Secondary Audience Research

This image shows a stereotypical view of a Metalhead. The most notable things would be the long hair style and the aggressive looking attire. There are not many Metalheads that derive from the long haired look but there are some, and not only fans, but band members too. The most notable of these would be Kerry King from Slayer and Rob Halford from Judas Priest. These two metalhead icons have adopted the skinhead look, which also gives off an aggressive attitude which could be what saves them from being classed as "Posers", a common metalhead term used to describe someone "Posing" as a metalhead. Also known as trying to be something your not. However, there are other metalhead icons with short hair styles that don't come across aggressive. An example of this would be James Hetfield of Metallica who now sports an almost short back and sides hairstyle.

The attire of a metalhead is crucial. Blue denim or big leather jackets covered in metal studs and patches of bands and artwork is the stereotypical clothing of a metalhead. Bands such as Judas priest inspired the leather wear and massive amounts of metal studs whereas bands like Iron Maiden and Motle Crue inspired the blue denim jacket covered in art work.

Beer is a very important asset to a metalhead. Beer is the fuel for the fire and keeps them mean, keen and ready to rock out.

The "devil horns" hand sign is like the welcoming hand shake of the Metalhead culture. This is crucial in being accepted by the metalhead crowd.

Call Sheet

Actor: James Ward
Character: James Ward
Shooting Day: First
Time: 14:10
Date: Wednesday February 3rd 2010
Costume: A hoodie bearing the logo or name of another band and blue jeans.
Make up: N/A
Location: Studio
Set: White backdrop, no props.

Actor: Marc Sanham
Character:Marc Sanham
Shooting Day: First
Time: 14:20
Date: Wednesday February 3rd 2010
Costume: Black top and black jeans.
Make up: N/A
Location: Studio
Set: White backdrop, no props.

Actor: James Meade
Character: James Meade
Shooting Day: First
Time: 14:20
Date: Wednesday February 3rd 2010
Costume: White top and black jeans.
Make up: N/A
Location: Studio
Set: White backdrop, no props.

Photographer: David Lonsdale

Photography Skill Development

These are just some photos I took during the AS Course to improve my skills in photography to allow me to get better photos for my coursework.

This is a medium close up shot. I think the picture turned out well because there is no blurring on the person in the picture, although there is slight blurring of the background, but that isn't too much of a problem.

This is another medium close up shot that i took. This one however didn't turn out as well as i would have liked because the whole image is slightly distorted.
This is a tracking shot that I took. The top left hand corner is distorted where as the right hand side is clear. I think this might have been a problem with the focus on the camera.
This is a longshot that i took. I was impressed with the way it turned out, barring the blurry spot on the left hand side of the image. This could have been down to someone touching the lens or light distortion.

This was an attempt to take a medium longshot containing two people. The picture didn't turn out as well as I'd hoped because there is a blury spot on the left side of the picture.

Peer Evaluation

Article Planning

The style of my article is going to be an interview with an up and coming metal band in the recording studio working on their next album.

The purpose of my article is to both entertain and inform the reader about the bands endevour and how its coming along. The interview will be written in both an informal and formal style (Formal style questioning and Informal style answers).

I am going to write my article from a 1st person perspective to allow the audience to feel what i felt.

The language used will be subject specific by giving the band questions and hearing their replies. I will type up emotions such as laughter into the article to help reinforce the sence of realism.

Flat Plans

These are the flat plans of my magazine front cover and contents page.

Mood Board

I used this mood board to help me think of things to put in my magazine. I used other magazine logos to help me create the logo for my magazine. This will allow me to look at effective ways used by other music magazines and allow me to create one in a similar image whilst still staying unique. I placed some pictures of bands that i like that i may consider putting on the front cover of my magazine or on the contents page or double page spread. I also put some music notes because my magazine is going to be a music magazine and some pictures of guitars because i enjoy playing guitar and may consider putting one in my logo.

Primary Audience Research

I am going to conduct some research with my peers in the form of a questionaire so i can find out a little bit about my potential target audience and what sort of things they would like to see within my magazine. For example, colour schemes, music genres, bands they would like to see within it etc.

The questionaire i used can be seen to the right.
I then plotted my results into the form of a graph which can be seen to the left.

Analysis of a Magazine Contents Page

This is a contents page from the music magazine Kerrang.

At the very top of the page is a little personal article from the editor of the magazine, about the band on the cover of this weeks issue. This allows the reader to feel comfort through the magazine having that sort of family/community feel.

