EVALUATION PRESENTATION

Music Magazine Evaluation on Prezi

FINAL - Double page spread

This is my final double page spread which I am pleased with in regards to the audience it addresses and how easy it is to read and understand. I made a torn notepad in the top corner to introduce my artist and a torn piece of paper with the pull quote on it. I have edited her lips again to make them appear red and match the colour scheme. The microphone obviously connotes that she is an artist and I find the shot effective as the floorboard fade into darkness and allow the white and red text to stand out on its background.

The questions help the reader(s) to understand who she is and how she became who she is today. Her as an upcoming artist would be an interesting story to me personally which is why I have asked these questions.

FINAL - Contents Page

This is my final contents page, I feel proud of this in particular as the jumping picture of my artist was easy to crop out and make it look realistic by adding a drop shadow. I stuck with the general colour scheme of black white and red and I have included the "Upcoming gig" picture i had planned on taking as seen in my flat plans. The ripped effect, I find is very effective in presenting the alternative rock, teen rebellion nature of the magazine.

I have also included many famous featured bands related to my genre in order to relate to my target audience as well as a free poster and a chance to win concert tickets.

FINAL STEP - FRONT COVER

FINAL STEP:

• Added price tag; £2.99. I used this price because I found out from my survey results that most people would usually but magazines ranging from £2.00 to £3.00, I made mine £2.99 because it is affordable and it is at a price where you are expecting value for your money. Because if it was too cheap then it probably isn't worth reading. 
• The issue number and date of release is added below the price.
• I have added "KORN Where it all began" on the left and has the same colour scheme as the "MUSE" on the right hand side (which has been made right aligned).
• I made the two circles outside of the "WIN Sum41 tickets!" bigger so that all of the text could fit inside.
• The masthead has been made bigger so that it touches the two sides of the page.
• I've added boxes behind "Cleo gets personal" and "TOP 50 ROCK ALBUMS" to make these stand out further.
• Made spelling corrections on "Good Charlotte".
• Changed the colour of the "slipknot" puff and changed the font of "knots" to one which appears more like string and the band's album font.

STEP3 -FRONT COVER

STEP 3:

• I've made the cut-out layer of my model to be above the 'PLUS!' bar at the bottom to add to the effect of having her appear as though she is literally standing out.
• I have added a bar-code on the bottom right.
• From my survey results I have gathered that a large proportion of people are attracted to magazines which have free extras so I added the "Free punk poster special" puff on the bottom left of the magazine in yellow so it stands out from the red, black and white. I found these use of words effective as it uses alliteration. There is a skull added there to anchor the text; "punk". I have gotten the skull from this website:  http://www.wpclipart.com/signs_symbol/skull/skull_and_crossbones_large.png.html
• My colleague gave me a tip that I should use a pun, or a rhetorical question, so I used the two and came up with "Is slipknot now in knots?".
• I felt I wanted more things featured in my magazine which my readers would want, so I looked at my survey results (posted on my blog: Sunday, 19 February 2012) A large quantity said inside features, so I put on my front cover "MUSE album exclusive" and "TOP 50 ROCK ALBUMS".

STEP2 - FRONT COVER

Step 2:

• Now I have taken it up a little notch; I have added the 'EXCLUSIVE' text on the left slightly rotated. i managed to get the 'ripped' effect on the white box behind the 'exclusive' text by use of the paint brush tool to make the magazine a bit more edgy like the music its representing.
• I have also done the same pain brush effect on the masthead and the small white box at the bottom which will have my 'free posters' puff inside it.
• I changed the text colour on the pull quote so that I could make the "SCREAM" in red to make that word stand out from the other words in white.
• I made the 'pluses' in between the band names at the bottom white to make it draw more attention to the reader's eyes.

STEP1 - Front Cover

This is my first step in making the front cover to my music magazine, I decided to go along with the black, red and white colour scheme as this typically portrays a rock/alternative rock music genre. I have used the shape tool on Photoshop to add the 'PLUS bar' at the bottom wherein I have added famous band names that would be featured in the magazine. The 'WIN SUM41 TICKETS!' were put in two red and white circles that I have made from the shape tool in Photoshop, also I have rendered the shapes to give it a ripped effect. I made the cut-out layer of Cleo to be on top of the masthead so that it appears as she is literally standing out on the magazine; aggressive and in your face. Her lips have also been edited to be 'blood-red' so that it would help anchor her to the colour scheme a bit more. 
Here is the RAW picture that I took on the camera:

Here you can see the differences to the before and after (see above); I've added more brightness and a little contrast to make the colour white more prominent so it can stand out from the black background of my magazine. You can also see the difference of the lips and how much more effective they are when they are red (I was planning to have my model wear the lipstick she had but we both forgot so I used Photoshop to compensate). I feel this shot is effective because it has the artist's face closer to the camera to the rest of the body to allow her recognition as an artist and the shot shows her electrical guitar and amp which both are connotations of the rock/alternative rock genre.


