Model Change

After realising that my chosen model is unreliable, I decided to ask my colleague Hannah Thomas. Hannah is ideal for the role I want, this is due to her tattoos and dreadlocks making her look like she lives a similar, carefree life to rockstars.

This is Hannah Thomas, as you can see, her tattoos and dreadlocks are ideal for the role in which I want her to succumb. 

Mise-en-scene, Location and Prop Ideas

Location This is the desired location of the main image on the front cover of my magazine. When researching the conventional location of the front cover of a typical Classic Rock magazine, I felt that a plain background was the most conventional and therefore I will use a plain background as the background of my front cover of my magazine. I will not use an outside location as I believe that this is unconventional for a Classic Rock magazine. By using a plain background, this will draw the audiences attention to the main image on the magazine front cover, therefore making my product a sellable product for my target audience. Props The props I will use for the first shoot will be props such as  These earrings (left) are iconographic of the rock star lifestyle and therefore I believe that this will be essential to include on the main image of my front cover. Leopard print is an iconic style of the Classic Rock lifestyle as artists such as Alice Cooper, ACDC and finally, Bon Jovi are photographed wearing the leopard print style. I also believe that plug earrings are iconic of the rock lifestyle and therefore I will be including these on the main image of my front cover. As you can see, on my chosen inspirational magazine (MOJO), there is the use of a cross hanging from Madonna's nose. In order to create a successful magazine, I will feature a prop similar to this cross, for example this black flower. By placing this flower on the mouth of my model, this will connote a sense of rebellion. This will be supported through the use of colour as this flower is black and therefore maintaining my colour scheme.   This is the next prop I will consider using when shooting the medium close-ups of my main model. This is a ring that connotes the idea of rebellion by featuring the religious symbol of a cross. As this ring is bigger than others, this will draw the audience's attention toward my model which is ultimately what I want to achieve. Next, this is also a ring that I feel will benefit me during the shooting of my models. This is a black ring and therefore withholds the ideology of my magazine and the colour scheme, by connoting the rebellious Classic Rock ideology. Similarly to the previous ring, this is a big ring that will attract the audience's attention and therefore pull their attention towards the main image of my front cover. Next is the use of this ring. This is a red ring, therefore still maintains the ideology of my Classic Rock magazine as well as the colour scheme. As this ring it also large, it will catch the audiences attention and pull them towards viewing the main image of my front cover, of my magazine. Rings were iconic for Classic Rock artists to wear such as Alice Cooper, Bon Jovi and Kurt Cobain, from the Rock/Grunge band Nirvana, therefore I will be supporting the ideology and conventions of the Classic Rock genre by featuring specific props.   Next, I am analysing the different bracelets that could connote the Classic Rock lifestyle. Although rings were more common during the hype of the Classic Rock genre, I believe that by including bracelets such as this House of Blues bracelet, this brings the artists own individual style to the generic conventions of the Classic Rock genre.   As you can see, there is the use of multi-coloured skulls on this bracelet. Although the multi-coloured colour scheme is more iconic of the Pop genre, I believe by dressing my model wearing this bracelet, this will create a wider audience as the colours will appeal to a younger audience. On the other hand, this may be a negative conception as the content of Classic Rock magazines may not be appropriate for the younger audience. This bracelet is similar to the previous bracelet, however with the loss of the colour black and the addition of the blue cross. I like the idea of incorporating a cross with the skulls and this adds a sense of danger to the ideology of the fictional artist on my front cover of my magazine. The same argument still stands however, that due to the colours used, a younger audience will be attracted to this magazine, but this may cause controversy as the content within my magazine may not be appropriate for the younger target audience.

As you saw previously, my chosen inspirational front cover magazine features Madonna with a cross hanging from her nose. I have decided to follow the style of this magazine by trialing props such as the skull earring (left & middle) and the cross earring (right). I feel these props are relevant and can be made iconic of the Classic Rock genre, evidently the cross is already iconic of the Classic Rock - as seen in MOJO's edition featuring Madonna.

Costume Designs

1. Costume Design - Red Hot Chili Peppers

In order to understand the Classic Rock costume ideas, I researched artists within the Classic Rock genre and their particular style of clothing. Firstly, I began by researching the most popular (according to my audience research) Classic Rock genre band - Red Hot Chili Peppers.

