Annotating music magazines

genre research on my chosen genre.

Rhythm and Blue  this is abbreviated as R&B or RnB, is a genre of music   which originated in the  1940s.This term was originally used by record companies describe recordings  marketed  hugely to urban African American , at a time when " rocking , jazz ,base  music  with a heavy ,  beat" was becoming popular . For the  commercial rhythm and blues  music typical of the 1950s  through the 1970s , the  bands usually   had a piano, a guitar or two , bass, drums , and  background vocalist. rhythm and blues lyrical themes  normally  had  the  African-American experience of  agony  and the  thrive for   their  liberty  and happiness. the lyrics  often   focused on the themes   of freedom .However modern  R&B lyrics tend  to  have  themes of triumphs  and failure in terms  of relationships  economics/money, aspirations , and sex.



British rhythm  and blues  began   in the  early  1960s , mainly   as a  response  to the  recordings of  African American artists,  who were  usually   brought  over  by  African American  servicemen stationed in  Britain  during  the cold  war , or  merchant seamen visiting  ports such as  London , or Belfast. Most bands , tried to mirror   black  rhythm and blues  artists , giving  them a new raw sound.

music magazine moodboard.

Here is a moodboard i created from my research of different  music magazine covers.

This is to give me inspiration during my own music magazine design.

Jazz music genre seems to be a very interesting music genre to focus on so i will focus my magazine design based on this genre.

  Here are some examples of  different music genre magazines.

 R&B music magazine.                  Rap music magazine.                    Pop  music magazine  

           

                                                    .

Jazz music magazine                 Blues music magazine           Gospel music magazine.

              
 

Most of these magazines have a medium shot, or close ups,

 All these music magazine cover pages are very appealing to me as they are professionally structured in a very simplistic way whilst being very relevant to its genre. This is because depending the genre of music, each magazine establishes stereotypical features making it very personal to its purpose so it is able to easily entertain and interest the audience.


 Rap music conventions portrayed in magazines.
 The styles that are portrayed through rap music can be shown through clothing that include of known branded loose-fitting clothing (usually hoodies and tracksuits), jewelry :mainly shiny diamond chains, gold or diamond rings and shiny earrings. Baseball caps  which are mainly representatives of different areas of countries or sports teams and  sometimes beanie hats.  Another convention is tattoos and hairstyles, most rap artists have tattoos on their body that are shown in the video and some magazines in my mood-board. This often  Influences the people who watch the videos or read such magazines to get tattoos similar to the artists. Jay-Z has been presented with most of  the rap conventions in this magazine .

  pop music conventions portrayed in magazines

The artists are normally dressed in very mainstream, fashionable  and stylish outfits. They are also portrayed as happy individuals  who seem to be very fond  of life. Most pop magazines are themed with very  bold and   bright colours like pink, yellow blue etc. Such colours are used in order to create a positive vibe for the audience. The hair and makeup also makes the audience understand the artists feelings and emotion this therefore creates a  connection between the character and artist this then makes the audience to buy the magazine as they are intrigued by the artists emotions and feelings being portrayed through their hair and makeup.

 
R&B music conventions portrayed in magazines

 

The  conventions found in  R&B music are shown in their magazines. The  male artists  tend to dressed in smart/smart casual clothing. Potentially represents  their social class or status in society.  Usher and Ne-Yo are examples of artists who  follow the Smart/Smart casual look.

where as the women are presented in a classy manner yet with  very little clothing.

 Women being  generally clothed as classy but revealing clothes, makes them attractive to the males, who are the main target audience for the conventional R&B music magazine. It also encourages young girls to aspire to look in a classy yet sexually appealing Jewellery is also  the most conventional piece of clothing shown on R&B magazines.   there is always a form of jewellery on the artist whether that being  a watch,  earring, or a  necklace, these jewellery on most artists also represents their wealth and status in society, so the audience of the magazine would be inspired to be an R&B artist too as they will gain great wealth and a higher status in society.

 

 

 

 

 

Rock music conventions portrayed in magazines

Rock music magazine covers  usually have black and white images for older model artists older whilst simple colours for text, black or white or a colour that fits the common colour scheme.some inconsistent colour scheme, are usually specific to each issue/artist. The font style used is also normally very simple yet Gothic .This is a reflection of  their stereotypical  image portrayed by society, as  they are seen as being Gothic individuals.The clothing of the artists also reflects the Gothic imagery as they tend to be wearing very dark Gothic like clothing. they usually wear leather clothing with a lot of jewellery e.g. skull skull ring.

Jazz music conventions portrayed in magazines.

