Rule of Thirds

The “Rule of Thirds” one of the first things that budding digital photographers learn about in classes on photography and rightly so as it is the basis for well balanced and interesting shots.

The basic principle behind the rule of thirds is to imagine breaking an image down into thirds both horizontally and vertically so that you have 9 parts.

Moodboard

This is my Moodboard most of the pictures are linked into what is going to be featured in my magazine.

Questionnaire results and explained.

I went into Birmingham City Centre to ask people to fill out my questionnaire, from question One I had gathered that my magazine should be targeted at Males as 15 males & 10 Females approached me to fill out this questionnaire.

From question Two I know that the age range I should target for my magazine should be between 10-30 years old, so I should make my magazine more youthful than formal.

Question Three tells me that I should set my magazine price at £2-£2.99, because clearly the majority of people have voted for £2-£2.99.

Question Four just explains that most people that filled out the questionnaire were from the B in the Jicnar scale which is the managerial part. Which could also determine the price and target market is should set.

Question Five is just showing that out of the people I asked 23 of them read magazines so these results are reliable and accurate.

Question Six and Eight are similar they both show me that the artist’s ‘Drake’ and ‘Tempa’ is a must for my magazine front cover or main headline they both got the highest tally.

Question Seven evidently shows me that ‘Top 10 songs’ is a must for my magazine as it got 17 votes.

Question Nine backs up question three with the price. This question proves that the price must be right to be able to sell my new magazine 13 votes for ‘Pick the best one that suits you’ ‘It’s a good price’.

Question Ten means that I should do a Q&A from the public instead of a traditional chat.

Question Eleven simply proves that warm colours are essential for my magazine(Although I think people misunderstood the question).

Question Twelve just explains that a physical copy is preferred over a virtual (Ipad, Iphone, Ipod) copy. 

Question Thirteen shows I should publish my magazine every 1-2 weeks.

Front cover layouts (Eight Layouts)

These are my eight layout ideas on my front cover, you need layout plans to be able to construct a good front cover. The best layouts I have made are the 1st and 3rd one because on the first one there is a lot of space for the picture to go and the cover lines will be along side the picture with the headline & pull quote underneath it. The difference between the 1st and 3rd layout is that the headline and pull quote is now under the masthead, the coverlines have moved to the bottom and the barcode has been moved to the middle-bottom.

Potential Names for my Music Magazine.

Potential Names for my Music Magazine.

WRAP

WRaP 

XL

CLASH

BLITZ

MM (Music matters)

CURVE
PULSE

CURVE

BLAST
CRUNCH
TWANG
TUNES
RUSH
SCALE
FRESH

Prezi

Masthead Ideas (Plain & No Colour)

These are my starter masthead ideas. I will be improving them and adding colour. I will edit the best ones.

Write up (Not Finished)

"Representation in the media is concerned with how individual and groups of people, events and ideas are presented to audiences. What we see, hear and read in the media is a re-presentation of a subject it is not a real version of events it is constructed. Even a live broadcast is a representation, because you only see what is filmed by the camera operator. As a media studies student, it is important that you are able to identify and understand these representations in the products and texts that you analyse and that you construct." Mainstream- the ideas, attitudes, or activities that are shared by most people and regarded as normal or conventional.  Appealing to a mass audience.  A magazine catering for all aspects of Pop music would appeal to a mainstream audience.

Niche- is a fraction of a total market or an audience. A segment of the market or the audience with highly specific needs and interests which cannot generally be satisfied by mainstream products.  A magazine focusing upon Dub step would be therefore is for a niche market.

Brand Values and Brand Identity.

The Brand Identity for NME is the same for every magazine, it always uses the same block capital text for the Masthead, the front cover is always dominated by one or a group of people, NME uses very bright, warm colours on their front cover, and the cover is packed with a lot of information and pictured. NME = New Musical Express. They specialised in all new music and artists. This gives the impression that they value new and upcoming bands and artists and try to promote them as much as possible. 

XXL’s brand identity is the same for every magazine, their Masthead’s font and colour is always white with a red background and one image (Maybe two) always dominates the cover, it’s usually a close up or mid shot. XXL is aimed at a black origin as you can see every image on their front cover is a black person. Rap and Hip hop is more-so aimed at black people. 

Questionnaire.

