Updated article

I have made a slight change on the page of which my article is on; this change being the background. As on my contents page I have a solid grey background with text on top, I have decided to put a solid grey background on my article with the font layered on top of it. I done this as I think it lures more attention to the article and makes the text stand out more.

Updated contents page

I have now changed my contents page and added in a photo as I think it was lacking something and that something was a photo. Also, I have put the text on grey backgrounds in seperate boxes so that they stand out. I have also added

Masthead change

I have decided to keep my masthead the same however I think it looks more effective and makes the masthead stand out when it is spread across the whole of the page. Before it only covered part of the top page whereas now it stretches across the page.

Updated contents page

I have chosen to change my contents page as I think it looks too plain and as if there is too much space on the page. Here is an up to date version which highlights how I have used up more of the space.

Article - Question and Answer

I decided to do a question and answer article with Billie Mason, the lead signer of Vendetta who is on the front cover. I decided to do a question and answer as I think it is a good way to capture the audience into the magazine and it is good for the readers to hear what the band members truly think. Over my double page spread I have quotes from the article in bigger font. Within the article I have made them quotes in italic so that they stand out.

Updated double page spread

I have again changed my contents page after getting feedback, I have changed the font above and around the photo of two of the band members. I have also changed the colour of the bar at the top of the double page spread, it is a mix between the red and blue colour I have used throughout my magazine. I have added in a quote from the magazine aswell.

Contents page update

I did decide to have a black background for my contents page however I thought by having the black background the font looked distorted and unprofessional. I have also added in the title of my magazine which is 'Blitz!' into the top right hand corner as I think it is important to get the name of the magazine noticed, by putting it around the magazine I think the name will be noticed. I have also removed the two red bars that are positioned above and below the text/images, I done this as I have more space which means I can add more detail. On the left is an image of my up to date contents page whereas the photo on the right is my old contents page.

Updated double page spread

I have changed the layout of the photo on the one side of my double page spread, I have also moved the quotes as I think the new layout is a lot more effective than the layout I used before. I decided to change the layout after getting feedback on my double page spread. By using feedback I am aiming to make my magazine the best possible. I also added in another quote onto my article as when I have looked at music magazines they have important quotes from within the article standing out in bold letters.

Updated contents page

I have added in a whole black background onto my contents page as I think it makes the detail such as the writing and image on the page stand out. Also, black as a colour represents rock and as my genre is rock I think it is a suitable background.

Front cover of my music magazine

Annotating my front cover (5)

Extra information:

I also added in a bar code as all magazines conventionally have to have a bar code, I added a price, issue number and date to the magazine as some extra information for the

target audience and finally the website the magazine can be found on.

Annotating my front cover (4)

Main image:

The main image on my music magazine is of my sister who is representing 'Billie Mason' who is the lead singer of the upcoming rock band 'Vendetta'. I positioned my main image in the middle of my magazine as it is one of the main focuses of the magazines. I took the photo on a plan white wall so that the actual image would stand out.

Annotating my front cover (3)

Sell lines:
The sell lines on my magazine include 'Vendettas Billie Mason', 'Question and Answer inside' and the byline 'Exclusive interview with Catalyst'. The purpose of sell lines are too lure the target audience into buying the magazine. Through these sell lines I think I have been effective as they are sell lines which I think would lure in the audience. Words like 'exclusive' are commonly used in sell lines as it is a word use to get people to buy the magazine. Also putting the names of bands/artists on the front cover may be a sell line as if someone is a big fan of that artist/band then they will buy the magazine. I positioned my sell lines over and around my picture as I think it is important for the audience to see the sell lines rather than just looking at the main image.

Annotating my front cover (2)

Masthead: After much feedback of my masthead I finally came to a decision on which masthead I should use. The masthead I used is 'Blitz!' I used this as it doesn't give away the genre so the audience will be intrigued. I have added an exclamation mark at the end of the masthead as it highlights the importance of the masthead. I also believe that having a one word masthead is very effective e.g Kerrang. I put my masthead on a red background as red is part of my colour scheme so I thought it was important to have the red element tied in with my masthead.

