Potential Models & Props

http://prezi.com/fxu-x3qi-axc/potential-models/

Planning - Front cover

For my front cover I want to have some film strips cut up and laid out and then I will take my own photos and add them to the spaces. I have took a photo of some film strips and edited to make it look better for the front cover, I have edited it in 3 different ways because i'm not yet sure how i want it.

From this image you can clearly see the editing I have done on each of these photographs, I will most likely either use the sepia or black & white one because I feel these firstly look the most effective and secondly I think they relate to my target audience the best. This is because my target audience are in to retro/vintage things and black & white and sepia photographs and seen to give off a vintage feel.

Masthead

I spent some time deciding on what my magazine should be called and I came up with a few ideas but in the end I have decided its going to be called Outsider. This is because the target audience I am going with (indie) see their selves as individuals and unique, they don't consider their selves to be mainstream. So I thought that the word outsider connotes how they think of their selves.

I designed these different mastheads for my magazine and then uploaded this photo on to Facebook to see what my target audience thought of this. I used different fonts and colours to try and give off different effects. My personal favourites are b. or I. this is because I like the idea of of using black and white and I have also got an idea that i may edit all of the pictures I am going to use to be black and white but I hope to be able to seek out red and have this on the front cover to give it some colour. 

These are the results I got from Facebook. 

h. - 8 votes

a. - 2 votes

c. - 2 votes

d. - 7 votes 

From these we can clearly see that my target audience's favourite was h. I will this into consideration when finally deciding what font and colours I will use for my masthead.

Taking photos and Using the lights

Using and Heath & Safety of Lights 

This is the lighting systems we have in collage, the main risk with them is that after they have been on for a period of time they become very hot, this can result in someone getting a serious burn on there hands or other parts of there body so we have to be careful when moving or touching the lights. Another health & safety problem when using the lights is that there is wires hanging out of the back of the lights, someone could trip over these resulting in hurting themselves or damaging the lights. 

To use the lights it is pretty self explanatory, you have to firstly alter the hight and angle of the lights so they are pointing in the direction you want them to. You do this by unscrewing the leavers on the side of the lamp and stand. Then all you need to do is turn them on at the plug then turn the big red button on. On the back of lights there is the different setting you can have. Each of them controls different bulbs inside the lamp, by having only one bulb turned on the light is dimmer but having them all on make the light bright.  

Ideas and Practising using the lights

I used some one in my class to just model for me so that I could practise using the lighting systems and practise shadowing on the face. It was important that I practised this is my planning and before I did the production, because firstly it saved me time and I know now what kind of settings I want the lights on and also  because I had to learn the health and safety of using the lights. 

In this shot I have turned both of the lights up and then turned all the lights off in the room I was in. I also turned the flash off on the camera so you can just see the lights. For my magazine I will most likely use a shot like this because I think the lighting looks really good and if I add a model in between these two lights having the lights shine on them it will look really good.

 This shot didn't work out as well as we thought, we had the left lamp on full beam and the right turned off completely. This has created a clear shadow down the middle of his face, although this photo didn't turn out as well as we may of thought it would, I am still considering using a shot like this in my magazine. 

I personally think this is the best shot we took, I had the right light on only 1 bulb and the left light turned up full. Also we made our own back drop for this shot out of white paper that has made this photo look more professional. The shadowing on the right side of the face makes this shot look really real. I will defiantly use a shot like this in my magazine.

In this shot we had the light on the right side turned down to only 3 bulbs and the light on the left on full beam. This created quite a lot of shadowing on the nose area and I will certainly consider this kind of shot when taking my photos.

In this shot both of the lights are turned up on full beam, this hase created not a lot of shadowing. I will probably not use a shot like this for my magazine.

Rough Design

This is a rough design of what I want the front cover to look like, it is negatives that I have cut up and will take a photo of these. I will then take my own photos and put them in the spaces. I uploaded this to Facebook and 4 of my target audience liked it, so I think I will probably go with this idea.

Target audience

Mood Board
I have made this mood board to represent my target audience. My target audience is Indie people, these people think of there selves as individuals and unique. They don't follow the latest trends and fashions they prefer a more original look. 

Research into target audience

I carried out some research on one of my friend that I considered to be 'indie' to find out a little bit more about there tastes in music and there lifestyles. From the questions I asked i got that they spend most of there time in Starbucks. There interests in music are more low key and they like people like Bon Iver and Fleet Foxes, they spend a lot of there time going to gigs or in Starbucks. They don't like shopping on the high street because they feel the clothes are too common and everyone has them, they want to go for a more individual look, so they shop in charity or vintage shops. I also carried out some research on the internet and looked into the indie style a little bit more. From this research I found that on a whole they really enjoy photography, and show an interest in how things are layout and what they represent, I will take this into consideration when designing my magazine because I can edit the photo a lot so they appeal and interest this target market a lot more. I also found that a lot of them play in there own bands, so they have interest in how other people got to where they are.




