Double Page Spread

Before creating my double page spread I was aware that it couldn't look boring or long winded as reader's will not be interested in reading really long articles so I knew I had to make it look unique, interesting and professional. Whilst maintaining the theme of black & white/greyscale, I made sure the text was black or white to contrast completely against the grey background so reader's can easily understand and read the article. After writing the article, I decided the double page spread needed additional images rather than just one big image to interest the target market into reading the article as the majority of people that read look at images before reading. 

Front Cover

I began to create my music magazine by creating the front page. I experimented with different types of fonts for the masthead by using DaFont.com which is a useful website for finding and using new, bold and unique fonts. As shown above the "BASS LINE" mast head was my final font which I used for the front cover and repeated using this font for the magazines logo, ensuring I maintained this certain theme throughout the whole magazine. I then selected the text box tool for the strap-line above the masthead which I then changed throughout creating the front cover. The social media logos and bar-code were also sourced from DaFont.com but then changed and altered near the end of making the magazine because I was not pleased with the way they looked. 

I then went into Photoshop to edit the images that I had taken in the photo-shoot I arranged. The difficult image to edit was the portrait of my female model as I wanted her to be placed in front of the masthead (Bass Line). I had to edit her in photoshop and add the masthead in with the picture and blend it behind her head. This was the most difficult part when making my front cover and took several lessons to get it right to ensure it looked professional. Once I edited her outline out of the background, I could then place her as a new image on top of the other image and 'Bassline' font. Shown below is the final out come after editing her into the page and being in front of the masthead. Also shown is this screenshot reveals the different headings, sub headings & straplines I included on the front cover. 

 

Arranging/Analysing Photoshoot

Displayed above are all the images I shot in the photo shoot which I scheduled on the 21st October 2015. I was very pleased with the images I ended up with as the majority of them were appropriate to be used in the music magazine. Instantly, I picked out the portrait photo of my female model as it was a great quality as it was a bright image and displayed a lot of contrast in colours from her outfit. This image was used for the front cover of my magazine.

Another two images I really liked are displayed below. The lights I used to enhance the brightness of the images I was taking were used behind where my models were they sat/standing which created a darker "shadow" effect. After looking at these two images I then decreased the brightness in the images and ended up with a dark figure which looked professional but also suspicious. 

Types of shots

Front facing shots of both individuals faces

1.    Smiling looking straight at the camera

2.    Serious straight posing face

Full body shots of both individuals (single & together shots)

1.    Serious straight posing face

2.    Eye gazing to the left

3.    Eye gazing to the right

4.    Eye gazing up above

5.    Eye gazing down below

6.    Pointing one hand forward at the camera (serious face)

7.    Pointing one hand forward at the camera (smiley face)

8.    Holding both hands up in the air laughing

Front facing shots (idea's for the front cover)

1.    Individual shots smiling at the camera

2.    Serious face looking down holding the headphones
3. Serious face of each model looking directly at the camera lense

(Includes wearing sunglasses and a pair of beats headphones) 

Attire for both models

Louis Way:

- White t-shirt

- Black or blue skinny jeans

- White or black pair of trainers

- Black Ray Ban sunglasses

- Black snap-back

Livvie Bennet:

- Hair all down
- Loose top
- Baggy Cardigan

- Black leather leggings
- Black plimsols

Additional Information
Where: Photoshoot room
When: 21st October at 11am
What: Photoshoot for both individual models including shots together

Music Magazine Skeletons

Looking at all 4 front cover skeletons, I prefer the second skeleton out of all of them because of the organised layout of all the cover lines grouped together leaving a lot of room for the main image to be seen. Shown below is my contents page skeleton.

Shown above are my two double page spread skeletons. I prefer the first skeleton and will be using this structure when creating my music magazine as it has an organised layout, leaving a lot of room for images, text and the title. 

Music Magazine Planning

The chart above displays the potential different names for my music magazine. I asked 15 people from my Media class to select their favourite names that are shown above. I then tallied up my results and found out that "House Too Deep" and "Bass line" both had 6 votes each. I have decided to name my music magazine "Bass Line" as it is simple and punchy. 

