Initial Ideas

Here are my initial ideas for magazine. It states issues and information that could be used in the magazine.

Magazine style

From my research I have decided to base my magazine on a raw theme, like NME. I will research into codes and conventions that these magazines use, to help me make my magazine.

I will post my initial ideas shortly.

Cameras!

This week I have learned all about cameras.
I learned about different uses of aperture and shutter speeds.
A narrow aperture will get more of a direct, sharp shot.
A high shutter speed will allow more light to enter the picture.

THIS WEEK..

This week I have came up with initial ideas for my music magazine. I've decided to base it on new music, similar to magazines like NME.

I have also started to analyse front covers, contents pages and double page spreads to give me ideas for my magazine, and also to learn the basic conventions used in this style of magazine.

Uploads to come soon....

Preliminary Task Evaluation

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

Due to my research into other school magazines, I discovered that each one used a bright colour to appeal to students. Therefore, I chose the colour yellow, because I believed it would stand out to students. I wanted my page not to stand out, but to keep a basic look. Therefore I only used a few colours, so the page did not look over complicated.

Instead of using a standard font, I used cut out letters from magazines in my header. I used this because I thought it would appeal to students due to its modern unique art form. I tried to follow the rule of thirds on my front cover and contents page.

 

I used inset pictures on my contents page, due to its typical use in professional magazines. The insets I used were related to articles on which I was reporting on.

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

The software I used to edit the photos and design my magazine was Abobe Photoshop Elements. I used the tools that I was taught about in lessons. The tool I used the most was the magnetic lasso tool. It allowed me to cut out the background of photos. I also used the clone stamp used to blemish skin tones. I also used the spot healing brush to remove marks and spots from the people in my photos. These tools allowed my magazine to look more professional. I learnt to use different widths of aperture on the camera, when taking photos from different styles of shots, photos and surroundings. I also liked to the bevel and emboss features to make text look more '3d' and stand out.

Making my school magazine front cover and contents page..

I started the project by drawing some initial ideas I had for my magazine:

Once I had finished my rough plan, I started taking the photos for my front cover and contents page. I used a medium close up shot for my front cover and then various shots as insert images on my contents page. I then edited my photos using techniques I learned in class. I then created the logo text and information. I did all of this in Adobe Photoshop.

Fusion school magazine..

I looked at the school magazine, Fusion.

Front Cover

The body text on the front cover is all in lower case, to allow the title and image to stand out. As the front cover is purely an introduction to the magazine, the content is purely attractive and appealing, rather than informative. Therefore the technique used is to purely appeal to students to read this magazine.

A mid close up shot is used. The image is heavily processed and changed to black and white form. This technique may have been used to appeal to students, due to its ‘cool’ and modern form. This image was used on the front cover to attract students to the magazine and to stand out from the red background.

The title on the front cover is in capital text and the slogan is in lower case. This allowed the title to stand out from the other parts of the front cover. This is also done by the title being in a large font at the top of the page. It is also in white, which makes it stand out from the red background.

Different fonts are used to make the front cover more appealing to the audience. If the same font was used it would not have looked as attractive and appealing to students.

The main text that stands out on the front page is the font that shows the word ‘Fusion.’ This is due to the way the text is edited; it doesn’t look like a standard font. The text is cut at the bottom in a diagonal line. This shows that even editing in fonts looks appealing to students. The editing of text makes the text more artistic, which blends in well with the medium close up picture. 

In the top-right corner of the magazine it states ‘Free. Issue 1.’

This is to inform the reader which issue of the magazine they are reading, because it saves the reader flicking through the magazine to guess what issue the magazine they are currently reading is. This shows that organisation is crucial when making a magazine.

Contents

The contents page contains a white background, to allow all of the coloured images and text to stand out. It is a good colour to use, because it seems to fit with the majority of images and text.

The bottom-right corner shows the page number and the title in small text ‘Fusion.’

This is so the reader can flick to pages listed in the contents page, or so they can remember where an article is, so they can refer back to the page. This help to keep the magazine organised and structured for the reader.

The word ‘contents’ is in a large black font and is the only black text on the page. It is above the actual contents listing, so it summons up the detail below.

The page carries out the rule of thirds. This is to make the page more structured and easier for the eye to read. The contents listing is in three vertical sections, making it clear for the reader where to read.

The image at the top takes one third of the page. It is structured like so to follow the rule of thirds. The image is there to make the page look more appealing, animated and trendy to young readers. It also is there to fill space where there is nothing else informative to write.

Each contents listing is in a different colour. This is to separate the different content listings, again making it more clear for the reader. It also changes the look of the page making it more aesthetically pleasing.

Welcome!

Hello!
Welcome to my blog.
This is where I will be posting all of my Media Studies AS magazine coursework.

Hope you enjoy it!
Jordan