Audience Profile

• Your between 15 – 25 years old.
• Your interests in music are always low key artists such as Bon Iver, Fleet Foxes.
• Your nearly always found with your camera
• Your interested in fashion but never follow the new trends, you prefer a more vintage look.
• You enjoy going to festivals and gigs on a regular basis
• You would choose a starbucks or cafe nero over any Nescafe coffee
• You always take pride in your appearance and sense of individuality

The audience that are going to read my magazine are affluent young men and women, who spend their time in coffee shops and at Camden Town market, wearing Doctor Martens, skinny jeans and baggy, vintage, 'grandad' jumpers. They enjoy mostly alternative, indie music but appreciate all genres, attending festivals such as V Festival and for those who are under 18, the Underage Festival in London. 

Location & Risk Assessment

In a field  

My first location is a field in Stourton, Stourbridgege (its at the back of my nans house). I chose this location because I want a shot of one of my model in a field wearing indie clothes sat on there own with a guitar. Because the model is on their own it links to the name of the magazine 'Outsider'.

 Up a tree

For my contents page I want one of my models to pose up a tree. The tree will be decorated in vinyls because this links to it being a music magazine and also because its vinyls it appeals to the target audience because vinyls are classed as old and they like vintage things. This tree is located in my garden so is easily accessibly.

In a recording studio 

This is the recording studio in the collage, so its easily accesable I want one of my model to pretend there singing in here so I can get a shot for either the front page or the double page spread.

In a car park 

This is the Tesco carpark in Kidderminster. I am going to get one of my models to pose whilst a car lights shine on them. 

In a house

I  haven't yet got a photograph  for this because im not sure who's house I am going to shoot this shot in . But I will use a house to do any shots where I don't need a background.

In an alley

I want one of my models to pose smoking sat up against this brick wall in this alley. I chose this alley in Stourbridge because it has old brick walls which is what I wanted and because its easy for me and the model to get to because she lives in Stourbridge.

These are the potential location I am considering to use. I have drawn up a rick assessment for these locations and ways to prevent these accidents occurring.

Facebook Feedback - On double page spreads in Clash Magazine

I have set up a Facebook to ask my target audience what they thought about original magazine that are out there today and also i will constantly upload parts of my magazine and ask them for their opinions and thoughts on my magazine.  

Time Plan

Research

Front Covers

These two magazines have many similarities and differences, they both target an indie market but NME also try and target a bigger market. Clash has a very specific niche market and relies purely on this dedicated market to make a profit. Where as NME target a much wider market but include a lot of indie music to appeal to this audience.

Clash 

The central visual interest in clash is very bold connoting importance, she is wearing red lip sticks connotes elegance and class. She is also wearing limited makeup connoting natural beauty. Her hair is softly curled connoting sophistication and maturity. She is also wearing a low cut top connoting somewhat sex appeal. 

Also the font used on the masthead is sans serif with quite a casual font which contrast with the rich and classy look given of by the central visual image. Also it is in capitals that connotes urgency and significance, the colour of the text is white which is a mutual calm color that would appeal to both sexes.

NME

There is more than one central visual image on NME but most of the images are very saturated making them much brighter and more attractive to look at but then they contrast this with some black and white pictures. The images are all on different angles making them look like they have been stuck on the one cover, this makes the magazine look less formal and connotes a more laid back, relaxed feel to the magazine. The fonts used on this magazine are all sans serif and bold this makes it stand out. The color scheme for this front cover is red, black and white. The color red connotes power and love but also a sense of danger and anger it is typically associated with males but appeal to both sex. The color black connotes elegance but can also symbolize death and finally white connotes purity and kindness. All these colors mean a lot things and can all relate to the target audience. 

Contents Pages

These are 3 very different contents pages I have decided to use as my research, not all of them are necassarily targeted at my target audience but I think that they have close connections and good ideas on them. They all have the same job (to inform the customer of whats inside the magazine) but how they lay out the contents is very different.

Contents 1

For this contents they have used really bright colors with plain white. They have chose to use one big image instead of a couple smaller ones. This image is of some vinyls but because it is so close up you can struggle to tell this, this connotes that its for a generation that's maybe older or maybe a newer generation that is interested in vintage things. The writing is plain white and and placed 2 columns, they have chosen white because it is the only color you can read on such a busy background. I think this is a interesting and unique design for a contents but I feel that it doesn't work as well as it should because it is hard to read because of using such a busy background. 

