moodboard

I've been looking at alternative music magazines such as i-D, VICE, POP, and Dazed and Confused. I enjoy the way their front covers usually focus mostly on the main image than on cover lines and other distracting common magazine conventions. VICE, POP, and i-D all have quite small mastheads which appear in the corner of the publication. I believe this draws more attention to the main image but also, it conveys that the masthead actually isn't the most important part of the magazine, but the image is - which I think is true as main images are significant. The fonts used are commonly bold 'bubble' letters, which may include a pattern which fills in the blank space, bright colours (red and orange commonly) or just an outline of the font itself. All the sub headings on the front covers (if any) are kept minimal. Small, fine, print and whatever is being written is predominantly about the person who appears on the front cover. I'd like my magazine to follow the conventions of which i've found in VICE, POP, I-D, and Dazed and Confused. Overall, I think all the layouts are stylish, well organised, original, and represent all different types of music as the simplicity infused within the magazines don't subject the reader into thinking it only contains one genre of music.

Production diary week 9

This was my first production for listen magazine. I realised I hardly followed any conventions of the magazines I chose to use as examples. i-D, POP, DAZED AND CONFUSED all had studio/professional images taken, and mine was taken of a screen at a concert. Also the two fonts I chose didn't look brilliant together - they stood out too much from one another it was like reading a completely different magazine on the same page.

I started to change my publication firstly, by using studio taken images which were then edited. I also rethought my choice of colour and chose something a bit more suitable and flattering to the main image so it doesn't stand out too much and it complements the front cover as a whole.

Production diary week 7

This was my first production for listen magazine. I realised I hardly followed any conventions of the magazines I chose to use as examples. i-D, POP, DAZED AND CONFUSED all had studio/professional images taken, and mine was taken of a screen at a concert. Also the two fonts I chose didn't look brilliant together - they stood out too much from one another it was like reading a completely different magazine on the same page.

I started to change my publication firstly, by using studio taken images which were then edited. I also rethought my choice of colour and chose something a bit more suitable and flattering to the main image so it doesn't stand out too much and it complements the front cover as a whole.

mise-en-scene - 'psycho'

One important feature of the mise-en-scene in the parlour scene is the taxidermied animals. These are used as brief focus points when Norman leads Marion into his somewhat 'enclosed' parlour. Taxidermy is quite a strange hobby and in order to be good at it you have to efficiently kill the animals, remove their intestines, stuff then sew them up and face the task of cleaning up after. Since Norman tells Marion this hobby takes up 'most of his time' we are left with the impression that he is experienced in killing, cleaning and stuffing. The animals being stuffed by Norman cultivate many thoughts in my mind as they're all birds (from what we are shown). The birds he has chosen are ones that have the capability of killing other creatures and eating their remains. He may have chosen these birds in order to prove that he has great strength and is capable of killing what has the capability to kill. This gives off the impression that he has a menacing personality and he gains happiness and fulfilment from wicked doings. Norman also refers to Marion as a bird. He thinks that she 'eats like a bird' - this is quite chilling as Norman very obviously enjoys killing birds as seen hanging in random spaces of his parlour. The dim lighting is also an important focus point as you can't see certain details in the parlour which may be much more obvious in bright lighting and people can't see clearly from the outside in. People usually dim the lights when trying to set the mood for something or trying to hide the obvious from someone. There may have been something not visible to Marion in the room that Norman wanted to keep that way with the minimal lighting.

'The Reign' | Harris Academy Purley

'Rap Realism' | Harris Academy Purley

flat plan for LISTEN magazine

On the cover of my music magazine will be Drake as he is a popular musician and at the peak of his career. I think he's also suitable to be on the cover because my target audience will be lovers of hip-hop, RnB, and urban music. Drake is a strong hip-hop artist and recognisable worldwide. The style of the front cover image will be very 'organic'. By this I mean the magazine won't be covered in superficial obnoxious edits and photos of celebrities at their worst. A shot of Drske by the pool on a deck chair enjoying the palm trees, sun, and whatever is in his cup will dominate the cover. The lighting tone will be an off white with an antique tinge - this gives the magazine a classic look and that's how I'd like it to be perceived. A high-end hip-hop magazine is quite hard to find, I believe this is what the niche in the market for this publication is. As this is the first issue, I'd like the masthead to stand out as much as possible. I want it to be eye catching enough to stop people and make them think about the fact that they haven't seen this magazine before. With Drake on the cover alone may be enough to stop certain people - as he is a big star and very recognisable. As my magazine is called "LISTEN" I'd like to have LISTEN printed on the binding side of the magazine - having the masthead of a magazine on the side is rather uncommon - this will also help me gain the attention my magazine is looking for. I'd have LISTEN printed in either neon green or gold. This will be eye catching and aesthetically pleasing to the rest of the magazine. The only image will be of Drake. Having too many

