Evaluation Question 7 - Image

Evaluation Question 6 - Image

Evaluation Question 5 - Image

Evaluation Question 4 - Image

Evaluation Question 3 - Image

Evaluation Question 2 - Image

Evaluation Question 1 - Vlog / Image

Final Double Page Spread

Here is my final double page spread for my music magazine.

Final Contents Page

Here is my final contents page for my music magazine.

Final Front Cover

Here is my final front cover for my music magazine.

Double Page Spread Layout

Page 1

Page 2

These pictures show an initial idea of how I would like my double page spread to be laid out, with the generic conventions of a double page spread featured, such as images of the artist featured, page numbers, pull quotes etc. This may change as I look at more magazine spreads, and also depending on how the pictures look in the spread.

Contents Page Layout

Here is a screenshot of the contents page layout that I'm thinking of using, which I think will work with advertising other artists and articles featured in the magazine through both image and text, with the images displayed on the left-hand side and text on the right. The use of a main image at the head of the contents page is also going to help further promote that article.

Front Cover Layout

Here is a general layout of how I would like my magazine front cover to look, with the generic conventions that would be placed on the cover, such as main coverlines, the masthead, the puffs and things like the barcode, price/date etc.

Full Analysis of a Music Magazine Cover

Structure/Layout

Rolling Stone magazine always holds a similar structure on their covers, where the main coverlines will be on one side of the cover with about three other coverlines on the opposite side of the cover, separated by graphic features of bold lines. This layout is very similar to the layout of the Q magazine that I have re-made, insinuating that some music magazines follow similar layouts. The fonts for the main coverline are obviously a lot larger, as to attract attention to the main feature of the magazine, there is also a black and blue colour scheme to the cover which is incorporated in the fonts, segregating pieces of text such as ‘She Kissed A Girl” and “Katy Perry” being in blue and white to stand out from the cover. The cover follows a generic structure for a magazine, with the masthead, main coverlines, barcode, date, seal of approval etc, the one thing that is different on this magazine is the fact that a coverline goes over the hair of the main image, and while it is a general rule not have text over the main image’s face, the coverline over her hair it isn’t so distracting.

Representation

On the cover of this magazine, Katy Perry is the main feature. The shot type is a medium long shot to show more of Perry’s outfit, which also links with the overall colour scheme of the cover with her blue top, light blue belt and pale pink shorts. This outfit is very reminiscent of summer attire; however this magazine is an October issue so perhaps Perry was in this outfit to show her playful and retro-kitsch style of that time. She is using a parasol as a prop which again adds to her kitsch look. Perry is giving the camera a direct mode of address, and she isn’t smiling, instead she could look slightly suggestive to the audience, especially considering that with her outfit there is a tiny bit of cleavage showing, suggesting that while she looks innocent she could actually be slightly promiscuous. Her make-up is very light and her hair isn’t overtly done, her look is very simply but she still looks nice while keeping her individual style.  

Branding

Rolling Stone differs its colour scheme depending on the person on the cover, so the one thing that stays the same is their recognisable logo and the font styles that they use. For this cover, they have gone for an unconventional look for Rolling Stone, as they are usually considered as a rock magazine though they do feature other genres as well, as this cover shows. The cover, while featuring mainly light blues which are associated with males, the tone that they are in makes it seem quite feminine and they compliment the pale pink gradient on the background as well as Perry’s outfit and shows that Rolling Stone can be different and they do branch out to different music genres. As is expected on a magazine cover, the masthead of the magazine is placed behind the main image where necessary, which means that the viewer/consumer will see the main image first rather than the brand of magazine. Some could say that the magazine ‘name-drops’ a lot on the cover to both show the range of interests they cover from music (Amy Winehouse, Jeff Buckley), films (Robert Downey Jr.) and sport (Skatopia).  

