Evaluation;

For my main task I created a Front page, Contents page and a Double page spread for a music magazine idea of my choice. I followed this brief: create a  front page, contents and double page spread of a new music magazine. All images and text used must be original, produced by you - minimum of four images.

For my initial idea, I had created a front cover based upon the Rock genre of music and I used images from a live concert which I had taken myself. After many attempts of editing and re-arrangement, I conferred with my tutors and decided that the idea did not fit coherently with my aims and contexts, nor with the stylistics of pre-existing products. I decided to start again with my idea from scratch and focus on achieving my original aims and contexts and pay more attention to the stylistics of my new genre and idea.

My new idea was based upon a larger genre of music (Indie) to allow more research into existing products. I decided upon the style of my magazine largely because of the model I had used for another piece of coursework. I wanted a more sophisticated feel to my magazine so I decided to cross-research my idea in both musical elements and fashion elements. I knew from this that my magazine front cover would not conform to the common stylistics so I decided to make my product an exclusive issue to an imagined pre-existing product. I wanted to use a cover image that would immediately catch the attention of a potential reader so I decided to use a close up shot of my model looking directly into the camera. Throughout my research stage I had found it common that cover stars would look directly into the camera in order to create an emotional response between them and the reader as it allows the reader to feel as though the star is opening up to them only. I had also found it common that magazines would use layering between the cover image and the Masthead of the product, they would use this in a way where the Masthead did not fully cover the image, but the image was placed to be behind the magazine, therefore making the name of the product known and bold. I decided to follow this convention, but did so carefully so the effectiveness of my image was not ruined. Due to the style of my main image and the fact my product was aimed to be an exclusive issue I had to find away to stick within basic conventions of front covers without damaging the overall effect. For example, the entire of the pre-existing magazines I analysed featured Cover lines somewhere on the front cover, when I was creating my first draft I decided to place my Cover lines along the left hand side of my image with the text overlapping my models face but I did not feel as though the image should be covered so I followed the idea of having the Cover lines mentioned within a banner at the bottom of the page so they didn’t cover the models face.

I think that my magazine represents the typical teenager social group who love music and fashion. The people that would fall into the E grade of the social grades. “State pensioners/casual workers” i.e. students. Because the image I used on the front cover has a model that is a similar age to that of my target audience, I aimed that they can relate to it very easily. In my questionnaire I asked, “Which age group do you think my product aimed at?” and everyone said 16-24/5.  I’ve used my magazine to represent this particular social class as having good taste in simple music, reflected in the layout design, colour scheme and general look. Everything is really simple, clean and has a bold feel to it due to the effects on the text used.

The institution that I would ideally like distribute my media product would be Bauer Media. They publish magazines such as: Kerrang!, Mojo and Q. I believe my magazine is similar to Q for the quality but I feel that my magazine reaches a slightly younger audience than Q’s (25+).

Most existing magazines, regardless of genre, use a strap line on the cover to establish to the audience what the magazine is about. I decided this stylistic to be an essential for my magazine due to the fact it was an exclusive issue and my Masthead was not a term associated with the music industry. I came up with the phrase “To the point of new music”, it is a pun towards the title and also establishes it is a music magazine.

For my contents page, I wanted to keep it within the house style of my magazine which was established within the design of the front cover. I wanted to make sure that if you were to just see the contents page on its own, you would be able to recognise which magazine it belonged too. I decided to use the image of an arrow bending around the page instead of simply having the word “Arrow” somewhere on the page. I used the same font and font effects of the contents page as I did with the front cover. Throughout the research stage, I realised that the majority of music magazines contents pages consist of sections such as “features, news updates and

Interviews” so I decided to include the sub-headings down the left hand side of my contents page within the arrow and the main article titles down the centre of the page. As most contents pages contain snapshots of articles included, I decided to place the images behind the text in the style of Polaroid photographs but turn down the opacity on them so they did not contract with the text too much. Although my style for the contents page has not changed much since my original, I believe the back ground and image consistency has improved it from the first one.

My double page spread was, what I feel, the main part of my magazine which needed altering. Although I liked the original, after speaking with my tutors and reviewing my research and aims, I decided that it did not fit within the conventions of a music magazine but more of a fashion magazine. I did another photo shoot with my model but this time I included an acoustic guitar so it would establish that she was in fact a musician instead of just a model.

I believe this adapted product is far better than my original as I have had enough time to reflect, practise and improve my skills in keeping within specific aims and context and also within digital manipulation. My ability to use Photoshop has definitely improved since my preliminary task. I am aware of layer techniques and how to put my thoughts into practise in a way which is not too complex but realistic.

