Evaluation

Jack Hutchins Foundation Portfolio Media

This is my final evaluation for my magazine

Magazine font and design

Using the typewriter font which i found online http://www.urbanfonts.com/fonts/typewriter-fonts.htm.  I decided it fit best for the audience that i wanted to read my magazine. Preferably however i need a font that can be easy to read and which, if covered up by an image as so many magazines tend to do, it must be recognisable to the audience.

Magazine names - Which to choose?

For my magazine obviously ot has to have  specific name and design that stands out from all of its competitors.

As an indie rock magazine i have chosen a verity of names that I fell can represent my magazine in the indie scene.

RAIDER
RAY - DAR
RD
R
FRENZY
INdie


After asking a verity of people the most popular choice was Raider. The reason i chose raider is because I think it represents the forward thing, and the vividness of the Indie and alternative culture. Raider is very unique and their are no other music magazine by the name.
Now that i have chosen my magazine names i need to create a specific font for it.

Most magazines have a classic font about their magazine name such as 'Q' and 'NME'. My magazine hags to stand out from both of these.

From the results of the questionaiire that I gave to 20 people I have a rough idea of who my general audience are.

RESULTS

      I questionnaired 11 girls and 9 boys, all of whom are between the ages of 17 -  18. This is the age of which i would like my proffered audience to be at. 

£3 - £3.50 was the most common answers for this questions. along side this i have conducted research most high end music magazines around the retail price of £3.50 - £4 my magazine will most probably be retailed at around £3.50

From the Twenty students that i asked, the majority of them would prefer to read an indie/alternative magazine, this is mostly because they feel that they have more of a verity of artist, this was also a reason for the students that voted for the R&B category. 

Their was defiantly a significant correlation between people who listened to a type of music and who would read a magazine about their preferred genre.  Overall indie/Alternative was the most common choice who made me feel curtain that the indie/alternative magazine would be the best choice for me.

The students who filled out these questionnaires  are close to my age because i feel, being in the same age gap as them i will be able to focus on what they want as they are my preferred audience for this task. i would be the target audience for this specific magazine

My target audience and the main gap in the market

As part of my research I have found some of the leading magazine publishers in the UK. If the magazine i was creating was gig to be pitched i would want to know who would be the best company for advertising and distributing my magazine in the correct way

• KERRANG- Bauer (H) Publishing
• NME / Uncut- IPC Media
• MOJO- Bauer (H) Publishing
• Rolling Stone- Straight Arrow Publishing Co. Inc

After researching various magazines i found these four magazine and their publishers. Each Publisher has had major success with each of their magazines. These are a few of the biggest music magazines being sold currently in the UK but none of them focus mainly on an indie audience. They suite an audience with more of an eclectic taste in music, which leads me to assume that their are no major indie magazines that I would have to compete with in the current market. The most likely company that wold be willing to endorse and distribute my magazine would most likely be IPC media. They currently have only two mainstream music magazines and both are very eclectic and have a very wide audience, my indie mag is very unique and has a very strong audience as well as a strong selling point

Music magazine questionnaire

Software and Hardware

Software and hardware used for the creation of my magazine

Imac computer - Backlit display HD quality
ikey pad
imouse

Canon EOS 500 D - images

Adobe photoshop
Adobe Fireworks
Safari Apple web search

Pictures

For my magazine I new that I would have to create a verity of my own picture, and so, for this, I decided to create images that would include close up shots, medium shots, action shots, extreme close ups and so on.

In my picture I decided to take them against a plain brick wall, next to a desolate building and next to some greenery.

Why did I do this?
The Mise en scene that is used has to match the artist and the sort of music that they sing. I used a plain black brick wall mainly because images that are in front of brick walls are used to portray originality. it is very popular on the alternative indie culture to use a brick wall because it is seen as an original and authentic. 


Many indie artists dont wear 'bling' and 'hoodies' but pattern's and and baggy, retro and vintage styles. 

In my images that i created i tried to bring this accross so as to make my artists fit this genre

Photo shoot of artists

In my magazine i would like to include many different shots:

• Close Up
• Long shot
• Extreme close up
• Canted angle

I took the pictures on a Canon SLR D500 camera. The photo shoot that i created was to be based in my demographic, the creative and rebellic teens of the C1 and C2'S

Close up

For my close up shot I intend to capture a my two artists together. I will experiment with taking pictures from different angles of there heads.
one will be a profile shot of them looking at each other. I will also try to capture both of them in a screaming position, and if i can capture there hair flying around them,to relate to the indie look of un-groomed and scruffy that they will represent.

long shot


the long shot of my artists will be of both of them again, leaning on each other and interacting with each other to show that they are obviously an act together.
the mise en scene of the picture will be a buildinag and nature, comparing both uban and nature in one.

Extreme close up

In my photoshoot i would like to take a picture of one of the artists eyes. Just to experiment with shots that i could create and choose to use in my magazine.

