Production Update

So far I have finished my front cover and have just finished my contents page also. Which I have included pictures of at the bottom of this post. To make my magazine front cover I included things like a barcode which I created myself on paint shop pro. I also made sure I included what would be inside the magazine and I made sure that my double page spread feature was the main focus on the magazine. I had to change my colour scheme but I believe that this made the magazine look a lot better than it would have looked if I had left it how it was.

Then I moved on to my contents page. I made sure I took a look at my first draft because even though, the colour scheme was going to be different I wanted to make sure I still followed the same layout of the first draft that I was going to do in the first place. I made sure I did this. I put a little note from the editor at the bottom as I believe that this connoted proffesionallism. I also added pictures of people who were going to be featured in the magazine a long the right hand side. I followed the theme of woods and greens and reds on my contents page as I believe that having the same colour scheme throughout the magazine makes it look like it has been thought about and it makes the magazine look a lot more proffesional which is what I was aiming for.

I am just about to start my double page spread. Like my other pages I will look at my first draft to get the jist of what I was going to do and make sure I follow the same sort of theme. However, I looked at my draft and I said I would try and make it look like a movie. I dont think this will be possible as when I took my pictures I found it too hard to do and my model wasnt that comfortable will being very dramatic. I will have to change what I wanted to do, but I will make sure that I follow the same sort of theme throughout the magazine.

I am going to give myself a week at least to be able to finish my double page spread.

Production : Update

So far I have tried out lots of different ways of making my front cover look and appeal to my target audience. Originally I had posted on my mood board that the colour scheme would be teal, magenta and green as I thought this would look a lot better and would appeal to my young audience. However after trying this out I believe that the colours made the magazine look too feminine and made the magazine very girly. However I wanted the magazine to be uni-sex and I believe these colours connoted girliness and this is not what I wanted. To make my magazine more manly and go better with the pictures I had taken, I've changed the colours scheme to greens and reds. This makes the magazine, in my opinion, look a lot more proffessional. I have included two pictures with this blog, one of how it looked with the original colour scheme and the other with the new improved colour scheme.

Before

After

Planning : Photos

Here are the pictures I have taken especially for this magazine project. I went on my facebook to ask peoples advice on which they thought would look best on the front cover.

By doing this I was able to get everyone's opinion on which they thought was best for my cover, in turn this would make my magazine more appealing to my target audience. I print screened some of the comments I got on my facebook page. From everyones reactions I believe that i have found the picture that should be on my front cover of the magazine.

Planning : Updates

Since my moodboard a lot has changed about they way I think the magazine should look. I am keeping the same colours as my targeted audience wanted but I have also changed a lot. I have changed the font face as many people didnt have much of an opinion on this, I want the font to stand out but not be too fancy and I believe my audience would be more attracted to the magazine if the title wasnt over the top but a word that explains the magazine in a short phrase/sentence or word. I have finally decided what I am going to do for my photos and I will shortly be starting to take these.

I also have the basic layout for my magazine front cover, contents page and double page spread. This means when it comes to making the real thing I will have a basic idea already there in my head. I will also put lots of different shots of the artists and make it look like a film strip, featured on the double page spread. By doing this it will make my magazine stand out and be a bit different from all of the other interviews you normally see. It should take my too long to edit my pictures so I should be done with taking the pictures reasonably quickly. Then I can put them onto my magazine.

I think I should be able to complete my magazine within the deadlines and hopefully it will be up to a good standard.

Planning : Shot Lists

For my magazine I will need to take primary source pictures. To make sure I get everything I need on my magazine I had to create a shot list. By doing this I will be able to organise all of the pictures I want and be able to plan what I need for the pictures. I made a shot list including what type of shot it would be, ( MCU, LS, etc ) Where it would be taken, who would be in the picture, If I needed any props and what technology I would need to use to take the picture successfully.


