Completed magazine

I now have my completed 4 pages of my magazine. Here are all of the pieces put together.

 

Evaluation

Here is my evaluation of my music magazine, as well as the rest of the course. As blogger will not allow me to add this prezi to this blog post please click the link below until I can solve this issue, Thank you.

Evaluation Prezi

My Journey

Since the start of the year I was given the task of completing 60 blog posts. These blog posts would show my progress throughout the year and also "the journey" to completing my music magazine. I believe over the past few months i have really progressed with my knowledge of music magazines, and also my knowledge and skills on photoshop, which have been tested in  my final production. I have explored music magazines and the music industry in my individual posts and also completed tasks relating to feminism. I have also been able to analyse magazine covers and contents pages, music related or non-music related.

Double page spread story

The story on my double page spread was a fictional story about a fictional band. This band was put together consisting of a few of my class mates. The story was based on a lot of stories that i have read whilst researching magazines. These stories always consist of bands that are splitting up, and that all the blame goes down onto one band member. I did this so that the magazine would be more believable and realistic.

Clothing Contents Page

On the contents page there was a solo artist. This is a classmate of mine who I had selected specifically to be on my contents page. The clothing he work was typical indie and really fit into the genre.


(Awaiting picture of Denim Jacket)






He wore a denim jacket over a white t-shirt

he was also wearing a grey beanie hat as I felt it went with the style well.

Clothing Double Page

On the double page spread Connor is wearing a white shirt. The shirt did have a logo, however the logo was covered by Connors arm. He is also wearing a tie as the shirt on its own looked very plain.

This is all you are able to see on the picture

Clothing Front cover

The clothing used in the pictures that I have used played a huge part in the shots. Below I have a list of the clothing props used along with pictures.







Cover page-
On the cover, all 3 boys are wearing plain white t-shirts (2 covered partly by shirts) This is something that I have seen in a few magazines, aswell as music videos in this genre.

Blue shirt. The red shirt on the cover is the same style of checks. But red. Both shirts are open showing the white t-shirt. This gives the artists a more casual look.

The only bottom half of a body that you can see is Nathan (far right) on my front cover. This is because he is tall, and also because he is standing further back to give the impression that Connor (central) is the lead singer. He is wearing black skinny jeans.

Double page spread analysis

In my double page spread I have used a layout seen in other magazines. This layout consists of one page being taken up with a picture, whilst the other page containing the article/interview. (seen right).
The article was a fictional story that I have created, linking into the headline on the cover of the magazine. I believe this story sounds realistic and that it could be seen in a professional magazine.

The picture that I had used for this page was of a classmate Connor Burgess. He was said to be the lead singer of this fictional band. I gained inspiration for this picture through a screenshot that I found of one of my favourite music videos, Demons- Imagine Dragons , in which Dan Reynolds (lead singer) is pictured in a similar position to what Connor is on me picture.

Model/Artists

The people who have appeared in the pictures on my magazine are members of my class. I had received permission from all of them for me to use them in my magazine. All of the people featured were chosen by me because of their looks, and how I feel they would fit into the genre of my magazine.

Front Cover-
Connor Burgess
Lewis Webster
Nathan Kearns

Contents Page- 
Michael Hickey

Double Page Spread-
Connor Burgess

Double page spread

This is my finished double page spread. Changes that I have made since the progress are:
Including the articles
added QR code
The quote
And the line underneath the headline

Magazine so far

Now I have 2 pieces of my magazine. These can still be edited, and i am currently working on my double page spread. One idea that i have had is to change the headline on the front cover. I may change this to the red that i have used on the front cover so that the magazine flows and has the same house style all the way through the magazine.

Contents page V2

This is my progress on my contents page. In this version I have changed up the text on the contents page. The text was described as "too chunky". because of this i have decided to make the text smaller, aswell as the text boxes below. I have also added a link to a social network site so that the audience can contact the magazine.

Double Page Progress

This is the progress of my double page spread so far. I will be attempting to complete this by the 25th of march.

 

Contents page first draft

This is the first draft of my magazines front cover. After receiving feedback I will make any changes necessary.

