Double Page Spread Draft

Double Page Spread Draft

Kicker: A Q&A with the world’s two biggest pop stars, who have finally come together and collaborated on what will be the biggest album of the year.

Good morning! How are you two doing?

Caitlin: I’m doing great, I’ve been looking forward to this interview all morning!

Adrianne: Yeah, me too!

When will your album be released?

C: 10^th of December.

A: Exactly one month today, actually.

Can you tell us the name yet?

A: The name of the album is still secret and will be revealed on the release day, but we can say that the first single will be called Run to You. That’ll be released in about 2 weeks.

You two haven’t done any solo music in a while, is that because you were writing this album?

C: Well we were both struggling with creating our own music, I couldn’t write the music and Adrianne couldn’t write the lyrics. So, we basically decided to collaborate to end the no-music streak.

You must have had a super busy year, how has it been for you both?

A: It has been really tough, definitely at the start of making the album, although it’s been very fun and we’ve both loved every minute.

C: As time went on it definitely got a lot easier and way more fun.

So after this album, will you ever be collaborating with each other again?

C: We will be going back to our own music for a while, but we’ll definitely do another collab with each other another time.

A: Not just with each other though, I’ve got a few collaborations planned with other artists, so there’s that to look forward to!

Well good luck with the album, I hope you get to number 1!

C: Thank you, us two hahaha.

A: Thanks for having us!

 

 

Pitch Feedback

To sum up the feedback, most critical responses told me that I could've included images, talked about the colour scheme more, I could've made the layout better, and that I could have talked about the layout and images that I will include. On the other hand, I got a lot of good feedback about the detail I went into about the target audience, that I have good ideas, and that the idea for the main article sounds very interesting.

Photoshoot Planning

Pitch

My initial idea for my magazine is that it is aimed at females, aged around 14-16, and typically enjoy pop music. The magazine will feature reviews, giving the audience an idea on what music they should listen to, and what is the most popular music at the moment. Each week the main article will be about the most popular song/album of the week, and will include certain colours and fonts that relate to the article.

The plan for the double page spread is that 2 of the UK's biggest artists have come together and collaborated on an album which has immediately reached the top of the charts. I have plenty of suitable images to go alongside this article, and a good image if the two artists that I can use for the front cover. The amount I will charge for the magazine is around £2 - £3 as the majority of target audience won’t have a part time job and don’t have access to a lot of money, so it’d be better to keep it quite cheap.

Flatplans & Rationale

Flat Plans:

These flat plans give you a rough idea on what the front cover, contents page and double page spread of my magazine will look.

Rationale:

Front Cover:

For my front cover I am going put my main image filling up the entire page, to show that this is the main focus of the issue - then on the right side of the second third of the page will be the main cover line explaining what the main article will be about. The puff will be in the bottom left corner, taking up most of the bottom third of the page to make sure that people read it and consider entering the competition. 

I will put some of the cover lines on the top left third of the page, so you can read them although they aren't taking up too much space. The essential information and the bar code will be in the very bottom right corner, so the bar code is easily accessible to the cashier, although isn't taking too much attention away from the rest of the cover.

Contents Page:

The magazine logo will be in the top left hand corner of the page, and the word 'contents' will be in the right hand corner. The colour of the title will be a medium-dark shade of pink to fit with the colour scheme throughout the rest of the magazine, and will attract my targeted audience.

The page number will be positioned in the bottom right corner of the page as that is the place as that is the place people tend to look if they want to know the number. Also, the website of the magazine will be in the bottom left corner of every page, just in case someone wanted to know the address but wasn't sure where to find it.

All subheadings will be listed down the right side, and will probably be put into categories such as 'review's and 'interviews' so if a reader wanted to find specific article, they can just skim read all the category names instead of looking at every single subheading. Under each subheading, there will be the page number and a small summary of what the article is about. 

The main article will be mentioned of the top left side of the page, with a large image relating the the article, a larger summary and the page number. Finally, on the bottom left of the page there will be a small note from the editor of the magazine talking about the content of the issue.

Double Page Spread:

For the main image, I will probably having it fill the entire first page to show that it is the focus of the article. However, I will remove the background of the main image, then replace it with a pattern that stretches over the two pages. 

