Example Pictures For Front Cover

These are are a range of example photos that i could use for the front of my music magazine. I took these photos of my friend Sophie on a blank wall in a house, they are all mid shots which show her face, hair and clothes in all the different photos so that the audience are able to learn more about the model and what they are trying to show on the front of the magazine. i found that the most effective photos were the ones when Sophie is looking at the camera as the people looking at the photo are then able to look deeper into the photo and find  more emotion that is shown throughout the photos. These are just the first examples of the photos that i have taken and also the ones that i am going to take in the near future so that i am able to test a variation of different styles of photos for the front cover. We used the props of fairy-lights, old fashioned headphones, star lamp and a pop party CD, using the different props helps show the audience the genre of the magazine and give the reader an idea on what the magazine is actually about rather than just having a image with no meaning on the front of it. 

Professional Photo Examples

These are examples of the sorts of photos that i am going to take for my front cover of my music magazine, these pictures are off Jennifer Lawrence, Jessie J and Emma Stone. These pictures have been very planned out by the photographer and this shows in the photos that have been taken as they are very clear and organised. I want pictures like this for the front cover of my magazine as they will show that the magazine is fun and bold so the audience will enjoy reading it. 

Beginning to draft my magazine front covers

I have started to design and make the front cover of my music magazine, the model is my friend Sophie who is wearing a navy dress with horses on it with a denim jacket and her hair up. My music magazine is going to be called ‘ego’ which will appeal to the younger audience. Whilst editing my magazine I will include my headline, strap lines, banner, puff, cover lines and my masthead (which is already on the page) and then include the barcode, price and issue number (also the date). The designing process can be long as I need to look at a variation of different fonts and sizes that can change how things look on the page and how well they stand out with other pieces of information. The pictures that I have taken for my magazine are clear and are ones that I am able to edit to put on the front cover of my magazine as well as use in the contents page and double page spread.

To design and edit my magazine I am using fireworks which allows me to deal with pictures, text and other smaller details so that I am able to create my magazine exactly how I want it. I can use the different features to change how well something stands out on a page aswell as change the sizes of the writing and colours. Aswell as all this I can rub things out and change the image if I decide that I want to change things to make them different.

Variation Of Photos

These are photos that I have taken at a 5 seconds of summer concert, at concerts and gigs it can be difficult to get decent pictures of the acts performing as there can be many people in the way, too many lights or too many people on stage that you cant get them all in on one shot. Whilst I was at the concert I tried to take the best pictures that I possibly could by deciding who I wanted in the shot and then deciding what kind of shot I wanted it to be (close up, mid shot, long shot etc.) once I had decided what kind of photo I wanted to take then came the hard task of taking the photo avoiding the distractions around me such as people arms. On magazine front covers concert photos are rarely used as it can be very hard to get a good and clear shot which shows the meaning of the magazine and creates a clear visual syntax for the reader, when concert photos are used they are edited to make sure that a certain part of the image is clear to get rid of any unnecessary parts that may cause a distraction to the reader. On my music magazine I will make sure not to used any concert photos on the front cover of my music magazine as they can be hard to take and unclear for the reader that may want to purchase the magazine, however concert images can be used on the contents page or double page spreads as they can be interesting for the reader to look at and learn more about the artist and what they do (in this case the band is a pop rock band).

Planning For Photos

For my music magazine I need to organize a photo shoot so that I am able to get a collection of different photos that I will be able to use for the front cover of my music magazine, contents page and double page spread. All magazines have some sort of image on the front cover to show the audience what kind of magazine that it is, in my case the image on the front cover will show the audience the genre of my music magazine which will be pop and it will also to show that what types of information and artists are inside the magazine itself. The image helps readers see which issue of the magazine it is, as the image on the front is never the same more than two issues at one time. 

A front cover is used in the visual syntax of a magazine, you start from the masthead of the magazine which is normally on the left hand side, as we read from left to right, then you look at the image which gives the audience the main image of what type of things are included in the magazine for example if the person on the front cover is a ‘boy band’ that are mostly listened to by teenage girls, then the audience would assume that the magazine was a girls magazine that includes interviews with all the latest boys and men that are being listened to at that moment. 

The majority of music magazines have an image of one single person rather than a large group of people, as when there is only one or two people on the front cover you as the photographer are able to get more detailed and closer up images, whereas if you are taking a picture of a larger group of people in would be very unorganized and messy, this could make the magazine look unplanned. For my photos I want them to be structured and clear to the audience with a clear image showing the ‘artist’ and all the details on there face such as hair and make up.

