Main Task: Unmanipulated Photos



I will use this as one of my other images on my double page spread.

 

The photo I will not use

   I will not use this image because the lighting is too dark and there is something which contrasts with the background.




Double Page

   I will use this photograph for my double page spread because there is enough negative space for the fold of my magazine and I can also insert a quote on the right hand side and two collumns of text.





Front

   I will use this photo for my front cover because it has a good amout of space around it to write my coverlines and insert my masthead. It is a medium close up which is good because it cleary shows who my subject it.






contents

   I will use this image for my contents page because it is a clear image and it shows a lot of the subject as it is a medium long shot.

Contents


This image of hair products will be used for my contents page as hair products can fit with the neo-soul genre. The lighting of this photo is good as I used available light and flash.

Contents


I will also use this image for my contents page because it is really bright and clear. It will be used as a picture for a magazine feature.

Contents

I will use this picture of myself for my editiors note section on my contents page.

Main Task: Case Study Of A Publishing House

MusicMags

MusicMags is a company which publishes magazines for musical instrument retailers. The company was established in 1998. This company owns many magazines which all target musically interested people but this all depends on the type of music they’re a fanatic for and which instrument they pay attention to.

Alternative Press: This magazine is based on the modern rock music genre. A few of the most common features in this magazine are song/album charts & interviews.

Jazz Times: This is a music magazine based on jazz music. One of the most common features for this magazine are the music album, book and video reviews.

Half Time: Unlike "Jazz Times" and "Alternative Press"; which focus on reviews, interviews and music artist, this magazine looks at the art of marching. It also draws in all different kinds of age groups to get them involved in the talent of a marching. This magazine leans more to the educational and gifted side of music instead of the mainstream entertaining leisure side of music.

EQ: EQ magazine is for musical tools like amplifiers, speakers, mixers and much more. The magazine offers techniques on how to use certain musical equipment 

Drum: Drum magazine focuses on  the biggest drummers who are up and coming. It also focuses on different kinds of drums including electronic drum kits like 8o8's.

MusicMags publish a wide selection of magazines. They own over two dozen titles. Some examples of these magazines are “Alternative Press”, “Half Time”, “Jazz Times”, “EQ”, “Drum” and many more.

The audience for the magazines which the MusicMags company publishes is most likely someone who can play an instrument or have an interest in the rock, indie or jazz genres. The magazines which the company publish are all music related so this targets people who have a passion for music. Some of the magazines are based on musical instruments like drums and guitars; this will attract an audience who play these different types of instruments.

The company has many dealers in Canada and USA. MusicMags purpose was to publish peoples magazines without hassle and fuss. They relised that many music stores looked towards a number of different companies to take care of their publication which meant that contacting many different companies when something went wrong took up a load of time and caused confusion. MusicMags takes care of many things so that dealers can call one company for a query, with no stress.
This company's main business interest is publishing magazines linked to music.

Main Task: Mood board

Main Task: Profiling Your Audience

The Soulitude Reader: Malika is 17 and she has obsessed with Neo Soul. When she was younger, her mother would always be playing vinyl records and Malika would find herself free flowing in her diapers with her mother. The neo soul genre has played an important part of her life and has always provided her with escapism from the "harsh outside World". Malika is so interested in neo soul that she has even written a few of her own songs. Soulitude magazine has given her a monthly buzz on neo soul music. This magazine has allowed her to enjoy the latest songs and become aware of the new artists who are up and coming in the genre as she finds that there is not enough magazines and websites which focus only of neo soul.

Neo soul artists influence her style and personality. She has a passion for oversized jewellery and egyptian sculptures.

 Not only does she have a passion for neo soul but she is also patriotic for USA and she is interested in fashion...especially foot wear & printed fabrics.

Main Task: Audience Research

I done an audience reasearch through social networking. This was to gather views on what to add to my magazine. I will use this data for my final designs.

Question: I'm making a music magazine based on neo-soul. I've come up with four titles for my magazine -
1.Soulitude
2.Feels Soul Good
3.Soul Ties
4.Power & Soul
Which one do you think is best?