Annotating my front cover (1)

Skyline:

On my music magazine my skyline is 'Exclusive interview with Catlayst' the word exclusive would lure in the audience as they will know that you can not find this interview any where else other than the magazine. The writing is in black, as it stands out on the white background so that the audience will see it. Also the colour black represents rock.

Music magazine - contents page

One of the pages on my magazines is on the Blitz Festival 2014 which is a rock festival. I have designed a poster for the festival and added it onto my contents page as I have spoke about the festival on my contents page.

Contents page

I have now added all my information to the articles which will be in my magazine. I have also changed the masthead on the contents page as I think the white background lures the audience to look at the contents page as the vibrant red colour stands out.

Music magazine

I am happy with the progress I have made on my music magazine, I think I have used my time well and will be able to complete my magazine to a high standard by the deadline date. I am happy that I have completed my front cover and my double page spread, which leaves me the contents page to work on until the deadline. Also, I have the chance so make my front cover and double page spread better as I have a fair amount of time until the music magazine has to be completed.

Music magazine progress - contents page

I have now started to create my contents page for my magazine, I have kept the same colour scheme of red and blue with black being a splash colour as it highlights the house style of my magazine. So far I have made my title and positioned the numbers for the pages. I am now looking to add in an image and the information of what will be on each page. I have purposely spread out the numbers of pages as within magazines there are many pages taken up by adverts.

Double page spread

I have now made the font on my double page spread smaller so that I can add in more information. As you can see in my last blog I said I had completed my double page spread however after getting feedback and looking at articles I have decided to add in more information. I done this by making my font smaller which will result in more space. Here is a photo of my updated article. The photo I used has stayed the same along with the text around it.

Progress on music magazine - double page spread (2)

I have completed my double page spread within my music magazine. I have kept the same house style by keeping the colour scheme of red, dark blue and black being the splash colour. I have also completed the interview with Billie Mason, the singer of Vendetta who is the key topic of my magazine. As you can see in my last blog the interview is not completed, however it is now up to date. This is an image of my up to date completed double page spread. 

Progress on music magazine - Double page spread

I have made progress on my double page spread as I have added in my photo, added in two captions around the photo. My story is the idea that two separate bands made up of two people made one big band 'Vendetta'. By the caption 'Where it all started' I am highlighting how Billie and Corey were a separate band and they were the original members of Vendetta. I have also highlighted to the target audience who the two people on the double page spread are.

Progress on music magazine - photos (3)

This is the photo I will be using on my double page spread. For my article on my double page spread I said how the band started off in two halves, this photo is going to have a caption saying 'where it all started'. This image is representing the original two members of the band. When dressing up my other model, I told him to go for a more rugged but cool look.

Progress on music magazine - photos (2)

When taking my photos, I took a photo which I thought I was going to use. However when analysing the photo I think it looks like it is obvious that it has been posed for. Also my sister (the model) looks to happy for the genre of the magazine. Below is an image of the original photo. The bottom photo is the image I will be using on my front cover, I chose this photo as it looks like it is grabbed from a concert and the facial expressions are good.

Progress on music magazine - photos

For my front cover I have used my sister as the model. The photos I have uploaded on this blog show the make up I got my sister to put on for the photos. I got her to wear dark make up as this connotes rock as a genre. Also the pale face highlights the darkness and makes it stand out.

Progress on music magazine - double page spread progress

In my last post I blogged a screenshot of my design and where the image will be, I have also started my interview which will be a question and answer with Billie Mason who is the lead signer of Vendetta.

Progress on music magazine - double page spread

I have now created the start of my double page spread, so far I have added in my colour scheme, added in where my image will go on the double page spread and started of my article. The article I will be doing will be a question and answer type interview with 'Billie Mason' who is the new girl pop sensation who my magazine is mainly based around. By keeping the same red I am sticking to the colour scheme well and by the end the magazine should have an identifiable house style.

