Feedback on the front cover

"Looks sweet, i like the colour and the cover image looks awesome. Good job"
adam_454@live.co.uk

"Love the title, sounds realy original. looks like the type of magazine i would buy!"
emma_666@hotmail.com

"thoroughly pleased with this josh i would buy this magazine!"
miss_louise_666@hotmail.com

Q7

As i have explained in question 6 i was allready skilled in two of the three software formats used to create both preliminary and final tasks, Web 2.0 which is the blog, Photoshop for the Front page and photo editing and finaly Quark Xpress for the contents and double page spread.

I have used many magazine conventions and from using these it has helped make my magazine look more realistic and i have had feedback from friends which was positive about these looking realistic and makes it look like a proper music magazine.

It is crucial that drafts and preliminary tasks are made because you can see if they look realistic or not and how you would change them and keep what looks good about them. Also if you make a really good draft then all you need to do is tweak it to make it a final copy.

Finally I will talk about the importance of feedback. Feedback is good weather it is positive or negative because it lets you know what others think about your work and not just what you think and it is being seen from different observation points. Without the feedback from my friends and teachers I would possibly not done as well as would have.

Q6

The specific software I used to manipulate, change and tweak my pictures was Adobe Photoshop Elements, the software is easy to use but because of this it is pretty basic because I am used to using CS3 the majority of facilities are not available such as masking and using folders to group images. As I was used to Photoshop I took to the editing really easily and was also helping friends how to use it. It was manageable to edit the pictures but took more time that it normally would with CS3. The way to change the picture setting of a picture through layers is limited as well such as using soft colour and overlay so when changing colours I had to use the hue setting and then make the colour slightly transparent to around 90-95% so that the colour is not effected but not as strong.

The software used for the contents page and double page spread was Quark Xpress and I was not familiar with this software I took to it very easily and managed to get used to the tools such as import picture, cropping, creating pull quotes and using a background to the pull quote making it stand out by filling the in background of the text box. Also I used the image box and text box to import coloured backgrounds and putting them to the back so everything falls on top of that making it a background. Using drop letters as well worked well and I did this by highlighting the start letter, selecting style and then formatting and clicking on the drop letter box so the letter was made bigger at the bottom.

To process my work for others to see I used Web 2.o Blogs which is a personal website for my work for me to publish online so it can be looked at and I can access the text format from computer to computer at college and at home so I could keep posted the work. Blogging is ok but there is not many themes and time has to be taken to get a theme with appropriate pictures and where the work is placed on the screen without confusion takes some time but there are some good looking themes on the websites.

Q5

I used photoshop to manipulate and mediate my front cover and the reasons that it will attract the stereotypical rock/metal music fans

Q4

I created a readers profile to show what type of things they like such as motorbikes, iPhones, laptops and family guy. These are just a few examples I have taken out of the readers profile and I have asked people who I think would read this magazine if they like any of the objects on the readers profile and the majority like all of the items on their so I believe I have managed to attract the correct audience such as rock and metal music fans like to use Myspace and watch Family Guy and wear Atticus clothing and eat mars-bars and play on games consoles. The reason I picked these was through what other magazines of my genre relate to such as competitions to win guitars attract guitarists and rock and metal fans like guitars so will like the magazine.

Q3

As my magazine is a mainstream magazine I will be looking for a large company which owns other companies also knows as conglomerates like Bauer to distribute my magazine because they will have much more knowledge of the distribution process and as they are really successful and well known for their magazines they will be more successful in the sales of the magazines. I would also use cross media which is using another form of media to advertise my magazine and I would create a “TOXIK” website where fans can archive previous magazines, search for band tour dates. This magazine will be able to be bought singly as well as subscriptions which can be paid for monthly at a cheaper rate however on a contract or a one off lump sum and will be distributed to specific rock/metal music and clothing shops.

Q2

My music magazine represents a particular social group because I have used specific fonts which show rebellion and don’t follow a common trend of normal fonts which I believe will make my magazine more specific to the genre of rock. The colours I chose to use work well with the magazine name which is “TOXIK” and the colours I have decided to use are reds to show power and blood, greens to represent bio-hazards and radiation. The image of the iPod which represent the age of people who will be reading my magazine are around 16-35. Using images of guitars and saying up for grabs anchoring them means that the readers rather have interest with playing guitars or play them and want to win these guitars.

