Filed under: AS Media Main Task
front-cover - Front Cover
contents1 - First Contents Page
contents2 - Second Contents Page
double-page-1 - Page 1 of Double Page Spread
double-page-2 - Page 2 of Double Page Spread
Filed under: AS Media Main Task
When introduced to the brief of our Main Task, I had a relatively clear idea of where I was going to go with the project and the ways in which I hoped to approach it. From the beginning I had planned on creating a magazine solely geared to catering for a younger audience which focussed on the topic of Unsigned Acts and bands or artists hoping to make it into the music scene. I hoped to create quite a plain magazine and one which challenged the conventions of most other magazines on the market, but at the start, I wasn’t aware of how and why I wanted to do this. I also hoped that I would be able to manage my time better for this task, because my time management wasn’t great in the preliminary task. I decided to work alone for the second task whereas before I worked as part of a group. I hoped that this would help me to concentrate better on the task in hand, and find ways of making this task stronger than my work in the preliminary task.
First of all, I started research on some front covers of three different magazines; Q, NME and Rolling Stone. I decided to look at these three as they targeted the same audience that I was planning to target, but also because they are three popular and well known magazines and this would be an aspect that I would plan for my magazine. I really liked that both Q and NME use acronyms for their titles. This was something I really wanted to use for my title because it meant that I could have a quite a short title and wouldn’t take too much thinking about to think of a catchy title that would stick in people’s head. I also looked at the continuity over the different covers to see how they changed over time, and what had actually changed. I focussed a lot on colour schemes and how they worked with each other. I had decided that I didn’t want to use much colour on my front cover and throughout my magazine because I felt that this could really challenge the conventions of other magazines on the market. All of my front cover research can be found here - http://amymediafilm.wordpress.com/2009/01/20/research-main-task-media/
I then researched two contents pages, the first from Q magazine and the second from Kerrang magazine. They were both very different which was good because it gave me a chance to take things from both of them to incorporate into my contents page. The first contents page from Q gave me a really nice idea for the first of my two contents pages. It had a really busy, box like feel and this seemed good to use for my contents page. From looking at the second contents page I decided that I would like to have an editors note on my second page. The layout of the second contents page had the editors note at the top of the page and I decided this was something I would really like for my magazine. All of my contents page research can be found here - http://amymediafilm.wordpress.com/2009/04/19/contents-page-research/
After I had completed both my front cover and contents page research I went on to look at some double page spreads from the magazines NME and Kerrang. I looked at two different double page spreads from NME because I was trying to find pages with different layouts. The two pages from Kerrang followed a very similar layout but a layout that was good. The only problem with the layout was that it didn’t use many original images and this made me not want to take much from it. I looked at a double page spread from Kerrang magazine and this followed a similar layout to the one of NME but had a more plain layout like the one I was planning for my own magazine. It had a white background which was something I really wanted for mine. All of my double page spread research can be found here - http://amymediafilm.wordpress.com/2009/03/03/research-double-pages-main-task/
Before creating anything practical I decided on a name for my magazine. I decided on “OFTR” which stands for One For The Radio. I chose to call my magazine this because it relates to music with the ‘radio’ part of the title. I also feel that it links with the theme of my magazine which is Unsigned Acts and it gives the impression that the act is ‘one for the radio’ . I chose to use an acronym for my title because it is short and catchy and will stick in people’s minds.
I had already decided on a very minimalistic theme for my magazine, sticking mainly to black and white with as little colour as possible. I really like the idea of black and white because I’d never seen it done before and I feel it really challenges the conventions of other magazines because it is really not what you’d expect of any other magazine. I decided to apply this colour scheme to the whole magazine as it would give a the magazine a flow and would allow the product to fit together as a whole.
When planning for my front cover, I decided I would like to feature an Unsigned Act with a full length image of the feature artist. I also decided that I would like to feature a male on the cover. When asking my target audience, both male and female, the response was mainly that a male would fit better on the cover because members of a female audience could be attracted to the artist and members of a male audience could relate to the artist. From my research I had also decided that I would have my title in the top left hand corner of the page because this was quite popular and the audience would be able to recognise it against other magazines on the shelf. Although I was to feature a solo artist on my front cover, I decided that this would not be the person I did my double page spread on, instead I would feature an interview with Fran and Josh.
