Hey Emma,
I do really like your front cover. You obviously got the hang of things from the start as your preliminary task is pretty good too. I really like the cover picture and the mast head. It's different to ones i've seen before so it stands out and looks more interesting. Fantastic work.
Your contents page also looks very professional and obviously follows the generic conventions. A great job and i think i would consider buying your magazine =]
Monday, 11 May 2009
Comments from Stephanie Lake
HEY
I really like the relationships between each of your pages and it is clear you have thought about the genre of your magazine and how it should look.
For improvements i would have thought more about the colour schemes on your front cover and possibly have changes trhe red for a more darker colour
=] =] =]
tahler
x x
Audience feedback - Laura Deakin
I think that your prelim task was good, however I feel that you could do some more work on it and there are lots of improvments to make.
The picture on your front cover is out of focus and this makes the front cover look unprofessional, you need to make sure your photos are clear.
xxx
Audience feedback- Laura Deakin
Hello!! :)
I think that your final product is very realistic and it uses alot of the forms and conventions of real music magazines.
I can see alot of progression from your draft magazine to your final one,
your photos are well taken and I feel that your final magazine looks very professional.
I am very impressed!
xxx
Friday, 8 May 2009
Evaluation
Question 7
The prelim task allowed me to get an idea of how to use Photoshop and Quark as these were both new software to me. With help from fellow students and teachers, I was able to develop my skills and knowledge of the software. Allowing me to show improvement from my prelim front cover to my actual front cover.
By having a greater understanding and knowledge of magazine conventions, I was able to create a more realistic magazine. The tasks we did such as listing generic conventions of a front cover, contents page and double page spread gave me the ability to improve my prelim task and making my actually project more realistic and professional.
Prelim front cover
Actual front cover
Prelim front cover
Actual front cover
It is important to plan the project first, rather than jumping straight into it because more than likely, our ideas tend to change. So if we have a set idea, we are able to follow this which will result in a smoother making of the magazine. Going straight into creating the magazine will result in encountering problems such as not knowing what’s going where etc. Making drafts allows us to see if our ideas actually work as a real project. Sometimes, drafts makes us realise what we need to change to be able to improve and make the magazine look better,
Draft contents page
Real contents page
Audience feedback is extremely important as it allows me to improve my project from the prelim task to the final magazine.
Constructive comments allowed me to see what was wrong with my prelim task and what mistakes I made. This was really helpful as I was able to not make the same mistakes again.
The positive comments told me what was good about my magazine and what i can keep doing for my final project.
Audience feedback is an essential when creating a magazine as other people's opinions are just as important as our own. They may see problems with it that we don't. As we aren't the ones buying the magazine, it is important to find out what the audience think of it, whether they would buy it and what they would want to see on it.
Comparing the prelim task to the final project enabled me to see what improvements i have made and the comments i had taken into consideration.
Evaluation
Question Six
During this project, I have learned the importance of using Web 2.0 blogs to keep my Documents etc in order and in one place. If the project was to be kept in a folder or on paper it would be much easier to lose or damage it. It’s also easier to manage my files and makes them look more presentable. If my front cover, contents page and double page spread had to be printed out instead of being put on a blog, the quality wouldn’t have looked as good. Also, it allows me to upload other things apart from text and pictures such as videos or voice recordings.
Photoshop was really helpful and quite easy to use once I had got the hang of it. It allowed me be to be more creative and create something of a better quality. I used tools such as the polygonal lasso tool, which allowed me to delete parts of a picture I didn’t want. I also used the drop shadow tool, to add shadow to my text, this made it stand out a lot more. Using Photoshop, I was able to easily add and manipulate text to a way which suited the style of my magazine. I used the crop tool a lot to get the right part of the pictures I wanted. For example, I had to crop some information off of my barcode in order for it to fit and look presentable on my front cover. I also used to the spot healing brush tool to airbrush my pictures to make them look more professional. Advantages of using Photoshop is the fact its really quite quick to put together a front cover and there is much you can do to make it look professional and realistic. The different layers make it easier to edit certain parts without having to edit the whole project. However, problems can occur, as with all software and because the files are so big, it takes a long time to save which slows the computer down. Also, some of the tools are quite difficult to use for example, the polygonal lasso tool was quite hard to grasp at first.
