Reader Profile

Reader Profile: DMT (Temporary title)

Johnny is 18 years old, he lives and breathes music and is always listening to it, in the shower, at school on the bus and so on. Johnny is into a variety of music including indie rock, punk and drum & bass, all included in DMT. Johnny as a person is out going, confident and always up for trying new things – his friends describe him as a ball of energy to be put to use. Johnny himself is also very laid back and has a positive and casual outlook on things, a calming demeanour. To finish off Johnny has a huge passion for music, a fanatic of his favourite artists, and he’s always going to gigs, festivals, raves whatever as long as the music is that he enjoys.

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Key conventions analysis

Focus group video

Reader profile

Title block analysis and design

Costume/props planning

Drafting

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Focus Group Feedback Evaluation

From my focus group I received strong feedback on my media product, for starters that my title ‘DMT’, although somewhat questionable, was short and sweet. I was also told that my plans thus far were in fitting with an indie-rock genre – but I could always make it clearer. Furthermore I was told that my idea to keep my colour scheme in fitting with an already successful magazine – NME – that I had used in my research was good but my peers also suggested I reverse the colour scheme into black background and red/white text for my double page spread, an idea I took on.

When discussing magazine styles I was advised to keep mine ‘matt’ as opposed to ‘glossy’ to once maintain genre and audience appeal, though I never really intended to do a glossy magazine. Moving on, I found out that I was also on the right lines of text to image ratio, I followed typical conventions of the front cover being dominated by a focal image, albeit for cover lines but having the double page spread feature a few images and an exclusive interview, text. Finally when conversing about what to feature on my contents page I confirmed having more artists other than the main band was naturally appealing but I leaned also that I could fuse genres to increase the range of audience appeal, and possibly comeback artist as well.

Focus Group Video

Mood Board

This mood board was intended to give off some ideas to viewers as to what my magazine 'DMT' will feature. Naturally there's always more but this mood boards provides a taster an includes showing of indie-rock artists, instruments and both gigs and festivals where the rock life really comes out.

Media Analysis NME Double Page Spread

                                                Media Analysis: NME Double Page Spread                                

Text: Here the text – though there is a tonne more of it, typical in a double page spread – is made to stand out as per usual for the black and white and blue background with white and black text allow the words to stand out to the viewer. Also to keep it sensible the bigger titles or headlines are made bigger to catch the reader’s eye whereas the main information is nice and small to keep it need and because that is not the piece which draws in people.

Setting: This time NME use a setting which fits nicely on a double page spread. The setting is a casual one with a sofa and posters, simple things yet the setting connotes their casual attitude, normality and perhaps laidback attitudes.

Props: There are no props in the image and there doesn’t seem to be any need for them either, it’s fairly obvious they produce music and you wouldn’t be reading NME if you couldn’t figure that out.

Costume: All the artists are dressed stylishly and casually to make them look presentable yet nothing too far above your average guy which helps them relate to the reader and connotes their youth but also a lot on their attitude.

Lighting: The lighting is bright again to allow the readers full view of the information, of which there’s a lot on the double page spread, and so the focus becomes on visibility.

NVC’s: All artists are shown with a calm, collected, confident expression which helps them look professional for readers and also bigs up their image as an artist.

Media Analysis NME Contents Page

                                                  Media Analysis: NME Contents Page

Text: The text is used in similar colours to the front cover which fits in with the idea of ‘branding’ the magazine with NME’s mark; this is done though the colour and font of the text. Another familiar idea is that the text is in the chosen colours to help it stand out to the reader – it does this with the colours of red, white and black, making the titles and/or headings stand out clearly. In terms of information the contents page includes the typical features such as title, index and page references.

Setting: Once again a setting is not really necessary however the image used on the contents page does contain some form of setting unlike the cover page. The setting is the artist’s home environment – performing on stage – this gives us a feel for the artist’s style and confidence in his job.

Props: Here props are used – unlike with the cover- as the artists show there instruments clearly in the image which connotes there musical talent to the audience and once again adds the natural music feel to the magazine.

Costume: The costume is casual and natural, the actual clothes he wore for the specific gig are shown and this makes the whole thing more realistic.

Lighting: In general to keep in the NME style the lighting is bright however in the image it does turn darker, perhaps due to the stage lights or perhaps deliberately to connote danger and mystery from the artist’s image.

NVC’s: The artists face are fairly hidden in the photo making NVC’s hard to judge however they seem to be calm and happy which adds positive effect to the magazine.

Media Analysis NME Front Cover

                                                  Media Analysis: NME Front Cover

Text: The text in the magazine cover is designed to stand out to make it convenient for readers to see. The red, white and black colours all are on either a black or white background causing them to stand out. Also to do with colours is the fact that the colours used for the text are typical colours or a convention of NME magazines, so in a sense they are marking the magazine as their own with the text style. The text is different sizes all over the cover – this is to emphasise the importance or stand out of certain parts such as the masthead ‘NME’ and the main headings, to catch the reader’s eye.

Setting: There is no real setting for this magazine cover but instead the plain white is used to ensure focus is on the artist’s in the foreground and also once again fits in with NME’s style.

Props: Props are not needed in this cover as both artists are famous and well known so they don’t need instruments for people to be aware of their musical talent and so the fact that no props are used connotes the simplicity of the cover and the popularity of the artist’s.

Costume: Both artists are dressed in plain black jackets. The two main reasons for this are firstly the black coats act as a background for white and/or red writing to stand out in full view to the audience but also the black jackets show the two as a team, or together and connote mystery to the reader.

Lighting: The lighting is bright to ensure the readers can focus on the information and artists on the cover, with average lighting there is no alluding to information it’s just there for you to see. Also dark lighting doesn’t coincide with the NME ‘style.

NVC’s: Both artists wear the same expression of being calm, cool and prepared. This once again shows them as together but also means the artists look professional and quietly confident which most people would relate to the knowledge they already have that both artists are already famed for their music.