Progress on music magazine - Front cover progress

I have added a black border onto my magazine as I thought without the black border it looked to colorful to be a rock magazine. By adding the black border I am adding in the rock concept to my magazine. I think the progress of my magazine is coming along well, soon I will be adding in my photo. Once the photo is added in I can decide wether the colour scheme goes with the main image.

Progress on music magazine - Front cover

On my music magazine I have made all the writing into the same font, as this means that it will follow the same house style. I have also added the sell lines for the main story. I think that my music magazine is progressing well and turning into a good magazine. The colour scheme I have used is very identifiable. With the colour black being the splash colour and red and dark blue as the main colour scheme.

Music magazine research homework (Q)

www.qthemusic.com

Q magazine is very similar to NME in the way that is it not specific to a genre. Within Q magazine are bands like Artic Monkeys. This means that the people who read Q magazine may have a fashion sense like the Artic Monkeys. Again like NME; Q has a red colour within the masthead, further showing that it is open to many genres.

Music magazine research homework (Rock)

www.rock.com

Finally, 'Rock' magazine is unlike NME and Q in the fact that is specific to one genre, as you can tell by the title this genre is 'Rock'. They target their target audience as straight away when rockers look at the title they will be able to connect as that is the genre they feel comfortable in. Like Kerrang the colours are very dark again connotating rock. Bands like Black Sabbath and Kings of Leon are mentioned on the homepage; this shows that even though it is tied down to rock as a genre, it looks at every aspect of rock.

Music magazine research homework (NME)

www.nme.com

NME is a very open magazine as the readers and target audience can spread over a wide range. The colour red on the title highlights this as the colour red is not significant to a certain genre, e.g. black is significant to rock. When looking at the website the artists/bands are spread over a wide genre, further highlighting how this is a magazine which is not tied down to a genre. For example on the homepage the main stories involve Lily Allen, Eminem and Bombay Bicycle Club. These three artists/bands spread over a wide genre of music which is representative of NME as a magazine.

Music magazine research homework (Kerrang)

http://www.kerrang.com/

Kerrang profile their reader and target their target audience by using dark colours within the magazine, which connotes rock as a genre. Also, the way the bands/artist dress will be representative of how the target audience dress. The target audience age range could be anything from 15-30. I think this as the music may be seen as too rash for younger people but when thinking of rock you do not link it with the older generation.

 

Ideas for front cover of music magazine

I have came up with the names of some rock bands to put on my front cover as anchorage text. The names I have came up with are:
-Catalyst
-Immersion
-Vendetta
-Insomnia

Also, I have added in the date and price of the magazine and changed the positioning of the masthead.

Masthead comparison

Progress of music magazine

After getting feedback from the pupils in my media class I have decided to chose 'Blitz' for my masthead. I chose this as it is not the stereotypical name for a rock magazine, as it is original I think it will attract the target audience.

I chose to make the masthead black as this connotates rock as a genre. When thinking of rock as a genre you always think of dark colours so this is why I chose to make my masthead a dark colour.

I have chosen to use a white background as I think it makes it easy for the images and font to go on top of it.



Final masthead for music magazine

For my music magazine I have chosen to use 'Blitz' as my masthead. I chose this masthead as I thought that my other ideas for my masthead were too stereotypical and conventional. By not having 'rock' as part of the title I am challenging the stereotypes. I chose to have my title on an orange background as it will draw attention to the title.

Preparation for music magazine - Masthead ideas

I have recently been working on a masthead for my music magazine. In the image below are a few of my ideas.

I have came up with these ideas as the name's are very suitable for the genre and the font I have chosen to use is also very suitable. The font is suitable as it is bold and stands out, like rock as a genre. Also the dark black colours used connotate rock as a genre. By coming up with many ideas for a masthead I will be able to get feedback on which masthead looks the best and is most suitable for my magazine. By getting feedback from other people my magazine should be of a high standard as I am getting the opinion of other people who are making the magazine.

