contents analysis

 Ideas for the Contents of my Contents

Looking at this NME magazine contents, I decided I wanted to include some of these features in my music magazine. I found that the 'Band Index' idea was particularly effective and I wished to edit this and put my own spin on it. My magazine was monthly, and I decided that 30 odd pages wouldn't constitute the criteria/needs of a monthly magazine. I knew through general planning that I would not have enough room on just one contents page for around 60 stories, and so I decided it would work better if i spread my contents over two pages.

The layout is quite intricate, and there is lots to read, which I feel suits a music magazine as it reflects the attitdues of the younger readers. Looking at the picture it differs greatly from many of those shown on the front covers of magazines. The picture on the front is usually a medium close up, regular close up, or extreme close up of an artist or band, generally depicted as the models gaze aimed outwards towards the readers with a provacative glare and expression. As you can see this picture differs greatly, this is a picture of the band feature playing. The only other picture shown is that in the subscribe box. Due to the fact that I would be having two contents pages, I would most likely end up having more photos.

This is my first Douple Page Spread article draft

After researching into all the things that constitue a double page spread article I began to make ideas for my interview. I jotted down some possible questions and toyed with the answers, after manipulating some things and coming up with my main phrases that would be highlighted in the piece, I can up with the interview below as my first draft.

 

Poppy interview

Poppy Clarke is becoming a well known name to music this year, taking the industry by storm as her new single ‘Destructive Attraction’ has hit number 1, today she reveals her fears, hopes and a couple of little secrets all exclusive to ‘Outkast’ magazine.

Poppy, do you think it’s fair to say that you’ve gone straight from being pretty much a nobody to a kinda ‘teen sensation’ in the space of a couple of months?

Oh yeah, I mean no one had a clue who I was, just thought I was this stupid wannabe pop diva, I like to think I proved everyone wrong on that aspect. I never planned it would go this far though; I mean I have fans and people that ask for my autograph in the street. This shit is crazy, I feel like I’m dreaming.

So you say this is crazy, what do you think the craziest thing about all of this has been so far?

Ah, that’s an easy one; it had to be meeting Rihanna. She’s kinda an idol to me. Her music is amazing and her style is so unique! I was fucking starstruck to tell you the truth, I mean I just kept thinking that a month or so ago that I was just a girl with dream and now I’m here having a conversation with Rihanna, shit. It was just absolutely crazy.

So Rihanna is your main idol? Have you had any other musical influences along the way?

Yeah, Rihanna is strong and so passionate about her music, she’s a fantastic idol. Of course other artists have had their impact on my music. I’m a massive You Me At Six fan, I think their music is really um, vibrant and it says something about their characters you know? I always think music should really reflect the artists.

So meeting her was a big deal, you musta been pretty scared? What would you say your biggest fear is on and off the stage?

Oh yeah I was shitting it (she laughed). Um, well on stage pretty much the usual for most artists I’m guessing, you know forgetting my lyrics or fucking it up. I mean the lights and atmosphere and all those people, it’s a pretty daunting thing as you can probably imagine. Off stage, well my biggest fear is a little different, (she starts giggling again) well, I’m actually scared of sheep. When I was little and in a petting zoo, this quite large male sheep, that’s a ram right? Anyway this sheep put his horns up the back of my top and started carrying me round. I was pretty little, but I still fucking remember how much I screamed. I just realised how funny that sounds.

Wow, that musta been a little scary.

Oh yeah thankfully my gran is a tough little thing. She yanked me off, then had a bit of a ‘go’ at the sheep. It came off worse then me, honestly.

So your gran was there to help you, are all your family relationships quite as close as that one?

Oh yeah, my gran is amazing. She’s definitely one to be afraid of I tell you. She’s a proper little Essex bird. She will defend her family till the end, she’s my greatest life role model. That lady has been through so much, but she’s never given up.  And sadly no, me and my sister do not get on. We’re just two very different people you know. I know life’s too short and all that bollocks, but at the end of the day we both have a lot going on right now. Hopefully over time it’ll get better. I’ve always been close to my Dad, but you know me and my Mum’s relationship is a bit distant at times, she’s had a lot to deal with, but all the same she’s a brilliant woman.

So, it seems from your music that you’re a little bit of a rebel, would you say this is true?