QR codes

QR codes are like barcodes that smartphones are able to scan. These are used in magazines as a way that readers can see exclusive videos or a link to promote something. I am hoping to use a QR code in my double page spread as a link to an interview by the artist or to the magazines website.




this is what a QR code looks like

contents page progress

this is my progress of my contents page. I am still improving it at the minute. Things i need to improve are
More pictures
Smaller text
more information

re-taken photos analysis #2

the second picture that i had taken consists of a solo artist. This will be used as the main image on my contents page because of it's simplicity. The picture consists of the artist standing with his arms crossed in the casual attire associated with the genre. The arms folded gives off the sense that he is very serious, helped along with his facial expressions. He too is giving direct address to the audience meaning readers can share this "connection" with the artist. I have planned to have the artist to the left side of the page, and to keep all text to the right side of the page, this is because i want the magazine to look simplistic, rather than be filled with unnecessary texts and pictures.

Redraft

This is my second draft of my front cover. I have adjusted the magazine to the feedback in which i was given and will now move on to the creation of my contents page, and double page spread.





I shall analyse this magazine in my next blog post.

re taken photos analysis #1

The first picture that i had re-taken will be used for my front cover. This image consists of 3 males all dressed in the casual attire that my music genre was going for. The boys are positioned so that there is one standing closer to the camera than the other two. This was to give the impression that the boy standing further forward was the lead vocalist, or the main artist in the group. This is also backed up through the angles that they are standing on. as you see both members in the background are facing slightly outward, whereas the main artist is standing facing the camera, this is to show the authority that he has. All members in the group are looking towards the camera. This is known as a direct address, and make the audience feel as though they have a connection with the band. This technique is used to draw people in towards the magazine to read about this groups story. I believe i used this effect well, especially in the instance of Connor in the white T-shirt. The clothing used also shows the individuality or "main man" image that some bands give off. The fact that both members in the background are wearing checked shirts, while the person in the foreground is just wearing a white T-shirt shows that he stands out from the other two. This can be linked to my story that i will be using in my double page spread as it is based around this made up band falling apart because of the bands lead singer becoming a solo artist and betraying not only the band, but also the band's millions of followers.

Re-Taken Photos

Yesterday I re took my pictures for my music magazine, in these pictures I have adjusted them to the feedback that I was given. In the shoot my classmates are now wearing more casual clothes suited to my genre of music magazine. This will make the magazine look more professional. the pictures that I have chose to use are shown below.

Re-Taking of photos

After receiving feedback on my first draft, I have decided to retake the pictures that I previously uploaded. One of the main changes that I will make will be changing the clothing of the classmates. The clothing i choose must be relative to the genre that my music magazine is in. For the shoot i will have them wear, checked or plain coloured shirts and jeans. 

This will not only connote to the genre, but also look more professional than the school uniform. The photoshoot will take place on Thursday 6th March and the pictures will be uploaded shortly afterwards.

codes and conventions in my music magazine

In my magazine I have tried to use codes and conventions typical
to a music magazine, but also stick with the genre in which my
magazine was trying to portray.
 On this cover I have been able to use features such as
The masthead, which tells the readers the name of the magazine and can be seen as the bold lettering at the top of the page. Other features include:

• Banner
• Barcode
• Headline
• Date
• Main image 
• Social media links

The definitions of all of these components can be found in one of my earlier blog posts here
 Kasey Porter AS blog: Magazine Terminology:

Analysis of my Front page first draft

In this blog post I will be analysing the front page first draft that I have recently posted. I will give feedback both positive and negative aswell as including what changes and improvements can be made.

Firstly the masthead, I really liked the name and font, working together they are both simplistic and plain, this is the look I was going for. However I'm not too sure on how I feel about the letter "C". I was not certain on whether I would have the letter bigger than the others to signify that it is a capital letter however I do find that having the letters all at the same height looks rather nice. I shall work on this to see what will look better in my final draft.

The clothing used on the 'artists' is too similar. Usually in bands these days each band member wears different clothes to suit their different personalities and to show that they are individuals aswell as bend members. Each of my class mates have a different style of wearing the clothing, the costume is still basically the same. The only altering of the picture I will make is that I will retake the picture but with the cast wearing different clothing to show their originality.

