Desktop publishing and editing of magazine

Within this part of the construction of my magazine, in class i looked at various music magazine. I analyzed the front covers, double page spreads and contents pages of music magazines including (CLASH, Mojo,VIBE,NME,Dj mag etc.) .With this i looked at the different styles of layout for their magazines, and how their magazines were presented. I chose to do this as it would help me have a better idea of how i would like to layout these pages of my own music magazine, and incorporate some of the features i have viewed into my own.




Here are the front cover, Double page spread, and contents page which i produced for my music magazine.

Photography (construction)

Within this week, we looked at the photography side of things, as part of my music magazine production. We spent class lesson, in the college photography studio, taking time out to understand how to construct our photography, and what we would need to do. We were taught how to work with the Nikon D7000 DSLR cameras, and other equipment in the photography studio, as well as tricks and tips for us which would come in handy for when we are constructing our own Photography.



The first noticeable thing about the photography studio, is the surrounding of the studio. It has a white backdrop for a background, when shooting in the studio (which the black or grey background can also be used for). The reason for this, is so the individual can have a clear background for the images taken. We learnt that it wasn't good to shoot our photos and then change it into black and white if that was what we wanted the photo to look like, instead, we were told to shoot in a certain mode which makes the photo black and white already.

We learnt about the key light, which is the main light for the photo, the filler light, which is used for contrast to either soften or darken the shadows. It is the soft boxes which projects the light for both of these. We were told about the snoot light (also known as the hairline light), which makes the subject stand out more from the background in the photo.


All the equipment in the photography studio, uses infrared, therefore when the flash is on, the snoot, filler light ans key light all flash synchronised, making the results more precise and giving a better quality image. We were informed about the importance of the lighting ratios for the three lights, and how it changes the exposure of the images; the ratios should be at 6:3:1.5.

i could also use reflectors for my photoshoot. The gold reflectors add colour (or warmth) to the image, and the silver reflectors soften colour of the image.

Audience research task (planning)

Using this information of my music magazine proposal, i then created a prezi, in order for me to use when pitching the ideas for my magazine to my class.From this prezi, I presented my Music magazine proposal to my class.

After presenting and pitching my ideas to the class, the class were then asked to comment on my pitch so far. I received feedback on my ideas for my music magazine in general, and how i could go about improving my magazine or things i should include/replace. 

I was told that i should include or think about design features and work on that, demonstrating clearly how my magazine will look and possibly a flat plan - the fonts of mastheads, the layout of my music magazines front cover, contents page, and double page spread, and so on.

Using this feedback, and comments i was then able to improve upon my plan for my music magazine by including these things which i had missed out as part of my pitch

Also, following on from my feedback and comments on my magazine proposal, i decided to create a flat plan. This is a brief table guide of what will be included on each page, and this would help me when creating my contents page/s.

Drafting and finalizing house styles, drafts and layouts

I then began on my music magazine proposal, individually, as part of my task 6. For my music magazine proposal, i had to state the description of what my magazine would be, what it would include and how it would look. i spoke about the genre of the magazine, who the publishers might be, and the audience that my magazine would be targeted at. I spoke about the generic conventions of a magazine, a music magazine in particular, and then talked about which of these i would include and the reasons why. For the look of the magazine, i went through colour schemes, fonts to use etc, adding to the appeal of the magazine in general, and something that would make people want to buy this magazine.

GENRE:

The chosen musical genre for my music magazine, would be a combination of hip-hop/rap and r&b. The reason as to why I chose to combine these two genres is because they are similar to each other, and as hip hop was my original chosen genre for my music magazine, being that it is a genre I have personal interests in and find that it would be better for me to continue my music magazine on this genre as I have previously researched and studied on thus genre of magazine previously in planning of my college magazine. Ill mention things such as tour dates, upcoming events, new releases such as albums and singles. Also I will make sure that I include a page or section which talks about the upcoming artists etc., and the latest collaborations

FRONT COVER:

The title of my publication will be named “LMNT” which is a play on the word element, being short, bold, and distinctive for a music magazine. Firstly I would include the standard conventional things for a front cover, such as Masthead, cover lines, barcode, pricing, issue number, and a medium close up shot of my artist/s for my front cover. There will be design features for my music magazine design. Firstly, I will edit my masthead, so that it fades near the bottom, and also edit the masthead around the image of my artist making them the subject of the front cover, making it appear like they are layered above the Masthead. For the Lettering I would chose a sensible font. This must be a font which is both legible, and also bold, so that my target audience can identify my magazine, and know which magazine it is. For the colouring of my house style, I would choose, a bright vivid colour in order to make the magazine stand out, making it distinctive and also meaning attracting the audience. My front cover will have a QR code allowing a younger audience to be able to interact with the magazine better, as they can view it electronically. My music magazine will be around £2.99. This is because I wanted to make it a fair price, which is seemingly inexpensive for my audience and also because the magazine will be monthly issued.

CONTENTS PAGE&DPS:

For my contents page I will make sure that I use the generic conventions of a contents page. This will include a Title saying “contents” and sub-heading based on the overall topic of the magazine, contents labelled with page numbers, and pictures besides them as a preview, and to indicate what the article on the page will be about.

TARGET AUDIENCE:

The target audience for my music magazine would be young adults, and teenagers. This would be because it is mostly between the age range of 14- 26, working class people who listen to these types of music typically, and the majority of people who are older (30+), may not listen these genres of music. My target audience, would be people who tend to enjoy going out with friends – socialising, they may keep up with the latest fashions and trends in terms of their style etc. and also they could possibly be interested in sports as one of their hobbies. They would be people who not only like interacting with friends in person, but may have social networking sites for example twitter, Instagram, Facebook, WhatsApp, and so on as part of their lifestyle. My target audience would be mostly people, from inner cities, such as London, Birmingham, Leicester etc., mainly because my chosen genre of hip-hop/rap is based around city culture.

PUBLISHERS/INSTITUTIONS:
Groups who may publish my magazine would be those who publish a wide variety of magazines, not only music magazines. For example i may choose to use IPC media as my Publishers as they are a well published group, helping to expand my magazine, and distribute my magazine well. These publishers produce another music magazine, which is NME, a contrasting genre from my chosen genre. i feel this would add diversity to an already well recognizable publisher. Artists who may feature in my magazine would be artists such as Drake, Kendrick Lamar, Schoolboy Q, Meek mill, Partynextdoor, French Montana, j Cole etc.

COLOUR SCHEMES AND LAYOUTS:

I have chosen to go with white, blue, and volt. Reasons for this is that it is unique, rather than having conventional, black white and red.

Here is the magazine proposal which i had presented to my peers in class..

Distribution of magazines

a)

The music magazine titles available at this newsstand tended to be of Pop, Rock, Indie/alternative, and Rhythm genres of music, for example Kerrang, Nme, mojo etc. These titles were being displayed together one section of the newsstand on the bottom two rows. The way they had been displayed was in such a way that half of the magazine, was covered by the next magazine, yet you could still clearly see and identify the Mastheads of each magazine was something i noticed. one of the reasons why it is laid out like this is so that customers can find the magazine they are looking for better, making it easier for them to. also, most of the cover-lines and teasers are placed on the left third
of each magazine as well so that you could see what the issue of the magazine would be about in general. The images for most of the magazines were medium close ups of artists who would feature in that magazine, and most of these tended to be edited so that it appeared that the image was layered on top of the title, or the other way around ("Mojo" magazine, "Music" magazine etc) Additionally, i noticed that each of the magazines had their own house styles, and colour themes, especially "Kerrang" as it was a special edition issue.

