Friday 21 December 2012

Magazine Amendments and Improvements

To improve my front cover I put a thicker cream stroke around my main coverline to make sure that it stood out hich i also changed the byline of as it felt more appropriate and linked better to the main image.. I also changed the smaller cover lines to  a burgundy colour to ensure that they stood out more as I felt that the black text did not show up very well on top of my cover image. I also moved around these cover lines and added an extra one to fill a sizable gap. I changed the colour of my corner section which says "Your Guide To.." as the navy blue that it was blended to well with the other colours making it less noticable. I also made the textin this area more abstractly sized and placed to make it more eye catching and to give it an interesting feel. I finally changed the artists listed after "Plus" to a white text as it stands out more.


I added a coloured bar across the top of my contents page to allow my color scheme to become more apparent and so that my pictures were lowered down a little as I changed my top image, removed one of the centre images and moved them around to fit correctly on the page. I changed my contact details section to a smaller blue bar to allow me to resize and move around my images and lower my "Regulars" section. I also mde amendments to my list of contents to fit the changes I made to the coverlines on my front cover.



For the first part of my Double Page Spread I removed the part of the title which said "23 Fake Street" to allow me to make the title of the article larger and as the headline connoted the bands name anyway it was uneccesary. I removed the part of the stand first that was crediting me for the photos and the words as it was already included in the actual standfirst rather than just after I indented both sides of the paragraph so that the words were clearly visible. This meant I could make the coloured box thinner and so could move the text up and make it fit better.


\For the second part of my double page spread I made sure there was one main image rather than there being a few squashed which made it look less professional. I also moved the quote to the centre of the text so that it was centred and it stood out more and made my area of text more exciting instead of it just being a block of text.

On all my pages i added the date onto the page number and magazine title section so people knew what issue they were reading.

Wednesday 19 December 2012

18th and 19th December 2012 - Double Page Spread Production

I spend these two days writing my article and then creating my double page spread.

Here is the article that I wrote in word before importing it into my double page spread.





I then proceeded to produce my magazines double page spread:


Monday 17 December 2012

17th December 2012 - Transcript for Double Page Spread

Today I wrote out the transcript of my Interview for my Double Page Spread, so that I could easily take quotes out of it when writing my article.

Tuesday 4 December 2012

3rd and 4th December - Front Cover Production

Monday 3rd December: Today I wanted to work out and edit my cover photo and try and get it onto my cover.

After importing my chosen cover image >> 
I used the magic want tool to cut out my main image so it could be over the title and could be placed over a background.
 
I then inserted my cut out image onto my cover design and layered it onto my cover, above the magazine name "Indie" and below all the other layers.
 
 
Tuesday 4th December: I added a shape onto the corner of the magazine to fill in the large gap, but then I discarded it because it does not follow the codes and conventions of a magazine front cover. 
 
 
After removing the shape from the corner, I decided to tilt my main image to give my cover a more interesting and appealing look. I also changed the coverline again to fit in more with the cover image as it is now.


 
As the plain white background was quite boring I decided to insert some shapes in the background to give it a more exciting look and to make it less boring.
I added a circular "splat" which made the background less boring.
 
 
I then decided to add another "splat" in a different shade of blue to contrast with the initial lighter blue shape.
Finally I required to place an object in the top right hand corner so I decided that, as my Indie magazine is a new magazine it would place a shape with "New" inside to attract people to the attention that it is a new magazine, and therefore filling in the gap.
I first inserted an elipsis shape to place my text into.

I then added my text which said "NEW".

Friday 30 November 2012

29th and 30th November - Front Cover Production

29th November: I started my front cover by inputting the magazine title "Indie" in the font Elephant. I then opened the blending options to make my font slightly different as a title font on a magazine needs to be a unique font.
I set a drop shadow on the text in Burgundy to create a slight haze around the letters.

I then added a pillow emboss to create a slight 3D effect on the lettering.
I then added my positioning statement and edited it accordingly. I also added a navy blue bar across the bottom to allow me to add my "PLUS" section.

I then added a barcode onto the cover just next to my magazine title.

30th November: I added all the "Plus" section text on the bottom of the page and resized my magazine title and positioning statement.
 
 

 

I typed up and positioned my main coverline onto my front cover. And afterward I added my smaller coverlines.

 
 
 

 The next step was to add my issue number, date and price of the magazine. So i created a text box for each of these bits of text and added them onto my page.


 
 
My main coverline didnt really fit my cover image so I had to decide on another one which linked to the photo. I also needed to change its font size as the font size was too small. The modifications i made were: change in coverlines, adding of an extra coverline, change in font size and relocation of the coverlines.


 
 
 
 
 
 

Thursday 29 November 2012

Contents Page Images

 
CONTENTS PAGE IMAGES
 
These are the photos that I chose for my contents page, each image relates to one of the magazine articles. These images will be cropped to fit onto my contents page so that some of the extra space around the main focuses of the image can be removed.
 
 

1.

2.


3.


4.

Tuesday 27 November 2012

Photoshoot for Front Cover

FRONT COVER IMAGES:

 
 
 
I took a number of images for my front cover photoshoot, many of the photos did not have connotations of music and were too much like a fashion magazine, but i managed to find an apporpriate image from my selection of photographs.





















I chose the following image for my front cover image:

Tuesday 20 November 2012

Friday 2 November 2012

Analysis Of A Double Page Spread

More Conventions:
  • Byline - Who wrote the article or photograph credits.
  • The text size of the article is no more than 11pt in size.
  • Page Number, Title and Issue date on bottom corner of page. Usually 8/9pt.
  • Panels with smaller images or text may be used.
The article may show the journalists personality and their opinion on the artist.
The Language and register of the article are appropriate for the magazine genre and the target audience.