My front cover went through a lot of changes before it was perfect and finished and looked pretty much how I wanted it to. I started with a full length photo of the solo artist on my front cover but I really wasn’t happy with the look of the photo because the pose he was in made him look feminine and quite camp, and this wasn’t the look I was going for with my magazine. I wanted my artist to look quite butch and masculine and the pose I had shot wasn’t fitting this idea. I decided to change the photo on my front cover to a medium close up of the same person in the same pose, but the expression on his face was different. The way I edited the curves also made him look more masculine and dark, giving more of the effect I wanted to. In the end I’m quite pleased with how the front cover looks. I featured a large ink splash across the front cover as I felt there was too much white space and I didnt want there to be too much. The ink splash became quite a signature thing, featuring on all other pages I created; sort of like a logo. The ink splash is relevant because it links to the messy feel of the magazine and also links to the aspect of the artists being unsigned and maybe not perfect, like the feel I was going for with my magazine. I do feel it has a very minimalistic feel to it, with a lot of white space and although this could be looked upon as a bad thing I think it has a positive effect on the magazine because it does challenge conventions. I do also feel that it targets the audience well, with straplines that the audience can relate to. The use of a young artist on the cover also targets the audience because they automatically feel they can relate to the person on the cover as a pose to it being an old woman.
When planning my contents page, I knew from the beginning that I wanted it to a be a double page. Although I knew this would be tough for me as it would be more work and my time management is terrible, I felt that it would have a far more positive effect on the project in the end and as a whole. I wanted to have a double contents page because I wanted the magazine to have a huge amount of content and one page would look too busy and crammed. Although I didn’t at first like the idea of the of the page being very busy and extremly crammed, what I came to realise that this was a common technique used to make it seem like there was an awful lot going on and I planned that each of the two pages would have a lot going on. Linking back to my research during the planning stages I knew I wanted to have an editors note toward the top of one of the pages because I felt that it would give me that chance to really fit myself into the magazine personally. I wanted the editors note to be in a chatty format so that the younger audience could really relate to it. I originally said that I didnt want my contents page to feature hadly any images, but in the end I decided that to feature images would make it look a lot more busy and full of feature articles.
The contents page didn’t really jump from stage to stage during the process, it was just more or less complete after I’d started it because I had such a clear idea of what I wanted to do. Obviously it took quite a while to get it looking right; moving the images around and trying to find things to fit the white space was a challenge in itself. I’m really pleased with how the contents page has turned out and it was the easiest process of the whole project because I such a clear idea of what I wanted to do. I found it was easiest also purely because I enjoyed it; I loved finding the right images and writing little bits of text to feature under the sub-headings describing what would be in that particular article in the magazine. I also really enjoyed coming up with what to write in the editors not because I knew I could have fun with it and add aspects of myself into it.
I started the planning for my double page spread really early on in the project. I knew it wasn’t compulsory to actually conduct an interview, but as I wanted my double page to feature an interview I thought it might be a good experience to actually conduct one. I got in touch with the band Fran and Josh very early on via their MySpace and asked them if they would mind me conducting an interview with them before one of their shows nearby where I lived. They had no problem and right from the start I had my double page spread feature article planned. I had planned to have the double page spread linked to the artist on the front cover, but I decided that by having something different would vary my magazine a bit, and give me the chance to conduct an actual interview and do the write up and feature live images. This was a good idea I feel, because it adds variety and the whole magazine is not solely based on my front cover feature artist ‘Jack Adams’. Again I wanted the double page spread to fit in with the continuity of the rest of the magazine so I decided to have minimal colour and feature the signature ink splash in black and white.
Overall I’m very pleased with the double page spread, but I do think it looks quite plain. Although this fits with the whole minimalistic theme of the magazine it does appear a lot more plain than the rest of the magazine, I think. I’m really happy with the whole feel of the interview because it does seem real, its really chatty and when I read back over it, I really feel like I’m back with Josh doing the interview; exactly how I want my readers to feel. Im really happy with the positioning of the images but I’m not keen on the images themselves. I don’t think they look as professional as they could do but it was difficult to get pictures at a live gig.
Looking at the practical work as a whole, I think it seems very professional and realistic. If my magazine were to be published I think it would fit in well on the shelf with magazines such as Kerrang, NME and Q because the target audience is the same and they have a similar feel and genre to them. I do think the practical work in itself is quite strong, but my planning and time managment was not as good. The production as a whole would have been a lot stronger if I’d have planned my time better. I also think it could have been stronger if I had spent more time on my research and looked into the other examples in more depth. I also wish that I had held a pre-production focus group to find out what my target audience would want from a music magazine instead of creating my ideas with no opinions and holding a focus group to see which idea they thought was best.