Preparation for music magazine - Storyline ideas

For my final media piece I have chosen to focus my magazine on rock. For this I am looking to use my sister as the model, dressed up in stereotypical rock clothes/make up. She will be dressed in dark clothing as this represents the rock genre, she will also have black make up on as again this highlights the connotations of the rock genre. My main story will be based around a new girl rock sensation within rock. I will also be using prop's when taking my photos, for my photography I will use an eye-level medium close up shot as this grabs the audience's attention but will show the prop's in the background. I will have the model looking directly at the camera so the audience feel welcomed into the magazine.

So far the ideas I have had for my masthead are:
Rock World
Rock Nation
Rock&Roll

These mastheads are all very effective as they are simple but effective. They are effective in the way that straight away the audience reading the magazine will know what genre of music this magazine will be based around.

Preparation for music magazine - Target Audience

My music magazine is going to be aimed at fans of rock music, however I have chosen to focus my magazine on a sub genre within rock which is pop rock. By having my genre as pop rock the target audience will spread over a wider range as many people would listen to pop rock whereas if it was heavy metal rock it would be harder as the target audience will be a lot smaller.

Even though it is pop rock the magazine is still aimed at stereotypical 'rockers', when thinking about rockers things such as dark clothing come into mind. Moreover, I expect the majority of the target audience to dress in a 'rock' type fashion as this heavily links in with the genre of my music magazine.

I think my magaizne will be credible and viable as within the music industry there is only one big rock magazine. As Kerrang is the only big magazine I think there is a space for another high quality rock magazine within the market. Also, Kerrang is a heavy rock magazine which focuses on heavy metal/scream bands with aspects of pop rock whereas my magazine will mainly focus on pop rock with aspects of heavy metal and scream. I think this will attract more of the target audience as within the music industry pop rock is a very well known sub genre.

School magazine

My school magazine is now up and running, my school front cover is now completed along with a masthead, main image, sell lines and many more conventional parts of a magazine front cover. I then went onto creating my second page of my school magazine which was my contents page, within my contents page I followed the same house style as the front cover. I did this by sticking with the same font and same colour scheme. My contents page included another image I have taken myself along with many school related articles including ‘top revision tips’ and ‘how to be a top student’.

Photography for school magazine

When taking my photo's for my school magazine I had to take things such as lighting, background and location into consideration. My photo's were taken in the Bishop Walsh Library. By taking photo's in the library the audience understand that the magazine is about a school. My main images were a photo of many different a-level textbooks spread across a table and an image of a sixth form pupil studying. By using these images again the target audience should be able to fully understand that the target audience is pupils within sixth form which is aged 16-18. When taking my photo's I had some slight set back's as the lighting within the library makes it hard to get a strong photo. However through learning how to take a strong photo I was able to take the photo in a spot where the light did not effect the photo's. 

Feedback for my contents page

Recently in media we have been peer analysing each others contents pages from the school magazine. When my contents page was analysed the feedback I was given was that the font was too big. By making my font smaller I am able to add more detail to the contents page.

The positive feedback was that it was bold, clear and the use of colours is relevant. From this feedback I will know to continues to use the colour scheme I have used as the feedback about the colours was positive.

School magazine

My school magazine is based at sixth form pupils who are around the age of 16-18. I have chose to have this age range as my target audience as I am within the 16-18 category so I know what conventions they would expect along with what is appropriate. My school magazine is called 'School Life', I seen this as an appropriate masthead as straight away the target audience understand that this magazine is based at school pupils.