As you can see, the Red Hot Chili Peppers maintain a casual style throughout their public appearances. Anthony Kiedis (Red Hot Chili Pepper's lead vocalist) is seen to be wearing a casual t-shirt including an animated image. Although these images are not important to RHCP's logo, this connote a sense of comfort to the audience as RHCP feel comfortable in their position in society. In contrast, this does not support the ideology and style of a Classic Rock artist such as Alice Cooper or ACDC, however, this is what separates the RHCP from traditional Classic Rock artists; they are creating their own ideology within the Classic Rock genre and that is why they are such a successful band in the modern day.

This is my own interpretation of the Red Hot Chili Peppers style:

As you can see, I have tried to imitate the Red Hot Chili Peppers style. I have chosen to style my model in a casual Jim Beam graphic t-shirt, as it a similar t-shirt to the ones Anthony Kiedis is wearing on both images. Unfortunately, I was unable to locate a white graphic t-shirt therefore, I improvised with a light grey t-shirt. Although this is not an accurate improvisation, I believe this is a sufficient effort at imitating the Red Hot Chili Peppers style. 

By choosing a graphic t-shirt that references the Kentucky Straight Bourbon Whiskey, this implies a sense of rebellion to the audience as a stereotypical rock stars lifestyle consists of drinking, female attention and lots of partying, therefore this t-shirt is supporting the ideology of a typical rock star. 

Next, I decided to add a black baggy shirt over the top of the graphic t-shirt. Although the Red Hot Chili Pepper's lead singer was not wearing a baggy shirt during the shooting of these images, in the right image, one band member is wearing a baggy shirt therefore I followed the style of this band member. 

As the rock star lifestyle is rebellious, I chose to trial this controversial graphic t-shirt. As it includes the taboo word 'f******', this is supporting the rebellious lifestyle. If I were to include this t-shirt on the front cover of my magazine, I would edit the taboo word, using the blur tool on Photoshop as this may repel my target audience whilst causing controversy such as influencing the target audience to wear/say offensive language.

As you can see, I have decided to dress my model in tight black trousers. I have chosen to do so as they are featured on the majority of the band members in these two images. Black is a symbolic colour of the Classic Rock genre, more specifically, tight black trousers or leather trousers. As I  cannot locate any tight black leather-look trousers, I believe tight black denim trousers will imply, if not the same, then similar connotations to the target audience of my magazine.

Next, I decided dress my model in a unique style Nirvana graphic t-shirt. By featuring my artist/main image wearing a Nirvana t-shirt, this suggests that the rock star lifestyle is supported by other rock stars. This is also product placement, as ultimately, I will be persuading the rock target audience to invest in Nirvana's music. The audiences role model (main image) will appear to like the rock band Nirvana and therefore influence the target audience to invest in this music.

Finally, this is the final outfit I have chosen in order to imitate the Red Hot Chili Peppers style. As you can see, I have chosen a t-shirt that is similar colour to the t-shirt Anthony Kiedis is wearing in the image on the right. Although this t-shirt is supporting the Classic Rock genre as it is features another artist, I believe it also does not support the Classic Rock genre as it is not an iconic colour of the Classic Rock genre. 

I have also chosen to include black denim trousers for this shot. I have done this as later images of Kurt Cobain, lead singer/guitarist of Nirvana are wearing blue denim jeans therefore I was merging the two styles together in order to create an sufficient style for my fictional artist.

2. Costume Design - Bon Jovi

Next, I studied the style of the famous American rock band Bon Jovi, which was voted the second most associated band with the Classic Rock genre, in my audience research. These are two images of Bon Jovi (left as a group, and right, the main singer posing for a photo shoot).

As you can see there is the use of leather jackets and dark glasses. These are both iconographic of the Classic Rock genre, ultimately connoting that this band is a traditional, stereotypical rock band. In the right image, Jon Bon Jovi is seen to be wearing a colourful scarf, this contradictions the Classic Rock genre which is most associated with the colours red, black and white. This scarf consists of the colours yellow and purple therefore, like the Red Hot Chili Peppers, is creating his own unique look whilst still maintaining the iconographic conventions of a typical Classic Rock artist.