Overall I am pleased with the production as a whole but I do feel there were a lot of changes I could have made for the better. If I were to repeat the experience I would focus a lot more on time management and put a lot more into my pre-production and planning.
Filed under: AS Media Main Task
Front Cover
This is a print screen of my mock up of my front cover. It doesn’t feature any of my original images yet, but the layout is exactly how I want it to look with a few minor changes to the main image and the feature artist’s name.
I’m really pleased with how the cover looks here, and with the model I’ve chosen for my front cover I tried to create the same pose so the model looks the same.
I do like how the cover looks with the this full length shot of Lewis on the front, but I do feel that he looks a bit effeminate in the shot. I love the photo but I dont feel it has the same masculine effect that the shot of Joe does, creating a problem for me. I have some other possible shots for the front cover where Lewis’ pose is slightly more masculine and gives off the feel I want it to. The only problem with the other shots I have selected is that they are not all full lengths, again which will make it look different to the cover featuring Joe. The photo of Lewis on this cover also looks very pale so I darkened him a bit as I thought this may add to the masculinity too.
Here he does look slightly more masculine and the darkness of the photo adds something slightly more sinister and sexy; more the feel I was looking for with the model on my cover. The pose he is in still creates a problem with me, because I still feel he looks a bit effeminate and I think that a different pose could help this. I’m going to look back over the photos Ive taken and see if there are any more that might fit the cover too. While looking over them I am also going to try and find a different photo to fit my contents page.
Although I really like the look of the cover all black and white, I also like the thought of having a little bit of colour to it. This is mainly because I wanted to have a little bit of colour on my contents page and double page spread; mainly on the double page spread because I want to feature colour photos. I added some colour to Lewis’ trainers and I also made the ink splash over the page dark red to add some colour. I think it looks a bit better this way because its not so plain and boring.
I like the red splash better because it does add something else to the cover. I do feel it adds to the cover and takes away from the campness of the model a bit more, but I do still think I’m going to change the photo on the cover.
I’ve decided on a new photo for the cover of my magazine. I think it looks a lot more masculine and the whole feel of the magazine has totally changed. This is how the final cover looks at the moment.
The above screenshot was taken before I had decided on a name for my feature artist, hence why the space above Exclusive is empty.
Contents Pages
From looking at the research I had done into contents pages I found a very clever layout that I really liked for my contents page. I decided very early on that I wanted to have a double contents page because I had a lot that I wanted to fit in which was too much to fit on one page. I had the basic idea of what I wanted the page to look like. This is a print screen of both pages with no images as of yet.
Because I have already added most of the text that I want, it is quite easy for me to position my pictures on the first page. The second page is a bit more of a problem because I still have my editors note to write, and some other feature articles to add. Below is a print screen of the first contents page with images on it. One of the images is original which is the image of Roy Stride from Scouting for Girls. This counts as one of my original images. This is the completed first contents page.
I spent a lot of time trying to complete my editors to note to make sure I was including the right things but also to make sure I was adding a chatty, colloquial tone to it, so that the readers can relate to it. It was a challenge trying to fit it into the small space and trying to add a picture too, to add to the authenticity of the page.
Above is how my editors note is looking at the moment. In proportion to the title which is quite small too, I don’t think that the editors note is too long. I think it is a reasonable length and I don’t think that the picture is too big either.
I added Chris Drew to my second contents page to bulk it out a bit and to make it look really busy so it fitted in with the continuity of the first contents page. I think both of the pages fit really well together. Here is a print screen of both of the pages together.
(Click to increase size)
Double Page Spread
I’d already decided on a basic layout for my double page spread and below is a screen-shot which shows the layout along with the whole interview written up and with titles and the signature splash already included.
I didn’t move anything around on these pages because I really love how it already looks. I’ve added my original images in and made them black and white to fit with the continuity of the magazine. The only bit of colour featured on this page is in the arrow which links the first page to the next.
Below is a screen shot of my double page spread. (Click to enlarge)
Filed under: AS Media Main Task
I’ve had a clear idea from the start of the task what I would like my contents page to look like; quite minimalistic with a plain white background, but very busy looking. I want it to look like there is a lot going on in the magazine although I obviously wont be creating everything. I’d like to create a double contents page aswell. Although I am aware that this is going to be a big challenge, I feel that I will be able to put a lot more time and effort into something I’m really keen on making. I took some of my ideas from a couple of contents pages I looked at.