b)
Some of the main distribution methods include: sale or return, using distribution networks, publishers, freemiums, and subscriptions as a way of distributing their magazines successfully, so that they can be published widely.
 Publishers are institutions that produce the magazines. They control the editorial content and design of the magazine, as well as managing relationships with advertisers who bring in between 40-100% of the revenue. Circulation figures help publishers to plan how many issues to produce and distribute. Each publisher then uses a network of distributors (distribution networks) who manage the flow of magazines from the printer to the final newsstand where the magazines are sold. Every magazine uses these two basic methods of distribution in order to get their products on the shelves of newsstands and sold to the public.
There is then the secondary methods of distribution which magazines use. Sale or return is a system used by magazines where by there would be a certain amount of copies of a magazine which are expected to sell, and any copies which do not sell are returned to the distributor, with no cost to the retailer. This benefits the retailers as there is no risk or wastage involved in the process, and this would be one of the reasons as to why many shops/newsagents agree to placing various magazines in their shops. Another increasingly popular method is giving out free issues (freemiums) as a way of distribution. These are typically given out at stations, or in other busy public locations, and because these magazines are free, they make all of their money from advertising, Regular readers particularly in niche publications, may wish to subscribe to a number of issues, whether it be postal or electronic (subscriptions). This type of distribution makes it easier for the audience, and ensures a regular core readership for the magazine.
There are also the other methods of distribution, or the tertiary methods. Institutions use Electronic brand extensions, Ezines, and Apps. Many magazines now have smartphone or apple apps, with some or all of the content available in the hard copy of the magazine. These may be linked via a QR code on the front cover of the magazine. Magazines use Electronic Brand Extensions as well extending their brand with an online presence, for example on social networking sites such as instagram, Facebook, twitter, etc. They may use trends on twitter, Facebook groups as a way of distribution, when extending their brand. Some may also use Ezines. These are slightly different from magazine websites, in that they are a virtual online magazine with similar features; being able to turn pages, adverts, page numbers etc. For music magazines "RWD" is a good example, demonstrating a magazine which uses Ezines. Ezines are usually free, and they will have electronic features such as video clips and hyperlinks.

Audience feedback and evaluation- preliminary task / college magazine

                            EVALUATUION

I think there were many things which went well when producing my College magazine. Firstly, I think that the actual photography went well, as the photos I used, had reflected the genre and topic of my magazine well, which was about the “college life” at LSC and the exam success. This was the reason why I had chosen to use somebody studying, for the front cover. Also the images used for the contents page, I feel achieved the same, and were used for the same purpose. The image manipulation on Photoshop was also something that went well; I feel that my front cover looks realistic as a magazine, as I was able to use techniques on Photoshop to achieve this. This included having edited the Masthead logo (to make the main image of the front cover overlap it) a barcode/QR code, pricing, cover lines and issue number for the front cover. The way I laid out the pages, for the front cover and contents page, was also something that went well as it looked like a real established magazine, as I had researched what contents pages and front covers of genuine magazines looked like beforehand. I felt that the use of my text was something that went well, as I made sure that the text in the contents page was consistent from the front cover, meaning that what was mentioned to be in magazine (from the cover lines) was actually put on the contents page. I chose to use a large, bold, font for the Masthead of the magazine, which went well as it means that it stands out, and because part of it was bright red it would also do this, which is what a masthead is supposed to do. The layout on InDesign was something that I feel I done well on as it consisted of the generic conventions of a magazines contents page, which made it look better


Even though there were several things which went well, there were also things which I could have improved on. For example, I could have used a date for the front cover and contents page. Another thing which I could have done to improve my college magazine is that I could have chosen to layout my cover line's better, and chose better fonts for them so they stand out more. The font, font size and aligning of the cover lines for the front cover were something I evaluated after as a weakness, and one of the things I could change in order to improve my production. For my contents page I should make sure that I do not use photos which are slightly similar, next time, but use those which are distinctive from each other, making the magazine look better as a whole. I would make sure that I include dates for the front cover and contents page. This would add to the feel of the magazine, adding additional information. I could make sure that my editing for Photoshop is, again, up to a high quality standard for when producing future tasks. By making sure I utilise Photoshop properly next time, I would be able to create the magazine properly, and making sure that it is up to a good level.

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Preliminary task: LSC magazine

For this section of our Media task I began using Photoshop, understanding the techniques used and how to use certain aspect of Photoshop. This task here would then help us prepare to the build up of producing our own magazine front cover, as we would start learning the skills required in order to do so for our own. Here i used images from the internet for the background, and the barcode and added the magazine name for my first attempt making it look more realistic as a front cover for a music magazine.

I then began the planning for the layout of my own college magazine, on InDesign, putting down blank boxes and text boxes for where headlines, subheadings, text, skyline, masthead and other elements would go on my front cover, as well as my contents page.