Q1

Using a combination of masthead work, cover images, text layout I created a realistic looking music magazine by having different sized fonts for more important text and selective colours to make these pieces of text stand out more. The cover images I have used give reference to my magazine genre because I have decided to use pictures which refer to metal/rock music such as guitars, iPods and Metallica. I used a special type of font for the title to make it look more graphic and textured so it will suit the name more rather than it being plane. Also using slanted images makes the cover look more out the ordanary and original like Kerrang! does.

Finished Double Page Spread

This lesson i want to upload my double page spread to my blog

This is the final version of my Double page spread finished using quark.

Final pictures for double page spread

I have used these different types of images because each one encodes a different story for instance the low angle camera shot makes him look aggressive big and mighty where as the high angle shot of the balancing guitar shows he's not dead serious and enjoys doing unordinary things and the two pictures where he is playing the guitar show his dedication to music and the large picture holding the guitar in the air is going to be used as a full page picture as it shows might, pride and power.

FINAL CONTENTS PAGE

This is the final draft of my contents page and I have used Quark to create this because the ability to manipulate text is much easier than Photoshop so it made it easier putting text in however I edited the pictures on Photoshop and the title and imported the images. I was not experienced in quark at all before this media project however I have managed to use it really well and because of this iv managed to create a realistic contents page simulate to Kerrang!

FINAL FRONT COVER

This is the final draft of my magazine front cover. To make this look realistic is used Tag lines, Banners, Barcodes, Title, Cover image Anchorage on pictures. I created this using Photoshop Elements and am already familiar with Photoshop cs3 so elements is a simplified version so I was able to pick this software up really easily and offered my knowledge of the software to other students who were not as familiar with it.

The photo's i will be using for my magazine

This lesson i will upload the some of the final images for my magaizne

The picture of callum holding the guitar is suitable for the front cover shot because it represents the generic elements of a rock look with the guitar and the brick wall, their is room for a masthead on top and down the sides for the pugs and sell-lines

02/04/09

That lesson I wanted to finish off my treatment and upload it to my blog

Treatment

The work I am currently working on is a music magazine of the rock and metal genre at the age group of 16 to 35, aimed at both men and women not directly at one gender. The reason I have chosen to do this is that this magazine is going to be a mainstream magazine so it is looking to reach many different people throughout the sub genres of rock and metal such as hard rock, heavy metal and punk rock.

Target audience:
16-35
Males and females due to being a mainstream magazine.
Rock, metal and punk people
The reason I am aiming this at this audience is because if it becomes a much less metal and rock magazine and these are the main audience so I plan to stick to these.

Photography design I will be using a plane background using lighting to remove shadows for my cover picture. A cover picture needs to be a medium close up shot at normal level not higher than the person or lower because these look unprofessional. I will need a medium to medium long shot for the double page spread. I will be taking photos of Louise Stevenson, Jade Dannet, James Davis, Callum Ward and Zach Lovatt for my magazine. I will also gather different photos of people to put in the contents page as I plan to have quite a few pictures in their. I will get photos of Zach and Callum outside of college and Jade James and Louise in college.

My layout will be similar to modern rock magazines because they seem to be successful. As well as the contents page and double page spread. The reason I have chosen this layout is that it is dynamic and direct with the images and writing combo. The front cover will be busy and exiting with lots of images and text

I will need to make some health and safety precautions while taking photos in case I choose to take photo’s outside then I need to make sure the person I am photographing is safe and not in danger. I will be taking some pictures in the college media suite vicinity and there is a first aider who works up in that area as well as the fire assembly points in the car park. There is a chance of people being burnt with the lights and damage to the eyes. My other photos I will be taking are going to be at people’s houses and the surrounding area so I will inform them of what to do in an accident.

I will be using basic props for a rock look such as a guitar, lots of hair, a hat and specific facial expressions. The guitar I will have Callum holding by the neck with it resting on the floor. I will also take photo’s of his Ibanez Gem and his Fender Stratocaster Mexican 1968 as up for grabs in the magazine. The clothing he will be wearing will possibly be a loose open topped shirt with jeans trainers. Zach will be wearing his too tight jeans and a shirt and be using his bass guitar.

Production schedule.

On monday i will be taking photos for my contents page because the people who are going to be in this i can use in the photography area in the media rooms.

