Production; Photoshoot

These photos are the best of what I took during my photoshoot. Clearly some are not worthy of use because of facial expressions however, I may still have used those pictures under reasons of specific editing.

I will try and use this picture on my contents page however if I cannot for certain reasons like, doesnt fit, doesnt look right, not to my liking etc, then I will use it for my double page spread instead. I would prefer to use this for my contents page as I would like to use the four seperate pictures on my double page spread in a square effect.

Pre-Production; Photoshoot Plan

For my photo-shoot I will have four male models who will be dressed with t-shirt overlayed by either coat or hoody. This is so it fits my genre of music as many bands of this genre have always started out looking like so, as you can see in old pictures of the bands. My genre for the band I'm doing my article on, therefore taking pictures of, is metal-core. I chose to do this genre because I listen to this genre a lot in my spare time. I will take a few pictures from different angles, and I will be using these on my front cover, contents page and double page spread.

Pre-Production; Models, Equipment And Props

Models, Equipment and Props;

Models;

For my models I will have 4 boys, for my picture on the front cover as a picture to show the band that my main article is about. They will be dressed, as best as they can be, to look like members of a metal core band. I will take a couple of pictures of them to use one for my front cover and another for the double page spread.

Equipment;

-Camera

-Tripod

-Computer (Photoshop CS6)

-iMac (If necessary)

-Studio

Props;

-Guitar

-Bass

-Drum Kit

-Microphone and Stand

Pre-Production; Draft Article

Draft Article, Bring Me the Sun;

We’ve caught up with the new metal core band on the scene and leaking into the industry and pouring onto the stages. Their inspiration comes from other similar metal bands like ‘Asking Alexandria’ and ‘Bury Tomorrow’. Also inspiration lyrically comes from the band member’s childhood memories as they sing, shout and scream about the hard times they’ve been through battling drugs, social workers and friends slaughtered by local gangs.

They have been playing local festivals like ‘Fake Fest’, playing at ‘The Leopard’ and ‘Party At the Ponds’ for the past couple of years in hope of being scouted by a record label… This luckily for them happened earlier this year. As soon as Epitaph saw the band performing at ‘The Leopard’ they were soon to see them backstage after their set to start talks about a brighter future.

Tim, the vocalist, was quick to say yes to a visit over to the states to Epitaph’s studio’s. The rest of the band was too speechless to respond, but of course it was a no-brainer for them to go. 9 months on and they’re just putting the finishing touches to their first studio album recorded under Epitaph. They are to release their debut album ‘Two Worlds Collide’ on Friday the 15^th of March 2013, featuring their singles ‘Collide With The Ground’ and ‘A Dishonourable Reign’ which they performed at this years ‘Download’ festival.

They are also set to begin a tour of The States in summer 2013 and a tour of Europe in winter 2013. It is rumoured that confirmed dates of these tours are to be released within the next 4 months, also with ticket and venue information. It is also rumoured, at Epitaph, that across both tours there will be a massive total of two hundred thousand tickets for sale across 46 venues, working out at average four thousand tickets per venue, these are sure to be snapped up so make sure you get there first!

Pre-Production; Proposal

My product that I propose is a metal genre music magazine. The target audience for this magazine is fans of this genre of music, metal, metalcore, heavy-rock and alternative rock. The purpose of this magazine is to give information about bands who perform and compose this genre of music and advertise it to their fans and new-comer fans to the genre.

The package will contain a front cover, contents page and double page spread. The double page spread will consist of either an interview or album review of a metal band, probably either the band 'Pierce The Viel' or 'Bury Tomorrow'.



I will use Photoshop CS6, digital camera, tripod and possibly an iMac. These are very professional pieces of equipment that I luckily have at my disposal to aid me to make this music magazine. I will produce it within the grounds of the Armthorpe Academy, with an approximate budget of £7,500.

Pre-Production; Inital Ideas And Thoughts

Pre-Production; Logo Designs

These are just two designs I have so far thought of.