This was the first page that I looked at. I really like the layout because it seems like theres a lot going on and the ways its laid out in blocks gives the impression of several different articles. I would like to use a similar layout to this on one of my pages and then on the second carry this technique over to the top half of the age leaving the bottom half for my editors note and my feature article. I really like the use of images on the contents page too, this will give me another chance to use some of my original images here. I think the layout I’ve chosen will also fit well with the continuity and the house style of the magazine. I will only use minimal colour on the contents page too, like the front cover because I still really like the black and white theme of the magazine as it challenges the conventions of other magazines out there.
What I really like about this page is the posistioning of the editors note. It makes me want to think about the posistioning I have already thought about for my editors note, and maybe look at moving it towards the top of the page. I also really like the use of images on this page again because it also gives me a chance to use a lot of original images. I like the listing of the contents down the one side of the page, but I think it looks too normal and too similar to most magazines on the market. I really want to challenge other magazines with my magazine and I feel that by having a list of contents it doesnt challenge the conventions enough.
Filed under: AS Media Main Task
When i arrived at the venue where the band were playing their gig, it was empty and there was no-one around. I hung around outside with my colleague for almost half an hour before people started to arrive. When we were eventually let in from the cold, i was met by a huge bouncer, questioning me from all angles. I just said i was there for the band, and could someone get them for me, i had an interview to do.
Eventually, Josh emerged from the bands dressing room alone, and told me that Fran was ill. Obviously, I felt let down, but the show must go on. Josh led me out to their dressing room where i was met by another group of people, another band playing that night; ‘Paper Heroes’.
We chatted and joked around a bit before I was invited to sit down and get on with my interview.
Interview
With Fran absent, I was alone in the room with Josh, and Paper Heroes who sat in on the interview.
Hi Josh
Hi there. I hope this is going to be a better interview than the one we did the other day; the girl was giving us the answers and making us think of the questions. Like she’d say ‘fluffball’ and we’d have to think of a question that had that answer.
Different. Right, for anyone who’s never heard you before, how would you describe your sound?
Um, it’s kind of like a mixture. A mixture between, like, flamenco and people say it’s got poppy undertones. Yeah, we’ve got a proper flamenco vibe, but yeah, yeah poppy undertones. We write in our spare time.
Nice. What do you enjoy most about being in the music business?
Yeah, it’s good. But it’s nice sometimes just chilling in Fran’s living room with tea after eating a pizza. Just chilling.
Who would you say your main influences were?
Um, Paper Heroes, obviously (they all laugh). Rodrigo y Gabriella; they’re amazing, yeah. Um, Bob Dylan, Bob Marley, Cat Empire. Yeah and Sublime.
If you could duet with any other artist or band who would it be?
Ooh, thats a hard one. (Long pause and laughter). This is really hard. Um, Cat Empire I think. Have you heard them before?
Haha, no I haven’t…?
Myspace them, they’re incredible.
How’s the tour going so far? Are you liking being on the road?
Tour’s been amazing; we’re just like, loving every minute. And all the guys from Paper Heroes are well sound! Yeah its been great with them. London was amazing, the best so far.
So London’s been the best so far then?
Well yeah, every nights been really fun though. But London, the crowd were amazing.
How would you describe yourself in three words?
J: Creative (thinks), Happy. I cant think. Amused.
PH: Happy’s to much like amused, isn’t it? What about Enthusiastic? Thats a good one.
J: No, no. Amused, I’m amused. I’m always amused.
Amused, sweet. I wanted really to do this question with both of you; it would have been more fun. But I’m still gonna’ ask it anyway. How would you describe Fran?
Olive. (Everyone laughs).
Olive?
Yeah, olive. He looks like an olive. If you chopped his arms and legs off and stuffed his neck with red pepper and dipped him in some sauce, he’d look like a proper olive.
I like that. I’m sure he’d appreciate being told he looked like an olive too. Two more words?
Caring, he’s definitely caring. And good. He’s just good. He’s a good, caring olive. (Laughs).
I wish I was a good caring olive. (Laughter). What are your plans for 2009?
Well, I want to go back to school, for sure; finish college and all that. We want to do another tour around easter; up North, we want to go home, with Paper Heroes obviously. We really want to tour Europe a bit, Paris, Holland, places like that I think. Um, we also want to move to Brighton to do more music, we like it there.
Well, I look forward to seeing you around a bit more often then. Thanks Josh, it’s been nice.