Shown above are various potential fonts for my music magazines masthead. I asked 12 people to vote for their favourite 3 fonts. As you can see, I had two popular fonts that both got the highest votes. Personally I prefer the font on the right which is shown below as it is big, bold and all in line. 

Music Magazine Analysis - No.2

Kerrang

Front Cover

Audience: The front cover of Kerrang instantly displays its rock theme by displaying popular rock bands like "Guns N Roses" which allows us to understand that the magazine is aimed at people who enjoy listening to rock music. Font/Image: Instantly the black font stands out from the image displayed behind it as it contrasts with the bright image of a guy topless covered in tattoos. The font is very bold and sharp which emphasises rock music's harsh and heavy image. Masthead: The masthead being placed across the width of the page ensures the audience is suddenly aware of the name of the magazine. The red writing of the masthead suits the rock theme as stereotypically red is known to be used in rock music.

Contents Page

The contents page instantly displays all the magazine information including page numbers for different stories. It also maintains the magazine's theme by using the same font as the mast head for the contents title. Making the subheadings for each story bold and highlighted in yellow allows the audience to be able to clearly read each story and what its about. When creating my magazine I will need to follow these useful and effective ways to ensure my magazine grabs the audiences attention. 

Double Page Spread

The double page spread maintains the rock magazine's theme of the dark background within the image and the rest of the page. Including the image on the  left side of the page immediately grabs the readers attention as it fills the width and height of the A4 page and includes a man contrasting with the black background as he has pale white. I intend to include an image that will fill up one side of the page in my music magazine as it looks professional and will make the article look more interesting towards my audience. 

Mood Boards 4 Music Magazine

You can also view this through Prezi below

House Artists

These images of Vibe Magazines have influenced my ideas for my music magazine skeleton as all 6 front covers are bold and recognisable. 

Music Magazine Analysis

Music Magazine Analysis

The Observer – Music Monthly

Front Cover

Audience: The front cover of the newspaper companies (The Observer) Music Monthly magazine immediately highlights its audience of people who enjoy listening to popular alternative/indie artists but also new upcoming artists like Taylor Swift before she became big, which is shown on page 36.

Font/Image: Instantly I notice the bold font in the centre of the page stating “THE KILLERS”. Using bold capped font for the band highlights the power and popularity of the music group. As seen in the image, they are all wearing black in front of the red, white and blue flag. This makes all four band members stand out clearly as they contrast against the background. Below “THE KILLERS” it states about the band being “Americas most wanted” which relates back to the patriotic theme of the band.

Masthead: The masthead is not like other magazines as it isn’t big and stretched across the top of the page, it is placed in a white circle behind one of the band members. Although it seems like it isn’t important on the magazine, you can clearly see the name of the magazine due to the black font which is completely opposite to the white background.

The contents page is found on page 3 of the magazine. The content page includes all information needed for the reader to find a section that they wish to read and included is the page number written beside that to make it easy for the reader to find the topic that they want. In this case Music Monthly have made their popular stories larger than other stories which also included some images. For example, the story about Taylor Swift includes an image of her so the reader immediately understands the article is about her. This magazine is not the only magazine that includes images in their contents page. When creating my music magazine, I will need to take these ideas into account to make it looks effective and real. This double page spread is on page 36 and has a slightly different and unique orientation. As you can see in the picture, the article is portrait over two A4 pages, including a huge picture of Taylor Swift covering the majority of the space and then a small but detailed article at the bottom.

Overall, the front cover of this magazine is very successful as it has a consistent theme and shows a cool, trendy style. After deciding on my music genre, I will need to consider what colour scheme suits best and how to make my image/font stand out from the rest of the page.

School Magazine - Front Cover

Success within the front cover

I have finished creating my front cover on Adobe Indesign CC. I am pleased with the final outcome of the front cover however there are still improvements I would like to take note of when it comes to creating my final music magazine front cover.

