Media evaluation

Below you can find my links to 4 different slideshares in which my media evaluation has been broken down into. enjoy!


Part 1- http://www.slideshare.net/lukelong5/part-1-to-my-media-evaluation


Part 2- http://www.slideshare.net/lukelong5/part-2-to-my-media-evaluation


Part 3- http://www.slideshare.net/lukelong5/part-3-of-my-media-evaluation


Part 4- http://www.slideshare.net/lukelong5/part-4-of-my-media-evaluation

Completed magazine.

I have finally completed my music magazine much to my keyboards joy (if a keyboard could experience such a human expression), i think most of the letters have worn off on my keyboard since starting this media task. Below i have uploaded my 3 completed pages for my magazine and in the next post i will have created and  uploaded my media evaluation explaining the process of my creation and the difficulties and challenges that raised during this task. Well here they are i hope you enjoy my pages.


Front cover:

 Contents page:

Double page spread:

Magazine Rough Draft

This is my first draft for my front page. I do not think it looks too bad however i am not too certain on the empty space at the bottom. I feel i may need to include a strap line with another heading in or some information for the magazine in an attempt to not leave so much free space. Also after asking for feedback of 5 other media students all of them have said they did not like the angle of the logo so i will be looking to re-position the logo on my final copy. however i personally feel that the magazine so far is coming on well, i have managed to exploit the left third of the magazine for its full potential and have managed to stick to a colour could of red black and gold both to represent darkness and hatred (main article theme) and the gold to represent glamour and success. 

This is my rough draft of the contents page. i have received a lot of positive feed back from my peers on this page and i am relatively happy with the way it looks myself. However i think there is a couple of things i would like to change. I believe there is too much white on the page so i may attempt to place coloured backgrounds on all of the main text (news, Reviews etc.)  which will not only make the page seem less spaced out but it will also further improve the texts ability to stand out. i would also like to frame the images on this page so they have borders making the page seem more tidy and professional.

This is my rough draft of my double page spread. As you can see i have my main image taking up the majority of the left hand page and the article taking up the right side. I did attempt to make the image cross over into the right page however i found it insufferably hard try to squeeze enough room for the writing in a big enough font size without ruining the resolution of the text making it unreadable without zooming in. I personally feel there is again a bit too much space on the page and i would like to to place a quote from the article in bold letters on the left hand side over the image. i feel there needs to be a mini introduction to the band on the right hand side just before the article and i believe i could also improve it by introducing bonus content into the page either through a website address or email address. 

Photo editing

Within this image i used adobe Fireworks in an attempt to make some subtle changes to the image in order to make it look the best it can. As mentioned before i wanted to edit the hair of the person on the right to make it look more neat and tidy, so i use the magic stamp tool in order to take other sections of the hair and duplicate it to give the effect of an extra layer of hair covering the patch that had a parting in within the original image. I then once again used the magic stamp tool and then the blur tool on a low smudge setting in order to airbrush the skin of both people making it seem more vibrant and clear. I then cropped the photo in an attempt to remove the slight viewing of the door to the left of the original image, making the image setting and background seem more professional and clear.




































With the 'cage' image i just used Adobe Fireworks to darken the image by reducing the brightness and contrast of the image in an attempt to make it look darker and gloomier to emphasise the dark emotions brooding within the band member.
This new edited image also appears to place a lot more emphasis on the person as well by darkening the background however keeping a lot of the light and colour on the person.










































 This image i actually used the photo edit options in Microsoft words to edit and tweak the colouring of the photo. i felt the original image looked far too light for a rock magazine and i also disliked a lot of the objects in the background of the image. So i changed the picture's contrast settings in order darken out a lot of the background scenery such as tables and chairs and her foot whilst keeping acceptable definition and good lighting on the subject of the picture, the drums and the drummer herself. I also slightly cropped the photo in order to further remove background objects at the top of the image.

Front cover picture edited choices.

I have taken my photo for the front cover and used the tools on 'Plasq's comic life' to create unique effects on the photos for each of the different copies of my original image. I have created a variety of different examples and have been able to find and will justify my final choice of image to place onto the front cover.

This is my origianl image in which i used as the template for the rest of the edited images below. i ensure that the person was positioned to the left of the image to allow valuable space on the left hand side for the masthead and articles.

I felt that this image was exceptionally pleasing to the eye. I feel it was artistic, and creative and the use of bright colours with the dark background and dull clothing colours created a very good contrast and made the image seem bold. However i do not feel the use of bright colours is appropriate for the magazine's main story theme of dark, deep set emotions.  

