Colour and Font Samples

Colour Scheme

These are the colours which i have chosen that will feature in my music magazine. I have chosen red and blue colours, along with white and black, because i feel this colour scheme will be very gender neutral, which is what i want my magazine to portray to the readers. I have also included the numbers for each of the colours, so i can easily reference them and use them if i wanted to get the exact same colour when i am actually creating my blog.

Fonts

For the LOUD! logo, i used an online font generator called "Cool Text" and i chose the font "Frosty." I used a shade of blue similar to my colour scheme which is relevant because it shows that i have properly considered colour. I have also selected some fonts from my computer which will potentially be featured on my music magazine. They are all relatively simple, as i do not want it to be too over the top or "Fancy".

Pitch

This is a Prezi presentation i have made for the pitch of my magazine. Thanks to all the research i have gathered over the weeks and all the information i have collected and analysed, i can now sum up my final ideas and i can begin to properly plan my final product. This presentation shows all my ideas in a quick, brief, yet very effective way, as it shows you my exact plans and ideas.
Additional information which i did not include on this presentation is:
Name of magazine: LOUD!
Price: £2.10
Issue number: #001
Frequency: weekly

Photoshoot Planning

What emotional impact do you want your photography do have upon the reader?

I want the reader to feel slightly alarmed when they see the photo, as i intend to use a photo of my model snarling at the viewer. This will make the viewer potentially feel intimidated, howeber i would also like them to see the jovial side of it as well, so they know that the band member my model is posing as is not completely violent and anti-social. 

What personnel do you need? Who are you going to photograph?

I am using one of my good friends, Peter, to model for my magazine. I have chosen him because i am comfortable around him and he is comfortable with me, therefore taking the photos will not be difficult to do, as we will be able to co-operate and help each other out without feeling uncomfortable around each other.

What props will you need?

I may use a fake cigarette or a guitar to set the scene of my music genre, however i am still undecided about this. I have both of the props at the ready in case i do decide to use these, therefore i may try them out and see whether they look effective or not. I will make my judgement from there.

How are you going to emphasise colour?

I will use filters on photoshop when creating my magazine to ensure that it is not too bright or vibrant; i do not want the front of my magazine to look too happy or lively, as i want it to be dark and mysterious like the inspiration i have from the research into existing magazines.

Have you briefed your personnel/models?
Yes i have.

What lighting will you need? 

I will be taking various photos, some outside and one main one in a studio. Natural lighting will be used for some of them (the more casual ones) which will be included within the inside of my magazine, and i will use three-point lighting for the main image on the front cover. This will minimize the shadows.

Where will you shoot? Will you need a backdrop?
For one of my photos, the background will just be completely white, which will make it easier for me to add my own background (i.e. a brick wall or a black/dark back drop). For the more casual outdoor photos, i will use the scenery of Barnes Park as the background, as it is very attractive to look at.

Make-up? Costume?
My model will have two main outfits (one for the cover and one for the inside pages); a black leather jacket with dark skinny jeans and converse, and for the other one, a red flannel shirt, a denim jacket and blue skinny jeans. My model will not require makeup for this photoshoot.

Reader Profile - Katie, 17

This is a developed reader profile which allows me to see an individual response to the interests within my magazine. I used myself as the main focus of this, as I fall into my own target audience. I have included information which will come in useful when creating my magazine, e.g. my colour preferences may be taken into consideration when doing the colour scheme, and by including my hobbies and interests, i know what kind of content to include within the magazine. 

Hairstyles and Facial Expressions

Here is the link to the slideshow i have created for potential hairstyles and facial expressions which i would like my model to have during the photo shoot. (the first 7 images are the hairstyles i am interested in, and the rest are the facial expressions i would like to use)

the majority of these hairstyles are very similar to each other; long hair, a side swept fringe, and a messy hairstyle. This messy style would be appropriate for my genre of magazine because Rock is known for not being clean-cut and precise, it's supposed to be edgy and dis-organised. As for the facial expressions and the poses, the majority of the ones i have chosen on this slideshow are images of snarling or shouting faces. This is appropriate as it reflects the general personality of my target audience; people who are reckless and dont care for rules. This could also represent the type of music included in the magazine, as a lot of it involves screaming, which is what the facial expressions could represent. 

