These are photos that have been taken for the music magazine I am producing for my coursework. I will be choosing the ones most suited for my intended audience and purpose and the ones which are of the highest quality.
Wednesday 12 November 2014
Tuesday 4 November 2014
Possible Magazine Names/ Fonts
Possible Magazine Names
I need to think of a suitable name for my music magazine. As my magazine will be focused on indie music, having a name which fits the connotations of indie and music would be beneficial for me as it attracts my potential audience.
I need to think of a suitable name for my music magazine. As my magazine will be focused on indie music, having a name which fits the connotations of indie and music would be beneficial for me as it attracts my potential audience.
• The Matrix Number – form of intertextuality as the matrix number is an alphanumeric code stamped or handwritten into the run-out groove area of a gramophone record. The word “matrix” sounds cool and would attract a teenage audience
• Untitled- links in with the fact that indie bands are not well known and not mainstream. Sounds mysterious and weird.
• Squalid – synonym for filth and grime, fitting in with the grunge/rock/metal connotations. It isn’t a well-known and a very used word – suggesting sophistication and intelligence.
• Hush – goes against the connotations of rock and metal. Providing a unique and alien atmosphere to the magazine
• Sealed – another form of intertextuality, as the record will be sealed. Also creates a sense of danger and should not be opened. Could also link to how indie bands aren’t well known and are “sealed away” from the public.
• Untitled- links in with the fact that indie bands are not well known and not mainstream. Sounds mysterious and weird.
• Squalid – synonym for filth and grime, fitting in with the grunge/rock/metal connotations. It isn’t a well-known and a very used word – suggesting sophistication and intelligence.
• Hush – goes against the connotations of rock and metal. Providing a unique and alien atmosphere to the magazine
• Sealed – another form of intertextuality, as the record will be sealed. Also creates a sense of danger and should not be opened. Could also link to how indie bands aren’t well known and are “sealed away” from the public.
Sunday 2 November 2014
Thursday 30 October 2014
Music Magazine Photography Planning
Professional Photo
Shoot - Planning Sheet
The music
magazine that I currently have in mind is one specializing in the rock/indie
genres.
I think my
house style should have complimentary colors, for example “blue and orange” to attract the potential audience. The color blue implies a cold, masculine
connotation, hinting at my primary target audience of teen-aged/young adult males.
The color orange will make the font stand out and compliment the blue
background.
It should
create the impression of being a moody but stylized magazine to re-enforce the indie/rock genre featured.
What to Photograph
|
What techniques to use
|
How I achieve this
|
A character shot of the main band member to go on the front cover.
|
No direct mode of address to make the band member seen mysterious/disinterested.
Mid shot
Low lighting to create atmosphere
|
Appropriate model
Lighting correctly set up
Costume to fit genre
|
A shot of all band members to feature in one the articles.
|
Direct mode of address to engage the audience
Low angle shot to make the band members seem dominant and in control
A barren field or industrial building for the background to create
atmosphere and re-enforce connotations
|
Appropriate model/s
Make sure weather/time of location is appropriate
Costumes to fit genre
Appropriate location
|
A shot of one of the band members playing a musical instrument.
|
No direct mode of address to show band member is fully engaged in
playing.
Low lighting to create atmosphere
Mid shot to show band member and instrument.
|
Appropriate model
Appropriate pose
Appropriate prop
Lighting set up correctly
Costume to fit genre
|
Tuesday 21 October 2014
College Magazine Progress
Before working on my music magazine, I have decided to make a college magazine to develop my understanding of Photoshop and InDesign.
Overall I think that for my first time using InDesign, my draft magazine has been successful. I have most of the conventions found in my research to create a magazine for a specific audience (in this case College Students) whilst organizing them in a way that creates a professional and neat layout. Images have been edited to make them more visually appealing.
This is the first draft of my magazine. I have decided on the name The Prior Preview as the alliteration creates flow and links in with the College theme. The photo I chose for the background was used as it the winding path creates a welcoming impression, further re-enforced by the image of me smiling. The typography I have chosen suggests professionalism and formality, it presents the college in a suitable manner. The background image I have chosen in the contents page was used as the pillars create a rule of three, with the walls on the left and right sides. This allowed me to easily separate the contents page into three segments. I edited the image in Photoshop the contents text to be seen clearer. However, this proved to be unsuccessful. The articles featured link to my audience questionnaire as there are articles relating media and clubs available at Prior.