After completing this, i then moved on to creating the first draft of my front cover for my college magazine task. I used photoshop in order to construct my front cover of my college magazine, and InDesign for my contents page. I had to make sure that my front cover had the layout which i had planned it to be, using the plan as a guideline for what my cover would look like

For the contents page i had to do the same, but not as much, as there is more freedom with how you can layout the contents page, as long as it is clear.

Research/ case studies of real music magazines

Cover Page & Contents Page

In this part of my work, i analysed a music magazine, to use as an example. I looked at the key features of the different parts of the magazine (Cover page, Contents pages, and Double page spreads) drawing out the details of what each consists of, taking notes.

 I analysed "VIBE" music magazine firstly looking at the front cover of the magazine and the contents page/s.

Double Page Spread:

I then moved on to looking at the double page spread of this issue of "VIBE" magazine, which was an article on Usher.

From this, we were then able to have a better understanding of how we can analyse a music magazine, which was the next ask that we had to complete.

I then moved on to analysing two different music magazines of my own as part of my magazine

project. I carried out research of each of these magazines in their genre. Firstly, in part A, I looked at the textual analysis of these identifying and analysing the techniques used (image, language, genre, and conventions of the layout) for the Front cover, contents pages, and Double page spread of both magazines.

a)

XXL

FRONT COVER:

This is a n image of the front cover of XXL music magazine. The image consists of a medium-close up, at eye level, of the main artist for this issue, which has been edited on top of the masthead for the magazine. For the mise en scene it uses only a shot of the artist, in a low-key lighting setting, being that the image is in black and white, with a dark background, even though there is still some lighting shining on the artist in the image. The artist is wearing no top, with a woolly hat, and dreadlocks.

There are also conventions of the page layout used for the front cover of this music magazine. The “XXL” masthead is used, in its distinct red and white colours, and the choice of font is bold, and clear for the audience to see, making it easier.  What would usually be the skyline, has been placed beside the main image of the artist, aligned in a vertical column, and the cover lines have been positioned on the other side, giving a hint as to what an article in the magazine will be about. The use of this colour theme, and fonts are something which is standard as for this specific music magazine as it is part of their house style (red,white, and black). The left third of a magazine is usually where everything is placed on a magazine, being one of the generic conventions of a music magazine, and this would apply to this issue of XXL magazine. They have included the Masthead, “exclusive” caption, cover-lines, barcode, pricing, and some of the main image of the artist. The reason as to why they do this is so that when the magazine is placed in a shop/newsagent, it is easier to identify, and customers could scan through and know which magazine it is, how much it is, and what it is about or what the main topic is. All three of these is what you have in mind when looking for a music magazine, and they are indicated by the masthead, cover-lines, and pricing. The relationship between the image and the text is that the image reinforces what the text is saying. The cover line says “lil Wayne. Nothing left to prove”. This would link to the image, as it is a close up of lil Wayne, who has a smirk on his face and his facial expressions, would suggest that he “has nothing left to prove”. Also the cover lines to the right, would link to the image as they indicate who will feature alongside this artist in the magazine.

The cultures, groups and genres represented and portrayed from this music magazine would be those of rap/hip-hop. The culture represented would be young black people, as it is typically this certain group who are the target audience of this magazine. 

CONTENTS PAGE:

The image used here again is a medium close up shot of the same artist as mentioned on the front cover, at eye level. The lighting here Is high key lighting even though there is the background would contrast as it is a dark background. The image here on the contents page is similar to the image on the front cover, however this is in colour, and the costume has slightly changed as the artists is not wearing a hat in this shot.

The use of the masthead is that it is in a bold, clear font, and along with the image, it is the first thing you notice about the contents page. The subheadings are also in the same font/style. the reason fir this is because it is a contents page which needs to have structure and be clear so that the audience can find out clearly what is on each page and what will feature in that issue of the magazine. The text on the contents page is aligned in a column, beside the image, again making the layout clear and simple. The contents page maintains the house style of black, white and red.

The tone of the language used in the contents page and the mode of address is informal, as it is a magazine so it can be less formal, and more casual. The language is well structured and laid out, being straight to the point. 

