Chose First Front Cover Draft

Front Cover Drafts

Test shots

This is a two-shot. It is a conventional medium shot framing to capture both models from the waist up. The photo is well lit however it is focused slightly o the left rather than the centre, chopping off part of the models and costume and it also leaves a lot of unused space at the top of the camera.

 This long shot conventionally captures all of the artists however it also captures part of the floor and the surrounding area, rather than just the white backdrop and the angle of the shot also makes the model look very small, which is why the shot is unsuccessful.

 This group shot follows the conventions of being between a medium and a long-shot and capturing all of the group members. It does however, capture part of the floor and capture all of some of the group while missing off the end of others feet. It also again leaves a lot of space at the top of the image.

  This medium close up follows conventions quite well the only slight fault with it is that it could slightly more zoomed in to reduce the background but works fine apart from that.

 This is a good example of a badly framed close up. The image should mainly just capture the face of the model, however the model is not looking at the camera and the image is not focused on the model, leaving a lot of background in the image, the complete opposite
of what it should be.

 This is a good example of a posed shot. It uses a well framed, well lit medium shot set up to focus mainly on the model but allows room of action so it is obvious to see what the models pose is, which should be the focus of the image.

Other Test Shots:

Photography and How It's Used: Cover, Contents and DPS

LIIAR Analysis: Music Magazine

Focus Group Video

Focus Group Video Response

The focus group video was useful as it gave me an insight into what an average person on the street of my target audience’s age is interested in. I learnt that music magazines are not hugely popular amongst young people as none of my focus group bought them regularly or even occasionally. I also learnt that what attracts people to music magazines are interesting cover stories and freebies, that the most attractive giveaways with a magazine are downloads and posters, the most popular competition prize would be concert/festival tickets, that a mix of covering both new and old music is preferred with slightly more emphasis on new music, that more focus on artist interviews is preferred to more on album and gig reviews and finally that people would buy a music magazine primarily to learn about new music and to be kept informed about artists they like.

This information has helped me in making decisions about my magazine as it has given me information on what people prefer, such as the fact they would prefer a free download to a free CD; which would help reduce costs for my magazine, what people would prefer to win in competitions and what people would like to see covered in a music magazine. This information helps as I can apply what people would want to my magazine to widen the products appeal to my audience and therefore increase the size of my audience.

The findings that surprised me were the lack of popularity of music magazines amongst my focus group and the fact that people would prefer more artist interviews to gig and album reviews. I found the latter particularly surprising as the group said they would buy a music magazine to learn about new music however apparently they would rather hear what an artist has to say rather than actually read about the quality of their music, which I think is an interesting point. However this has helped me in planning my magazine as I will now focus more of my features on the artist themselves rather than the music.

The main changes the focus group session feedback has made to my planning is to include a free download, rather than a CD, as a giveaway as this seems like a more popular option for my mostly teenage and young adult audience and would also save the magazine money on CD pressing. I will also focus more of my features on artist stories and interviews rather than reviews of concerts and music as this is what my focus group has told me would interest them more. Finally, I will take the advice on my focus group of covering both new and old music by having a main feature about an older artist, to balance out the old/new, or perhaps an article on new artists heavily influenced by older artists.

In conclusion I believe the focus group session has been very helpful to my product as it has given me feedback on ideas and about what a reader would want and has allowed me to use this feedback to adapt my product to become more attractive to my target audience and other readers, which would hopefully increase its success in sales.  

Demographics

Artist looks

Colour Scheme

Possible Fonts for Magazine

Mood Board

Digital Drafts: Indie Music Magazine

Genre Research: Indie

Reader profile Research

Music Magazine Conventions Analysis

Brief

To design a front cover, contents page and double page spread of a new music magazine. All images and text used must be original; a minimum of four images must be used. 

