Photo Shoot Process and Editing

I took 4 photos for my magazine: one for the front cover, one for the contents page and 2 for the article. The first photo I took was a medium full shot of a person staring at the camera shouting looking directly at the audience this was supposed to be the picture that enticed people to pick up the magazine. My target audience of 15-25 wouldve seen the image and picked it up because they were almost involved in the picture. I then edited the picture to make it darker, sharper and add shadows to the background. After this I decided it needed a focus so I added a texture which it look like he was producing flames from his hands, this represents the metal genre its very metal styled imagery. For my second image it represented a bit more of the article the article is an interview conserning one of the band members deaths this picture sets the tone the model stares at the ground in a deep thoughtful manner. I didnt use as darker lighting so it didnt contrast too much with the colour of my contents page. For the third image I used a different model the photo was a wide shot and then cropped at the sides the model is seen jumping in mid air. I experimented with different effects for this picture I made it darker and sharper and then tried to make it look like the model was jumping over a fire but it didnt look right and wasnt appropriate for the article so I kept it with the original effects. For my fourth and final picture I took a wide shot in a snowy field with trees in the background with my model standing to the side facing away this was to symbolise the band walking away from their past and starting a new. The snow represents the cold sad emotions they were feeling at the loss of their friend. I then edited the photo putting a slight blue filter on it and making the photo sharper this created the effect that the article was very reflective and emotional.

Photo Shoot Planning

From my mood board I have seen the fashion associated with the metal genre, they often wear darker clothes, t-shirts, jackets, shirts, ties a whole mix of clothes. Nothing mainstream though all clothes have a twist which make them unique and dark in their own way. I have chosen to have my model wearing a shirt, tie with a coat. This gives the band group a bit more credibility and darker tones. In other metal magazines medium full shots are often used this way you can see what the person is wearing whilst still being able to see their facial expressions I am going to apply this to my own photo shoot. The Photos seen in Metal Hammer are heavily edited and stick with the theme of the main article in the magazine. Here the main articles title is called "Hail to the king" and features a throne made out of guitars. This shows consistency throughout the magazine. I want to follow in these conventions. The focus of this photo is the man sitting in the chair he is the lead singer and represents the rest of the band. I will do something similar and only have one person in my photo shoot. They have used dark colours and a misty texture in the background, this goes with the metal theme and look I aim to follow these conventions. Here he is shown holding a guitar I do not want to have my person holding anything I want them gesturing, almost shouting at the audience in rage.

AHundredWookies' photostream

AHundredWookies' photostream on Flickr.

These are my original Photos and Edited versions for my Magazine.

Research Summary

From my research of music magazines I have learnt many things. Firstly, I have learnt that the front cover of a magazine it is always better to make your subject have eye contact with the camera and therefore the audience. This is so that it will catch the audience’s eyes and they are more likely to pick the issue up. Also, on many music magazines such as Kerrang! And NME, display their main feature image, which is on the front cover, over the logo, giving the impression that the artist, is more important than the brand. I have found that a lot of people in the magazine industry use fun fonts and bright colours to make the pages interesting, however also keeping to a consistent colour scheme and style.

Through looking at all the different music magazines I have decided that I want to make a rock style magazine. For these types of magazines, they usually have a series of rock colours, these are mostly black, white, red and yellow. The props used are normally microphones, guitars, drums, and other instruments as well as props that reflect the text and the rock stereotype. Rock music magazines typically put a lot of posters in each issue to as another selling point for the magazine.

Usually Rock Magazines are targeted at a unisex audience, they use things such as posters, sob stories, fashion, posed pictures and bright colours to attract a female audience, whereas they use dark colours, competitions, easy read articles with pictures and feedback for guys. And then they also have; band alerts, album releases, hot news, live reviews, concert pictures and band merchandise adverts. From this I have realised I want to make a unisex orientated magazine.

In the main features boxes are used on the side for quick reading of the article. These are sometimes filled with  questions to attract the audience and make it more personal, the readers want to know the answer to the question. In the features they use a lot quotes to make the text interesting and the tones of the writing are casual and laid back they usually set the tone of the pictures they go with. The mood can change the whole view on the story which is where the target audience come in, so you have to make sure that you have the right tone and mood for the reader to stay interested. Sometimes, they use different colours to break up the text to make it more noticeable and the fonts always have to be different for the main text used in the articles.

