Molly Cruddas AS Media Foundation Portfolio: 2014

Friday, 2 May 2014

Contents

Evaluation Question 7

http://prezi.com/hf2vhn6rna_m/?utm_campaign=share&utm_medium=copy

Evaluation Question 6

What have you learnt about technologies from the process of constructing your music magazine?

http://www.docdroid.net/z6zb/eval.txt.html

Thursday, 1 May 2014

Evaluation Question 5

To create something my audience wanted to see I had to take into consideration what other's were offering. As my magazine contained bands similar to pre-existing magazines like Kerrang! I needed to create something more original and new rather than something already available as it would have decreased the desirability of my magazine. I took the information that came directly from my audience and used that but also tried to think of ways I could make it seem more interesting as well as the things that are common in magazines. I chose specific wording to really grab the audience's attention such as "exclusive" this lets the audience know that I have something that they have yet to see, rather than something they have seen before. In my survey a popular choice of things was posters so I specifically made my magazine a poster special, also interviews were popular so I included a featurette on a band as it would have the most detail. Since I had a teenage audience I used an informal tone throughout and not too much text to the point they'd get bored but enough to keep people interested. Rather than having a neat layout I included decorations of splats and checkered prints to make it look busier and more appealing to the eye.

Evaluation Question 4

Who would be the audience for your music magazine?

http://prezi.com/zz5mkuqfqzvi/?utm_campaign=share&utm_medium=copy

Wednesday, 30 April 2014

Evaluation Question 3

Evaluation Question 2

https://www.flickr.com/photos/124106316@N05/14081883685/

Tuesday, 29 April 2014

Evaluation Question 1

Evaluation Question 1 from Molly_cruddas

Thursday, 3 April 2014

Colour Schemes

For my colour scheme I took my influences from magazines like Kerrang!, Q and NME and tried to immitate the way they used mostly black and white with one other bold colour to stand out. Like Kerrang! I have shown in the subscription area that the magazine front cover will change colour depending on the type of band but the main colour scheme is black white and blue.

My current colour scheme

I chose this colour scheme as I though that the blue worked well with the white and black as it really stood out the way I intended it to and it complimented the hints of red that are present in my front cover from my model.

Alternative colour scheme

I liked this one and it clearly proved popular with a lot of magazines similar to the one I aimed to create however a lot of magazines have this colour scheme so it would not make my magazine seem original or stand out but it did work well with the colours in the photos.

Alternative colour scheme

I also liked this colour scheme as it was quite original and the colours complimented each other well but if I did use these colours my magazine would be too dark and would not stand out as well, plus the colours clashed a little with my photos.

Tuesday, 1 April 2014

Final Magazine.

Final Magazine Pages

Front Cover

Contents Page

Double Page Spread

Monday, 31 March 2014

Magazine Progress 29/03/14

Magazine Update

I have added the images onto the front cover and the contents page and also added some text. I added the masthead to the rest of the pages and changed some of the text on the double page spread so it's more visable.

Friday, 28 March 2014

Font Choices

FONT CHOICES

For the main font I chose one called Bebas Neue (OT1) I chose this font because I think it was quite fitting for my magazine genre. It was easy to read and bold so it'd stand out against everything else on my pages.

I also looked at Arial to be my main font however I decided it'd be too plain and wouldn't have the effect I wanted as it was a little bit too plain to be used the most throughout the entire magazine.

Another choice for the main font was Moonshiner, this font was also bold and stood out but it was quite difficult to read which would be an inconvenience if the majority of the text was this font.
I nearly chose the font Lucida Sans Typewriter but after consideration I decided that I did not like how spaced the letters were and it did not really look appropriate for the theme of the magazine and my target audience.

I used the font Arial for some of the smaller parts of text on my front cover because although I initally rejected using it as the main font I used it when I needed to add small extras to the pages and felt that I had used Bebas Neue (OT1) too much. I used Arial for those parts because it was not too over the top.
For these smaller parts I also considered using the font Calibri however I decided not to use this on the cover because although they're both quite plain standard texts that I had in mind, Arial was more spaced which took up more room on my skyline which is what I intended for it to do.

I used Calibri on my contents page rather than my front cover because for this piece of text I needed a plain font that would be easy to read as there'd be a large amount of compressed information that is important for the reader to see so the clarity and spaced out letters were appropriate for the section.
Initially the font I used for that part was Bebas Neue (OT1) however I felt that I'd already overused this font and I needed it for some of the other parts of the text, also it was not easy to read when compressed.

