Preliminary task

This past week I have been completing my preliminary task which is to produce the front page of a new school or college magazine. It had to feature a photograph of  student in medium close up , and appropriately laid - out text and masthead. 

I have decided to call the magazine 'Student Life'. To make my production different rather than just having a pupil in a uniform, I decided to have a sports scholarship edition where the person on my front page is in a sports kit and doing sport. I think this would have made my magazine stand out more if it was on sale in a shop.

I have had a lot of trouble with my photograph editing on photoshop, as I have never used it before. This has delayed my production for a few hours and I am now behind with my progress on the preliminary task. However, I have managed to solve the problem and have nearly finished the task.

Front Cover Analysis

The purpose of a magazine front cover is:

• To make the magazine look aesthetically pleasing
• To advertise what is in the magazine
• Create enigmas
• Signal the genre of music at first glance
• Make the target audience feel it is for them by using friendly language.

Chart research

To further my research I have decided to look at the UK top 40 singles chart to see how many dance singles there are to indicate how popular it is. I have found there are 5 dance singles in this weeks chart positioned at numbers 2, 8, 9, and 22. One of these has already reached the number one spot and the singles positioned 8 and 22 have only just entered the chart this week and are very likely to move up the charts.

(source - www.bbc.co.uk/radio1)

I have also found out that the most played song on BBC radio 1 in 2008 was a dance single, 'something good' by the Utah Saints. Radio 1 is one of the most popular and respected radio stations in the UK.

(source www.myspace.com/utahsaints)

This research shows that dance music is very popular in the UK and proves that there is a market for me to aim my magazine at.

Dance Genre

I have begun to research dance magazines that are circulating in the UK at the moment. The most popular magazine I keep coming across is mixmag. As you can see from the advertisementit claims to be the words biggest clubbing and dance music magazine. It has a circulation of 37, 139 and a readership of 276,000. It covers dance event, reviews music and club nights and interviews artists. It also features a fashion section. Many of tmixmags issues have become colectors items and sell for a lot of money over ebay.

The next magazine i have found it DJmag. This also claims to be the worlds largest selling dance music magazine. However I get the impression that this magazine is aimed more at DJs than music followers themselves therefore limiting the amount of potential buyers.

M8 is a global dance music and club-culture magazine, which 'operates the scissors at the cutting edge of the dance music industry.' Having recently celebrated their 200th issue, M8 has evolved with and reflected the entirety of dance culture since its inception in the 80's. M8 remains calls itself the most credible and stylish club-cultural publication in the world, and 'continues to champion the spectrum of dance music and youth-cultural-hedonism in new and creative ways.'

I have found 3 of the biggest selling dance magazines in the UK however, I feel that one of them is aimed more towards DJs themselves and they all fadvertise and focus on already established artists on the music scene.

Magazine Genre

Welcome to my blog for my practical media project!

I have decided to do the desk top publishing task where I need to design a front page, contents and a double page spread of a new music magazine. I have decided to design an dance magazine as after basic initial research in class I realised that there wasn't many magazines aimed at dance music but there were quite a lot for pop, indie and rock. Therefore I feel that it would be sensible to take advantage of this niche in the market as I feel that there would be a wide audience willing to buy the magazine should they have the opportunity to do so.

Next I need to begin intensive research into the magazine market to double check that there is in fact a place in the market for the product.