the target audience. 
• However, choice of provocative costume may attract a male audience as well. 
• Artist looking in to the camera to engage the reader.
• The choice to dress the artist in white means she matches the names of the stars featured on the magazine front cover and the logo of the magazine. 

The main image of the artist conveys the genre of music of the magazine, which is mainstream. The empowering body language links with the genre of music from this magazine as it represents how the reader feels when they listen to this music. The dominating colour of this issue of Q magazine is white, black and red. These colours are not very feminine colours, however the image of Beyonce appeals to females, but the colours appeal to males.  There is only one picture of the cover, it is not crowded like other pop magazines, which attracts a more mature audience unlike Top of the Pops which is aimed at younger teens and is crowded with pictures and writing. 
 For my magazine, I want to use a similar image of a female looking in to the camera like this, to engage the reader. However, I want my artist to represent more of an acoustic theme of music. 

Front Cover Research 2- Q Coldplay

Main image:

• Very colourful - pink, blue, green, orange, yellow splashed around the page, to represent the band suggesting they are fun and laid back, perhaps representing the target audience. 
• Artists looking in to the camera to engage the reader.
• Positioning of image covers up the Q logo which shows how significant the artist are, and how well known the magazine must be.
• Costume is casual to relate to the audience.
• Image dominates the whole page, suggesting they are the main article. 
• The lead singer is positioned further forward than the other band members. 

A sense of pop is created through the mix of colours and friendly gaze from the band members. The casual body language and choice of costume projects a laid back theme which is linked to the mainstream genre that Q represents.
For my magazine, I want to use this engaging stare in to the camera to draw in the reader however I will be using a female artist instead of a male band. 

Front Cover Research 1 - Q Ed Sheeran

Main Image:

• Ed Sheeran, suggests the main article is about him as he dominates the cover.
• Although he is male, there is quite a soft feminine feel due to his body language, this is possibly the target audience. 
• Facial expression is gentle, innocent and welcoming, implies he is looking up at his dreams and aspirations which are coming true. 
• Ginger hair is a pull factor to Ed Sheeran fans.
• Guitar represents the acoustic genre.

The main image of the artist conveys the genre of music of the magazine, which suggests it is mainstream with an acoustic feel. The sense of acoustic is created through the guitar in the image and the calm colours used such as blue. The relaxed body language links with the genre of music from this magazine as it represents how the reader feels when they listen to this music. The centre positioning of the image ensures the reader is drawn to the artist There is only one picture of the front of this magazine, and it is not crowded like other pop magazines. This attracts the target audience as it shows that the magazine is for a more mature target audience.
For my magazine, I want to convey a similar image as this (similar body language and a guitar) because I am looking in to the quality music genre, with an acoustic theme. However, I will use a female model and perhaps have them looking directly in to the camera to draw the reader in. 

Magazine Front Cover Introduction

In this lesson, we discussed the codes and conventions of a music magazine front cover. The class discussed KERRANG and how it is aimed rock and heavy metal fans due to the dark colours, images and aggressive language used,

Initial Ideas

For the introductory lesson we discussed different genres of music, target audiences and magazines we could use for inspiration.
This helped me to understand the different audiences that music magazines can be aimed at, and helped me to decide what audience I want my magazine to be aimed towards.

From this lesson, I have concluded that Q magazine will be my main inspiration as I want to represent quality music with an acoustic theme; also I will be aiming at a female target audience aged between 15-25.

Introduction

Welcome to my Music Magazine blog!

I'm Helen and I am currently studying A-level Media Studies. For my coursework I will be creating a front cover, contents page and double page spread. I will use this blog to regularly update my research, ideas, progress and analysis. 

I hope you enjoy reading through my ideas and seeing my progress through making the magazine!