Electro Music Magazine research.

During my research into other electro magazines I found a magazine called Slices. This magazine is not a paper magazine but a magazine done on a DVD.  It is sent out to the subscribers every month. It contains articles on artists and on record labels. I like the idea of having articles about artists, both recent and up and coming.

Another electro music magazine that I found was a magazine called Trax. It is a french music magazine. It uses really bright colours for the fonts. I feel this is an important element in the music magazine , especial electro music, because the elcetro scence is usual associated with bright colours. I also like the way simplistic look of the cover. Everything links in with each other.

I think I will use elements of both music magazines, in the devlopment of my product. I will make it colourful, yet simplistic, and I will include articles on artists and concert reviews.

Shot list- Music and School Magazine

School Magazine.

Most of the photos for the school magazine are medium shots . I used this type of shot because it meant I could get the activity the subject is doing, as well as keeping the main focus on the subject.

Music Magazine.

With the music magazine, I used medium shot for the front cover photos.  It gave the right amount of detail for the face and the rest of the costume.

For the double page spread, I used a long shot for the first main picture. I did this because it gave me a background to work with but didn’t have too much empty space.

For all the other photos in the double page spread I have used medium shots.

Unedited school pictures

Here is a link to the unedited version of all the pictures I have used in the production of my school magazine.

http://s694.photobucket.com/albums/vv303/marthac_03/Unedited%20school%20pictures/

Evaluation Presentation Video

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xGT4LskryxQ

Music Mag- Double Page Spread

When it came to the double page spread the easiest part was writing the article. I researched the genre of Electro/Synth pop music using the internet, and found a lot of my information from Wikipedia, both on the genre and on certain artists through out the history of it.

The layout of the page was the most difficult part of this page. I tried many different layouts, with many different photos. The first layout looked to essay like and did not look like a magazine article. After looking at some examples from different magazines, I realised that I needed to have a big main photo and then have a few samller ones. I created the ‘pop art’ like picture by editing four different photos. I got the basic idea from a picture I have seen on the internet , featuring the band Jupiter Rising. I felt this would illustrate the new generation of the genre.

My pop art picture.                            Jupiter Rising picture.

I have highlighten a quote from the article, away from the rest of the article. I felt it was an attention grabbing quote and may get the readers attention if they are just skimming over the page. I used the bright neon pink colour to highlight it, as it would link the page to the other two pages, as well as using other bright colours for the fonts.

If I had the chance to do this page again, I would spend more time on settign up purposly shot photos for the main big central photo, and may be include a few more photos.

http://s694.photobucket.com/albums/vv303/marthac_03/Music%20Magazine/Music%20Magazine%20contents%20page/Music%20magazine%20double%20page%20spread/

Music Mag- Contents page

When it came to doing my contents page I wanted to make it bold and bright. I wanted it to grab the readers attention as soon as they opened the cover. I used larger block fonts and changed the colour to match with the colours I had already used on the front cover. As well as the colours, I carried on using the lightening bolt image and incorparated it into the main title and used it to highlight the titles of each catergory. I feel this makes a clear link between the two pages and keeps the theme of eletric/electro running through the magazine.

The font is the same one used for the feature on the front cover. Again it keeps the two pages linked. I kept the colour of the headings for the articles black to make them stand out and I think they work well against the white background. I added the dropped shadow effect to add to them standing out.

After putting in all the articles, I felt it looked a bit jumbled up and that there was too much white space in the middle. I didn’t want to put a picture in as I wanted to keep it simple, and felt that the amount of famous names, in the articles would speak for themselves. So I decided to box in each category. This means they are clearly grouped and it fills in the empty space.

I chose the artists for the features by looking at the current chart and picking out some of the biggest names that could be classed as electro pop. I also looked through my iPod to find other bands that are in the same genre. I used some internet sites, such as wikipedia, to see if the artists would be classed in this genre.

Overal I feel the final contents page is good and looks appealing. I have managed to keep themes running through from the front cover and have again kept it relatively simple. If I was to do it again then I might look into put a few pictures in, if they worked with the rest of the page.

http://s694.photobucket.com/albums/vv303/marthac_03/Music%20Magazine/Music%20Magazine%20contents%20page/

Evaluation Presentation

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Music Magazines Analysis.