Quark is another really useful software I used to create my double page spread and contents page. It’s really simple as there aren’t many tools to use. I mainly used the text and picture box. The style sheets I had to create meant I had to know what I wanted my contents page/double page spread to look like before hand. For example, what font and size I wanted each bit of writing. This could be seen as a disadvantage. Although it was really quick to create something of a good standard. When adding pictures, it was important to have the picture already set to the size it needed to be. Otherwise, when adding a picture box and importing a picture, it doesn’t go to the size of the picture box. Also, when saving the project, it has to be exported as a PDF file in order for it to go on the blog. This sometimes took a long time and the quality decreases. I found that sometimes with my work, it deleted things or it didn’t look as good as what it did when it was in Quark.
Evaluation
Question 5
My magazine attracts the audience by having pictures of young people on the front. With my magazine being aimed at young people with an average age of 20, it makes sense to have people of a similar age on the front cover. The language used is formal enough to be used in a magazine, however informal enough to be understood by the audience. This means that common words a used more over complex intellectual words. This will be easier to read and understand. When adding text to my project, it was important to take the more of address into consideration. This will influence the level of respect, formality, friendliness etc. I also had to take into account the relationship between the audience and the text, for example if the text is intended to be funny, informative etc. The mode of address used in my magazine varies from teacher to pupil and peer to peer. Teacher to pupil is used in my double page spread because I wrote an informative article about a band, describing there path to fame. Peer to peer is used on my contents page in the editor note, for example addressing the audience by saying “hey” and welcoming them to the magazine.
My magazine attracts the audience by having pictures of young people on the front. With my magazine being aimed at young people with an average age of 20, it makes sense to have people of a similar age on the front cover. The language used is formal enough to be used in a magazine, however informal enough to be understood by the audience. This means that common words a used more over complex intellectual words. This will be easier to read and understand. When adding text to my project, it was important to take the more of address into consideration. This will influence the level of respect, formality, friendliness etc. I also had to take into account the relationship between the audience and the text, for example if the text is intended to be funny, informative etc. The mode of address used in my magazine varies from teacher to pupil and peer to peer. Teacher to pupil is used in my double page spread because I wrote an informative article about a band, describing there path to fame. Peer to peer is used on my contents page in the editor note, for example addressing the audience by saying “hey” and welcoming them to the magazine.
This shows an example of where peer to peer mode of address is used
This shows examples of where teacher to pupil mode of address is used.Evaluation- Question 4
This is a reader profile for my magazine Volume. It shows what the readers like and their interests. The statistics show who read the magazine and what their lifestyle is like
Evaluation
Question Three
As my magazine is based upon and is quite similar to Kerrang, my magazine will be given away free for a few months with Kerrang. This will gain my magazine public attention. During a few months, the website set up for my magazine will have a questionnaire on it, where people will give their opinions on the magazine. After gaining enough publicity my magazine will be able to be released on the shelves on its own. It will be distributed by Bauer, as they distribute Kerrang. Bauer is a conglomerate so the circulation will be large. It will be advertised in other magazines distributed and published by Bauer such as Kerrang, Q and Mojo.
Evaluation
Question Two
As young people today tend to receive loads of bad media coverage, my intentions were to try and represent young people in a positive way. In today’s society, many stereotypes are formed, with people falling into each one, sometimes even more than one. A stereotype featured in my magazine, on the front cover, is “emo”. “Emo” evidently stands for “emotional” and is a type of music. Emotional hardcore originated in the mid 1980s and was pioneered by bands such as ‘Embrace. However in recent times it has been initiated by famous bands such as ‘Fall Out Boy’ and ‘My Chemical Romance’. Although recently it has been portrayed negatively through the media as kids being depressed and dressing weird. ‘Emo’ are stereotypes as wearing tight jeans and tight t-shirts, having long straight died black hair with a long fringe covering one or both eyes. Encoded into the image is the idea that “emo’s” may not be a typical social desirable group of people, however there passion for music lead them to actually become an ideal self/partner on the front of a magazine. Thus portraying them in a positive way. Their facial express juxtapose with the text “the new band set to wow the world with their passion for music”. Their poignant facial expression leads the audience to think that they’re just some ‘depressed emo kids’ on the other hand when reading the caption next to it makes the audience realise otherwise. This is known as anchorage. So by selecting the image and appropriate text, I was able to construct a positive representation of the stereotype ‘emo’.