DOUBLE PAGE SPREAD:

The image used in this double page spread is a long shot of the cover artists at a canted angle. There is a plain white background behind the artist, and there is high key lighting. The costume used is the artist in a hat, dark shades, t-shirt, and trousers with one leg rolled up. From what we see, and the body language of the artist in the image, that he is

The choice of font for the pull quote is simple, and in bold. This would be because it is the main quote for the article. The font for the text is also a simple font. Because this article is a Q&A the responses are in regular text, and the questions are in a bold, italic font. This is done purposefully so that the audience can distinguish between the questions and the responses. The main is aligned in three equal length columns, with equal margins between them. The colour scheme or house style remains similar colours of black and white. The connotations of using just a black and white colour scheme could be that it is plain and simple, as so is the article, being a Q&A. The relationship between the image and the text is that the image relates to the text. This is because the artist in the image is the same person who the topic is on, and who is giving his responses in the text.

The language used in this double page spread is informal, being that it is from an interview, so it would be less formal, even though the artist is answering questions. The text is still structured however with a question, and then a response and so on.

                                                                       KERRANG

FRONT COVER:

The image used here is a medium shot, at eye level of the artists/music, against a dark, black baground. It has high key lighting in the mise en scene. There aren’t any props used here, however the costumes worn, are the group in casual clothing, some with dark shades on.

The mastheads are large and in bold. The name of the magazine “kerrang” has been edited to make it look as if it is in the background and the image of the artists is in the foreground. It is in an “edgy” font, which reflects the nature of the magazine. Also the masthead “avenged sevenfold” is in a distinct bright yellow colour so it is easily visible and a bold and simple font was chosen for this. It uses a caption below the masthead as well. The magazine has the barcode and pricing in the bottom right corner of the cover, and includes a skyline above, hinting at what will be included in the magazine which, along with where it says there is a free poster pull out inside, is a teaser. The house style here would be black, white and yellow, and the image used would link to the text as it is these people who are mentioned in the masthead title “avenged sevenfold”, the name of their music group.

The language used on this front cover is informal, and has a similar tone. The structure of it is that the text is short, simple and straight to the point. This is because it is the front cover of the magazine so people want to quickly know what the magazine is about, who will feature in it and what genre it is just by scanning through, and with this they can do that.

The costumes here would portray representations of a typical rock band..

CONTENTS PAGE:

The main image used here is a close up shot of an artist who will feature in the magazine. It is high key lighting and is in colour. 

The contents page masthead is in the top right corner of the page and is in black and white, and is in an “edgy” font which similarly relates to the nature of this music magazine. There is a teaser in the caption which is under the masthead. Here it hints at who will feature in some of the music magazine.

The language used here formal, as its purpose is to infirm and guide the audience to what will feature on which pages, however it still has an informal tone being that it is a music magazine, so it wants to closely connect with its audeine and it does this by using a more casual and less formal tone. It is strured well so that it is understandable, and clear.

The types of groups, and cultures portrayed here would be rock or metal, with a stereotypical, niche target audience of young white people, males in particular. This is reflected in this magazine as most of the artists who feature would come under this category. The groups here are portrayed in a way which 

DOUBLE PAGE SPREAD:

The image used here is a medium close up shot of the artist mentioned in the double page spread. The costume she is wearing is a black polo shirt, with colourful buttons. The framing of the shot is the main artist in the foreground, and photos of her with other people in the background. The lighting is high key lighting and the photo is in colour. There may be make-up which the artist in this image is wearing, but if it is it is minimal.

The masthead has been creatively edited from saying “about a girl” in bold capital letters. The word “girl” here has been crossed out and replaced with the word “band” in bright orange, yet it is still visible what the masthead had said before. This editing of the masthead changes the meaning of it, and it refers to the text as it talks about how a solo artist is now part of a “band” instead. The choice of the colour bright orange, against  a black and white writing make it stand out even more so that it catches the eye of the audience. Also, choosing this colour is significant as it is a similar colour to the artist which the topic is about, so it is symbolic in that sense. The double page spread uses drop caps for the first word in the text, which is also orange. Therefore the colour scheme and house style here would be white, black and orange. It uses a oull quote which is superimposed on top of the image of the artist. The text is aligned in three columns, which are all close enough to the same length. The relationship between the image and the text would be that the image reinforces what the text is about, in a way.