Throughout my photo shoot there are variations of different things that I will have to consider as there will be a variation of different people that are all pulling different poses.

The people that I am using for my photo shoot are people that are between the age ranges of 15-17 as these are the audience that I want my music magazine to be aimed at and these people are the ones that have to pose at the front of my magazine to show the audience that my magazine has been made for a young and lively audience that want to find out about all things pop music. I am going to give my models props that vary from CD’s to microphones to empathize the genre of my magazine and show that it is a fun place to be (and good magazine to read), the front cover is what it going to communicate with the audience and make them want to read what I have made. The faces and poses that my models need to do have been planned out and shown by other celebrities that have done similar poses such as people like Jennifer Lawrence, Ariana Grande etc. The location for my photos is just going to be someone’s house by a dull coloured wall as this will make my model stand out from the background and show that the location has been planned out by giving an empty and clear look. All natural light is being used from the light outside that comes through windows along with extra lamps and fair lights if I need brighter lighting however using lamps could cause risks to the people that are involved with modeling for my magazine as the lamp could become to hot and if being used close to the models face they could burn themselves which could be a problem when making sure that everyone is safe, but there are no other things that could potentially go wrong as everything will be organized and safe as most of the photos will be taken inside only some will be done outside. 

The location for my photos will be in a variation of different peoples houses which will mean that the backdrop will change colour and pattern, I also plan to take some photos outside which will mean that the background will then the leaves and environment from outside. Due to being inside for most of my photos the shots that I will need will mostly be mid shots and close ups as when being inside I can get more detail into the models face showing off their features, however when outside I will try long shots that will be both horizontal and vertical. Some of the photos will be two shots where they are a ‘band’. The photos that I take will be at a range of angles that range from head-on-shots, high angle and also low angle to show the different ranges of photos that can be taken.

Costume will be bright clothing that shows how colourful the magazine is but I will take some shots in black and white to compare the difference between using different coloured images and costume. Apart from the fact that the costume will be bright they must also be very girly as the magazine needs to appeal to the target audience of girls (some that may be into fashion and music), hair will be down as it can sometimes be seen as being more feminine, make up will be subtle and empathize the models features. Body language will be open as then the readers feel welcomed into the magazine and the models facial expressions will be friendly and full of life.

MAIN THINGS TO CONSIDER IN MY PHOTOSHOOT

·         Back ground

·         Mise – en – scene (Costume, make up, model, hair, pose, body language, facial expression etc.)

·         Lighting

·         Camera angle, distance, movement

·         Camera effects

·         Good quality camera
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These are all the dates that photos are being taken, and all of the people that are going to have there photos taken so that they can be used for my media products. 

·         Sophie Canning and Temi Adeniji – 20.01.14

·         Temi Adeniji, Sophie Canning and Charlotte Robinson – 21.12.13

·         Sophie Canning and Temi Adeniji – 11.12.13

·         Sophie Thomas – 07.12.13
·         Hannah Akers and Eleanor Gregory  - 04.01.14

Rule Of Thirds

The rule of thirds is the most used and referenced to when it comes to photography and following rules on how to get the best kinds of photos. When taking photos and doing photography there are many different techniques that can be used to try getting the best quality photo that you possibly can. The most popular rule to use is the rule of thirds. The rule of thirds is a technique that is used by photographers, film makers and artists to give themselves a guideline when taking photos of objects, landscape and people. The guideline produces a guide that the image in then divided into. These nine equal rectangles compose the image as the guide helps centre the image. The grid creates extra added tension and interests to the picture as you are able to focus the visual syntax more on the image.

The horizontal line cuts the image up into two thirds which is then where it is separated into smaller sections. Due to dividing the sections up into further smaller parts it helps create an accurate looking image and picture. The point of interest is then brought to the centre of the picture (the middle section) which then results in the picture/image being a better quality as the image is more likely to be in focus. For example this image shows how the rule of thirds works, the tree image is on the line of the grid where it’s then in line with the rest of the things around it such as the water and then sky.  When using the grid it gives parts of the image more empathizes which creates a meaning for the photo which people enjoy looking at and thinking about other things that it could mean. However the points of interest in the photo don't actually have to touch any of the guidelines they can simply just be placed inside of one or a collection of the different boxes.