This is the second draft of my magazine.The masthead has been recolored and Contents Header to further fit Prior's house style and the image of me has been edited in Photoshop using the "auto colour" tool to make me blend into the background more and look less "grey" as I did in previous images. The background image has been edited to compliment the text and look more attractive.
.
This is the third draft of my magazine. I have added a plug which states "First Ever Issue!" to attract an audience as it suggests importance. The plug has been edited on Photoshop using the shape, text, and gradient tool.
This the fourth and final draft of my magazine. Conventions such as a barcode and price have been added to give my magazine a more professional look. The content's font has been recolored to stand out more against the background and more text has been added to remove dead space. One of the images has been relocated to again remove dead space and to make the contents look more appealing.
Friday 17 October 2014
Music Magazine Research
NME
New Music Express is a
British weekly magazine that has been published since 1953. It is largely
associated with the rock, indie and alternative music genres. It was originally
a music newspaper, until it moved into a magazine format in the 1980s, changing
from newsprint in 1998. It was one of the first magazines to introduce a
singles chart and during the 1970s it was the bestselling British music
newspaper. An online version of NME was launched in 1996, and with over 7
million users on it per month it is the world’s biggest standalone music
website. According to http://www.nrs.co.uk/latest-results/nrs-print-results/general-magazines-nrsprintresults/ over 198,000 people purchase NME regularly. The
magazine obviously has the primary audience as Indie music fans and a secondary
audience of teenagers, judging by the grungy, informal image the magazine
conveys
NME magazines usually
feature a house style of white and red. This shows brand identity as the
audience can tell what the magazine they are after just by colour scheme
alone. Direct mode of address is used on
most of the magazine covers, as a featured band/band member on the coverlines
is usually looking at the audience. The masthead is located in the top left
corner of magazine suggesting unimportance; this could reflect how NME
specialises in the indie scene which is not typically well known. Most pages feature
an extract from an interview with the featured band. This attracts an audience
as we are interested in gossip and other people’s lives and implies what
content is in the magazine. Also importance to note is that the typography on
the band’s names are larger than the title of the magazine itself – suggesting
that the band is more important than the magazine. This implies that NME uses
the bands to attract a wide audience as possible. Those who are, for example,
MUSE fans are more likely to buy a NME magazine featuring MUSE on the front
cover than one with the “Black Keys” on it. On most of the magazine covers,
above the masthead are names of other bands, again implying content and
attracting a potential audience.
The contents pages also
share a similar colour scheme, and each use a similar layout. The page has a band
index in the left column, allowing for easy navigation of the contents within
the magazine. There is usually an image located in the middle of the page with
a short article below it, linking it to the text. The magazine has a
subscription form at the middle-bottom of it, immediately giving the audience
the option to subscribe. On the right are the contents itself, separated into
columns depending on whether they are reviews, features etc.
The
typography of the headlines are bold and highlighted, this makes it so the
audience’s attention is brought directly towards it. The highlights are
normally coloured red to reflect the colour scheme NME magazine has. The colour
used contrast with the main image, this way the audience’s attention is brought
to both the image and article. Text is usually placed at either side of the
magazine, with the image on the other, this makes the article easier to read
and navigate. The image usually re-enforces the headline of the article. The
image in the headline “The Teenagers” connotates the messy, carefree,
rebellious stereotype that young adults have. Another example would be “Is
Morrissey Retiring?” the image shows Morrissey on a comfy chair relaxed.
Similar
magazines that focus on the indie music scene are Q and INDIE, however NME is
the more popular option and focuses more on the rock sub-genre, leading to a
small rivalry with rock magazines such as Kerrang. The Rolling Stones magazine
also has some competition with NME as they are both popular music magazines.
NME has been featured on News sites such as
the guardian (http://www.theguardian.com/media) with articles as recent as the 7th
October 2014, showing how the magazine is still relevant today. However, one
article has mentioned that viewing figures of the magazine have been declining.
This could be however due to the fact the convergent nature of media has made
magazine articles feature more prominently on the internet. The magazine has recently
tried to appeal to a larger female audience and focus on more mainstream
artists in order to get a wider aduidence
One
of the most controversial writers in NME was Steve Wells, (http://www.theguardian.com/media/organgrinder/2009/jun/25/nme-writer-steven-wells-tribute-james-brown) who reportedly “Had little interest in music”.
Steve wrote articles featuring new bands that he had only recently discovered,
but his clever writing and sense of humour made him popular with readers and co-workers alike
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)