Putting the typical conventions of a magazine onto my own =)

After finishing the key points to start making a music magazine, (Genre, colour scheme and title) I could start focusing on being precise with my magazine by putting typical conventions on my front cover. The typical conventions of any magazine tend to be one main picture with a catchy brief next to the picture to attract the audience, side stories, bar codes, price, issue number, free give aways and other featured bands. All of these combined will create a brilliant, eye-catching music magazine. The first convention I added was the price and issue number:

I used the same font for the price and issue number as I wanted to set a common theme to follow as all successful magazines, such as 'NME' use the same style font throughout their magazine.  Still referring to real magazines, i needed to add a bar code to my magazine to give the sense of realism to it: 

As mentioned before, the bar code does give a realistic effect to it. I also added the "Featured bands" section to my magazine. I have used indie/rock bands and bands that I like too. The key bit about this section is that it can denote that it is an indie/rock magazine. I filled the 'Flipside' in with white. This made it more eye catching in my opinion. All that was left to add was the main story and the side story, then my first draft of my front cover was finished, ready for constructive criticism:

My finished first draft. as you can see, I have added the main story, side story and the free give away. I have stuck with the white and orange colours for the text to give a theme to the magazine. I also added the orange to the issue and price as I linked it with the name 'Flipside'. I thought that it would be pretty clever to use the different colours (Orange and white) as the borders for the two different things, as if it was flipped around to be different colours. I've placed the text in her eye vision to make it look like she is looking up to it, as well as the title. I have done this to make it look like she is interacting with the magazine, to denote that she has a story to tell. The side story denotes that there are more stories to tell so it would jump out to a wider audience. The free posters will spur the audience to buy it because it increases the buyers if there is free items to give away.

Starting the Front Cover =)

After researching music magazines and getting positive feedback from my surveys, I felt like I had enough research to start creating my music magazine. From what I had gathered, the front cover of a magazine tends to have a big picture with the main artist, so I used the picture I wanted to use for the cover to find my colour scheme. To start with, I need to find a font to use for my magazine. Here are some examples:

These fonts are all different so I decided to put them all in the firing line to be used for my title. I decided to choose the bottom title for my magazine as I felt like the bottom title would appeal to a wider spread of the younger audience which is what I am aiming for. This is what it looked like with the sample font: 

Let's talk about the picture. I specifically took this picture because i had an idea in my head on what i what i wanted my front cover to look like. I had my model look to her top right, as I would have the title there.

. I personally thought this was a good idea as it added my own uniqueness to my front cover. The next task to complete was actually thinking of a main colour scheme to use, as well as a title for my magazine. I decided to use Dark Blue, Orange, & Dark Green. I went for this colour scheme as it the colours on the models jacket are similar, so I decided that it would work better using the same colours. I then needed to think of a title for my indie/rock magazine. I done a survey amongst people in my class to find out the most popular. Here were the choices:

The most popular name was 'Flipside', so going with what my target audience wanted, I decided to stick by the name and it eventually grew on me. So now having a picture, basic colour scheme and a title for my magazine, i could start putting typical conventions on my magazine! 

Music Magazine Project =)

For our new project, we have to create an original music magazine. I have decided to do an "Indy/Rock" magazine as it fits the music genre I like. My biggest rivals will be "NME" and "Kerrang!". since this is the case, i have decided to do look at the front covers, analyse them and look at what makes them professional magazines. I will use this research to help the creation of my magazine. Here is the front cover of "NME";

This will be like a style model for my front cover as the layout is brilliant. The big picture behind the text gives the audience a clear view of who it is about. The colour scheme runs throughout the front cover; Red, Black and White. The bold title is eye catching and there is no mis-understanding about who the front cover is about which is what i want people to realise on my front cover. It has all the other featured bands down the right hand side to show that there is a lot more to the magazine.

NME's rivals "Kerrang!" colour scheme is darker than NME's. "Kerrang!" also feature heavy metal artists such as 'Slipknot'. Their colours scheme is normally black, white and red. It is mostly black though, possibly links with the dark genre of musics. Here is their front cover featuring Biffy Clyro;

The conventions of “Kerrang!” tend to include more poster offers. This entices the audience to buy it as they get free posters of possibly their favourite band or a band they show an interest in. I would also use a picture like they have used as a medium shot is what is needed for our magazines. However, i would change the bottom part of the magazine as you cannot see them clearly if it was on a shelf so if people did not like Biffy Clyro, they wouldn't be as enticed to buy it.