As well as this, there is the editors quote of choice from that weeks issue, and the page number at which it is. This could be a device used to attract people into the magazine, and getting them to delve further inside.

There is alot going on in the general layout of the magazine. Lots of images incorperated within it of the bands in this weeks issue. I think this is a good idea because it makes the magazine look more exciting from first glance rather than a list of text which may repel most readers.

The page numbers of the articles are made to stand out from the rest of the contents page by highlighting them in black and yellow. As well as this the bands that the articles are about are also coloured in black but are in bold to make them stand out from the rest of the text.

The main article is made to stand out from the rest by making the image incorperated with that article bigger than the rest of the images on the page. This is to attract the readers attention to this before anything else on the page

This is a contents page from the music magazine Q.

The layout of this contents page differs from that of Kerrang. Straight away you are made to notice the large image of the band "The Courteeners". This is done because this is the main article of the magazine and by making the image this big will allow the reader to view it before anything else on the page and hopefully fulfill its purpose and make the reader go to this article.

Another difference between this contents page and Kerrang's would be that the list of contents are on different sides to each other. Q magazine places its list of contents to the left of the page. This could be because we read from left to right, and the left hand side in media is seen as the most powerful.

Similar to Kerrang, Q has made the page numbers in a different colour to the rest of the text and made the font slightly bigger so that they stand out well and are easily identifiable. There doesn't seem to be alot going on in this contents page. The colour scheme is very basic, and makes the page look very blank. I will try and avoid this sort of thing in my contents page, because this doesn't really appeal to me at all.

This is a contents page from NME Music Magazine.

Again, this contents page differs from the above two and adds its own personal touch to things.
The layout of this contents page places its list of articles on the right hand side of the page. However, it goes one step further and adds a band index of all the bands mentioned in this weeks issue and also places the page number in which those bands appear. I think this is a good idea and i will probably use this for my contents page.

The overall colour scheme of the magazine is very boring, using alot fo black, white and red, like Q Magazine did.
This magazine uses alot of text rather than imagery, again similar to Q magazine's contents page. I will use alot more imagery for my contents page because i feel it interests people alot more.

This contents page isolates the main article by putting it in the center of the page and giving it an image. This allows the reader to focus on the main article before any of the others and potentially makes them go read it.

Analysis of a Magazine Double Page Spread

This is a double page spread featured in Kerrang Magazine. The main focus in this double page spread is the pictures of the band My Chemical Romance and the quote "We're being the best MCR we can be!". The general theme of the page is black, white and red, with the red used to highlight key parts and make it look interesting to grab the readers attention. Images of the band take up more of the page than the actual text. This may be to do with the target audience of the magazine and keeping it short and sweet with lots of pictures.

The images used of the band contrast with the headline of the article. Showing the band hard at work in the studio to really show the reader that they mean it when they say their being the best they can be.

The quote on the double page spread is spread along the two pages. This, with addition of the pictures effectively bring the two pages together to create a double page spread. I will take notes of this and use this in my double page spread.


This is a double page spread featured in the NME Music Magazine. This double page spread has a wide array of colours incorperated within it to grab the readers attention. Immediately the bright blue strikes you and caues you to read into the page. This is done effectively by dotting it all over the double page spread rather than just having one block of it and the rest be black and white. In a way this could be highlighting the most important or most interesting features within this double page spread.

The Double spread uses one main image of the band The Teenagers. On top of this image is a bright blue box with the title "NEED TO KNOW" in a bold black font. This is because the bold black stands out on the bright blue more than the white, so this lets the reader know what that block is about. The image used was taken at a medium longshot, and has us looking down on the band. This could be to show the band as a sort of underdog type band that have just struck it big.

This double page spread doesn't focus entirely on one band. Show at the right hand side of the double page spread is a box containing thumbnail pictures and small articles about other bands that everyone's talking about that week. This could be to point the reader in another direction of musical taste as well as focusing on one band.