I used the font Moonshiner for a promotional offer

Thursday, 27 March 2014

Draft Article for Double Page Spread

This is the article I will be using for the double page spread in my magazine:

This week we have been talking to Abi from don’t wish, to get some Info on the tour and their new album release. So far they've planned 8 destinations in the UK and are still going.
So Abi, what has it been like discovering your fame?
Abi: Oh gosh it’s been such an amazing experience, we’ve come so far from playing small local gigs to getting recognised on the street! This is a new experience for us but it’s not going to be hard to get used to! It’s so fun.
It must be hard being with the same people for monthson end, have you had any problems?
Abi: yes! I love those guys but we have had so many arguements, I think at first the fame was really getting to our head but we sorted things out, we’ve had some serious problems
but the music really saved us from ourselves.
Are you planning any new albums?
Abi: I can’t say exactly buuuut, i can tell you something and that is that we’re planning something huge,
Pleeeeaseee?
Abi: Well i can tell you that there’s some big names in the collaborations. I’m really excited for people to hear it, we’re still working on it now but yeah, should be out later next year.

Friday, 21 March 2014

Images for magazine

A friend and I gathered some images for my magazine.

Images I'll probably be using:

Images I will not be using:

The pictures still need to be edited on photoshop as I could only get one person to take photos of so I will have to edit her images to portray her as other people.

Thursday, 20 March 2014

Magzine Progress 20/03/14

Magazine Progress

I have now nearly finished my front cover, I only have a few more images to add along the bottom of my page. I have created a new masthead and added to all of my pages, I also added some text to show what is inside and some smaller decorative details.

Friday, 14 March 2014

Magazine Progress 14/03/14

Magazine Progress

Since last time I have added an image, some more text, and a barcode. I changed my mind about the appearance of the masthead so I removed it and intend to replace it with a bolder one that will stand out more on the page as the other one was too small.

I have updated my contents page by inserting some text, to show what will be in the magazine and I've created some fake magazine front covers in an area where I will put the subscription section to show people past issues. I've used the blue colour to emphasise parts of text so they will stand out and still match the colour scheme.

Thursday, 6 March 2014

Magazine Progress 06/03/14

Magazine Progress

This is the progress I have so far, I have inserted the article itself along with the background photo, and some other decorative parts to make it look more interesting, I will insert the masthead and masthead background next.

Thursday, 27 February 2014

Magazine Progress 27/02/14

Magazine Progress

So far I have started on my contents page, I listed the contents and set the layout for the page when I get the images to put on it. I copied the border and the masthead from my front cover to the contents page to keep with the theme and I put the main articles into a box so readers can find the most interesting articles first

Tuesday, 11 February 2014

Magazine Progress 11/02/14

Magazine Progress

This is my front cover so far, I have added a mast head (and a background for it) and a skyline with a small amount of text of in, I plan on adding images to it next to make it less bare and make it look like my magazine inspirations

Thursday, 6 February 2014

Analysing Past Student's Work

Analysing Past Student's Work

Analysing Previous Student Work

Name of Magazine	Strengths	Weaknesses	Grade I awarded and reason
Star Quality	-They keep to a house theme (black, white and yellow) -Good image quality (average photo shop skills) -The Masthead is unique and of good quality -There’s a decent amount of text on the DPS -Font is a little bit too big on DPS -Sounds like a realistic article -Has website details	-Contents page is very cluttered -All the page contents are listed -Over use of house theme (on the DPS) -Font isn’t very professional -Average photo shopping	B
STATIC BUZZ	-Not too crowded - Good quality pictures -Keeps to a set colour scheme -Good unique font for masthead -Not too much text for the double page spread	-The main article/ double page spread font is quite basic -Not much on the front cover	A
Neon Tiger	-Bright attention grabbing colours -Interesting masthead font- stands out against background -A lot of images	-Bad photoshopping -No colour scheme -Front cover/ contents page too busy -Very small barcode -Too much text! -Too many images -Too many contents page titles	U

What have I learned from looking at last year’s student work?

To not overuse colour too much or make it look too busy but at the same time don’t leave it too bare and make sure to incorporate colour. Avoid using too much text on my contents page and double page spread.

How will I apply this to my own work?

I will use a colour theme all the way through my magazine and use a small amount of images, and make my double page spread text concise and straight to the point.