I managed to get the electric guitar, amp, and Cleo to wear her 'Chelsea Grin' sweatshirt and converses as this would help attract my target audience as these are typical representations of a person in an alternative rock band. The reason I wanted my model to wear that particular graphic sweatshirt was because many many rock band members usually wear clothes with one of their favourite bands on it. For example, David Baksh (former Sum 41 member) was wearing an Iron Maiden t-shirt in the music video 'In too Deep': 

So I wanted to use that finding to be reflected in my front cover, however I did cover her t-shirt in Photoshop with black rectangles because all the text on her top would be a distraction to the name 'CLEO' in big letters which would prevent her name from standing out. However I did manage to get her to wear black and white which is also what a lot of alternative rock musicians wear, for example Good Charlotte:

By doing this I have shown that I have tried to appeal to my target audience (by genre) and helped to typically present what genre my magazine is and what sort of artists and bands will be featured.

Experimenting with GIMP (Photo Editing Software)

                                                          Before                             After

This Print-screen is showing the before and after of my editing on a picture I have taken for my potential front cover. I chose the colour red because i felt it would match with my colour scheme (Red, Black and White) and would therefore relate to my target audience. I might NOT use this for my front cover as I already have 2 others which are further ahead on Photoshop. I may post print screens of the other two later on.

Potential front cover poses

I came across these shots by looking through the pictures of SUM41's tours on their official website. Theses were captured during their performance in summer 2010 and I feel these are typical rock-star poses that I can use for my Music magazine front cover as it will appeal to my target audience.

Practice shots for my magazine

I finally get to take the camera out and take 'practice pictures' of what general poses I want to use in my music magazine. I got assigned a camera and practiced a few shots around school to get used to the camera before actually taking my practice shots. Thanks to my amazing model Cleo Greer I managed to get great shots and I was pleased with the outcomes, however the jump shots did blur a bit. To avoid this I will be taking multiple shots at once so there is more chance of getting a picture that isn't blurred. When taking the final photos, I will be capturing the shots behind a white background so that it will be easier to photoshop it into my magazine.

-Here are the shots I have taken today:

 1. This is an idea of what pose my front cover might have.

 2. This is another pose my front cover might have.

3. This is a pose my double page spread might have (on the side of the page).

Music Magazine - Potential Masthead Fonts

I have been testing out different fonts that I can use as the masthead on my magazine front cover and I have come up with a list of different ones which could work well with the Alternative rock theme of my magazine.

These are the fonts that I have collected and I will ask people's opinions on which they would prefer or expect to see on an alternative rock music magazine and why, I might do this by means of creating a survey and/or asking people who are in my media lesson.
______________________________________
UPDATE!

Many people have said that the third font works best, however I disagree with this as it gives an impression of metal music which is not the genre of my magazine. I have chosen to go with the second one as it is very big and bold which allows me to alter and edit it to my preference.

Potential front cover pose

         

This is a shot of Deryck Jason Whibley performing, he is part of the band SUM41 and is the lead vocalists & guitarist. I think this could be another potential shot for my front cover of my magazine; his facial expression shows that he is singing loudly which is typical of my target audience (people who listen to Alternative rock) so therefore it would appeal to my target audience as the semiotics of his electric guitar, spiky hair and facial expressions all show a relation to the loud and rebellious Rock/Alternative rock genre.                                                                       

Potential front cover pose

One of my FAVORITE songs when i was a kid; SUM41 - 'In too deep'
It was also played in an American television series called 'Malcolm in the Middle' (another thing i loved as a kid... still do) But getting towards my main point is that I was watching the music video and came across this pose and automatically thought it would make a great pose for my model in my music magazine.

I think this pose can appeal to my target audience because it is related to alternative rock with the facial expressions, guitar strap and the mic.