Flat Plans

 Front Cover 

This is my initial idea for my music magazine final product. I have made sure to include all the main features which are needed to be included, i.e. banners, the masthead, various cover lines, the main image, the main title/sell line, the essential information (barcode, price, issue number etc) and the puff. When producing my final product, i will use this as a template, and i will follow it in order to ensure that i am well organised. 

 

Contents Page

This is my initial idea for the Contents page of my magazine. I have kept it in a simple format because i did not want it to look too overcrowded, however, when i apply the images and the text, i will make them as interesting as possible, to ensure that the page is not too dull or plain. I have included the main features, such as the Title ("Contents"), the main image (a photo of my model), the page titles and page numbers, and a selection of subheads with some added information to give the reader an insight of what's inside. 

Double Page Spread

This is the flat plan for my double page spread. I have chosen to use a large title which covers the whole top of the page, in order to attract the attention of the readers straight away. I will write this in a bold font to make it stand out against the dark background. I have set out the article in columns as my target audience is teenagers, therefore they will appreciate it as it will be easier to read, as they dont tend to enjoy reading large bodies of text; it's a lot easier to gather information from the text when it is broken up into columns. I have also overlayed the image with a pull-quote which i will take from the extract in the article. This will most likely be a sentence which provokes emotion, in order to encourage the reader to read the article in order to find it for more information.

USP and Brand Identity

USP and Brand Identity are both features of a product which are used over time in order to make the product more desirable to the paying public.
The USP (short for Unique Selling Point) is a characteristic of a product that can be used in advertising to differentiate (make it stand out) it from its competitors. For example, in order for a clothing item to have a USP, an element of the item would have to be un-seen before and outrageous.
Brand Identity can be a brand's name, communication style, logo and other visual elements to be perceived by consumers. The components of the brand are created by the business itself, making brand identity easily recognised, and percieved in a way which the business would want it to be perceived.     

Denotation & Connotation

When creating products in media, uses of connotation and denotation can be applied in order for the reader to sub conciously think of something in a certain way. This use of words can be either be used very obviously, or they could be hidden between the lines. The definition for both of these words are as follows:
Denotation refers to the literal meaning of a word, or as some may say: the "dictionary definition."¨ For example, if you look up the word dark in a dictionary, you will discover that one of its denotative meanings is "not reflecting much light; approaching black in shade."
Connotation, on the other hand, refers to the associations that are connected to a certain word or the emotional suggestions related to that word. E.g The connotations for the word dark could include evil or danger.

Preferred, Negotiated and Oppositional Reading

Stuart Hall is a cultural theorist and professor of Sociology at the Open University. Stuart Hall looked at the role of audience positioning in the interpretation of mass media texts by different social groups. Hall came up with a model suggesting three ways in which we may read a media text:

Preffered Reading – This is when audiences respond to the product the way media producers want/expect them to.

Negotiated Reading – This is when a member of the audience partly agrees with part of the product .e.g Film, documentary, TV programme.
Oppositional Reading – This is when the audience are in complete disagreement with the product’s message or setting.

Research into the music magazine Market

Here is another presentation, created on Animoto, to quickly show all the leading, existing Rock magazines. I was important for me to research these, as if my music magazine, Loud!, were to go into the market, i would need to know who my competition was, and i'd need to do my research on each of the magazine companies in order to know their strengths and weaknesses.

Alternative Press

Price: $5.99 /  £3.76

Circulation per issue: 280,000

Frequency: Monthly

Alternative press - or, Alt Press for short - is an American music magazine based in Ohio. It generally provides readers with band interviews, photos, information on upcoming releases, and music charts. It was founded in 1985 by Mike Shea. At the time of its 20th anniversary in 2005, AP had grown to an average size of 112 pages per issue and now averages between 198 to 220+ pages a month. The magazine's monthly columns include "The AP Poll", "In the Studio", "AP&R (unsigned bands of the month)", "Chalkboard Confessional", "Musician of the Month", "My Favorite Gear", "Next Exit", "Gig Bag", "1000 Words", "Beauty and the Band", and "10 Essential." 