For the first design this is just simple lettering as it's the first step of a development process in making logo's. I wrote the 'M TAL' on one layer and the 'E' on a different layer which then I went into the transform options in photoshop and flipped the 'E' horizontally, hence why I placed it in there backwards. I like the 'E' being backwards because it's something different and looks quite querky to the human eye. The colour I do not think would suit my magazine as I my chosen colour scheme is red, black and white.

However my second design would be better suited for my magazine logo as the colour scheme with the font of the 'M' is to my preferred choice. Also I do like my second design better then the first as it is a crest of an eagle, these are commonly used to show dominance, power and significance within an organisation making them stand out. I also like they layout of it as the 'M' sits perfectly in place on top of it and also I think the font I've used on the 'M' is perect as it looks sophisticated, proffessional and makes that and the eagle crest look like an actual image and not something I've added.

Prelim Task; Mood Board

This is my mood board. It perfectly suits my intended target audience as it is for the genre of metalcore within the music industry. These are conventions into this genre of music.

Magazine Publishers/Distributors

The main publishers are Bauer Media, IPC Media and Future PLC. These are seen to publish many different magazines, of different genre's, worldwide to the general public. These consist of magazines based on gardening right through to music. Also some of these own the rights to radio stations and music channels that broadcast on a daily basis to the public for example, 4 Music.

Bauer Media
Bauer Media are a part of the Bauer Media Group, Europe's largest privately owned publishing group. Bauer Media joined Bauer Media Group in January 2008. They are a worldwide distributor and publisher and offer over 300 magazines to 15 countries, as well as online, TV and radio stations. Bauer are a UK-Based Multi-Platform company that employ approximately 6,400 people. Over the years they have launched magazines, music channels and radio stations and now own rights to over 80 brand names.  Their sister company is H Bauer, publishers of the UK's biggest TV listings, Take A Break and Bella.

IPC
IPC Media are similar to Bauer as they publish, distribute and own the rights to over 60 iconic brand names of magazines, TV listings and Events. Some of their most famous are NME, Nuts and their Women's Weekly magazines. Almost 2/3'rds of women and over 40% of men, in the UK, are engaged in some form by IPC Media. However, they engage with over 26 million users worldwide.

IPC have 3 publishing divisions called IPC Connect, IPC Inspire and IPC Southbank. IPC Connect is the publisher for IPC's women's magazines such as Now, Chat and Women. They also publish their TV Listings such as, TV Times. IPC Inspire deals with the publishing of IPC's male target audience for example, Mousbreaker website, Nuts and Rugby World. IPC Inspire also publish Country Life and Horse & Hound. Their last division is called IPC Southbank and these publish 'upmarket' women's fashion brands and lifestyle for example, InStyle and Ideal Home.

Future PLC
Future PLC were founded in 1985 on just a £10,000 bank loan. They started publishing just one magazine and now 27 years later produce over 200 specialist multi-media products across magazines, websites, apps and events. They operate in the UK, US and Australia. Future PLC engages with more than 38 million people a month. They are also the UK's number one ecporter and licensor of magazine content. They sell 2.2 million magazines every month and cover 89 countries on all platforms. Their most succesful products include, TechRadar (the UK's number one technology website), T3, MusicRadar and the Official Xbox Magazine.

Music Magazine Contents Page Analysis (2)

As we can the 'Q' logo is in the top left hand corner of the page. This is done purposely as we read from left to right therefore, it is directly in our eyeline. The background of the logo is coloured in red. Red has been scientifically proven to raise the males heartbeat. Also the menu column for the contents on the left hand side of the page is also background coloured in red. Red is usually portrayed as an aggresive and angry colour. This effectively suits this page because the main feature article photograph is of Richard Ashcroft from the band 'The Verve'. It is a very dominant picture and the red is effective because it helps to portray Richard Ashcroft's rock and roll music and lyrics of his era. Richard Ashcroft is seen to be holding his arms in the air like the Angel Of The North. This has a very evangelical style to it and shows his god-like status as a rock and roll artist. 

There is little writing on the page as it's a mens magazine and men are highly likely to just flick through the picture and scan read rather than stop to read every tiny bit of information on the page. Also there is only one column on this page down the left hand side of the page making it directly in our eye-line like the masthead at the top of the page. 