After re-starting my magazine idea, once I was finished, I did another questionnaire of what people thought of my new product compared with my old product to see if I had achieved my goal of making my product more believable and fitting to the brief.

I was quite pleased with the results; 90% of people asked said they preferred the 2^nd style of front cover, 70% said they preferred the 2^nd Contents page idea and 100% said they preferred the 2^nd double page spread. The majority of people asked were within my specified target audience age range so I believe my new product to be capable of being more successful than my initial style. I am glad I reviewed my initial audience feedback as it gave me an insight to what other people thought of my product and allowed me to expand and consult new ideas.

Final Draft;

These copies are my final products for submission. I made a few minor alterations to the front cover and the contents page to allow a more clear veiw of house style within the entire of my product.

Final Product Draft;

Double Page Photoshoot;

Front Cover Analysis;

I chose to use this image as my new front cover as it is a very strong image and has some underlying connotations.

Lighting:
- I chose to place the overhead lighting on only one side of my models face, creating a shadow on one side, this helps connote a feeling that she is secretive and mysterious and entices the reader to purchase/read the magazine.
Makeup:
- I wanted my model to have a very subtle makeup style but with some outstanding feature i.e. the lips.
- The style of the models pose and the red lips connote that she is seductive
Eyes:
- I wanted my model to be looking directly towards the camera as it gives off an emotional response that she is actuallly looking at the reader and entices the reader to open the magazine.

Front Cover drafts;

Above are images of my original front cover style, fitting mainly with stylistics of fashion magazines. Following feedback with my tutor, I decided that due to the strength of the image, the text over the face did not work effectively. I decided to class this cover of my imagined magazine to be an exclusive, therefore being able to break typical conventions of ordianry issues of music magazines.

Front Cover Photoshoot;

Final edit of cover

Edit Experimentation

Photo based upon fashion magazine research (Elle)

Based upon Vogue cover shots

Based on Vogue covers, will be used as front cover image after editing

Based on W magazine cover

Based on Vogue Cover style

Masthead Designs;

Q Magazine Covers;

All of the above covers are from the magazine "Q". The majority of the images used are mid shots, with the focal point of the cover being the artists face (typically looking driectly into the camera).

I want to use the same stylistic as these covers with my artists face looking directly into the camera in a midshot angle. The use of focus on the eyes creates a connection between the reader and the magazine as it appears the artist is looking at YOU and attracts your attention.

Music Mag Reasearch;

Copy of Analysis of Existing Magazines on Prezi

Fashion Analysis Element;

Vogue Analysis

The majority of Vogue magazine issues (featured in image above) are simple in design and mainly consist of the use of close up shots of the cover star. This technique of cinematography is used to direct the readers attention immediately towards the cover star (and usually the main feature in the magazine). It also allows the audience to empathise with the cover star as close ups help show emotion within an image.

The magazines masthead dominates a lot of the top quarter of the cover and remains the same apart from the colour of the font.

Elle Analysis

However, with Elle magazine, the cover image mainly contains a mid shot / long shot. This technique still attracts the reader as they are shown more of the star and it creates a feeling of being included more with the stars story. The design is still simple and the same masthead is used, with occasional colour change.

W Analysis

W magazine uses mainly mid shots for their cover image, this creates a middle between revealing more of the star to attract an audience and using a close up shot for an emotional response. The masthead of W magazine stays I the same font but changes colour to fit with the relevant house style.

Fashion cover Analysis;

2nd Idea for magzine;

For my second idea I decided to go for a much more sophisticated looking magazine, but still manage to keep it to a rock genre.
I decided to create a mixture of a Glamourous magazine (Vogue, Elle) with a Rock music one (Kerrang!/NME).
The reason I chose this idea was due to photographs I had taken of a friend for my Photography course. Using her photographs meant I could keep to my genre conventions.

However, due to the time that I changed my idea, I did not have long left til the deadline in order to complete my new idea fully. So my idea had no planning shown for it whereas, my first idea did. This resulted in me not getting a very good mark for my coursework/grade overall. I then decided to re-submit my AS coursework, fully completed with planning in order to get a better grade.

Original Evaluation;

For my main task I created a Front page, Contents page and a Double page spread for a music magazine idea of my choice. I followed this brief: create a  front page, contents and double page spread of a new music magazine. All images and text used must be original, produced by you - minimum of four images.