This image i thought did a good job of expressing the dark aspect of the article. However i feel the whole image is too dark and dull to place as a front page article, with the background being dark aswell i believe it is quite hard to distinghuish any detail on the person making it seem more of a silhouette of a person rather than placing emphasis solely on them.

This is the image i came to the conclusion of using for my front page, the editing on this gives the image a feeling that the person is holding so dark emotions and secrets within themselves. I have been able to demonstrate this through the use of the the white, brick wall background with the figure detailed in black to provide large amounts of emphasis on the person over the background. I feel this image also appeals to the young adult age category as it is set in an urban looking area (shown by the brick wall) with modern day clothing commonly seen being worn by people situated within that age category.

Photos for magazine.

I have finally got round to taking the photos for my magazine and i have specifacally handpicked a few of the best looking people i could find to best represent my magazine. As it turns out i appear in most of them, what a coincidence that is! Try and guess which person is me...

 Here i have taken a picture of a girl playing the drums, i intend to use this image as one of my two images on my contents page to include as an article on female drummers.

 This is going to be my main image for my double page spread, i was able to find a white background with a decent lighting for this shot, i have had the two people people positioned so that the main singer is placed in front of the support singer to emphasise his lead role within the band. I have had the main actor pull an aggresive facial expression and lean into the camera confrontationally to link in with the artile that i will have on my double page spread. i intend to have the double page spread article to be based around deep feelings of hate and aggression that sparked of an interest in heavy rock music. I was also able to ensure that both people within the shot had similiar items of clothing to emphasise that they are a unit and part of the same band. Im not too happy with the way the model's hair on the right (your right as you look at the image.) looks. I feel i will most likely make an attempt to edit this so that it does not look too unkempt and looks more stylish.

This image is for my front cover, i have had the person modelling pose to look as if they are in deep thought or to look as if they are hiding beneath the hood in order to cover up their emotions, i intend to have the front page and contents page build up and entice readers into reading the double page spread. i intend to make the stories imply that the band has a deep hidden secret that influences their creation of music.

This photo is one of the extra photos for the double page spread which will be presented on the article side of the page. I have had the model look agitated/disgusted which will directly link into the article content and the feelings expressed within the text.







This is my photo for the contents page, i have taken this against a metal fencing with the intention of making it look like a cage. I intend to include a heading with this stating that the band member reveals all about the torment trapped inside on the double page spread. I have included this in order to help intrigue readers and arise questions as to what the hidden secrets actually are.

Contents page rough plan

This is my rough plan for how i wish my contents page to look, i have a place for the the introduction to the page and the weeks issue and it will also feature the magazines logo in. i have then include area for images with relevent page numbers next to them so that readers can take a glance when holding the magazine in the shop and visually see what bands/ articles are featured within the magazine that was not advertised on the cover. and then i have given a large area to list the contents of the magazine on the right hand side of the page.

Double page spread rough plan.

This is my rough visual representation of how i would like my double page spread to be laid ou, i include the main image and the band title crossing over the pages to make the band seem big and inportant, i have then included space for smaller images to coincide with the article content which may feature insights into the personal lives of the band members. i have ensured that i place some space for the top left area where 'KAPOOSH' magazine will recommend the band to it's audience.

Double page spread research

First thing i notice when looking at this double page spread from NME is the size of the image, i would say that takes up a good 2/3rds of the page. I feel they may have done this to create the illusion that the band is metaphorically big in terms of stardom and fame. There seems to bit alot of crossover in terms of content between both of the pages, instead of being to seperate pages it becomes more like one large landscaped page as shown with the band name which spreads across a generous amount of width on both pages.  On the bottom left NME includes a little fact file of bachground information regarding the band to help raise awareness of their roots and also to build a relationship between the audience and the band allowing them to understand that these people are not too different to non-celebritys. Building on that NME also include images from the bands personal life outside of the stage showing thweir house and a party they were involved with, increasing the connection with the audience through common experiences, eg. messy nights etc.
NME use various techniques in an attempt to build the bands popularity with it's readers, for starters it uses a caption stating 'NME LOVES-heartsrevolution.' which to me passess on the feeling that if my trusted music magazine company loves this band i too may like this band. It also uses the word 'Radar' in the top left cornwer of the page to make it seem that this band is the next big thing to pop up on the radar of society, if you are not interested in this band you are standiong out from the public eye.
They use a witty phrase in bold writing just above the article to confuse the reader slightly and make them feel much more inclined to read on and have their confusions settled within the text. The textual content on a double page spread often consists on questions relating to an artist's personal lives so that the public can relate to and enjoy hearing about real life experiences from people on the pedestal at the time.