Filling the entire second page will be the actual body of text; leaving just enough space for the page number, the photo and text credit and the magazine logo.

Location Scout

My initial idea for the location of my images was somewhere outdoors, sunny with a lot of trees nearby. I told this to my models and asked them to help me come up with an area suitable for a photo shoot.

I thought of a small park near my house, full of trees, bushes and flowers with a few benches in the middle. I also came up with a back-up plan of simply taking the photos in my friends house as she was ok about this idea. We finally decided on going outside of Gateshead college as this is where one of my models go, we sat in this area surrounded by benches and trees, with a small podium in the middle.

Although I won't use every one of these photos, here are some of the images I took.

Make-up & Hairstyle Research

As my magazine is aimed at the slightly younger female audience, the stereotype is that they enjoy doing their hair and make-up, so I will have to decide on what my models will style their hair and what make-up they will wear. Although, I will make sure not to have their make-up too over the top as that will give my audience the wrong idea that you can only look decent with a ton of make-up on.

I really like the make-up here as she still looks elegant and dressed up, without looking over the top. Her hair also looks very fancy but relaxed.

On this cover, you can see that Katy Perry has quite a lot of make-up on, although still looks suitable for the target audience. I think I may ask one of my models to wear their make-up and hair similar to this as I really like this look.

Here is a moodboard I created full of examples of different hairstyles and make-up to help me come up with ideas for my own models.

Colour & Font Samples

http://www.pinterest.com/aaangeldouglass/colour-and-fonts/

This board gives me inspiration on what fonts and colours I can include on my own magazine.

Recce

1.    Are there any potential hazards that could pose a health and safety risk where your photo shoot will take place (trailing cables/traffic/other objects)?

The only real hazard is that there is a small podium on the area I wish to take my photos,
      and if it rained the day before it may be slippy and could cause someone to fall. There is also a main road not far from the area we are shooting, so we will have to take extra care while crossing just incase there are a lot of cars.                         

2.    What will you do to ensure these risks are minimised?

I will bring something I could use to dry the surface just in case, and pay extra attention on the road.

3.    Will the time of day/weather affect the outcome of the photos? Have you allowed for this?

The time that we are probably taking the photos will be around 1pm, so the time of day won't be a problem as there will still be a lot of daylight present. If it rains then that may ruin the outcome of my photos, although I do have multiple back up ideas in case of bad weather. 

4.    Have you considered the background to your photos, particularly if taken outside? How will you ensure you will get the background you want?

One of my models knows the area well and told me there are a lot of trees and nature around, which is what I wanted in the background. I will also make sure to get some photos without this background just incase it doesn't work as well as I expected.

5.    Have you considered lighting? What about the ‘problems’ of natural lighting, either outside, or streaming through a window? Will you need to use a flash? Have you considered reflective objects that might spoil the effect?

As I will be shooting outdoors, lighting may be a problem if it’s very cloudy. Although if that is the case, we could use one of my back-up ideas that takes place inside. 

6.    Do you need permission to take photos in the place/venue you have in mind?

I doubt I will have to, although as there are a lot of benches around, I may have to ask some people if it’s ok if they’re in the background of some of my images.

7.    Do you need to book time in a room (eg the photography studio at Shiney)?

I don’t particularly need to as I am doing it in a public area outside Gateshead College, although I may still book the studio for just a short time to get some extra photographs.

8.    Are other people/crowds likely to be an issue for you? What have you done to ensure that it will not spoil the effect?

As it is a Saturday I’m shooting on, I doubt there will be many students around. However if there are people passing by every so often, I can just wait until they’re out of frame. 

9.    Are you reliant on lifts/props/friends’ equipment/models? How have you planned that these things will come together at the appointed time? Plan B?

We’ve planned to meet at my friend’s house at 11:30am, and we will get the metro to Gateshead then one of the models will show us the way to the planned shooting area. I am very reliant on these plans to complete my photo shoot, although if there is a complication with the metro or something meaning we can’t go out, we will just do it inside my friend’s house.

10. Finally, have you thought of every eventuality…?

There aren’t too many things that could go wrong, although if a problem does occur, we could just use one of my back-up plans instead.