Music Magazine - Potential Name

'WHAM!' I believe should be a suitable name for my music magazine. Alternative music is known to be loud and  in this genre it is very known for breaking guitars and wrecking havoc, so I thought it would be a good idea to use this and come up with a 'loud' name for my magazine. I researched into Roy Lichtenstein (world famous pop art artist) who used onomatopoeia in many of his paintings as they were comics of action; crashes and explosions. I decided to use some of his paintings for inspiration. Here is an example of one of his works:                

Music Magazine - Shot List

SHOT#1: potential front cover pose, a close up of my artist's face to show that she is going to be the main feature of the magazine in the double page spread.

SHOT#2: Double page spread, using a long shot i wanted to have a picture of the artist lying down with a guitar resting of her shoulder as this shows she is an artist in music and it also leaves a lot of space for text. However I might not use this idea as it is used by many people and I want my double page spread to be different from others as the alternative rock genre is very different.

SHOT#3: Extreme long shot of people on a stage, I want to use this in my contents page as it could show people preparing for a gig or an upcoming concert. I found this common in the rock magazine "Kerrang!"

SHOT#4: Long jumping shot in order to get all of the body's actions. This jump is seen in many alternative rock concerts and gigs which is why I have used it in order to relate to my genre and target audience.

SHOT#5: I got this shot from a music video by "The Offspring" (Alternative rock band) I find this shot effective as the artist's head is up close and it makes them stand out on the front cover.

SHOT#6: long shot with an electrcal guitar, the guitar gives a rock connotation and the pose the model is doing looks like she is performing.

Music Magazine Scamps.

This is a plan for my double page spread, it will have a background fading into white from left to right. The pull quote might be a little slanted as this technique is used frequently in many magazines. My model will be sitting against a wall with one leg up with her electric guitar resting on her shoulder. There will be an amp on the other side of the shot as seen in the picture.

This is a plan for the layout for the front cover of my magazine, the chosen genre is Alternative rock therefore it will have a reoccurring colour scheme of Black, White and Red. The model will be standing while looking up at the camera, there will be a slight high angle shot used so that her head becomes larger in proportion to the rest of her body in the picture. The artist's name will be in big letters in the middle of the front cover, this technique is used by Kerrang! magazine and I wish to use a similar style. There will be a pull quote underneath the artist's name which has come from the double page spread interview. The Title of the magazine will be in very big bold letters because it represents the alternative rock genre; very loud, in your face style. The exclusive extras will be presented at the bottom of the cover next to the barcode.

This is my contents page, there will be a large picture on the left hand side showing a performance of a band or artist. The reason for doing this is because many music magazines have featured concerts/gigs that have been performed recently. The list of contents will be on the top half right and bottom half left. There will also be a speaker at the bottom showing sound waves coming out of it, along with the waves there will be the free extras in a large font; this helps to make the magazine more live and appealing to its young audience. Furthermore I have researched with my survey; many people like to have free extras in magazines which is what attracts them to it so for this reason I will be featuring them on my magazine.

Survey Results

As the title of my survey was music magazine related, I have concluded from my results that the majority of people who are interested in, or purchase music magazines are aged 16-20. Therefore my magazine will be made to relate to this age range. For example I will make sure to add a few slang terms in my double page spread but not too many as my target audience does include elder people in their 20's.

I have found out through my results that most people listen to rock music, this gives me an advantage as my magazine is based on alternative rock which includes many varied forms of rock, for example Punk Rock.

My magazine will be released monthly which, (according to my survey results) is how often many people purchase magazines.

The colour scheme seems to be a very important factor in attracting people to a magazine, therefore I will keep my colour scheme a reoccurring theme as to not include too many colours resulting in a 'busy-looking' front cover. Inside features and free extras are also what attracts most readers to magazines so I will be sure to include this on my front cover to make it more appealing.

From this I have decided to make my magazine £2.99 so it is affordable for the vast majority but also not too cheap that it seems not worth reading.

Colours on the front cover put off a lot of people from buying a magazine so i will research into which colour schemes seem to attract people rather than put them off buying the magazine.

Most people wanted an upcoming band featured on the front cover, however I do not know many people who listen to alternative rock so i will feature an upcoming artist who is also in the age range of 16-20. This will not be a problem in attracting readers to my magazine as many also said they would like to see an upcoming artist featured on the front cover.

