Question 1:
Using, developing and challenging music magazine conventions:
(1)
Mise en scene of Image: The image I have used for my front cover is
not a studio shot, like most magazines would use, I chose to use an out-door
shoot as the facilities I had were not professional level and therefore some
studio pictures came out looking less professional than those outside where I
used natural lighting. There is also limited editing to the image, unlike many,
where the character(s) are cut out and placed into different places. The only
editing I did was to alter the levels and some simple air-brushing on the face
of my model. The positioning of the model is a typical convention as the face
is the main focus, and there is not a lot going on in the background; If I had
used real bands, I would have used the lead singer/biggest artist of a group so
the potential buyers would be able to immediately recognise them on the cover
and therefore wish to buy the magazine.
(2)
The title/ masthead: The masthead is located at
the top of the page, spreading from one end to the other, making it one of the
main features masthead stands out over the background of the image, making it
easier for the audience to identify the magazine. The date and web address are
located above and below the masthead so anybody glancing at the article can
immediately see when the magazine was printed, and those who even don’t want to
buy the magazine see the website. In today’s media, the web is a huge
contributor to customers, and almost all music magazines will have a web
version where they will post content included in the magazine as well as other
content exclusive for those reading online.
(3)
Costumes/ Props: costumes and props were
essential for me to make the genre of the music within my magazine look authentic,
the dress code for certain genres of music can be quite specific, my “indie/
alternative rock” theme throughout the magazine would not have been suited with
models in thick black makeup and dark clothing, so I used what clothing I had,
and told the models what to wear: non-offensive t-shirts/ shirts, jeans/chinos
and a hoody/ light jacket. All of the images of actor thus fit with the theme
of the magazine. I did challenge a convention when I used almost
futuristic-looking glasses: but this intended bending of the rules was done to
match the character: a musician who has “changed the face of rock” the bizarre
costume reflects the musicians unorthodox take on music.
(4)
People: the actors I used had to match the
costumes, which had to match my theme. The perfect stereo type person for my
magazine would be: a tall, slim, handsome male with unkempt hair and slim
fitting clothing. This image would have made my magazine appealing to the
reader, and although I only had limited people I think I chose my models well,
as each did fit the role I gave them.
My magazine ended up being completely male-orientated, which could give
my magazine a bad image, but if the magazine was a weekly published item, I
would make sure to next time include more females within my images and other
content.
(5)
Title Font/Style: Each page has its own
individual title, although the contents page does also have the “Skadoosh”
masthead as well as the contents title. I followed as many conventions as I
could when creating my front and contents page, the issue number and date being
visible by the title for easy info. The website is also on the front cover,
right next to the masthead, which allows those who don’t actually buy the
magazine still know the web address, making a broader audience. The title on
the double page spread is different as it is made to reflect the band on the
page. The individuality of the title is what separates the DPS from the rest of
the magazine, although the black and white contrast still matches the theme of
the magazine. Gene Hunts also has his own theme-text, but unlike the atoms , he
has a classy sans-serif font which makes him look superior to a lot of the
other bands withint he magazine.
(6)
Written content: the written content had to be
relevant, readable and suitable. The layout had to also help the reader find
the information they wanted quickly, to do this, I set out my contents page
into several clear sections, which made it easier to access the articles you
wanted to. The house style automatically helped the text stand out over the
background, but drop-shadow was used to help my text stand out even more. The text in my DPS is the largest piece of
text I used, which is why it is split into several paragraphs; this makes the
block look like an easier piece to read.
(7)
Layout: The layout throughout the magazine was
created for the reader’s usability, pages are all in a sensible order, and any
large blocks of text are split to make reading easier. Each page has a title,
and images to accompany the text. The images are placed in places where they do
not interfere with the text on the contents page, and each image is accompanied
with a caption so they are not just images for decoration, they each have a
purpose. The DPS and front cover images are used at the background to the page,
the layout of these pages were formed, to an extent, around the image, as I was
not sure how much head-room there would be above the model’s head in the DPS.
(8)
The contents page is what took the most time to
construct out of the three pages I created, the formation of the pages needed
to be correct, and the actual content needed to be relevant to my magazine: I
had to create new names, and research other magazines for the types of content
they had, e.g. reviews, questionnaires, news and feature articles about
festivals etc. The sections are easily spread, making it obvious as to where
the articles are within the magazine, I deliberately left gaps in the pages as
in a real magazine there would be adverts between content.
Question 2:
My Image NME's Image
I tried to make my front cover resemble this kind of look. I
did this through the attitude within the image. The non-direct pose shows a
lack of interest in the reader, and a very laid-back feel. I tried to
incorporate this in my own front cover without copying this image, but without
the iconic Gallagher character holding the “oasis” NME mag, as this wouldn’t
have worked without this iconic image. I used the smoking to create this
laid-back attitude in my own front cover.
The angles are slightly different, as the NME page is an
obvious low-angle mid shot, mine is an eye-level shot, which focuses a lot more
on the character’s face, making it more obvious that this image does not
conform to the usual face-on approach to front cover-images, yet still allows
the reader to identify the person in the image quite easily. The costumes are
not so similar but do still have a similar style. The rock-look is obvious in
both images; the grey checked shirt and the leather jacket are both suited to
the same genre.
The expressions on both faces are very similar: the
expression shows the model does not care for the camera, an attitude usually
expressed by Liam Gallagher. This rock and roll attitude is usually enjoyed by
readers, as everybody likes a rebel. The refusal to conform suggests to the
reader that there is going to be some kind of drama within the article.
