Fanzines

The definition of a Fanzine is a non-professional publication that has been produced by 'amateurs'. The intended purpose of the publication is to share a common interest with other people such as popular culture phenomenon's. 

Media fanzines were originally written by science fiction fans. 

Music Magazine Research

Magazine Research

NME Magazine Cover

NME (New Musical Express) is a British magazine that is published weekly by IPC Media.

Every issue of NME magazine follows the same theme and layout style. Each issue also uses bold colour and thick and bold text.

This particular cover uses a basic yellow and red coloured theme. These are neutral colours and so therefore appeal to both males and females.

NME are most known for being closely associated with punk rock music.

The main photo of the cover is of a popular band; The Automatic. The photograph used is creative and adds a fun and appealing edge to the magazine cover.

The Red and yellow colours are used as a contrast to the black and dull colours of the band's clothes in the main photo. This makes the cover more eye-catching and appealing. The magazine uses appealing and interesting features to 'advertise' on the cover to give an insight into what the magazine contains in the particular issue. The features are outlined in red and are in large and bold lettering with a small image to make the cover more visual.

The magazine cover for NME follows some typical magazine conventions such as having the barcode, price and date on the cover. However, in many magazines it is a typical convention that the title and masthead of the magazine is central to the top of the page to make it eye-catching. However, NME Magazine puts the title in the top left corner and this challenges the typical conventions of a central masthead.

The text and language used on the cover is non-conforming and the sentences are shortened and abbreviated. This makes the text easy to understand and will therefore attract more people as it can be a light read for the audience.

Therefore, the cover of NME magazine is appealing to both males and females but from extra research, it can be believed that NME magazine is more popular amongst males.

Smash Hits Magazine Cover

Smash Hits magazine was a popular music magazine aimed at a young teenage audience of females. It mainly focused music but also has fashion and television aspects included.

The cover of this particular issue is mainly in pink which makes it appealing to the female audience. There are more pictures than text on the cover which also makes it more appealing to the younger audience as the pictures are more visual and colourful; therefore more appealing.

The language used on the cover is non conforming and this is also appealing. It uses laid back language such as ‘stars exposed’. As well as this convention of a magazine aimed at a younger audience, it also includes the date, price, barcode and the masthead/title on the cover.

The masthead is central to the top of the page which is also a typical convention of a magazine.

The layout of the cover is very simple and it uses photos of popular celebrities that are well known amongst the target age group. Different fonts also add a variety to the cover and make it appealing.

The cover gives indications to some of the features within the magazine so that the readers and target audience will have an idea of what to expect from the magazine and will also make them want to buy it if they know that there are features in the magazine that they are interested in.

'Top of the Pops' magazine Double page Spread

By analysing a double page spread in 'Top of the Pops' magazine it is clear to see that the magazine does not fully focus on music. The double page spread is an interview with the pop band; McFly. The questions asked in the magazine are not music based although the magazine is known as a music magazine due to it's name from the television show; 'Top of the Pops'.

Questions that asked and answered are more general and personal based rather than talking about the music. There is one main picture as the background of the page and the band are smiling which makes the page seem 'happy' and non conforming.

The interview uses non conforming language and uses a lot of colour to make it visual. The use of vocabulary such as 'Exclusive' and 'cute boy alert' is language that will attract and appeal to the readers of the magazines target age group. The layour of the interview is different to normal interviews and does not follow the typical conventions. At the end of the interview, it promotes new release singles by the band and their website and this is a typical convention of interviews with music bands and artists.

Evaluation

From carrying out all of my research and designing flat plans of a sixth form magazine, i have created a front cover and a contents page that would be suitable and appealing towards Sixth form students. I have used non-conforming language on both the cover and the contents page so that it is appealing towards the students. I have used photographs and colour for visual aspects of the magazine. When i was analysing existing school magazines i found out that the most popular school magazines were magazines that used many visual aspects. Therefore, i used this technique to make my magazine as appealing as possible to the students in sixth form.

When doing my research on existing school and sixth form magazines i came across problems in finding school magazine covers on the internet that i could analyse. When producing magazines on a school size it can work out expensive and time consuming and therefore many schools may not have a school magazine and this is what i came across when looking for school magazine covers to analyse. I came across more school magazine covers on the internet than i did Sixth form magazines and so therefore i decided to make a sixth form magazine that i could make and challenge typical conventions of a media magazine.

My magazine audience is students in years 12 and 13 at Southend High School for Girls. The sixth form at this school is a mixed sixth form with both males and females; however, the majority of the students are girls. To make sure that i was attracting my magazine as much as possible to my target audience i used a focus group. For my focus group i chose three students, 2 females and 1 male, that i could ask more in-depth and precise questions about magazines in general as well as my own media magazine.

My magazine will be produced in school, will be issued monthly, and will be free of charge as from my questionnaires, most people said they would have the magazine if it was free of charge. Therefore by having it as a free magazine i will be able to attract a wider audience who would not necessarily want to pay for the magazine.

My magazine challenges typical school magazines as well as using some existing conventions. The existing conventions that i used on my own magazines are having the schools name on the cover and the photograph and masthead as the main features on the cover. On my questionnaires i made a tick box question with four title names and i asked my focus group which title they liked the best; the result was 'Insight'. This title can connote 'Insight' into school as well as social aspects and students lives. After this research i also asked them questions about what magazines they read and what they would be interested in reading in the magazine.