Music Magazine Double Page Spread Analysis (2)

This double page spread is about the band called 'The Vaccines'. As we can see, the picture of the band takes up just under three quarters of both pages. This is so we know who the article is about and also because they do not have much information on the band to go across two pages so they cram it onto one page and put it in really small font to make it seem like there is a lot of information.

The colour scheme to this double page spread is rather interesting as there is use of dark colours and light colours. The overall colour use on this though is neutral colours, like the white and light blue. These contrast with the colours in the picture nicely and attract the eye to the picture rather then the information. Three of the band members are wearing quite dark coloured clothes and the one member at the front is wearing a lightly coloured shirt, perhaps this is to signify importance of each band member.

The title is in block capitals and in black font so it stands out from its background to attract the audiences eye to it so we know who the picture is about. The language and content of the article is highly relative and refers to things in a sense of humour that your average teenager wouldn't understand. This language is more for a sophisticated and educated person who would be classed in todays society as a 'seen kid' or an 'emo'. This is because it refers to things that not many people know alot about, things that also in todays society are classed as 'underground' and not 'mainstream'.

Music Magazine Double Page Analysis

Double Page Spread of 'Asking Alexandria'.

The picture on the mid-bottom left is being used as he is the Vocalist for the band, Asking Alexandria. It's being used because the magazine it's in will be perfectly suited for the audience who will recognise him. Also the Main Title 'Stand Up and Scream' is the name of one of their albums. This could be used to help promote the album to it's intended audience helped along with the picture of the band member to give you an insight on what the album contains. The dark picture in the back ground is the photo used for their album cover, meaning this page is fully connected and relevant to help promote their album as it has the picture and the title right next to each other with a picture of a band member to help show off a bit.  

Also the title it in huge font and white with a 'spray can' effect to help it stand out to the audience, which I think it does quite well. The 'And' in the title is coloured in with Her Majesty's Union Flag as they are from Britain, York in fact. This helps to build a picture of them if someone reads through this magazine and has never bought this magazine before or heard of the band before, helping promote themselves to even the new-comers of this genre of music, metal core.

Layout of this double page spread is simple but affective. This is because the positioning of the picture is directly in our eye-line and the title stands out where it is because the audiences eye is drawn to it. Also the time line at the bottom is a nice feature to have so people can see how long they've been about for and what they've been doing like recording studio albums, touring etc.

Music Magazine Contents Page Analysis

Contents Page from 'Kerrang!' Magazine.

As expected for this genre of music (Rock, Indie, Metal etc) the contents page has use of very dark and neutral colours. The full top half of this page is basically black, this is because the picture of 'Slash' is very dark because of his clothing and his genre of music he is involved in, heavy metal. The picture of 'Slash' stands out because the colour scheme brings him to life and draws him to our eye. Also the font and pictures of the contents on the left hand side is very small so it does not stand out. This means that they are using 'Slash' as their Unique Selling Point (USP). This is because we all know that 'Slash' is a huge figure in the Rock and Roll industry making him the perfect person for this audience reading the magazine.

The bottom half of magazine is mainly white, this could be because of the black at the top of page, black and white contrast very well and give a nice effect on they eye. Also it could be used in a colour code way because the black is all for 'Slash' and the white is covering extra information of what's included in the magazine.

The layout is very simplistic as the information in the top half is on the left hand side because we read from left to right, helping it to stand out. Also along with the whole colour scheme idea I believe that the little sub-titles in yellow are linked to the main title 'CONTENTS' as this is also in yellow font. Also 'THIS WEEK' is wrote in yellow meaning this has a connection as 'Kerrang!' is a weekly magazine.

Analysis/Conventions of a Music Magazine Front Cover

Music magazines usually consist of one main dominant picture on the front cover of a band or artist. This is so our eye is drawn to it so we look at the magazine and try to recognise the artist/band. Also with music magazines I have noticed that the masthead is spread across the top of the music like a banner on a website.

