Photoshop app

I downloaded a photoshop app to my phone so I could try different types of software and media throughout this task. It isn't half as detailed as the PC version as you can only edit the images, by adding effects, changing the angles and cropping

With this photo I brightened it up and made the colours more vibrant

I cropped this image so it looked more intimate without much of a background, this was because the features of the 2 models could be more dominant. I also softened the photo to see what it would look like

 

With these last 2 photos they wouldn't be ones that I would use in my magazine, they were made to play about with the app to see what could be done. I liked experimenting with the different effects and it made me more confident with the app itself.

 

Learning how to use different versions of the photoshop software helped me when coming to make the real product. It helped me learnt the different effects and what I needed to do when using the PC version.

All photos

Here are print screens of all the photos I took for my magazine. As there were so many they were hard to choose from but I thought to take more would be better so I could experiment with different lighting, angles and shots

Colour schemes

I am unsure wheteher I want ny base colour to be black or white. My main idea is to have an image of the main article as the background, but for now I'm choosing colour schemes. This is using photoshop and it's where I've chosen my fonts and draft colours of red (and white or black)

I learnt what looks good together and what didn't. At first I made mistakes and wasn't sure what I wanted it to look like by after trying out different colours it made me realise what I wanted and then pushed me further to create it.

Images 2: not using

These are photos I have chosen not to use in my magazine.

I chose not to use this photo because his hand is blurred. This is because I wanted to have a photo where it looked like he was in action of playing, however it didn't then out how I hoped.

 

 

I chose not to use this because se doesn't look very comfortable. She is ducking down slightly and the full potential of the image isn't being shown.

 

By looking at the photos that I wasn't going to use, rather than just deleting them, I leant what makes a good photo and how to make it look right just how I had imagined in my head.

Planning

This is what I came up with for my planning, I have a list of shots I wanted to take and I had a list of what props and make up I wanted. On the actual day some of the plans and ideas changed but I kept the main idea the same but with just a few tweeks

I learnt that it was important to plan because without it I wouldn't have known where to start when taking my photos.

Research: Magazine's I'd like mine to be like

I took a print screen of popular indie/rock magazines from google to get more of an idea of what I want my own magazine to be perceived as or compared to. The main one I'm interested in is NME but Q magazine is also a very popular one and these are the 2 most frequent ones shown on the print screen.

This became very useful to me because it showed me a variety of different magazines that were very inspirational. I learnt how to apply the different techniques of these magazines to my own.

Images prezi

I created a prezi to show images I took which might not be used in my magazine but are associated with the genre and the band's lifestyle.



This was the first time I had used Prezi so learning how to work it took a fairly long time. I practiced by making other types and watching tutorials on YouTube and finally learnt how to use the whole software. At first I didn't like the idea of using it, but now I would use to to present any piece of work.

Stories/articles ideas

1. at home interview/meet the band (main article)
2. new album from artist (lee)
3. new collaborations
4. 13 best albums for 2013
5. festival line up
6. buying tickets
7. win guitar
8. 25 best gigs this summer
9. "who's gossipping about who"
10. win/promotional offers
11. 20 tastiest tunes

I chose these sorts of stories/articles by looking at other similar magazines and seeing the sort of things they had featured. This, mixed with some of my own ideas, made me decide on the sort of stories my audience would want to read.

MORE TO COME!

Double page spread article idea

My double page spread will be about a band who have allowed the magazine into their home to do an exclusive interview that they have never done before. It will include images of them in their house in everyday clothes showing us what they get up to in their spare time and when writing songs. It will show the instruments used when making their songs which will be exciting for the readers! Here are some images

This is my favourite image because it shows the two close together showing they come as a pair (or band). They are both looking directly into the camera which I like because it makes a connection with the audience. Both are standing naturally/casually and neither are pulling much expression on their faces, they have just simple half smiles, or smirks - but not in an arrogant way. They just look at ease with the image being taken and with the genre of the magazine I think this is a perfect look

I like the idea of having single pictures of the band members because I want the audience to know their personalities seperately as well as a 2 member band.

Magazine images: 1 (not using)

These are the photo's I decided not to use from the first photoshoot

With this photo there is a small part of the guitar cut off and it looks odd and doesn't fit in with the image. There is also furniture in the background that isn't supposed to be there.

I thought that this photo looked uncomfortable. The model looks awkward and it doesn't seem to work. Also there is some of the paper cut out and there is furniture in the background.

There are lots of things in this shot that aren't supposed to be there so I ruled it out immediately. I don't like the lighting and again like the one above I think the model looks awkward and uncomfortable.

This last image I wanted to try something different by having a "rock" approach. I wanted the model to look like he was throwing the guitar but instead it looked very staged and too posed, so I decided not to use.




