Some posters I have created for my magazine...

I have created two more posters for the front of my magazine, one being of A and the other being of L.

Here are two more images that I have edited to create a poster for L, the other main star in my magazine. This image will be located next to the other poster I have created below.

Here are the two images that show the difference between my first image that I took and the image that I edited to create my poster. This image will be placed on the bottom of my magazine cover next to my other poster which I edited of Richa.

 

Picture which I think would look good on and in my magazine...

I have looked through all of the images that I have taken and have chosen some that I like and would love to have displayed on my magazine and inside it as well....

This is one of the images which I particularly like because of that fact that it is the classic sister pose for any close sister's having a photo taken. The two sisters create a good mise en scene by both wearing check shirts which while don’t perfectly match the black haired model, 'A' we shall call her, has some red in her shirt to match the red haired model, whom we shall call 'L'.

The fact that they are also smiling connotes the fact that they are happy to be there and are existed of what they could be doing next in there life’s and not just bored or the photo shoot

 

 

This is another image I like very much, as you can see the image denotes A playing the guitar watching her fingers as she plays. It connotes an artists whom is trying to make sure that her performance is the best it can be as she is practising and practising as she doesn’t want to upset her fans which would be there watching from the stands. the mise en scene so her hair draping down her shoulder and then being tucked behind the guitar shows off the site which shows she is care-free and wants to enjoy life and not have to worry about many things. This is something which to me relates to the fact of a person have long glossy hair

This image I like very much because it denotes two sisters fighting over the guitar that they both play with and are laughing about. However when examining the image it connotes the fact that they are 'still just kids', while most country artists are around their late 20's and on wards depending on which aria they first started playing I couldn’t take any 'sexual photo's'. This is why I like this image very much because it shows that you don't have to wear a very small amount of clothing and show off your body to be successful in the country music industry. The mise en scene is also very good as the two models are shown to be smiling and also while they want to make sure that the guitar isn't damaged they really want to have the guitar for themselves.

This image denotes L playing and singing with the guitar. The reason that I like this image so much is because of the fact that while I have said in the above image that they are still kids this image connotes the fact that while they are young both have a gift of performing and people want to listen to them. The mise en scene of the clothes contrasting with her hair I like very much because of the dark red of her hair is shown off against the light wooden colour of the guitar. I like this image very much for a picture of one of the band members on their own as it shows that she can hold her own without her sister.

My photo shoot time table...

In the end I choice to take my photo's on Sunday the 17th of December, i started to day by taking the two trains up to my cousins house in Richmond. Richmond is a beautiful place with some of the most amazing scenery available for people to see.
I have planned to take the images of my two cousins on a white background and also in the field or park located close to their house. The type of weather I was expecting for this day was to be bright and sunny and not as cold as it had been the week before so going outside wasn't going to be a problem.

However once we got to their house I was to find out that the weather report had changed for the worse and it had started to rain the moment we stepped inside the house. But while I couldn't do the photo's of them outside I still could do the photos of them inside on the white background. The white background, thou we didn't have and large white paper was easy to find as they have a white wall which we used in their living room.

Over all I am very proud with the images I took as I had time to take some of the images on their own and also together having fun. Some images came out a bit wrong I must say but overall they were positive and I and I am happy with them.

My two ideas for my 2 page spread...

While I am only meant to create one mock-up for my two page spread I have two ideas of what I want the pages to look like so I have chosen to create two mock-up's. After I have taken the photos of for my main artists I will then pick which mock-up I want to use for my final design. Below are my two designs for my 2 page spread.

Mock up for contents page...

To try to understand more about what type of layout I want for my magazine as a whole I have chosen to create a mock-up of the contents page which I am going to use for my magazine. As you can see the mock-up again is in different colours to show the difference between the photo's, text and captions.
I have chosen to place an issue number on the top right to show that it is a very popular magazine and has been published before this issue, well to create the illusion that it has been published before at least.
The banner I have placed at the top is to show the difference between the text for the contents page and the text for the magazine at the top.
I have chosen to place three images on the page because while I want to show as many images of what is inside as I can I still don't want to overcrowded the page and have to much information on one page.

Photo change for a poster on my magazine cover...