Feminist Perspectives on music magazines

On the cover of the highly successful BILLBOARD magazine we have one of the most influential and respected musicians of the century, Sade. She's photographed beautifully and modest-fully as she is no where near posing in a suggestive state or even wearing suggestive clothing. But then again, for an artist of her status - she really doesn't need to, and I could imagine she would be quite offended if that was Billboard's plan for her. There is no sense of subjugation, the image doesn't seem to suggest that Sade is being forced to do anything that makes her uncomfortable or come across as oppressive in any way. Sade is a musician of incredible talent and I believe this is all the image was trying to imply. As a woman her personal life is kept off the front cover of Billboard magazine. Is she married? Does she have children? The cover doesn't let us know - it's important for magazines like this to stay away from gender stereotypes as all that excess information isn't valuable to the content of the magazine itself. If Billboard had chosen to photograph Sade in a kitchen, apron tied and two children at her feet - it may be taken in an offensive light not to mention it would have absolutely no correlation with the theme of the magazine itself. Now, pictures of famous chefs in the kitchen shown on the front of lifestyle magazines isn't taken as offensive simple because that is the nature of the magazine's content. This front cover may come across as a breath of fresh air to some readers as with musicians like Rihanna, and Miley Cyrus who enjoy being photographed wearing next to nothing there's finally a female on the cover fully clothed and looking very subtle. It may be quite liberating to some people as well as Sade hasn't become a Madonna on us - your talent should ultimately make up who you are, not how much flesh you're showing or the shade of your lipstick.

Production diary week 5

For contents pages, I started looking at DAZED AND CONFUSED their contents pages have changed over the years as the first and second images show. They started with having 5/6 images placed in random places and having the text wrapped around all of them. I wasn't too fond of the set up as I thought there was too much going on and I wanted to keep my publication as minimal as possible. DAZED AND CONFUSED then went on to introduce a contents page with one image at the top of the page and with the content on the bottom half. i-D came along with a contents page which is a lot similar to their double page spread which I think introduces you to the magazine nicely and makes you want to read the contents page as most people don't pay it much attention. I decided to go with the theme of having my contents page look like a double page spread (shown in the image of M.I.A).

XXL MAGAZINE CONTENT PAGES ANALYSIS

XXL have done something with their contents pages that i'm quite fond of. They've named the pages 'the A-side' and 'the B-side' as done on old cassettes and records - this ties in beautifully on the theme of music and musical culture. The first pictured artist on 'the A-side' contents page is hip-hop veteran Dr.Dre. Many fans of new artists such as Kendrick Lamar or even hip-hop legends such as Eminem have this guy to thank for the recognition they've gained. Dr.Dre is photographed posing in quite a powerful stance. The black and white gives it a classy and clean look, the shadow shown very obviously and projected quite largely implies that the person in question has a lot of power in the industry they're associated in and they have a lot of power over those also associated in the same line of work.

Moving on to the actual content, all the literary skills and techniques come back into play, after we thought they'd been lost on the front cover. Although the use of street slang is still present, coherent and well structured sentences are used to give us minimal insight on the included articles. The idiolect written in is appropriate for the audience in which the magazine is mainly written for. The layout glows quite nicely as the words and photos are incorporated in a way which is aesthetically pleasing.

XXL MAGAZINE ANALYSIS

On the cover of hip hop giant magazine XXL, we have a rather unflattering image of A$AP Rocky showing of his 25 karat grillz. The sub heading "YOUNG, FLY & FLASHY" let's us as the reader know instantly what type of audience this magazine and its literary terms are aimed at. There is minimal (and if any) information on the front cover of what's going on inside. Although, we do have on the left a list of rapper's, probably found in the interior. The logo for XXL is partially hidden by the artist photographed - but even if you aren't familiar with the magazine and the little you can see of the masthead doesn't give you what you need, the little badge in the right hand corner might give you a clue as to what you are reading. XXL know what they're doing, as for the lack of substance on the front cover - it's all made up for in the tastefully (and creatively made) contents pages.

Cover of the Week

Rolling Stone is one of my favourite music magazines simply for front covers, not content particularly. The diversity in each and every cover keeps me interested and alert to see the next cover. I believe it may do the same for many other readers too (who are like me and care more about who's on the cover than what Rolling Stone writers have included inside the magazine).

