Progress on Magazine

This is my progress with my magazine i am creating. I have added to all three pages. I am nearly finished but may need to add other smaller details to make the magazine look even better. I think I need to improve my front cover further to make it more eye catching and appealing to the target audience. By improving my front cover I feel my magazine will be finished as I am happy with my contents page and Double Page Spread.

Progress in today's lesson

In today's lesson I finished off the letter from the editor by completing the paragraph and changing the font's to fit in with the whole theme of my contents page. I have also edited a picture which I have now added to my contents page. I will be adding two other faces for 'well known faces' in the circle on my contents page as my contents page needed more images in order for it to look appealing to the target audience.

Progress in the lesson

This lesson I have managed to make progress on my contents page. previously I had no page numbers or titles for the pages and now I have nearly finished the pages I am going to include on my contents page. I still need to edit and add in images to my contents page and improve the design slightly.

Front Page Progress

I have made progress with my front page by changing the colour of the masthead to fit the background of my magazine. I added a picture which I had taken of two of my friends to use as a main headline for my double page spread. It is going to contain information about the tour they did and about how famous they are now. I am going to include different headlines to my magazines to make the audience want to read my magazine and I am going to add different images to show the different parts of my magazine.

My progress this term

In the first term of media I feel that I have made a lot of process. Firstly I have got to grips on analysing different pieces of work and how one image or piece of text can convey a lot of different meanings and can be interpreted in different ways. I have learnt how to analysis pictures more and pick out individual parts of it which could give a certain effect.
Another thing I have learnt this term is the basics to creating a magazine as I had to create a school magazine without any help to show what I already knew about the conventions of a magazine front cover and contents page. From this I then start to learn different terms and techniques to do with media and specifically magazines. After this I started to design my actual magazine front cover by using pages to and then designing a masthead by choosing the most liked font and name which I created and asked my peers about. In this following term I am hoping to complete my front page, contents page and double page spread. I will be taking more pictures of people to add to my magazine and will make sure I am always referring back to my target audience.

Photo Editing

I have been trying out using different effects on pictures and seeing what the effects would do to the picture I have chosen. I cut out the background of the picture and added various effects to the picture to create a different theme. Although I have added different effects to the picture, I don't think the theme being used for the pictures will fit the pop magazine which I am doing and therefor I will need to use a different image to use for my magazine. By editting these pictures I get an insight in to what different effects do to different images and how making sure the picture fits my target audience is essential in to making my magazine a success.

Editing Pictures

I havestrted toexperiment with using the different softwares to produce pictures for my magazine. For the picture shown on the left, I took the picture and then edited it. Firstly I cut out the background of the picture by using the lasso tool. After this I saved the photo then went to the online site fotor.com to edit the picture. I added mak-up to my model and added a toner to the skin. This made my picture more presentable and made the model stand out more. From doing this task, I found that cutting out the background for the picture was harder than whati thought and to perfect it I would need to spend a lot of time on it. I found it quite tricky to keep a steady hand while doing this so the picture quality is not as good. I also recognised when I zoomed in that the picture quality is not too good and therefor I will need to take the pictures on my camera instead of on my phone. I think to make this picture better I will have to keep experimenting and trying to improve it as this will only improve my skills furthur.

Photo's

For my magazine I needed a main image to use for the front cover. I decided to take a posed picture of two girls apposing to be pop stars on stage. I chose the pose which the picture would be taking and for this I tried to make sure the two girls posing for my magazine were not objectified making them out to be objects rather than actual people. 

Components for my Pop Magazine

Names of Artists & Bands which will be included on my Pop Magazine:

1. Clarence Vasquez (Singer)

1. Spencer Hogan (Singer) 

1. Bob Lawson (Singer)

1. Jill Murphy (Singer)

1. Beulah Crawford (Singer)

1. Carol Terry (Singer)

1. Gary Moreno (Singer)

1. Ginger Schultz (Singer)

1. The Autumn Ducks (Band)

1. Barbie and the Sticks (Band)

Question and Answer session with Lakisha Rand Interviewer: Hi Lakisha how's it going?Lakisha: Hey, good thanks, I’m really excited to be here speaking to you today.Interviewer: Yes, we all are, now I’m just going to ask you some questions about your singer lifestyle.Lakisha: Ok, go for it.Interviewer: Ok firstly, have you always enjoyed the art of music?Lakisha: Yes I have, I always knew from an early age that music is what I wanted to do in life.Interviewer: Ok, when did you start singing?Lakisha: I started singing when I was about 15, it was a singing competition that I entered, I didn't tell any of my friends or family I was doing it until the night itself, it was truly one of the best decisions I’ve ever made.Interviewer: That's an amazing way to start your singing career then, all by yourself? Ok next question, who are you musical inspirations?Lakisha: I'd have to say Olly Murs is a big inspiration of mine, he's just such a cool guy and I aim to be as successful as him some day.Interviewer: What embarrassing songs might I find if I looked on your phone?Lakisha: (Laughs), I do like to listen to High School Musical songs every now and again to get me back in to the singing spirit, I just find the songs upbeat and easy to relate to in a weird sort of way.Interviewer: I'm sure we all have that one song we absolutely love but are too afraid to tell anyone. Do you have any hidden talents and if so what is it?Lakisha: I do indeed have a hidden talent; I can hold my breath under the water for around 4 minutes, not exactly the most exciting talent to have, but I’m proud to say I can!Interviewer: That's great. Just having a hidden talent is something to be proud of, well done you. Right next question, what kind of music do you listen to today?Lakisha: Well I wouldn’t want to be big headed, but I do enjoy listening to my own music, but I like artists, which are in the UK charts at the moment like Olly Murs!Interviewer: Ok, you definitely look up to Olly Murs for your inspiration then! Would you like to meet your role model one day? What would it mean to you?Lakisha: I would absolutely love to meet Olly Murs that would be one of the best days of my life, I would be so nervous to meet him, probably more nervous than before I perform on stage. It would be a great experience and I just hope that to my fans would be as excited to meet me, as I would be to meet Olly.Interviewer:  I’m sure your fans would be very excited to meet you. Do you enjoy writing your own songs/lyrics?Lakisha:  I find myself just writing different lyrics to new songs I want to produce all the time. I’d say in my spare time, that’s what I do, I just find my thoughts carry me away and I can spend hours at a time just playing around with words and making meaningful lyrics.Interviewer: That’s a great thing to do; it’s much better when the singer comes up with their own lyrics. If you weren’t singing, what do you think you’d be doing now?Lakisha: If it wasn’t for my singing career I think I would be a P.E teacher, I was always keen in sports when I was at school and always thought I would be a teacher, but after my confidence boost from doing so well in the singing competition, I just knew the singing career was right for me.Interviewer: Oh right, well it was just lucky you decided to do the competition then, isn’t it? How often do you practice your singing talent?Lakisha: I love singing so much, it’s my job and my pass time, and whenever I can I want to sing. I practice at my studio when I have to create new music or try something out but that’s not the only place I like to sing, I just do it around the house, in the shower, even when I’m making some toast, I just can’t resist but to sing so I suppose you could say I’m always practicing in one way or another.Interviewer: Well that’s just a lovely thing to hear, at least some people still chase their dreams and go after what they want, anyway, thank you for letting me ask you these questions and it was a pleasure to meet you.Lakisha: You're most welcomed, anytime, happy to help. Thank you for letting me feature in your magazine, bye.

For my Pop Magazine i need to make sure i include the right amount of pages to make it successful. I did research in to how many pages most music magazines have and from this i have decided to use 60 pages to show all the different parts within my magazine. To help me decide on a suitable amount of pages i looked on a popular pop music  magazine 'we love pop'. This magazine contains 66 pages and from this i helped me to come up with the rounded number of 60.

For the font i have already picked one for my MastHead and for the article i include on my double page spread, i feel that using the font aerial will be approproate as it's the font which is used most commonly by magazines and the only other time the font changes, is to make it more relevant to the genre of music and as i am doing pop, i researched double page spreads and they have all used the aerial font so i think this will make my magazine strong and presentable to the target audience and will make the magazine look tidy and easy for the viewer to read.

 

Testing out InDesign & Pages

To design my magazine I would need to produce it on either InDesign or Pages and from this I went onto both of the softwares and looked at what one i felt more comfortable at using. I found that InDesign was complicated as finding the different aspects to change parts was hard whereas on Pages it was straight forward and you could easily find what you needed to create what part you needed. The first image on was created on InDesign and the second one was on Pages. I prefer using Pages than to InDesign as you can change parts more easily than on InDesign. To conclude I have decided that I will be using Pages to create my magazine rather than InDesign.