On the contents page, i have two female solo singers, connoting females are just as talented as males at making music. Their clothes are quite ordinary ruling out the chance of being objectified or a subject to male gaze. However, Laura (the girl in the pink dress) has a powerful pose (holding the headphone wire in both hands), connoting she is strong. Where as Emma (the girl in the black dress) looks professional and the fact she is holding a microphone connotes her passion for music.
The guys used for my double page spread can be seen as ideal self for males and ideal partners for females with them being in a band and good looking. The article which explains there success is anchored to the picture to show their hard work and how it pays off. Again this is a positive representation of young people.
Five Rules of Photography
Rules of Photography:
Rule One: No Cluttered Backgrounds
Rule Two: Band: Focus on Lead Singer so the audience know who they areArtist: Medium Shot, or a close-up. ¾ images shouldn’t be centred.
Rule Three: Leave room for a masthead, and don’t cut off any heads.
Rule Four: No high angle shots – they make bad cover images! Good for doubleSpreads but not front cover
Rule Five: Animate your Band – Make sure they look at the cameras
Thursday, 7 May 2009
EVALUATION
Question One
I used the magazine Kerrang to get ideas for my own magazine. I used Dafont.com to find a similar font for my masthead or a font that had connotations of alternative/rock.
(My Masthead)
(Kerrang's Masthead)
As you you can see, the masthead are of the same colour but yet an entirely different font. However, the font used for my masthead, still has connotations of alternative/rock music. Also, the fact that the letters are of different inconsistent sizes, represents the change and inconsistency of volume.
I measured the length and width of Kerrang so I could make my magazine the same size. This was so I could try and make my front cover look as real as possible.
(My Front Cover) (Kerrang's Front Cover)
I challenged the colour scheme slightly by keeping the red, white and black but adding yellow, as this is seen as more of a feminine colour than the grey used in Kerrang. Making my magazine appeal to both genders.
Also, when putting a barcode on my front cover, I realised that if I used a similar one to Kerrang it looked too big and in the way, so I developed this by making it smaller and deleting some information from it, like the price etc and putting it under the masthead. I could then put the barcode on the bottom right hand side of the magazine without it standing out for the wrong reasons.
(My Barcode)
(Kerrang's Barcode)On my front cover, I used a band called ‘Infected Hate’; the band was made up of two guys and one girl and was very much a rock/’emo’ type band. This gave connotations of what music my magazine features just like it does in Kerrang
On the contents page I used very similar colours as the ones used in Kerrang as I thought they worked really well and would fit in with the genre of music I had chosen. Also I chose to use fewer pictures on my contents page as I didn’t want to make it look too cluttered or look like there is too much going on.
(My Contents Page) (Kerrang's Contents Page)
By making the contents page similar to Kerrang's it makes it look a lot more realistic and professional.
The layout of my text on both the front cover and double page spread follows the house style of my magazine. Its set out in a way that's easy to read and follow. The colours match and don't clash, making the text readable from afar.
Hi Emma!
I really like your blog! It's awesome!
I think your front cover is ace (and not just because I'm on it, hehe), but it looks really professional, so does your contents page and double page spread!
I'm well impressed!
Love you!
Jess x
Evidence of Editing Photos
Before; Background unsuitable, ie blue and black paper and drawing pins. 
After; Cropped the background and airbrushed the faces using the spot healing brush
Before :)
After- Using quick fix on photoshop, i turned down the saturation to turn it black and white then gave it an orange tint
After: Using the colour replacement brush on the saturation setting i turned the skin and the colours on the top black and white
Treatment
Emma Parkinson
D Block
Treatment
My magazine will be named ‘VOLUME’, I had three potential names for my magazine, so I made a poll and Volume received the most votes. The definition of ‘volume’ as stated in the dictionary is ‘to be expressive or meaningful’. I thought this would be suitable for a music magazine because people especially music artists, express their thoughts and feelings through music. My magazine will be an alternative rock music magazine aimed at a target audience of young people aged 16-24, males and females who have a passion for music. More than likely, it will appeal more to the male audience due to the genre of music and the colours that I plan to use. I will produce a front cover which will consist of a medium close-up of a three member punk/rock band. I will also create a contents page showing what I intend to have inside the magazine and finally a double page spread featuring a different band than what is on the front cover of my magazine. I have chosen to write a feature about them rather than an interview. The main colours (house style) I intend to use will be; black, red, yellow and white. These are quite masculine colours so will appeal more to the male audience.