I will stay in the convention of red, black and white as the colour scheme for my magazine as this, as i have noticed, is a very common colour scheme in rock magazines such as "Kerrang!" and many rock album covers such as green day. This will appeal to my target audience as they are very used to seeing these colours in alternative music videos, album covers and clothing of such bands.

Music magazine survey

I conducted this questionnaire in order to find out how to make my magazine more successful and appealing to people. The results will affect my final product heavily as I believe what the audience says is right and I will try my best to appeal to the majority.

Contents page potential featured shot

For my contents page, I am planning to have a featured page of a band performing (Gigs/Concerts) with this type of shot used. I came across this frame while watching a music video of 'Fall Out Boy'. Music magazines usually have a picture in their contents page of a gig/concert for one of their featured articles. The typical shot that is usual is a long shot/extreme long shot, which helps to get all of the band and their instruments in the frame.

For example (Highlighted in red) :

Reader profile (Music magazine)

Louis is an average 16 year old who is studying A levels in music, media and art college. He is interested in Rock and Alternative rock and reads 'Kerrang!' magazine monthly and watches his favorite bands on 'skuzz' (on television). His favorite bands include ACDC, Alien Ant Farm, Good Charlotte and Green day. Louis is part of his own band called 'GRUDGE', he plays the bass guitar and has been teaching himself how to play since he was 10 years old. On the weekends he spends his saturdays at a friend's house doing band practice, in his band he has: a lead singer, solo (electric) guitar player and a drummer. He also goes to many concerts, such as Green day and Radiohead. Louis feels that there are not much magazines which cater for upcoming alternative rock artists. My music magazine will appeal to Louis as it will feature young upcoming artists/bands in the Alternative rock genre and have articles on people's experiences with recent gigs and concerts they've been, it will also feature upcoming albums from well known alternative rock artists and how they have become so successful.

Front cover potential action shot

So I was watching a music video of 'The Offspring' and I came across this pose in the middle of the video and thought it could be an idea for a pose for the model for the front cover of my alternative rock music magazine. The shot used is a mid-long shot, in order to get most of his body into the camera frame, the guy's head is also slightly sticking out making his face the centre of attention in this shot which I feel is very effective in catching people's attention. I would also use the 'tough' expression on his face as it can be a semiotic; it anchors the alternative rock theme/genre.

Double page spread - Research

Presentational	Visual
·         Font	·         Pull quotes
·         Colour scheme	·         Semiotics
·         Size	·         Alliteration
·         Layout	·         Rhetorical question
·         Headline	·         Slang
·         Pictures/Photos	·         Grammatical error
·         Pose
·         Camera shot
·         Angle of gaze
·         Expression
·         Mise en scene
·         Contrast?

Semiotics - Kerrang

In this issue of Kerrang magazine, it features Green Day on the front cover. As you can see their faces show an expression of shock, surprise, scared, aggressive and something new possibly. This can suggest that they possibly have a new rock album coming out or they have a shocking secret they have exposed. This is apparent in the pull quote under the title Green Day; "We've made the album of our lives". This shows that they are showing through their facial expressions that they actually DO have some exclusive news; their new rock album.

They are showing their eyes really wide open, by this we can tell that their eyes are relatively green which related to their band name; Green Day. They also made the colour scheme black, white and red which is a typical colour scheme of a rock/alternative rock magazine. The band is also wearing black, the band member on the left is wearing a black, white and red tie which also links to rock and the colour scheme of the magazine.

Survey Research

I have learned about the advantages and disadvantages of a number of ways to gather information by research. The purpose of research is to gain information as to what pleases the audience of my magazine and what attracts them to it.

There are two types of data:

• Quantitative: Type of research which uses numbers for data and statistics to analyse results.
• Qualitative: Method of inquiry appropriated to understand how people think about specific subjects.

For my research for my magazine I will be using Quantitative research as this is an easy way of gathering and analyzing data, despite having relatively closed questions. Therefore I will be using a questionnaire, here are the advantages and disadvantages of using one so i can balance out the cons and pros:

Advantages:

• Produces large amount of standardized data.
• Data can be collected quickly and conveniently.
• Replicable and easy to analyze. 
• New types of research can be suggested.

Disadvantages:

• Lacks Flexibility
• Biased level of motivation
• May be a biased questionnaire
• Boredom of participants. 