Shame about Fran though. He’s sleeping outside. It’s really funny, he looks like a sleeping baby olive.
We weren’t planning on staying for the gig, but Josh and his friend practically begged us to stay. And it was well worth staying for. Paper Heroes played first, and then Fran and Josh. They really involved the crowd and it was definitely one of the best gigs I’ve ever been to.
Filed under: AS Media Main Task
I decided that I didn’t have enough bands to feature on my double contents page so I went online to try and generate some random names.
I came up with the following;
-Alike Amy
-Batch of the Ape Blame
-Every Hello
-Your Next Reaction
-Monday’s Orbit
-The Dinosaur Desire - I love this!
-Keep of the grass
-Joe Locker – For my solo artist featuring on the cover
These are a few real bands who I might use;
-Eighth Wave
-Saving Aimee
-Attic Lights
-Cage The Elephant
Filed under: AS Media Main Task
The first magazine I have chosen to look at for my double page spread research is ‘NME’. I chose to look mainly at the layout of their pages as I know already what i would like the content of my two pages to be.
The first two pages I have chosen to look at follow a similar layout with a large dominating pages over one of the two pages, and then the other page featuring mainly text. I really like this idea for a layout because it means only using one original image, and it would set the reader up for what is to come in the article. On the first double page spread, a quote is featured in larger text. I really like this idea because again like the use of the big picture it gives the reader a taster of what is to come. I also like the quote featured in the middle of the second page because it has the same effect on the reader. I really like how the colours don’t relate to any of the colours used in the images, but match well. I also like the use of small images, which is common on both of the pages I have selected.
I really like the title of the article being visible on the second double page spread. I would like to give my article a similar layout to the second page more that the first, however I do really like the use of a quote to grab the reader. A quote is used on the second page but it is a lot smaller and features a small picture next to it.
I do really like this layout, but it limits me to using only one original image. I went to look at other page layouts from this magazine, but they’re all relatively similar, creating the same problem.
These two pages are scans from a four page spread in Kerrang magazine. I only chose two of the four pages because these were my two favourite pages, and I like the layout of the two together. Similar to the NME layout a dominating image is used over one page and this idea is slowly beginning to grow on me. Again, a quote is used to grab the reader, something I definatley would like to use.
From looking at other pages from Kerrang magazine, they follow a very similar layout to this. I do like this layout style but it does limit me to using only one original image. Because I’d like to use more that one image I think I’ll keep a similar layout but try to find ways of adding two images into it, maybe by putting one on each page on opposite sides of each page.
I’ve looked at other double pages from other magazines, not just music and some of them follow different patterns to this, however most of them try to use one large dominating image or lots of little images to attract the reader in straight away.
Filed under: AS Media Main Task
Idea One
My first idea is for a magazine called OFTR (One for the radio). This is an appropriate title for my magazine as the focus will be on a made up radio station, and this will be the magazine that promotes it, and the station promoting the magazine. It will focus on music that is played on the station, but will focus on mainly indie / pop rock bands, and unsigned acts. The cover will be quite plain, but strait to the point, with the same style running to the contents. The front cover will have a posed picture on the fron with a white background with the hooklines overlapping in places and the title in the top corner. The contents will feature a plain background (unsure of the colour) with small pictures attached to the feature articles and text all around them, also with an editors note. The double page spread will be an interview with a band, possibly an unsigned act (Fran and Josh), hoping to make it onto the music scene and a small gig review of the band. Will also feature gig pictures.
Idea Two
My second idea is a magazine called ‘Tune’. This magazine is geared more to inspiring musicians who are keen to make it into the music scene. It will contain lots of different articles about writing the perfect song, etc and talk to people who have already made it big in music. The front cover will be jam packed with different hook lines and very busy to attract, and the contents page will be much the same with lots being thrown at the audience for them to grasp. The double page spread will feature an interview with an inspiring musician and about their dreams of becoming a star.
Idea Three
‘Beatz’ is my final idea. It is geared towards hip hop and rap music. It will target a younger audience straight away, and will appeal to both sexes. Most of the magazine will be interviews, and stories from artists. The front cover will use very dark colours, with the title in bold red to stand out. The hooks will be darker colours. The contents will be brighter with grey text and a paler coloured background and use a lot of images to distract the younger audience. The double page spread will be like an information page on a hip-hop artist, with a short interview and lots of images.