From this research I will call the title of my magazine "Soulitude" due to the amount of people who chose it out of the other three titles. My colour scheme will be a mixture or different pastel colours and warm colours as my respondents agreed that it links to Soul Music. I have an idea of what I should put in my magazine, all of my friends who I asked what I should include said the latest/chart songs, and therefore it's crucial that I include that feature. Monthly was the publication limit which they all told me would be good. I will make my magazine £3 as I had a mixture of the prices which I should sell the magazine for ranging form £0-£5 so picked £3 to make it reasonable. I got many positive comments for my mood board so I know that I can always look back to it for inspiration during the making process of my magazine.

Main Task: Double Page Spread Conventions Diagram

Main Task: Contents Page Conventions Diagram

Main Task: Double Page Spread Textual Analysis

Denotation:
This double page spread from BULLET magazine contains text and a photo. The photograph in this double page spread is on the right hand side. It takes up roughly a quarter of the double page spread. It is a black and white photo; it uses mid tones of grey. There is a black male sitting on the floor surrounded by drums, speakers and stands. His t-shirt is a really strong which contrasts with the different tones of greys and the black areas. His legs are spread out and one of his arms is resting on an instrument whilst the other arm is resting on him lap. His head is slightly tilted to the side. This is a long shot photo which shows his whole body and part of the surroundings. The composition of this photo is asymmetrical. The man's name is on the left hand side of the double page spread in capital letters.


Connotation:
What you can connote from the double page spread it that the man sitting on the floor is a music artist or a producer because of the music related objects which surround him. He also looks like an earthy person because he has grown it and it is not braided nor tied up. This fits the hippy and peace subculture trend.

Character:

The black male in the photograph is an underground soul singer called Jesse Boykins III. He is also a producer and a song writer.

Costume:

Jesse is wearing a t-shirt which is a v-neck with a lace. He is wearing fitted skinny leg trousers and wing tip brogues. His hair is left out in a Nubian afro. He has tribal bracelets on his left wrist and he has rings on his fingers on his right hand.

Non-Verbal Communication:

Jesse Boykins III is looking directly at the camera. He is sat on the floor with a really relaxed and laid back posture which connotes that he is a down to earth person.

Setting:

The photograph looks as if it has been set in a studio because of the props which are in the photo.

Props:
The props used in the photo are speakers, sound proofing foams, drums and stands. 

Headline:

The headline is the character’s name. It is visible because the black text contrasts against the white background, there is also a lot of space around it and nothing is obstructing the text. The text is in upper case letters and the font is a serif font. This connotes that he makes music with a meaning because the font is very formal.

Target Audience:

The target audience for this double page spread is most likely to be couples between the ages of 18 – 30 who have an interest in romantic music which they can make love to.

Main Task: Front Cover Conventions Diagram

Main Task: Front Cover Textual Analysis

Denotations:
The front cover of this issue of "URB" magazine has a photograph of a black female whom is looking at the camera. This is a mid-shot photograph. Her left arm is raised up with her index finger covering almost approximately half of her lips. Her right arm is placed on her hip. Her shoulders are not at an equal level; one of them is more raised than the other. Behind the black woman there is a white background (which looks almost grey. There is a shadow in the background which is coming from the sleeve on the woman's outfit. The woman's head slightly covers the letter "U" but her head is mostly covering a third of the letter "R" in the masthead whereas the letter "B" is not covered. The black woman's name is in grey capitals positioned on top of the subject.

Connotation:
What I can see from the front cover is Lauryn Hill with a really fierce look on her face. She looks like she is a lead woman because of her pose which looks rather dominant as her hand is on her hip. Her sharp haircut looks Egyptian and it adds edginess to her look. The colours she is wearing are strong colours which represent summer. Her finger on her lip looks as if she is about to let us into a secret or she is telling someone to be more quiet.

Costume:
 She is wearing a canary yellow kaftan. The kaftan is covered with accordion pleats and ruffles. Her hair style is a bob with a V shaped fringe which is symmetrical. She is wearing black bracelets which match with her ring on her right has and her necklace which has a big round pendant. Her earthy coloured dangling earrings match the other ring which is on her left hand. She has emerald green eye shadow and her makeup is not heavy.