Classic Rock

Price: £5.50

Circulation per issue: 71,242

Frequency: Monthly

Classic Rock is a British magazine dedicated to the radio format of classic rock published by TeamRock. Although firmly focusing on key bands from the 1960s through early 1990s, it also includes articles and reviews of contemporary and upcoming artists it deems worthy of note. Despite starting as an on-off project it has become one of the UK's best selling music magazines.  In September 2010 it published its 150th issue and now has a higher circulation than the NME Magazine.

Vive Le Rock

Price: £4.99

Circulation per issue: 15,000

Frequency: Bi-Monthly

Vive Le Rock is an independent music magazine published in the United Kingdom which covers Punk, New Wave, Glam and Garage through to mod and primal Rock n Roll, and even the darker side of Alternative Rock. The editor for this magazine is Eugene Butcher, and he produced the first copy in June 2011, making this magazine fairly new to the market.

Mojo

Price: £4.60

Circulation per issue: 94,617

Frequency: monthly

MOJO is a popular music magazine published initially by Emap, and since January 2008 by Bauer, monthly in the United Kingdom. MOJO was first published on 15 October 1993; in keeping with its classic rock aesthetic, the first issue had Bob Dylan and John Lennon as its first cover stars. MOJO regularly includes a covermount CD which ties in with a current magazine article or theme. In 2004 it introduced the Mojo Honours list, an awards ceremony which is a mixture of readers' and critics' awards

NME

Price: £2.20

Circulation per issue: 23,924

Frequency: weekly

The New Musical Express, popularly known by initialism NME, created by Theodore Smythson, is a music journalism publication in the United Kingdom, published weekly since March 1952. It started as a music newspaper, and gradually moved toward a magazine format during the 1980s, changing from newsprint in 1998. It was the first British paper to include a singles chart, in the 14 November 1952 edition. In the 1970s it became the best-selling British music newspaper

Q

Price: £3.99

Circulation per issue: 58,980

Frequency: monthly

Founders Mark Ellen and David Hepworth were dismayed by the music press of the time, which they felt was ignoring a generation of older music buyers who were buying CDs — then still a new technology. Q was first published by the EMAP media group in October 1986, setting itself apart from much of the other music press with monthly production and higher standards of photography and printing. In the early years, the magazine was sub-titled "The modern guide to music and more". 

Rocksound

Price: £3.99

Circulation per issue: 15,005

Frequency: monthly

Rock Sound is a British magazine which champions rock music. The magazine aims at being more "underground" and less commercial, while also giving coverage to more well-known acts. It generally focuses on the pop, punk, pop-punk, emo, hardcore, post-hardcore, heavy metal and extreme metal genres of rock music, rarely covering indie rock music at all. The tag-line "For those who like their music loud, extreme and non-conformist" is sometimes used.

Kerrang!

Price: £2.20

Circulation per issue: 42,007

Frequency: Weekly

Kerrang! is a UK-based magazine devoted to rock music published by Bauer Media Group. It was first published on 6 June 1981 as a one-off supplement in the Soundsnewspaper. Named after the onomatopoeic word that derives from the sound made when playing a power chord on a distorted electric guitar, Kerrang! was initially devoted to theNew Wave of British Heavy Metal and the rise of hard rock acts. In the early 2000s it became the best-selling British music newspaper

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From looking at this research, i can start to analyse the given information in order to work out which of the existing magazines would be seen as competition to my own magazine. For example, i can see that Vive Le Rock would not be of any competition, as it is the least successful on the list, with a circulation of only 15,000. This magazine also has one of the highest prices, meaning readers would not like to pay so much for such an unsuccessful magazine.

Also, Alternative Press would not be of competition to me, as it is based in America, and is not sold in UK Retail stores. It is a very successful magazine, however the UK market is completely separate to the UK market, meaning that the two magazines would not have to compete.

Q is a magazine which would not be too much of competition either, as Q tends to include all types of music in it's magazine; not just rock. Infact, the majority of the time, Pop or Rap artists dominate this magazine's front cover, which is something my target audience would not approve of, therefore Q and my magazine have slightly different genres.

