Potential Fonts

Faith Collapsing

Metal Macabre

DreamScar

Stormbringer

Catharsis Requiem

Unique Selling Point

The majority of widely-circulated music magazines owe their popularity to the fact that they regularly feature the most widely known and popular artists within their particular genre, ensuring that readers will be interested in their publications. They know that mainstream audiences are comfortable with the familiar, and will therefore be more willing to buy a publication featuring artists they know well.

I will seek to challenge this convention by targeting the niche audience who are willing to take the risk of vesting their interest in unsigned talents which may only have performed locally. My publication will feature unsigned, largely unknown artists within my genre, serving as a means of gaining media exposure and raising audience awareness and interest for these undiscovered talents.

Photo Shoot Inspiration and Planning

While most students are content to find one model to create their imaginary artist, I seek to go one better and assemble a whole band. I've been leaning towards a female vocalist; with this in mind, I have searched Google Images for photographs of female-fronted rock bands, that I may wish to emulate in my own work.

Arch Enemy

Flyleaf

Lacuna Coil

Nightwish

Immediately I can see a pattern emerging - each band's lead vocalist is in the middle of the group, right at the centre of the shot. In each case, she is the face of the band, and it is her of whom fans tend to think when the group is brought to mind.

In each photo, the female lead is made to stand out in a different way so that viewers' attention is drawn to her:

- The Arch Enemy shot draws the eye to Angela Gossow with her red shirt and blonde hair contrasted against the plain black clothes and dark hair of the other members.

- Lacey Sturm, frontwoman of Flyleaf, seems to stand out by virtue of being shorter than her bandmates. This is assisted by her central placing in the shot.

- The Lacuna Coil shot not only places female vocalist Cristina Scabbia at the centre of the shot, it brings her right up into the foreground and places the other band members at such a distance that they are vaguely out of focus. The second clearest face is Cristina's opposite number, male lead vocalist Andrea Ferro (far right).

- Again, the differing clothing allows Anette Olzon of Nightwish to catch the viewer's eye. However, in this case she is not alone in this individuality; keyboardist Tuomas Holopainen is wearing a red shirt as opposed to the plain black of the other members.

This convention of prioritising the female lead is what has inspired my own ideas for my photo shoot. I will combine the elements demonstrated in these photographs, placing my chosen frontwoman at the centre of the group and having them clothed so as to visually set her apart from her bandmates. However, I must be careful not to construct my shots in a way that gives the rest of the group too little exposure; in the above photos, with the debatable exception of the Lacuna Coil shot, the rest of the band are just as visible and command their fair share of attention from viewers without overshadowing the central presence of the lead.

I have yet to decide upon a choice of location for my shoot; photos on location have the distinct advantage of a natural background, which can complete a well-posed photo, but a studio will allow me to fully control the lighting in order to complement the shot with specific lighting effects. A combination of the two, one for the front cover and the other for the main feature, may prove the best option.

Reader Profile

Name: Demetrius Altor

Age: 17

Sex: Male

Occupation: Student

Hobbies: Writing, Gaming

Favourite Artists/Bands: All That Remains, Amon Amarth, Children of Bodom, Disturbed, Nightwish, Ozzy Osbourne, Rammstein, Rise Against, Scar Symmetry, Symphony X, 3 Inches of Blood

Favourite TV/Films: NCIS, Mock the Week, Quarantine, Snatch
Favourite Albums: Amon Amarth "Twilight of the Thunder God", Children of Bodom "Blooddrunk",  Symphony X "Paradise Lost", 3 Inches of Blood "Fire Up The Blades"

Software and Equipment Used

Software:

Adobe InDesign CS3

Adobe Photoshop CS3

Equipment:

Digital Camera

Macbook Laptop

Desktop Mac

Tripod

Studio Lights w/ Soft Boxes

Profiling of Target Audience

G.R.A.S.S.

Gender: Non-specific; will not be considered to a great extent
Race: Mostly American and European
Age: Mid-teens to 20s
Socio-Economic Status: D to C1, inaccurate as these classes may be


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Psychographic Profiling

CCCC Category: Mainstreamer/Individual - Within the genre, readers are likely to enjoy widely known and popular artists, but would also be willing to investigate unsigned, relatively unknown new talents.


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AIDA 

This is seen to in publications such as magazines and newspapers by the use of eye-catching photographs and headings; I will therefore seek the same effect using my own photographs and titles.

Double Page Feature Analysis

The double page feature I have found is a review of a Metallica gig; supported by Machine Head, HIM and Mastodon. So as to make my analysis easier to read, I have annotated the image with numbers:

1) Subtitle: This subheading in the corner informs the viewer

of the purpose of the feature. In this case, "Rated" indicates a review.

2) Main Title: Placed in the middle of an open space on the main photo,

this heading and the caption beneath immediately grab the reader's attention.

3) Main Photo: This centrally-placed shot is the heart of the article's ability to seize

readers' interest and get them reading; it's a safe assumption that almost everyone
who reads Kerrang! will recognise and be interested in James Hetfield, frontman
of the legendary Metallica.

4) Article: The article itself takes up surprisingly little room on the page.

The small but readable font allows maximum space to be given over

to photos to gain readers' interest and make them want to read the article.

5) Summary: This paragraph, emboldened and in a larger font than the main

article, draws readers' attention to a specific part of the article that is worthy of

particular mention; in this case, the excellent performance of Machine Head.

The five bracketed Ks next to the band's emboldened name are the rating

given by the magazine.

6) Secondary Photos: Placed so as to claim their share of page space and

attention, these photographs are of other performers at the gig. However, sized as

they are, they do not compromise the seniority of the much larger primary

photo of the headliner.

7) Rating Key: A necessity whenever a rating system is employed in an article,

this key clarifies the system for readers; in this case, one K is a "rubbish" rating and

five is "excellent".

8) Interview: This final addition, short and out of the way, is the person opinion of

one of the performers, informing readers of their thoughts about the gig

and other acts.

Contents Page Analysis

Note: Apologies if reading the captions is difficult - any larger and the image

would apparently leave the text box.