After i had carried out all of the research with my focus group, i started to take photographs for my magazine. I began with taking my front cover photograph in medium close up. However, i came across some problems when doing this. My photos had sun spots on them and i also could not find a suitable pose and frame for the photo. I wanted a casual pose that would look non-conforming on the cover. The photograph that i used is casual as my model is smiling and as she is looking away, it appears as though she is on her way to do something; very much like everyone in school is. She also has her ipod headphones in and this adds a laid back approach to the front cover.

For my contents page i took a series of group photos as well as some singular photographs. However, some of my group photos still had sunspots on and so i retook some more photos without direct sunlight onto them. I used 3 posed pictures on my contents page and 1 unposed picture. I used males and females in my pictures so that the magazine is appealing to both genders. I took one photo on self timer to try out different techniques. Media magazines tend to use a posed photo on the front cover and so i challenged this convention by making my photo more casual, laid back and 'spur of the moment'.

My media product represents different social groups because i have used people from different religions and races, therefore showing that the school is ethnic.

When making my magazine, i came across new technologies such as different types of camera that i had never used before. I learnt new techniques for using these cameras and how i could use different lighting to make my photos of good quality. I used photoshop to create my magazine. However, when making my magazine cover in photoshop i came across some problems. one major problem was when i was producing my front cover in photoshop, i came across my magazine file becoming corrupt. Therefore, i had to re make my magazine cover, and this was more time consuming as the file that was corrupt was a completed front cover. From this i have learnt to always back up my files of work so that i never come across a major problem like this again when producing other work in the future.

Looking back at my preliminary task i feel that i have learnt a lot in the progression from my research and analysis to my final front cover and contents page. I have learnt what makes a school magazine appealing to the students so that they are attracted to it rather than it just being aimed at their parents. In addition to this i have also learnt how to use different types of cameras and how to use lighting differently within different pictures.

If i was to make the sixth form magazine again, i would probably ask more general questions to my target group and focus group so that i would gain a better insight into what they like and would want to read so that i would know even more features that i could include in the magazine.

Inconclusion, i am pleased with my final product and i feel that is does appeal to my target audience of students, both males and females, attending sixth form at Southend High School for Girls.

Contents Page

Front cover

Research Summary

Summary of Research

All of the research that i have done has been very useful to me in finding out what i will need to include in my sixth form magazine to appeal to the students in the 16-18 year old age group. By analysing magazines aimed at schools and magazines aimed just at sixth form i have found the typical conventions used to appeal to the target audience as well as why some styles, colours, vocabulary and photographs are used. I have also learnt how connotations are important on a magazine and how what mastheads connote is important for the magazines because the title is usually the main and most eye catching part of the cover.
Also from my research i have found what makes the main photo on the cover interesting and how i can take the photo to make it appealing and look less studious so that it is non-conforming for the students.
I made questionnaires for 10 students and then selected 3 students for my focus group so that i could gain a better insight from 3 typical students at Southend High School for Girls; i chose 2 girls and 1 boy for my focus group so that i could get mixed opinions, ideas and interests. From doing this i have gained a better insight into what features will be most popular to include in my magazine and what names the target audience would prefer.
In conclusion, i feel that by doing research on existing school/sixth form magazines as well as my own research into what makes a good magazine by making questionnaires and focus groups i have gained a better insight and look into what is needed to make my sixth form magazine appealing to my audience. I will use the research i found to create the magazine so that it is as appealing as possible.

Focus Group Questionnaire Results

I have collated the results from my Focus Group questionnaires and from these i will be able to make my magazine for Sixth form students as appealing as possible. By asking my focus group specific questions i can develop a better understanding on what particular and average students would want from a sixth form magazine.

From Question 1 asking about the magazine title i received 2 answers for the name 'Insight' and 1 answer for the name 'Idea'. I feel that 'Insight' will be a good name for my magazine as it is the connotation of having an insight into school, work and social events.

Tom said 'I prefer the name 'Insight' for the sixth form magazine as it is represents school and social events, not just school and is therefore more laid back and appealing rather than the name 'Knowledge' as it gives off a more studious feel and would therefore not be as appealing.'

Therefore, i will use the name 'Insight' for my sixth form magazine as it had the most positive response and also portrays not only school aspects but also social aspects as well.

Another question that i asked my focus group was what colours they would want used for the magazine if it was aimed at both males and females. The colour most popular for this was blue/turquoise. Other colours suggested were green, purple, yellow and orange.

Daisy said: 'I think that Blue and purple should be used as they are colours that could be aimed at both males and females. Blue and purple are also cool, calming and relaxing and therefore could be appealing to students as they may be stressed from work and these colours used could be relaxing'.

All of my focus group like to read and would be interested in reading about school achievements. Therefore i will include achievements from within the school into my sixth form magazine.

I will also include music articles about inside music events as well as outside of school music events and releases. There were positive reactions to this from my focus group and therefore this will be an appealing aspect to use in my magazine.

Information on School events in the sixth form magazine will also be appealing as 16-18 year olds like to go out and therefore by adding in events and dates, it will attract more people to read the magazine.

I also asked what magazines my focus group read to find out what magazines are most popular so that i can see what techniques and styles they use to attract to the audience of 16-18 year olds. Some of the magazines that came up from my focus group are 'heat', 'Sugar', 'Bliss', 'NME', 'OK', 'Cosmo' and 'Elle'.

Therefore i can look at the styles and features used in these particular magazines to see what makes them so appealing to this audience.