This leaves: Classic Rock, Kerrang, NME and Rocksound. Out of all of these, i think Kerrang! would be my biggest threat when marketing my product. (Besides the fact that Kerrang is the UK's leading magazine); this is because the bands and the genre of music included in Kerrang and almost exactly the same as what i would like to include in my magazine, due to the research i did into my target audience. Also, when doing my research into my target audience, i found that the majority of people who will read my magazine, would be willing to pay £3.99 for my magazine, whereas Kerrang is only £2.20. This means that Kerrang has virtually the same content as my magazine, but at a cheaper price, therefore i would have to consider my pricing of the magazine, and perhaps lower it, in order for my magazine, Loud! to be more appealing.

Sub Genre Research

This is a video i have put together on the site Animoto to show a brief presentation on the various sub genres of Rock music, which i may be interested to include in my magazine. (Apologies for the speed of the video, i was unable to edit the timing of each of the frames unless i upgraded and paid a certain amount of money for it. Therefore, pausing the video in order to read the text may be necessary.)

The four sub genres i have chosen are Pop-Punk, Punk-Rock, Alternative Rock and Indie Rock. These are all relevant to my music magazine because when gathering information for my reader profile, i discovered that the majority of my audience enjoy these sub genres, as their favourite band falls within them. For example, the joint most popular band was Blink 182, and Blink 182 is a punk-rock band. Other popular bands from my target audience include Kaiser Chiefs (Indie Rock), Nirvana (Alt Rock) and Man Overboard (Pop Punk). By including these genres within my magazine, i am broadening my target audience, by appealing to more fans within the category of Rock Music.

Seimiotics Overview

Semiotics, or in other words, the study of signs and meaning, can prove to be useful when it comes to taking photos and planning and designing my magazine layout, as it can give the page sightly more depth to it. 

"Signifier + Signified = Sign"
In life, we sub-consciously recognise certain colours or objects and think of specific meanings or thoughts, for example, we see a red light and we automatically think "stop!"; we see a green light, and instantly think "go!" and so on. This is taught to us through the culture we live in, along with experiencing it through repetition throughout our every day lives. In order to interpret the signs correctly, people need to have a previous knowledge of the context in these signs. 

The main reason semiotics can benefit my design is because using a knowledge of these theories when designing can instantly provide relevance and give my overall view magazine a correct feeling in relation to the target audience.

A few idea's I have are the use of certain colours like red and black. A bright red colour has connotations (or suggestions) of danger and power. This not only links to the rock music in my magazine, but also appeals to the desire of my target audience, who would enjoy the idea of a rebellious, reckless lifestlye. Black is a colour which connotates the idea of fear and the unknown, which once again, appeals to the target audience who have a lust for excitement in their lives.

Colour isn't the only sign or meaning I could use. Gestures and Facial expressions are a simple way to add relevance to articles and text. I need to go into the photo-shoot with my model, knowing fully which facial expressions and gestures I want them to try, in relation to the topic of the article. For example, an articles about themselves might require them to have a serious, stern facial expression, in order to keep with the theme of danger within rock music, or on the other hand, i may want them to have a comical gesture/facial expression, in order to contrast with the music genre, and make the audience know that rock stars don't all 'worship Satan'; they can actually be very lovable and friendly.

Preliminary task - Feedback

This is the feed back sheet for our college magazine. The rest of the class were our peers and they helped to give us some constructive criticism, along with some compliments, in order to help us improve our magazine. Overall,  the feedback mainly shows that our strengths were the design of the layout and the colour scheme, however our weakness was mainly the image; it was too blurry. This was due to having to adjust the size of the image on photoshop, causing it to reduce it's image quality. We also forgot to add an indication of the price of the magazine; we intended for it to be a free magazine which could be picked up from the college, however we did not make this clear. Next time, for my main task, i will ensure that a high quality image is used, and i will be certain to add the pice to it, along with all the other essential information.

Outfits/Clothing mood-board

Before taking photos of my model, i need some information and inspiration on clothing ideas. I have put together a small mood board on the website Pinterest, and it consists of clothing items which are appropriate to my target audience's interests and preferences. Eg. Band shirts/merchandise, black skinny jeans, converse, Vans, flannel shirts, leather and denim jackets etc. These are all the type of clothes that band members stereo-typically enjoy and wear, therefore it would be appropriate for my model (who is posing as a band member) to wear a selection of the clothes from this mood board.

Click here for the direct link to the full moodboard. 