Contents 2   

This contents has a much simpler design with a few pictures running down the center. The color scheme is black and white connoting vintage and old. This would appeal to the target market this contents is targeted at and would also appeal to mine. It has a simple layout so is easy to read and follow, with the main features wrote in a slightly larger and bolder font. Also the font is a simple serif font and wrote in black connoting simple and layed back but also gives it a feel of originality. I think this contents page works really well its nice and simple for the customer to read, yet still appealing to the eye.

Contents 3

Contents 3 is my personal favorite contents out of these 3 contents. It shows a real good use of an image and the pose and expression given by the model connotes power. This contents is really eye catching but yet has all of the information you need set out neatly and its very easy to read. Because the image is so large there isn't a lot of writing which I think is good because you have only put the main stories on there leaving you clueless about the other stories making you want to have a more in depth look at the magazine. The color scheme is monochromatic (grey, white, black, silvers ect) this collerates with the model who is wearing a grey dress,so it is effective as its stylistic and it looks desirable to buy due to the silver worn by the model. The fonts are a mixture of the both sans serif and serif but this still works really well with this contents. Overall this is the best contents and this has given me an idea that I can use for my magazine.

Double Page Spreads

These are some of the double page spread that are used in Clash. They use lots of different techniques and all of the pages are very unique and different. This appeals to the target audience they are targeting. One all four of these double page spreads the images use edited and very unique compared to the images you normally find in magazines. They do this because this magazine is targeted to people that are individual and unique so they try and do something that not many magazines do to appeal to the audience. Also the target audience are normally interested in photography and most of the images used are edited in some way to make them really stand out. 

The Images

This image used is photo films, the image bleeds across one page to the other and goes right down the center. This is used to separate the page and it also links to photography which appeals to the target audience. The pictures on the film are of a man lounging about this connotes relaxation, the pictures are also in black and white. Photographers use black and white photography because its versatile and will work in any light, also because its much more chilled out, where as color is much more in your face. Also black and white photography connotes old and vintage, this applies to the target audience because the indie style is vintage clothing etc.

This image is also in black and white but has some parts in color, they do this because they want to draw in the reader. The expression on this mans face connotes his determination to do well, this is linked to what the article is about, because its about ambitions. The photographer has got him to stare at the camera, this connotes that his got his eye on the focus in life and by having him staring at the reader it is automatically forming a connection with the reader even before they start reading. It is also a bleed and fills both pages, acting as a background on the second page. They have done this because they wanted the image big so it is the central visual focus on the page. 

This photo is really edited, it is in black and white but parts of the picture are in colour they do this because it makes a focus on certain parts of the image. Also there is a cross over the centre of the image its ambiguous and polysemic.

The picture on the top right has been cut in two this connotes a sense of distance in person and also makes the image more interesting. This is also a bleed and bleeds across the two pages.








The Main Body

On this double page spread the text is very different to how you would normally find text in a standard magazine. The text is wrote over the image but they have put white behind it so you can see it, it brings immediate attention to the body. Also they have used a drop cap to start the article off, they do this to show where the body starts.

They have also done the same on this page but slightly different. In this one the type is a light green, this connotes peace and calm and the whole article is written in this color. The background of this whole article is white and very plain, connotes emptiness, yet sophistication. No tacky or over the top background to distract you from the seriousness of the article. The background it simple yet effective.

This pull quote is much larger and bolder than the rest of the body, it is positioned in the center of the page and is the first thing you see when you turn to this page. It is also underlined and in capitals this connotes urgency and significance of this quote. Also this pull quote has very big gaps in between some of the words this connotes that it hasn't been set out by a professional and makes it more real.

They use drop caps to start nearly all of the body in this magazine, they normally use this to get peoples attention and draw them straight to the start of the article.

This is a quote and they have put it in a slightly lighter colour and italics but missed the speech marks out, this attracts the audience to this part of the text.

Although the background behind this text is very busy you can still clearly see the headline. The font is serif but not bold this is because the writer didn't think the headline was the most important part of the article so didn't want to make this the biggest boldest thing on the page.



This is very large on the page and wrote in sans serif, its all centred and in the middle of the page. This is the main feature on this page and the words "the silent insurgents" connotes a sneaky silent spy. This relates to the article because its all about a person that know one knows is there. It also relates to real people because sometimes people feel like there not noticed and almost invisible.

On this double page spread they have used a thick boarder that goes around the whole article, with a star symbol in the top left corner to break it up.  The border denotes control.  Also the use of using a bleed image in the bottom left corner has broke the boarder, this connotes breaking the rules and stepping out side of the box.