The colour scheme I have used is red and black. I chose this colours as my magazine is aimed at both genders within the sixth form environment  I chose red and black as they are colours which people may link with both genders. I didn't chose a colour like pink as stereotypically pink is a colour which is related to girls whereas my magazine is aimed at both boys and girls. You can straight away tell my magazine is aimed at sixth form pupils as one of the pieces of anchorage text says 'Which A-Level path you take?'. A-Levels are only something you do when you are in sixth form, so the target audience can understand what age range my magazine is aimed at.

On my school magazine I have got two images, one of the library with a range of A-Level textbooks on and an image of a sixth for student working within the library. Again this helps the audience understand the target audience.

Annotating a music magazine

I chose to annotate a Kerrang front cover when annotating a music magazine. I chose Kerrang as the genre of Kerrang is rock and that is the genre I'm looking to base my music magazine on. By annotating a rock magazine I can see the conventions used on a rock magazine and apply them to my own magazine.

Music genre research

The genre I have chose to base my music magazine around is rock. Within rock there are many sub genres such as metal, pop and scream. I have decided to chose pop rock as it goes out to a wider target audience. This will result in more people being able to read my magazine.

Rock music is a genre of popular music that originated from 'rock and roll' in the United States in the 1950's. Rock was heavily influenced by rhythm and blues and country music. Rock was also lightly influenced by genre's such as blues and folk and incorporated influences jazz, classical and other music genres.

Within the music industry, rock is seen as one of the biggest genres as within rock there are many smaller genres, e.g indie rock and pop rock. Throughout the year there are festivals/concerts which only have rock music. An example of this is Download Festival, the fact that rock has its own festival shows it is a big genre within the music industry.

How to frame and take a strong photo

We recently looked at how to frame and take a strong photo. We also looked at creating our school magazine which represents the target audience. Within the lesson we looked at key words to do with photography such as key finder and composition. We also looked at how you should stage your surroundings when taking a photo e.g. lighting, camera position and pose. When taking a photo we also look at mise en-scene (what’s going on around the image) this includes things such as props, background, lighting and costume.

School magazine preparation

Our next lesson was to create a conventional school magazine to appeal to a specific target audience; we also had to understand the layout and purpose of a blog. When making our school magazine we had to look at:

·         Who is the target audience?

·         What conventions have been used?

·         Does the masthead represent the audience?
    Assess the colour scheme and pallet

·       

This is the start of my school magazine; you can tell it is aimed at people within sixth form at school. We can tell this through the masthead and the byline. Within the magazine I have kept a certain colour scheme which is red and black. The masthead does represent the audience as the masthead is ‘School Life’ and it is aimed at school pupils.

Camera shots and sizes

Our third AS Media lesson was looking at camera shots and sizes. The different types of camera angles are:

·         Low

·         Eye-level

·         High

·         Worm’s eye

·         Canted

·         Bird’s eye

The camera shots include:

·         XLS – Extreme long shot

·         LS – Long shot

·         MLS – Medium long shot

·         MS – Medium shot

·         MCU – Medium close up

·         CU – Close up

·         BCU – Big close up
     XCU – Extreme close up

How magazine's appeal to the target audience

In our second Media lesson we looked at how a magazine appeals to its target audience. We looked at how things such as the colour scheme and main image. We also looked at key words such as grabbed photo which is a photo which is not planned without a specific pose. We also looked at key words such as house style which means colours that are always used by that company e.g. red for coca cola. We can tell this magazine is aimed at a more ‘urban’ target audience, we can tell this through the clothes Chris Brown is wearing. Also Chris Brown does hip hop/RnB and rap music, this is also representative of the specific target audience.

Conventions of a magazine

Within our first A-Level media we looked at the conventions of a magazine and how it appeals to the target audience, we looked at things like the title, main image and the colour scheme involved on a magazine. We also learned key vocabulary to do with the course such as masthead, skyline and anchorage text. By analysing a music magazine I am able to identify what I need to put into my music magazine to make it as good as possible.

Introduction

This is my portfolio blog where I will be blogging weekly about the work and homework I am doing within my A-Level Media lessons showing my improvements and overall build up to my final task which is a music magazine.