Props and Costume Research

I let my models where what they choose as I know they already wear clothing appropriate for a pop magazine, but later on I mentioned that my inspiration for the cover is Demi Lovato, as she is idolized by a lot of my target audience.

I had no intention on using props, although when we done the shoot we decided to mess around with the things we already had with us, such as bottles of water or the berries from the trees.

Lighting Styles

For the images I am going to include in my magazine, really need to focus on what style of lighting I choose as it effects the mood of the photo and how it reflects the rest of the magazine.

Here is an example of high key lighting. As you can see this is a very pale and light style and there are very few shadows visible, and usually takes place with a white background.

This is an example of low key lighting. This particular style gives off a very dark and mysterious feel, and puts the majority of the subject in shadow. It also typically has a black background.

I think that the most appropriate lighting style for my magazine cover will be high key, as it uses a very flattering and soft light and you can clearly make out who/ what the subject is. For the rest of the images inside the magazine I will use a variation of lighting styles, but still attempt to keep them slightly similar so there will be a reoccurring theme throughout.  

Images Moodboards

Front Cover Images

This helps me as it shows a variation of typical poses for images on a front cover, and gives me inspiration for what I'm going to do on my own magazine. For example, The Kerrang! front cover with You Me At Six shows the front man 'smashing' the logo, which I might use on my magazine.

Contents Page Images

I've created this moodboard to give me inspiration for the contents page and the images I will include. I really like the first Billboard contents page as on the left side of the page it lists the top singles and albums of the week, keeping the reader up to date on music.

Double Page Spread Images

This board gives me a good idea on what images and layout companies typically use for a double page spread. The one that gives me the most inspiration is Q's article featuring Lady Gaga as they have used a giant letter L spread across the entire right page, and have made it really stand out and will make people want to read it.

Preliminary Task Feedback

Here is the feedback sheet for my group's preliminary task. To sum it up, most of the comments are that the colour scheme is slightly too over the top, the layout is good, the main image is too stretched and we included good conventions.

The reason the colour scheme is too much is because we attempted to use the official college colours - as it is a college magazine - although we failed to match the colours to the official ones, so just went with the brighter, flashier versions of those colours. When choosing the main image, we thought the one we used would be the most appropriate as they are sitting outside the college campus. Although when attempting to make it the size of the page, it wouldn't correctly fit, so we had to stretch it slightly.

For my final project, I now understand that I should pay close attention to my colour scheme and shouldn't make it -too- eye catching as it will over power the rest of the cover. I should also make sure the image isn't warped at all when choosing my main image. It was also mentioned that there were too many gaps between the cover lines so I will make sure to use the correct spacing next time.

Categorising Facial Expressions

Facial Expressions Powerpoint

Shot Types

Medium Close Up

Medium Long Shot

High Angle Shot

Full Body Shot

Close Up Shot

Low Angle Shot

Medium Shot

Reader Profile for my Magazine

Preliminary Task

This is the front cover of a college magazine my group produced for the preliminary task. We went around the college and took photos for the main and secondary images, and used  the best quality image for the front cover. Although it has been slightly stretched, I am happy with the image we chose as it depicts 2 students sitting outside the campus on the wooden bench. The name we all agreed on is 'Student Life!' as it is straight to the point and makes college seem exciting and fun.  

On the cover we have also included the official college colours to make it official. Down the left side of the cover we have included all the cover lines, then the puff in the bottom third which explains that there is a free notebook, and also an upcoming trip to paris. The essential information is in the bottom right corner and shows the price, barcode and date of release, although we did forget to include the issue number - so I will make sure to add that to my final magazine I produce. 

This is the finished contents page, which has a slightly basic look to it, and we still stuck to the official sunderland college colours to show that it is in a college magazine. We also mentioned the article being about the new building, and included an image of it being built, the page number and a short summary to show it is the main article. Down the left side we talked about the other articles throughout the magazine with all the page numbers. We also shown an image of the free sunderland college notebook that comes with this issue of the magazine.

Here are the flat plans my group created for the front cover and contents page of our college magazine. I think we stuck to the guidelines we decided on very well, although we didn't mention any colour or font ideas on the plan - just where the major conventions will be placed.