On the banner at the bottom of the page I should try to include more exciting features that will want to make someone read the magazine. I will try to make the banner stand out more so that it draws the readers attention, like it would on a  professional magazine. The lettering could be bolder and also in a different colour as right now it is the same colour as two of the artists shirts. This means that the white text may go unnoticed due to it not standing out.

The headline that I have used "The end of an ERA" relates to the story that I will make up for my double page spread that I will be creating. By deciding on the story at this stage will give me more time when creating the double page spread rather than spending time trying to think of a story line. This also allowed me to give a name to the group on the cover in which I named them "New Era", this sounds realistic, but can also be used as a play on words in my headline which speaks about the band breaking up.

The rest of the cover seems satisfactory to me. The main changes that I will make during the re-draft will be; Playing around with the masthead, trying to make the banner more exciting, and finally changing the clothing of the band members.

First draft magazine cover

This is the first draft of my magazine front cover belonging to my overall goal in this media course. This is a music magazine cover and will be altered in order to achieve higher grades. The final product can be seen below.

InDesign Layout

To start the creation of my music magazine, I had to decide on how my pages would be laid out. This would make the actual creation and putting together of the elements a lot easier. I was able to do this through a programme on the computer called InDesign.
 This programme allows me to use the column tool it has to section different parts of the pages and give me a guideline of where to place features on the page.
 Below are some screenshots of how I set out to lay out my magazine. This is only a first draft, once items are placed onto the page I may decide to change the arrangement of some.

 



Front Cover



Double page spread

Contents

Font testing

Today, I was looking for a suitable font that not only goes with the name "Composure", but will also fit into the style I would like my magazine to be. After looking at a few different styles of text I had decided to use a fairly simple font to go along with the simplicity of the magazines name. I had also decided on the colouring that I should have the text white as it goes with the colour scheme I have been using throughout my magazine front cover. The magazine front cover is still in progress, however the first draft of the cover will be posted shortly.
The fonts that I had narrowed my choices down to are those below. I liked these two as they seemed fairly simplistic, however they both stand out because of their boldness. After many trials on my magazine cover aswell as asking the opinions of some of my classmates I have came to the conclusion that I will use the second font as my masthead.

Naming my magazine

Today I decided to chose the name my music magazine. This name had to be a creative idea that also portrayed the style of naming related to my genre. After looking at the names of multiple indie magazines I discovered that most of the time the names were simple one or two words that seemed fairly random or that they have nothing to do with what the magazine is trying to sell. Names like 'Spin', 'Trace' and 'Foam' seem to have no relation to what their magazines want to sell to the public. So after thoughts of what word that I could use I came up with the word "Composure"

This word seems random enough to be called an indie magazine name, but can also be seen as a description to what some indie music can portray, this feeling of calming and being relaxed. I feel as though the name sounds quite professional and I would consider buying a magazine if it had a name such as 'composure' and I am hoping that the audience would agree.
 The word however was not thought up randomly as such, there was some meaning behind the choice.
Compose; is to put together/create. This term is referred to a lot when an artist creates a new piece of music.
Composure; is a state of calm and in control of ones self. The state in which some people go into whilst listening to music.
Thus my selection of this name.

questionnaire feedback

Near the start of my blog, I uploaded a questionnaire that people could answer to help me in the production of my music magazine. The questions helped me gauge a basic outline for how I should set up my magazine. I created this questionnaire through Google Drive and recently collected the feedback I was given.

The main questions that I though was the question:
Do you read music magazines?
This question was followed up with why the person does or doesn't depending on their previous answer. By doing this I was able to see how i could change my magazine to make people who already buy music magazines to buy my magazine, or to get people who do not read music magazines to be interested in my magazine.

Some of the answers I received for this question were as follows:
Pictures 
Articles
Interviews
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Boring x 6
Not interested in music
No time
Too expensive

I also asked how much these people would be willing to spend on a music magazine, this is to see what price I should place on my cover. Even though this magazine will not be sold, i would like to make it as specific to the audience as I can.
These prices consisted of and average of around £3 for those who do not buy magazines and about £4-5 for those who do. This means I will probably price the magazine at about £3-4.

