Celebrity Influences

Throughout my research and process, I used two main celebrities to influence my work.

Florence Welch (Florence + the Machine) and Amy Winehouse

Using Welch's unique fashion style and Winehouse's make-up and hair-do's I was able to use this as a guidline and inspiration for my model's photos.

You can see that I've used similar poses, clothing and hairstyles for my photos. 

I chose these two particular artists as influences for my media, as they both fall under the same genre of an Indie Alternative for their music and style.

The colours of clothing I also used reflected these models, with Winehouse wearing black and Welch consistently wearing a few brighter and bolder colours. The contrast of the two colours worked well in my piece.

The hairstyles of my model's both reflect these two influences, with their large and vibrant hair.

EVALUATION QUESTION 7

Looking back at your preliminary task (the school magazine task), what do you feel you have learnt in the progression from it to the full product?


 Since beginning my media product by starting with my Preliminary task, I feel as though I have improved massively with my use of photoshop and editing to prove this. As you can see from both my front page and contents, the use of colours, fonts, and photos have improved immensely and is noticeable with my music magazine task.

Prezi/Mind Map to show my evaluation on both magazines

EVALUATION QUESTION 6

What have you learnt about technologies from the process of constructing this product?

Using 'Windows Live Movie Maker' I was able to produce a video containing all the products and programmes I used to produce my media project.

EVALUATION QUESTION 5

How did you attract/address your audience?

Using magazines such as Q and NME, I took ideas from both front covers and contents page for my own personal use for my magazine. I also looked at a specific front cover from a Rolling Stone issue with Amy Winehouse on the front cover for font ideas.

You can see from my final pieces, that I used a lot of Q's and NME's work to help me establish a target audience.

Using similar fonts, colours, layouts and picture styles, I was able to use these different ideas and techniques to create my own product.

Using my original photos aswell, I tried to create an Indie effect with their style of clothing, pose, hairstyle etc.

The pictures represent the genre of Indie kids, which is similar to NME magazine.

The style of clothing is more presentable and neat, which resembles Q's fashion statements, such as the Lady Gaga issue.

Prezi 1

Prezi 2

Double Page Spread Research

Q's article on Lady Gaga immediately caught my attention. The layout of not only the photo, but the article itself was so neat and presented well. I liked the way the main photo takes over one whole page, and how there is a header and footer on the top and bottom of the page to indicate who the article is about, and what the page number is. The use of a drops cap before each paragraph also caught my attention, as it indicated when a paragraph ended and when another started.

The Florence + The Machine NME double-page spread from 2009 again got my attentions. Like Q, the main picture takes up half of the double-page spread layout, therefore gaining the readers attention immediately. The use of drop caps in a different font compared to the rest of the text made it clear where the article started. And the photo represented what genre of music Florence Welch was apart of, due to her clothing, posture, and hairstyle.

The NME article of Lily Allen in the early stages of her career represented her attitud at the time. The posture, fashion, and article layout showed her teenage naive ways and abnoxious attitude. The way the pull quote takes up half of the page I didn't really like, but how the layout was, with the blck background to emphasis the quote I liked the idea of. The large drops cap aswell also kept with the theme of the article. The bold colours made the whole article stand out, compared to Lady Gaga's and Florence Welch's.

Double Page Spread Analysis

 

 

Contents Construction

To start off my contents page, I basically set out where I wanted what pictures to go where.

I used the two models on my front cover as my main photo, and another photo I took of another model for another article.

I also re-used my front cover on my contents page to advertise subscription of my magazine.

I used a basic white background, so it was easier to edit on and didn't clash with the other colours I wanted to use, plus a black background seemed tacky.

I started placing the background for my headers on my contents next.

This broke down what I wanted to go where a little bit easier for myself when I came to including more text etc.

I used the same font for the Iconic on my contents as I did on my front cover, to keep the style and theme going throughout.

I also kept the whole black, red, and white theme as well as similar or same fonts.

Next, I included a bit more text.

Using the text tool on photoshop CS4, I was able to position where I wanted the text and how wide I wanted the text box to be etc.

I stuck with a white theme for the font colour for the Band Index and headers, as white on both red and black background stood out more than any other colour would.

The band index to me was a good feature to include on my contents. It shows what bands are included in the magazine and what type of genre the magazine is going for. 

The next step was to put in some writing for the articles etc.
For each article page number, I gave a brief description below of what that page was about. Using a different font, the description isn't as highlighted as the main attraction, which is the title.

I got the idea of an 'Artist Highlight' from Q Magazine. Giving Bloc Party a section on my contents page highlighted the genre of my magazine too.

I used the page numbers in a different font again, and colour, to highlight them and make them noticeable for readers.

FINISHING PRODUCT:
To complete my contents page, I added in the subscribe section by highlighting the important factors, such as the website, to grab the readers attention.

I also included an Editor's Comment in my contents page, to give the magazine a friendly and warm feel to it.

I also added a big 'SUBSCRIBE' to the small photo in the left hand corner, to notify to a reader that the magazine does a subscription.