Thursday 16 January 2014

Magazine Final Evaluation

The magazine which I have designed has used a sufficient amount of code and conventions which other magazines use.

The title is placed at the top of the page to indicate to potential customers the name of the magazine “Underground” as this use of a unconventional name for the magazine produces a slight curiosity and overall will make an impression due to this retro typed name. The magazine title was created to show how indie music started mostly away from the lime light and played out of sight or ‘Underground’ as other main stream music magazines produce more popular genres of music leaving indie music to be unheard from, lately this has shifted and indie music is beginning to become more popular with time this is one of the reasons i produced the magazine on this genre of music as it is today on the rise.

The title has also been created using three different colours, this allows the title sync in with the other pages throughout the magazine and not to be isolated away. The front cover title is in bold text due to the rich colour scheme making it more attractive to target audiences eyes.  The magazine has other conventions such as anchorage text, buzz words and others. The anchorage text helps hold the view of potential customer as placing the other stories in smaller text around the main image teases the customer into wanting to take a deeper look and find out more on the story. Buzz words across my magazine are not used as much, I have only included a couple buzz words, one is “Free” in my research I have found that most mainstream music magazines ultimately use these words to attract in customers with ‘Freebies’.  

My Main image is placed directly in the middle of the page; this is to be the second most noticeable convention on the front cover. The main image of the magazine has been altered in many ways, the reason why the magazine is in black and white makes it a more effective image for the front cover even though it’s quite bland and dull yet this might attract the target audience due to the manor which has been produced in as the background is a blur of colours to represent ‘Life in Black and White’. I have used three different colours within my magazine, Red, White and Black as most music magazine which I have studied has a colour scheme of three to four colours. The colours which have been chosen balance out each other.

The contents page carries on the house style which was made present on the front cover. The main image upon my Content page is of the person on the front cover, I wish to establish that he is the main artist within my music magazine and wish to state that to the customers so that they know he is going to be the next best thing in the music industry. The title of the magazine is also included on the magazine’s content page I have done this due to the fact that it keeps the image of the magazine to stay professional. Another convention I used upon my magazines content page was buzz words, much like on the front cover I used the buzz words to advertise and offer different sections of the magazine such as the ‘Features, News and win sections’. Another convention I used on my contents page is including the graphic feature to advertise how to subscribe to the magazine.

The Double page article has also continued the colour scheme as the use of red and black colouring creates a boundary between the main image and the title of the page. The titles are coloured this way to completely separate it from the main image. The main image upon my double page article take up across the entire double page article as this shows that only the artists upon the pages will be talking about.

The artist ‘Rickie Merton’ which I have used as my selling point for my magazine “Underground" is of a young age, he can personally relate to the target audience whom are aged between sixteen to twenty one as himself is quite a young artist showing that he can mix within the styles and trends which the audience will be using. The artist is also a top musician in the music industry in this moment of time so his face upon a magazine would instantly cause a spree of buyers. The style of my artist is dressed in an quite a unique way, I have placed him in a thin coat with a pink shirt, this style suits the way an indie pop artist would realistically look, as most of these artists go for an unconventional way of dressing.

The Media institution which I am picking to publish my magazine is Bauer Media. Bauer Media produce famous music magazines such as Q magazine and Keerang. This institution I believe would establish that the magazine is intending to become a
My magazine in production gave me many challenges as at first I was surprised that cameras had such a difference, as using a digital camera meant I could easily upload the photos which were taken straight away to the computer for editing. Photoshop was also a big game changer for my A level work as I could easily remove a green screen background from my main image and incorporate a better and more professional back drop, this is a tip which I have picked up while doing A-level work. Photoshop also allowed effects to enhance the images used for my magazine.


The task given to me allowed me to make to think at a higher level for going to  more of  A-level way of thinking instead of the GCSE branch of thinking which dramatically changed my attitude and skill to work. The task also allowed my skills in photography and Photoshop to increase due to the higher expectation which i was being face with.