This is my own interpretation of Bon Jovi's style:

As you can see, I have used the graphic taboo-word t-shirt 'Lady f****** Gaga'. I am aware of the controversy of this t-shirt however, by using the blur tool on Photoshop, I will be able to blur the taboo word in order to cover the offensive language. By featuring a taboo word on the front cover of my magazine, this will allow me to maintain the rebellious connotations of the rock lifestyle.

Furthermore, I have included a black and white scarf in order to resemble Bon Jovi's style. As you can see in the image on the right, Bon Jovi is seen wearing purple and yellow scarf. As my colour scheme is red, black and white, a black and white scarf is ideal to wear for a Classic Rock artist that is going to feature on my magazine.

As my colour scheme is red, white and black, black denim trousers are also ideal for my model to wear during the shoot. Black denim trousers are also iconographic of the Classic Rock genre and therefore I will ensure my model is wearing black denim trousers.

I have also decided to trial a leather jacket. Leather fabric is iconographic for any artist within the Classic Rock genre and therefore I believe that a leather jacket is a great prop to feature on the front cover of my magazine. Bon Jovi are famous for their leather-look as are other Classic Rock artists such as Alice Cooper and the rock band KISS. Leather is also iconographic of motorbikers and therefore, this supports the idea that my artist is rebellious - supporting the overall theme of rebellious for my magazine as a whole. I previously stated that the interests of my target audience consisted of motorbiking, therefore by including a leather prop, this widens my audience to anyone remotely interested in motorbiking.

3. Costume Design - Nirvana

Finally I studied one of my favourite bands; Nirvana. Nirvana got voted one of the top three bands most associated with the Classic Rock genre, according to my audience research. The first image is a shot of Kurt Cobain - the lead singer and guitarist in Nirvana and the second image is a shot of the three members of Nirvana: Cobain, Dave Grohl and Kris Novoselic. 

As you can see their style is borderline effortless, similarly to the RHCP, Cobain is seen to be wearing animated t-shirts that do not connote relevance to Nirvana as an institute however support the theme of rebellion for the Classic Rock genre as the slogan on Cobain's t-shirt in the image on the right says 'corporation magazines still suck'. This conveys that Cobain and Nirvana are rebelling against society and they disagree with the structure of society. Nirvana are notorious for their rebellious ideologies and therefore this is supporting Nirvana's stereotype, as well as the Classic Rock genre's ideologies. 

This is my interpretation of Nirvana's effortlessly 'grungy' style:

This is my recreation of the style of the grunge band Nirvana. As you can see, I have maintained the convention of a graphic t-shirt. To begin with, I have excluded the use of a sole image on the t-shirt, instead, I decided to trial a stripy black and white top with a chequered shirt over the top. I believe this outfit is not supporting the rebellious rock lifestyle due to the colour of the white top. Although it maintains the colour scheme of my magazine, I feel does not match the criteria of my ideology of the Classic Rock genre.

Next, I pieced together The Black Keys top, the casual shirt and finally, the black denim trousers. This outfit is more accurate than the first Nirvana interpretation that I configured. I followed the style of Nirvana's lead singer Kurt Cobain, as he was often photographed having tucked his t-shirt into his trousers whilst wearing a belt. By following Cobain's style in this manner, this allows the audience to understand the ideology of the my main image, as they will associate the style of my main artist to the style of Kurt Cobain.

As you can see I have decided to dress my model in a Nirvana t-shirt. I believe that this is was an important choice to make as this t-shirt supports the ideology of the Classic Rock genre. Nirvana were a notoriously rebellious band and therefore this is supporting the ideology of the Classic Rock genre as well as the fictional band that I have created.

Next I decided to change the colour of the model's trousers. To begin with, I stuck to the conventional black, denim trousers that are iconic of the Classic Rock genre, however, I decided to trial the blue denim trousers as these were conventional for Nirvana. I felt that the blue denim trousers did not meet the criteria of the conventions of the Classic Rock genre and therefore, I feel the black trousers will be more suitable for the target audience as they will understand the conventions and ideology of the my magazine and the Classic Rock genre.

