Thursday 14 April 2011

Magazine Evaluation


My task was to produce the front cover, contents page and double page spread for a music magazine using Adobe Photoshop. On the pages I have created I attempted to copy the stereotypical conventions of a music magazine.

My front cover consists on a masthead, ain headline, a pull quote and images of free gifts which in my magazines case is posters. The masthead is of a large size and is a bright red colour so that the name of the magazine 'RIOT!' is made clear and easily noticed by the audience. I also chose the colour red because is could signify anger which goes with the chosen name for my music magazine. The font I used for my masthead is quite crazy and messy and goes with the genre I chose my magazine to be. The mid-shot image I used is shown clearly and the model named as 'Lola Way' who is the lead singer from my made up band 'Bad Influence' is making eye contact with the camera which will make the audience feel like she is communicating with them, she is also stretching her arms out so it looks like she is reaching out to the readers to pull them in to read about her band and their fame. The main headline and pull quote says 'Lola Way, Bad Influence and The Fame' It is a white font with a red outline so it stands out. The font is not as crazy as the font used for the masthead, however it still goes with the whole magazine as I use the same font throughout, t all goes with my chosen genre alternative rock/indie. The costume my model is wearing and hairstyle also goes with the chosen theme as she is wearing a checker shirt and her hair which has had bright colours put in. I chose the name 'RIOT!' for my magazine because it means to lash out and be rebellious which I believe relates to the target audience I have chosen. My model represents my target audience with her style. The chosen font I picked for my mast head goes with the genre of my magazine too as it is not a plain font, it's messy looking. The whole cover has the crazy, messy edge to it which is what I aimed for. I planned to mainly use the colours black, purple and red which are stereotyped as dark colours which go with my chosen theme. My magazine cover also includes a list of teaser contents which are about tours from bands of the alternative rock genre which are popular and will appeal to the audience. The price is also on the front cover of my magazine along with the barcode. The price I chose my magazine to be is £1.50 and it will be a weekly magazine, it is cheap so that the teens that I aim my audience to be can afford it. The images I have on the front of my magazine help to sell it as they are images showing the free posters you get inside. So with the content your getting and the free gifts, I think £1.50 is a reasonable price.

I decided to make my contents double paged. This is because I wanted to use a photo from the Paramore gig I went to on the 11th November 2010 as the image is very affective and matches to the genre of my magazine. The image will also be from the article in my magazine which is the Paramore Tour catch up. The image works really well because the lights on stage are red, so it goes with the colours I chose for my magazine. I made sure that I put the mast head on the contents page to keep it consistent so that the reader will always notice the magazine name 'RIOT!' I also kept it the same font for continuity of the house style, I also kept the colours red, black and purple consistent. My contents page has a list of  all the contents with there page numbers, there is also a features section and there is also a section so the audience know about upcoming gigs they might be interested in attending, I also got the band logos to use in this section. The font I used on my contents page is also used on the front cover and is easy to understand. It is white and stands out against the background. The title 'Contents' is a large white font which is used on the front cover of the magazine, it is easily noticed.

For my double page spread I did an interview with my made up lead singer 'Lola Way' from my made up band 'Bad Influence'. The colours used on my double page spread are black, purple and red so I kept my colour scheme once again continuous over two pages. My contents page has a title that it across both pages, it says the name of my chosen artist 'Lola Way', it is large white font with a black border and red background so it is easily noticed also because it is the artists name this means that it will be easily remembered. On the double page spread there is a pull quote that says ‘sometimes I miss my old life’ which is quoted from the interview with Lola way. The interview is laid out it two sections but would  go onto another double page spread when you turn the page over. The interview font is purple so it goes with my chosen colour scheme, it also stands out against the black background. On the left hand side of my contents page there is a different photo of my model which is different to the image on my front cover. The image takes up one page of my double page spread and like the photo on the front cover my model is making eye contact with the camera which will again make her look like she is communicating with the audience. On the right hand side of my double page spread there is a studio shot of her band members. Since the interview was about the band  ‘Bad Influence’ I thought it would be suitable to have a photo of the other members. My double page spread also has the page numbers that are said on my contents page.

My chosen target audience is teens who love alternative rock/indie music. There is no specific social class for my magazine, but students would usually tend to fall into the working class with them been in full time education and weekend jobs, which is why I chose my magazine to be £1.50 because I think that would be an appropriate price been a student myself and not exactly having lots of money so it is quite a cheap magazine along with the free gifts you get weekly. My audience would most likely be stereotyped as indie/emo/scene kind of teens cause they are the sort of people who tend to listen to the sort of music my magazine is about. The name of my magazine represents the audience because Riot means to lash out and be rebellious which most individual/scene people are like, not necessarily their behaviour but the way they dress and how they make themselves different. The model on the front cover represents the audience and I chose her because she is a fan of my chosen genre herself and dresses like the target audience. If I were to publish my magazine I would most likely publish it with Editors Freeway, who publish Rocksound magazine which is the same genre as my magazine, so the audience would most likely buy it.

I spoke to a few people about my music magazine, them been friends and teachers. I showed them my music magazine and created polls on my blog and got lots of feedback on what was good and what was bad. Font was the main part of my magazine that people pointed out as bad so I changed that to a font that was more appropriate for my magazine. People then commented on the masthead saying how it looked a bit lost and how it did not really stand out, so I had to resize it and add a stroke effect. Good comments I got where about my images. Apparently they suited the genre of my magazine, so I was very pleased as not to many challenging changes had to be made.

When I compare this project to my preliminary project I feel I have learnt a lot more about using Photoshop and I have learned more about the  conventions that  are needed to make a decent magazine. My college magazine was not very professional looking, if I would have to go back and change things I would. I preferred making the music magazine because I love music and because there is so many stereotypes of music it was easier because with research I was able to see what styles appealed to the different audience. Because of the research I also learned what looked good and what didn’t to make a decent magazine.




Wednesday 15 December 2010

MOCK UP FRONT COVERS





Paramore photos for my Contents page

















I went to go see the band paramore on the 11th november 2010. Some of the photos i took i thought would be great to use on my contents page. So my magazine will include images of an actual world wide band performing live which goes with the paramore tour story in my magazine. Paramore is also a band what goes with the genre of my magazine, Alternative Rock.

MAGAZINE PHOTOS AND POSTER SPECIAL






Posters for magazine




These are picture i have created using photoshop for gcse art. I decided to use these images for my magazine front cover where the poster special is. People can then get posters for upcoming festivals.