This is the first Magazine cover I found. It is, as the title sujects, a DJ magazine. The main photo is of soeone famous in that type of music, most likely a DJ. They are quite young, and are dressed in fashionable clothes. They would have to keep up a good appearence as people will look to them to be up to date with the latest fashion, as well as the latest music. They are placed in front of a graffitti covered, garage door. This links with the music. The head of one of the men, is slightly over the titileof the magazine. this suggests they are quite famous in that field and so are bigger than the magazine.

There are a few different fonts on the cover but they are all similar. Most of the main headings are highlighted in boxes, so they standout. The colours of the fonts tie in with the background and the colours on the mens t-shirts.

The general layout of the cover is quite structured,but the photo and the use of the graffitti in thebackground makes it look young and edgy. They ahve used bright colours to make sure it will grab readers attention in the shop.

My Music Magazine- Electric

I have decided to do a magazine that focuses on the music genre, electro/synth pop. I chose this style of music because I quite like the music myself and it has been around for a long time. This how I got my idea for my double page spread . I am going to do an article on the history of electro/synth pop and how it has evolved over the years. I think this will not only appeal to my target audience, the younger generation of electro/synth pop fans, but also the older generation who were fans of David Bowie or Duran Duran and remember the first wave of the genre.

I have chosen the title ‘Electric’. I have done this as it relates to the genre, as the genre is based on electrical instruments. I also had the idea to include a lightening bolt into the title so it realtes to the title and it realtes to a famous figure associated with the electro pop genre, David Bowie’s alter ego, Ziggy Stardust.

I am going to centre my front cover on the double page spread story, the history of electropop. I am going to show different people from the genre both new and old.

I want to keep the cover simple and colourful.

Music Mag- Front cover

This is my final copy of the front cover for my music magazine Electric. I have used bright colours to attract the readers attention. The genre of music is known for using bright, bold colours. I have edited the main title to encorporate a lightening bolt. This image is linked with the title and it also links with the photos. The lightening bolt is a shape that has been used quite often in relation with electro-pop, for example the mighty boosh use it in their merchandise and they are strongly influenced by electropop. I have also added some more lightening bolts around the edge of the title.

The main feature of the magazine is what I have centred my front cover on. I came up with the idea to show the pregression of the genre and thought the best way to do it is to show the different fashions associated with the genre though the decades. As I had to take my own pictures, I thought that using the same model would help get over my idea of the progression. I have tried to make my photos similar to some iconic arstists of the different eras. The first photo is based on David Bowie’s Ziggy Stardust. I painted the lightening bolt on to the models face and then edited the colour of the hair later on using photo editing software.  The second photo is based on Adam Ant. He is a good representative of the New Romantic era, especially the way he dressed. again Iused face paints to make the marking on his face, which is something Adam Ant is know for doing.  The last photo is losely based on and image of Calvin Harris. I thought I would make it a bit funner as the other too photos are quite serious looking.

I have included to headings. I started of with just one, ‘Evolution of a Sound’. I thought this explaned the idea of the feature and also helped show the idea behind the photos. However, after a while i decide that may be it was a bit too vage, and that it does not look much like a magazine, it could have been a book or a poster, so I added the back heading ‘ 30 years of electropop’. I feel this backs up the first heading and shows that it definately about the history of electropop.

I added a barcode down in the bottom right hand corner. I found the image on the internet. It alreday had the red and green striped in it, and I felt it linked in with the colourful electropop look.

After working on my magazine for a while I felt it was missing something. I had only advertised one article on the front cover. Most magazines advertise  many features on the front cover, but I did not want to put another photos on the front cover, as I felt it was detract from the main feature and I wanted to keep the cover as simple as possible. I decided to add banners at the bottom and the top of the cover, and advertise other features of the magazine that way.

Overal I am very pleased with the out come of the cover. I feel I achieved my idea with my photos and I managed to keep it simple, yet effective. I feel that the set up of the photos, eg the positioning of the model, could have been better, and i could have spent longer on it.

Here is a link to my step by step process of creating the front cover.

http://s694.photobucket.com/albums/vv303/marthac_03/Music%20Magazine/