Tuesday i will create album art for a "free Cd" i will be giving away using photoshop

Wednesday i will be taking photos for the front cover

Thursday i will be taking photos for the double page spread

and on friday i will be editing my pictures for the magaizne

Draft Front Cover

24/03/09

I am wanting to upload my draft front cover of a music magazine to my blog

Draft Contents page

23/03/09

I am wanting to upload my draft contents page of a music magazine to my blog

Generic elements of a music magazine

1. Masthead
2. Sell line
3. Cover image
4. The tone of aesthetics to match the genre.
5. Pugs
6. Mode of address – peer to peer
7. Anchorage
8. Cross media promotion – Free demo cd’s
9. House style – dark metal mag, bright in pop,
10. Banner – lists info to attract casual readers
11. Reviews – gig artist and album
12. Upcoming gig information and band info

16/03/09

This lesson I am wanting to upload the generic elements of a music magazine to my blog

12/03/09

This lesson i want to upload what makes a good cover image to my blog

A quick start to a magazine cover

I am not using this as a draught just as a quick nock up.

Just a pracitce of photoshop.

What is a good cover image

The rules of taking a good cover picture!

No cluttered backgrounds. Minimal the better!!

Focus on the lead singer if a band shot. People need to see important people and hide the ugly and fat.

Single artist use a medium/medium close up shot. 3/4 image will be good.

Leave room for a masthead.

Don't cut off heads!

No high angle shot, looks tacky boring and poor. Good for double page spread

Animate your band!

Ideas of a music magazine

The ideas I'm thinking of for a music magazine are,


Rock/Metal Mainstream magazine,
Target audience, 16-35

Name, Toxik

The original word toxic is a word connoted to be deadly, lethal and harmful and using the K instaid of a c makes it stand out more and more appealing to more rebelious people.



A Niche Drum & Bass Magazine

Target audience, 21-35

Name, PHAT

The reason i am using PHAT instead of fat is because spelling the word differently shows being individuality, shows a more deep view of the bass rather than using a commonly used word and abbreviating it to a more specific music genre. People in this genre relate the word PHAT to a good positive word



and a Niche Thrash metal magazine.

Target audience, 21-50

Name, Cult Riot

Cult signifying that a selected group of people will be reading this, however more secluded and individualised. Riot signifying rage, destruction, non conforming, rebellion and attitude.

06/03/09

That lesson I was aiming to upload some of the final images I will be using for my magazine

Video on editing with adobe

03/03/09

This lesson i will to upload my video of using Photoshop onto my blog

Analysis of Bauer and IPC

Bauer and IPC are the two dominate UK magazine market. Bauer is a German multinational cross media company which is an independent company and IPC Media an American Time Warner Group Conglomerate. It has a different range of magazines, including home style and music magazines which will be my main focus Bauer dominate the UK magazine market with statistics of 9 Bauer magazines are sold every second in the UK however 28 million adults read a Bauer titles over 7 countries including Mexico, Spain and the United States. Bauer do a lot of different type of magazines a lot of them are well known music magazines and with the help from Bauer’s power and money the advertising for the magazines helps the magazines meet their demographic audience in the form of an "imaginary entity" as Ien Ang suggests which is either an ideal self or ideal partner.

The general audience for these magazines are between ages of 16-24 and possibly 25-34 (an example of this is Kerrang! Is more the age range of 16-24 where as Q is a much more intellectual and less coloured magazine only using whites blacks and reds on the cover which would be aimed at the older generation of 25-34 ). The demographic audience of these magazines are younger audiences and this can be seen through the use of bright colours and flashy covers and bands as an older audience will have a more dull aesthetics using browns and dull tones of colours.

Readership is vital for a magazine company to succeed because through readership bands offer advertising to customers as the customers will want to see the interviews, reviews, posters of the bands without realising they will tell their friends and they will buy it to read it and this chain reaction is another form of advertising and this is the key funding from magazine companies so if they are getting it free through word of mouth this will benefit this greatly

“Bauer Verlagsgruppe is managed by four generations of the Bauer family. The Bauer Publishing Group has grown into a worldwide publishing company. The Bauer Publishing Group comprises 238 magazines worldwide in 15 countries, as well as TV and radio stations.”