College Magazine Evaluation

College Magazine Evaluation

I aimed to make my magazine cover seem as realistic as possible while at the same time looking attractive to my target audience of primarily students, but also parents and outsiders to the school. I used a number of methods to try and achieve this aim. First of all was the way in which I tried to make my product look as real as possible. The main way I did this was to use common conventions of magazine covers. The features I used were a header, a masthead, a pull quote, a main feature, a main image, a plug and footer. These are conventions commonly found on all types of magazine, so I used them to create the most realistic look possible.  I created these features, excluding the main image, by putting either Photoshop or imported external font on top of a drawn shape created with the shape tool. I also used the opacity setting to create the faded effect on the shape under the pull quote.

To create the main image I used my favourite picture from a selection of shots, a medium close up from behind the model, who is using a mixing desk in the music studio. I then put the image into Photoshop and desaturated it. I then used the levels tool to create my desired black and white, high contrast effect; however the result was darker than hope. However I resolved this situation by using the exposure toll to raise the exposure, giving the photo a brighter look while still keeping the effect I created using the levels tool.

The other main way I really replicated genuine magazine covers was the use of my plug. The plug has information about a competition to win £50 in Amazon vouchers, however rather than simply typing “Amazon” I used the actual Amazon logo, which I pasted from an image on the internet. I used the magic eraser tool to delete the white background and the use the paint bucket tool to re-colour the font. I believe this use of genuine logo provides a better sense of realism in product.

While there is not much focus on particular social groups in my product it does promote music within the college and therefore the type of people who play music, such as the model in the image. So in could be inferred that musical type people are being represented as ‘cool` or good, while there is no other way to infer any representation of social groups.

My main target audience for this product is students of the college. I tried to aim for this target audience by using a design that would appeal to young people with its vintage looking photo and simple but effective colour scheme, which together I believe provide an aesthetically pleasing look. I also tried to use features that would appeal more to the student audience such as competitions, sport and a fresher’s guide. The competition in particular is an effective tool in attracting my target audience as it may attract people who may not be interested at all in the other features however the chance of winning will make them take interest.  However I also tried to aim to create a product that may be slightly interesting to parents and outsiders to the college, so I used a pull quote from the main feature “Some of the best facilities in the country” Which advertises the college’s music facilities, which would please parents and attract outsiders.

The main feature I have really learnt about in the construction of this product is the use of external fonts in Photoshop. I used external fonts on most of the text. I did this by using a font website such as www.dafont.com and print screening an example of a font and then pasting this into Photoshop. I then used the magic eraser tool to delete any unwanted areas of the print screen and then moved and recoloured the text as desired. This was particularly useful with conventions such as the mast head and the main feature title. Another tool which I learnt to use during this project was the exposure tool. This let me brighten up my main image without damaging the effect I created when using the levels tool. It also creates a unique faded effect in itself which I am fond of.

I think the biggest improvement I have made in this work compared to my fragrance advert is my use of fonts in Photoshop.  The skills I have learnt in importing external fonts from other websites provide a much greater variety and more appropriate fonts than those offered with the Photoshop text tool. This allows me to create a much better looking and more realistic product than my fragrance advert in terms of font, giving me more creative freedom.

Finally, there is anything in particular I could change about my product it would be either my use of font or my main image itself. Despite me having a lot more freedom with fonts now I know how to use external fonts from the internet, I feel like I may have used too many different fonts, which may give a less realistic look to the product. So I wish I had used one universal font with maybe just one separate one for titles. The other change I might make would be to use a different main image that is more zoomed out, so that less is cut out by the text. Apart from these minor details, over all I am happy with my product and believe I have reached my aims I set out to fulfil. 

Final College Magazine Cover

Unused Shots

Examples Of Shot Types

Existing Product Research 3

Existing Product Research 2

Existing Product Research 1

College Magazine Drafts: Front Cover, Contents and Double Page Spread

Initial Ideas Spider Diagram

Mood board: Ideas relating to genre/target audience

LIIAR Analysis: Contents Page

NME Double Page Spread LIIAr Analysis

NME Cover LIIAR Analysis

Magazine Cover Conventions