This research has helped me to plan and design my own magazine and to make it appropriate for the right audience as well as making it interesting.

Institution Analysis

Institution Analysis

The BBC is an organisation in the UK. It broadcasts in the United Kingdom and other countries on television, radio and the Internet. The BBC also sells its programmes to other broadcasting companies in the world. The BBC have a magazine which has printed listings of the week's BBC radio and television programmes, it is called the Radio Times. The magazine also prints listings of programmes broadcast by other providers in the United Kingdom, it provides online listings too. It also prints stories about programmes, the people who make them, and the people who appear in them. The Radio Times is one of the best selling magazines in the United Kingdom. BBC has the largest news broadcast gathering operation in the world be that local radio stations or world wide news television networks.

The Finished Magazine

 This is my final finished piece:

Looking back at your preliminary task, what do you feel you have learnt in the progression from it to the full product?

I would say the main thing I have learnt during this process is just the amount of effort that goes into making a magazine I learnt all the different parts that are required inorder to make a weekly magazine. From editing the pictures which I had never done before to putting it all together in pages it was all very new to me. I learnt how to analyse and look at other magazines see what they did well and what could be improved and apply it to my own. I became more comfrotable using all the software during the progress and working on an apple mac computer which was again a new experience for me. In the first magazine I made for the school it was all done in pages I didnt edit any photos or take any for that matter it was all very basic using a basic font found in pages. By the end of the process I could take and edit my own photos, find fonts on the internet and use them and I learnt how to write an interview and article.

What have you learnt about technologies from the process of constructing this product?

Pages: I had never used pages before I was given this task. Here I learnt how to create borders around my images and text to make the images stand out, I also learnt how to connect text boxes together to let my article when writing it flow smoothly into the next text box so that my article would fit around my images.

Photoshop: Again I had never used Photoshop before but it came in hand a lot when editing my photos. The magic wand was very helpful for applying the fire texture into the picture. and the lasso tool which allowed me to move images about and adjust their positioning.

Picmonkey: Pickmoney was very helpful when editing my pictures it easily allowed to me to add effects to make my pictures darker, sharper and better looking the photos were not taken on a good camera and by adding the effects it made that not matter.

How do you attract/address your audience?

I attracted an audience of people who like metal music through using the conventions of other established rock magazines. The effects and dark lighting on the front cover are a big feature of metal magazines. The imagery would seem familiar to people who already buy rock magazines and encourage them to buy mine as they are comfortable with it and know what they are getting I had a person who was producing fire from his hands this sort of imagery can be seen in other Metal magazines such as MetalHammer in which people can be seen with wings and bats. The  white font on the darker background would also get the attention of most people walking past the magazines in the shop and would get them interested and then they would be more likely to buy the magazine. The photo on the cover is also in medium long shot, which a lot of rock magazines use again creating familiarity. The language used in the magazine would also attract my audience, there is an informal style of writing and words on the cover and in the articles such as ‘ultimate’ which would attract a metal audience who want to find out something new. By putting questions on my front cover such as "new album?" it makes the passer by want to know the answer so they will pick it up to read it and find out. The promotional posters and chance to win by enetering a competition also draw the reader in as they want to win and decorate their room using the posters.

Who would be the audience for your media product?

When I set out to make my magazine I used magazines such as Metal Hammer and NME for inspiration they are focused on the 15-25 demographic but put a lot of content in their magazines which sets them apart from Kerrang who fill alot of their magazine space up with gossip and celebrity news. I wanted to aim my magazine at the more intellectual reader who wanted to read detailed articles. This was supposed to be a magazine for anyone who loved Metal music. I succeeded at doing this by having having a magazine filled withmetal focused interviews and articles on bands progress and album reviews, not focusing on the celebrity drama. This can be seen in the contents page which shows that all the pages have articles on them.

What kind of media institution might distribute your media product and why?

I think Bauer Media would be the best choice for my magazine as they already make Kerrang which is similar but my magazine is more metal orientated and Kerrang doesnt really focus on the metal Genre so I would be filling a place in the market for Bauer. My product might also be distributed in places where my target audience would be, for example at rock festivals or in bars and clubs that play rock music. Another way to distribute my product could be to publish it online, this is becoming a more and more popular way for people to read magazines and would definitely reach my target audience of 15-25 year olds. Record Companies would be supportive of my magazine as well as I am promoting thier bands and essentially bringing in more sales for the record company. I think Roadrunner Records would be a good company as they manage many metal bands as well as looking to give rising bands a chance all of which I could cover in my Magazine.

