Model Release Form

Proof that one Mr Nick DeCruz has given me permission to use his image for my magazine.

Sketches

 

Here are the sketches I developed before designing my magazine. I did the cover before my photoshoot as I had a good idea of the photos I wanted to take and the contents was one of the first things designed.

 

For my double page spread opening, I wanted to work out how I was going to incorperate one of my favourite images I had taken. This was also where I came up with the intertextual tagline "To Infinity".

I didn't sketch my other double page spreads as I created them by choosing the images and working around them.

Mood Board

My Mood Board is focusing on some of the interests of my intended readership, covering the sort of bands and tone they would like to see present. These bands include Two Door Cinema Club and Plumtree. Pitchfork is a website with a lot of information on Indie music and Soundcloud serves as a Twitter, but for songs.

Contact Sheet

Mastheads

(TO BE FILLED IN)

Colour

For the development of my Music Magazine, I have put together a small number of colour schemes I could see working with the theme and genre. Apart from two, these colour schemes are all a single colour paired with greys, blacks and whites, hereby creating a very simple yet effective colour scheme.

For the second and last scheme I opted to include another shade of the colour in order to further the theme. For the brown and orange the second shade/colour generates a"grungey" run down feel that is apparent in rock magazines.

The one with the two reds just furthers the colours and offers variation within the colour scheme.

All the single colours are quite dark colours in order to fit with the Indie Music magazine genre.

While a part of me would like to use to purple colour scheme, I am aware that it may exclude the male gender due to it's connotations whereas the first red colour scheme offers no exclusion and is well linked to music magazines due to it's useage in Rolling Stone and Q to name a few.

It would be tempting to use a different colour to be different however it is worth remembering that red is an often used colour for a reason and will help establish my magazine as familiar instantly.

Image Ideas (TBC)

What's in a Name? Part Two

Here you can see my thought process for developing a name for my music magazine, using the three main types of magazine names - Acronym, Compound and Connotations.

Titles

Would a Rose by any other name smell as sweet?

Props and Costumes

Props.

Here is a look at some of the props I chose to use for the photoshoot.

As I wanted to portray my model as being as approachable and down to earth as possible, I decided to use some novelty Toys to achieve this. To keep it striking and visually interesting the ones I chose were individual and slightly out of the ordinary - hence the giant Lego Mini-figure and using a Gameboy Colour instead of a newer PSP.

It's normal size - I'm just playing with the persepective.

The Guitars served as a reminder that my model is a musician and as the instruments were slightly battered, it enhanced the themes I was developing - even though they are successful, music these artists don't mind using an older instrument. 

 



This is my model in costume. I specifically asked him to wear these things to create the look I intended. He needed to wear an outfit that would gain him respect (which was presented through the jacket and shoes) but the jeans and T-shirt relay that he is laidback. The smart/casual look was what I wanted to create.

Production Diary: 11/10/13 - Research and Planning

This week in media I have been primarily researching and analysing names and mastheads for use in my music magazine. I have looked at different types of names and considering what worked and what I will be able to use in my magazine.

I have begun to plan my photoshoot which will be on Wednesday and confirming models and their props. I believe for variation I need two artists, allowing me to have different features in the contents pages and generating more opertunities for articles. One will be an established, exciting artist who is likely to be my cover star, the other an independent artist who is yet to attract the attention they deserve.

What's In a Name? Part One

There are four distinctive types of titles for music magazines. These are:

• Acronym

• Phrase

• Connotative

• Compound

For research and to help decide on a name for my own music magazine, I will be looking three of these to look at the benefits of each one and also look at the mastheads.

Acronyms are defined as words formed from initial letters of words in a set phrase and these are popular when used with music magazines. One of the most recognisable is NME, which stands for New Musical Express. It is probable that the average reader does not consider what NME stands for, just that the brand identity has made it linked with music magazines. 

A different example is Q. This magazine was originally titled “Cue”, a phrase to mean getting a record ready to play. They ran into problems here as their connotative title as originally intended meant that it could be easily mistaken for a Snooker magazine. This lead to their decision to rename the magazine the onomatopoeic Q, which is another example of the brand identity becoming more important than what the initials stand for.

