Research and Planning: Production update so far

Research and Planning: The plan for the week comencing 13/12/10

This week I will be looking to do the following things:

Monday - I spent time working on all three pages making adjustments where needed and started to add text


The rest of the week:
 I will be trying to start writing the story for the double page spread and also try and finish off the copy on the contents page.

Research and Planning: Contents Page Update

Today I have been working on the construction of my contents magazine. It isn't finished yet as i have got to add the pages and the copy and also pictures but this is a start to the layout of the page.

Research and Planning: Double Page Spread Update

I have recently been working on making my double page spread. I have chosen the image that I will be using as the main image on the double page spread. The only thing I am debating on is the layout as with the layout design that I originally designed at the start of the production of my music magazine, I don't think will look right with the photographs in which i would like to use. 

Things to do this week:

• decide on a good layout 
• write part of the article

Research and Planning: Front cover update

I have been working on my front cover and have now got to the stage where I just need to try and think of more stories to put on the front and whether or not to add banners that will be placed on the bottom or the top of the front cover. The picture on this post is the most recent image of what my front cover looks like.


So in the next week I will be looking to do:

• come up with another story for the front cover 
• decide on whether to have a banner at the bottom of the magazine

Research and Planning: Front cover start

Today I have started the production of my front over for my music magazine. The image is where I have got up to so far. I have made many adjustments to the photograph that was used for example make the eyes stand out more, improve the completion and I have also made a copy of the bottom of the photo as a tag was handing out of the dress so i was able to get rid of the tag.

Research and Planning: Publication Plan

Copy of My Publication Plan on Prezi

Research and Planning: Photoshop - front cover image potential

Today I have taken one of the photos in which I think would be good for the front cover of my music magazine and have edited the image to try and bring out a better image over all . I have darkened and lengthened the eyelashes as well as whitening the teeth and changing the opacity of the complexion of the skin. Below are before and after shot of the image.

Research and Planning: The plan for the week comencing 22/11/10

This week I am going to make a start of making the front cover of my music magazine:

• Monday- Choose the layout at the main photograph that i will be using and Photoshop this
• Tuesday- Carry on with the construction of the magazine
• Wednesday- Carry on with construction of magazine
  
• Thursday - Add copy onto the magazine
  
• Friday - Get a good look of how the magazine will look
  

Research and Planning: Test shots

Today I took photographs of the chosen model up at the location on werneth low. The images below are the test shots in which I took to see where the best place for the photos to be taken. This also gave me an insight into whether or not I would need to more lighting to get the best out of the shots.

Research and Planning: The chosen model

I chose the model in which I am going to be using.This chose was made a few days ago so that I had time to inform the model that i wanted to use her on my magazine and to set a date inwhich to do the photo shoot. The reason why I have chosen the girl I have is because I feel that she has the look of someone that will appear in a pop magazine; with her full teeth smile and the clothing inwhich I had fitted her just right.

Research and Planning: Risk Assessment: location recces 1

Research and Planning: Location Recces 1

I will be taking the photographs for my magazine at a house up on Werneth Low . Below are the assessments that I have carried out to make sure that I am going to be well prepared when I get up to the location.

Research and Planning: Model Headshots/model release forms

Below are head shots that I have taken previous to this date. These are potential people that I might use to appear in my Pop music magazine.

• The first Image id a very strong contender to who I might place on the front cover and on the double page spread of my pop magazine, this is because she has a great teeth smile which through my research I have found most images are of big smiles to create a friendly approach.
• The second model is also good for the magazine as she has long hair which could be styled in any thing that will be decided best for the magazine. The only reason that is giving my doubt would be that she looks more hop hop and R&B rather than the Pop look i am going for.
• The third model shows that there can be versatility because she can take the glasses off and also do something with her hair as it is fairly long.
  

Research and Planning: Shot list

The shots that I am going to be using for my pop music magazine will vary. With doing research about pop magazines I have found that there is a variety of different shot types used, so i will be taking images of my chosen model using the different shot types below:

• Long shot- This shot type is a full lenth shot where you can see from head to toe of a person. I will be keeping this shot type in mind while taking the photos for my magazine because I feel that a long shot will be a good image to have on the double page spread as it gives a true feel to what the person is like and also the target audience will be able to see the clothes that are worn.This photo is a good example of a long shot:

• Close up- A close up is a shot type that through my music magazine research is used alot, as it not only shows the face of someone more clearly it is also used to show a prop or costume like clothing that is normally featured within a magazine. I will be using this shot type to try and get a good image for the front cover of my musci magazine. This image is a good close up shot:

• Medium Shot- A medium shot allows you to see mor of the person than a close up but less than what you can see on a long shot. I will be trying to use this shot type while taking photos becuase it will allow the reader to see more of the model than the close up but will also be useful to show off an item of clothing like a top for example or someone singing. A good example of a medium shot is:

• Medium Closeup - A medium closeup is inbetween a close up and a medium shot. This will be useful to keep in mind when I am taking photographs of my model becuase you see alot of this shot type within music magazines. A good photo to show this is:

Research and Planning: Equiptment and Software list

Equipment list:

• Camera
  
  
• camera Leeds




• I mac computer




• scanner

Software list

• photoshop
  
  
  
  
• InDesign

Proplist

• car
  
• clothes

Research and Planning: Costume list

Costume list:

This is one of the outfits that I will be putting my model in. The reason for this outfit choice is because for a pop magazine bright colours are used so with this outfit it will definitely stand out on the front cover.
The shoes are high heels to make the model seem tall and with the pink flowers on the shoes it compliments the dress.
There is also a gold bangle that will be placed on the model wrist which will bring a bit of glamour to the photo.

There are many more items of clothing that I have chosen to use during my photo shoot to bring in the element of pop and celeb glamour. There are items like jeans and dresses and also a blazer. I have chosen to piece together jeans white top and a blazer to give a smart casual look as people in the spot light will not be seen in clothes that the everyday person in social band E/D will be wearing, this is because the people in that band will be looking up to the people in the pop magazine. With the target audience being aimed at girls the clothes that i am going to be using is female clothes with a female model.

Research and Planning: Masthead Name Ideas

Above are 4 different font styles of the masthead name that I am going to be using "POPULAR".

The first front style that I have used is disco diva. This font really appealed to me as it is different to other font styles that I have seen. The only problem with this font is that my genre for my magazine is pop and this font really represents a dance magazine which would not suit my style of music magazine. Also the target audience in which I am hoping to appeal are of the younger generation so this font wouldn't be a good choice.

The second font I have chosen is Floralies. The thing I like about this font is that with the flowers that are placed within the lettering it will appeal to my target audience more as for a pop magazine through my research I have found that girls read pop magazines more so with the flowers if will appeal to my target audience.

The third Font is the font in which I think I will be using for my masthead. It is called Cheri , the reason why this font appeals to me is because with the target audience being young girls the font is curvy and with the added love heart within the O in POPULAR it really does look the part of a pop magazine. So for this reason I really like this font.

The forth font is also called Cheri but the reason why I like the third font style more is because the forth doesn't have the little heart placed within the O.

Research and Planning: Production Schedule

Above is a production schedule that i will be trying to follow to help me produce my music magazine .

Research and Planning: Double Page Spread Analysis

Above is a double page spread that i will be analyzing from top of the pops magazine.

Type of story: The story is a relaxed questions and answers. This format works within a pop magazine because the Audience that will be viewing the magazine will be more interested in the celebs personal life and what they feel about the their latest achievements whether that me in music or in a film role.

Layout: The double page spread has been designed with a large masthead at the top of the page in the largest font size on the page. With having the masthead in such a large font it makes it stand out to the reader which is what you want as it tells the reader exactly what the story is going to be about. The colour of the masthead is in a bright green which stands out with the hot pink that is used.The main copy of the text is set within two columns, the questions that are being asked are written in size 12 bold in the same green as the masthead and the answer that has been given is in a size 12 pink colour. The great thing about using the two contrasting colours is that it is easy for the reader to distinguish between the questions and the answers. There is also places about the double page spread, is fact file boxes and photos.

Images: There are different images that are placed within the double page spread that are relevant to the copy. The images that are placed on the first page really relate to the copy in the fact that they are relevant to the answers that are given by the celebrity. The photos are also outlined with a green boarder which it the same colour as the masthead bringing it all together making the photos fit in with the copy. The photos that are used have been taken at a long shot and a medium long shot. The image on the second page is the largest photo on the page as it fills the whole page. The photo does link in well with the copy of the magazine because the celebrity is placed on a rope swing amongst green trees which contracts well with the green text. The photographs really compliment the copy of the magazine well.

Target Audience: The double page spread really reaches to the target audience for many reasons. The first is that the audience is really interested in finding out gossip about celebrities which this double page spread does as its a question and answer double page. There is also the reach to the target audience by the photographs that are used , there are not only images on the page that are linked to the copy , the main image on the second page is one that will appeal to the audience as it is mainly girls that will be purchasing a pop magazine, the photo shows off the celebrity's body - because he is topless on a rope swing that will appeal to many young girls.