Jazz music magazines covers usually have their artists wearing very smart and classy clothing, and with a serious but yet a cheerful facial expressions. the font styles also appear to be very simple yet classy with a very subtle colour scheme. This prevents the cover page from looking unprofessional and cheap, as it will be a very bad representation of the artists as they are stereotypically portrayed to be very classy. Therefore this magazine would be very appealing to the target audience as they will realise that the magazine is going to give them relevant and more reliable information as it successfully highlights all the typical conventions Jazz music artists have.

Blues music conventions portrayed in magazines.

Blues music conventions are very similar to jazz music conventions, as the artists are clothed in similar clothing and accessories they also tend to have props like guitars etc. The font style of the front covers are also very similar to the font styles used in Jazz music as both music genres are stereotypically seen as classic and simple; these reflects the conventions found in music magazines.

Gospel music conventions portrayed in magazines.

Gospel music magazines also have similar conventions to Jazz and Blues music as the artists are usually dressed very professionally and church like, with a delightful facial expression; reflecting the  pride they feel for the religious music they are making. The font style used are also usually simple and  bold with bright colours. these are to easily remind the artist to read/but the magazines as the information it may have is going to be as joyful as the music made in this genre are. In contrast to Jazz and Blues music, Gospel music occasionally  have religious elements/ symbols on their magazine covers to distinct them from other music genres.

 

A trip to the magazine store

I took a trip to the magazine store because i wanted to get first hand inspiration from the magazines for my own preparation for the school magazine and the music magazine i am yet to make.

Here is an article I found very interesting whilst I researched about magazines

 From Billboard magazine.The Juice     

George W. Bush Laughed When Asked About Kanye West's 2020 Presidential Campaign

October 30, 2015 8:32 AM EDT 

"Former president George W. Bush and Kanye West haven't exactly had a great relationship -- mostly as a result of the call out heard 'round the world, when West said during a Hurricane Katrina telethon, "George Bush doesn't care about black people." Bush would later call the incident "one of the most disgusting moments of my presidency." For clarity, two wars began during his time in office, as well as the worst financial crisis since the Great D

Kanye West Rips Bush During NBC Telethon

West recently expressed his intent to run for president in 2020, a declaration that most politicians have treated somewhat gingerly -- Hillary Clinton said if she's not running for re-election, she'd get behind him, and Donald Trump said, "I hope to run against him someday."expression"

I find this magazine article very interesting as it seems be giving very reliable information about the events that took place. This is because their website even provided a video which shows exactly what happened. This therefore makes the magazine a reliable and interesting source of entertainment. 
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magazine front cover

contents page for the magazine

magazine cover plan

Deciding on my magazine mass head/title

Title one: Haggerston daily.
Title two:School magazine.
Title three: News around.

I decided to choose "Haggerston daily" as the mass head title of my magazine. This I figured it sounds more professional, and also personal to the school as the name of the school is included, and this will therefore grab the interest of the audience which is the school community as they will feel that all the issues concerns them. My font choice also contributes to the aim of grabbing the audiences interest as it simple, easy to read and yet stylish, in a white colour as I wanted it to stand out boldly from the background.


Here are some examples of magazine covers I researched, in  order to inspire me whilst I make my own.


     


       

Deciding on a front cover image, from my photo shoot.

Photo-shoot one

Although this image appears very fine, and clear as it is simple close up shot of the student, i am not very pleased with the background of the main image as it doesn't appear to look very professional because the background is not plain and simple but rather busy, even though it supports the idea of a school magazine having elements of school facilities/objects e.g. desks and chairs .For this reason i will not be using this image as the magazine front cover .

Photo-shoot two

This image appears good as its low angle shot allows us the audience to clearly see the students face/facial expression, it appears blurry so i will not be able to to use it as my front cover for the school magazine I'm desinging. how ever this image image to use as the magazine cover as it shows the student being focused ;which is something that is expected to from school.

Photo-shoot three

This image also appaers to be a good medium-shot. This is because it is  a very clear image and the background does not seem to be very un professional.However i don't like the facial expression so i will therefore not be using this image as my front cover .

Photo-shoot four

This image looks incredibly professional as there aren't any distructing background objects which draws attention away from the main image.However i will not be using this image as it is unfortunately blurry, so it will make my magazine cover look very amature if it was used.

Photo-shoot five

This image seems very perfect as it is not blurry, and the facial expression of the main image is not disappointing,therefore i will use this image as my front cover as it looks convincingly professional as the student in the image relates to the prop which this the piano very well, as she looks focused and  interested in the piano.this means that is image will make the cover page of the magazine look exciting and relevant to its purpose.

magazine cover annotation

These magazines annotation was created as a little test of memory to see if i remembered what  , i learn during the lesson.

I did this to help me remember all the features i will need whilst i design my own magazine in the near future.