If I were to choose an Acronym, the letters would need to be catchy and flow. Most letters are monosyllabic but some are easy to say than others. Zoolike Wonderful Beats would probably be better off picking a better name than ZWB, if only to make it easier to say.

The Masthead for Q is an iconic, constant large letter Q in white over a red background. This stands to function as the magazine’s logo and features inside the magazine as well as predominantly on their website. This is often the only constant thing on the magazine cover so it would have been important to design it to be recognisable.

NME’s masthead opted to print what the initials stand for underneath the letters which are in blocky, red text. This gives the readers an understanding and context of what the magazine title means. I feel if I were to opt for an Acronym for a name I would also do this as opposed to Q’s seemingly random letter.

Phrases are also seen regularly. These include Top of The Pops, Smash Hits, Rolling Stone and Drowned in Sound.

Top of the Pops immediately conveys the genre covered within the magazine and the internal rhyme subtly alludes to the age the magazine is intended for; it gives it an almost “childlike” feeling. Top is a superlative of sorts and is conveying to the reader that it is only featuring the best musicians.

Interestingly, the Masthead for Top of The Pops has gone through many significant changes in the last ten years. This may be due to the niche and childlike target audience, not many children are likely to want to keep reading the magazine gone eight at the eldest. However, there are some consistencies. The bright colours make the magazine seem appealing and friendly, reassuring the reader and buyer (likely two different people considering the ages!) that this is child friendly.

Rolling Stone magazine generates many different connotations. My first thought was that it was a magazine focusing on specifically the band named the Rolling Stones although a glance at the cover reaffirms it has a much wider coverage. Stones link to the Rock aspect of the magazine, meaning the title shares aspects of connotative.

I personally really like the Rolling Stone masthead. Possibly due to the “Hot Rod” Red merging with the silver alludes to beautiful old fashioned cars of the seventies. I consider these cars significant iconography relating to rock and I feel this masthead is trying to recreate that, especially with the serifs on the end of the letters making it appear very retro, reminiscent of the traditional American diners. It’s a very effective and bold masthead, the red text ensuring it stands out.

Connotative titles are phrases or words that allude to the genre. They can even be onomatopoeic in the case of Kerrang! (exclamation mark included) which echoes the sound a guitar makes when strung. Other names include Vibe, Base, Edge and Spin. These are all one word names and often come packaged with their own punctuation.

Kerrang! features a harsh sound generated by the K, which is reminiscent of the genre of rock and this is echoed in the Masthead where the typeface chosen appears stressed with cracks starting to form within the white text. The text is either white or inverted occasionally to suit the cover. The exclamation Point emphasises the aggressiveness within the genre and highlights the values of Rock music.

Representation

Proposal Feedback

"I like the clear goals of which the blogger establishes, revealing a clear mind set as to what he/she wants to achieve through the medium of their magazine. perhaps the only way to improve is to expand on other aspects that have the possibility to feature in the magazine such as articles. Maybe make reference to more regular features?

These is a very innovative usage of media such as the relationship between the physical and digital copy of the magazine. This lends itself nicely to being the magazine that is hoping to uncover the future.
I do question the name, Polaris. It does have interesting connotations but will the audience be willing to accept a music magazine without any mention to music in the title?

What about the unknown artists featuring on the cover?"



Feedback courtesy of Zak Labiad

The feedback also correlates with my feedback from the survey, meaning that I will be making changes from the proposal to the actual product - I have already decided to feature established artists on my cover.

Codes and Conventions

Production Diary: 04/10/13 - Scott and Surveys

I've spent this week uploading and updating projects that were not completed.

After creating "Scott" I was able to devise the full proposal for the music magazine and I feel I have created something new yet feasable, covering a market that is only just emerging.

However, examining my survey results, I am considering including well-known artists as cover stars, the ones telling their story of how they reached fame as it is almost unanimous in my results that readers want established artists to attract them. Research has also proven that sales are higher when artists with their own fanbase are featured.

Bring in the Beliebers

I have also looked into the Key Concepts of music magazines - (see my presentation in the previous post) and examined what the Audience look for in a magazine and what they feature. I will be able to utilise this information within my magazine and make it more conventional.

Key Concepts