Another convention of a music magazine is that next to the dominant picture there is the main cover line that is always in bold font relevant to the picture. This is usually the name of the band/artist so people who don’t recognise them know who they are.

 

A convention of the content of this sort of magazine is that there are always posters of bands that are featuring in an article in the magazine to help promote themselves. A lot of the time there are always interviews with band members inside about things like how their tours going or how their new studio album is coming along.

Also inside music magazines will be a chart update and album updates. Obviously these charts will depend on the genre of the music magazine. Like we wouldn’t expect to see One Direction at the top of the Heavy Metal charts.

The layout of music magazines is also quite similar with the masthead across the top, one main picture with main cover line across the low middle of the front cover and then the barcode tucked nicely into the bottom right hand corner.

Primary Research Questionnaire Results

These are my results collected from my questionnaire I created for my class-mates to answer.

1)      What colours would you expect to see for a rock/pop punk/ metal magazine?

       Dark (5), Black White Blue, Dark Black,

2)      Would you expect to see very dominant image use of only a few people in this magazine?

       Yes (6)

3)      Would you expect to see a house style?

 Yes (7)

4)      How much would you expect this type of magazine to cost?

        £4 (2), £2-£3 (5),

5)      Would you expect to see more images than text, or not?

        More Images, Equal (6)

6)      How often do you buy music magazines?

        Monthly (3), Don’t/Never (4)

7)      How much would you be willing to pay for a music magazine?

£1 - £3  (1)     £3.01 - £5 (6)      £5.01 - £7 (1)    £7.01+

Research: Genre/Target Audience

I will produce a music magazine on the music genre of metalcore, heavy metal and metal. I will cover most of these genre's in my magazine and I have chose these to write about because I listen to these types of music on a daily basis.

My target audience is, teenagers and young adults, ranging from approximately 14 to 24. 

Prelim Task; Evaluation Of Preliminary Task

Evaluation; Preliminary Task,

First things first, we were given a brief to make a front cover and contents page of a school magazine. I started by doing my own primary research into a school magazine therefore, I got my hands on copies of my school’s magazines and analysed them to see if I would want to use any of those ideas for my magazine. My school magazines have a unique house style consisting of one main photograph across the whole page, masthead at the top and a plug at the bottom of the page making this house style very basic and minimalistic. The contents page for in my school’s magazine is also minimalistic and basic because there are only ever about four bullet points of information hidden away in small font, as it is only a small magazine. After this I started to plan the layouts for my front cover and contents page.

To correctly plan the layout for these I had to learn the correct graphic design symbols for pictures and text etc. So I started a development process and created three sketches of a front cover and three sketches of contents pages. The first one was quite dull however, the other two to follow were improvements of one another. The only I took from my research was the use of one photograph on the front cover as a dominant image that summarises the magazine.

After this development process I went and took pictures with a group of classmates around the school site. Using the rule of thirds we took pictures of literally anything around school. I would then select a photo which I thought would suit my magazine best. Then I chose my favourite layout of front cover and contents page and started to create them in Photoshop CS6. I started by putting my masthead on, then strapline and then cover lines etc. After I’d put all my text on in the layout that I wanted, I imported in the picture I was going to use. I only had to make small amendments to my text to make sure it was in proportion to the picture and that I could read the text clearly.

I kept with a light blue and black colour scheme because these are the main colours of the school with our value posters around school, the website and with uniform. Also I believe they contrast perfectly and give a lovely effect to the target audience and looks appropriate to the magazine, its contents and is sophisticated.

Next time, for improvement, I would have had an idea of a picture in my head so I was better prepared for my layout when it came to Photoshop.  

Development/Ideas Of Three Magazine Front Covers And Contents Page.

These are the three front covers, and three contents pages that we designed in class. We did this as a development process so we could 'play about' with the layout of each page as to where pictures, cover lines and masthead's should be placed. We did this so it will help us when it comes to it being our turn to create our magazines.   