Kerrang

The one of the magazine that is published in the UK by Bauer is Kerrang. I will now discuss the history of Kerrang. The noise a drum kit cymbal is a connotation of the sound Kerrang and I have reason to believe this is why they decided to call a mainstream general rock and it is an unusual work which works to make the magazine sound interesting and more attractive. Back in 1981 is when the magazine was first published to a niche audience however through progression of thrash metal and hard rock from the 80’s and 90’s aided this magazine to appeal to a more mainstream audience through the age range of 16-24. the reason I believe the sudden change in market is because as rock music progressed more people became fans of it and rock is always changing by some bands using other types of instruments that would not originally been used in a rock band such as synthesizes and violins. Kerrang have expanded so much through the 30 years and now days have there own radio station, website and even music channel. The net average of circulation per issue of Kerrang is around 50,000 and from this is established that Kerrang is a successful magazine.


IPC Media is a UK based magazine publishing company they are a conglomerate of the company owned by Time Inc, part of Time Warner Inc. They are very successful and powerful company at around 26 million adults reading an IPC produced magazine. They produce many different types of magazines such as women’s beauty magazines men’s magazines, games magazines, music magazines and sports magazines. IPC also own digital properties, like the magazines they produce websites, so that their readers can view parts of the magazine online and find out when the next issue is released. This process is named synergy because they both advertise their magazines and their websites within each other. As well as being a company IPC splits into 5 different areas and these are IPC TX, IPC connect, IPC ignite, IPC Southbank and IPC inspire hiring around 2,200 employees.



Bibliography:
Wikipedia.org - Bauer Media Company

02 March 2009

Today i am looking to publish my video of how i used adobe elements to make my front cover.

Contents page for preliminary task

This is the final design for my contents page

Final front cover

This is my final version of my front cover for TR SPORT!
I have made the layer of Adam appear in front of the title to make it seem as people already know the magazine. Adding bring colours to the headings as well draws attention and adds a more eye catching cover and the border at the bottom to make the exclusive MMA special look more appealing.

The picture i will use

This picture is the medium close up shot of my friend Adam McGill and have chosen him to do a MMA pose for a TRC Sports magazine. I have edited the picture removing the blemishes from his face and whitening his eyes to make the picture drawn towards his eyes using the mask tool with adobe.

EDITED














UNEDITED

The photo's iv taken for my preliminary task

What is a College Magazine

What is a college magazine?

Sporting Events
Music performances/bands @ college
Student council and student representatives
End of year events, (depending on issue)
Achievements- prize winners, enrichment activities
Drama productions
Guest speakers
Sexual health clinic
Advertisements


Preliminary task

Medium Close up shot of student
Choose a masthead
Appropriate cover lines
Sport group, Sporting personality of the year!
Involve props of the sport or holding a prop

Magazine covers i am using as inspiration

Textual Analysis Feedback

This needs a lot more detail and you also need to upload your pictures. I'm disappointed Josh, I know you can do better.

Textual Analysis Feedback

This needs a lot more detail and some pictures. I'm disappointed Josh, you can do better than this.

Analysing Kerrang!

Analysis of Kerrang! magazine

Front cover

Target audience
The target audience for Kerrang! magazine are teenagers to adults who listen to the heavy metal rock music and this can be seen from the title as it is in a large cracked font which connotes that the people who will read this are destructive and loud. The name Kerrang! makes the sound of a crashing which is a onomatopoeic

The band Machine Head is placed in front of the title which connotes that the readers recognise this magazine as Kerrang! without having to see the full title because of this I believe that the magazine is a very successful magazine with the target audience.

From the image shown you can see that is located at the top third of the page in the rules of thirds. The reason I believe this is located here is that it will be the first object that the readers will see at first looking at the magazine and the image shown shows the band Machine Head as this can be seen from the anchorage below it, this I believe is there for the reason that people who don’t know who they are can now see this with the bright yellow font that stands out and the colour yellow connotes danger which with the image of the band above where two of the band members have aggressive facial expressions with the arms spread across the page holding his band members, also his tattoo on his left forearm is showing which I believe has been put into the image to show a more aggressive look to the band. On the top of the page there is a banner with a powerful red background and with white lettering which stands out with yellow stars splitting up the words to make it look more attractive. The gender representation of the magazine is all males on the front cover which shows more powerful manly look towards the magazine because women are seen stereotypically weaker and not as powerful.