Another key question i asked was the genre of magazine/music they like. This will be influential as to what house style, fonts, colours and many other features I use in the creation of my magazine. The answers were a mix of; Rap, Indie, Hip-hop, R&B, rock and metal. Because of this wide mix of genres i have decided to create a mixed genre magazine to tend to as many genres as I can.

Camera Filters

I made this blog showing the differences between the different filters available for use on my mobile phone. I started by taking a picture of my Sixth Form ID badge and scrolled through each filter looking at how they can effect a picture.
 These are the different filters available:

http://prezi.com/anymgovg0bqc/?utm_campaign=share&utm_medium=copy

(Images on Prezi are not currently working, I am trying to fix the problem)

Inspiration For Mock Pictures

One of my pictures that I took on Friday shows Connor (my classmate) singing into a microphone. The shot was captured from a low angle to give the feel that the artist is standing on a stage looking and singing downwards toward fans in an audience. (right). I feel as though I captured this concept fairly well and with the addition of a different background could look like a fairly realistic setting. However to create this for my final draft of the picture I would prefer that Connor wore more casual attire rather than a shirt and tie. Apart from that I have no other problems with the image.

However I did not come up with this concept on my own, some of the ideas came from watching an Imagine Dragons music video of the song Demons. As a band I listen to regularly I had branched the idea from and image I had saw taken from the video. This image involves lead singer Dan Reynolds from a lower angle singing loudly into the microphone, Before taking the picture I had shown Connor this image to base his pose and facial expressions off. I think the concept works quite well and with some work could look like a professional picture which I could use on my double page spread.

  (I could not find a still image of this shot without the vevo logo in the bottom corner)

*You can view Connor's blog by clicking on his name further up the page*




Click to watch the Imagine Dragons- Demons video
Or here to view their Wikipedia page

Camera Phone Editing

While messing around with the camera on my phone whilst shooting the mock up images for my music magazine, I came across a feature which allowed me to create deeper and shallow focus between images. After discovering this feature I was able to take better, more professional looking pictures. I am yet to use this feature in an actual picture for my magazine, however I took an image of the camera I used to take the mock up pictures, this is the result.
As you can see, I was able to create an image where the foreground of the image is clear, yet the background and other  mise-en-scene is left slightly blurry to bring attention to the main focal point, the camera. This creates multiple more opportunities as to the images I can take on my camera phone.

The quality of images that some smartphones are able to capture with modern technology can even sometimes be of better standard than most cameras. Newer technology in phones can now do things such as stabilise images to decrease blurring of moving pictures, "burst mode"- which allows users to take continuous bursts of pictures within the space of a few seconds, and some phones can even take panoramic shots which allow the photographer to capture a larger frame, typically used for large areas or to capture the surrounding area.


Another feature that phones can use is the addition of filters. There are a wide variety of filters for people to use and can help enhance or give the picture a different look. I took the picture above, and decided to try out a few filters. For me the best filter I could find was called "process" this was not too drastic of a change, however was able to subtly change the screen a blueish colour giving the picture a more professional feel. The picture can be seen below.

Photoshoot analysis

Today is the day that I took the mock pictures for the music magazine I will be making. These pictures will not be my final images that I will use, however the the ideas, such as poses and the dress codes of the individuals along with facial expressions and lighting.

The first picture I took was a picture of Nathan Kearns (classmate) standing on his own in a plain t-shirt. This I had decided this type of image would be used as my contents page picture because of its simplicity. Some things that I would have to change are that  the background is green rather than the white, which I had originally planned. I will be able to do this through photoshop possibly, This however may clash with the white t-shirt that he is wearing and he may blend into the background. I could counter this by telling him to wear a different coloured t-shirt, possibly black to contrast with the background. 

Nathan also has a piece of hair sticking out from the rest of his head, I could fix this by using the erase tool to get rid of the hair.

The second picture I took was the group picture. I had planned to use this image as the image for my double page spread. This will hold information about the 'band' and i will also make up a story about them. One problem with this image is that Lewis ( far left) isn't looking towards the camera. this means he isn't giving direct address to the audience or reader. Not having this eye contact causes a lack of connection between reader and model. 

