"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
Friday, 8 May 2009
Feedback on the front cover
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.
Friday, 24 April 2009
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
Thursday, 2 April 2009
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
Tuesday, 24 March 2009
Monday, 23 March 2009
Monday, 16 March 2009
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
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