Language Features

To fit with the pop genre being portrayed through Katy Perry being on the cover, the language used is quite light and playful, but still relating to the subjects on the cover. For example, a caption of “Pop’s Sexiest New Talent” is used to describe Perry which could attract readers to buy the magazine if they feel that they are buying something new, fresh and promising. They also use positive and emphasised adjectives to entice readers such as ‘triumphant’ but in the same way use negative adjectives to heighten the drama in a story they are featuring with ‘tragic’ and ‘anarchy’. The main coverline uses a question of “So how far will Katy Perry really go?” which intrigues the reader and makes them think about the answer which would be written in the magazine, therefore encouraging them to buy it.

Target Audience

Due to Katy Perry being on the cover, and the colours being very light and playful, I would say that the target audience for this issue of Rolling Stone would be both male and females, aged between 16-25 whereas other issues could be more for older audiences too. The fact that Perry is very youthful accounts to the young target audience – males will be interested in her and females would be interested in the type of music she produces.

Double Page Magazine Spread Analysis

Here is my analysis of a double page spread from Kerrang! magazine.

Contents Page Analysis

Here is my analysis from a contents page, found in NME magazine.

Analysis of Music Magazine Questionnaire Results

Possible Front Cover Images

Here are the two images that I'll be experimenting with for my magazine cover. There were a variation of shots, however, these fulfil the criteria from my photoshoot plan. I think that the second photograph will be most effective for the magazine cover as there is space to fit coverlines and the masthead on the cover, whereas with the other close up photograph it would be difficult to place the text.



Photoshoot Plans

As my magazine is of the indie/acoustic genre, I looked at magazines such as NME to see how they portrayed female artists, as the model on the front of my cover will be female. I noticed that when they have female or solo artists on their cover, it will usually be a close up shot of their face, so they are the main focus of the cover. In the Florence and the Machine cover of NME that I looked at, she was wearing little make-up, and a plain white top so her face and hair was the main focus of the cover. I’d like to do something like this so other elements on the cover aren’t so distracting and the viewers focus on the artist. I’ve noticed that most indie artists use nature in their music videos, photo-shoots, album covers, etc, with the male indie bands using woodlands quite a lot and female indie artists using single flowers. This was shown in Katy Perry’s Billboard cover, even though she is more of a pop artist, however by using flowers it adds femininity to the frame.

Therefore on my cover my female artist will be wearing little make-up, and the hair-styling will be very simple. The model will be giving the audience a direct mode of address on the cover but in the contents and double-page spread images they will most likely be a variation of photographs, some will have direct modes of address whereas others will not. I’d like to incorporate nature into the shot, which can link to the genre of indie and also perhaps the artist that I make up. For the shoot I’m going to try a close up of the artists face and also a medium shot which could include an instrument (like an acoustic guitar) in the frame to relate to the title of the magazine ‘Strum’ and the genre that it portrays. If I’m using nature as a focus point then I will most likely use natural lighting in the shot. I will see how the photograph looks with the model looking at the camera and also not looking at the camera, to decide whether the direct mode of address works or not. The magazine should have quite a casual feel to it, therefore the photoshoot shouldn’t be too structured, I’d like the image to look natural and comfortable at the end of it rather than a fully posed image. In the close up photograph, body language won’t be too much of an issue as the artist’s face will be the only thing the viewer sees, however in the medium shot the top half of their body will have to be composed naturally to give across that carefree attitude.

Possible Masthead Title and Fonts

Evaluation of Q Magazine Re-Make

As part of our coursework task, we were required to re-make a music magazine cover. While looking through music magazine covers, I was looking for one that I could ask a friend to model for me, and when I found the Madonna Q magazine cover through Google I knew I could re-make it.

Before I took my main image I made the layout of the magazine using Adobe Photoshop CS3, and on the original cover there wasn't a huge variation of font styles, however there were changes in the colour and sizes, especially concerning the headings of different articles, for example the title of 'MADONNA!' was in a much larger font size and a bright red so I took that into account and remembered to make sure it was larger on my mock-up. On the right hand side of the cover the titles are in red and on the left hand side they are in black, so they are opposites on each side adding interest to the cover. The cover also has graphic features such as the lines separating titles on the right hand side of the cover, the incentive on the top left hand corner acting as a seal of approval to the cover and the barcode. The seal of approval was very easy to replicate as it used simple fonts and colours and both versions look very alike. With the barcode, I moved it to the bottom left hand side of the cover as there was already a text box there that I couldn't decipher due to it pixelating, so I moved the barcode there to fit better on the cover as it looked to cramped in the original space.

