Thursday, 20 January 2011
Wednesday, 19 January 2011
MY PRELIMIARY MAGAZINE
This is my preilminary excersize which is on a college magazine.
When carrying out my preliminary magazine I found out a lot of thing which before were not of any knowledge to me. Firstly I learnt that images have to be focus properly in order for a high quality image to be reached. If a photograph is taken without being properly focused the image which lack a sense of representation
Secondly, I learnt that unlike my preliminary magazine backgrounds within photographs are important , as it is uncongenial to have a background which has no meaning .I should have erased the background and placed the student on a plain background. As I did not know how to do that at the time, it was not possible. But now I have learnt how to do so and this can be done in Photoshop.
Thirdly, I learnt that when making strap lines and headings they cannot have outlines, as in my preliminary magazine there are some strap lines with boxes as outlines and some are not, id did not make use of the space within the photograph as I did not know that I had to put text on both sides of the photograph and instead I only put strap lines and headlines on the right hand side of the front cover.
Lastly I learnt that magazine covers in general must have datelines, a price and a barcode. In saying that they must also have to be fixated in a conventional way. As well as this I have also learnt that the colour themes of a magazine have to relate to one another.
ANALYSIS OF CONTENT AND DESIGN OF A MUSIC MAGAZINE (Vibe Magazine)
ANALYSIS OF CONTENT AND DESIGN OF A MUSIC MAGAZINE
Analysis of the Front Cover
The photograph is a medium shot of three artists, if studied carefully it is noticeable that the photograph of these selected individuals was taken at different time, this suggests that the cover image is a composite using three different layers. The artists have been positioned so that they stand out in order of importance. Interestingly the female featured on the cover stands behind the males and is obscured by them this could reinforce the way women are represented in the hip-hop, rap genres. The artists look collective as they are all wearing black. The photograph has been done in three layers, whilst there are four layers.
The main image on the front cover is very vital as it expresses and defines the main cover line of the magazine; the main image also shows what genre and type of issues that the reader will apprehend in too. The selected artists are within the third second and first layer of the front cover, and by insuring that P Diddy is on the first layer, it draws in the target audience. The males are shown to have black glasses and jewellery therefore a representation of rappers stating that glasses and jewellery is what is in vogue, this then makes the younger generation who aspire to be like them follow these fashion trends.(Refer to my PowerPoint presentation for the image)
The target audience are made aware of the contents of the magazine by the conventions of a front cover, the coverline,standfirst,kicker,lead article and the main background image. These conventions have then been fixated in such a way that the information has been aligned on the front cover has been done in order of importance. Therefore the information on the front cover has been arranged and displayed in order of interest and calibre. This information has been placed in this format in order to captivate and entrance the target audience into viewing the front cover of the magazine, more so the target audience can be made aware of the content of the magazine which therefore will entice them to buy it.
The colours that have been used for the front cover are white red and black.
These specific colours have been used as they all complement each other allowing each colour to stand out; therefore allowing typography, images, and headlines to stand out in addition this also allows the background image which is partly the first layer is mainly black.
The masthead is White. This is significant as it contrasts against the red and black which complement each other in this case of analysis, which enables the masthead to stands out. Therefore drawing attention to the name of the magazine. A bold Ariel font has been used. This has been used as a font as it stands out and immediately intrigues the target audience into viewing the magazine. The mast head has been placed on the first layer of the magazine ,therefore making it a background focal point for the viewers when looking glancing at the front cover. There is a website for the magazine,’www.vibe.com’. This has been fixated on the barcode to encourage readership amongst the online audience which will then be created as well. The British cost of the magazine is £3.95. The price has been placed on the barcode.