(Begins laughing) I think I’d like to think it’s true, and yes I’ve had my moments. It was definitely more obvious when I was a kid, I was always a massive Eminem fan and a right tom boy, I’d always join in with the guys and do some really stupid stuff you know.

What would you say that the most rebellious thing that you’ve done is?

Well I tried to runaway when I was little. I got from Essex to somewhere in Kent, I’d saved up for the buses and instead of walking in to school one day, I went for the bus station. I turned up at a friend’s house that had managed to stay off school for the day pretending to be sick. She hid me upstairs for a couple of hours, but the game was given away when I ran for the loo. The parents were rung and as you can imagine, I was in a bit of shit.

Are you this rebellious when it comes to love then? You always the one to wear the trousers?

Well I can safely say I’m not one of these soppy bastards. I can’t deal with that shit, or the clingy people. They drive me fucking insane. And I don’t really chase, I leave that to the guy. So I guess you could say I like to wear the trousers, I’m sure I’ll meet my match one day, and end up having to back down. But for that, he’ll have to be bloody special (she laughs). But in all serious and as corny as this sounds, right now I’m in love with this life and my music. This is like an actual dream come true, and I’ll be fucked if I let any mistakes get in the way of that.

So is there any possibility of a star romance in the near future?

Well, here’s a little secret. Within the music industry I have three big crushes, Eminem, Example and Professor Green. I think they’re amazing. God, I hope they never read this. But no, I see no romances at all, let alone star romances on the horizon just yet, in fact I’m considering sending myself a valentines card and a nice big box of chocolates.

Right, so last question then Poppy, can we be expecting more from you as 2012 progresses? What are the plans?

I might have a few tricks up my sleeve, yes but they’re gonna remain secret for now.  I wanna surprise you guys, and plus not everything is set in stone.  But I have a feeling that 2012 is gonna be my year, seriously anyone who has a dream, don’t ever fucking give up, I’m proof it’s possible.

All pictures chosen for my final Magazine

The Pictures Chosen for my Magazine

Below is a Powerpoint presentation of all the photos I have chosen to use in my magazine, they are all unedited.

My Flat Plans

My Flat Plans for my Front Cover and Contents Page of my Magazine Coursework

This was my first flat plan for my front cover. It wasn't overly complex which I feel adds to its effectiveness. The picture isn't crowded the only problem being is that spacing hasn't been used as well as it could have been.

This is my second flat plan. It is a lot more crowded and busy, but I much prefer the placing of the banner, but I don't like the placing of the title. It takes up a lot of space and generally just doesn't look right. So my solution is to do a combination of the two ideas. Putting a banner at the top and the title at the top, so I can fit my cover and strap lines further down. I also like the placing of the price and barcode on my second flat plan. I think it would be a good idea to move the date to that area as well.

 This is my first flat plan for my contents page, I feel this one is definitely most effective as the columns work well together. The picture is amptly placed and the other two pictures fit in well. I feel the Edwardian font that I plan to use on my front page for my coverline, would look well suited to the contents title.

I feel this one is uneffective as it looks cramped and thoughtless, the pictures are spaced too closely together and the columns look uneven and random. I feel the above is the correct guide for my contents.



Front Page Progress

The stages of my progress

beginning..

I created my magazine using Photoshop, it was started by setting the page size to 850 by 1200, and making sure the back was white.
I did all my work in layers, so if i did something wrong in a later step I wouldn't have to get rid of all my progress completely.

  

Next I brought in my picture which I cut out using magnetic lasoo, below is a youtube video on how the magnetic lasoo tool is used.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n6nHAnc0E2E

After doing this I decided the edges weren't as neat as they should have been, so I used the refine edges tool.

As you can see I smoothed and feathered the edges so it looked more natural and realistic. If I hadn't it would have been known that it had been cut out and therefore would have not have looked as effective. Here I also changed the brightness and contrast levels and edited out any blemishes. A link to the youtube show of how to get rid of blemishes is below.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YXriv3978hc

 In this first draft I grabbed the font from 'dafont.com', but it left a big white marker around the outside and i didn't like the colour of the font. It didn't look very effective, plus when stretched it became very pixalated. Also the banner at the bottom didn't look too good, the two banners took up too much space and the one at the bottom had too many colours.

In my second draft I much preffered the font, I downloaded it and therefore it was no longer pixalated I could get rid of the banner at the top but this left me with the problem that my models head looked partially cut out and there was also far too much space at the bottom.