As I mentioned before, the fonts on the cover are quite basic and so were easy to find, the only tricky font to find was the ‘Q’ logo to act as the masthead, but my main image covers the main piece of the logo, so the font that I found in the end didn’t need to be exact as the recognisable flick in the ‘Q’ was masked by my model anyway. When it came to taking the main photograph, I found some fabric that was a colour akin to the dress Madonna was wearing, and gave my model similar make-up and hairstyle to how Madonna was styled for the magazine shoot. The main difference between the original cover and my re-make is the fact that Madonna is tanned for her shoot, whereas I wasn’t able to have a model with that skin colour.

When it came to positioning my model, we found it really awkward to get the pose exactly right, especially with the angle of her head as well as hunching her shoulders. The model had to be giving eye contact to the reader, which made it more difficult. However, once the hand was positioned correctly, the photograph looked a lot more effective. After that, I used Photoshop once more to cut the model from the original image on one layer onto the layers of the text and graphic features and then neatened it up around the edges, specifically where the model’s head overlapped the masthead. Also, my models bra straps were still visible on the photograph so I used the clone stamp to remove those to smooth the skin and make it look natural. Overall, I’m really happy with how the re-make turned out, but if I were to do it again I would probably take the photograph before making the layout because I think it would’ve made the whole process a lot easier. Also, I would’ve worked more on getting the pose exactly right to make the cover look exact.  

Q Magazine Mock Cover

To understand the conventions of a music magazine, we had to re-make a cover of a music magazine. I chose this cover because I knew I had a friend who could be made to look like Madonna on this cover.

Muisc Magazine Questionnaire

Here is a questionnaire that I have compiled to ask a range of people so I know what my target audience are looking for in a music magazine.

Magazine Target Audiences #2

NME is a British music magazine that features many different genres of music. This issue acts as a sort of bumper issue, therefore doesn't focus on one genre of music, rather it includes many different artists and bands. Florence and the Machine are the main feature of the magazine as she has the largest image of the cover. Fans of hers will be attracted to the magazine, but so will fans of the other artists/bands shown on the left hand side of the cover. The bands shown are from genres such as indie, pop and rock, and so appeal to a large target audience which will bring the magazine more consumers. People interested in the magazine will be those who enjoy the genres of music featured, or fancy broadening their music horizons. The colours on the cover are very upbeat and summer-looking, despite the issue being released in January, though this could connote a fresh start to the year and fresh music to listen to. All of the artists on the cover are very young, therefore the magazine is most likely aimed at a younger audience from probably 15-24 years old. The amount of males and females shown on the cover is pretty much equal, which suggests that the magazine is appropriate for both genders to read and they will both be interested in it, however this issue could be more aimed at Florence and the Machine fans as she is the main feature. The magazine costs £2.30 and so fits in a more affordable category, especially for perhaps students with or without a part time job.  However the magazine is a weekly one so over the months could add up to quite a bit, perhaps meaning that some consumers neglect to buy it every week. The cover of the magazine contains a lot of lists and name-dropping of bands or artists, to show off how many artists are featured (the photograph-puffs and in the seal of approval) and also which genres the magazine will also have in (the list at the foot of the cover) which in a way makes the viewer think that the magazine is worth the amount they pay considering how much they get from it.