The tone used here is informal, and so too is the language, as it is from the views and topic of an artist, speaking about something in their music career.  The text here in this article doesn’t really have a structure as it is not them giving a story to the magazine, or a Q&A on the artist, yet still is laid out in paragraphs which vary in length. 

Then, in part B, I carried out analysis of the audience and institutions for each of the magazines. This included looking at secondary audience research, looking at press packs/media kit for each magazine and who publishes each of the magazines 

b)

XXL:

The audience for the xxl music magazine would stereotypically be teenagers and young adults between the ages of 16-23. The culture and ethnicity would be of the target audience would also stereotypically be people of black ethnicity, as they tend to be the target audience for this type of music which is rap/hip-hop, males in particular. This would help them publish the magazine as it would help them to decide on the content to include and what they should advertise in their magazines, which is usually something that is aimed at their target audience. This would produce a vital income for them, because in this magazine in particular, being an American magazine, there is a lot of advertisement, meaning they would make a lot of money off of this advertisements and promotions. Harris publications publish XXL magazine. Harris Publications Inc. is an American consumer-magazine publisher in New York City, New York, that publishes over 75 titles, including Juicy, Dog News, 0-60, Guns & Weapons for Law Enforcement, Small Business Opportunities, Exercise & Health, Celebrity Hairstyles, and many more. Harris publications also produce comics. One major division, Harris Outdoor Magazines, publishes several titles on hunting, fishing, and firearms. Harris Comics published the former Warren Publishing character Vampirella for nearly two decades.

KERRANG:

The target audience for this music magazine would stereotypically be again teenagers and young adults. The culture and ethnicity would be people of white ethnicity, males in particular. It is this group of people which then help the publishers decide in what content to include to attract advertisers, even though this is a British magazine and isn’t so heavily based around advertisements and promotions in the magazine. The publisher of this magazine is Bauer media group, who are a large European-based media company, headquartered in Hamburg, Germany that manages a portfolio of magazines, digital products, radio and TV stations. H Bauer is a publishing brand that include women's weekly and TV listings magazines; namely Bella, Take a Break, that's life! TVChoice and Total TVGuide as well as a number of puzzle magazines. In 1987 Bella was H Bauer's first venture into publishing in the UK. In 1990, H Bauer launched a weekly women's magazine named Take a Break. H Bauer also has a sister title, that’s life! which launched in 1995. The H Bauer Publishing brands also include puzzle magazines that carry the Take a Break name. Q started out as a music magazine published monthly in the United Kingdom. Originally it was to be called Cue (named after the act of cueing a record to play), but the name was changed so that it wouldn't be mistaken for a snooker magazine. The Q music brand has expanded to Radio and Television, with Q Radio and Q TV being music entertainment that specialises in indie, rock and alternative.

Planning the project: production schedule

For the first task, following on from our induction task, we were told to create a production schedule, based on the Foundation portfolio assignment for the 2014/15 year in AS media. We had to make sure all of the coursework tasks were covered in the production schedule, giving them each a title, and then in the description, mention what the task was, in detail.

Induction task - piracy in the music industry

Firstly, we completed a research task, before starting our own articles on piracy in the music industry. We looked at facts and statistics of piracy in the music industry, advantages & disadvantages, the effects of the topic, and music artists views and thoughts on the topic. From this i then produced the word based version of my article on piracy. I have completed my draft  for my magazine article, discussing piracy in the music industry. i completed this by answering the guideline questions which we were given in class (below). From this i formed the text for my InDesign blog task which i would use in part of my next task.

As part of the rest of the Task, in class we began to start on the layout for our indesign article blog. With this we planned how our article would look roughly by inserting text boxes, page breaks, and blank boxes for how our article would look (Where the title would go, where the text would go, where photos would go, how the article would be sectioned)







I then had to produce my very own blog of a magazine article, based around piracy in the music industry and whether it was destroying it. Prior to this we had completed our own research on Piracy in the music industry in order to get background information on the topic, and for us to form our own opinions of the topic which we would express in the blog, we then had to write about music piracy and use that text in this format to make it a magazine article.

In the next part, we were asked to analyse the production of our InDesign blog article giving feedback on it, highlighting the strengths and weaknesses of our productions. From this we were able to understand what we did well, which we could include in our own front cover article. also we learnt of the things which we needed to improve upon.