Indie aspects

I chose to explore the genre of Indie for my mgazine as I felt that it was a niche market and was not mainstream, I also liked the uniqueness and edginess that the genre had to offer.
'Indie' is a subculture that is known for its retro yet urban style in clothing and music, the genre is mostly fond upon teens from the ages of 17 up to adults to the age of 27.
Indie lifestyle:
Indie lifestyle within the business of music tends to be very different from pop, rock and other maintsream styles. Indie musicians do not look for fame and money, they are instead promoting what they love to do, this is what interested me most about the genre itself. Indie music tends to be played almost all the time live at giggs or parties, making them less known. I felt that due to these facts I wanted to promote Indie music with my magazine and also challenge myself as there are not many music 'Indie' magazines on the market.
Indie style and fashion:
Indie fashion and style originates from the clothing styles from the 80's with baggy clothing and careless attitudes. The retro style is combined with urban culture and style, to create a more edgy and new look. Their also seems to be a 'Hippie' representation with the genre, with the 'bed head hair', 'boyfriend clothes'.  The style in general is an interest for me as there are so many different interpretations and styles, these of which show uniqness and indipendance to each individual.

Survey-Evaluation

From the results I had recieved from my survey, I am now able to recognise what my audience would expect and prefer from my 'Indie' magazine. Everyone in which I had recieved responses from had answers that were useful to me in one way or another, I have now considered how to intergrate their responses into making my magazine what an ideal 'Indie' magazine should look like.

Survey Results

I produced my Survey on 'Survey Monkey' and from this I had sent my survey through email to a variety of people.
Here are some of the questions I had asked in my survey:

1. What do you expect to see in a Indie magazine?
2.How would you describe Indie?
3.What type of people would you expect to see in a Indie magazine?
4.What do you expect to see on the front cover of an Indie magazine?
5.Do you think Indie magazines are respected as much as other music magazines?
6.Do you lsiten to Indie music?
7.Do you know of any of these artists/bands?
8.Who do you think Indie music is aimed at?
9.Do you think Inide music has much meaning?
10.Would you purchase an Indie magazine?

I recieved 25 responses. Here are a few examples of some of the responses I had recieved from my audience.

Person 1:
1. "Indipendance and uniqueness"
2. "A social group that have indipendant style"
3. "People in their late teens to mid twenties, with unique styles"
4. "A band or artist that represents the genre/style"
5. "No"
6. "No"
7. "Florence and the machine, Ellie Goulding, The Kooks"
8. "Funky, hip people"
9. "No"
10. "No"

Person 2:
1. "Different styles"
2. "Original to each person"
3. "Young people that may be cultural"
4. "A model mainly female dominant"
5. "No"
6. "Yes"
7. "Florence and the Machine, Ellie Goulding, The Script, The Kooks"
8. "People that have their own indipendant styles"
9. "Yes"
10. "Yes"

Person 3:
1. "Indipendant"
2. "People that follow different styles, and alternative music"
3. "People that enjoy the alternative music"
4. "An influential artist from the genre"
5. "Yes"
6. "Yes"
7. "Florence and the Machine, Ellie Goulding, The Script"
8. "People that enjoy attending indipendant giggs"
9. "Yes"
10. "Yes"

 

 

Survey

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Audience research

For my media production I have decided to attract a unisex audience as I wanted my magazine to appeal to both genders, by doing so I would be able to get my magazine known wider. However, I do want my magazine to appeal more dominantly to a femal audience as I feel that I want my magazine to feature more females and show female empowerment.
I wanted the ages of my target audience to vary between 18 to 27 as when doing my research on the genre and 'Indie' style this seemed to be the age groups of which were most ingaged in the genre.

Here are some examples of people of my target audience:


Jamie is a student at University in London. She is 20 years old and enjoys usual student life, she attends parties and giggs and loves fashion.
Jamie listens to 'Indie' music all the time and calls herself an "Indie chick" as she is very much involved in the indipendant style itself. I think that Jamie is a perfect example of the target audience I would want to be attarcting for my magazine as she knows well of the genre and her student life gives her enough time to follow my magazines issues.




Craig is 23 years old and is an intern in fashion, he is currently living in London. He has a passion for 'Indie' fashion and music, he says that "Indie music and fashion just fit in hand, they come together". Craig is dedicated in keeping track of 'Indie' music and regularly attends giggs that feature various 'Indie' artists.
Craig fits my target audience as I know that he would be dedicated to purchasing every issue of my magazine and will appreciate what will be featured in the magazine.




Kate is 18 years old and is currently taking her A- levels at Sixth form in London. She also has a part time job as a shop assistant in Central London and earns minimum wage of £4.98 per hour. Kate follows 'Indie' style and loves being unique and different in a good way, she enjoys listening to 'Indie' music and knows of some artists in the genre. Kate is a good example of what kind of young audience I would like to be attracting for my magazine as she admits to being influenced by the genres indipendant style.