Magazine Target Audiences #1

Alternative Press is a US based magazine, and predominantly covers bands away from the mainstream music scene that usually have a rock, punk, pop-punk or heavy style to their sound, therefore the magazine will try to appeal to people who like these genres of music also. On this particular cover, Paramore are the main feature, and they fit in to the type of bands that AP would show as they are an alternative/rock band. The band have been photographed much like bands on other magazines, in a triangular placing from front to back. At the forefront of the cover is Hayley Williams, the lead singer of the band and the only female member. With her bright orange hair and being at the front of the cover, she is the first person that someone would see if their eyes glanced over the magazine, and as she is known for her bright hair colour a fan could see it and be encouraged to buy the magazine; or anyone else would be intrigued about the magazine now that it had caught their attention. The rest of the band are stood behind Hayley looking casual, all of them hold a direct mode of address with the reader which further entices them to pick up the magazine. The colours on the cover are very bright and energetic, and connote the autumn season that the magazine is being released in, along with some hints of summer with the prominent use of yellow, orange and red. The masthead and main headline are both in the same yellow tone, indicating that they have the same amount of importance as it is the name of the magazine and the name of the band, these yellows will also make the magazine itself stand out on a magazine shelf, therefore catching the eye of the viewer. The use of red on the cover highlights certain key words such as 'noise' and 'more' with 'noise' belonging to the semantic field of the magazine and 'more' being used as an incentive, boosting the impressiveness of the magazine as they brag to the reader of how much they have to offer. Going back to the band shown, the members of Paramore are quite young, perhaps indicating that it will be mainly young people that will read the magazine, and will be interested in it. They would probably fall under the age range of 14-25. The artists featured on the cover would obviously vary, and a magazine like this would more likely feature male artists or male-orientated bands as that is typical of the genres of music, but by featuring females too this makes the magazine approachable for both male and female viewers. The magazine costs $4.99 (£3.13), which is quite expensive compared to most magazines, therefore you would assume the consumers the magazine is targeted at to be perhaps students with a part-time job or young adults. These viewers would also be heavily interested in alternative music, and would like to know about many different bands in one issue of the magazine; this is shown by the lists on the cover both at the head and foot of the magazine cover. If there were someone who just bought the magazine on a whim, they would obviously just be interested on whoever was on the cover at the time so AP would have to take into account which bands are popular and which ones are not. The strapline for the main headline contains a lot of puns, as the photograph of the band is in a bowling alley they have incorporated words such as 'kingpins', 'splits' and 'strikes' so they must assume the target audience has a good sense of humour and will appreciate the puns.

Representation of Celebrities in Magazines

On this cover, Leona Lewis is wearing quite a short black dress and is standing in a provocative way, bent over slightly with her thumb in her mouth giving off a faux innocent look. She also has quite a confident facial expression, especially with her eyebrow raised looking at the audience. Along with the way she is posing, she is looking straight into the camera with a direct mode of address with a seductive look, which adds to the over-all promiscuous aura that she is giving off. The lighting is high-key, which you would assume would make it seem sophisticated but on this cover it actually makes it seem quite trashy, insinuating that Leona is trying to alter her attitude and the way people see her. Her make-up is simple but heavy, suggesting a harder edge to her personality, and it also works with the plain black outfit. The shot type allows the audience to see all of her outfit and pose, which is very important in completing the representation of her image. Her hair has been styled so it has quite a bit of volume and is in a rough curled fashion, perhaps adding again to the promiscuous look. 

In this shot, a medium long shot is used so the audience can get a full view of the set along with Lily Allen and her posing. Despite Lily only wearing hot pants and tights, her pose means that the front of her body is covered, making the fact that she isn’t wearing a top not so bad. Like Leona, she is looking directly at the camera with a more darker but suggestive look with her hand close to her face and mouth, suggesting that she has a more darker but playful personality. From what you can see of Lily’s face she is wearing dark, smoky eye make-up with her dark hair completely straight which connotes again to her darker personality. All of the colours on the cover are very metallic, with her wearing silver and black and the backdrop being a silver white.  Having the panthers as a form of prop indicates that Allen is daring and is willing to take risks.

For this cover, Eminem is standing in a very defensive pose with his arms crossed tightly against his chest, showing off his tattoos and muscular arms. The clothing that he is wearing is very simple and plain, just a black vest top which helps to show off his arms, insinuating that he is tough and not one to mess with. He is looking at the camera with a direct mode of address and a stern facial expression which furthermore intimidates the audience and makes him seem very much the one in charge. However, the attitude he is giving off is one that people will expect, and so the image fits the purpose. By using a white backdrop for the cover, Eminem stands out a lot more with the added high-key lighting, making the features of his face and body highlighted. Eminem isn't a 'typical' rapper, but he does hold certain stereotypical qualities of one, such as the tattoo's, muscles, the buzzed hair cut, serious facial expression etc. There are some surprising elements to the photograph such as the cross necklace he is wearing - as you wouldn't expect that of him, however it could relate to the topic of his feature, of him 'coming clean' so connotes his new attitude to life.