MastHead Ideas for Pop Magazine & Most Expensive Font in the World

Macaroni & Cheese

I have decided to call my magazine 'Shuffle'. I have chosen to use this out of the other three choices, as it is the most relevant to the genre of music I am focusing on, pop. I feel that using this as the Masthead, it is easy to remember and viewers are likely to approve of the title and will want to read the magazine. 'Shuffle' signifies a process in which you can do when you listen to music. What it does is randomly choose songs for you and plays them one after another, so the name of my magazine would be related to music. By choosing this name, I feel it will stand out on the front page and will grab the attention of the right target audience I want.

I decided to try out different fonts and my first font I tried was 'Handful of Nothing'. I choose this as a possible font to use as I feel it makes the word stand out more. If I was going for more of a rustic look, this would be a good font to use. I think by using this font, it would appeal to a older teenager rather than a younger one. The over all design of the font would make my magazine individual and make it stand out from the other already existing pop magazines. The next font I decided to test was 'DJB Starry Starry Font'. I thought that this could be a possible/suitable font as it has the shapes of stars running throughout it and to the viewer, the celebrities which will be included in my magazine will be stars to them and therefor they will think that the celebrities involved in the magazine are well known and in the eye of the public a lot. Another font I decided to test is called 'Billo'. I think this is a suitable font to use as it is bold and stands out. If it was featured on a front page it would grab the viewers attention and would make the magazine look upbeat and well designed rather than something boring and un-interesting. I feel that this writing is a form of bubble writing and it fits in well with the genre of music I am doing. The final font I tried out was ‘Macaroni & Cheese’. I have chosen to use this font as my main font for my masthead. I have decided on this as I feel it it most suited to the target audience I am going for and will give me a good theme to run throughout the magazine. I have also created the masthead with the colour I am going to use and I feel the colour I have chosen is appropriate for my magazine and creates a good look to my front page.

 I have also tried out a number of colours for my Masthead. However I have came to the decision that the colours used on the final title would be the best colours to use. I have coloured the first and last letter of the word 'Shuffle' to a hot pink colour to make it relate to my target audience. I feel these are suitable colours to use as blue symbolises youth, truth and peace which will appeal to my target audience as they are young and will want to read something which is true and down to earth. Pink connotes unconditional love and energy. and by including this on my Masthead, viewers may feel the magazine will contain something interesting and a fact they do not know about. The unconditional love will be from the viewers and what they have for the artists which will be featured in my magazine and the energy part will show that my magazine is packed with information and lot's of detail.

The type of font, which is used for a title, is very important and makes a huge impact on the magazine overall. If the wrong font is chosen, this could cause the whole magazine to fail and not be accepted by the general public. Many people are specific in what fonts they use and will pay excessive amounts for them. While doing research i found that the font 'Lexicon ‘is one of the most expensive fonts you can buy. It comes in at around $391 for a single cut or $4,996 for the entire family. This shows just how important font is in order to make things work and be successful.  

Pagre Plans for Magazine

Double Page Spreads

Above are three double page spreads. They have all been set out in the same style and pop magazines tend to do this as they feel it is a good way to represent the magazine and makes it look more presentable and easy on the eye. The layout on these double page spreads are very similar as they have all placed a large image of a celebrity on the left hand side, then the following article on the right has been placed with a large letter over lapping or underneath the text. This is the basic layout and only the colours vary from the three different double page spreads. This design is popular in magazines such as 'Q' the design is used by many different magazines which are mainstream, all in which think the design is suitable.

The way the text has been set out is in columns which is what magazines do to make the text more presentable, easy to read and breaks the text up so it doesn't look like as much to read. The first two double page spreads each have three columns along the right hand side of the page, and the last double page spread has only two columns, this being because a different font has been used on the first column of the article meaning less space. The columns are all the usual width, they are not too wide, and meaning less information is shown. However on the last double page spread, the first column is wider due to a different font being used.

The font used for the articles are all the same apart from the one section on the last double page spread. Usually with a mainstream magazine, all the fonts are the same and they rarely change and this is the case for these double page spreads. The font most commonly used is Arial font size 11. The size of the font can vary slightly depending on the magazine genre of music it is appealing to. On the last double page spread the first column has been put in a completely different font, this may be to highlight it/ make it stand out and interest the reader as it may be slightly different to the rest of the article.

All three double page spreads have used up all the space available on the two pages, the first page is completely filled with the image of the celebrity which the article talks about. On the right of every page the columns have been added and as the articles are long all the space are again filled up so no other parts can be included like another image.

For the first two double page spreads the colour scheme is very similar between them. The large image on the left has been filtered in to black and white and then a large red letter is overlapping the columns. Then in reverse with the last double page spread, as the picture has been placed with colour, the letter overlapping the columns is black. The colour scheme is very similar to all three double page spreads and makes the magazine look formal and keeps it consistent through each issue of it.