For my questionnaire I have considered the following questions to find out how my magazine will appeal to my target audience:

1. Where do you buy your music from? 
2. How often do you buy magazines?
3. What would attract you to a magazine on a shelf?
4. What genre of magazines do you read?
5. What interests you most about the magazine you read?
6. How much would you usually pay for a magazine?
7. What colours work best for an alternative rock magazine?
8. Who would you like to be featured on the front cover?
9. What would put you off buying the magazine?

When I get the results from the questionnaire I will present them on pie charts on my blog so they are easy to read and analyze the results. From these results I will use the information gathered to help me in the process of making my magazine so it will become appealing to the audience.

Alternative Rock - Magazine Cover Layout

Both:

Target audience:  Rock/Alternative fans. Target audience are usually young people like teenagers and young adults. This is exposed by the main cover image which always shows young adults who are in a rock/alternative band. Also the younger generation listen to this Genre so mostly young people buy it.
Masthead: White and Black or Red. Big and bold which catches your eye (stands out).
Colour scheme: Both have a recurring colour scheme of Black, White and Red which is also apparent in many album covers, such as My Chemical Romance (As shown in my earlier post on Monday 23rd Jan 2012).


KERRANG!: 


Puffs: The words 'FREE' and 'PLUS' are in a larger font which attract the reader because the word 'free' makes the reader think this magazine comes with an extra benefit. The word 'Plus' makes the reader believe there are so many exclusive extras in the magazine which encourages them to buy it.
Main cover line: "My Chemical Romance" is used because the cover image has got the band on it. The font is red which stands out from the colour black and white which is typical of an alternative rock theme.
Cover image: The cover image of this issue of the magazine is 'My Chemical Romance', this band is very popular and well known among teenagers (young audience) so this attracts their target audience. A high angle shot has been used in order to get a full view of their face (so they are easily recognizable) and what they are wearing (black) which links to the colour scheme of the magazine. 
Typeface: Sans serif.
Layout: Kerrang has a busy layout with images and text crowded at the bottom of the page. The main image of the band has been made into a separate layer which covers the masthead in order for the band to stand out. 


BigCheese: 


Puffs and Plugs: "30 GREATEST POP-PUNK ANTHEMS" is a Plug; it makes you want to see the greatest thirty anthems.The list of artists/bands: "Biffy Clyro, 30 Seconds to Mars, Killswitch Engage, Every Time I Die, Dead By Sunrise, In Flames, Bowling For Soup" is a plug used which can be very effective because there is a high chance that a reader sees a band/artist they are a fan of which encourages them to buy the magazine as they believe they will be featured. 
Cover line: 'Paramore get the kiss of life', this gives the reader a hint of what is to come inside the article.
Pull Quote: "We had to revive the band", by using this quote from an article on the front cover makes the reader question "why?" and makes it seem dramatic which makes the reader want to buy the magazine so they can find out what happened.
Typeface: The masthead uses serif font, whereas the rest of the writing on the front cover is sans serif and script. 
Layout: The layout for BigCheese is similar to Kerrang!; BigCheese also has the main image infront of the text. Its also quite busy at the bottom of the page but with text instead of pictures. The colour scheme is similar to Kerrang as well; Black, White and Red. However the background is green with fades of white throughout. The pull quote and the cover line have got a large shadow behind the text making the title 'Paramore' stand out from it (as it has a white outline to the red text used as well).

My Music Magazine - (planning)

For my music magazine I will probably have an alternative rock genre, as some of my favorite bands play that sort of music, such as Green Day, Muse, Good Charlotte, Sum 41 and Alien Ant Farm. A magazine that features this genre is 'KERRANG', although they are devoted to rock music, punk rock bands and alternative rock bands have been featured on their front cover such as 'My Chemical Romance'.

For my colour scheme, I will use white, black and red as these colours relate to many album covers of alternative rock bands and also make it appealing to my target audience (teenagers).

The cost of my magazine will be around £2.50, during production we will focus on making the magazine more appealing to the target audience which is why the colour scheme and layout is important for me.

The articles in my magazine will include the topics of:

Upcoming gigs,

Upcoming artists/bands,

Album releases,

Talk about different rock bands.

My magazine will be distributed by a compant that works closely with music retailers, such as HMV. However we will also work to have a shelf space in smaller independent retail shops as alternative rock isn't as popular worldwide as 'Hip hop' or 'Rap'.

There will be an online version of the latest articles featuring well known bands in the genre and interviews with them. The online version will be the same as the printed version, but it will also have a feature to have a copy of the magazine ordered to their adress whenever a new copy is printed.