I have chosen to take one of my images of Richa, my second model, and edited it to make it into more of a poster rather than just an image.

The image now has text, been blighted, airbrushed and also my model has been placed in a light background rather than on the white background she was on firstly.

This image will be located on the bottom of my magazine cover next to another poster which i will later create.

My Flat Plan...

While in the process of creating a magazine companies have to create a ‘Flat Plan’, this is a plan which shows every page which will be in the magazine. It needs to include everything from the back page to the main interview along with all posters and advertisements located in the magazine as well. By doing this I know what I have to include in my contents page and in what order everything has to go in.

To do this I had to read through some of the country magazines that I had purchased in the past. I also researched some of the articles that would be in country magazines. The website I used the most was through the Country Weekly website as it showed me all of the past covers for the magazine. I found out also that my genre magazine would include many interviews with some artists along with the latest albums which had been released.

Below is my own flat plan. As you can see I have included posters, advertisement, front and back covers, contents page and all articles which I am going to include in my contents page. The reason that I have placed the articles in this order is because the magazines that I was looking at were similar to this one and so I thought that it would be good order to place them in. As you can see I have placed colours for the advertisement and posters to show that there is a big difference between them and the other articles.

Mock up for my cover page...

I have chosen to create the mock up of my front cover, as you can see the cover is colour coded to try and show which articles and images will be the same.
I have chosen this lay-out because it is slightly the same to the cover lay-out of another country magazine that i annotated earlier in my blog work.

I feel that this is the right way to go about mocking up my front cover as I feel that there will be enough room for all of the sell lines i wish to include on the cover. 

Different Texts...

I have chosen to five different texts to pick from, I have placed them all on the same page so that it is easier to compare altogether.

The two texts that I like the best are the first text and the last text. The reasons for this are that the first text is the most country type of text as it reminds me of a country type of sign located in the ‘wild west’ theme.

The reason that I like the last text is because of the fact that it still reminds me of a country type of theme but it still looks nice with the type of style I am going for because while the first text would show off the traditional side of the country magazine, the last text would keep with the modern age of country music. Something which I am trying to achieve.

After much through I have chosen to use the last text as my header for my magazine as I feel that it shows off the modern side of the country magazine, something that I will find it hard to achieve with the rest of the magazine.

 

 

 

My Poll Results

I created a poll which was located on the side of my blog, the question for this poll was- What type of music genre do you listen to the most?

The options for this were; Pop, Country, Indie Music and Screamo.

You could only pick one option from the list and I gave people a week to vote on the poll.

However with this large time gap only four people voted for the genre that they liked the best. The winner of this poll was Country Music.

 

This supports my idea to do a country music as 50% of the votes were for country music rather than the others.

As you can see from the image below of my blog showing the poll after it was closed one person voted for Pop and the remaining other person voted for Screamo. This makes me also see that doing a magazine on Indie music was something that I am happy I didn’t do because the audience that I am getting are not fans of the genre Indie Music.

My photo Ideas

Models

I have chosen to have two main models in my magazine; they will be the cover stars for the magazine cover and also be the main feature for the two page spread which I will include in the magazine. The models will be aged around 16 years old and be based on the modern/traditional side of country music. By having a female group on the front of the magazine might make the female population more interested in purchasing the magazine as they have something to link themselves to. For my cover photo I am planning on having the two models next to each other on some sort of white background so that it shows the models off more than the background itself. Along with the two main models I also plan to have a few less important models that will feature on the cover and also the contents page. These models will be showing off other articles in the magazine and attract readers so that they not only feel that the magazine is focused on the two main models.

Locations

I have chosen to take my images at a few locations. For my front cover I plan to have my model with a white background behind them so that the viewer is focused on the model rather than any type of background that there happens to be. The reason for this is because I would like my models to stand out from the background and for them to both seem to be fighting for the main spot in the image that has been taken.

For the images in my contents page I plan to not only have my two main models but also some other models to show the difference between them. These images will range from having them on a white background to at a different outside location. An example of an outside location that I plan to take images at is a park or field. The reason for this is so that it shows the more country side of the magazine and the readers get a really feel for the fun packed country music that is around today.