How does your media product represent particular social groups

I think my magazine represents the social groups of my target audience. The age 15-25 is represented through the images I have used, the male in the front cover image is 17 which shows my magazine represents the teenage and early 20 age group. My magazine also represents the social group of people who like rock music, the imagery that is associated with the rock genre the idea of flames and hell are strong themes and I have incoporated this imagery into my cover photo . My magazine also relates to the teenage audience a lot due to its use of slang rock terminology and swearing teenagers relate to this and enjoy the laid back approach to the magazine.

In what ways does your media product use, develop or challenge forms and conventions of real media products?

In what ways does your media product use, develop or challenge forms and conventions of real media products?

There are a lot of similarities between my magazine and industry produced magazines, we both use heavy editing on our front cover images changing the lighting, making the picture darker and adding effects this gives the impression of a dark and gritty magazine. My product is a rock magazine which uses and challenges the conventions of other rock magazines. My magazine uses the convention of having the name of the magazine at the top of the front cover. I did this as people will automatically look there for the name of the magazine, and see it straight away this is the only bit of the magazine that can be seen from a Magazine shelf. I also used the rock convention of keeping the same fonts on the front cover, this helps keep the audience interested as they read. However I challenged the rock magazine convention of having a band on the front cover. Rock magazine usually have an entire band on the front cover or people from different bands together. I choose to use a single man as I thought it would be something more unique to the rock genre which would turn heads and get people interested.

Mood Board

I made a mood board full of  things I found that I thought represented the genre of my magazine.

This is the mood board:

Magazine Plan

This is my first plan for my Magazine, its what I wanted my final product to look like. I took inspiration from my Music Magazine evaluation. The idea of a big cover picture, promotions to entice readers, a creative title and headline.

Analysis of Music Magazines

Analysis of Music Magazines

Rock Sound is a British rock music magazine. The magazine aims at being more less commercial focusing on up and coming bands, whilst also giving coverage to more well known acts. It generally focuses on the pop, punk, pop-punk, emo, hardcore, post-hardcore, heavy metal and extreme metal genres of rock music. The tag-line "For those who like their music loud, extreme and non-conformist" is sometimes used. Although primarily aimed at the British market, the magazine is also sold in Australia, Canada and the United States. The magazines audience is predominantly teenagers and young adults. They have a very casual laid back attitude to their publications often making the front of the magazine look like it has been drawn or sketched. Its first publication was in 1999. They are well know for offering free Posters and promotional CD's with tracks from albums that wont be released as singles.

NME is a music magazine from the United Kingdom, published weekly since March 1952. It started as a music newspaper, and gradually moved toward a magazine style during the 1980s, changing from newsprint in 1998. It was the first British paper to include a singles chart, in the 14 November 1952 edition. In the 1970s it became the best-selling British music newspaper. They have a more formal tone to their magazine, sticking to darker colours and neater fonts. This magazine is aimed at an older audience to rocksound. They focus more on mainstream indie and rock they don't cover heavier genres of rock.










Kerrang! is a UK-based magazine devoted to rock music published by Bauer Media Group. In the early 2000s it became the best-selling British music newspaper. The name Kerrang is intended to sound like the strumming of an electric guitar this noise would be familiar with many people who read the magazine. Kerrang is also aimed at a teenage audience often covering the latest rock celebrity gossip.

Magazine Research - Annotation

In my media class, we cut up contents pages and double page spreads of magazines and stuck them onto a large piece of paper where we annotated them with all the different techniques and effects that each of the magazines used. This has helped me to know what to include in my own magazine and what looks appealing.

Evaluation of School Magazine

Evaluation of School Magazine

 I like my Magazine, it's neat, formal and well polished. I have kept a consistent colour scheme and font style and colour to make my magazine look professional. I feel my magazine is appropriate for school because its formal and does a good a good job of informing whilst still being slightly comical and humorous as to draw people in. I have included a competition in order to attract students to pick up a copy of the magazine as they have the chance to win free stuff. I have used a big picture as my cover photo I like this its effective because it has a picture of focusing students in lesson which puts the school in a good light. I have kept my style consistent and followed it onto my contents page by using the same font and colouring. As it is a school magazine it doesnt use a complex font or complex graphics everything is clean and neat.