Final Idea (My Final Choice)
I’ve decided to take something from a couple of my initial ideas to help create the image on the final idea that I would like to go on and create. I’d like to create a magazine specifically geared to unsigned acts looking for somewhere to advertise and put their music out there. I think this is really positive idea because it gives the audience a chance to discover up and coming acts as well as putting their own act out there for the public to be involved in. The title of the magazine will be ‘One For The Radio’ but abbreviated to ‘OFTR’. I really like the idea of the abbreviated title because it sounds professional and it’s common with other music magazines. It also relates to the theme of the magazine which is unsigned acts and it gives the feel that the acts featured might be acts that are ‘one for the radio’ as it may seem. The front cover will have quite a plain, minimalistic look but will feature a large dominating image of most probably a solo artist, purely just because I feel it will look more professional. To make it seem minimalistic and ‘rough around the edges’ I’ll have the masthead in the top left hand corner, and quite small but clear. I will also have minimal hook-lines ask I don’t want to distract away too much from the main splash and main picture; the main image must really stand out. The whole Front Cover will be in black and white, and the feature artist’s picture will be to the right hand side of the page, leaving a lot of white space to the left for lots of hook-lines and feature articles. The artist on the Front Cover, will not be the same as the artist’s who feature in my double page spread. I’d like to keep to the black and white theme for the contents page as well to stick with the continuity and the house style of the magazine. The contents page will again have a minimalistic feel being quite plain but full of information and packed out with different articles and features of the magazine. I’d like to use the idea of the white background because I feel that even though it could make the magazine look amateurish and possibly unprofessional, I think if I do it well it could really work. I have a few potential ideas for the layout of my double page spreads from my research from other magazines. I like the idea of featuring a really large, dominating image on one of the pages, but I feel that it could take away the opportunity of using several original images. My double page will feature an interview with an unsigned act (Fran & Josh, interview already conducted) with my own images taken from the gig I saw them at. It will also feature a small gig review with a few more pictures.
Filed under: AS Media Main Task
I wanted to focus on looking at the covers of just music magazines, to see the layout they used, and the locations of the pictures and the texts, and the colour schemes they used to attract their audiences. I wanted to closely explore the house style of several different magazine covers, and see what they did that made their readers keep on buying.
The first music magazine I looked at was ‘Q’ magazine. I knew it was a popular magazine, and this was the reason I chose to look at it first.
On the front cover they keep a constant house style especially with the location and colour of the title. Obviously the title is always the same and it always stays in the top right hand corner. Sometimes it is placed behind the photo on the cover, and other times it is placed infront but either way, it is always in th same place. Sometimes the amout of pages in the magazine is placed over the title, in the case of the magazine being a bumber issue.
The title also uses the same colour scheme throughout all of its issues, with the white text, and the red background of the square box. The title is also always in a square shaped box which is also a continuity feature of the magazine. I like the idea of the title being a box because I think it looks professional and like a real magazine. This is something I would definatley like to explore for my magazine. However I only think this will work for magazines with single or double letter titles, as the box would become too big and take up too much space.
The two covers I have here have different background colours. I dont think the background is a continuity feature because sometimes the front cover photos are shot with a certain background, and other times they are not. I think the element of having a plain background and then an image that stands out looks better purely just because it looks more professional, and gives the text a chance to be more prominant. Although the top cover presents a colour scheme of black, dark blues and gold, I prefer the bottom cover more than the first because I think it sticks more to its colour scheme and house style with the red, black, white and grey. It appears to stand out more because of the plain white background with the colours over the top.
They also tend to have only two images on the front cover; the main image, and a small image at the top of the page. I also like how the text overlaps the image, especially where the main article is bigger and links to the picture on the cover. This is also common on the top cover.
The next two covers are from ‘NME’. It has the same target audience as ‘Q’ and this time I will comment on the same as before, but I will also comment on what they do the same or different to attract their audience.
I chose to look at ‘NME’ magazine in close contrast to ‘Q’ magazine as I knew they were both popular magazines and had the same audience. I also chose to look at these two because they explore the same style of music as I am planning to in my magazine (indie, pop-rock, alternative).
Similar to ‘Q’ magazine, ‘NME’ have their title in the top right hand corner. Although they dont have a box around their title, they follow the same kind of colour scheme with the red and white and the black outline. These seem to be common colours with these types of magazines as they all stand out against eachother and against other colours that might be used on the rest of the cover.