For the two page spread I plan to either have a full page image on one of the pages or a selection of image on one page. These images I plan to have on a white background so it shows that this has been a real photo-shoot and most images which have been in a two page spread are taken on some sort of plain background so this is what I plan to do.

Make-up, Hair Styles and Clothing

As I have chosen the genre of country music I need to show off the country side of the models and make the genre stand out. I have looked at some of the images in which models for country magazines would wear hair styles and make-up. Most of the mise un scene is plan and natural with the exception on a few. Here are some images I have chosen from country music magazines to show what type of clothing, hair styles and make-up they would wear while in the photo-shoot. The make-up used for all of the models on the magazines is natural and clean not making such an effort or showing off their make-up in such a profound way.

 

 

Photography Ideas

The image that I like the best above is the image of Miranda Lambert, the reason for this image being my favourite is because while it is a close up shot is shows all you need to see of the artist as you would only need to see her as the magazine is about country music rather than people in general. Her make-up looks clean and natural with only eye-liner on and mascara, her clothes are simple and plain playing on the fact that she is the type of country singer whom still has the modern country music side to her, the jacket on the white t-shirt showing that her clothes are not the main focus. However it is still holding onto the traditional side of country music by having her background as a barn house side almost made out of wood. This is a god idea to have as I want to hold onto both sides of the country music as I take these images.

 

The clothing I have chosen for my models will be country themed, check shirts and skirts, as I want that to play on the country fact. However at this point in time I do not have a clear view on what types of clothing I do want them to wear by I do have some styles from country musician’s photo shoots and country musicians on magazines as well.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Props

For all of my models I plan to have some props in the photos. For example plan to have an acoustic guitar with my main two models as I want to try and get as much attention focused on them as I possibly can. While I would like to have one of my images on stage the only flaw with this is that I would need to find a stage available and find a large crowd to take part in the image. While I think that this would be an amazing image to take it would be hard to master and create for my photo. However with my other model I plan to not have any probs in at all so that the audience is focused on the artist totally and not the props which they might have.

 

Results for my questionnair

The rest of my questions I made them closed questions so that the public didn't have to take much time to answer them, the results are below along with why those results have helped me towards the production of my magazine.


Question 2- What articles would you like to find in the magazine?
This question has helped me as I know what types of articles to place in my contents page when constructing it. I gave the public a chance to pick as many of the options as they wanted as I didn't want to only put one or two articles in the magazine contents page but several as I wanted the contents page to look like it had a lot of work on.

The results that I got from this question were very helpful, from this I have learnt what type of articles that I should include in the contents page. Some of the most popular articles that I should include were; 'Top 10 country albums of the year so far', 'Interview with the new and upcoming acts' and 'countrys hottest men reveled'. However there are some of the lower voted for options such as 'rewiews on albums and songs' and 'awards which have been won by the star's', even when they have such a small amount of votes they are still popular so I might place them in the contents page anyway.

Question 3- What colour scheme do you think would look good in a country magazine?
This question has helped me very much in picking what type of colours I could put as my house colours. As people sometimes expect certain colours from a country magazine I thought it was good to give them an idea of some ideas that I personally thought of, and some that I took from other country magazines.

The results that I achieved from this question were very helpful. For example i know for certain that I am going to have my magazine colour scheme as black, pink, red as this was the option with the most votes.




















Question 4- Would you want a free gift with the magazine?
This was a straight forward question as the public could either pick yes or no. This was to establish if I was going to place a free gift offer on my 'puff' on my magazine cover. The majority of the public picked the 'yes' option as they thought that it would be a god idea, I also support this idea as some of the country magazines I looked at gave out free gifts.



















Question 5- What kind of gift would you like in the magazine?
This question had two answers which the public could pick from. I wrote above that this question should only be answered if they had said yes to the question above, the reason for this is the public wouldn't have understood why i would ask them a question about if they would want a free gift then make them answer a question about the free gift anyway. By showing that overall the most amount of people wanted there to be a poster making my decision easy as I know that I have to advertise the poster and also mention it as well.



















Question 6- Would you like a completion offer?
This magazine was another example of something that I could put in the 'puff'' part of the magazine cover. I have given the two answers of either yes or no so that it is easy for the public to answer the question easy and simple. As you can see most people wanted there to be a competition in the magazine because if a good competition is on offer some people will purchase the magazine for that exact reason.