 

The first aspect of my magazine that challenged typical conventions of existing products would be the layout of the front cover. The image takes up the entire of the page, an aspect you would not usually see in pre-existing products as it restricts the colour and amount of text you can use around it. Another variation of typical conventions is the masthead. Most magazines, especially ones I based my final idea around, have their masthead as an acronym with a bold colour block behind it so it can be repeated when the next issue is out. My masthead does not have a colour block behind it, however it does have a red border around it which can be repeated or changed to fit with a specific issue, the font of the masthead would remain the same if it were to be published.

After researching the conventions of magazine house styles. I kept my colour schemes and font styling’s consistent throughout my front cover, contents and double page spread. I also kept the images consistent. I made sure the images used on my double page spread were from the same shoot used on my front cover

After looking at pre-existing music magazines, I decided to base my original idea on magazines like Kerrang! And Metal Hammer. I researched the conventions used in those magazines and based them in my idea. The typical audience for those magazines is SEG C – E2 so I based my idea on the same SEG range. When I changed my Idea for my magazine I decided to change the magazines I had based my original idea upon. I changed them to magazines such as Q and NME as they  are more wide ranging in genre and bought more by my target audience (students and young people aged 15-25) and I also decided to incorporate ideas from Vogue magazine seen as my new idea is involving an image that could be related to being a model.

I took an image that would be more likely seen in an issue of Vogue as my model looked very fashionable and “classy”. The image would not be usually be seen on the cover of a music magazine as it doesn’t fit typical conventions of having a full body shot of an artist incorporating something to do with music e.g. microphones or instruments. I believe the image to be very eye catching as the model is positioned in the centre and looking straight forward at the camera.

I used Adobe Photoshop CS3 to edit my images and compile my front cover, contents and double page spread. My first idea for my front cover was thought together using digital and hand drawn layouts, and was the pieced together using Photoshop. Although my first idea involved a lot of precise editing and manipulation, it did not work well as a magazine cover. I believe the main reason it did not work was because of the boldness of the colour schemes and the fonts used.

My second and final idea was not as complex but still required the use of Photoshop. The image didn’t need cropping and compiling like my first idea but did need a small amount of tweaks e.g. airbrushing, sharpening and adjustment in overall colour to black and white. After struggling with my first idea, I wanted to keep my new idea as simple but effective as possible.  

The images I used for my first front cover idea were photos I took at a concert. I thought they would be effective because they were original and of a real existing artist. However, when looking over key conventions of music magazines I realised a front cover image is usually taken in a studio and not from an actual concert unless is image of very high quality. So when changing my idea, I decided to re-shoot photos of a model in a proper studio. My final image used on my new front cover idea still challenges music magazines conventions despite being more effective than my first idea, because it uses an extreme close up of my model instead of a full body shot which is usually used in music magazines and has no background unlike most cover images.

I believe by it challenging conventions it adds more to its appeal by standing out from the rest of magazines but not being too different to be seen as a different genre of magazine.

The colour scheme on my new idea is a lot simpler and less bold as my first idea. The colours are consistent throughout the entire magazine and the same font is used for my contents page and my article.

Because of the size of my magazine title, I did not want to repeat it on the contents page despite it usually being done in existing magazines, so I thought that seeing as the title is “Arrow” I could create an arrow shaped border in order for the audience to see the continuity of the title and see that the contents page belonged to the magazine.

From looking back at my preliminary task and my first idea for my music magazine I feel I have learnt to not go with an idea if it only demonstrates examples of good digital manipulation because it will most likely challenge the conventions of creating a successful product.

Initial Idea;

I completed my first initial idea fully but due to using real images from a concert I attended and a lack of knowledge with the software used for digital manipulation, I decided that it was not the best idea when finished. After many attempts at trying to design it better within the genre conventions, I decided to change my idea fully to a complete new genre and convention style.

After receiving feedback from my tutors on my final product and obtaining a grade I thought was fair but I was unhappy with, I have decided to re-submit my AS Media coursework.

I am going show more evidence of planning as on my first attempt, due to changing my idea half way through the production process I lacked time to show thorough preparations.

I am going to tweak my main cover layout a small amount as I was very satisfied with the original, my contents page and double page spread will be my main area of focus in terms of actual production.

Digital Layout Ideas;

Genre and Analysis;

For my initial magazine idea I have chosen the genre of: Rock/ Metal.

I have analysed a few existing magazines that fit this genre and I have learnt what key features they include to appeal in the most effective way to their target audiences;

-Bands of similar genres
-Dominantly dark colour schemes(matches the genre)
-Don't discriminate against sexes but do tend to lean more towards male audiences
-Include wide varieties of information (bands, gigs, reviews)