On the first cover featuring ‘The Last Shadow Puppets’, the colour scheme seems to be constant and sticking to the style of the title with a bit of yellow added in a few places; the yellow stands out even more from the rest of the cover. The second cover featuring ‘The Wombats’, however, doesn’t stick to the colour scheme of the cover above. Although the titles posistion and colours are the same, the rest of the page doesnt follow the common colour scheme. On the first cover, the band at the top of the page is red and the on the second cover, the band at the top is yellow. Although the top cover uses yellow a bit, there is a lot more yellow used on the second cover; the main tag-line is yellow. Another colour used on the bottom cover is blue. It isn’t used at all on the top cover. I think theyve varied the colour schemes on each of the covers to add variation to the bands used, the images used and the audiences they are tageting. I really like the idea of small changes to the colour scheme between each issue, because of the variation it explores.
Another similarity between ‘NME’ and ‘Q’ is the use of a vertical barcode. I really like the vertical barcode as i commented it before, it looks a lot more professional.
The third magazine I have chosen to look at is ‘Rolling Stone’. Ive chosen to look at this magazine because I feel it appeals to a similar audience as the other two, but a different audience at the same time. I feel the only small difference would be in age group of the audience, with this magazine also appealing to the older age group as well as the younger.
I decided to look at four different covers from Rolling Stone magazine as I think there is a lot to discuss about their style in their magazine covers, and the models that they use on the covers.
Similar to ‘Q’ magazine, ‘Rolling Stone’ explores a changing colour scheme throughout each issue. By looking at these four covers in particular you can see thats, although the title always stays in the same place, it changes colour each time. In the first cover, featuring Justin Timberlake and the second cover featuring The Jonas Brothers, the inner colours of the titles change, but they both still have a white outline and a black shadow. The inner colours also vary.
On the third cover featuring Britney Spears and the fourth featuring John Lennon and Yoko Ono. Again, both titles have different inner colours, with white outlines and lined shadowed bits.
The differing colour scheme is constant throguhout each of the covers with the different coloured tag-lines to match the rest of the cover. Like on the first cover with Justin Timberlake blue lines are used underneath some of the taglines to add to the colour scheme. To add more colour to the cover, the colour red is used is to add attraction to the tags, and not just the picture and the black is used as an initially attractive and professinal colour. Like the first cover, The Jonas Brothers cover use lines to underline the tags. In this case the colour red is used to add something else to the cover and to add similarity to the title. The use of red is also posistive as the picture used is very black and white, and the red adds colour. The Britney cover explores very neutral colours like the pale grey and pastel yellow. This gives the magazine a calm feel and as the feature article is Britney making her come back, it seems welcoming. The John Lennon cover doesnt have any taglines because it was the issue of the magazine realeased just after his death. This is extremly powerful and gives a sympathetic feel to the cover of the magazine making the main focus John Lennon. I like the varying use of different colour schemes and if i were to make several issues of my magazine this would be a quality I would like to use.
Filed under: AS Media Main Task
Today we were introduced to the brief of the main task for our AS media
I started by doing some research and looking at lots of different magazine covers and double page spreads from magazines. Firstly i looked at NME magazine. I really liked their double page spreads but i felt they cheated a little bit because they used a large image dominating one of the two pages, and then the other was the page that contained the writing. Although i thought they cheated a bit, i like this idea, because it gives a chance to show off your own images; however it means you could only really use one picture. I didnt actually add any photos to my blog research page, as my blog kept crashing.
I then looked at Rolling Stone magazine for a while. I mainly focussed on their front covers as they were easier to find and get hold of. They always keep the name in the same place, and sometime the image covers the title. i like this idea, and i really like the the font they use in the title.
Next lesson I plan to add my research to my blog with comments and how i could potentially use their ideas in my own magazine.
20-01-09
Today, I continued my reseach and started to add some examples to my blog with some writing to explain why im using these examples. I spent a lot of the lesson looking on different websites for front covers, contents pages and double page spreads. I saved all of the pictures I found onto my account, ready to use them next lesson to post onto my blog. I found it really difficult to find contents pages for music magazines, and i wasnt aware that we could look at other contents pages from different genres of magazines. Next lesson i will find some and add them to my research blog. I’ve added a few of my photos to my blog, and I am going to continue to add them with a commentary of why i picked that magazine to research and what qualities i could take from it to add to my own magazine.
Next lesson I hope to continue with my research, and then once that is completed to a reasonable amount, maybe start to conduct a few mock ups of possible looks for my front cover.