Kerrang has a very busy cover for this issue, and it makes it seem like You Me At Six aren't the most important feature in the magazine despite them being the main cover image. The whole band are photographed on the cover, and they all have quite varied facial expressions. Josh Franceschi is the main lead in the band, and has therefore been placed at the front as if they are positioned in a type of hierarchy. He is also pulling a very comical facial expression while the others are either smiling or smirking apart from Max who looks shocked. This could be insinuating that they all have quite playful attitudes but can also be serious when needs be. They are all wearing black clothing to contrast against the white background, though you can't see much of their clothing it looks quite casual, simple t-shirts or hoodies, insinuating again that they are laid-back and not overly bothered about their appearance. Nearly all of them have longish hair which is stereotypical of the type of people featured in Kerrang as part of the rock image, but they look a bit more primed in comparison to others, which indicates the age that they are and the target audience that they are appealing to. The 'KERRANG!' logo has been placed behind the band, which shows that they are more important to show rather than the logo. 

Again, Kerrang have another really busy cover with a band featured as it is typical of them to feature more rock bands that single artists (in the genre of rock, more bands would be expected rather than just one person), but is still different to the You Me At Six cover. Again, a hierarchy style of placement has been used on the cover, with Simon Neil being the main lead in the band so being placed in the forefront of the cover. The background the of the photograph is black, and it makes the two guys wearing black seem to blend into the background a lot more, whereas Neil is wearing a white hoodie so stands out a lot more, indicating that he is more important and needs to be seen quicker than the other two. However, in contrast to this the lighting on the other two is a lot more high-key meaning you can see them better whereas Neil has the hood up casting deep shadows on his face making him seem more mysterious. Also, he has one hand covering a part of his face, insinuating that he is slightly hiding, whereas the others are simply looking at the camera as if they have nothing to hide. With this cover, the 'KERRANG!' logo is black on a white background and slightly overlaps two of the cover's subjects along with a drop-down shadow which is really surprising, it's usually a rule of thumb that on a magazine cover you wouldn't have anything covering a face on the cover but this furthermore adds to the idea that the other two members of the band simply aren't as important as Neil. Two of the members of Biffy Clyro have quite long hair and they all have (or are growing) beards, typical of the rock genre look. Neil also appears to be wearing 'guyliner' which became popular in the rock genre, it also emphasises the shadows on his face and makes him different to the other two band members as they aren't following this trend as Neil is. 

On this cover, Q is featuring three very different artists (with Lady Gaga part of the pop genre, Jay-Z rap and David Grohl rock), and they are all images from obviously separate photo-shoots. Jay-Z is obviously the most important person on this cover as he is positioned at the forefront of the cover with his name also at the top of the list on the left-hand side of the cover. Lady Gaga and David Grohl have been edited in at the same distance behind Jay-Z, insinuating that they have equal importance to the issue despite Lady Gaga's name being mentioned first in the list to the left. Jay-Z is giving a stereotypical rapper pose with a laid-back stance, hands in pockets and head slightly up as if to say "Yeah, what?", wearing casual jeans and a plain black t-shirt with a simple buzzed hair cut along with a chained necklace so he fits the stereotypical look. Lady Gaga has a more feminine pose on the cover, wearing one of her less-crazy outfits and is saluting, a pose that has been recurring throughout the pop genre recently with artists such as Cheryl Cole and Rihanna using the same army-style salute. At the time, Lady Gaga also has straight blonde hair and is slightly tanned (not so much to look fake though) which could be seen as quite stereotypical of the pop genre. David Grohl is wearing clothes similar to Jay-Z, casual jeans and a black t-shirt, but you can also see a guitar neck by his legs which represents the rock genre he is a part of, along with his longer shaggy hair and beard. All three figures are wearing black as to stand out from the white background they are in front of, and to perhaps symbolise that despite coming from different genres, they are all similar in a way. This is also strengthened by the serious facial expressions they all hold, as if these are the people in the music industry who care about their music, fans, label etc more than others perhaps. They are also giving the camera a direct mode of address, showing that they aren't afraid of being whoever they want to be and are proud of themselves or their attitudes.

