Main task: Unmanipulated Photos

Double page spread
Good image
This is a good image beacause I have compositioned my character closer to the left and I have zoomed in. This enables the image to be more stronger as his face is brighter.







Bad image
This is a bad image my model has his head leaning towards the right, and on a double page spread his head would continue onto the other side of the spread. Also my model is too far back so there's some shade and his face isn't very clear.






Front cover
Good image
This image shows good lighting and the shot that I have taken is a mid shot, my model is also in the middle of the shot he isn't leaning towards one side.















Contents page
Good image
This image shows very good lighting, as my models face is very clear and the background contrasts very well.
















Good image
This is a good image beacuse all of his body fits in the frame, and I like his composition, amd there's no shadow of his hands on his
face.















Bad image
This is image is a bad shot as there's a big shadow on his face because of the way my models holding the microphone and also his elbow doesnt fit in the frame it is cut off, this looks really bad.

Main Task: Front cover, Contents Page, Double Page Spread Mock Ups

Front cover


























































Contents page

Double page spread

Main Task: Mood Board

In my mood board I have tried to collate a representation of the genre and its look.

Main Task: Case study of a Publishing house

Which magazine titles does the company publish?
IPC Media produces over 60 iconic brands afew of their biggest brands are magazines such as NME, Now, Living etc and Look. The company publishes a huge range of magazines and websites across many different sectors, their print alone reaches almost two thirds of UK women and 42% of UK men – almost 26 million UK adults – while their websites collectively reach over 20 million users every month (Omniture).

What types of audiences are targeted by these magazines?
IPC's diverse print and digital portfolio offers something for everyone, with a focus on three core audiences: men, mass market women and upmarket women. The men's portfolio (IPC Inspire) comprises a wealth of leisure brands including Country Life, Horse & Hound, Rugby World and Decanter, as well as lifestyle brands including Nuts, Mousebreaker and NME. Which imply that they are targeting mostly rural areas and also people interested in sports. Their mass market women's division (IPC Connect) comprises famous women's weeklies including Look, Now, Chat and Woman; TV entertainment brands including What's on TV, TVTimes and TV & Satellite Week and, online, the goodtoknow network. Which show that this is targeted for housewifes. Also their upmarket women's division (IPC Southbank) comprises luxury fashion brands including Marie Clairre and InStyle, lifestyle brands including woman&home and essentials and home interest brands including Ideal Home, Living etc and housetohome. Which suggest

Why would it target different audiences with each magazine that it makes?
IPC Media targets different audiences so that none of their magazines target the same people, and by doing this they can expand across many different sectors, allowing the company to get more recognition for their varied brands.

Does the company have any other business interests?
The company has 5 other divisions (Marketforce,IPC Advertising, IPC Connect, IPC Inspire, IPC Southbank) this shows that the company is exploring in a range of divisions. The Business growth of IPC has expanded drastically from when in 1998 IPC Magazines was sold to Cinven for £860m , this was one of the largest management buyouts in UK history. IPC then went on to launching Nuts, the world's first men's weekly magazine, in January 2004. Backed by an £8 million marketing investment. In Feb 2007 IPC Connect launched LOOK – the UK’s first glossy high street fashion and celebrity style weekly magazine. In a joint venture with Groupe Marie Claire, and backed by an £18m investment, LOOK is IPC’s biggest ever launch. In January 2010, IPC Media restructured around three key audience groups: men, mass-market women and up-market women.

Main Task: Audience research

These are the questions I asked:
Who are your favourite Rap artists?
When you read a magazine what do you look for?events, gossip etc
What colours do you think contrast together?
What type of font do you like?
Are you more into pop Rap or indy Rap?

Evaluation
What have you found out?
I have found out that the majority have said that the colour black, a bold font and a graffiti theme. would work really well.
How has the audience research been useful?
The audience research has been useful, because I was considering having a navy and royal blue and this is very different from what my target audience have said.
What will you do with this research?
For this research I willl take into account their opinions and I will conjoin all of them together.
Has this helped you gain an insight into what your looking for?
Yes, because I now have a rough image of how the style and overall theme should look like.

Main Task: Profiling Audience

BRAZEN

The BRAZEN READER: Jamal is 19, lives and breathes indy rap/pop rap music. He goes to a Film and Television university, and wants to be a Director. He is influenced by film icons and is inspired by male rappers turned actors. The genre of music and films he watches, inform his attitude and lifestyle. He goes out and hangs with his University friends to unwind on the weekend, normally going to the pub or bar.

He loves reading in his spare time and he occasionally does photography aswell. His favourite artist is

Jamals clothe style comes across very casual and laidback, he also prefers to buying CDs rather than downloading and he likes to go concerts as he wants to show his favourite artists support.