Character:
The woman on the front cover of the magazine is a neo soul singer and rapper called Lauryn Hill. Lauryn Hill has also acted in the film "Sister Act 2" and she has also written songs for Kanye West and John Legend.

Props:
There are no props in the photograph. This allows Lauryn Hill to dominate the front cover alone.

Non-Verbal Communication:

Lauryn Hill looks really fierce as she is not smiling. She looks mischievous as her eyes are directly facing the camera and she has her finger over her lip. Her silhouette makes her look like a prima donna with her shoulders at a diagonal angle and her hand on her hip.

Lighting:

It looks as if a flash gun or studio lights has been used because the lighting is really high key and there is also a visible shadow coming from her left arm and the sleeve of her kaftan.

Setting:

The cover image looks like it has been set in a photographic studio. This is because there is a plain white background. This could connote a cloudy sky and the yellow which Lauryn Hill is wearing could connote the sun breaking through the cloudy sky.

Cover-lines:
The cover lines almost follow the silhouette of Lauryn Hill. Each word starts with a capital letter. The font used is a serif font which makes the magazine look formal. The font size gets smaller as the cover lines go down the page. The word “rap” is an anchorage to Lauryn Hill as she also raps in her music sometimes.

Masthead:

The mast head sits behind Lauryn Hill. It is all in capital letters and the font is really bold. It is in sans serif as the text does not have tails on the corners of the letters. The colour of the masthead and the cover lines are identical. It is an earthy grey which connotes that the magazine is authentic and full of things which warm up your soul.

Main Cover line:

The main cover line is on top of Lauryn Hill. It is in capitals and the writing is fancy which links to females. The name “Lauryn Hill” links to the artist herself on the front cover. Underneath the big and bold font is smaller lower case text. The word “disappearance” is not really visible on top of the yellow kaftan, this word links to its meaning as it kind of disappears on the front cover. The word “dreamgirl” also links to how Lauryn was supposed to have the leading role in the film “Dream Girls”.

 Target Audience:

The target audience of this magazine is likely to be a female between the ages of 19 – 30, who are interested in soul music as the magazine mentions names like “Georgia Anne Muldro” and “Lauryn Hill”, also considering that neo soul came about during the 80’s and there is anchorage in the cover which says “Be girl issue” & “Women’s music” so this shows that this magazine is meant for females.

Main Task: Introduction

My name is Jessica Effah. I am studying AS media at Christ The King Sixth Form College. For my main task of my media coursework I will be creating a music magazine. The genre I will choose for my magazine will be neo soul. I am deciding to pick neo soul as my genre because I feel that it is beautiful category of music that myself and many others can relate to. Neo soul is the fine line where hiphop meets jazz & then travels back to it's roots in Africa. I have good knowledge on neo soul and I appreciate the ambience, spirit & lyrics behind the music. Neo soul began with artists like Erykah Badu, Lauryn Hill & D'angelo, however I feel that this genre is really underrated and it needs to get out into the mainstream music world because neo soul is what we should class as authentic music which speaks to our inner soul.

Preliminary Task: College Contents Page FINAL

Final





Draft

I used the contents layout plan 2 to develop my final contents page.
I used the ellipse & rectangle tool so that I could put some of my text on top of it to make it more visible.
I also used the type tool so that I could add text. I used the eye dropper tool so that I could get the same red and peach shade which I used for my front cover. I also scaled my photograph to make it smaller so that it could fit on the that page in the correct place. I coppied my layer style from my front cover and pasted it on my masthead & the circle shape.

Preliminary Task: College Front Cover FINAL

Final

Draft

I developed my front cover layout 2.
The tools which I used to make my front cover:

• Quick Selection Tool - To create a shape around the head so that I could copy an paste it on top of the masthead/logo
• Horizontal Type Tool - So that I could write text on the cover
• Rectangle Tool - So that I could put my cover lines on top of the shape to enable my cover lines to be more visible
• Ellipse Tool - So that I could put text on top of it to stand out more
• Eye Dropper Tool - So that I could get the colour closest to what I needed
• Drop Shadow - to make some of my text and shapes look 3D

I also rasterized some of my layers so that I could add transform some of my text. I used the perspective transformation, the rotation transformation and the scale transformation.