Survey Results

Question	Average Answer	Reflection on Results
What is your age?	Most of the people I surveyed were around 15-17	As a lot of the people I asked said they do read magazines, I should aim to appeal to this age range.
What genre of music do you listen to the most?	Lots of people said either rock or pop, mainly rock.	Although I was planning on doing a magazine strictly based on pop music, I may have to broaden the horizon of what artists/bands I include in it so I can appeal to a wider audience.
Who are your favourite bands/artists?	Arctic Monkeys, Rihanna, Lady Gaga, Kasabian, Katy Perry, Blink 182.	Since I have knowledge of who people listen to, I can include all of these artists in my magazine.
How many music magazine do you buy every 3 months? (0-1, 2-4, 5-7, 8+)	The average answer was 5-7 magazines within 3 months.	This shows that most people don’t buy every single issue of the magazine they read since they didn't choose the 8+ option, which makes me think I should only have 2 issues per month. This will also make the readers anticipate the next issue more.
Would you want to go to music festivals? If so, which ones?	Most people said yes, and mentioned festivals such as Download, V festival and Leeds/ Reading.	As my readers will go to festivals like these, I should probably include information about them in the magazine, and give them a chance to win free tickets. I should also set up a stall at the festivals where my magazine will be available to buy, so I am directly appealing to my target audience.
How much do you think a music magazine should cost and why?	The average price was around £2-£3, as it is fairly cheap and affordable.	Because my audience are probably in their teens, they most likely won’t have a part time job and won’t be making any money, so I will make my magazine on the cheaper side so it is still affordable to those who are unemployed.
What do you look for in a music magazine?	Some suggestions were articles about current music, fun interviews and some reviews on new releases.	Although my main selling point is going to be fun and informative music reviews, I will make sure to include some of the suggestions so it will appeal to the audience as this is what they are looking for.
How much do you spend on music per month?	Mainly around £15+	As most albums are fairly dear, we will include a chance to win a certain amount of albums in every couple of issues, and will also include a free album every so often.
What would you like to see on a front cover?	The majority of the people said they’d like to see celebrities, famous artists and bands.	Since I have an idea on what bands/artists my target audience likes, I can find good quality images and use them in my magazine.
When you see an article, do you read it in full or just skim-read it?	Almost all of the answers were that they just skim-read the article.	As around 75% of the people won’t read the article properly, I will make sure to use bright colours and eye-catching fonts to draw them into it and convince them to read it in full.

The Simpsons Movie Poster

For media I have created a poster for The Simpsons movie using Photoshop. Some of the tools I used were transform, text, and colour. I took an original image of Homer Simpson holding onto a donut, and pasted it over the top of the word 'movie' that was used on the actual poster to make it original. I also used the official Simpsons logo and changed the colour to black, to draw more attention to the word 'movie', and the release date. 

I found an image of the entire town in The Simpsons and made that the background of the poster, to show that the movie is relating to the TV program. I found Photoshop fairly easy to use as I have a small amount of experience using it in other subjects, although I have still discovered a few new helpful tools.

Magazine Institutions Research

Reader Profiles

Kerrang! have created a reader profile for the magazine to show what the average reader is like. The age range for readers is 15 - 24 years old (making the average age around 19), with a few older readers too, and 60% of the audience are male. The readers are typically fairly intelligent individuals who enjoy social media, fashion and video games (who buy around 30 albums every year). Almost all the readers - 87% - buy the magazine every single week. They are also tend to spend a lot on music, purchasing an average of 6 albums per month; which is 53% more than the national average. They also are 8 times more likely to spend £200 per year than a non-reader of Kerrang!, and are 5.5 times more likely to go to a rock concert.

95% of Record Collector readers are male, with an average age of 44 years old (90% aged between 30 - 59 years old, and 68% between 40 - 59). 15% of their readers tend to go to a live concert at least one time a week, and 36% listen to live music once a week or more. Their audience will probably own around 2144 vinyl albums, and 1046 CD's. The magazine welcomes a large range of genres, which means the audience will also probably listen to a lot of different kinds of music. Their current circulation is around 35,000, with a readership of at least double that figure.