Main Task: Double Page Spread Conventions Diagram

Main Task: Double Page Spread Textual Analysis

Denotation
The Double Page Spread consists of a photograph of a man posing with his stance compositioned looking away from the camera (in profile), implying he doesn't need to give eye contact. It is a long shot showing the whole the subject (head to toe) and part of the surroundings (balloons). The photo is in focus there's no depth of field, so that the photo can capture lots of detail. Rick Ross is standing, with a champagne bottle and a wine glass in his hands. The background of the photograph is white, and the photograph covers the whole of the first page. Behind Rick Ross is some balloons (props), and on the other page there's the subject title, headline, drop capital, and a text column. The photographed man's name is in bold, at the start of the headline to make it more eye catching. There's a reference to the source website that ties the article, with the magazine and invites the reader to share their thoughts and views, creating a personal response effect.
Connotation
The meanings are implying that he's having a toast to his sucess.

Theme
The theme links to luxury and glamour, as its linked to the success and fame. There's also balloons and champagne bottle representing that.

Props
The props used are ballons and a champagne bottle, this implies he's celebrating.

Headline The headline is placed underneath the title.

Subject title
The subject title says: "Man Made", this is referring to his song called "Made man" on his "God Forgives, I Don't" album, the message of the song is making money. The font used is a bold sans serif font, this font connotes power as it's big and dominating.

Character
The Cover photograph is of the succesful American rapper 'Rick Ross'.

-Composition
Rick Ross is posed in a confident, vein 'look at me' kind of way. His pose and body language implies that he's powerful and thinks high of himself.
-Costume
His clothing is a tuxedo, he has a watch, ring and sunglasses this clothing shows that he's stylish.
This costume has been chosen carefully to appeal to the target audience of the magazine, who are most likely to be male. The clothing worn is similar to the Frank Sinatra style as
it has a definite 1960's suave connotation.
-NVC
His Non Verbal Communication is very confident and cocky.
-Lighting
The lighting is high key.
-Setting
There's a studio set up of a white background with balloons and balloons.

Text Column
The text has been aligned to the left, there's a big drop capital and the text colum is compositioned at an unusual place the bottom right, of the double page spread.

Target Audience
Considering all of these points, the likely target audience would be male and female 18-25.

Main Task: Contents Page Conventions Diagram

Main Task: Front Cover Conventions Diagram

Main Task: Front Cover Textual Analysis

Denotation

The magazine cover consists of a Wiz Khalifa winking directly at the camera. The shot is a close up showing his head and shoulders, the backgroud of the photograph is white, and the photograph covers the whole of the magazine cover. The image is also layered over the Rolling Stone Masthead, connoting the importance of the artist. There are also 3 seperate cover-lines infront of him in red, black and white on the right hand side of the cover. Wiz Khalifa's name is in white and there's a grey strip beneath each cover line seperating them.

Connotation
The meanings of this are implying that the rapper is a modern reprsentation of Jimi Hendrix, as he's got a big an afro, similar look and Wiz Khalifa is becoming a fashion icon/trendsetter.

Masthead
Rolling stone's Masthead is very distinctive:Red with a white outline and black drop shadow. The font used is a serif font, and after the first letter of each word, the lower case letters join up to each other. The font used is similar to the famous 'Coco Cola' writing and connotes America culture. The words 'rolling stone'comes from a proverb, 'A rolling stone gathers no moss', giving a suggestion that this magazine has all of the connotations associated with the usage of the phrase in the past. All of the musicians who have used this phrase in their music had reputations of having very rock and roll lifestyles-making the magazine seem dangerous and risqué. The name 'Rolling stone' tells the audience this magazine is music based.

Character
The cover photograph is of a succesful American hip hop/pop rapper 'Wiz Khlaifa'.

-Composition
He is posed with a wink, and his body language and clothing are very quirky.
-Costume
His clothing is a brown leather jacket with a white shirt underneath, with the top buttons' on his shirt undone, showing his tattoos on his chest and gold chain. This costume has been chosen carefully to appeal to the target audience of the magazine, who are most likely to be women as the image comes across as a tease. The clothing worn is similar to the iconic Jimi Hendrix a 1960's Psychedelich/blues rock artist.
-NVC
His non verbal commuication is very flirty, as one of his eyes are winked, his mouth is open displayig his white teeth and he's looking directly at the camera also he's shirt unbuttoned showing of his chest.
-Lighting
The lighting is coming from the left side, and its high key.
-Setting
The setting is a studio set up with just a plain white background.

Cover-lines
The main cover-line says:"NEW FACES 2011", this is implying that he's one of the biggest new faces of 2011. The main cover-line that relates to his photograph says:"Hip-Hop's rookie of the year" as he won the BET Hip Hop Rookie of the Year Award, and this relates to his song "The Race". All of the cover-lines use a serif font,connoting tradition. It suggests that the Rolling Stone magazine has existed for a long period of time, and has almost become an America instiution. This can tell its readers they will recieve accurate and challenging journalism.