Question 7- What type of competition would you like on offer?
I also asked this question so that I could get a clearer view on what the public really want from my magazine and also what the expect from it as well. For example I gave the public three options for this question; tickets to see a show, a trip to somewhere in America for 2 weeks, and win an album from a singer. These three options are of all different and are like that for a reason so that I know what the public expect or really want, making them want to purchase the magazine more.

Results for my questionnaire question 1

My first question was 'What type of name do you think would be good for a country genre music magazine'. For this question i didn't give any options i asked the public to write down their own thoughts on what type of name i could have. everyone whom answered gave an answer for this question but took the longest as they had to really think about a name for the magazine and not just easily tick a box and move on.

The last time I did a questionnaire i placed a lot of open questions, this resulted in some of the public skipping questions as they didn't know what answers to put and also said that it was time consuming. this was the main reason that i only chose to put one open question in the whole of my questionnaire.

As i had many different answers for my question one i have chosen three that i like the best and I am going to choose between them.

1- Songs of the Country
This was one of the first name suggestions that I got from my questionnaires and I have to say that I do like this name very much. By using the play on words of 'songs from the country' by using the words 'of' instead it shows a difference in the two of them. My having the words 'songs' and 'country' it immediately shows off that the magazine is about music and is aiming all of its content on the genre of country music. While it is the longest name I had out of all the names i got back from the questionnaires it would stand well on top of the magazine because of the fact that the last two words are long however the two located in the middle meaning that it will give a good amount of room for the master header.

2-Hayday Magazine
This was the second example of a magazine name which was put forward on my questionnaire when asked. It shows off the traditional type of country theme by having the word 'hayday' in it, as hayday is normally associated with old time country music and country people. It also bring forward the image of old type of music and is there is mix the traditional theme of country music with hayday, which means the old times, and the new modern time by having the word 'magazine' in the title. However by having the word magazine it means that while it is showing that I couldn't think of another word in the magazine or just wanted to end the title of the magazine quickly.

3-Guitar Weekly
This magazine name was one of the last names that I got from my questionnaires, there are many points to why I should and shouldn't have this name. For example by having the word 'weekly' it tells the audience how many times a month it comes out so that the audience don't have to either look around the magazine to find out when the next one if coming out or having to ask staff if they know because the answer is in the title. Another reason I like this title is because of the fact that it is only two words and they are both short making it easy for me to give it a correct amount of space on the master head rather than it not having enough room at all. While I say all of this there is one thing about this magazine title that I would think as being a negative. This is the word 'guitar', as it is the first word it is what people will think is in the magazine, for example they could think that the magazine is not about country music at all but about guitars and only shows guitars rather than the genre country music.

After much thought i have chosen to call my magazine 'Songs of the Country'. The reason for this is because it has a slight twist in the name as i have mentioned before and I think that it will be the best name to connect to my audience and the type of music that i plan to show in my magazine.

Annotations for 2 page spread

I have chosen to annotate two 2 page spreads to give some exmaples of what type of images, text and captions I could include on my 2 page spread.

 

 

 

 

Contents page annotations

As I am going to be creating a contents page for my music magazine I have chosen to annotate a few examples so that i know what type of structuer to go by and also I could take a few examples from the other examples.

My Questionaire for my Music Magazine!

The reason for why I have chosen to do a questionnaire for my music magazine research is because of the fact that I find it a good way to get the certain type of data that I need and want. For example by asking the public what they would like in the magazine itself they can see that I am trying to aim my magazine at what the public want in the magazine and what they would expect in the magazine as well. As some of the people whom took the questionnaire do read country genre magazines it gave me some idea of what they really think about country music. However as some of the people who took it gave me a chance to see what people expect from country music magazines and what they would like to see.

Why American Media Inc???

The main publisher for country magazines is American Media Inc. This is one of the most popular American magazine publishers and publishes many other types of magazines next to Country Weekly. Some examples of the other magazines that they publish are; ‘Playboy’, ‘Fit Pregnancy’ and ‘Soap Digest’.