My school magazine development and final copy =)

This is the project we had started 3 weeks ago. I have achieved the goal of creating and finishing a front cover and a feature article of a possible school magazine. I made some changes along the way and i will talk through why i changed them.

This was my first orginal idea of the colour scheme for the front cover. I chose this colour scheme at first as it matched the school logo but when i tried it with the images, it didn't look professional with the gradient background so i changed it to this;

This is my final copy of the school magazine. The bold grey background makes the pictures and text stand out and it looks bolder. I added pictures to the front cover for the side stories so people who look at it know that it wont just be about one thing. I personally think that the finished copy is a lot more eye catching with the grey background.

I went through the same process for the contents page. This was the most time consuming out of the two pages as you have to think about the whole of the magazine even though you won't be creating the page. Here was the first plan of the contents page;

I was pretty close to choosen this background as i thought it brightened the page up. However, most magazines have the same colours as the front cover and having the gradient background of blue and white didn't fit the background of the front cover, so this is my final contents page;

Once again, I believe the dull backgrounds living up the pictures and text as it makes them bolder. Since it was a school magazine, I have not put the typical conventions in such as a barcode because you wouldn't expect the school to scan a magazine as they wouldnt be sold in supermarkets. If it was a professional magazine to be sold in supermarkets, I would put free offers in to attract the society, but it wouldn't be needed in a school magazine as it isn't made for a profit, it's made to inform.

My Feature article plan =)

This is a basic plan of what i am wanting my feature article to look like. I think this is a good plan as it is about 70% of the spread and a big image is needed on the main part of the article. Here is my plan;

Questionaire for research to help my magazine =)

Here is a questionaire to help produce my magazine. It is important to find out what people prefer in a magazine as it can help the production of your own and you get the sense of realism in yours, as if you were making it professionally. Please feel free to fill one out by answering the questions in the comment box below!

Male or Female?

Male [  ]     Female [  ]

How old are you?

                                                      

Do you have an interest in Music?

Yes [  ]    No [  ]

What type of magazines do you usually buy?

                                                                                                                                      

If you don't buy magazines, why?

                                                                                                                                      


How many times do you buy this certain magazine a month?

- Once? [  ]
- Twice? [  ]
- Three times? [  ]
- More? [  ]

What usually catches your eye the most on the front cover?

                                                                                                                                      

How much would you spend on a magazine at the most?

£1-£1.99 [  ]
£2-£2.99 [  ]
£3-£3.99 [  ]
£4-£4.99 [  ]
More? [  ]

What kind of artist/band would you prefer on the front cover?

                                                                                                                                      


Which 3 colours would you like to see on a magazine?

                                                                                                                                     

Photoshoot for the school magazine =)

This post will cover what makes a good photograph. Good photography is critical for making any print successful for many reasons. For example, in magazines, if a sneaky shot of a celebrity with another partner is took, the media will automatically jump to conclusions and edit a string of photo's to make it look like it was constant confrontation between the two people when it may have been at different times in a night. For my magazine, i have took photo's and picked out some good, and some bad.

 Here is my first example of a good shot. This is a medium shot, to some extent a long shot. The story for this picture is "I couldnt of done it without the amazing teachers". This is about a pupil getting the grades to get a place in Oxford University and she is accepted. I thought this was a fantastic shot to use as the light brightens the picture up which makes the story and scenario a lot happier. I made Hazel and Olivia act naturally, as if they were just talking normally because i believe the best pictures are took when they arent posed.

Here is an example of a bad picture. The camera had rain drops on the lens making certain parts of the picture blury so we didn't capture the ful esence of the picture. The story linking with the picture is about the school renovation. It is meant to be happy as a new building and refurbishments are making progress, however the weather was bad with rain and clouds which connotes to misery.

The next picture is also brilliant in my eyes for numerous reasons. This picture captures the thought of the pupil as he is looking out of the window. The story that links with this is about this pupil winning a place in a professional tennis academy and to be entered into tournaments. The light shines against him which is brilliant as it connotes a bright future for him.

What is ideology?

Ideology is seen as a belief system in media. It is a set of ideas that string together to achieve certain goals and expectations. Every tendency has an explicit system of Ideology, it is how society see's things. Ideology in Media is how people see pictures or magazines and how we can analyse the thoughts of society to make things better.