FRONT COVER SHOT
Shot Type : LS
Location : Photography Room, or Outside in the woods
Props/Costumes : Nothing, just as long as the person looks reasonably successful.
Actors : One person. Male or Female
Technology : Camera


CONTENTS PAGE 1
Shot Type : LS
Location : Outside
Props/Costumes : Same as above
Actors : Same as above
Technology : Camera


CONTENTS PAGE 2
Shot Type : MCU
Location : Photography Room
Props : Microphone/Guitar/Any musical Instrument
Actors : One person
Technology : Camera/Lighting


DOUBLE PAGE SPREAD
( Mulitple Shots )
Shot Type : LS/MCU
Location : In woods/Photography Room
Props : None
Actors : Same person featured on front cover
Technology : Camera

Doing this will help me with the idea for my magazine and will make my magazine seem much more organised. I have stated where I will take the photos, and in my head a have a way I would like them to look. By doing this I now have a clear idea of what my magazine looks like, all I need to do now is make sure it looks like how I want it to.

Planning : First Draft - Front Cover, Contents Page & Double Page Spread

Audience Research : Results

This blog is going to show the results of the opinions and views I got from my target audience when they saw my mood board. To get my mood board to my audience I posted it on my facebook page. I created the following questions for my audience to try and get their opinion :

1. Do you like the colours for the magazine?
2. Would you listen to the artists featured?
3. Do you like the font used, if not, why not?
4. Have you at one point, used all of the items featured?

By doing this I believe that I would be able to get an idea of what my audience would want to see on the magazine and whether what I had created on my moodboard was what my audience wanted to see. I had the moodboard up for a week and unfortunately I only managed to get a couple of replies, but from what they had said I believe I was on the right track. One member of my audience said "I love the colours all three of them together :), the fonts ok .. I would listen to all the artists, but you might need a wider variety .. And I have used all the items, and I love the colours!!!!" By what she said I believe that I got the right sort of layout that my audience would like but that I needed more of a range of artists in my magazine. She also didnt have much of an opinion on the font so I might need to change that and try something a bit different. The colours however, she thought were really good and suitable for my target audience of a mainstream young person, I believe these types of colours connote my target audience.

Before I posted the Mood Board I asked my audience what they would like to see inside of the magazine, just so I would have an idea of what type of thing my audience would like to see and also so it would give me an idea of what to do on my double page spread. Both of my audience members said they would like to see "Plenty of interviews and reviews with a range of different artists" This has given me an idea on what to do for my double page spread for my magazine. By getting people who match my target audience to post their ideas it makes my magazine seem more attractive to my targeted audience.

From my research I believe that I have the right sort of colours for my magazine, and that these would be the perfect colour scheme throughout the magazine all together. I reckon I might need to try a different type of font for my magazine as many people didnt have an opinion on it. The artists need to be a little more varied and ranged for my magazine. By doing all of these changes it should help my magazine to be more appealing to my targeted mainstream audience.

Now I need to get pictures for my magazine which reflect the types of artsits my audience would like to see. I need to get a picture for my front cover, contents page and double page spread. I will do this by taking photos and then editing them and using them in my magazine. This way it will be a primary source image.

Audience Research

My audience would like very mainstream artists. They would be between the ages of 15-19 as I believe this sort of age mainly enjoy artists or music that are in the mainstream as they have more knowledge of technology and would be able to hear mainstream music in lots of different places, eg. Radio, iPod, Youtube etc. , both female and male would be my targeted audience as I believe that men and women can like mainstream music and I would make the magazine unisex as more people would want to buy the magazine. Where the jicnar scale is concerned I believe they would be C1/B, as they would be young / inexperienced but they would be quite successful in school work. The psychographic suitable for my audience would be mainstreamers, aspirers and explorers, as they would be into things in the mainstream ( music, clothes etc ), aspirers as they would be young but would want to be successful and explorers as they would like a range of different things to do with the mainstream.

I created a mood board to get my ideas across on the magazine and how it should look, what type of artists would be featured, what type of things the audience would like and the type of colours that would be in the magazine. I will be putting my mood board on facebook and get questions for people to answer about my mood board. I will then take these comments on board when it comes to the finished design of my magazine.