I was not trying to make my model be Liam Gallagher, so the
hair and glasses were a deliberate difference. The shaggy-style hair in both
images shows a lack of conformity to the perfectly groomed male: which is again
rebellious and reflects the style of music being portrayed. The arrogance shown
in NME’s cover is typical of the character, as Liam is a well-known face, the
reader will immediately be able to know this is his typical style, which is why
NME have shown him in this way, my unknown figure is trying to put across a
similar image, but as a new-comer it would be interesting to see how the
audience would take this attitude from somebody who is not a star like Liam.
IPC media is the distribution company that
I have chosen to be best suited to distribute my magazine. It already
distributes hugely popular magazines such as “NME”. I have chosen this company
as I understand that since they have grown large enough to distribute hugely
popular weekly magazines, they would be able to handle my magazine, as a small independent
magazine, but also if it grows as a company. IPC distributes magazines on a
global scale, as well as within the UK. Due to the success of this company, I think
that my own magazine could benefit greatly from working alongside such a large
company. IPC also distributes more magazine that are similar to mine, such as
NME rather than the companies which distribute different magazines such as “Metal
Hammer” or “KERRANG!”.
Question 4:
They would have quite a broad taste in music, but more
specifically different types of rock, such as funk, folk rock and alternative,
alike the music featured in the music magazine. I would presume that some fans
of this type of music would be musicians themselves.
They would dress smartly, perhaps like the boy in the
picture, and I would assume they shopped in large branded shops such as Topman
or River Island.
The reader would like to see live local bands play in their
local venues as well as going to see the larger touring acts at stadium tours
and such like.
The Audience member would have quite simple tastes, and
would probably avoid loud obnoxious people. I would imagine them to be
sociable, and have quite a varied group of friends. They would usually avoid a
lot of the auto-tuned chart music but perhaps have a guilty pleasure or two in
there somewhere.
They would dislike “fake” music programmes such as “The
X-Factor” and prefer programs more aimed or based around their age, such as
“Skins” or “The Inbetweeners”.
They would like to buy my magazine because it includes all
the music that they would be interested in, and therefore they would easily be
attracted by it. The magazine contains all the usual conventions of a music
magazine such as “Kerrang!” but the genre of music is obviously altered. By
following the conventions of a popular music magazine, the magazine will not
have a disadvantage when it comes to selling on the shelves alongside big names
like “Mojo”.
Question 5:
Here is my "Flirk" account link. On here you will find my final magazine pages, each one of them is annotated with notes as to how I have created my magazine to suit the conventions of typical music magazines, and how this will help me sell my magazine.
Question 6:
Here is a list of all the technologies I have used and why I have used them whilst creating my magazine:
Adobe Photoshop has been used frequently throughout the course and I have
developed my photo editing skills through using it so often. I have learnt how
to crop, rotate, change levels and edit out red eye from all of my photographs.
It alows me not old to edit the photographs that I have taken, but to also
create my magazine pages though putting several imnages, shapes and text into
one page and exporting this page as a Jpeg or other image formats.
Microsoft word has been used a lot also thourgh out the course as I have
used it in almost every evaluation of my
work. IT is a good piece of software to
use before putting my work on by blog, as it has spellcheck and many font
choices.
Blogger is an online blogging site which has been used by my class to showcase my
work. By putting my work onine my teachers and peers can see, and then also
assess the work that I have done. This is helpful when It comes to improving on
feedback. Blogger lets you separate your
work iinto poages, making it easy to navigate.
Flickr is an online photo sharing website that I have used during
this cousein the research phase into magazines. You can annotate your images by
adding notes over certain parts of the image so when viewed, you can hover over
parts of the page and see what I have said about it.
Slide Share is another online programme which alows me to put slide shows into my
blogg without having to copy all my images and text. By using slideshare I can make my blog easier to read
and assess.
I
used a PC thoughout the whole course to do the majority of my work. The
programmes listed above are all exsesable though windows programming. And it was with the access to
all these programmes, as well as the internet, that I was able to do all of my
editing and construct my magazine pages.
Digital Cameras were used thoughtout the course to capture the images that
I would be using in my magazine pages. When doing a photoshoot, I would take
several pictures of the same shot so I had several otions when it came to chosing
a picture.
Tripods were used during photoshoots to make your image come out clearer and
more steady. They were a very useful tool in the production of my magazine.
Question 7:
What I have learnt about photography, layout, fonts and modes of address:
What I have learnt about photography, layout, fonts and modes of address:
First Attempt Final Cover
After developing my editing skills, you can see clearly that the image on my final product looks a lot clearer and suited to its placing compared to the my first attempt image. The final product has a more defined colour scheme, making it look more professional and there more realistic.
Both
pages have stuck with the same font throughout the page, besides the final task’s
feature title, which was deliberately different to make the reader first see the difference and notice the Masthead and the main-focus' title (Gene Hunts). The prelim task is not as
focused on one particular element, as there is too much background and distracting puffs whereas the final piece has a well-placed image and the texts fits nicely around it. It would be a
typical convention to have one main focus on the front cover of a magazine.
The photographic
position is similar, but the way in which it is placed on the page makes all
the difference. The final page’s image is not only more in focus, but more defined
whereas the prelim task looks lost among the background. The locations are
important, as you can see the final task’s image is a lot more suited to its
surroundings, as I took the colour scheme and design into mind when location
hunting.
The
layout of both magazines is very similar, but due to the well-chosen colours
and fonts of the text, the final task can contain more information without
looking over-crowded.
Please update and evaluate your final, resubmitted pages.
ReplyDelete