Research and Planning: Contents Page Analysis

Above is the contents page of The Top of The Pops magazine which I will be analysing to help be come up with the best layout for the pop magazine which I will be producing.

Audience -The audience of the magaizne can be split up into the following parts:

Age: The age of which this contents page appeals to is the younger generation. Just like the front cover, the reason why this apeals to the younger people is becuase of the colours that are used and the pictures that are also used on the contents page.

Gender:by looking at the front over and the contents page it can be said that girls are more likely to be attracted to it. Not only for the colours that are used but also for the pictures as there are pictures of girls idols and items of clothing in which will attract them into buying the mgazine to know where to find such items.

Life-Style: The life-style of the people that will be looking in the magazine at the contents page will most likely be in band D or E in the social economic grouping. This is becuase with the magaizne not costing much then the sudents and the unemployed people will be ablt to afford to buy the magazine.

Interests: The interests of the people reading the magazine and viewing the contents page will be what the lastest gossip and fashion is. Also the people will be thinking about their career choices so the magazine can be seen as being quite insperational to some younger people.

Representation: The shot types used on the photos that are placed on the contents page are either a close up or a mid- long shot. With the idols being a close up this makes the comsumer of the magazine see their idols faces as soon as they look at the contents page, allowing them to know where to find the stories about that person quicker. With having a mid-long shot on a style photo this allows the reader to see more of the clothing used without giving away the whole outfit- this again tempts the reader in purchasing the magazine and finding the contents page interesting.

Genre: By looking at the contents page you can tell that this is part of a pop music magaizne. You can tell that its part of a pop magazine because not only by the colours that are used as they are bright and bold , but also the layout.

Layout: The contents page has a very clear layout. The Photo's that are used are placed on the left hand side with a clear page number by them so people know what page to turn too with out even looking on the list on the right hand side. The list on the right hand side has been made easier to the readers by placing the content under headings which means that if someone wants to look at the style pages first then they can just look under the heading to see the page numbers.

Research and Planning: Double page spread draft for my music magazine

Above is a draft of where things will be placed on my double page spread, i have chosen to put more than one photo into my design layout because within a pop magazine the audience that will be reading the magazine then they will want more than one photo.

Research and Planning: Contents page draft for my music magazine

Above is the draft for my contents page ,, the colours are not necessarily going to be them colours its just the layout that i was designing

Research and Planning:Front cover draft for music magazine

Above is the first draft mock up of where the information on the cover of my music magazine will go. The colours are not necessarily the ones that i will be using on my cover they are just at the moment an option.

Research and Planning:Target audience

Above is the type of people that would read my magazine, as they are young girls and fit the ideal pop magazine consumer.
Below is the description of the people that i would see as the target audience of my pop music magazine.

• Age - The age of the people that will be reading my music magazine will range from 13-17. I think the age range will be this because it is mostly the younger generation that is interested in buying pop magazines, and they are more attracted to the bright colours that are normally used on a pop magazine.
• Gender - From my research through the questionnaires that I gave out I have found that the majority of people that ticked that they liked pop music were female. This gives me more lead into aiming the magazine more for girls than boys.
• Occupation - The occupation of the people that will be reading my magazine I would say would be students that are in education if not higher education or even part time jobs. From research I have found that pop magazines aren't highly priced so they students and the unemployed will be able to afford them on a regular basis.
• Class- The class of the people that will be reading my pop magazine I would suggest to be the middle class families in society, the people that come under the bands E and D in the social economic grouping.
• Wealth- The people that will read my magazine will not be the most wealthiest people in society but because the people are students or younger then perhaps the parents will buy the magazine for them.
• Interests- The interests of the people reading pop magazines would be interested in their education, socializing with friends and also finding out the gossip that is going on in the celeb world.
• Outlook for future - The future outlook for the students that will be reading my pop magazine will be to further their education to what ever level they choose best fits the career choice in which they have chosen. The other outlook is that the people will be looking around in magazines or society to find out what they want to do as their main career in life , if that be linked to the pop world like become a signer or fashion stylist or whether it is more academic like a writer like they have seen in the columns within the music magazines.
  

Research and Planning: September pod cast

This is my first Pod cast for september

Research and Planning: Analysis of top of the pops magazine

Audience- For the audience of this magazine I will be looking at the psychographics and the demographics to give me an sight into what people want to see in a pop magazine.