Model - Confirmation

This is a screen shot from me talking to my model, making sure he is still able to model for me for my music magazine. Fortunately, this shows he is still available for me to take photos of him, and he is willing to arrange the details with me in person.

Mood Boards

Magazine Mood boards

This is a presentation showing three mood boards, all containing images from: The front cover, Contents pages, and double page spreads of magazines similar to my chosen genre. This will help give me some ideas on what poses i want my chosen model to do while i take photos of him for my own magazine. I will use some of these photos as templates for my own magazine. These mood boards also help to show me that the images are all different types on each of the 3 different pages, and it gives me inspiration on what to do for my own. 

Camera Angles

Here i have taken some photos  using different camera positions which i have researched. The majority of these shots were not taken in a serious manner, they were simply took of me and my friends with the intentions of practicing using the camera in different ways.

Close up

- This shows very little background, and concentrates on either a face, or a specific detail of mise en scène. Everything else is just a blur in the background. This shot magnifies the object (think of how big it looks on a cinema screen) and shows the importance of things, be it words written on paper, or the expression on someone's face. The close-up takes us into the mind of a character.

High Shot

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- The camera is elevated above the action using a crane to give a general overview. High angles make the object photographed seem smaller, and less significant (or scary). The object or character often gets swallowed up by their setting - they become part of a wider picture.

Long Shot

- This is the most difficult to categorise precisely, but is generally one which shows the image as approximately "life" size ie corresponding to the real distance between the audience and the screen in a cinema (the figure of a man would appear as six feet tall). This category includes the FULL SHOT showing the entire human body, with the head near the top of the frame and the feet near the bottom. 

Mid/Medium close up Shot

- The medium closeup is half way between a mid shot and a close up. This shot shows the face more clearly, without getting uncomfortably close. Usually from around the shoulders-up is shown. Anything involving the waist or below would not be considered a mid-close up.

Low shot

-These increase height and give a sense of speeded motion. Low angles help give a sense of confusion to a viewer, of powerlessness within the action of a scene. The background of a low angle shot will tend to be just sky or ceiling, the lack of detail about the setting adding to the disorientation of the viewer. The added height of the object may make it inspire fear and insecurity in the viewer, who is psychologically dominated by the figure on the screen.

Research into Facial expressions, Poses, Gaze and Lighting

Poses which appeal to me

i like this magazine cover mainly because of the pose on the front. This pose looks very jovial and informal, implying that the band member is genuine and down-to-earth, which is something i'm considering my model to look like. However if i were to get my model to re-enact this pose, i would ensure that he was not topless. I would prefer him to be wearing either a dark band t-shirt or a black leather jacket.

This magazine also appeals to me. I like the mid-close up shot and i think it would look good to have my model pull a face like this. Even if i don't have a head and shoulders shot; if it was full body, i would still like him to pull an informal face similar to this one. It gives the reader/viewer an impression that the band/artist are not stuck up, unlike some (stereotypical) pop stars, which would appeal to my target audience. This photo looks almost as if the model is snarling, which is something i want my model to do, however my model will look slightly more serious in order to appear threatening, as opposed to Robbie Williams on this photo who appears quite excited.

The Recce

Are there any potential hazards that could pose a health and safety risk where your photo shoot will take place (trailing cables/traffic/other objects )?
If I chose the location in Sunderland next to a brick wall, there may be a road next to it with active traffic/transport. To ensure there is no hazard, I will make sure to keep both myself and my model as far away from the road as possible, and I will use appropriate crossings if I need to cross over the road. Also, for my photo shoot I require my model to have a cigarette to give the impression that he is an older male who is stereotypically living the “Rock and Roll” lifestyle. To ensure that this is safe, I will not use a real cigarette; instead I will use a novelty one – found in a fancy dress store called ‘Dr. Funkenstein’ in Sunderland.

Will the time of day/weather affect the outcome of the photos? Have you allowed for this?I would prefer it to be sunny on the day of the photoshoot, because the lighting would be better and it would overall appear more attractive, however, it wouldn’t be too much of a problem if it were to be cloudy. Cloudy weather would most likely suit my magazine better, as sunshine is not usually associated with Rock stars and Rock music.

