Evaluation

The aim my coursework was to research, plan and make a music magazine that I felt could fill the gap in music magazines. As a result of globalisation, information can be distributed effortlessly, meaning people can gain knowledge from the internet rather than prints. Therefore I had to carry out much research to help me create my own magazine.
The research helped me build up my knowledge of music magazines as well as the codes and conventions of a good magazine. Firstly I read through a number of articles on declining sales so that I could gain an idea on what was creating these drops. One article I found gave me great insight on how to think about editing a music magazine was ‘Stuart Speaks Again’ as he shared his strategies for creating dominant magazines. To further my knowledge on magazines I looked deconstructed 2 front covers and a contents pages using semiotics. I also looked into the meta language articles.
While doing my research I investigated two different magazine publishers in Britain 'Bauer' and 'IPC' I examined which magazines they publish and why the magazines are successful. However I chose neither of these to publish my magazine, instead I decided to use ‘Development Hell Ltd’ would best for my magazine due to others they have published, previously 'smash hits' and currently publish 'Mixmag'. I feel my magazine is directly in the middle of these genres.
Furthermore I wrote and distributed an online questionnaire using a website named Survey Monkey. This survey was conducted to find out key information in to what genres of music is listened to what they think about music magazines, whether they purchase them, all from a wide range of ages and sex. The questionnaire enabled to gain an insight into what people think is missing in music magazines and they are no longer being purchased. Hearing the variety of thoughts allowed me to begin planning my magazine to what people would like to see in a magazine.
Subsequent to my research I began to plan my music magazine I created a mind map of ideas that I think a magazine include and that I wanted to see in my own. My questionnaire helped me decided on my target audience of 18-30. I felt that there is a large gap in the market for a magazine aimed at this age, the only other magazine that could be read by this audience is 'Mixmag' however it focuses solely on dance music I wanted to create a magazine that includes a variation of genres. Similar to 'smash hits' however when I went to research 'smash hits' discovered it was no longer in circulation, therefore I wanted to create a adult more mature version of 'smash hits'. I thought this would be a good idea as in m questionnaire results everyone listened to a verity of music.
  
To target audience for my main image I used a young adult at a festival wearing fashionable clothes, I also used fun props. These would attract my target audience as they can relate to the person on the cover. I used a clear bold typeface for the name of the magazine on the cover making it white so that it stands out, making it eye catching to the audience along with a catchy name for the magazine. Rhythm ATTIC would appeal to wide audience making them interested in to what the magazine may contain. I chose to avoid having a CD on the front of my cover, as it would hide much of it, although the free aspect draw customers in and instead chose to have a link inside the magazine for a free legal down load site which i find fits better with today audiences.
  
For my double page spread I used a variety of photos, most I had taken at festivals this summer and a few I had reconstructed. The images are fun and entertaining, this was a key point made in my questionnaire, that too much text is not enjoyable. The language used in the article is fun, chatty and playful this helps create a ‘relationship’ with the reader. When being the artist again the language was chatty I also tried to include slang and used grammar to create a voice.
  
Throughout the development of my music magazine, I have broadened my Photoshop skills. When I started I had a small quantity of knowledge which I had learnt from my preliminary coursework.  I have now broadened my understanding of Photoshop greatly. I also used a photographer’s digital camera during this project by doing this I learnt how to use specific settings so that I could construct photos of a good quality. However I feel if I were to do the project again I would like to spend more time getting to know the site blogger so that I can uses it features to my advantage making the blog more accessible and easier to view.
Altogether I feel that I have made a great deal of progress from my sixth form magazine. Not only have I learnt about how to use certain technologies are used during the process of magazines but learnt about the processes of planning needed to create a successful magazine, which results from much preparation.
  
  

Front cover

Firstly I darkened the background so that the tent (rain coat) wasn't so obvious. I did this by using the lasso tool; I then switched over the lasso tool so that I could brighten the model, making her stand out.

I then used the paint brush to make the leaves bigger and greener on the

head band I did the same to the red roses using the low opacity to keep it looking real.

As the model has freckles I couldn't use the heal tool as there were no areas to copy similar tones from. Therefore I used the eye drop too and brush to remove spots and some freckles.
There was a lot of reflected light on the face, so I used the same method to remove/ reduce this. After doing this I had to re outline the nose.
I then moved on to the make-up. I changed the lip colour by using a low opacity paint brush

The flash from the photograph decreased 

the visibility of the glitter as well as its bright 

colour. Firstly I tried copying and pasting a small 

section. I then looked through he paint tools brushes a saw that it could be scattered. I selected a pink and used 

a low opacity to create strips of glitter on either side.

I brought out the eyes by brightening the white. I went over the 

eyebrows with a low opacity black I then did the same for the eyes 

using a point 1 brush, adding some gentle eyeliner, as well as 

mascara to make the eyelashes longer and the eyes bigger.

For the text I used white outline, so that it could be seen against other objects I used the blending options to drop shadow and create an inner glow, I the resterised the text text so that it became a imagae and could be distorted using free transform.

For the rest of the text I used two fonts

Gothic and Diamond heavy

I made the wording in capitals so that it would stand out.

