Tuesday, 11 May 2010
Monday, 29 March 2010
question 7
Looking back even though i enjoyed my final result of my school magazine, i much more preffered making the music magazine because the style of the magazines were different and after making the school magazine, i knew how to work photoshop better making me be able to do better effects.
The difference between the two task was i rushed the preliminary task , i mainly just added text and took photos.This was wrong because to make a succesful magazine you have to take care and time to get it perfect for consumer, so when making Faze i took more time with my photoshoots ,which took me three different Shoots to get the right images.For my music magazine i had to look at existing products to see what works in the publication industry.
Sunday, 28 March 2010
question 6
To take my photos for my magazine at first i used a normal samsung digital camera to take the photos, what i found were the images were not crisp where the camera was hand held , so my handy must have been shaking.I then used my friends sony digital S.L.R camera using his tripod aswell the result of this was the images were much better and the camera had smart technology to adjust focus just before the picture gets taken.
Adobe Photoshop is the application of image editing techniques to photographs in order to create an illusion or deception(in contrast to mere enhancement or correction).To create my magazine i used this software.
At first when i was doing my preliminary task i found it hard to use photoshop, but after a period of time i learnt how to manipulate images and use the layers.To learn how to do this i used videos on youtube , where people posted all different effects to do. It allowed me to input text to my magazine ,giving me the choice to use certain effects like drop shadow which you will see in my contents page .The best manipulation i did for my magazine was putting the hand over the models eye, to do this i used the clone stamp, first cloning the eye then painting it over on to the models hand.
Below is an example of photoshop manipulation with me using the clone stamp.
This website gave me access to a database of fonts , which i would then use for my magazine .I found it easy to use and download because the website catergorised their fonts in to style , making it easy for me to search for the right font.
I also used this interactive service to display all my work.It has been used to show how i have created my end product and to look at other magazines for research.
question 5
As my magazine is indie rock , its main competition would be NME which is a well established magazine in the market already.However i have two things that the magazine wont be able to compete with.
My magazine is aimed at both sexes giving NME readers a choice to pick my magazine instead.NME mainly targets men so because my magazine equally targets both genders , Faze would provide more reading material for girls then what they would get in NME.
Another advantage i could have to attract my audience is the fact my magazine will be brand new compared to NME which first issue was published 7th March 1952, my audience might pick my magazine over NME , because they are ready for a new brand, they could be getting bored of the style brand of NME.
question 4
The target audience of my magazine are males and females aged 16-25.I want a unisex audience , to get this my magazine would have both male and female artists featured in the magazine and i would make the magazine more versatile by including articles, which both genders would like.I also used a basic colour scheme , and chose to not use stereotypical colours for a specific gender e.g pink for females.The audience for my magazine are indie style and to make my product fit them ,i have included gigs, style and live music references.I mainly listen to this style of music and because i am in the age group of my taget audience i feel i would be able to relate the magazine to the consumer.
In popular music, independent music, often shortened to indie music or "indie", is a term used to describe independence from major commercial record labels and an autonomous, do it yourself approach to recording and publishing.
This is the style my audience will wear and like to see in the magazine.Smart casual look with the blazer ,tie and skinny jeans or the check shirt and ray bans retro glasses.
Socio economic groups
A male or female who like to dress indie,even though they havent got a lot of money , they would care about their appearance potraying a smart look.They are socially aware of the top bands (using magazine to check this ) liking to keep uptodate with the latest trends.They would purchase their clothes from vintage shops, always in search for a bargain, however appreciate high street clothes from Urban Outfitters , zara and Topshop.Their main hobby would be going to gigs or festivals enjoying them with groups of friends.
Question 4
Tuesday, 23 March 2010
question 3
What kind of media institution might distribute your media product and why?
I think bauer publications should publish my magazine if it was made into a professional magazine.Bauer publications brought the large publications firm Emap.This publication company already produces popular titles like Kerrang,Mojo and Q.Except for Kerrang, the company targets their magazine at a higher class of people.
I believe there is a gap in Bauer's company because my magazine targets another set of people, My magazine would provide Bauer with a bigger range of magazines making it more known and recognised by a wide range of people.
Monday, 22 March 2010
Question 2
Question 2
Tuesday, 16 March 2010
question 1
Conventions change on the contents page of a magazine. These include a clear layout of the lists on the pages, with the numbers showing each page.On average, a contents page will have a picture on it, as a preview to what information is going to be received while reading the magazine.
My contents page uses the conventions of a top music magazine ,because i have tried to incorporate things from music magazine that would be competition like NME Magazine.The layout of the page is consistent with the front cover sharing similar text and colours.This is to reflect the genre of my magazine .The layout is similar to NME because it uses a very effective black and white scheme with a bold title using the font of the masthead.
Thursday, 4 March 2010
double page spread
“Its important to choose what makes you happy”
The faith are a band known for their rebellious antics towards the media refusing to give interviews or photo shoots and stick the finger up to the paps.But after a few years in the business Jason White the mystery front man of the indie/alternative band The Faith reveals to Faze how he made the right choice in life.
q.How are things in the Faith camp ?