Evaluation

We decided to call our magazine 'RESULT' which we feel denotes a positive attitude and it also links in with the fact it is a collage magazine and links in with A levels and getting results. We also feel its gives off the feeling of success and achieving something. It look a lot of time thinking about the fonts to use and after looking at other magazines targeted towards this age group we decided to use sans serif  mainly for the title because it gives off the impression that its not a formal magazine, we wanted this feeling because everything at college tends to be formal and after looking at texts books ect all day we  just wanted something you want to pick up and read. The title was in block capitals and in pink, we did this so it stood out against the green background and caught peoples eye. 
Our choice of story lines revolve around collage life and this specific age group. We thought that the "Learning to drive?" cover line really caught the readers attention and buy asking a question we where involving the audience. We also chose to use the learner driver plate as the L, we thought this appealed to our target audience as most of them will be starting to learn how to drive this year. We also used other cover lines related to students, covering topics like fashion, university, student discount and entertainment.
 A competition was advertised on the cover to give the reader an incentive to purchase the magazine, the prize for winning the competition was an Apple Mac Book. We chose this as a prize because a lot of students want these to help with there studies and also for recreational use. 
On the front cover there is also the price of the magazine, we chose to price it cheap so that it would cover the costs of printing if this magazine was to be published and also we feel that £1.00 is not a big ask for a magazine. 
The image we chose to use was a girl the same age as our target market blowing a bubble we feel it showed that even if where at collage we are still young it also connotes happiness but with a cheeky twist. I feel the overall look of the cover is fun, colourful and would appeal to both genders. We chose to use a range of colours for the cover lines so that it didn't tend to appeal to one gender over the other.
Lastly improvements i would make to our magazine. If we where to produce this magazine again i would not make the model on the photo so orange. I feel that we messed with the saturation a little too much resulting in her looking orange and not realistic. I would also add a few more cover lines so that the customer can see more of what the magazine has to offer. 

Finished Products

This is our front cover finished 

This is our layout for our contents page 

Images

It took us quite a while to get the right shot because when blowing a bubble you cannot choose the face pulled, we wanted a determined look to connote a passion for success. We tried a variety of people to make sure we got the right image, we also tried inside and outside for different lighting.

Evaluation of research and ideas for our magazine

After researching into multiple college magazines we noticed common features that was in a large quantity of the college themed magazines. We noticed that all magazines aimed at students used a sans serif font because it connotes a more informal approach. So we decided to use both however our masthead the main focus is sans serif. We also decided on our cover lines because most college magazines had things about lifestyle on the front so we decided to do the same using things like university and driving licences as these are common things in a students life. The cover picture we used is very fun and welcoming which we felt fitted the magazine. Although most student magazines were full of studying information we felt most students would like to read about fashion as well so one of our cover lines were based on fashion. One of our cover lines was 'Top 5 Student Bars' we chose this because most students enjoy to spend time with their friends in a fun environment so we feel this would be a successful selling point as we are understanding the students needs. The last cover line we chose was a competition to win a high quality laptop, with this it gives students that may not be able to afford a laptop the chance to win one. The name of our magazine was 'Result' we chose this because most other college magazines are focused around studying or lifestyle so we think result gives a focus on what the students are working towards, results. 

Fonts

We have decided that we want to use a sans serif font because it makes it less formal and we think it suits the audience our magazine is aimed at. 

We then looked at different colour and shading we can use for our font for the masthead. 

Time Scale:

We will define our reader as:

• You are in full time education 
• Your phone is never found more than 3 metres away from you 
• You have an interest in music 
• You would always rather be with your friends 
• Your weekend revolves around you getting drunk.... even though you're not legal 
• The majority of your money is spent on food 
• You're willing to spend more than you should on looking good 

Research on magazines - (target audience students)

We looked at College Magazine and also looked at other magazines targeted to the student audience.

With the two College magazines that we compared we noticed that it featured photographs of people students would be unaware of. However the pictures on TeenVogue and Billboard are both very famous celebrities. On College the two images represent students, they are both smiling at the camera which connotes friendliness, confidence and a genuine image. It also displays connection to the potential buyer. Similar to the image on College, TeenVogue also shows a person smiling connoting happiness, warmth and confidence. However the image used on Billboard is very much the opposite showing Eminem, a famous rapper scowling at the camera connoting power, strength and his hand on his heart connoting pride. 

The colours used on both magazines are very similar. On the two feminine covers there are brighter colours used like red and pink whereas on the masculine covers there are greens and blues with a dark background. This connotes the difference between female and male preference.

 On both magazines the College one and the more commercial one both use Sans Serif showing it is aimed at a younger more informal audience. Both College magazines use capitals connoting importance and urgency however Billboard and TeenVogue don't. The more mainstream magazines, TeenVogue and Billboard's cover stories are mainly featuring fashion unlike College which features stories about lifestyle and college life.