Thursday 9 January 2014

Final Magazine

Firstly i have changed the name of the magazine, this is due to the original name not really sounding like the genre of my magazine. The magazine title was changed to Underground due to the fact that Indie Pop/Rock music is often played in the least expected places. The bands mostly start off from the bottom and rise to the top such as the band 'Mumford and Sons'. The whole concept of the color scheme has been changed to a Red and Black, this gives my magazine a much more broad and coincides hand in hand with the indie rock side more, yet the magazine is overall indie music. The Content page has also been changed as i believe the first draft of the content page was fairly poor so i created it to be in a more collage than the original professional way. Thirdly the Double page article has been adapted to the new color scheme.



Friday 20 December 2013

Planning for Photographs

The images which I planned for my magazine had to be done in a professional way.
My photos were all taken within a class room, in front of a green screen so that I would be able to edit the pictures easily with Photoshop and other editing programmes. I took the photos within a class room for two reasons, one that the classroom is fitted to the standards of a studio, and two that I could have at hand a professional standard camera.
The artist which I had to choose had to be blonde and dress in an unusual style, so using a friend as the model for my magazine I found that it was easy to coordinate how he could look for the magazine.

The props which I used for the production of the magazine such as the guitar was brought in from home, I believed that to get a more professional look that a musical instrument would make the magazine look more attractive for my target audience. The final piece of work which needed to be done was to arrange so that the photo-shoot looked good. The class room was also fitted with a light which enhanced the photos I had taken for the magazine, this light made the photo much more professional. 

Magazine Final Proposal

The genre of my music magazine will be of an indie pop background; this is due to the fact that indie pop is a rising form of music in society and is considered a mainstream genre. The title of my magazine however is ‘Underground’ relating back to the well-known form of ‘busking’ as it mostly takes place in public areas such as Underground stations. ‘Underground’ is a term today meaning a genre in music and other forms of media intended for an elite audience, that is often characterized by its high levels of originality and experimentation, and does not conform to typical standards, trends, or hypes as set by the popular mainstream media, so I've stuck true to the original idea of indie pop being a underground based music genre as it quite unpredictable. My magazine will be set for those of the ages between sixteen to early adulthood this is due to my targeted audience being quite young with a liking in the indie pop genre, the audience should also have some kind of income at this moment in life either they are working part time/full time or are even studying, due to this I have put my magazine at the price range of £2.00 as it is medium priced and is not over the given budget of the target audience, in my questionnaire I asked the question “What is the most you would pay for a magazine” the most popular choice was £2.00 so I choose this amount to be my magazines selling price.
“Underground” will be published fortnightly this is due to the fact it allows students to recuperate their budgets for the magazine and also means that the company can spend their time to work on a more though out magazine, as it can be properly planned and focus on certain stories instead of rushing for a deadline meaning that the magazine would be unprofessional and soon will run out of material to publish, the question “How long should my magazine be published” also featured in my questionnaire this was answered by a mass amount asking for the magazine to be published “fortnightly”.
I have decided to create this type of magazine due to the fact that I have a passion in music, even though I am not pressuring a career in music I still wish to keep it as a major part of my life, Indie music has been the soundtrack to my life for some years and now I wish to use that genre of music to help me in designing a leading magazine.
My magazine will have a double page article which will be on the main image which will be printed on the front of the magazine of a major artist. My magazine will consist of mentioning other leading bands which are either on tour such as “Vampire Weekend” and other top leading indie bands or artists.
The ideologies which my magazine will present is a future for students, as the magazine is called “Underground” it will be there to help out new artists trying to chase their dreams for a music career, “Never giving up” is a major importance to the magazine, as on the double page for my magazine I will mention how the artist “Is overwhelmed with support, and will never give up trying to cement their position in a musical career”.
My magazine will use buzz words and other useful techniques to try and to attract customers, the use of the word “Free” and “New” will surely grab the attention of the target audience. I will use major artists to help publish my magazine as I will be using them as a forefront to gain the support of their fan bases.