Looking at what types of photos I didn't want to use was really helpful because it allowed me to see what was good and what wasn't. At the time when I was taking then I thought they were good photos, however after to carefully looking at them it became clear that they weren't right. By doing this I learnt how to take the photos that were of good quality and looked professional.

Magazine images: 1 using

These are the images I will use in my magazine. I chose them because I think they suit the genre and will be really effective to the reader. I will crop/fix all of them in photoshop later on.

 

Althought I didn't necessarily use all of these photos in my magazine in the end, I liked them and they would have been appropriate. I learnt how to take these properly and they came out how I wanted them too.

Magazine double page spread draft

Magazine contents page draft

Magazine front cover draft

 

Having a draft was helpful as it had the guidelines for me when I started to produce my magazine on PhotoShop. Although some of the ideas may have changed, I still had a main idea of what I wanted with the drafts. Without this I would have strugged to make a start on my work as I would have forgotten things and it would have taken me a lot longer trying to design it, but with a draft in front of me it made it easier just to follow what I had already designed before. The same goes for my drafts of the contents page and double page spread.

Magazine publisher

To get my magazine published I would choose IPC. They publish magazines similar to my own such as NME and Uncut. I think what they have to do NME by making it multi platform and having all different type of media involved with it is good because it allows more people to access the news it's giving. I think this makes it successful and I want my magazine to be the same.

I learnt a lot about the different publishing houses which was useful because I could then apply my magazine to them and the type of audiences they have, which then let me choose which one I would have as my publisher. At first I didn't know the difference between the two and didn't even think about who would publish my magazine, but after researching and finding out about each publishing house I could then decide.

Magazine logo

This is my logo for my magazine. I chose a mouth because it associates with my magazine name of 'bite' and my selling line of 'your monthly mouthful of music'

 

I'm not entirely sure if I will use this in my magazine, but it is an idea that could be helpful.

Music magazine pitch

BITE
Your monthly mouthful of music
Genre: the genre of my magazine will be indie/rock. I've chosen this because it is a genre I'm interested in myself and I feel that it is something that is popoular amongst the readers of music magazines. I think this genre is timeless because it can relate to new or old artists.

Monthly price: I've chose to sell my magazine monthly because I aim to sell it to working/middle class people who would not be expected to fork out money every week for a magazine. A magazine is a luxury not a necessity so I want my readers to appreciate the magazine when they buy it. I've chosen to sell it at £2.80.

Audience: My audience will be people from working/middle class jobs who are interested in indie/rock music and the culture behind it. It wont be aimed at males or females specifically because it is mainly applying to people who enjoy the music. It will be people who are between the ages of 18 and 30 because it will be current and fun. It will also feature the likes of gigs and concerts so this would not be appropriate for someone of an older age.

Audience profile: My audience will like things such as new and old music artists, gossip about these artists, events such as gigs or signings of these artists, reviews and updates about music artist. They will also be interested in the indie/rock culture and the way it's changed over time. My models will be dressed appropriately to this genre and this should be similar to how the readers dress as they would likely to see these artists as their idols. These readers would be very social as I plan to have an interactive magazine where readers can send in their thoughts and queries and it would be published for all to read.

Name: I want my name to be short and snappy so it can be memorable. I chose the name BITE, and to go with that the selling line of 'your monthly mouthful of music'. I thought this was extremely catchy and the illiteration in the selling line would help to advertise the magazine further.

House style, font, colours: My colour scheme will be red/black/white, these colours stand out and can look good with whatever they are put with. i will have bold fonts so they stand out and the layout will be continuous throughout on the front cover, contents page and double page spread.

Images: I plan to take several images, I want one large on the front cover to show who the issue and double page spread is about. I want some on the front to show what's inside. I'll have many images on the contents page along with page numbers and text to illustrate the stories inside, this will stop it from looking plain and boring.

Double-page spread: I plan to have an interview with the new artist/band with a title of "Meet the ...." I'm undecided on a name as yet. I will have images and seperate pieces of text pulled out of the main article, these will be hightlighted as key points to attract the reader to read on into large passage. This interview will ask them about their music and also about their personal life, their hobbies, their likes and dislikes and this is so the reader can feel like they're really getting to know this new artist/band and it will create a empathetic bond.

Inducements/offers: Competition to win a signed t-shirt from a popular magazine or winning tickets to the new artist/band's gig.

USP: It's a magazine like no other because it has a timeless essence yet is up to date.

By creating this magazine pitch it allowed me to get an idea of what my magazine should be like. By choosing the target audience and whar types of things I could include in my magazine it then gave me a good starting point. This taught me that planning in essential.