Social Class & Demographic of my Product

I will be aiming my magazine at the social class group C2. I am going to due to the audience research that I carried out in order to understand my target audience. One of my questions was 'What is your annual household income?', this helped me determine the annual income of my target audience. By establishing the income, this gave me a rough idea as to the category in which each individual candidate entered. 27% of candidates stated their annual household income was between £20k and £30k. As the average annual income in Britian is £27k, I believe that this leads my target audience into the C2 social class. As I stated earlier, the majority of my target audience require jobs such as hairdressers, builders, or even personal trainers and as these jobs are not high paying jobs, more skilled and manual work, this leads me to the conclusion that my target is C2 on the demographics table.

Style/Iconography of my Product

I have created a Prezi in order to establish the style and iconographic conventions of my music magazine. I have included a font moodboard, a colour moodboard, existing artwork, inspirational images, my potential model and the positioning of my model. This research will allow me to break down the conventions that I will include on my front cover.

I have decided to choose red, black and white as my colour scheme as the majority of my candidates who answered the questionnaire stated that they felt these colours were most associated with the Classic Rock Genre.

My Reader Profile

1st draft of my own reader profile:

This is my own reader profile that I have created through the research I conducted of my genre target audience. When creating my own reader profile, I followed the conventions of an existing reader profile under my chosen genre (classic rock).  As you can see, I have included the key stats, such as the gender and age, as well as quotes that I feel are necessary in order to reinforce the idea that the magazine is effective and sellable to the audience.This is the reader profile I followed:

As you can see from this reader profile, there is the reference of statistics and facts. By including statistics and facts, this portrays a realistic representation of the audience of MOJO magazine. Information such as readership, mean age, social class (ABC1), and social media is all included on the reader profile in order to establish the key information about the audience.

Although this reader profile is effective reader profile, I believe that I need to conduct more research about my target audience that will help me produce a more effective reader profile.

I have also included the purpose of reading. As I stated earlier, I felt that pop magazines were read as they share inside gossip about celebrities whereas I want my audience to read my magazine to learn about the music under this genre, the fashion and the icons that made the classic rock genre famous.

Finally, I have included a contact list (consisting of the email, website and number) in case the audience want to communicate with the institution about the reader profile.

After serious contemplation, I chose to adapt my reader profile, therefore I carried out a survey on the website www.surveymonkey.com, which allowed me to create an effective questionnaire consisting of open and closed questions as well as psychographic and demographic questions. By including a variety of question styles, this allows me to dive into further depth of my target audience, for example, psychographic questions are questions that refer to the audiences preference whereas demographic questions refer to the social status of my target audience. This will help me determin a price for my magazine.
This is the demographics table that will allow me establish the social class of my magazine.

Question one:

My survey began with the question 'how old are you?'. This is a demographic question that allows me to understand the age range of my target audience. By deterring the age group, this allows me to design an appropriate product for the specific age range. Eleven candidates answered this question and only one candidate was between the age of 41 - 50 years old, this obviously meant that ten candidates were between the age of 0 - 20 years old. This gave me an understanding as to the target audience of my magazine and therefore I will be creating a magazine aimed at teenagers between the age of 16 - 20.

Question two:

This is my second question, 'What is your annual household income?' Again, eleven candidates answered this question however, the answers were distributed across different options, for example, two candidates answered that their household income was below £10k, one candidate answered that their household income was betweek £10k - £20k, three candidates answered that their household income was between £20k - £30k, one candidate stated that their household income was between £30k - £40k, and finally four candidates stated that their household income was between £40k and £50k+. As the majority of my target audience stated that their household income was between £20k - £30k, I feel that by pricing my magazine at a price that these candidates can afford will help my magazine become affordable and wanted by not only my target audience but also by a bigger and wider audience. As I stated earlier, my target audience is teenagers between the age of 16 - 20, and as the majority of teenagers are in full time education around this age, I am aware of the restrictions they have to make in order to live sustainably therefore an affordable price will persuade my target audience to purchase my magazine.

Question three:

My third question is 'what is your gender?' This is a demographic question that aims to find out the majority of sexes who would read my magazine. By looking at this feedback, I am aware that my target audience roughly contains more females than males. As you can see from this research, for every four males, there are seven females therefore, I will achieve the highest profit if I cater my magazine to the female gender.

Question four:

For my fourth question, I was aiming to find out the ethnic background of my target audience therefore I chose to ask 'what is your ethnic background?' Fourteen candidates answered this question and they all answered with White British therefore I will be definitely aiming my magazine at the White British culture in order to propel my profits for the institutions benefit.

