LO4: Evaluation

I have been asked to create a Sheffield bases magazine for my brief. For my front cover the font style is sans serif font because it will stand out the most. The masthead is called “Plectrum” but the ‘u’ will be the shape of a plectrum this is aimed at the target audience as they like indie rock bands which connotes the use of the plectrum because within every band they use a guitar/ bass. The actual plectrum will be black so it contrasts with the rest of the masthead which is red and cover lines, this will appeal to my target audience of teenagers with an interest of indie rock bands. I edited my masthead through photoshop and got the font from daft.com. I then changed the colour of my font using the lasso tool to highlight the font and changing the colour using the paint bucket tool. 

The rest of the font style is smaller than the masthead which will be red but will also be sans serif because it will be easier to read for the audience. The main cover lines is in a medium sized text bigger than the normal writing so it easier to read and will be the name of the band “sushi” in bold red letters half way down the page anchored on to the photograph which connotes quite loud music but also soft ‘Romantic’ music at the same time because their songs are all different and cover a range of meanings. The cover line colour changed to a bold white when I did the magazine as it stood out more. This will appeal to my audience because indie music is usually about that more than one subject and red is a popular colour in Indie magazines which relates to the genre. There is also smaller cover lines of text taken from the actual interview and at the bottom of the page names of other bands featured in the article “Plus! Street Cardinals, Courtyards, BAND of COVERS, The Unscene, Oddity Road and many more”  This is in white connoting innocence and purity of their music it balances out the contrasts of the other colours and works well with red and black, this relates to my brief as I am using common places in Sheffield where bands play to relate to the local Sheffield based magazine. The house style for plectrum is red, white and black because these are gender neutral colours but also mainstream at the same time for this genre of music magazine. I also added yellow to when making my magazine as the magazine had too much of the same colour and it needed something t make it stand out.  The cover lines is in all medium sized text  in white and the writing will be in yellow as that’s the easiest colour to read and they all work well together this is why most magazines use them.  

The main cover image of plectrum is a photograph of sushi who I am interviewing stood in front of their set wearing typical indie rock clothes like some wearing black ripped skinny jeans, a basic t-shirt and a leather jacket the other girl in the band with a tight black skirt, fishnets and a long sleeved top and the last girl wearing shorts and a top tucked in to her shorts this connotes indie rock because these are a few of the stereotyped clothes what indie rock girl bands wear. On the front cover I used another image I took where they were stood infant of a brick wall which looks quite rustic this emphasised that they weren't just a typical band and have something about them, I also changed their clothing and wore hoodies and ripped jeans as I wanted their faces to stand out the most it also connotes the lifestyle of an Indie rock band. These clothes would relate to the audience because it is a typical fashion statement of what their audience would wear, this relates to Denis McQuails theory of 1972 as it is building an identify for themselves. This also made them look like an ideal self or ideal partner. I was going to shoot them at a low angle so they look superior/ powerful and that their music should be listened to however, the shot ended up being taken from a straight angle so they were looking straight into the camera. There isn't many cover images on the front page because I wanted the audience to focus on just the main article photograph of Sushi

Articles what were featured on the contents page are about new upcoming bands of the same genre music, new albums, this week’s best gigs locally and new top releases it doesn't have many different pages of contents of the content page as it will only contain the main pages.

Images what where going to be on the contents page were  a photograph of the 2nd band called ‘Girls Only’ and other smaller upcoming bands also a photo from one of the bands live gigs. The contents page actually ended up having Sushi on it instead of a second band as the band was unavailable to do the photoshoot, it has Sushi stood on a small wall in a park looking off into the distance with their skateboards as props to show who they are as a band. It contains gig guides, features and albums on the side to get the audience hyped up for what they are going to read in the first issue of Plectrum.  There is also a photograph of me at the bottom and an intro to the first issue of the magazine and what to expect for further issues, this relates to my brief as I am making it a local magazine by having a photograph of the author and also telling audiences where the best gigs are in Sheffield only relating to the locality of Plectrum.