Target Audience
Cosidering all of these points, the likely target audience would be people (male and female, though more female audience members than male) aged 20-30. They would have a good knowledge of hip hop, pop and a definite interest in a wide range of musical styles, and the music inustry generally as the artist is a unique rapper. They are likely to be well educated/well read, and have an interest in American rap/pop culture.

Colour scheme The white, red and black colour scheme really go well as the red really stands out against a white background. The colours tie in with image and masthead as it contrasts.

Main Task: Introduction

My name is Reece Grant, I am an AS Student studying Media at Christ the King Sixth Form. The project is to make a music magazine cover, contents page and double page spread.
In the build up to it I will be:
analysing magazines-to help gain an insight in conventions.
targeting my audience (research)-to see what my audience wants.
profiling audience-to show who ideal reader is.
making a mood board-this will help me gather ideas and what type of theme I want.
creating mock ups-to put my ideas down.
The genre I will be focusing on is indie rap/pop rap, I chose this because I like it and it will benefit me when doing my research; this project will let me use my creative skills and vision, too as much use as possible.

Preliminary task : College Contents Page FINAL

Preliminary Task : College Front Cover FINAL

Preliminary Task : College Contents Page Mock Ups

Preliminary Task : College Front Cover mock Ups

Preliminary Task : Front Cover Conventions Diagram

Preliminary Task: Front Cover Textual Analysis

Denotation
We see a girl (student) with alot of homework, and coursework.

Connotation
She cant cope with the work and revision.

Mise en scene
-Costume
What she's wearing is very casual and simple, there's no effort put into what she's wearing so this tells that she's laidback.

-Props
There are piles of books, a glass of milk and a plate of toast, this is implying that she hasn't had her supper yet because she has too much work for the night.


-Setting
Her bedroom or the study room.

-Lighting
There's light coming from the right hand side, to give the effect that she's got the lamp turned on and she's working through the night.

-Non-Verbal commmunication
Her body language shows that she's depressed, tired and exhausted from all this coursework and revision; she may need a break and some rest.

Anchorage
The words that help anchor the meaning are "Is revision taking over your life?", this is a rhetorical question, this makes the reader think have they got too much work;"Be healthy, Be happy" and "5 steps to revision !" are also implying that the magazine has solutions to balancing your work and school life.

Magazine conventions
-Masthead (logo)
The magazine name "Forti 6" with the colours red and yellow in a stencil font.

-Main image
A single image of a student working.

-Cover-lines
"Is revision taking over your life?", "Be healthy Be happy" and "5 steps to easy revision !"

-Main cover line
"Testing times" this is the brightest and most largest cover line.

-Website link
www.fortismere.haringey.sch.uk/studentweekly

Induction: Movie poster Textual Analysis

Denotataion
There's some fire behind him and it's like an entrance into the kingdom, the fire could be implying that it's a territory zone.

Connotation
The meanings are implying danger, the skull links to the title and the overall look is relating to an adventure to somewhere historical and ancient.

Text
The font is san serif and the colours (orange and yellow) emphasise heat as they represent sunshine, tropics and energy.


Theme
The theme links to adventure, historical and old as it's linked to treasure hunting for artefacts, archaelogy and the time period setting is 1930-1940's. There's also ancient peru patterns linking to the locations heritage.

Mise en scene
-Props
Indiana Jones has a sidebag, so he could be preparing for a long adventure. He also has a bullwhip, and gun holster, for his revolver, so this means that he's going to get into some trouble and it's going to be a risky ride.
-Costume

Indiana Jones is wearing discovery clothes, a linen type shirt and chinos which implies he's ready to explore, he also has a fedora which shows that his going to a hot climate. Overall his clothes look old fashioned.

-Setting
The setting is a tomb, or somewehere ancient as there's vines and inscriptions there are also steps towards the tomb so this is implying that he's walking into trouble and the location is linking to death.
-Lighting
There's lots of light in the background, and its dark on the sides so it makes the crystal skull the focal point as it dominates half of the poster. This shows the gold and brown contrast, which shows illumination and denotes masculine qualities.
-Non Verbal Communication
Indiana Jones has his sleeves rolled up and his button undone, he's also clenching his fists implying he's ready for trouble. His posture is strong and brave, this clarifys that he's a leader by his stance making him look like a man on a quest and a noble treasure hunter. His face is sweating and this implies that he's been discovering and exploring. The skull links to the quest, and is in the background, showing that this is the target and discovery objective.

Induction:Re-Creation of a Movie Magazine Front Cover

This is my first time using photoshop in such depth, I think I struggled, but not as bad as I thought I would.

Weaknesses
-What I found difficult was finding the right fonts
-I strugggled in attempting to make the title 'Empire' have an electric look, and I also found it really hard putting the title 'Empire' in the background behind the Iron man's head.

Strengths
-What I think went well for me was that the composition was quite accurate, and the layout looked similar to the cover magazine I was trying to replicate, so that was very good.

Tools used:
The eyedropper to get the exact blue for my-backgrounds and fonts.
For the title I went to the effects and used inner and outer glow.