                 

Double Page Analysis

The colour scheme for this double page spread consists of a lot of neutral and dominant colours. This is affective because the topic of this is fashion so the background has neutral colours; whereas the clothes have dominant colours to help the clothes look better on the model in the photographs. Meaning that because the clothes are standing out in the pictures it is selling that product more and more to the target audience. The colour scheme also attracts the target audience, in this case it is women aged 28-45, because they are attracted to the neutral colours which take up most of the page. Also the dominant colours of red and some black on the clothes also attract the target audience as they picture themselves looking as good as the model in the photo. Also because there is not much writing on the page, this also helps the photos stand out as there is no reading to do therefore you can just concentrate and glare at the pictures.

For the text on the pages they have used pink which makes this text stand out from the neutral colours behind it, and the pink is used because this text is the most important text on the page. I can tell this because underneath the pink text are the prices of each item of clothing and accessories from the pictures, which are in black so they do not stand out and because they are extortionately priced. Also the pink text is fashion information telling the reader what clothing and accessories go with other clothing and other accessories.

At the bottom of these pages is a small information box. This is just more information telling the reader more on what hair styles and make-up goes with the clothes. This is basically just telling the reader what the models are wearing, which is what the reader wants as they want to look as good as the model in the pictures.

There is a small title in the top right hand corner of the page, I wouldn’t class this as a masthead as it is small and in the top right corner rather than the top left, meaning it doesn’t stand out. Also it is a brief overview of the double page spread as it reads ‘Fashion Confidence’ meaning that the model in the pictures is very confident of the clothing she is wearing, also trying to get across to the reader that they would be confident in these clothes too. This means they are trying to persuade the reader to go and buy these clothes.

Prelim Task; Re-Write Of Article

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Exam Boards Forced To Change GCSE Grade Boundaries, Why? Good Question!

Letters have been released, from Ofqual wrote to Edexcel exam board, to change GCSE grade boundaries. The letters show Ofqual forcing the exam board to change GCSE English mark boundaries, half way through the school year.

These letters show that worries about the rise in C grades, asking the exam board to act quickly to make results closer to predictions for English. The exam board were quick to reply to the public on this topic and said that the grade boundaries are ‘fair’ and that they would not be changed.

As these letters were published the CEO of Ofqual faced resignation however, has not since stepped down from the position. A head teacher and former member of Ofqual said that the CEO of Ofqual was un-defendable and had become compromised. He also said that because of his actions bringing down the amount of C grades to be awarded, that he should resign.

Ofqual are trying their best to defend themselves by saying that the content of these letters were ‘entirely proper’ and are part of their work to maintain standards and can be compared to previous years.

Students in Wales will see their grades un-affected as the education minister demanded for their papers to be re-marked.

Leighton Andrews said that Welsh pupils had been victims of an ‘injustice’ action made by Ofqual and the exam board. The Edexcel correspondence is the latest twist in the scandal as it comes closer to Stacey giving evidence to MPs.

Apparently in the letters, Ofquals director of standards, Dennis Opposs, made Edexcel aware that that pupils awarded with a C grade would mean it would be eight percentage points higher than expected. They asked the exam board to act quickly on this matter so the grades were much closer to predictions, adding that it may require them to move grade boundaries a lot more than normally required.

Edexcel replied the next day stating that the grade expectations form Ofqual are only an indicator of performance, based on Sats results aged 11. Changes in the school year and new modular exams have been mentioned in this enquiry. Edexcel finally said that ‘we believe this to be compelling evidence that our award is a fair award and we do not believe a further revision of our grade boundaries is justified’.

Edexcel also make aware to Ofqual that they cannot change the minimum mark for a C grade for one English unit up to 65 marks as it stood at 55 marks in January. Ofqual replied saying that Edexcel are obliged to change boundaries to keep in line with other exam boards whose boundaries were closer to predictions. They also say that it is up to Edexcel to decide how this is achieved. 

Jay-Z Double Page Spread Analysis From Q Magazine

This page has the house-style of the Q magazine with the red banner across the top of the page. On the left page, of this double spread, is a huge picture of Jay-Z himself. This is purposely used so we can see what the text in the article is relating to. Also in the picture it shows Jay-Z lighting a cigar. Stereotyping of cigars are usually big Mafia bosses who are very wealthy and powerful therefore, it shows Jay-Z's wealth and power in the music industry. 

