Research- Magazine Research

Ska music is not particularly well known or recognised with the age of audience that I am aiming my magazine at. However, the recognisable checker board pattern is how Ska music is noticed. This is featured on the image of 'Ska 80' shown above. The sort of bands that are classed as 'Ska' include Madness and The Specials. Bands that would use brass instruments and have upbeat and feelgood music. I feel that it would be a good idea to use as my media coursework as it is a unique genre and there are very few magazine out there for Ska. This eradicates any concerns of my coursework lacking in originality. However, i feel that finding models for this type of band would be difficult which would bring down my mark greatly and therefore feel that a more general genre of music for a magazine cover would be more appropriate.

NME is the main magazine for Indie music. The main colour scheme is always red and black and often brighter colours such as yellow, orange and blue are used to brighten up the front cover and make it more appealing. The pictures used always feature the band or artist in the centre shot and usually has the main band member- or the most attractive band member- slightly forward or in more focus than the rest. This is because the front man is more recognisable to fans and would sell more copies. This is the most popular genre to go for as it is, ironically, mainstream music for teenagers. However, people get confused over what is actually classed as Indie music. I am confident in the fact that I am fully aware of what is classed as Indie music and owuld have no problems finding models that would be perfect to feature on the cover. A bad point of doing this sort of magazine is that it is not an original genre and may be difficult in avoiding my own work looking similar to anyone elses.

Pop magazines such as Smash Hits and Top of the Pops are aimed at a tweenage audience of people aged 11-14. It is regularly aimed at girls and they are weekly magazines that keep up with music that is in the pop charts that week. They use bright colours to attract the attention of its desired audience. They usually feature the band or artist that was number 1 in the charts that previous week and have a close up, if it's a solo artist, or if it's a band, usually the main member or the mot attractive is in the main focus aas an attention grabber.