The band Machine Head tower over everything o

n the front cover showing them as a band to be extreme, strong and loud because the man who is situated closest had an aggressive look to his face with his mouth open as if he is screaming and the man next to him is doing the same face, however the two other band members have a more intelligent and subtle look to their faces which may look appealing to women as they could be seen to me some what handsome and women see this as an “Ideal Partner” which makes

women want to read this issue as well.

Underneath the band are pictures of two guitarists and a vocalist which the middle guitarist is being referred to a “Guitar Hero” which is using cross media reference to the game Guitar hero. This picture has being saturated and stands out from all the other pictures due to the lack of colour which draws attention to it and the two other pictures in colour. The

picture of the vocalist on the right hand side looks aggressive with “Yee-haw!” as anchorage which represents it being important and as if the band is playing on a ranch or farm such as in Texas. Underneath this image there is a sell line saying “Biffy, bfmv and madina lake for download” which refers to a festival that Kerrang will have partnership with so advertising it will gain them money for tickets.

The uses of pugs are present, including the barcode on the bottom of the page to draw our attention to the price and issue date of the magazine. Other pugs include the images, the mast head and any subtext in the magazine.

Double Page Spread

The mise-en-scene of the two page spread again is very much based around Robb from machine head as he is the full image on the left page while the other bands are on the other

s

ide of the page where the text is positioned. The textual format of the double page spread has little relation to the images which means there could be another few pages of this article however the pull quotes “No hotel porn, no onstage swea

ring or drinking” connotes the rock image how they need porn alcohol and swearing to be manly and brute and as the main image shows a guitarist shouting holding his guitar up high connotes the same image as the pull quote. As well the image of Robb shows off his tattoos on his arm which again connote brutal and manly men to withstand the pain and the tattoos are not pleasant tattoo’s either one has barb wire around it and this represents pain and warning. Also with him lifting his guitar up his shirt is lifted a little and another tattoo is shown.

Only one letter of the headline is on the left page and the rest of “Desert Storm” is on the right page where the other images and text is which again shows his dominance to have his own page. Underneath the headline there is a pull quote and then in the bottom corner is the lead, this is the introductory paragraph which opens up the article but very briefly which at the end of uses a arrow which is signified to turn the page through semiotics which is a sign of direction. All the text is split into 4 short paragraphs which are justified to the left so that it looks neat to read and easy to follow. The representation given from the pages shows us how metal and rock the bands are with the use of guitars, leather, fire and long hair which helps with the stereotypical “rocker.” The background is cleverly being merged from the background of the image on the right slowly fading to a black on the other side with the use of another picture o

n the 2^nd page. The only editing from the pictures used will be to clear up skin tone and even it out because the pictures used are live photos so lighting is varied on when the photo was taken and if the stage lights were shining.

The design of how the pictures are holding together with some tape like substance makes the article look like scrap book photos which is mostly used by people who go to gigs and use to save photos or tape them to their walls. The pull quotes that are used are possibly from an interview later on in the article however they are so obscure that you want to know the question for that answer.

The use of thirds within the 2ⁿ

^d page is used pretty well having pictures in the top third the title in the centre and then more pictures and the start of the article in the bottom. Also with the style the pictures are in and the fonts make the mode of address more peer to peer or friend to friend because it’s the way it is formatted and the pictures used are alike to a scrap book and the pull quotes are like a conversation you would have with friends.

Contents page

Upon opening the contents page you can see that its full of different pictures colours and text regarding information on content within the magazine. The layout is that all the pictures are together and surrounding the pictures in the content of the magazine and the editors review. All the pictures are based on the left side of the page and ending around 7 cm from the right hand side for the details on what is inside the magazine. In the top right of the page there is a title labelled Contents with the issue number and cover date to let people know what issue they are on with the editors review next to it which gives a brief description of the main articles in the magazine.

Down the right hand side of the page there is the list of what is inside the magazine which is all in order by page except the K! Icons which this page is not in sequence and I believe this is to draw attention to it because the change of number stands out. All but 2 of the pictures in the magazine are of band photos and one is of a bands CD that’s up for review and the last one stands out the most which is a mask from a horror movie that was in the cinemas previously before this issue was released.

There is use of pugs, especially in the top right hand corner where the title contents is draws the reader’s attention through use of bright yellow with a bold black background. The position of the pugs in the information on what’s being shown in the magazine is ideal because they are used as headings to what’s underneath them.