Canted shot / Tilted shot


This shot is usually taken in shots where the artist maybe made to come off un -focuse, and it is some times taken through a point of view, shot as is the care was tilted to the side. i would ideally like to get a coupe of shots like this into my magazine, with various different artists.

Low angle shot

This is taked to make the artist seem more powerful. This shot is usually taken for rap artists in rap magazines. Male bands and artist also are subjected to this shot. to make them seem more dominant over the readers. Which does appeal for some people. I dont think i will use one of these shots in my magazine.

High angle shot

A high angle shot is a picture taken of the artist from a high point. It could be a point of view shot or it could just be a normal photo pictuure

Action shot

This is when the artist is in a picture of mid action. It can be seen for when they rock there hair and sway it around giving them a rock chick look.

Lighting

For some pictures I found that I needed curtain lighting to make some of the images work.

i found that if the sun was behind them then the light woudlnt reach the camera and the images didnt work as well, however when the light was behind the camer facing north, from the cameras perspective then the lighting worked better.

 The pictures came out in much better quality when they were hit directally by the light.

Photoshoot and artist ideas

For my magazine I have decided to go with the Indie rock design. 
How can this be done?

This can be done through:

• Wearing spacific types of makeup
• Wearing differrnt types of clothes
• Props
• the Mise en scene 
• Editing of the image
• Hair styles ect...

Examples of this image can be found by looking at the artist of florence and the machine.

From looking at this image we can see that she is probably and Indie artist. How can we see this? The photo itself is taken from a high angle so we are able to see that she has wild hair and a vintage dress on. Her make up is also very vibrant. We associate these things with the indie culture, if we were to be loking at a picture of a well groomed solo soul singer we would probably see tham with very nicely groomed hair and a modern looking dress. They would never be pictured like this, in what lookes like to be a very wild scene. She woud be featured in magazines such as Q

Another artist with the same sort of style is Marina and the Diomands, in this puicture we can see that the artist has the same scruffy hair and aukward pose. In the Mise en scene we can see that she is laying on some very vintage pillows.

Both of these images seem to tacken my some sort of lamography camera or edited to give it a dusty and aged look. this makes the image themselves look vintage

Double page spread

In most magazines you will probably find a double page spread. The double page spread is usually focused on the headlineing act that's on the front cover. It usueally consists of questions, Quotes and answers. 
The double page spread has to be representative of both the magazine and the audience showing the codes of the band and must include the conventions of a magazine.

In every double page spread you will find images of the artist or subject of the convosation. The text is always based in column format. It regularly features quotes and questions that stand out either size wise to presented in a different font to cath the readers attention and the very samwe quotes are featured in the columns.

The large image allows the audience to identify who they are reading about. The artist is always represented in a way that would represent the genre that they are related to.


In this image lilly allen is seen sporting and short black messy bob hair style. For alternative/indie singers messy dark hair is common, various artists with this style of hair are singers such as kelly Osborn and both the lead singers of the XX. 
Her clothing in the image is baggy and lazy, representing herself as a "more for the music" sort of girl other than an accessories and labels person. 
Multiple columns are on the double page spread. With interviews, it usually lasts for 4 - 5 pages so usually the first double page spread is dominated by the image of the interviewee.

The font of the main text is large and various in size which could be code to the audience and indesisivness. Some words are highlighted red, a colour scheme that run throughout the history of 'Q Magazine', lilly has also addressed thiis colour scheme with her tarten shirt also being red.

even though this double page spread is not from a magazine it sill follows the same conventions of a magazine. It still shws several colmns and has a large image taking up one half of the page. the big SELF OBSESSION strands out form the rest of the twxt beause of the diffetrent font, colour and size it is being shown through. The same colour scheme is being carried through througho out the page which is black and white.

Yet again in this magazine all of main factors iof a double page spread have been shown, multiple columns, large image and diferences in text and font. NME's main colours are red black and white, the same theme that has been used in the image that features Florence and the Machine.  The flag and the BIG Letters 'USA' in the background is a obvious sign that the artist is either american or that they are conquering america. Either way you would assume that the artist and america are the main point of topic in the particular peice.

Contents page

Within the contents page of a magazine the most obvious thing that you would expect to find would be the page numbers and the editors column. A variety of pictures would also need to be used, maybe a image of previous issues or forthcoming issues as well. 

The contents needs to follow the theme of the magazine as-well. 

This is an example of a contents page. In the top left hand corner of the page we can see that the logo has been placed their to establish the band, along with the date. The main picture on the page is the courteeners, a relatively new band. Further research prove that this band in particular did not appear on the front cover of this issue but oasis, which leads the audience to believe that this magazine fits a much broader audience, focusing on both old and new artists.

Oasis have still however been focused on, in this page the parts of the magazine that have been dedicated to them have been highlighted in their own individual box, meaning that the reader will be able to see what materiel is being released about this individual artist

The contents page is very simple and easy to read. The colours fit with the iconography of the magazine (red white and blue)