I plan to use three people for my front cover; two males and one female, to form a punk/rock band. This will then appeal to both males and females through ideal self and ideal partner. I plan to use a black background with the band wearing brightly coloured punk type clothes, for example; tight fitting tops etc. This well then contrast with the background. I don’t intend for any major props to be used although I may have the female artist wearing a few jewellery accessories such as bracelets, necklaces etc. However, for the contents page and double page spread pictures, I am wanting to use microphones and head phones, to connote the love for music. I will go out and take other photos for my contents page, and double spread. I am planning to have pictures of potential “solo artists” to indicate that the magazine is open to all types of alternative/rock. I will have a picture of the band that I am using for the double page spread article on the contents page and a different picture/s of the band for the actual double page spread. The photos for my front cover will have to be portrait as this is generic in all music magazines. However, for my contents page and double page spread, I will vary with portrait and landscape shots.
For my double page spread I am planning on writing and article or a profile about the band. This will include; how the band started out, their steps to fame, their lives before being in a band etc. I shall have to research similar articles in music magazines such as “Kerrang” and “NME”. The text will be set out in columns with the lead being at the top. I will have a picture of the band on one side which could also be used a poster and a few pictures above the text. The text will be white and the same font as what is used on the contents page. I will continue the house style throughout the magazine by having a black background on my double page spread and it consisting of the same colours used on the front cover and contents. I will make sure I use drop capitals, by-lines and picture credits where possible.
If I take any high angle shots, I will have to ensure that I have someone who is able to hold me in the appropriate and safe way to make sure I don’t fall off the table/chair I would be standing on. I shall use the white backdrop provided by College as by background and use the lighting/camera they provide as well. I intend to take some out of College shots too, such as at any gigs I may attend or places where people are performing like Rotherham town centre.
D Block
Treatment
My magazine will be named ‘VOLUME’, I had three potential names for my magazine, so I made a poll and Volume received the most votes. The definition of ‘volume’ as stated in the dictionary is ‘to be expressive or meaningful’. I thought this would be suitable for a music magazine because people especially music artists, express their thoughts and feelings through music. My magazine will be an alternative rock music magazine aimed at a target audience of young people aged 16-24, males and females who have a passion for music. More than likely, it will appeal more to the male audience due to the genre of music and the colours that I plan to use. I will produce a front cover which will consist of a medium close-up of a three member punk/rock band. I will also create a contents page showing what I intend to have inside the magazine and finally a double page spread featuring a different band than what is on the front cover of my magazine. I have chosen to write a feature about them rather than an interview. The main colours (house style) I intend to use will be; black, red, yellow and white. These are quite masculine colours so will appeal more to the male audience.
I plan to use three people for my front cover; two males and one female, to form a punk/rock band. This will then appeal to both males and females through ideal self and ideal partner. I plan to use a black background with the band wearing brightly coloured punk type clothes, for example; tight fitting tops etc. This well then contrast with the background. I don’t intend for any major props to be used although I may have the female artist wearing a few jewellery accessories such as bracelets, necklaces etc. However, for the contents page and double page spread pictures, I am wanting to use microphones and head phones, to connote the love for music. I will go out and take other photos for my contents page, and double spread. I am planning to have pictures of potential “solo artists” to indicate that the magazine is open to all types of alternative/rock. I will have a picture of the band that I am using for the double page spread article on the contents page and a different picture/s of the band for the actual double page spread. The photos for my front cover will have to be portrait as this is generic in all music magazines. However, for my contents page and double page spread, I will vary with portrait and landscape shots.
For my double page spread I am planning on writing and article or a profile about the band. This will include; how the band started out, their steps to fame, their lives before being in a band etc. I shall have to research similar articles in music magazines such as “Kerrang” and “NME”. The text will be set out in columns with the lead being at the top. I will have a picture of the band on one side which could also be used a poster and a few pictures above the text. The text will be white and the same font as what is used on the contents page. I will continue the house style throughout the magazine by having a black background on my double page spread and it consisting of the same colours used on the front cover and contents. I will make sure I use drop capitals, by-lines and picture credits where possible.
If I take any high angle shots, I will have to ensure that I have someone who is able to hold me in the appropriate and safe way to make sure I don’t fall off the table/chair I would be standing on. I shall use the white backdrop provided by College as by background and use the lighting/camera they provide as well. I intend to take some out of College shots too, such as at any gigs I may attend or places where people are performing like Rotherham town centre.
Production Schedule for the date commencing 30th March
Tuesday, 5 May 2009
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