Preliminary Task: College Contents Page Mock Ups

Preliminary Task: College Front Cover Mock Ups

Preliminary Task: Front Cover Conventions Diagram

Preliminary Task: Front Cover Textual Analysis

Denotation:
What I can denote from this magazine cover, is a medium long shot of a girl with her mouth opened, holding a paper in her hand. There are people in the background and the image has a negative depth of field. Above the main picture I can see three separate pictures. One of the small pictures have a building with a group of people in front of it, the middle picture has a women holding up papers and the small picture on the right has boys in a single file line.

Connotation:
What I can connote from the magazine cover, is a girl with a really shocked face from what she has seen on the paper. She looks as if she is screaming. In the small picture on the right there are students walking in front of a building. The middle small picture has women holding up cheques. The small picture on the right is a photograph of a boy’s football team.

Costume:
In the main image, the girl is in a casual, colourful, stripy vest. The people in the background are also dressed rather casually by wearing jeans, hoodies & t-shirts. The small photo on the top left have people wearing formal garments, the small picture in the middle has women wearing motherly clothing e.g. the pastel coloured blouse and midi skirt, the small photo on the top right has boys wearing a sports kit.

Props:
The prop used in the main image is a sheet of paper with writing on it. The props in the small image in the middle are cheques. The props used in the small picture on the top left are a football.

Setting
The main image on the magazine cover looks as if in was set in a college. The small image in the top left looks like it has been set outside a university.  The middle small image looks like it has been set in a community centre. The small picture on the right hand side is set on a sports ground.

Non-verbal Communication
In the main image the girl has a shocked expression with her mouth wide open and her eyes are also wide open. Her left hand is in a fixed position and her hand is open.
In the top left small picture the people are walking and some of them are facing each other.
In the middle small picture the women are standing really close together they do not look tense.
In the top right small picture the boys are standing really straight and they are behind each other.

Lighting
The small picture on the top left & the small picture on the top right both use natural light. The small middle picture uses the natural light which shines through the window. The main image is really bright and the background is in negative depth of field.

Anchorage
The phrase "up close" links to the main image as the photo is a medium close up. The words "result" and "colleges" gives the main image the connotation that the girl in the image has just got her exam results and now has the correct grades/points to transition to further education.

Induction: Movie Poster Textual Analysis

Denotations:
From what I can see in this poster the background is an orange skull with a staircase leading to it in the midground. The lighting starts of dark then goes really bright then dark again. There is a man standing straight wearing dark coloured garments which the sleeves are rolled up and the shirt is not fully buttoned. In his left hand he has a whip. The text is in sans serif.

Connotations:
The meanings which I believe are attached to the poster are that he is dressed like that because he is a warrior. His silhouette shows that he is a bold and strong man who is in charge. The way he is holding his whip shows that he is ready to fight and the skull in the background looks like it is on fire which makes the poster look dangerous. The bright, hot colours on top of the dark colours look really serious. The text looks like a cartoon so I suggest that there are comedy parts in the film.

Induction: Re-Creation Of Movie Magazine Front Cover

This task didn't go to bad for me regarding that I am a novice at using adobe photoshop.
The most difficult part was after I rasterized some of the text I had to transform it so that I could get the same effect as the original cover.
The tools that I used mostly for this task was the text tool; so that I could type, the eye dropper tool; to enable me to get the right colours, the rectangular tool; to add shapes, and the move tool; so I could move things into the right place. I used the quick selection & magic wand tool once so that I could put Christopher Nolan's head infront of the "Empire" title.
I used the toggle button so that I could change the colour, font & size of my text.
I have realised that the main subject in the magazine has to be almost as big and as bold  as the title. I also noticed how the other subjects must not get in the way of the main image and that they go around the sides of the front cover. I have also realised that vivid colours are used in the text as well as many capital letters.


This is my re-creation of the magazine cover




This is the original cover