The average Metal Hammer reader is a young male, with an average age of about 22. 41% of the readers are in employment, with 51% studying. The audience spend approximately £113 per month on things like music and concerts, half of them will see music at least once a month, and 79% will be attending some sort of festival within the next year. A lot of the readers play some sort of musical instrument, as 2/3 play the guitar, and 1/3 are in a band. 41% of the readers have made some sort of purchase because of reading the magazine, and 61% have visited another website. 

Proposal Forms

Proposal Form (Basic)

Describe your idea for the brief: The cover will include a main image which will be a photo of a band/artist, all the essential information, and the cover-lines will list the articles included inside the magazine. The contents will also list some of the essential info like the issue number and the website, and all the different articles will be put into different categories such as reviews or interviews which makes things easier to find.

Genre/ sub genre: list similar texts which have inspired your thoughts The genre of magazine will be music, and the genre of music will be mainly pop, although will occasionally sometimes include other genres. The magazine that has inspired me the most is Kerrang!, as even though the music genre isn’t the same, they clearly show what is included in the magazine, and use bright colours and appropriate fonts to attract the target audience (early teens – mid 20s)

Target audience: gender/ age/ characteristics/ behaviour The target audience will live in quite a busy place with supermarkets nearby, and will be in a middle class family and area. The magazine will hopefully attract a male and female audience who are in their teens, with a fairly normal and enjoyable upbringing, and are close with their family and friends.

Major conventions I will use The masthead each week will simply be the name of the magazine, the main sell-line will be the reviews of the new music and concerts, the essential info like the release date, price and so on will be in the bottom right corner.

Conventions I may subvert/ change/ not use I will probably use most of the conventions of the magazine, although I will slightly change them so the magazine doesn’t seem too cluttered. For example, the colours and fonts will complement each other so they don’t clash too much, there will only be one image on the front cover, and not too many other images throughout the rest of the magazine.

Original images: what/ where/ what If possible, I will get some friends together and book out the studio in the college so I can take some photos and pretend my friends or music artists and I will use the photos for the images through the magazine.

Potential difficulties/ Plan B: If creating a physical magazine is too much of a difficulty, I can find a way to make a digital version and distribute them online instead of in newsagents.

 

Proposal Form (More In Depth)

Type of Magazine (fashion, music, etc)	The type of magazine is going to be a music magazine.
Name of Magazine	BEATS
Audience (male/female)	It’s going to be mainly a female audience, although hopefully we can attract a male audience as well.
Audience (attitudes and interests)	Of course the audience will have a liking to music, probably around 16-19 although some younger and older people will also enjoy the magazine. They use social media quite a lot, have their phone out constantly, have a fairly good behaviour in school and have a good education. They are a part of an average family with enough money to get by, and they enjoy following all the current trends.
Outlet (where it can be bought from?)	Although they can mainly be bought as a physical copy in local newsagents and certain music shops, digital versions will also be available on their website, which will be advertised using social media such as Twitter and Facebook.
Necessary Information	The amount I will charge for the magazine is around £2 - £3 as most of the target audience won’t have a part time job and don’t have access to a lot of money, so it’d be better to keep it quite cheap. The issue number, date of release, website, price and bar code will all be located in the bottom right corner of the front cover.
Selling Point	The magazine will include reviews of things like new songs, new albums and concerts, including some reader-submitted reviews and ratings, giving the readers some participation in the creation of the magazine.
Theme (article)	Each week the main article will be about the most popular song/album of the week, and will include colours and fonts that will change every week, and will relate to the certain topic.
Images Front Cover	The image on the front cover will be of the band/artist that the main article is about.
Images Inside	There will be various images all through the magazine, mainly photos of bands/artists, or single/album covers for the reviews page.

Proposal Form (Potential Problems)

Potential area where there might be a problem	How I will deal with this problem
Front cover images	If any of my friends aren't available for a session in the studio, I will have to find an acceptable image that I have took of a band I saw live and use that as the main image instead.
Article Inside Magazine	If there are no topics to write about in an article for the week, instead there will be a special article about the music popular song/album of the year at that point, or an interview with a artist/band.
Images to accompany article	If I can’t find any suitable images for the main article, I will just use the cover photos of the album/single of the artist/band that the article is about.