The rule of thirds was first written down by John Thomas Smith in 1797 who was a photographer that looked at many different ways of making his photos and the images that he took that one step better. He wrote books on the photos that he took and what he discovered when he took his images, his most popular book ‘Remarks on Rural Scenery’ which is about his opinions on photos and how he thinks they should be taken, Smith makes a comment about his work and how he thinks that people need to balance the light and dark in photos like artists do in paintings. Then he created the idea of the rule of thirds so that once you had an image you didn't have to worry about having to crop and change it later on so you were able to save the quality of the image. 

This is what the grid looks like; all the sections are the same size so all hold the same size of image. You can change the way that the picture looks by creating a counterpoint which is your primary focus in the image, you can also place a secondary focus which is on the opposite side of the image.

Apart from only using the rule of thirds method you are also able to use the Golden Mean method which is a spiral pattern that is used when taking photos of nature. The Golden Mean is very similar to the rule of thirds however it’s when the lines don’t exactly line up. Most natural objects are in a spiral pattern which makes it hard to sometimes take photos of natural objects such as shells and landscape. 

Layout Plans For My Music Magazine

I designed a variation of different layouts that I could use for my music magazine, there are many different layouts that i could use, here are 8 that I could use. All magazines have different layouts which helps create the magazines brand identity. I want my magazine to be similar to other magazines layouts but I also want the target audience to be able to recognize my magazine and see how it is different but similar to other ones that are on the market. 

Moodboard

I made a Moodboard which includes a range of different logos from different companies all over the world. The companies that I included are ones that are multinational companies that are selling products in a variation of different country's across the globe. All the logos are different as they show the own companies individual brand identity and show the customers/audience what kind of company this is. When it comes to me creating my own logo I need to make sure that my logo is different from others so that my music magazine can establish its own identity that people will recognize compared to other companies that may or may not be similar. Some of the logos are words others are pictures but all the logos are very different and use a variation of different images, fonts and colours. 

Photo Shoot Planning

For my music magazine I need to organize a photo shoot so that I am able to get a collection of different photos that I will be able to use for the front cover of my music magazine. All magazines have some sort of image on the front cover to show the audience what kind of magazine that it is, in my case the image on the front cover will show the audience the genre of my music magazine and it will also to show that what types of information and artists are inside the magazine itself. The image helps readers see which issue of the magazine it is, as the image on the front is never the same more than two issues at one time. A front cover is used in the visual syntax of a magazine, you start from the masthead of the magazine which is normally on the left hand side, as we read from left to right, then you look at the image which gives the audience the main image of what type of things are included in the magazine for example if the person on the front cover is a ‘boy band’ that are mostly listened to by teenage girls, then the audience would assume that the magazine was a girls magazine that includes interviews with all the latest boys and men that are being listened to at that moment. The majority of music magazines have an image of one single person rather than a large group of people, as when there is only one or two people on the front cover you as the photographer are able to get more detailed and closer up images, whereas if you are taking a picture of a larger group of people in would be very unorganized and messy, this could make the magazine look unplanned. 

For my photos i am going to take photos of single  people but also people that are in groups to give my magazine a variation of different styles and images that i can fit onto my music magazine. All of the photos that i am going to take are going to be face on photos which will be mid shot and close up or ones that are slightly to the side. These are the photos that are mostly used on the front of magazine covers. The person in the photos shall be looking slightly at the camera but also try showing a variation of different emotions through the camera and person eye contact. I will be using a female model to use in my photos which she will be using a range of props such as a CD and headphones which will be used to show the audience more information on what the magazine is about. My photos are going to be taken inside as then i am able to keep a background without having to worry about the weather changing and affecting the way that the light hits the model  whereas if the photos are taken in both the sun and the colder weather then there might be problems getting the correct  affects. A good quality camera will be used as this then allows me to get good quality shots, as well as this the lighting will be bright to enhance the models face.

The shots that i take are going to be mid-shots, close-ups and occasionally long shots. I’m going to take a range of different photos as this will mean i have a large selection of photos that i am able to choose from. They will all be face on photos as then the audience is able to understand some deeper feelings from the model which will be portrayed to the camera.  The model will be someone that is a teenager or young adult as these are the kinds of people that are trying to create a career and are most mature when it comes to the music industry.  My models are going to be mostly female as they are the kinds of people that are more likely to be interested in joining the music industry and finding out more information on music and creating a living by performing. They will be students or people that are just at the start or middle class  as these are the people that are more likely to be down to earth because they aren't going to be worrying about money and making a living. They will be wearing dim colourered outfits that are colours ranging from black, white and greys but then i will also take some photos where the costumes are in colour because then i am able to show the fun and colourful attitudes of the people on my front covers.