Rolling Stone can also have very controversial covers. Seen above, a teenage boy accused of being a part of the Boston bombings earlier this year. Although he has absolutely nothing to do with music culture, Rolling Stone thought their readers may react well to this type of political information. This says much more about the reader than Rolling Stone magazine itself - it could imply that readers are well educated (or not) about world affairs. Americans are usually very patriotic and have a great deal of concern when it comes to important life changing events in their country.

Listen magazine flat plan

Production diary week 6

We've analysed and compared magazines this week - we've also looked at the conventions of specific music genres and how they differ from one another. Hip hop and RnB magazines tend to use different images than those found in country music magazines and vice versa. We spoke about how effective certain conventions are and how well they appeal to their target audience. We then went on to learn about Marxist theories and applied the knowledge gained when we were analysing magazine covers.

Production diary week 4

Looking at colour schemes I've decided to go with a teal/blue colour as I think it stands out quite well and it's bright and eye catching which is good for a new magazine as you want it to stand out (positively) as much as possible so people will be intrigued to buy it.

I also went through a lot of different fonts which I found on dafont.com. I decided to try out 'CITYSCAPE' as it looked quite urban and stood out when shown to my piers. I then later on changed this as I realised it was too 'busy' and not as easy to read as I thought. It also didn't meet the conventions which I was trying to follow.

Survey Data

 

 

I've printed out and handed out my survey to 15 students/teachers around the school. I collected all the data and did a rough copy of the data I recieved. I also made sure there was 10 questions to be answered and they were all answered in order to get the best possible data feedback.

Prezi Presentation

Front Cover Analysis

Magazine Survey

Create your free online surveys with SurveyMonkey , the world's leading questionnaire tool.

Survey monkey is a helpful website which makes creating surveys online, simple and quick. I've made a survey on the basis that I would like to find out what type of magazines perople read, how often they buy them, and what they feel makes a 'good' music magazine. Check out my survey!

Production diary week 3

I've been looking at all the different front covers that i-D, DAZED AND CONFUSED, and POP have used. They all have studio taken images as the main image. i-D and POP have placed their masthead in the top left hand corner and DAZED AND CONFUSED has left theirs in typical placement the middle of the top of the publication. i-D tends to use uncommon colour schemes (pastel colours, very bright neon oranges, yellows, greens) POP does the same too and they add 'emoticons' and other text enhancing features like bold strokes and 3D effects to make the masthead further stand out and that goes on through out the front cover and the magazine as a whole. DAZED AND CONFUSED and i-D take a more subtle approach and keep all the text in the same font (just different sizing) excluding D&C's 'home font' for their masthead.

choice of colour

I chose to use a range of different shades of blue, black and white. These are all primary colours (excluding certain shades of blue). I decided to do this simply because it ties in well with the idea of 'school spirit' using school colours. I thought it was appropriate and it made sense. If I used colours such as orange, gold, pink, yellow it wouldn't tie in nicely. Although pink is a feminine colour and the magazine is mostly for female readers, having pink font or background etc. wouldn't be appropriate - if it was something like breast cancer awareness month, changing the colour theme would then be appropriate and would meet everyone's understanding.

Production diary week 3

This is my first and second attempt at my school publication. It's a rough draft just giving me an idea of what I need to write, take photos of, and where it needs to be.

Production diary week 2

We started our preliminary task which is to make a school publication. I used paint to make my flat plan as I found annotating it was easier as I could draw, write, and use add ons. I would have liked to use photoshop or publisher but we didn't have much time and my photoshopping skills are no where near where they need to be in order for my presentation to look ... presentable. Over the next week i'm going to take photos around school for my publication. Once i've taken them; they will be edited and I can work on placement and get people's opinions on how the school is perceived through them.

Improvements

This is my final design piece. Unlike the previous copies posted this one has real life images which altogether makes the publication look much more presentable. The colour scheme is made up out of primary school colours which represents the school sub-conciously. I'm happier with this publication than the other two I produced, I believe this one is cleaner, smarter, and suitable to be given to both parents and students as the other two weren't at this standard.

Production diary week 1

During our first week, the task given was to make a 'school publication'. The first flat plan I made was done on 'paint' I found it quick and easy to just draw down the ideas of what I wanted to do. I then went on to choose a colour scheme. I decided to go with a range of blues as the publication was made for my school and our school colour is primarily blue. I then went through different fonts which I thought would be appropriate, I did the same with photos too. My first try at making a publication was skillfully a failure as I didn't know how to take full advantage of the programmes I was using and I wasn't able to actually get the results I wanted.