There are a number of representational issues that can be noticed on the front cover. For example the three artists on the front cover have been positioned in such a way that the two male characters have been placed in front of the female artist. This represents that in the rap industry male artists have more of a dominant role within this field. Another representational issue that can be noticed from this front cover is that jewerly and glasses is what black males rap artists wear m therefore this is what young male boys who aspire to these artist should start to dress. The language used within the front cover targets the audience by being very formal and at the same time causal. For example ‘cooking up’. this is casual language for the target audience. The magazine is produced by Vibe Lifestyle Network Intermedia Vibe Holdings LLC
Contents Page
- Give a denotative description of the layout of the contents page
A background image of Eminem with the details of the magazines content on a second layer towards the right side of the page
- Give a connotative analysis of the layout of the contents page
- How many fonts have been used and why?
Two types of fonts so that the reader will know where knew information begins
- What images have been used and why?
Eminem a rap artist, because he is part of the main cover story
- Analyse the representational issues in the images
The image shows a young sophisticated man
- How is language targeting the audience?
By using casual language
- Give examples
‘Who’s got the juice?’, ‘Andre young is still buzzing’
- Discuss the use of colour using denotation and connotation
Yellow and white font has been used in order to contrast the black background
- How does this attract the audience?
By standing out form the rest of the page
Double Page Spread
- Give a denotative description of the layout
There is a range of text and photographs, text being aligned next to every photograph
- Give a connotative analysis of the layout
- The main colour for this double page is green and white , , roughly being half a page of photograph’s ,and a page and a half font
- How many fonts have been used and why?
One main font has been used to indicate it is the same topic
- What images have been used and why?
Images which relate to the copy
- Discuss the register, how does this target the audience and why?
Some of the images have been centre positioned which makes it attractive to the reader
- Give examples of the register identified
- A picture of Beyoncé and Trey Songz aligned on the centre of the page
- Discuss the use of colour using denotation and connotation
Green and black boxes have been used to outline different section
START OFF RESEARCH OF HIP POP AND GRIME MAGAZINE COVERS
THE TWO COVERS WHICH I BASED MY MAGAZINE ON
These two magazines , Hip Pop Connection and RWD are the magazines in which i decided to base the front cover of my case study on.I felt that these two front covers conventionally appeal to my target audience to the maximum of its reach through layout and design.
PHOTO SHOOT WITH MY MAIN COVER ARTIST SLOOZIE
On the4th of November I was able to have a photo shoot session with Sharna Longville also known as Sloozie, the location was at Harrow leisure in the media suite.This was able to take place as on Wednesdays and Thursdays I start college at 1pm so the photo shoot started at 9 and ended at 11.30, I took five different pictures , I found it difficult to come to a conclusion as too which one I should use as my main cover as most of the pictures were landscape.
Before the photo shoot took place my friend who is university who studied photography at college , who now has their own photography business , taught me on the ways of which a camera should be used , lighting and shadows.as well as his help I also did a photography course at BSU (Brent Summer University) in June so I also had some knowledge of how cameras are used.
Proof of my Photoshoot
this is a print screen of my facebook page where i have uploaded the pictures of Sloozie.I uploaded the pictures on the 17th of December , as this is when everything was coming together , and I also wanted my work to be in order and organised.
Sloozie liked the pictures I took of her on the 4th of November and decided that she wanted to upload the pictures to her own social networking sites.
My chosen front cover picture
To get this effect of the microphone being a focal point before her , I asked Sloozie to hold her arm out directly in front of her , and then asked her to bend her arm at a 45 degree angle towards herself.Having done that I focused the camera on the microphone in her hand and used a umbrella in the studio to add a flash effect.
Whilst finally choosing this as my front cover image I realised that it was a reasonably good idea to have this picture as a portrait picture.
Planning of My Contents Page
With my front cover having being finished, I had to carry out research on how my contents page would look .I found this a bit difficult to carry out as there were not a lot of choices of brutish based magazines of this genre as there are only two and I really wanted to ensure that what I did could be identified as a British magazine and not mistaken for an American print out. I looked at RWD magazine AND Hip pop Connection .However I found that RWD was best suited for my target audience.