The feature of the first double page spread is an interview with the band Sushi on their new album and personal questions about themselves what fans have been wanting to know. Sushi will be posing against a wall one in a black dress and tights, the other in some black shorts and a patterned shirt and the other in skinny jeans and a basic t-shirt. This connotes that their music is fairly loud and that they aren’t a typical girl band as the clothing will mostly be black or indie, little mix for example wear more typical Topshop clothing, however when shooting this I had sushi wearing hoodies, ripped jeans, vintage leggings and mens t-shirts as this suited the style of them more, they also were posed in front of their set with the guitars and amps setting the scene. The models I used are my friends who are all in a band as they show a difference of genre of music because there aren’t many girl bands what are main articles in magazines. The colour scheme for the double page spread is the same house style as the front cover to keep consistency throughout the magazine with the headline title in black and yellow, the subheadings like the pull quote in red and the main text in black, although the scheme is different to the front page it still uses the same colours therefore creating a recognisable band. The pull quote was taken from the interview about their new album which is something to make the reader want to read the article because it catches their eye. The headline title will is the name of sushi’s song which is called 'Ma Sushi' but would relate to the sushi interview/article. The body copy is peer to peer as the target audience is of a young age 14- 25 so all talk to each other informally therefore plectrum is peer to peer. I used tools on InDesign such as strokes to make the pull quote stand out even more which relates to my brief of making a local Sheffield based magazine and the genre of it as it is Indie and typical Indie music fans go out to gigs a lot and won't remember a lot of the night.

LO2: Photoshoot Plans

  
FRONT COVER

For the photoshoot I am going to get my models to dress up as an Indie rock band to connote that they are a stereotype of an Indie rock band, one of the members will be wearing fishnets, a mini skirt and a oversized t-shirt, the other band member will be wearing ripped skinny jeans and a band hoodie with a photograph of nirvana on it and the last member will be wearing camo trousers and a champion hoodie. They will also be skateboards in the photoshoot to connote what they do in there spare time similarily to the target audience of my magazine. The props needed for the shoot would therefore be a tripod, DSLR camera, lighting, skateboard and spare clothes needing them to get changed to look like an Indie group


CONTENTS PAGE 

For the photoshoot for my contents page I am going to get my models to dress up also an an Indie rock band, the models are the same band which will be pictured on the front cover and double page spread therefore they will be wearing the same clothing however it will be at a different location. The photoshoot will take place outside on a small park bench if them stood up showing hierarchy of the band and they should be listened too. Similarly to the front cover there will be skateboards in it again showing their hobbies relating to the 15025 target audience. The equipment and props needed will be a tripod, DSLR camera and a skateboard.

DOUBPLE PAGE SPREAD

For my photoshoot for the double page spread I will be taking a photograph of the band inside one of the models house/ practice area. For this photoshoot I will need props for example their amp, guitar, speakers, microphone etc this shows the audience that this is there practice room and relate it to an indie rock band with these type of instruments.There will also be props in one of the band members room which give it a sense of reality and would relate it themselves with skateboard decks laying around, clothes rail and wall hangings which relate to fans of an Indie rock band.  The models costumes will be similar to the other photoshoots for the different pages. 

LO3: Setting Up Adobe InDesign CS6

 Print Specifications 

Full Page: 

Safe Area- 280mm and 200mm

Trim- 285mm and 203mm

Bleed-288mm and 205mm

Double Page Spread: 

Safe Area- 280mm and 395mm

Trim- 285mm and 400mm

Bleed- 300mm and 410mm

Advertising Rates:

Full Page: £2250

Half Page: £1125

Double Page Spread: £4400

I want my magazine to be a ‘normal’ standard size magazine because these seem to be popular also because it is only a monthly magazine it has enough room to have alot of new information on about new bands and gigs.

I used Adobe InDesign to design my double page spread and contents page, I got the insripartion of measurements for measuring up real magazines double page spreads.

LO3: Setting Up Adobe Photoshop CS6

The measurements I used when setting up Adobe photoshop CS6 I got from my proposal, I got these measurements from looking at real magazines and measuring them to get a sense of which size to my magazine. 

 Print Specifications 

Full Page: 

Safe Area- 280mm and 200mm

Trim- 285mm and 203mm

Bleed-288mm and 205mm

Double Page Spread: 

Safe Area- 280mm and 395mm

Trim- 285mm and 400mm

Bleed- 300mm and 410mm

Advertising Rates:

Full Page: £2250

Half Page: £1125

Double Page Spread: £4400

I want my magazine to be a ‘normal’ standard size magazine because these seem to be popular also because it is only a monthly magazine it has enough room to have alot of new information on about new bands and gigs.

LO4: Version Controls

 

This is from my front cover, which I edited through Photoshop, I made progression throughout editing these photographs from using different tools and adding text, photographs to make my magazine relate to the proposal of making a local music magazine

These screenshots were from editing my contents page through Adobe InDesign, I used boxes first to put down so I could insert photographs I also used measurements and had 4 columns which I got inspiration from a real kerrang magazine as everything was laid out specific on 3/4 different columns. I also used the boxes to add my main photograph for the contents page in and ended up with a photograph of myself at the bottom to show who made 'Plectrum'

These were edited through Adobe InDesign to make the double page spread realistic for a magazine. Using InDesign made the progression of how fast to get my magazine done quicker, as you can see from the first screenshot I started off using boxes to insert my text into and photographs of the band Sushi, I also inserted banners into it for each question of the interview to make it stand out more. The changes are drastic to from what it looked like in the beginning as the house colours are used continuously throughout the progression.