When creating a front cover for my school magazine I started off with finding a relevant font that fits the theme of the magazine. I used a helpful website called DaFont where you can browse through thousands of different fonts and select the one you want. Once I selected my best font I screen shotted it and then pasted it into powerpoint to crop the image and then saved it as a JPEG. This was a success for the magazine as the font suits the overall theme of a smart, sophisticated school. Another success was the light blue background contrasting with the image of the 2 models which makes them stand out from the rest of the front cover. The use of using Photoshop was a massive success when developing my front cover. For example, the main/central image I photoshopped involved changing the brightness, contrast, tone but also using the quick selection tool to crop both models out of the background and then saving them as a separate image to then import into InDesign. When creating the front cover of my school magazine I had to use my skeleton I had created to guide me on what I needed to include. This was a success when developing the front cover as I always knew what I was going to include. 

Improvements

I believe my front cover is very dull. This is highlighted by the light blue plain background behind the two models which makes the page look boring. To make the cover look interesting and attractive for the potential customer/reader it must stand out by being bold, colourful and exciting. This is something I must improve on by testing different colour schemes and backgrounds against my theme and pictures. Another improvement I have selected is the image I chose for the main background. Although the quality and brightness of the image is good, both models look very serious and bored. To improve I think an image of both models looking occupied by school work would look better to portray the general theme of a good school. A new improved image would also replace the plain background to discard the dull look of the magazine to a new interesting and colourful front cover. Overall, I believe the front cover is good but only average due to the lack of creativity within the picture and theme. 

My Peer's opinions

I messaged a few friends to give feedback on my front cover which is shown below. 

Editing Photoshoot Images

Using my smart phone I edited the front cover photo with an application called Enlight. This app lets you edit images you have taken on your phone (shown below).

Before & After editing

Firstly, I cropped the image due to so much irrelevant space above their heads. I then brightened up the image, lowered the contrast, and increased the exposure. 

The process of editing

Using Photoshop

After editing (Option 1)

(Option 2)

Photoshoot

Key: Orange = Bad, Green = Good

I do not like the first individual front facing shots due to to the awkward lighting making different parts of their faces patchy. The 2 shots of them studying I like as the quality of both images are very clear and shows an insight into the success of the school. The 2 shots of both models behind the white background are not good due to the distance the shots were taken at and the models also appear to be acting awkward whilst I was taking the 2 shots. The last 2 images display the models enjoying their school life including both of them sat reading from a book outside in the sunshine and the other image of both students smiling. I am considering the last image to be my School Magazine's central image because of the natural, modern and happy look of the image.

Magazine Skeletons & Fonts

       

 Skeleton 1

Skeleton 2

Skeleton 3

Skeleton 4

These four skeletons are my initial ideas for my school magazine I will be creating. All four skeletons are similar in different ways but overall I prefer number 3 due to the Masthead covering the whole width of the top of the page to attract the public to notice the big, bold name of the magazine. Although I have chosen Skeleton 3, I have discovered through research that the left hand side of the front cover of a magazine is normally covered by the buyers hand when reading. To ensure the central image is seen at all times, I will make the secondary images box thinner. 

Skeleton - Contents Page

Skeleton - Double Page spread

Potential Magazine fonts

Photoshoot Preparation - School Magazine

Photography Shoot

Schedule:

• At the Misbourne School on the 11^th of September.
• Shoot starts at 11am for half an hour.
• Meeting in the photography room and then after 10 minutes we will move to the English classroom in 309 to use the setting.

Models: 

• Ryan Collier
• Poppy Evans

 Outfits:

• Ryan Collier – Smart attire (Formal suit and smart shoes.)
• Poppy Evans – Classy attire (Glasses, Smart blazer, White blouse, Pastel a line skirt and smart shoes.)

Types of shots:

• Front shot of both models (Smiling) to show they are enjoying their school years.
• Individual Front Shots of both models sat down in a classroom looking focused on their lesson.
• Side shots of both models looking down and reading.
• Side shots of both models chatting to each other looking happy.

I am going to take these detailed images to ensure my school magazine looks interesting and high quality. The use of both genders in my shoot shows that the magazine is aimed at both sex’s and makes the magazine look more friendly. Both models looking smart will also ensure my school magazine and school is viewed upon as a smart/formal place to learn and study. 

Evidence showing myself communicating to other students about my photoshoot.