Annotations of a Music Magazine

These are my annotations of 'Billboard' magazine, of layout, content and the mise en scene of the cover.

Preliminary Task / School or College Magazine Front Covers

This was the first magazine front cover that I completed, which is an Autumn issue featuring Joel on the cover. I wanted the layout of my covers to be simple and sleek, rather than being too busy and ugly. Therefore, I used pretty much only one font style throughout the cover (apart from a change of font on the buzz word to make it more eye-catching) and instead experimented with using different font sizes and colours to make different pieces of text attract the viewers attention. For example, as it is an Autumn issue, I used orange tones to match the colour of the leaves falling, and red and yellow as they are seen as quite summer colours but when partnered with the orange suit the cover. The masthead and main coverline have the largest font size so they are the two components on the cover that attract attention, which is what I intended them to do. Also, a buzz word on the cover with 'FREE' is in a bright yellow tone and will furthermore attract the audience as they will be interested in something that is free. A comment was made that the leaves being blurred were too distracting, and so I did try to edit them out but it didn't look right, and I decided that I liked the cover with the leaves on anyway. With this being an Autumn issue, school will have just started, therefore it was relevant to have the main article education-related, and acts as a guide for my target audience while using humour to attract their attention towards it. The buzz word and offer relate to the article on the opposite of the cover, as the reader may want to know what's on in the cinema, and then can go watch it for free so would want to buy and read the magazine.

For my second cover, I wanted to make use of the snow and make a Winter issue, which worked well with Gemma and Jennie wearing hats, gloves and coats. I used the same location again as it creates a nice backdrop for the cover and is natural, plus text stands out well against it. Again, I chose the same font styles and variated text size and colour; with this cover I could experiment a lot more with colour as there were more places where the colour needed to be changed for the text to be noticeable, especially against Jennie's white coat contrasting against Gemma's dark one. Using blue connoted the cold winter weather and linked well to the text in the main coverline of 'going to get cool', and also the red on the cover compliments the green background while relating to a type of Christmas-theme. If I were to re-do this cover, I would try and take a photograph that was more in focus, as the slight blur of this one can become quite distracting once you notice it. To appeal to my target audience, I included mainly social-orientated articles, especially considering that with it being winter and nearly Christmas, they'll be looking for more social things to do rather than education. It also covers the aspects that my target audience were mainly interested in (as I found from my questionnaires), which are music, film and television. Furthermore, by using a strong red tone for the buzz word 'FREE' it will attract the viewer's eye to an iTunes voucher which they would appreciate, therefore would buy the magazine to get it.

Again, I used the snow to make a Winter issue, but this cover was a lot trickier to design due to the many different colours in the background. I decided to use red and green colours for text again as they make the cover more of a Winter issue with the Christmas link, and light blues for the general Winter look. It was easy to place a buzz word on this cover, which I did in the bottom right corner, as a solid black could be used and is really eye-catching and effective, and relates to the target-audiences needs as winter is a major shopping season due to Christmas, and so they would be interested in a 15% off voucher. 

Overall, I think I covered all the correct conventions for my magazine covers, including the main ones such as the masthead, slogan, barcode, price, seal of approval, coverlines etc, along with dates, website address' and so on. Using different genders on each cover also worked out quite nicely as I had a selection to chose from, so they could appeal to different target audiences. I think if I'd done a cover with a girl and a boy on similar to my second cover however, that could've made it better. I'm also really pleased with the result of them, they've helped me with learning how to apply Photoshop correctly and setting out on a shoot to compose the right shot for this brief. For my music magazine, I think I just need to check my photographs before leaving the location to make sure that they are all in exact focus and that I avoid fussy backgrounds, as this will save me a lot of time later on.