 As you can already see Zara is very much influenced by the indipendant style and "loves 'Indie' music". Zara is 25 years old and is a qualified Therapist in London. Other than being dedicated to her job, Zara has a fashion/music blog for 'Indie' and records everything on genre for other fans to follow. As well as this Zara regularly attends giggs and concerts of major artists in the genre ('The Script', 'The Kooks').
Zara's dedication and passion towards the genre assures me that she would be a regular buyer of my magazine.

Comparison of 'Material Girl' and 'NME' magzines

'Material Girl' magazine is a music/fashion magazine of the 'Indie' genre, in which I would be basing my music magazine on. The magazine features a female model of whom is not an artist, this seems to be a common theme in 'Indie' magazines as they do not usually feature the artist that they may be dedicating an article for on their front covers. I will not be following in this route as I would want to feature the artist of which I will be dedicating my article for on my front cover as well as my contents page. The main image takes up the majority of the page making it the main focus. The mise-en-scene shows that the model is wearing pastel colours of orange and pink, showing a clear contrast of the background colour that appears to be a pastel greyish/blue. The pastel colours connotes innocence and purity as it is light and has a childish feel, this may reflect the young models personality or characteristics. The models posture is slanted and she is covering her stomach and chest with her arms and hair, this again may reflect the youth in the model and innocence of wanting to protect herself. Her makeup is plain yet this is broken by the bright blue colour of her lips reflecting the genre of indipendance which shows uniqueness and difference.
The form and layout of the magazine does not follow typical conventions of mainstream music magazines as it is plain and simplicstic as most 'Indie' magazines are. The masthead is placed traditionally on the left hand side as most magazines do yet, is not rather bold and not capitald as most are, it is black showing a conrast from the light background colour. Their is only one subheading toward the bottom of the page which does not attract attention away from the main focus of the image, the writing is in black and white again shwoing a contrast from the background and making it visible to the reader.

On the contrary, 'NME' magazine shows a clear comparison to the genre I will be adopting in my main task of 'Indie'. The front cover itself is far more crouded with subheadings, pull quotes, plugs and another image. The magazine itself is far more mainstream than 'Material girl' and therefore requires more information and variety of artsits to feature in it. The main image shows a popular artist from a band named 'Florence and the Machine' that could be interpreted as a rock/soul style of music. The image takes up a mojority of the page so that the reader could be drawn toward the photo. The mise-en-scene shows Florence in a 'bohemian' style look with a burgandy coloured hat, a white shirt and a waist jacket. This connotes that Florence is free in her style. Her hair is red showing a contrast of her pale skin whilst it could also connote feistiness and female empowerment. But her posture contardicts this as she is covering her chest with her arm showing that she may need protection also. Her makeup is fairly neutral connoting purity and innocence. The magazine also features another smaller image on the front cover of a male artist of which is shown in black and white, the male is holding a cigarette wearing a trench coat with scruffy hair. Indicating that he does not take much pride in his appearance or, may be representing the urban culture.
This magazine clearly sticks to the typical conventions of a magazine as the layout of the sunheadings, pull quotes and plugs are all placed around the side of the image, which is a typical layout. Superlatives are being used in order to capture the readers attention "The man revolutionised by music"also a typical trait of music magazines. The masthead is bold and capitald making it stand out visually to the reader, the colour is white showing a contrast to the background colour.

Indie magazine analysis

Content page analysis

Double page spread analysis 2

Rationale questions for my Indie magazine

Colour scheme:
My aim for my front page, contents page and double page spread, is to stick to a strict colour scheme as this seems to be a common trait of colour ussage in most Indie magazines.
The colour scheme in which I would like to be using would be a pastel coral colour for my subheadings on my front cover, double page spread and contents page. I will be sticking to a a faded white for the background colour of my front page as this is simple and would conrast my main image and text. My masthead will be black as I believe it would be visibly bold and again contrast the background colour.
Likwise, my contents page and double page spread will also be sticking to the colours of pastel coral, white and black, as I want my colours to be consistent through out my production.

Image:
For my images I want to ensure that they reflect the genre of Indie, in model, costume, props and background. I understand that this is required to be done successfully as I need to make sure I am attracting my target audience by the ussage of my images. My approach is to make the images to look as natural as possible yet I would like them to look indipendant and fun reflecting the genre itself.
Also I am not too keen in using a variety of modles for my images as I would like to stick to a minimum of two or one of the same person.

Text:
For my double page spread I am planning to create an article on the personal life of the model I am featuring on my double page spread, contents page and double page spread. Within this article I am going to create a interview as this is intriguing to a reader. My language will be sophisticated but easy to read and understand. The font that I will be using for my double page spread and contents page will be formal to show sophistication however, I am deciding to go with a less formal approach for my front cover in the sunheadings as this will attarct my target audience and will be relatable for them.

Double page spread analysis

Music magazine analysis 2

Music magazine analysis

Music album cover analysis

Music Magazine inspiration