These Are My Questionnaire Results

I did a questionnaire to ask people of all different ages, gender and opinions what kind of things that they would like included in my new music magazine. I asked 25 different people to give there honest opinions on what they would personally want in the magazine that I am creating. All the people that gave me answers to my questionnaire I put them in tables to see what opinions people had were most popular compared to other opinions that people had.

All the answers that I received have helped me make a final decision on what I am going to do to my magazine. As all the answers were different it has meant that if I create my music magazine including all the features that people on the public wanted then I know that I will be able to achieve a good amount of customers which will then help me to start targeting the primary audience for my music magazine.

These are all the pie charts that I was able to make due to the answers I received from the 25 paper questionnaires that involved 10 separate questions.

These Are My Main Choices For A Masthead

Music Magazine Masthead Ideas

I came up with a list of roughly 10 names that I would like to use for my Music Magazines Masthead. I came up with a few different ideas for the 10 different ideas that I had, they all show a range of different techniques that you can use to create a masthead for my final music magazine. These mastheads aren't very professional however when i was choosing ideas for the magazine i was able to experiment and think of new ideas that would fit with the genre that i had chosen which is pop. 

Here are all the main ideas that i thought of. 

11.       Dreamers

22.       Hakuna Matata

33.       Wave

44.       TMM – The Music Matters

55.       Collab

66.       Live

77.       Underline

88.       Cut

99.       Lyric

110.   BT  (Bass and Treble)

111.   Apple

112.   Ego

113.   Buffet – Theres more to come

Brand Identity

Brand Identity is shown in the front cover of NME magazine as a way to show an audience what brand of magazine that it is. Brand Identity is all the elements of a magazine that are put together to create the visual appearance, they pull in the audience and customers to read the magazine. All brands have there own different brand identity and visual appearance, however its hard for a magazine to create its own personal identity as you have to make your magazine different so that it stands out from others. Brand identities change peoples perceptions of a product as  the brand identity decides if the magazine is cool, relaxed or informal which makes the reader decide whether they like it or not. The name NME is well recognized by all the audience which means that NME is able to make sure that there customers will buy that magazine straight away without having to look at other magazines to try finding it. Visual brand identity is things such as colour scheme, magazine logo and font of the texts which makes the  magazine so different and unique from others. Without the brand identity the target market will find the product hard to find whereas if a brand sticks to its own developed identity will find its easily to produce products in the market place. 

Whereas the magazine MOJO has a different brand identity. Looking at the brand identity of this magazine you would think that this types of magazine was dull, written for people with high intelligence and that the magazine is very calm and organised. It comes across as quite a formal magazine by the use of dark and dim colouring, but also by the use of the types of artists that are on the front  cover of the magazine.  People that read this magazine are relaxed and enjoy 

listening to the older types of music which could mean that the target audience for this magazine is older than other music magazines such as NME could be. 

My Prezi

http://prezi.com/i_tsz_nfsd5a/untitled-prezi/

I did textual analysis on the NME magazine to find out more information on how a good magazine is created and how that you are able to make a good magazine. I looked at a variation of different things that NME does to there magazine including the artists that they use on the front of the magazine and also found out about NME's press pack (who publishes this magazine). I presented the information that i found out in a Prezi presentation as its different than how other things are presented which makes it more interesting for people to watch and understand.

Final Contents Page

What I have learnt whilst doing my blog

Whilst doing my blog I have learnt the skills to create a blog, which has been good because its very different from the usual ways that I would present my work. I've learnt how to use fireworks which has meant that i have been able to create things that i didn't know how to do in the first place. Due to me learning how to do all this it has meant that i am able to use fireworks and create more blogs for out of school use. By completing my Preliminary Activity its meant that i am now able to advance in what else i can learn with my blog and hopefully it will now give me the ability to create more and more work that i wouldn't have been able to do without having learnt how to use fireworks and the blog itself. Overall the blog has been very helpful and has become a very good, easy and quick way of uploading my work online which is helpful when i need to show people other pieces of work. Another thing i have learnt whilst doing my blog is that i have learnt new media terms such as Denotation which has meant that i am able to be more technical in the words i use and the things i say in my work. 