In the bottom left hand corner of the picture we can see a quote. This quote I assume is a quote of Jay-Z's as a lot of quotes made by him are all over the internet for example on Facebook and Twitter. Also I believe the picture is used to help take up space of the double spread page so the editor's can put the writing in small font to make it look like there is a lot of information in this article. Two columns have been used for the article, making it easier to follow and read. They have used a medium sized box for a fact-file of the rapper of things like his date of birth and where he lives. This is just a little extra information included in the article for the reader. Also the box helps take up a little more space on the page. 

The colour scheme is consistent throughout with its red, black and white throughout each page. It is an affective colour scheme because the colours contrast well making it easy for the audience to read. Also the colour scheme makes the magazine look sophisticated, specific to its target audience.

Q Magazine Contents Page Analysis

As we can the 'Q' logo is in the top left hand corner of the page. This is done purposely as we read from left to right therefore, it is directly in our eyeline. The background of the logo is coloured in red. Red has been scientifically proven to raise the males heartbeat. Also the menu column for the contents on the left hand side of the page is also background coloured in red. Red is usually portrayed as an aggresive and angry colour. This effectively suits this page because the main feature article photograph is of Richard Ashcroft from the band 'The Verve'. It is a very dominant picture and the red is effective because it helps to portray Richard Ashcroft's rock and roll music and lyrics of his era. Richard Ashcroft is seen to be holding his arms in the air like the Angel Of The North. This has a very evangelical style to it and shows his god-like status as a rock and roll artist. 

There is little writing on the page as it's a mens magazine and men are highly likely to just flick through the picture and scan read rather than stop to read every tiny bit of information on the page. Also there is only one column on this page down the left hand side of the page making it directly in our eye-line like the masthead at the top of the page. 

Magazine Cover Analysis

As we can see from the image, the magazine's masthead is placed in the top left hand corner of the magazine, this is so when it is placed on shelves it is easy to spot and also because we read from left to right making it directly in our eye-line. The font of the masthead is in red because it helps attract the target audience, in this case men, because red raises a man's heartbeat.

The feature article photo is placed directly in the centre of the cover. This is so the image stands out on the cove to attract the eye of the target audience. This image is relevant to the topics of the magazine, hence why it also attracts the target audience. A lot of the time the image will always overlap the masthead, it doesn't really matter that it overlaps as the magazine is so famously known we know what it is.

Due to the feature article photo being placed in the middle of the magazine, all cover lines have been placed on the edges of the magazine. The main cover line is in a very large font. This is to make it stand out on the magazine so the reader reads that information because it is important to the topic of the magazine. It could also be classed as a plug as it is the magazine's unique selling point. The other cover lines are in a medium font and in a white colour because they are not so important. This is because this magazine is only really bought for the pictures it contains, therefore not much information is needed on the cover because the target audience haven't bought it to read.

Just underneath the masthead is a plug. This is not much information on what's on that page but gives the reader a slight in-sight as to what is on that page. However, it is written in a white colour making it not look very important as the reader will skip through all the pages looking at the photo's anyway. The price isn't even on this cover as it is probably rather expensive. Therefore, because it has an outstanding cover with use of plugs, masthead and photograph the reader will buy this magazine whatever price it is when they found out at the till. The bar-code is at the bottom left corner, this is purely for the member of staff at the shop, but it is out of the way so it doesn't affect the appearance of the cover. There is no strap-line used in this cover, just like most 'FHM' magazine's.  

Everything we see on this magazine cover had been put there for a reason, including font, size of font, colour of font and positioning of everything. Very effective cover as it is dedicated to it's intended target audience. 

Key Media Concepts

Key Media Concepts Consist of;
-Target Audience, who the product is aimed at.
-Genre, different categories for different things, like music and films.
-Conventions, these are what we expect from a certain genre of something, like death in a horror film.
-Codes (Symbolic & Technical), Symbolic code, as in if we saw a pumpkin in a scene we would know it's Halloween. And Technical code, as in for a horror film we expect the lighting to be very dark.