Analysis of Professional Music Magazine Covers and Contents Pages


Thursday 1 November 2012

Initial Plans For My Magazine

Price: £2.20
Frequency Of Publication: Monthly
Average Issue Size: 52 pages

Regular Content:

  •  Music Mailbag - Mail Section
    · Concert Guides
    · News
    · Competitions
    · Ones To Watch
    · 60 second interview
  • What's Hot
Feature Articles:

· A Day With Mumford And Sons
· On Tour With Marina and the Diamonds
· Summer Festival Highlights

· Alt-J Talk About Their New Album
· Introducing Laura Marling
·  Jake Bugg – The Beginning...
· Say Hello To Lucy Rose
· Ellie Goulding – The Starry Eyed Girl
· The xx On Tours, Albums And On Their New Found Fame.
· 23 Fake Street, Fake OrNot? (Interview with Frontman Sam Kydd)
· Aiden Grimshaw Headline Tour
·  Lonsdale Boys Club – Join The Club
· The Passion of Passion Pit
· Of Monsters and Men Talk About Their Tour.
· The Story Of FranKo
· Ben Montague From The Start
·  Your Guide To This Winter's Hottest Gigs

 · Em. Britains Hottest New Indie Star(Cover Story)
  ·  Live From The Q Awards

Monday 29 October 2012

Researching The Market Place



NME Media Pack: http://www.ipcadvertising.com/resource/6dcz2moj66wp0swdpyx5rv3o.pdf

The Fly Media Pack: http://static.the-fly.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2012/09/The-Fly-Media-pack-2012.pdf


Thursday 11 October 2012

MAIN TASK: Initial Ideas

Genre:
I want to produce an Indie magazine.

Target Audience:
I want it to be produced for Indie music fans, between the ages of 16 - 25

Wednesday 10 October 2012

Evaluation Of School Magazine


What Way Does My Media Product Use, Develop or Challenge Forms And Conventions Of Real Media Products?

Front Cover



Contents Page



The text on my contents page was bigger than 11pt so when I make my Music magazine I will need to ensure that it is correctly sized.



How Did I Use New Media Technologies In The Construction Of My Media Project?

To create my Front Cover I used Adobe Photoshop. I had never used this programme before and I found that it wasn't that difficult to use. I imported the image for my front cover onto Photoshop and made sure it was the correct dimensions for a magazine front cover. I used the text tool to add text to the cover and typed on the title, the cover lines and the sub lines. I then changed the text to an appropriate colour and imported a bar code into Photoshop to add to the front.

To make my Contents Page I used QuarkXPress, which is another programme that I had never used before. I made a new file and set the dimensions up correctly and I made sure that it had 3 columns to make sure it was conventionally correct. I wrote all my text into a text box before resizing it all to fit into the columns correctly. After that I inserted images onto the page and correctly placed them onto the Quark file.
I finally added the page numbers onto the photos and then the page number at the bottom of the page.


What Are The Strengths And Weaknesses Of Both The Product And My Use Of New Media Technologies?

STRENGTHS:

  • As Quark is designed for the production of magazines and print, it was good that I was able to use it as it meant i was able to produce the contents correctly with the right dimensions and meant that everything could be placed correctly.
  • Photoshop allowed me to layer text and the barcode onto the cover image with ease.
  • Both my front cover and my contents page follow most of the codes and conventions of a magazine cover and contents page apart from a few minimal amendments that would need to be made when I produce my next magazine.
WEAKNESSES:
  • My font size needed to be correct as on both my contents page and my front cover, the font was the incorrect sizes and would need to be resized.
  • My main cover image needed to be more of a close up than it was  there was a large amount of background space which wasn't needed and it left gaps where there was no text placed.
  • My contents page needs more articles on it as it doesn't have as many as it could have done on it/as many as a real magazine would have.

Production Of School Magazine Front Cover and Contents Page

Front Cover:


Contents Page:

Friday 5 October 2012

Planning Contents

I need to think of articles which are regular to the magazine and some feature articles which will just be in this one issue.

Feature Articles:
  • Time For A Change
  • Just Beyond The Stars
  • Want To Go Global?
  • !Muy Bueno!
  • Star Pupils
  • Curry Chaos
  • Welcome To Weatherhead
  • Meet The Team
  • Open for business
  • Dripping Wet
Regular Articles:
  • Word Search
  • how Can You Help?
  • What's Going On?
  • Final Word

Rough Layout Of School Magazine Front Cover


PRELIMINARY EXERCISE: Plans For Front Cover

Title:
  • Marks
  • Teacher
  • Life
  • Education
  • Lesson
  • Result - This is the title I am choosing.
  • Community
Cover Image:
I want a picture of a student in the newly decorated common room. I want it to be a medium close up of the student sitting at one of the tables in the room.

Coverlines:
  • Time For A Change
  • Just Beyond The Stars
  • Muy Bueno!
  • Want to Go Global?

Friday 21 September 2012

BRIEF

Preliminary Exercise: using DTP and an image manipulation program, produce the front page of a new school/college magazine, featuring a photograph of a student in medium close-up plus some appropriately laid-out text and a masthead. Addiitionally candidates must produce a mock-up of the layout of the contents oage to demonstrate their grasp of DTP.

Main Task: the front page, contents and double page spread of a new music magazine.

All images and used must be original, produces by the candidate(s), minimum of four images per candidate.