For these double page spreads, only one image has been included on each one. A large image of a celebrity has been placed on the left page and stands out a lot as no other writing is included on the page to make the picture stand out more. On the right hand page, no images are included at all which to some magazines are very un-usual and some would say the magazine is plain and is very limited visually.

The page numbers on the double page spreads are at the bottom left and right of the two pages. The page number is there along with the name of the magazine again. This may be included as the magazine name is very short, it wouldn't be the same effect if the magazine name was longer and more complicated but as for this magazines particular name, it is ok to include it by the page number.

For these particular double page spreads, no branding has been included on the pages. No advertisement or products have been placed on the pages; these have been totally devoted to the celebrity and nothing else. Often, double page spreads have adverts for different products. For example a pop magazine which includes artists such as one direction, may include one direction merchandise which you can buy, on the double page spread. This depends on the magazine and the genre of music they apply to.

The ratio for text to image or image to text is equal on all three. One page is devoted to one picture only and the other side is devoted to the article itself and has completely been filled with the article rather than more images. The ratio of this is equal and this makes it more appealing to viewers. They know the article is not too long in which they will probably lose interest however it is not too short so no important information is included about the specific celebrity.

Possible Pop Magazine Names

Name Ideas for Pop Magazine:

Shuffle- I came up with this as a title I could use for my magazine as it is simple and easy to remember. By just using one word as a title I think it has more of an impact and people are more likely to remember it. It also has a link to the genre of music the magazine is aimed at and would be easy to design around when it comes to creating a front cover for my magazine.

Pop Sound- I thought about using Pop Sound as a title for my magazine as it clearly shows the genre of music the magazine is for. It gives a clear representation of the music and this will increase the amount of viewers from the chosen target audience. The two words used for the title fit well together and flow easily. People are likely to remember them as they are both related to music, in particular pop.

Music Blast- I thought about this as a potential name for my Pop magazine as this is a catchy and simple title which could easily be remembered. It doesn't contain any complicated words which the target audience wouldn't understand. The title also appeals more to the target audience than other people such as older people. This means it will grab the attention of teenagers more and will interest them more. 'Blast' explains the type of music which will be talked about in the magazine, the word blast is not sophisticated therefor people will know the magazine is not aimed at older people and will not contain music which will interest them.

Pop it- I thought about this as a title for my magazine as it relates well to the genre of music the magazine is based around, it has the word 'Pop' in it and this will clearly show to viewers that the magazine is focused on the Pop genre. This means people will realise what the magazine is about a lot quicker which should mean more people will buy the magazine.



Anaconda- I thought this would be a possible name for my magazine as it is a memerable name. It's short and cathchy and due to it being so un ordinary, it will grab the viwers attention. I thought about using this name for my magazine to associate it with an animal. By doing this it would become more well known throughout the target audience as the type of animal would relate to the magazine. The name 'Anaconda' also relates to a pop song which means when people read the title of the magazine they will know straight away that the magazine is to do with pop music and artists such as Nicki Minaj, Rihanna e.t.c

Conventions of Pop Magazine

This is a contents page for a pop magazine, it includes a number of different aspects such as a page title and snippets of information to what is included in the magazine. They have also used a continuous colour scheme throughout the page which relates to the genre of music, there is no darker colours used on this contents page as it is aimed at a younger age group. There is various pictures from artists which are included in the magazine and different featured stories on the contents page. The font used is clear and easy to read, it is all spaced out well and includes different parts in which the celebrities have spoke. There is page numbers included which tell you what parts are on each page. The contents page includes a lot of information and from this various language techniques have been used.  The logo has been used on the contents page and a main image has been placed along with other images. The main image has been placed in the centre of the page and is larger than all the other images on the page.