Front page plan

Below is my brief plan of how i would like may front cover to be laid out. much like my preliminary task i have used pretty colours in an attempt to sway your level of boredom slightly however this time i have been gracious enough to label the shapes for you. Here it is:

Please excuse the odd white gaps between the lettering i created this using microsoft paint and for some reason when i export it it turns out like this. I know what software i will not be using for most of my main task. As you can see i have included a strap line at the top followed by a masthead which will include the logo and the issue number and issue date. i will then have a series of short, snappy sentences to refer to asrticles within the magazine to lure readers into the depths of my magazine along the left hand side of the magazine so that it is easily viewable when on a magazine stand. i have a big picture which takes up a vast majority of space and i also have a section at the bottom right for a see more section where i will include a list of bands within the magazine in an attempt to further draw customers in.

Logo choice

Today i was able to create a number of logo designs to choose from for my magazine. Below you can view my personal designs which i created using a tool on 'Plasq's comic life'. The tool enables you to choose a font, skew, shape it, stretch it, colour it, shade it and place borders onto the text making it an exceptional tool for logo design! I deccided to name my magazine 'KAPOOSH' as like Kerrang it offers an explosive reaction when read aloud. Brace yourselves for more of my masterpieces...

After showing this one to a few of my fellow peers it became clear that the majority of them could not read this from a distance, making it very ineffective at grasping an audiences attention when looking at the shelf. If it were not for the sight issue i feel i would have gone for this logo due to its heavy metal look in correspondance to my magazine content.

I thought this one was really good until i was rooting through my vast DVD collection and realised it looked very similair to the text on the front of the DVD case for the film 'Rocky Horror Picture Show'. It is in fact an absolutely fantastic film however i do not wish to have my logo being referenced to a hit 1970's film when attempting to create an unique logo to represent individuality.

This one was a possibilty for about 10 minutes until i realised the text itself is not really appropriate for a rock magazine, it looks better suited to a comic book or child's story book. I felt the writing was edgy and gave it a feeling of sharpness and danger however i dont think the font was the best choice for the magazine.

This logo i fell in love with instantly and so far i have gained all positive feedback from it. Its unique, its colourful and its bold. it also has a colour effect of red rising from the bottom fading into orange at the top. I feel this gives of a fiery impression and can demonstrate a burning passion for music and the aggressive nature of modern day rock. This is my logo choice for my magazine.

Logo research

Right to begin with i am going to try and establish myself a nice logo for my music magazine. After looking at a number of other succesful magazine's logos i feel i will be able to make a start on my own logo's with some ideas to place into it. here are the three magazine logos i looked into:
   
NME is a bold logo that uses a bright red colouring, very similiar to the background of the Q magazine logo below. I believe this is to make the logo more distinguishable from other competitive magazines. When combined with the contrasting white outline it makes the lettering stand out and seem much more bold. surrounding the white is a very thin outline of black to further increase the emphasis on the colouring within the borders.i feel the NME logo is a very neat and tidy looking logo that appears very clean cut along the edges without too much of an extravagant colour/pattern choice. i feel it is good for reaching out to a more sophistacted audience.

 
Q magazine's logo is much more simple than NME's (yes it was possible, i couldnt believe it either). The Q magazine logo demonstrates an uppercase white coloured 'Q' on top of a square red background. I feel they have chosen to do this to keep the logo simple which makes it easily memorable because of its simplicity. the white and red again contrast with each to create a much more powerful image and i personally believe that Q magazine has kept the logo as simple as possible in order to demonstrate its magazine content in being clear and straight to the point and also being solely based around music

Okay now i personally really like the kerrang magazine logo, i feel it represents the rock scene exceptionally well with its use of black of colouring for boldness and also for bluntness. There is even an effect of broken glass within the lettering which i feel is a great way of reaching out to its rock audience as rock is very often linked with pent up agression and emotions released through songs. The use of the colour black may denote a heavyier rock audience in comparison to the other two logos. The logo itself is also unconventional in comparison to the other two magazines as while they settle for red colouring to attract their readers kerrang goes simply for black and white in an attempt to express its individuality and to express to its audiences that it is a unique magazine. I would really like my logo to take on a similiar aspect to the kerrang logo.

Front page research

Okay so i have looked at the front cover for an NME magazine and have uploaded it as a slideshare presentation with all my notes annotated onto the image of the front cover. the link below should lead you to my presentation. http://www.slideshare.net/lukelong5/music-magazine-front-cover-analysis1