Jason White(lead vocal/guitarist):”they are very good, our band are probably the closest we have ever been and even after four years together we are still deeply immersed in each others lives.Its great to love a group of people and know they feel the same way about you. I think people have a misconception of our group because we try to keep our selves hidden from the media, people think we are unhappy people when we are actually some of the silliest jokers out there.”
q.Your second album (belief) is currently top 10 in the download chart ,are you proud of this achievement?
“Well course I am proud of how far our bands come from doing gigs in bars to performing at places like 02 Brixton academy , but the achievement for me was making music my living, nothing is better then getting paid to do what you love .Yes top ten is great but im happy as long as our group has a place to perform then we are all proud just to be wanted “
q.have you always aspired to be a musician ?
“I have always had a passion for music still a big fan of hip hop, even though I am an indie musician I still like to listen to other genres in the industry, when I was younger I always dressed up like Mc hammer and did the cant touch this dance .I wasn’t always destined for music I was meant to be a plumber but my interests never suited that type of job, I mean did I really want to fix pipes and toilets for the rest of my life. I decided Its important to choose what makes you happy and i wanted to do what made me happy and music was it .”
q.Do you think people have the wrong idea about the band?
“I don’t know what people think about us. We’re just normal people and I mean that in a good way because the people in my band are completely unique.i just play video games, read books and I go out like any normal guy wanting to have fun.I don’t understand why people in bands are expected to be complete party animals 24/7 .i’d much rather be as normal as possible and when im on stage just be that same person enjoying my work.It may not seem as exciting as what people believe but at least my lifestyle is not false”
q.Is that why you have avoided doing press in the past ?
“when we started the band what we had in mind was writing, recording and playing music. When we signed up for it that’s all we thought gig was.Then you start doing interviews and you read them back and they say nothing what we said , or you see the photos and look thinking ‘I look nothing like that’ .i mean im not the type of person who likes spotlight so I just choose to pursue the parts of being in a band I love.i don’t have much of a look and I don’t have much to say .thats why when you listen to a song by us we don’t answer we ask questions.”
q.As successful as The faith are do you think your reluctance to play the media game has stop you from being bigger ?
“ I don’t think our group has any regrets about how we have treated the media ,I mean we could have done what the media wanted been global but it just wouldn’t be us.We have written a few songs which we know could have been huge hits but didn’t release them knowing this.The good thing about The Faith is you get what you see we are not some band selling ourselves for cash in pocket !”
q.Are you happy with the decisions you’ve made so far ?
Yes no I think of it ,if I could change things I wouldn’t being in The Faith has given me so many opportunities that I probably wouldn’t have had, I’ve been to many cities around the world, met many wonderful people and got paid to be creative. So ye I think my choice in life to join this band was a great decision , I cant thanks the band for it as much as I want to.
The layout i preferred was the one below because i liked the shadow i made using the gradient tool on photoshop .The thing i what i like about both experiments is the fact that the images are perfectly in focus and go well with the backgrounds.
This is my final design for my double page spread, i like this because the image is portayed to be in a shadow, This reflecting his personality .To design this i used photoshop and indesign , it took me a while to get use to using indesign but i needed to use it for the columns in the article.I put the quote near the models mouth, to make it appear the words are straight from his mouth.
Monday, 22 February 2010
front cover and contents page development
To make my front cover i had to use many layers to input text, shapes and the background.
I added " the 100 best gigs " and "Lost prophets tech guitar " because these things will appeal to a faze magazine reader.
Thursday, 18 February 2010
mast head analysis
when designing my logo i think i should consider ,what would make my target market attract to the page.The logo could maybe include graphics like kerrang! magazine giving it detail , it should also have a specific font which is unique to the magazine like Rolling Stone magazines font is original no one can copy it for their masthead.
Thes are various types of fonts which have been used in my magazine.I have picked them because i like the detail to the ones which are distort and i believe they will fit to my music magazine audience, i believe they will appreciate these fonts.All thses fonts need are more colours added to them to make them stand up.
This is my masthead above.I know it will be succesful because it has the same characteristics as Nme and Kerrang magazine.The masthead has detail to it like kerrang magazine and uses a similar red to NME making it easy for the eye to attract to .
Saturday, 13 February 2010
magazine analysis
Magazines usually have a target audience. Of course, they would like to sell to as many people as possible, but since no magazine can be all things to all people, they will usually target a group large enough to make a profit, but specific enough to be distinctive. (No one wants another LIFE magazine; that niche is already filled.
To catergorise the target audience you would look at the following :
-the education level required to read the articles
-the hobbies or interests of the audience
- the political slant (conservative or liberal)
-the economic class of the reader
-the products advertised
-the depth of the articles (superficial, in-depth)
-the level of vocabulary
-the tone (lighthearted, serious)
The image below are various succesfull magazines in the publication industry.You can tell they all represent different genres mainly by style,colour and the artists viewed on the front cover.
This magazine, Rolling Stone, is a rock music magazine. i have chosen to analyze this front cover as it is very different to the other magazine covers that I have looked at. This front cover has an overall vintage look, which gives a new look to the music magazine industry. This cover used an image in sepia rather than in full colour. Behind this image is a fire image, and a white background is used. The main title "Rolling Stone" is overlapped by a pig image and a text box:"New clues to JFK's murder". This is an interesting use of design, and makes this magazine stand out amongst the others.