Below is a double page spread for a pop magazine. A feature which is used on this double page spread is a large image is included, usually the image will be eye level, so the person will be looking directly at the image and this is called direct address. This would encourage the viewer to buy the magazine as if they're looking directly at the person, they're more likely to buy the magazine. A quote is usally included on the double page spread, it is usually made to stand out by being a much larger font than the rest of the writing and being in a different colour. The quotes used are usually controversial or shocking to grab the reader's attention. Another convention in which is used on a double page spread is the name of the celebrity is usually in bold or larger than all the other text, this is done to grab the interest of the reader as by seeing the name of the celebrity first, they will want to look into the magazine furthur as it will interest them. They also include a stand first which is an introduction on the celebrity which features in the article. This is a good point to include as the viewer can get a feel for what the whole article is about and can see whether they would be interested in the article or not. The text in which isincluded on the double page spread is always on size 11pt. The usual font for the text is aerial however certain magazines change the font to fit around the specific genre of music.All double page spreads have a drop cap which shows the reader when to start reading. The text is set in to columns, usually 2-4, this is done to make the text appear tidy and not all over the page. The page number, magazine name and text throughout usually use the same fonts. For the main image which is on the double page spread, the image is usually placed to the left of the page however some magazines go against the tradtional conventions and put the image more to the right, which is the case for the double page spread below. Sometimes the image bleeds over the whole page, although this is not something which occurs in every magazine. The image included on the double page spread always relates to the article. By lines are also included below the image to give credit to the photographer and writer. The title on a double page spread is usally short to make the reader want to know more and read on to find out the information. The article is written in informal mode of address therefor it relaxes the reader.

Pop Magazine Questionnaire

I am currently doing research to help me design a Pop magazine and I have decided to create this questionnaire to help me see what people would like to see and what they want. This will help me to produce a good quality magazine which will be suitable for my chosen target audience.

Results:

Picture Analysis

Picture Analysis:

-Group Shot

-At Home

-Live Shot: On Stage

-Posed Shot: Camera man directs talent, can use props, mise-en-scene

-Everything in the shot of the scene includes: lighting, body position, facial expressions, clothes makeup and props, proxemics and camera angles

-Impromptu Shots: Unplanned Shots

Advantages of posed shots:

-Can manipulate it, so the model can do the pose you want

-Guaranteed a good quality shot

Disadvantages of posed shots:

-Can look too forced

-Time consuming

-Expensive

-You have to turn up with a lot of stuff i.e. lipstick depending on the shade you want

Advantages of Impromtuous shots:

-Get more personality and feeling from it

-Live action shot, can always get the unexpected

Disadvantages of Impromtuous shots:

-Can’t direct them, won’t turn out how you want

Laura Mulvey:

-Media Analyst

-Male Gaze Theory

-The camera is a heterosexual male; the camera can be accused of objectifying women

-Feminist theory states that women only exist as a metonym. This is backed up by the make gaze theory

This picture which was taken is an Impromtuous shot, the photographer did not plan for this pose, and it was simply something which occurred at the concert. It’s an action shot of Pennie Smith, London Calling. This picture sums up 1970’s punk music. The reason for this is as it’s not planned. This is not someone’s opinion on how the music should have been its how it actually was.

Photo Editing

I have started to use the software Pixlr and have created a new image from one i got fro the internet. I added another layer to the original picture then from this i could erase from a layer then this can change the colour of specific parts of the image. This shows that photo shopping is easy and every aspect of a person can be changed and edited. This gives us an unrealistic expectation of everyone we see in pictures used for media.

Today i also learned about hyperreality and how the media can manipulate and change a picture and make a person change completely so they are in fact a different person. This makes unrealistic expectations for people as they think people can actually look like the people in images which are completely different to the actual person.

From using Pixlr for the first time ever, i have experienced how easy it is to change different parts of an image and each change will make the person less and less human and this is something which offers frequently within media. People are changed in to a different person to meet everyone's expectations on what looks the best and in every case, this is simply not real or correct.

Ideal Consumer

My ideal consumer is a teenage girl called Charlotte Atkin. She is 14 years old and lives at home with her Mum and Dad. Currently she studies at school as a student and does not work, as she is too young. From this she relies on her Mum and Dad to give her money to buy things. She receives an allowance of £15 per week and this is her money to do what she wants with. She mostly spends this money on going out with friends, she is not very good at saving which means when it comes to buying magazines she would want a low priced but goof quality magazine. Her parents would be in the category of C1 OR C2, which is based around people who are skilled working class and administrative or professional working jobs. By looking at what class the parents fall in to I can make my magazine suitable for them and affordable for them. Also as the parents will initially be paying for the magazine so I know the content of the magazine cannot be too edgy as they may hesitate to buy the magazine for their daughter.

As my ideal consumer is someone who does not work and relies on pocket money from her parents, I had to take in consideration that my magazine would need to be affordable by the target audience and form this my price would have to be low in order for my target audience to buy my magazine. As their only way of receiving money is through pocket money, the amount that my magazine costs would have to be minimal in order to allow my target audience to buy my magazine as well as allowing them to spend their money on other things this meaning they would be more encouraged to buy my magazine and carry on buying it through each issue produced.