Analysis of a Magazine Front Cover

The target audience for this magazine would be people aged between 14-26 that are interested in whats going on in the rock and metal side of the music world. This is suggested by the vast amount of rock and metal bands named and pictured on the front cover. The bands that have been pictured on the magazine seem to be quite young, probably in their 20's, but certainly none above the age of thirty which reinforces the age range of the target audience. Another factor would be the price of the magazine which is set at £1.99 which is good price for the younger audiences that dont make that much. The magazine includes free posters of bands. This could be a sort of persuation technique as an extra way to grab the attention of its audience. The colour scheme of the magazine could be connoting danger, black and yellow is the colour of police tape whilst red is the universal colour of danger. This could contrast with the main headline "Avenged Sevenfold the worlds most dangerous band". The main picture has been placed with the front man in the middle and the rest of the band surrounding him, alot of light has been focused on him and less as it goes back, this sort of gives the picture that 3-D feel and makes the picture almost stand off the page. This and the addition of placing the picture over the masthead to really reinforce it. The picture has been taken using a medium longshot and places the artists eyelines in the upperthird of the frame, and was taken at a slightly low angle, perhaps to suggest and up and rising new band. The framing of the picture really keeps the eyelines of the band clear, by putting the rest of the articles at the bottom of the page. This is because eyelines are more important in a picture than seeing the full body, even with a medium longshot. The band has been equipped with chains and peices of pipe to reinforce the headline "the world's most dangerous band". This will attract alot of teenage attention because it almost seems rebelious that they are carrying dangerous objects and look tough which is what teenagers like.

The name of the magazine "Kerrang" in a way also has a reference to music. This is because the name is apparent from the sound of a guitar lead being plugged into a guitar whilst the amp is on, creating that "Kerrang" noise. This magazine to me uses a good layout and i will take note and base my layout on its design.

The target audience for this magazine would be people aged 30 upwards that interested in the more classic rock side to the music industry, as well as the odd bit of political issues. This is suggested by the ages of the majority of the bands named on the front such as "Mötley Crüe". The band pictured (The Eagles) again are a band of age and would obviously be aimed at an older audience that lived through there era of music. As well as being a music magazine, Rolling Stone has politcal articles with it as well, again this is evidence to support the target audience. The title of the magazine, Rolling Stone, could also suggest its target audience. Taking its name from a song called "Rollin' Stone" by Muddy Waters who was a very popular blues artist during the 40's - 60's suggesting its aim at an older age group. The price of the magazine is £4.50. Again this seems to suggest an older audience because people aged 30+ have a very disposable income. The magazine does not include a free gift such as a cd or posters. This again could be because of its target audience it doesn't need to include such things for its audience to buy it. The layout is similar to that of Kerrang in that the masthead has been placed in the very back, the main image layered over the top of that and the sell lines being the main focus and layered above this. The main image has been placed again with the eyelines of the band in the upper third of the page to suggest the power they have. The picture was taken with a medium longshot and a slightly low angle, again similar to Kerrang's main image. This again could suggest the bands power and how we are made to look up to them.

The main sell line has been coloured in a different font, the same font as the masthead infact. This could be a feature to allow the reader to see the masthead although covered by the main image if the viewer see's the main sell line. As well as having a different colour to the rest of the sell lines it has its own font as well. This magazine follows a similar layout to other magazines, although it has its own unique devices. This will perhaps benefit my designs.

The target audience for this magazine is given away in the masthead "Classic Rock". This is conoted by the names of the bands in the sell lines all being of the classic rock genre. By looking at the sell lines of the magazine i would say that the magazine is aimed at people aged 20-40. This could be contradicted however by the chosen colour scheme of the magazine and the inclusion of a free gift which is usually aimed at younger ages. The masthead is interesting as the word "Rock" is much bigger than the word "Classic". This could be perhaps to grab the attention of rock fans before they see that its a classic rock magazine, which could potentially earn them more readers. The main headline stands out alot more than the masthead as well, perhaps because any fans of Metallica will look at the cover and stop to look at the magazine. The font of the masthead is a very classic looking font, almost like an old western style. This is because the font matches the name of the magazine "Classic Rock" and helps to emphasise this.

Again, the picture has been placed center of the frame with the eyeline of the person in the upperthird of the frame. The only difference being is that instead of being a picture of the whole band its a picture of the singer.

The sell line "the 1000 days that changed them forever" is a very good sell line. It tells you a very basic idea of the main article but doesn't tell you everything. For example, it could have said "the 1000 days that changed their sound forever" but this wouldn't interest everyone, so leaving it as "the 1000 days that changed them forever" will make people curious about the article and make them want to buy it to find out.

In conclusion, the basic layout of a magazine is generally the same across the board, with the odd few differences such as font styles on mastheads and sell lines, size of the magazine and positioning of sell lines.