Feedback

I interviewed a few people about my magazine and asked them what they thought of it.

Interview 1

"I like the way that this isn't a typical magazine and the way the person in the main photo isn't giving you eye contact is kind of cool"

Interview 2

"Yeah the colouring looks really nice and the name of the magazine is good as well"

Interview 3

"Not the kind of music I'd really listen to but if thats what I did listen to then, yeah I'd guess I'd buy it

Evaluation

https://docs.google.com/leaf?id=0B8hUVBlvod8vMjI4ZGE1NTktYWNjMC00YWU2LWFkZDAtNGQwZGJlNzgwMWY3&hl=en

Planning and evaluation of the article

The articles I have looked at are both in the rock and metal magazine Rock Sound.

Photos

This is the photo I took for my front cover before I have edited it. For the mise-en-scene I wanted to take the picture in a well lit room for when i did my editing it will make an easy base for it. The blank canvas wall relates to the band as it just shows that these musicians are all about the music and with a care free attitude to over the top visual effects. The picture is just of Brook so the main focus is on him considering he is the front man and therefor the main sell. I told him to put on a mischevious grin above the phrase "What is Brook Thomas smiling about?" in order to interest the reader by the use of a rhetorical question. His costume is a fairly plain, "grungey" look accompained to that of both the musical genre and the target audience. Wearing similar clothing to that of the target audience would wear will make him more relatable thus generating more interested in this weeks magazine.

This is the picture I have used for my contents. It is taken of myself who is the supposed bassist for the band "The Montagues". I set a timer on the camera so that i could take a picture of myself without getting someone else to take it. I took it in a messy, typical garage band styled room to promote the pureness of the music for this band. The light at the back of the picture denotes a holy, spirirtual impact of the band. Almost suggesting the bassists immortality. A typical rock 'n'roll pose is being struck to the give the impression that the band is in mid-performance. The fact that the musician in the picture is not facing the camera suggests that he is turning his back on the norm and further gives the impression that this is a care-free bunch of musicians. The costume is again a typical sort of "grungey" look so the audience can relate to the band. The fact that a bass guitar is in rear view relates to the genre of magazine as it is a typical instrument in the genre of music that the magazine is promoting.

This is the picture of the entire band all looking into the camera. Again I used the timer setting on the camera to take it because I felt I needed to be in the photo. The fact that the band are staring into the camera makes the reader more interested to read this as they feel more involved with the magazine. The room is well lit so you can easily see the members of the band and there is a bright light in the middle so again a feeling of power is created. Similar to the rest of the photos the costumes are relating to the target audience.

This is the second picture I have used for my front cover. It consists of Jesse Walton the guitarist of the band Sweet Addiction. He is looking directly into the camera

Photo Editing

Before After

This is the photo of brook before and after the editing. I took the photo in a well lit room to make a simple base to edit photos. I decided to make the photo darker so it adds an air of mystery to Brook making him look slighty darker whilst creating an added interest in why he is smiling when all is bleak and dark.

Fonts

The fonts I have used for my magazine are Sylfaen, Times New Roman and Viva Std. I used Viva Std because it looks formal and classy which is suited towards my target audience of over 15's as it will make them feel more mature. The writing is also slightly more masculine yet still quite uni-sex so both genders will not feel out of place reading this. The writing in the box uses Sylfaen so its easier to read, fairly simple yet different to the norm. I scanned through a number of other fonts when I was deciding what to use. The other fonts I took a look at Ravie which I decided not to use because it was to feminine and would suit a younger audience than for my target demographic and I also tried Garamond but this was far too plain and boring. I decided not to mess around with the leading and kerning too much because I don't want to make the writing difficult to read and plus the spaces in between the lettering is similar to that of Kerrang! and NME. My font is similar to that of Kerrang! and NME as they are both bold yet still quite formal.

Flat Plans

My front cover shows big bold pictures of a musician showing that they are the main focus in this article. The caption "What's Jesse Walton smiling about?" relates to the graphology of the musician showing hes smiling creating a semantic link between the two. The rhetorical question speaks to the reader make them think and hooks them into the magazine. The tagline "It's time for your fill" is surrounded by a sharp jaggedy object which creates semiotics that this magazine is going to be different and straight to the point. The lexis used in the tagline says that this magazine is like a drug and you need to get "your fill" as it will become an unsustainable addiction it also personlises it to the reader by involving them which relates to my target audience as they like to be involved with things. The triangles used in the logo, magazine title and throughout the rest of the page have been put there because of the sharp and jaggedy rock feeling as there not smooth like a circle. Also it relates to the rule of three a key theme that will run throughout the magazine and shows that this magazine is very informative by using the tell them, tell them again and tell them some more rule whilst remaining straight to the point this is important as my target audience will want to learn about the alternative rock genre that includes rock, indie and acoustic styles. The colours that I've used relate to my target audience as my research has shown that blues, whites and reds are the most popular colours of my intended demographic of 15s-45s. Throughout NME and Kerrang! front covers the colours white and red are used. I have decided to put blue in as well as it is a cool colour and slightly different to the rest of the rock music magazines. Similarly to the other front covers my masthead is the boldest thing on the page apart from the title, the main sell is the biggest image on the page and like both Kerrang! and NME I use numbers to show how much of something is to make readers think that they are getting a lot for their money. Like NME I use the bottom of the page to show other important added features. Compared to both Kerrang! and NME my front contains a lot less images and is more copy heavy, I have done this becuase I believe that if your interested in music you will want something that is more fact based.

My contents is different to that of NME for the simple fact it actually says contents on it and it shows a bigger picture of the main sell of the picture compared to mine. I keep the main sell, the logo and I put the contents title in a similar style to the magazines title and the magazine logo to have a running theme throughout the magazine. Unlike NME also I have decided not to put a band index in my contents but I use a more substantial contest showing directly where everything is. I do this to show that even though my magazine is slightly different it stills follows a slightly traditional format to made it as accessible for a wider range of my demographic as possible.

My double page spread follows a very simple format. Unlike Kerrang! my magazine shows its logo in the top corner keeping with the semantic field. The page is split in two so that it can provide for people who are interested in looking at the band and people who want to learn about the band. This is very similar to Kerrangs! double page spread as there one shows a huge picture of the band as well.