Double page spread

My article is based on music festivals. It will be a new artists top 4 festivals it will also included quotes and images from the artists at music fetivals. Each festival will have a profile and a sum up of the festival it will then included highllights of the artist at the festival and her favourite part. I aim to write 200 words on each festival. I will also included a introduction introducing the article.
For the double page spread i shall use the same font Corbal that i have used in the editors letter, and contents page. For the title and subheading in the article I will use similar fonts to the title of the contents page and to the title of the magazine.


I started working on a for the background of the double page spread, however I decided to not follow this idea through as it was looking scrappy and would also make the page look to busy. So I decided to have the background a photo of a stage at a music festival from this summer.

Front Cover photos

For the photo shoot I styled the model with props/ make up that you would see at a music festival.

- Flower head band

- Glitter

- Face jems

- Bronzer to create a tan as it would be summer in there photos

- A tribal dress that looks rustic which is a popular festival look.

- A rain coat in the background to look like a tent

- A denim jacket to show the temperature not cold and not to hot as festivals can be chilly in the evening

- A balloon was used in some photos, to add

more colour and a bit of fun!

I have selected my 3 favourite photos that I took for the front cover.

- This was my favourite photo out of the ones where I used a rain coat coat in the background as a makeshift tent. I think this makes the photo look more believable that its at a festival.

- The composition of this photograph goes well with one of the layouts I did for the cover.

- if this photograph is used the title would have to be behind her face so that it doesn't hide her.

- I feel the balloon brightens the photo making the artist look fun and playful, which is how the magazine are trying make the readers view her.

- The model is looking into the camera, this is sticking to usual conventions of magazine cover photos.

- If this photo Is used much editing would be needed

- Again the model is looking in the camera, this reaches out to potential readers grabbing their eye.

this photo was taken from a higher angel looking down on the model.

- By having the models face centred it allows for a the magazine name to stretch across the top, it also has a natural layout for where the articles can go as there's room on left and right side of her.

- The this photo was taken with a dark background, which I went over on photo shop to make the model stand out, the black background has conatations of a night sky, if used for the cover a festival at night could be edited in.

- The layout for this photograph would be in an L shape on the left hand side

- This image isn't as colourful as the others as you can see the

- Although I aimed to take mid shots i like this close up as the model has a really nice expression on her face.

- This photography wouldn't need much editing

- A photo of a inside of a tent or crowd could be edited in as this photo is very dark and not very festiv.

Contents page photos.

One of my main 4 photographs is for the contents page and will be for the ‘Steal a Stars Style’ fashion article I decided to include this article as many said they enjoy looking at fashion especially the famous. The star I in this months issue is called ‘Fifi Zappa a soul singer which has collaborated with Plan B, Tinchy Styder as well as Cheryl Cole making her well known.

To take the photographs for this I took a friend to the park to pose as the made up ‘Fifi Zappa. The clothes that were decided on are different and quite individual. I took some of the photos in black and white as I thought it would make them look sophisticated and others in colour. There are my favourites:

This photo 4 is one of my favourite as I think it would really good down the side of a contents page.

However, as the photo shot was for a fashion article I will use photo 3 as its in colour which is important as it shows of the clothing better. This photo graph also has one of the best angles to show off the clothing.

I edited the photograph before putting it onto my contents page. Firstly I brightened and lowered the contrast so that it wasn't so dark, enabling more detail to be seen.

I then changed the levels and hue saturation bring out the reds and browns in the photo. This gave the model more colour in the face as she looked pale before. it also made the model and the clothes stand out more from the back ground.

In addition I needed a photograph of the ‘artist’ for the reviews. I chose to use a male model to represent a DJ. I decided to use a male as I feel I have to much female representation.

The setting for this photograph was on a balcony at night with a back ground of lights London; however, the lights didn’t show much in the photos so I took them away and used the night sky as a plain black background which I liked as I could use a high resolution and contrast to make the model stand out.

This photo didn’t need much editing I firstly took the railings away from the left hand side of the photo. I then brighten the photo; this washed it out so I increased the contrast and changed the hue saturation. This made the photo more defined so that you could see his hairline.

I also tried a photograph with two male models in. I preferred this photo as I thought it was quite mescaline, which would help appeal to males. As it is being said that they work together I wanted to show I bond so positioned them with their arms over each other in a friendly manner.

- Step one I increased the levels of brightness while keeping the contrast the same.

- By changing the levels I brought out more purple on model 1s shirt as well as their hairlines so that they don’t bland into the background.

- I then cropped the photo so that the eye was drawn to both the models rather then the centre of the photo where there is only one model.

- Now I wanted to take away spots and blemishing, I did this by selecting the healing brush tool and Alt clicked on an area that had no blemishes and a similar tone. I did this for the spots on their faces as well as a stain on the purple shirt.

I didn’t remove all the imperfection because I didn’t want the photo to look fake and airbrushed.

After crop, before blemish removal >

finished

CD

For the CD cover I was going to use a selection of tracks recorded at he festivals over the summer so that it linked in with this issues theme. So that the front cover was not abstracted I was going to make it a negative of the cover. However I have decided not to included a CD but a link to the ATTIC site where the music can be downloaded straight to readers computer. I have chosen to do this as many people no longer use CD as well as some laptops do not have disk drives.