This is my main first draft, I got rid of all the colours. All the colours in the fonts on my front cover come from the picture. I feel this one is simple, yet effective the colours work well together. But I really need to work on spacing as highlighted by my feedback from fellow students.

This was my first stage in making my contents page. I used the rectangular marquee tool to create my columns and filled them with colour. I wished to continue the main colour scheme as to maintain house style throughout.

I continued and added more detail to this one here but then realised I didn't have any model variety. I had used the same model throughout so far. I loved the pictures but decided they needed to be moved around a bit to create more variety.  

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 This is my first stage of the contents completed, I had now included Charlotte Ranson, in the bottom left corner. The only alteration left to make was to cut her out better, another comment made by student feedback. But I realised that if my magazine was to be a monthly magazine, then I needed to make another contents so I could effectively include all the content. 


I decided that my magazine was a monthly magazine and therefore one contents page wouldn't have enough room to fit all of my contents in. So I constructed a second contents page. In total there are 60 pages, which when researched I found that the average amount of pages for a monthly magazine was between 60-80 pages.

 



My Second lot of pictures- unedited
Model: Poppy Clarke
I plan to use these photos for my front cover and double page spread.
I took around 150 photos this time so below I printscreened small versions of these photos then uploaded some of my favourite edited and non edited photos.



Below are a few pictures I edited, but only changing effects or using saturation and colour etc editing, I plan to use a more complex form of photoshop for my final pictures. But did these to get an idea of what I am aiming for.



Model: Charlotte photos

My First Picture's- Unedited
Model: Char Ranson

My first set of pictures was quite successful, the only issue being my background. Despite hanging white sheets and drapes over areas in which the pictures were being taken, it often caused problems. The pictures themselves proved somewhat successful, meeting the criteria for my genre. My model wore clothes that seemed to correlate quite well with the 'indie' look presented within my genre. I have decided to use these pictures as my content pictures most likely. As the cover/double page spread model I had already decided.

Below are my first unedited attempts.

This picture was one of the first taken, the red dress is featured throughout. Despite liking this pose, the outfit didn't work as well for my genre as I'd previously hoped. In the corner we can see that the drape has fallen, and it would therefore have to be edited out. I like the colours as they seem dramatic and bold. I doubt this one shall be used for my magazine.

I really like the look created here, but there are other photos featuring it that I liked a lot better. This picture is a bit blurry and the composition and framing did not compliment the model to her full potential.

I prefered this one to the last she looks innocent and her posing compliments her a lot more. As said before I really like the outfit she is wearing as it relates more to my chosen genre.

I wasn't overly keen on this picture, it lacked good positioning, pose or angle. It looks quite dull and doesn't compliment the model as much as many of the others.

I liked this picture as it shows off the model's features. They are very soft and feminine and reflects the laid back look I want to portray throughout my magazine.








I like the pose presented here by my model, she has a somewhat innocent look on her face exaggerated by her big features and long hair. The bare amount of makeup she is wearing adds to this. The only thing is that I don't think it is dramatic enough to make an impression and also you can see the door in the background.






Here her hair is wild and would therefore be really difficult to edit, it is too close up to be really effective as a cover as it would be too clustered and the writing would be hardly seen.

I love the outfit and pose on this photo, I think the framing suits the models face and her outfit here really compliments her. The background needs editing though, and this may be difficult to do, her hair often seems to pose a problem.

The door in the framing seems to ruin the overall picture. But despite this I like the pose and angle of this picture. It's not centred and this difference and pose, portrays the indivduality that the 'indiie/alternative' genre presents.

This is much the same as the last, but the pose is less effective and once again the background works against the picture. Also her facial features and gaze were not focused upon/framed in the best manner to portray the look I want.

Here I feel her facial expression looks to fake, this may be better used in a fashion type magazine, but for music attitude and charisma is needed, to be captured in the moment will work better to present the idea of being lost in good music.

Personlly I loved this picture, I feel the framing, angle and position worked really well here but for the photo I wanted to include I wanted a more innocent and subtle approach whereas this picture feels more aggressive and outspoken

Above as already told are all my originals, none of which are edited. The powerpoint below explains my goals and the editing methods. For the below pictures I was merely testing out my editing skills and will most likely not use any of the original edits I've created. I have used microsoft powerpoint to create the below presentation.



Below are some more of my photos of Charlotte

My Chosen Photo