Mock picture results

production log

This is my production log for everything i need, or what could could wrong during our shoot.

Risk Assessment 2

Here is the risk assessment form after the shoot.

Risk assesment

This is my risk assessment for tomorrows photoshoot. This is how we will try to overcome and prevent any accidents or problems that may occur during the photoshoot. I shall upload another table with the completed "issues" column after the shoot, as this is where I will state any problems we faced.

Plan For Mock Photoshoot

This is my plan for the mock pictures I will take in order to complete my music magazine I will be creating. I will be taking these pictures on Friday 17th of January.

Camera
I shall try different apparatus for taking the photos from:

• My mobile phone
• A camera from the media department
• My personal camera

 By using 3 different devices to take pictures on, I will be able to compare the quality of each device, and also make a final decision on which camera I will be using to take my final images.

Location
I will also need an area to take these pictures, luckily my school media department has a green screen room which we have been given access to, so that we can capture these images. Using this green screen I am able to change the background of the image to whatever image I would like.

Casting
I am planning on having a group/ band on the front of my magazine. For this I will need multiple people to be a part of the image. I have chosen 4 people to star on the front cover of my issue. These people are; Connor Burgess, Michael Hickey, Nathan Kearns and Lewis Webster. All of whom are classmates of mine and have agreed to have their image taken and to be used on my magazine cover

My contents page analysis

This blog post is dedicated to pointing out errors in my contents page that I have recently posted. I will also be making a list of improvements, or things that I can work on in an attempt to create a professional looking contents page for my music magazine.

 
Firstly, the page seems rather filled with text and other things. This can sometimes be hard on the readers eyes, or possibly be distracting whilst the reader is trying to read the page. The 4 different main colours used on the page; Red, Yellow, Black and White, all contrast and don't mix well together.

Another thing that I did not like about this contents page, is that I have used some pictures and text for no reason other than to fill some space on the page. This was a bad tactic to use as I feel it makes the page look really unprofessional and slightly cheap. I could counteract this by sticking to my origional plan of having a rather simple contents page

Mock up contents page

To go with the mock up front cover of a school magazine I previously made, I have created a contents page to go with it. This is what I came up with.


In this this cover I used the colour red a lot, this is because it is the one of the colours mostly used in our school badge, and also goes well with the front cover as red was used there also. The colour yellow is also used in some text and the main titles of the both pages. This is also a common colour used in the schools badges, and is also used on a lot of the walls, and the chairs used around the sixth form building.
Both the school, and the sixth form badges have both been placed in the top right hand corner, to show a personal feel to the school, but also can show others not familiar to the school that as students, that we are proud of our school.
This point is also backed up by the use of the key words from our schools mission statement, "Respect, Believe, Achieve" placed in the central left of the page. All of the page numbers and guides are linked to our school, and the school life, and have also been coloured red.

Analysing a contents page

In this blog post I will be answering questions about the magazine contents page to the right. The contents page belongs to a 'Q' magazine. I have chose this cover as I would like to produce a contents page fairly

similar for my magazine. 

•  How many images does the cover use; what does this mean for your own planning?  

The cover consists of one main image covering almost the entirety of the page. The contents page contains no other pictures, to emphasise the importance of this artist. This means that i should consider inserting a smaller amount of pictures or just one big picture. Rather than a variety of smaller images.

• How would you describe the layout? Would you say it was organised? Sleak? Uniform? Chaotic? Ordered? Boring? Interesting? Colourful?

The contents page is very organised and tidy. While the picture covers most of the page, the text at the side of the page looks very neat. The masthead has also been included in Q magazines usual position of the top left of the page giving the page a familiar look. 

• What kinds of images are on the contents page? How have they been manipulated if they have been?

The only image on the page is the large image. It does not look to have any obvious photoshop skills used. However some subtle changes may have occurred such as smoothing/re-clolouring skin. 

Contents Pages

Contents Pages

This is a break down of what contents pages are and what they do. i have explained this through the Voki below. However I have added the speech in text form lower down the page if you would rather receive the information that way.


Contents pages are used in almost all magazines and books. This page is dedicated to telling the reader the order of the pages and different articles inside. This helps the reader navigate through the text to reach the article they would like to read.