This was the first RDW contents page I analysed, I found that the use of having four images at the top of the page and then the rest of the text towards the bottom of the page gives the illusion that there is not a lot of text, so therefore the pictures attract my target audience, the next page is an advert which also makes the contents page look even more appealing
This is a second contents page of RWD that I looked at the same alignment has been used, the simple advert to the right on the second page is very inviting and makes the readers feel not to overwhelmed.I have noticed that on the contests page, the four images that have been used within both contests page vary, of a mixture of an image of a male, female, fashion or a group. This shows the readers that there is a variety of things that they will read into that will be interesting to them
Photos for my contents page
I have decided to use the layout of an RWD magazine, as I feel that this will be the most appealing layout to my target audience without fail, due to the use of the pictures and the bold headings. As they have pictures, I too have to have pictures. I had decided to take pictures of both boys and girls.
At short notice some of the people I knew were able to take part in a photo-shoot; however I did not have a venue most of it was done in my house or in different parts of the college. I will not need to use all of these photographs but i just wanted to ensure that I had a variety of images to work with
I have noticed that only one of my pictures are portait this was not intentional , I had forgotten that we were required to take potrait photgraphs.However as i have decided to use the layout of the RWD magazine i am able to make use of the landscape photographs , so this unintenional mistake did not draw me back in the presentation of my final image
ONE OF THE IMAGES TAKEN HAD TO BE EDITED
MY ADVERTISMENT
I decided that i was should make an advert next to the contents page, therefore it would look more realistic compared to that of RWD.I used a photograph that ideally i thought i would have used for my Contents page.
Double Page Spread Research
The last designing part that i had to do , was my double page spread , I had already chosen too do an interview on my chosen cover artist Sloozie.But how I was going to layout the page was what i had to decide on.I used RWD as a template and based my ideas for my double page spread off of that.
HOW I DID NOT LAYOUT MY DOUBLE PAGE SPREAD
I chose not to lay out my double page feature like the one from that featured in this kerrang magazine. Due to the main reason which was that this is not the genre that i am focusing on as mine is hip pop and grime , where as kerrang is a rock genre magazine..Although the double page does include five pictures which do appeal and will most defiantly appeal to my target audience as it is evident that my target audience find it more interesting to read text when there is are images.
Secondly there is a column towards the right of the page where three other topics have been addressed. I decided not to do this as i wanted to focus mainly on my feature artist. The typography used also does not relate to that of my genre .
Pictures within the double page spread
All the pictures on the double page spread were the remaining photographs that I took during the photo shoot with sloozie .
Tuesday, 18 January 2011
MY INTERVIEW PLAN AND PROCESS
I had started planning my interview with my chosen artist on the 15th of September at 19:25 pm as it says on the print screen; I used a social networking website Facebook to get in contact with the artist. Due to her busy schedule I was not expecting her to reply so quickly however surprisingly she replied back to me on the 16th of September at 17:01 pm, her reply was very positive and she was willing to take part in my case study
On the 27th of November at 13:00 I got in contact with my chosen artist to update her on the progress which I have made .Due to me having a family issue i was not able to meet up with her on the agreed dates. So I was left with no choice other than to email her the questions, she had agreed to answer them and send them to me by Tuesday the following week
On the 30th of September sloozie replied the interview answer via my email this time around and not my Facebook inbox, however much to my surprise she reordered herself saying the questions and answering them to give it more of an interview feel and to make it as realistic as possible due to the fact that she felt sorry for me due to the family issue and that I showed much enthusiasm about wanting to interview her.
Feedback on my Main cover
Once I had finished my project , I wanted to get some feedback from my selected target audience.
I asked 20 people an equal share of males and females.
when asked do you feel you can relate to the main cover as its specif genre 18 out of the 20 said yes,
when asked do you like the layout-16 out of the 20 people said yes,
when asked about the inside contents , e.g the contents page , 12 people said they were very pleased with he layout, 7 people said it was very simple and easy to understand but it looks basic and 1 person said they saw the layout to be boring and plain.
from my feedback , i understand that i have reached my goal by appealing to my target audience , and there is always a scope for improvement.
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