Friday, 4 May 2012

Just a little Hello!

Welcome to my blog.
When reading through you will find that my blog includes:
  • Making the blog
  • Learning about photoshop
  • A practice task
  • The preliminary task
  • Loads of front cover and contents page analysis
  • Research and planning for my music magazine.
  • My music magazine pitch
  • My picture choices
  • My completed music magazine front cover, contents page and double-page spread
  • My evaluation
I hope that my blog is understandable and simple without being dull.

The End...

After all this work, it is finally complete!

Link to my Prezi Evaluation: http://prezi.com/fjywpkz4pdyc/music-magazine-evaluation/

Fnished Magazine!




This is my finished music magazine front cover, contents page and double-page spread, it was hard work and changed from the original plans a few times but it is finally complete!

Picture choices

These are all the pictures I took for my music magazine.
These two pictures were considered for my magazine but in the end just weren't good enough for their intended purpose as they didn't give off a rock type vibe.








These two pictures on the other hand, did give off the right message and so i chose them for my double page spread. I didn't want shadows to be in the pictures so I edited them out in photoshop using the clonestamp tool and cropping. I found these the easiet way for someone who is new to the program achieve what they want from a picture. you can see the difference btween thess originals and the edited versions below.

















Between these two above I chose the picture on the right side because the one on the left has a very funny facial expression which I would not want on my front cover. To edit this picture I cut the people out using the magnetic lasso tool and then by using the rubber tool to sort out any tiny piece remaining. The edited picture can be seen below the original.

These two pictures was done the same way as the first two. You can see the differences to the original on the left and edited on the right.





I could have taken more pictures to get some more choice out of them but essentially all of these pictures make up my magazine.





Magazine pitch

My music magazine pitch:

Name of my magazine: Rock explosion- (I may change it if I come up with something better).
Target audience: Teenagers or early twenties of both genders. Mainly rock, emo, scene or gothic type people though.
My magazine will be weekly at a cost of £2.40, as after some research most existing magazines of the same type cost around the same price.
My magazine relates to my chosen genre because it's 'rock-y', it has rock in its name and has more modern stuff appealing to a younger audience.
Other products like mine on the market are magazines like Kerrang! and Rock Sound.
My magazine will compare with theirs because it will be similar in it's layout but different in its style.
I'm not sure yet if there will be a house style as i would have to remember to use it the whole way through. However the name/logo would be the same everywhere it is seen, so that it becomes easily recognisable and well known. It will have similar fonts and colours throughout though. I am also undecided on the colours, but I know I want big, bright, bold, stand out colours and am therefore thinking of: black, white, red, blue and yellow.
Inducements: My magazine will have exclusive interviews and something free with each issue of the magazine like posters or stickers to try and attract a buyer more.

Planning for my magazine

This is my original planning for my music magazine, most of it din't turn out this way as i kept on changing my mind when actually making it.



Even more Magazine analysis...

Contents page analysis:

These contents pages are both particularly different, in that they don't look similar. Q has more pictures, and NME only really has one on its contents page. The images on these contents pages are big and take up most of the space so that it doesn't become dull and overrun with text. No-one wants tonnes of text when finding out what is in the magazine. The contents pages still stick to the target audience i previously said for their front covers, and the Q contents page even has another picture of it's cover star. Red, white and black are still the main colours with  more yellow on NME. This stick with the house style of these magazines and where yu think it would make it unattrative the red actually helps make it work. The contents pages of both these magazines is listed on one side of the page, , with Q having page numbers on its different pictures also. Yet, NME is divided into differnt sections so if you know what you want to be reading look in the right section to find its page number quicker. For example, its different sections include: news, features, reviews, live, and radar. There is a promotional feature on the contents page of NME about subscribing to the magazine to try and sell more and therefore gain more readers. Both of these magazines have their logo's at the top of the page before the word contents, this makes the most recongnisable part of the magazine visible and just where everyone will see it. All in all these contents pages work well with their front covers to provide attrativeness to the eye and make readers want to buy.

Music Magazine Analysis

Front cover Analysis:
These two magazines are similar in the kinds of music they contain. The magazines would be aimed at the target audiece of older teenagers and early twenty's maybe, because thats who they appeal to and maybe people a little bit older too considering some of the cover articles. But the pictures are more like the age group i already mentioned as the target audience. Both main images are female artists and they both have the same look on their faces and for these two issues of the differents magazines they have gone for the same approach as it is a popular expression to use in pics for magazines. The eyes are wide on the pics and staring right at you as if it is trying to pull the reader in. On the cover of Q, we have Florence from Florence and the Machine, this is because she is a popular woman and therefore would maybe encourage more female readers. On the cover of NME, it's Lily Allen, this may attract more fans of her as readers as she is very popular and well known. The main story for Q: Florence woman on the edge, and NME: Lily Allen takes on the world, both show women as strong people and it's as if they are about to have a fight on their hands which would help to pull the readers in. Both of the music namesare on the left-third like all magazines for the rule of thirds. They also get slightly covered up because they are so recongnisable from a small portion that a reader does not need to see the whole logo to know which magazine it is. Red is used in both of these magazines and I think it helps make them stick out more. The bright, bold colours help to draw the reader in and have been good choices to make. The fonts being used on Q, are quite plain and simple which make them a tiny bit dull, this is the same with NME except for the main article headline as it is in a different font that is in all different sizes making it eye-catching. Booth of these magazines are well made and attracting to the eye and would therefore get good sales, making it a success.



Finished Prospectus

My preliminary task school prospectus is quite simple, this is mainly because i'm still getting used to photoshop and am not advanced enough in it to create a big masterpiece. I think it went well and doesn't look too bad considering how difficult a program photoshop is to work. My front cover and contents pages have both got the same colours included to make sure that there is a style going throughout the preliminary task work. The pictures I used did not require much editing and therefore this task didn't take as long as I originally thought it would. The slanting of the pictures is because I thought it looked too plain and simple with them just on the page all square-like. I also made sure to put the school logo on my popectus because a real one would have it's school logo on too. I only used pictures appropriate for the task including the one medium shot picture we were required to use in the task.