27-01-39
In todays lesson I, again, worked on my research, trying to improve it and perfect it the best I could. I spent the lesson writing about they key features on the covers of the magazines and what I can take from them and add to my own ideas that I will be drawing up next week ready to present to my focus group. I will complete my research in my own time to make sure its finished in time for next lesson to complete my three initial ideas ready to present. I have a few ideas that I can develop into bigger ideas that might be possibilities for my final piece.
I have decided already what I would like on my double page spread in my magazine; an interview with a band. Although I know this part of the project can be made up and doesnt have to be real, I have arranged a real interview and photoshoot with a band that are happy for me to use them for my Main Task. I think this will give my magazine a more realistic feel to it, as the interview was real.
Next lesson, I am going to plan out my three final ideas both on my blog and on paper so I have two ways to show the people in my focus group what I am planning to do. I will also make sure my research is complete to a high standard ready to move onto my ideas and preparation for my presentation. I will also write up my interview (from 30-01-09 with Fran and Josh) and post it on the blog with the photos that I have taken.
10 – 03 – 09
For the past few weeks I have been continuing with my research of my front covers and my double page spreads, its taking a lot longer than I thought. In todays lesson, I’ve spent all of my time creating a mock up cover for my magazine. Im really proud of what I’ve managed to achieve this lesson, and Im really happy with the cover I have made. It looks pretty professional and differs from anything I’ve ever seen before in a magazine because it’s black and white, and features no colour. Towards the end of the lesson I created a questionnaire for some people to answer and tell me what they like and dislike about the cover, and why. Next lesson I hope to scan the questionnaires and upload them to the blog and then work on creating a mock up of my contents page and possibly write up my Fran and Josh interview, but i could do that at home.
11-03-09
I took some original images for my front cover today. I had a model (Lewis) come in from outside specifically for the shoot so i could get some shots that are possible to use. I got a few shots that I really liked and that I could use. I took the photos to fit the picture I’d used on my mock up because I really like the pose, and liked how it all fitted together and looked professional.
13-03-09
I added my own image to my front cover today to see what it looked like and I was quite pleased, but unfortunately my model looked a bit camp in the pose which wasn’t really the look I was going for. I have a few other photos of him that are possible for the front cover so I’ll just have to have a look through them and see if any of them are appropriate. Today, I also made a few other changes to the front cover, like changing the name of the artist on the front cover and I had a few colour issues with the magazine that I started to experiment with.
17-03-09
Today, I was again working on trying to make the photo that I have fit my front cover and messing around with the curves to try and make the model look more shadowed and more mysterious to try and draw away from the ‘camp’ pose I had placed the model in. I’ve decided that I’m definitely going to change the photo on my front cover because he still managed to look ‘camp’ and a lot of people were commenting on it. I would still like to use the same model though. I also started to experiment with adding colour to my front cover as I decided I might want to add a bit of colour to my contents pages. Although I really love the idea of having everything black and white, I feel like after a while it could start to look bland and people might not be as interested in it. I wanted to challenge the conventions of other magazines, and i feel that i could still achieve it by having mostly black and white with just a small bit of colour, maybe a dark red or dark blue.
24th March 09
I’ve worked on my contents pages today and for some on the lesson last week. I found a contents page from an ‘NME’ magazine that I really liked (will be uploaded in my research at some point). I liked the idea they used of having big pictures and large text all around the page to make it look busy and all packed in. I managed to only use one original image on my first contents page, but my second contents page will hopefully feature one or two to bulk it out. I also added some dark red to the front cover to add something else to it, because it just didnt feel right just being black and white. In order to keep the continuity I added some red to the splash on my front page. (Will upload copy of front cover and contents here when the mac will let me). I’m going to start work on my next contents page next lesson and hopefully get on to starting my double page spread which I am now re-thinking down to a lack of original images surrounding the Fran and Josh interview.
3rd April 2009
Today I went online to a few band name generating websites and I came up with a few names that I quite liked that I could feature in my double page contents page because I had a lot of space to fill, and not a realistic amount of bands. I’ve added the names I chose in a separate post. Half term is coming up giving me a lot of time to really get down to business with this. I have a little bit more research to do and still have to make my double page spread which is hopefully going to still be my Fran and Josh interview but I’ve got a couple more gig photos that I took last night that I might quite like to use, so I’m not really sure now.
19th April 2009
Today I’ve been adding the finishing touches to my research and making sure everything is in place for my deadline this week. Over this half term I’ve also managed to nearly finish both my contents pages and my double page spread only leaving a few more things to add and a couple of pictures to swap around. I’ll add the finishing touches to those tomorrow and I will also be starting on my evaluation.