Second Contents Page Draft

Draft 1 of Magazine Contents Page

Contents Page Conventions

Contents Pages need to include the following:

• Simple wording - brief explanations about the pages and what is on them
• Clear - everything that's put onto the contents page needs to be spaced out and clearly written 
• Bold - wording needs to stand out from the other things such as images that are around it 
• Images - needs a main image and then maybe other images around it to show a point
• Information - about certain pages and all this information needs to be well laid out and written 
• Numbers of other pages - when explaining something you need to put on pages numbers to make sure people understand what page you're going too to find out that story 
• Columns- everything laid out in some sort of order 
• None Chronological - put on information about some pages but not all because that can become boring and repetitive just include main stories 
• Font - keep to the font that you have used for the title page because this will become the house style 
• Guidelines/Grids - keeps to an order and a layout that's easy to follow 
• Needs the title of Contents 
• Date of when the magazine was released
• Number of the issue that magazine is
• Sometimes it includes an editors letter where the editor talks about what they enjoyed about the magazine and what they recommend 
• Subscribe place for if you want to start getting and buying the magazine on a weekly or monthly time 

Final Front Cover

Photos for my magazine cover

When planning my photo shoot i made sure that  I had the photo shoot in the school grounds as it could then be shown that i was using the school to use for my ideas and to help develop them even more. In my photo shoot i used myself, Paige Manning and Claire Lewis to help me with taking photos and they also helped model during the photo shoot. I planned to use the building and the rooms we had inside the building to develop my plans and create a basic area for the photos to be taken in. The photo shoot went completely to plan and I ended up with a range of different pictures that were able to be used for the magazine front cover and also for the pictures inside the magazine. 

Rough Layout Of The Magazine

Contents of my magazine

Due to having such a large audience for my magazine I need to include things for all different types of people that will read my magazine. I will include all the information about teaching training days and important dates that teachers and parents will want to read about. It is going to include things for a range of different types of people by including games, facts, pictures and funny stories about teachers that will catch people’s eye and make them want to read my magazine. I will use catchy and memorable head lines/strap lines to make sure that I’m attracting the correct audience for my magazine. If I make my magazine interesting and different from other ones by including a range of different competitions and information that other magazines do not offer then it will mean that more and more people will look and read my magazine. 

Audience for my magazine

The audience of my magazine will be children, adults and teachers who’s ages are 11 plus. My magazine needs to be suitable for all these different types of people because it will be read by a vast amount of people, so my magazine needs to include things for everyone for example it needs to have mini games in it so that people in year 7 upwards will be interested in reading it whereas it also needs to be appropriate for someone that is a parent of the child so needs to include all the important dates that will be needed. If I make my magazine suitable for everyone then hopefully people will read it and recommend it to other people as well.The audience of my magazine will be children, adults and teachers who’s ages are 11 plus. My magazine needs to be suitable for all these different types of people because it will be read by a vast amount of people, so my magazine needs to include things for everyone for example it needs to have mini games in it so that people in year 7 upwards will be interested in reading it whereas it also needs to be appropriate for someone that is a parent of the child so needs to include all the important dates that will be needed. If I make my magazine suitable for everyone then hopefully people will read it and recommend it to other people as well.

  

Final Masthead

I chose this logo idea as my final masthead instead of choosing any of my other ideas because this masthead involves the schools name which is Plantsbrook School which shows the people that read it that the magazine is proud of the school and shows that all information inside the magazine will link to the masthead which is everything Plantsbrook related, I chose these colour's red, white and black because they are the schools colour's which are used on everything that the school does and uses. Using this masthead on all my school magazine product will make the target audience of the magazine notice what my magazine is about because its different then the other school magazines that are on offer. Due to the masthead being so recognizable than others that are on the market students, parents and teachers will be able to see my magazine and decide whether they like it from past issues that they may have read.  

My School Magazine Masthead Ideas

When creating mastheads the important things to include were making sure that the colour scheme matched with the rest of the magazine and linked in with the colours that are used by Plantsbrook Academy School to make sure that everyone including people that were visiting the school were able to see straight away that the magazine linked in with the school itself. Another thing that was important to include was to make sure that the masthead ideas had some sort of link in with the school name, because linking in with the school name made it easier to think up with ideas for the masthead. For example the word Tetradio means school in Greek. 

Labelled Magazine (Q Adele) Cover

I labelled the Q front cover which had image of Adele on the front of it. I labelled all the parts of a magazine such as the Masthead, Puff/Starburst and Headline. All these different things will need to be included in my magazine when I come to designing and producing it, if I include all these different things then I know that my magazine will be professional and at a high standard, such as magazines that are already being produced such as Q.

Denotation and Connotation Music Magazine

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