Have you considered the background to your photos, particularly if taken outside? How will you ensure you will get the background you want?
I have narrowed down two options for my background; a brick wall or a forest scene from Barnes Park. This will not be too hard to attain because they are both places open to the public, and even if the wall I want is busy, I can always find a different wall, as brick walls are vastly available.

Do you need permission to take photos in the place/venue you have in mind?
No I do not require permission. Both places are publically available to view and use.

Do you need to book time in a room (eg the photography studio at Shiney)?
No, both of my chosen locations will take place outside, therefore no booking is needed.

Are other people/crowds likely to be an issue for you? What have you done to ensure that it will not spoil the effect?
The general public would be a problem for me if I were to do the photoshoot in Barnes park, however if I do it against a wall, there will be no people in the background to ruin the photograph. To resolve the issue in Barne’s Park, I intend to go in the morning, when it is not very busy, and take the photos there and then.

Are you reliant on lifts/props/friends’ equipment/models? How have you planned that these things will come together at the appointed time? Plan B?
I am relying on my friend Peter to be available when I need him to be for my photoshoot, and I am also relying on him to bring his novelty cigarette on the day. If he is unavailable for any reason, I will ask him to borrow the cigarette in advance, and I will find another friend who would be eager to model for me; perhaps my friends Laura or Jordan.

Location Scouting

 My first option of a place to have my photo-shoot is Barnes Park. I'd preferably like to go on a sunny day, as it would be easy to access due to how close it is to my college. It has numerous potential suitable locations, for example, a lake, trees and band-stands. I think my model would look good against either the railings of the band stand or sitting on the bridge over the lake.

My second option is a white brick wall located in Sunderland near the Bridges shopping centre, i feel this would be appropriate for a "rock star" image, as the brick wall would represent a rural and urban atmosphere. There may be another brick wall nearby which is built up of red bricks, which could also be appropriate for my photoshoot.

Preliminary Task - Final Product

This is the final product of my College Magazine for my preliminary task. I stuck to my flat-plan template to an extent, however, certain aspects were changed. For example, the rotated angle of the main-sell line was changed, and more cover-lines were added to fill up space. I did not include a banner in the end, as that would be more suited for a music magazine as opposed to an educational magazine, and i had no clear ideas of what to put inside of the banner. To improve this if i did it again, i would alter the main image to make it less blurry, as the resolution changed slightly as i uploaded it to photoshop, which proved to be a technical difficulty. I chose the Mast-head "College life" as i felt it was simple, yet effective and relevant to the magazine, and the typography used is very jovial/un-informal without looking too immature for a college magazine. This is important as the youngest readers of this magazine will be 16 years old. I included the college website in the bottom right third to give the reader more information on the college.


This is the Contents page i have created, following my flat plan to the best of my ability. Some changes from my plat plan were necessary, for example, due to the restrictions of the image dimensions, i needed to overlap my title with the main image. This is because the image was too large, therefore  the contents title would have been too low down if i kept with my original plan. 

Because of this, i did not include a pull-quote, as it would make it look too overcrowded and busy towards the top of the page. I have included all the basics of the contents page, including, a main title, a main image, advertisements, contents titles with numbers, secondary images, etc, etc. 

Flat Plans - Preliminary task

These are the flat-plans for both my front cover and my contents page for the College magazine i will be creating for my preliminary task. I have included almost all the main features of a magazine on both of the flatplans. E.g. Mast head, main images, cover lines, secondary images, titles, pull quotes, puffs, barcodes, essential information, logos, banners, page numbers, etc. I will follow these plans as a guide when creating my own magazine.

Photoshoot - Unsuccessful images

 

  These are photos which are not going to be included within my magazine. these were unsuccessful because either the lighting was too dark, or I was laughing during the shoot. This makes the photos look unproffessional, and they are not suitable for my college magazine.

Photoshoot - Successful images

These are some of the images I am considering using for my preliminary task. The task is to create a college magazine with all the key features, in order to prepare myself for the main task. These photos were in my opinion, all successful, and they would be suitable to put in an educational magazine. The photograph at the very top is the photo which i would like to use for the front cover of my magazine, and i would use the other ones for sub-images. I took these shots with my friends; Bethany was the other model (the one wearing the denim jacket) and Paige was the photographer.