Sunday, 26 January 2014

Conventions, Producer and Target Audience

The main conventions in my magazine will revolve around a pop-punk/punk theme. The text on my magazine pages will be bold but the colour themes will be quite plain, after researching magazines similar to my own I have found that they usually feature black and white colours of background and main text e.g. masthead and coverlines but with one other bold colour. Magazines like Q and Kerrang usually use black, white and red whereas I plan on using black, white and blue as it's a brighter colour and will make my magazine stand out against there's. The colour theme for my magazine will be blue, black and white throughout to maintain consistency and show that the colours link to the main image that will be the main feature in that particular issue. I plan on showing that the magazine will have a different colour linking to the main image on every issue, possibly in a subscription area. I also plan on using things like paint splatters or small images/symbols to tie in to my theme and appeal to my target audience, it could also act as a filler for areas with large parts of text as although my target audience is around 16-25 too much text can still be off putting for some readers and the images could help break the text apart so it doesn't seem like too much. I will not put too much text on the front cover like coverlines etc. as my magazine is a specialist type of magazine (not one you'd expect to find in a supermarket, more likely to be in a music store) and the magazines I've researched from that type of magazine have been relatively bare on the cover as buyers of these magazines do not need coverlines to draw them to the magazine, they'll be more drawn to the fact that there's few magazines that specialise in it.

For the producer I'd probably choose Bauer to produce my magazine as they have produced magazines similar to the theme I have chosen but mine is different enough to not be direct competition. A lot of the magazines they produce are very generally sold such as Kerrang! and Q and not many specialised but it would make my magazine stand out and not be competition to the other magazines they produce but be something different in general. The magazines Bauer produce are generally very successful as they all target different types of people with specific interests be it music or film, so I think Bauer would be a strong choice for a producer given my type of magazine.

My target audience is people aged 16-25 but not specifically. The theme of magazine will appeal to people of different ages as it specialises in punk which spans many ages of people but the way I've incorporated it into the magazine along with pop-punk will probably appeal more to a younger audience, also more young people read magazines than older people, hence the younger target audience as I feel it'd be more successful if addressed to a younger audience.

Friday, 24 January 2014

Photoshoot Planning

Photo shoot planning

What emotional impact do you want your photography do have upon the reader and how will you achieve this?

I want the photoshoot to seem fun and energetic as it will relate to the type of music this band plays, the pictures will be quite bright, 'fun' looking and silly to give it a sort of pop-punk feel. There will more some more serious natural looking pictures also as it's not a childrens magazine but will be lighthearted enought to fit with the fun interview style.

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

For the magazine I will be taking pictures of my friend (a 16 year old female) and her sister will help organise the props and ligthing.

What props will you need?

For props I will be using an acoustic guitar, a trampoline and a skateboard.

How are you going to emphasise colour?

The photoshoot will be quite bright, but with quite soft natural looking lighting. I will probably emphasise the colours on some of the clothes to make them look brighter to stand out and draw attention to the images.

Have you briefed your personnel/models?

Yes I have informed my model/ personnel on what the photoshoot will entail and have both of their consents to go ahead with the pictures.

What lighting will you need? Any other equipment?

I will be using mostly natural light and maybe a lamp if the area is not bright enough.

Where will you shoot? Will you need a backdrop?

I will be taking the photos outside so I will mostly be using the natural environment rather than a backdrop.

Mise-en-scene - Make-up? Costumes? Props?

The makeup will be quite natural but there'll be a small amount of eye makeup and lipgloss. The costume will just be casual clothes to keep with the informal tone of the interview and the magazine.

Institution Research

From the information I have collected I think that Bauer is the best option for a publisher as it publishes the type of magazine I am creating and is very experienced. Bauer is a popular publishing company so it will be recognised which could potentially attract more business also.

Institution	Details	Publications
IPC Media	IPC is a British publishing company; they produce magazines, newspapers, books and specialist magazines for many different audiences. This company produces NME which has a large fan base that are interested in both rock and indie music and attracts a large audience of any gender and a teenage+ audience.	The Sun, The People, Teen Now, Woman, Woman's Own, goodtoknow Recipes, Woman's Weekly, Pick Me Up!, Chat, NME
BBC	BBC is a large Media platform that produces a large amount of magazines, radio programs and television programs for a general audience of all genders and ages. However the only music magazine it produces focuses on classical music.	BBC Music Magazine, BBC Wildlife, Radio Times, Girl Talk, Match of the Day
Bauer	Bauer publish 300 worldwide magazines including Kerrang, Q and MOJO. They are the type of magazine I will be basing my magazine on so this company will be ideal. They have a long history of publishing magazines	Q, MOJO, Kerrang