The reason I have chosen to have this publisher as the publisher for my magazine is because of the fact that it is a very popular publisher company. It is the publisher for all well-known American magazines and as country music is very big in America I thought it would be a good  to link those two together.

My genera magazine covers

As you can see I have chosen two different magazines from my music genre of country music. Both magazines are USA based and mainly sold in the USA with the exception of a few, these magazines have both been running for a very long time and have given me some ideas for what type of articles I should display on my own magazine and how I could set out my own magazine cover. For example I have seen that I could either display my image as a whole background image or just off to the side with the text on the other side of the cover. Both magazines have good and bad points and I know that I have to take all of these points on board when creating my own magazine.

Mood Board

This is my mood board which I have created for my Country genre. All of these images which I have placed on my board are images which I associate with the them of country and country music. I have placed a mix of artists, magazine covers, backgrounds, and just items that I think of when I hear country music.

The reason that I chose these in particular  pictures was because of the fact that they show off the traditional and contemporary side of country music.

For example I have chosen to place the images of Luke Bryan and Brad Paisley near each other for the reason that they show off the traditional country man singer theme with the modern younger male country singer as well. The image of Brad shows the traditional image of a country singer through mise en scene by displaying him wearing a cowboy hat all the time, however he is taking on the modern side of country music by swapping the traditional acoustic guitar for the electric guitar. His clothes are also very natural and show that he doesn't want to wear anything big with bling on by goes for the more natural side.

Meanwhile Luke is younger than  Brad and shows by going for the more contemporary side of country music through mise en scene. He wears a base ball hat to represent his laid back side and supports a blue country denim shirt  to show off the more farmer country feel to the music rather than the bar type country man music. The two images represent two different types of country music and how different artists can be shown. The reason for me showing these two different types of images so close to each other was because of the fact that I want to aim my magazine at the country music genre located in the middle. For example I do like the idea of the guitar but without the cowboy hat, then the idea of having a young female artist shooting a music video instead of an older man performing on a stag in front of a large audience.

On the mood board as well I have placed the large American flag, this shows off the patriotic side f country music as it started in the USA. While it isn't as popular in the UK as it is in the USA because that is where this type of music genre originated from in the first place.

Reading articles about focus Groups.

To understand the concept of a ‘focus group’ and how to form and keep one I read the following articles on this post from my school’s AS Media blog, Rethinking Research.

From these 5 additional websites and blog I have realised that I had the totally wrong concept of what a focus group is and how to keep on. Before I through that you had to have the meeting at least once a week every week and I had to have around 10-15 people in the group. However this is not the case.

From reading all of this information I have learnt I now know what I have to do.

 

For example I’m have chosen to now not have my focus group meeting every week but however maybe a couple of meetings with them at the begging of the course and a few after I have created my finished magazine. The first meeting which I will have with the group I would like to fill in my questionnaire as well so that I get a true feel on what type of music they like and how they think of the music magazine industry at the moment. I would like to discuss with them about the type of questions I have asked and for why they have put certain answers as well as talking about some of the other answers I have got from others whom have answered the questions. I would also like to discuss with them about the images of my model, I will then ask the group which images they like and don’t like and then get them to say why they don’t like certain images and as a group to pick some images for my final photos to place on and in my magazine.

 

I now also know what location I should have for when we are having out group meeting. This room will have a computer with an interactive screen in front of the room so that I have easy access to showing the group members some examples of images that I want them to discuss along with any other information I want them to look at and discuss. I will also have to make sure that the room I pick is free for the time slot that I want along with it having a good seating layout so that I can arrange the seats into a U- shape so that all group members can see the screen at the front of the room along with all seeing each other so everyone can talk to each other easily.

Magazine Cover Examples 7

Magazine Cover Examples 6

Magazine Cover Examples 5

Magazine Cover Examples 4

Magazine Cover Examples 3

Magazine Cover Examples 2

Magazine Cover Examples 1

Comparing the school magazine to the music one I am going to make

My Blog

I have created a blog before which is also for my Media As Work. the first blog is about how I am creating the front cover and contents page for a school magazine. hope you can check it out and like it as well address is linked. xxx

http://rachelmcallenasmedia.blogspot.co.uk/