You can tell that I was organised throughout the process of making my magazine Pletcrum from the screenshots of where I kept my files with different files for each page consisting of screenshots of evidence of editing, each folder consisted of many different photographs and files with cal sheets/ risk assessment forms in 

LO2: Risk Assessments and Recce Forms

This is a photograph of one of my main location I used for my double page spread shoot, this is of the girls bedroom where we took the photoshoot. As you can see I followed the risk assessment when taking this photograph as I moved wires out of the way and had props in the room moved away enough for the models to not hurt themselves.

This was also another location I used for the photoshoot which is used in my contents page of my models and the band Sushi stood on a smaller flower bed wall, there was no risks at this location except for the models falling off the wall and hurting themselves however it was unlikely as the wall was only small (as circled in the photo below)

LO3: Following Codes And Conventions

Front Cover

For Plectrum the front cover of it shows the main band 'Sushi' stood against a wall all with quite strong poses this relates to the other magazine of Kerrang of the sleeping with sirens band stood will strong poses and having the main guy looking into the camera to show he is the main one of the band. I also followed conventions similar to the Kerrang magazine as I had similar house colours using yellow, red, black and white as these colours relate to an Indie rock band. I used the same masthead colour of red which connotes danger to the music of Plectrum and also Kerrang have chosen a red masthead colour. Also the use of having banners at the top and bottom of my magazine front cover relates to the codes and conventions of a real magazine, in Kerrang they also use banners at the top and bottom. however have different shapes which also connote the demographic of target audience. The main cover lines on my magazine relates to similar conventions of Kerrang as they are both in bold sans serif font which stand out from the rest of the magazine page, however on Kerrang they also use banners underneath the writing which stands out for their page however it would look too blocky if I did it too mine, therefore I just used bold white writing and continuing with the yellow house theme colours. My models are dressed in quite dark colours with a stern face, which is often used in indie artists. The layout of my magazine is similar to Kerrang with a masthead, cover lines and graphics however these conventions are used in all magazines. The photograph taken for my front page is a medium shot so the audience can all see the band clearly and could be seen as idol self or an ideal partner. This is similar to Kerrang as they use a medium shot of their models and a medium close up of the main band member which also relates to ideal self/ ideal partner

























Contents Page

The photograph I have taken for my contents page consists of a medium close up ion my band Sushi stood on a a bench, my models are all dressed like an indie girl band would wear with hoodies on and skateboarding shoes this signifies to the audience that look stylish to an indie rock band and relate to an ideal self or ideal partner to the audience, by doing this it is making the reader want to read more about them. I took the photograph at abit of a low angle to make Sushi look more powerful. This photograph is similar to the one on Kerrang as it shows the band Metallica at a low angle which also shows they are superior which connotes there same meaning. The whole layout of my contents page is very similar to the one of Kerrangs as the photograph is in a similar place to my photograph, the banners are also the same colour and same place in the page which shows similarities between both indie magazines having the same conventions. The house colours I used are similar throughout my whole magazine this creates a brand and shows consistency. I also have added an author bio at the bottom of my page so the audience know what to look ready for in the upcoming magazines of Plectrum, this is a similar convention of an indie rock magazine as Kerrang have done the same thing in this issue of magazine having the audience excited for whats coming up and a photograph of the author. I used bold text throughout my contents page to make it stand out and catch the readers attention also catching the readers attention was the red banners at each main cover lines, this is used across a range of different genres of magazines . Next to my masthead I also included an issue number as it shows that this is going to be along lasting magazine and is following similar codes and conventions like the Kerrang one in a similar place to mine.

Double Page Spread

The photograph I have taken for my double page spread was similar to other conventions of a typical indie rock magazine as I had a photograph of the band at a medium shot as the models have already been seen on the other pages. I had my models against their band equipment this related to conventions of other music magazines in front of theirs to show that there are a indie rock band, however in the Kerrang magazine it doesn't feature their instruments as they are a well known band, however when introducing a new band it is good to show what type of instruments they typically use.  The layout of my double page spread is also quite similar to the Kerrang one as I featured a big main photograph to show the whole band and interview questions surrounding the photograph, this is used in a wide range of music magazines not only indie rock. The use of having a pull quote was to get the reader to want to read the interview before even glancing at it this is why it is a main cover line positioned on top of the photograph of Sushi, this is also a similar convention of when Indie music magazines use pull quotes to also give the reader a sense of who the band are from a small quote. The house colours are also similar to the Kerrang magazine double page spread using black and red, this is shown to be very popular within Indie magazines for example Kerrang, NME, Q which all tend to use red and black to give a sense of boldness to the articles.