Question five:

In order to establish how my audience access their music, I asked the question 'How do you access your music?' With 12 responses, the majority (91%) of my audience replied with streaming. Second, my (83%) of my audience stated that they listened to music via Youtube. Only 58% stated that they listened to music via iTunes which was a shock as I believe that iTunes was a popular form of music access due to the rapid proliferation of digital technology. 

Two candidates stated that they accessed their music via vinyls, Spotify and live shows. 

When creating my magazine, I will include logo's such as Youtube/Vevo, iTunes and Spotify in order to entice my audience to purchase this magazine.

Question six:

This is question sex. For question six, I aimed to establish the favourite artist or band within the classic rock genre. I understand to controversy with this question as the candidates asked to complete this survey may not follow the Classic Rock genre and therefore they may be completely lost as to who falls under the Classic Rock genre. Through this research, I gathered that:

Five candidates chose The Red Hot Chili Peppers
Four candidates chose Bon Jovi
Three candidates chose Led Zeppelin
Three candidates chose Nirvana
Three candidates chose Queen
Two candidates chose ACDC
Two candidates chose Black Sabbath
One candidate chose Rainbow
One candidate chose Aerosmith
One candidate chose Bryan Adams
One candidate chose Slipknot
One candidate chose The Beatles
One candidate chose Jack White
One candidate chose Flock
One candidate chose Metallica
One candidate chose Alice Cooper
One candidates chose CCR
One candidate chose Marilyn Manson
One candidate chose Kings of Leon
One candidate chose Sock
One candidate chose The Guess Who
One candidate chose Motorhead
One candidate chose Guns 'n' Roses

Overall, when creating my magazine, I will feature artists such as The Red Hot Chili Peppers, Bon Jovi, Led Zeppelin, Nirvana, Queen, ACDC and finally Black Sabbath on the front cover, contents page and double page spread of my magazine. This will entice my target audience to purchase my magazine as well as reinforcing the conventions of the Classic Rock genre.

Question seven: 

This is my seventh question on my questionnaire. This establishes how often my target audience attend a live music event, I have asked this psychographic question to highlight whether my target audience prefer attending live music events or not. This will help me during the production stage of the creation of my magazine as I will be able to feature competition plugs such as 'win free concert tickets' or offers such as 'buy this magazine for free concert tickets'. This will help sell my product and make it a profit for my institution. As you can see from my research, only twelve candidates have answered this question however it was enough for me to gather an idea of whether my target audience would feel obliged to purchase this magazine as they are getting something in return. 

Question eight:

This question aimed to establish what my target audience would prefer as a freebie when buying this magazine. I found that the majority of candidates who answered this question would prefer a clothing voucher. This evidently goes to show that my target audience would purchase my magazine if it featured a free clothing voucher. However, due to the classic rock genre of my magazine, I feel this gift is not an effective technique that will help sell my product. I feel something more appropriate such as a wristband, CD or discounted ticket for a concert will be more suitable for my target audience.

Question nine:

In order to establish the colours most associated with the Classic Rock genre, I have asked candidates what three colours they most associate with the Classic Rock genre. it is evident that red is the most popular colour as seven candidates stated that this was the colour they most associated with the Classic Rock genre. Black came closely second with six candidates stating that they associate black with the Classic Rock genre. Four candidates stated that the colour white was the colour they associated the most with the Classic Rock genre. Only two candidates stated that purple was a colour they mostly associated with this genre. And finally, three people individually voted for grey, gold or silver. I will follow the response from my target audience and follow the key ideas that red, black and white are most commonly associated with the Classic Rock genre.

Question ten:

Question ten is my final question. I aimed to focus on how much my target audience spend when purchasing music annually. I have found that the majority of my target audience (46%) spent between £0 - £30. This shows that my target audience are willing to purchase a CD or merchandise for their favourite artist/band, therefore I believe it will be ideal for me to feature a free CD when purchasing this magazine as this will benefit my target audience by giving them the chance to buy a magazine and a free CD.

After completing this audience research, I have adjusted my reader profile in order to cater more to my target audience. This is my new reader profile:

As you can see, I have adapted the statistics of my reader profile in order to reference my audience in more depth.