• Age - When looking at the Top of the Pops magazine I would say that the age range for this magazine would be 8-12 years. I would suggest it would appeal to these age ranges because there are a lot of photos and not a lot of writing compared to some other music magazines. Less writing will appeal to the younger generation because they wouldn't want to read a long article as they could find it challenging.
• Gender- The front cover of the magazine appeals to more girls than boys. I would suggest the gender of the magazine would be for girls because there are features on the front cover for makeup and fashion.
• life-style- I think that the people who will be reading it will be band E on the social economic grouping. This means that the people who will be reading it will be unemployed and because the magazine is not very expensive it is more attractive for younger people and the parents that might be buying it for them.
• Interests- The interests of the consumers of this magazine will be in the gossip of their favorite pop artists and the latest fashion trends. They would also be interested in competitions that are featured within the magazine.

Representation

• The main person that is featuring on the front cover of the magazine is in a medium shot which gives the audience a close enough view of the artist which will draw the consumers into the magazine. Not only does it have one main photograph upon the front cover of the magazine it also has lots of other little photographs of people that are in the pop music industry which straight away informs the reader that it is a pop magazine.

Genre

• The genre of the top of the pops magazine is obviously pop , as it is not only mentioned in the title of the magazine but it is also by the colours that have been used. There are bright pink boxes and writing which again symbolizes that this is a girl pop magazine as the bright colour is more likely to appeal to girls that boys

Layout

• The masthead of the magazine is at the top of the page, you can't really see the masthead as it is covered up by the medium shot of the person on the cover. The magazine stories are very much scattered about the cover, positioned in bubbles and big boxes. By the stories and features placed on the page in this way it creates a more pop like feel to the magazine. This layout will appeal to the age range as it is very attractive to the eye and younger people will like this as colour is a very good way for younger people to be interested in something. Not only is it the colour of the magazine that will appeal to the band E in the social economic grouping the photos of girls idols are cleverly placed on the front cover to entice the consumers into buying the magazine.
  

Research and Planning: Analysis of Q magazine

Audience- For the audience of this magazine I am going to look at the psychographics and the demographics to give me a guide to what type of people read pop magazines.

• Age- By looking at the front cover of Q magazine I would say that the age range of people who will read this magazine would be 18- 40 year old. This is because the magazine has a lot of content within it with long articles etc.
• Gender- for this magazine by looking at the picture on the front cover I would have to say that this magazine appeals to men and women as it features men and women in the magazine with all the current artists.
• Life-style- By looking at the cover of the magazine you can see that the lifestyle of the consumer will be semi-skilled, skilled workers. I think it will be skilled workers as the magazine is quite glossy as its not a cheap magazine as we can see it costs £3.99 so the people will have to be working to spend that much on a luxury item. Also with having long articles within the magazine this will stretch the intelligence of some people as it could be challenging for uneducated people.
• Interests- The consumers interests would be to know what is going on in the world if that would be through music magazines or even newspapers. They would be interested in more about the lives and what the articles in the magazines will be saying rather than looking at the music charts.

Representation

• The people on the front cover of the magazine look well groomed and wealthy with their long chains and the clothing in which they wear, as they are very clean cut. The way the people have been photographed also gives the audience the feel of wealth and power, this is because its a long shot photo graph and the way in which the people are stood creates the feel of strong and power. For example Jay-Z is stood with his feet wide apart and his head tilted back which creates fear and importance which attracts people into the magazine.

Genre

• The genre of the Q magazine is a mixture between Pop and hip hop. You can tell that its a mixture because all of the artists are wearing at least one piece of black clothing which shows you that the magazine has a mixture of people all in the same place which in this case that place is the magazine. Also the fact that Lady Gaga is one of the long shot people in the centre of the magazine shows yous that pop music is within the magazine as Lady Gaga is in the pop industry.

Layout

• The masthead of the magazine is in the top left hand side of the front cover in the biggest font on the page which makes it stand out as the letter Q is written within a red square. The image on the front cover is placed centre right with a long shot of artists wearing dominant black, which stands out on the white background. To the left hand side of the front cover there is the stories that feature in the magazine, they are positioned in a vertical list. The great thing about the featured stories is that they are about the artists that feature on the front cover creating an idea for the consumer what stories will be on the artists without them having to flick through the magazine.
• The front cover also has a banner at the top and circle shapes with information in them which not only draws the audience to that particular information, but it also makes the magazine seem more pop , as you relate shapes and colour with pop genre.

Research and Planning:Questionnaire results(music magazine)

Below are 5 pie charts to show the results that I collected from my questionnaire so I am able to know compare the results to help me know what people are looking for within a pop magazine.