1.     What Gender are you?

·        Male                           [ ]

·        Female                       [ ]

2.     What is your age range?

·        10-20          [ ]

·        20-30          [ ]

·        30-40          [ ] 

·        50+             [ ]

3.     How much would you pay for a music magazine?

• ·         £1 - £1.99 [ ]
• ·         £2 - £2.99 [ ]
• ·         £3 - £3.99 [ ]
• ·         £4 - £4.99 [ ]
• ·         £5+          [ ]

4.     Where about would you put yourself on the Jicnar Scale (socio-economic group)

·        A   (Professional- Doctors, Barristers)                    [ ]

·        B   (Managerial- Teachers, Bank managers)             [ ]

·        C1  (Non-Manual- Office workers)                         [ ]

·        C2  (Manual- Car mechanic                                    [ ]

·        D    (Partly skilled- assembly line worker                 [ ]

·        E    (Unskilled- Student, Unemployed, Benefits)      [ ]

5.     Do you read music magazines currently?

• ·         Yes [ ]
• ·         No  [ ]

6.     Who is your favourite artist in the music industry?

• ·         ________________

7.     What articles or featured would you like to read in a new music magazine?

• ·         Fashion sense                      [ ]
• ·         Quiz                                    [ ]
• ·         Questions and Answers       [ ]
• ·         Concert Information            [ ]
• ·         Interviews                           [ ]
• ·         Reviews                              [ ]
• ·         Top 10 songs                      [ ]
• ·         Other   ____________       [ ]

8.     Write the Artist(s) you would like to be featured on the front cover of a new music magazine and have the main headline.

• ·         ______________________

9.     Pick the one that best suits you. “I would buy a music magazine because ……”

• ·         I like the image on the front cover                            [ ]
• ·         The article of the contents page interests me             [ ]
• ·         It’s a good price                                                     [ ]
• ·         It’s a good name for a magazine                              [ ]
• ·         The headline catches my eye                                   [ ]
• ·         It’s for a Friend/Family member                              [ ]
• ·         Other ___________________________              [ ]

10.                      If we interviewed an Artist which would you prefer?

• ·         Long traditional chat        [ ]                                         
• ·         Q&A From the public     [ ]

11.                       What is your favourite colour scheme (E.G warm colours, cold colours)?

• ·         __________________

12.                       What copy of magazine do you prefer to read?

• ·         Physical copy [ ]
• ·         Virtual copy   [ ]

13.                       How often do you buy a music magazine?

• ·         Once every 1-2 weeks       [ ]
• ·         Once every 4 weeks          [ ]
• ·         Once every 1-3 months     [ ]
• ·         Once a year                      [ ]    
• ·         Never                               [ ]

This is my questionnaire. I think I have asked the most relevant questions to get an idea of my target market, how much I should sell it for, what type of magazine I should publish, when a new issue should come out, HouseStyle of the magazine & advertisements. Once I ask my target market I should be able to determine how to approach making this magazine.

Second Front cover UPDATE.

Second Front Cover Update. I have removed the Headline "Exclusive interview with this student" because there was just no space for it. I could straighten out the text to make it inline with one another for the professional look, possibly remove a cover line to create more space.

FINAL Front Cover UPDATE

Update on my front cover. I have moved the image to the right so the the text can fit in and looks more professional. I have removed the Headline "Exclusive interview with this student" because there was just no space for it. I could still improve this cover for example straightening the text so it's all in line.

Audience, Key Conventions, What I have learnt.

During this preliminary activity I have learnt lots of different media terms for example Media Language, Media Institutions, Media Audiences, Media Representations. I have learnt the key conventions of an effective masthead. Learnt Denotation and Connotation, I can now create a professional magazine front cover and contents page, I can also analyse a magazine front cover in detail and binary opposition (Complete contrasts that exist within media texts in-order to construct a narrative for example good and evil, Happy and Sad, day and night) I have learnt how to layout a front cover or contents page and use different font sizes for emphasis. The four big media concepts are Media Communication Through Language, Language is everything the media uses to communicate - Photos, camera angles, costumes, and style of music as well as boring old words. Institutions companies and organisations that create the media.
Audience of a media product are the people who watch, read, listen or play that media product.
My Audience for this magazine will be ages 12+ as year 7's start at the age of 11 also teachers will be reading this magazine to know what is going on in the school too. My primary audience for this magazine will be 11-19 year old students and the secondary audience will be staff, parents, Governors.
Media Representations involves the way that events, Ideas and different people are presented in a way of Media. This could possibly be represented through websites, news, films etc.

Media audience are all the people who will read, watch or listen to specific media. Radio/Podcasts, TV adverts/ Programmes, Newspaper/Magazine article.

Media institution defines as an established, profit based organisation, Distribution of advertising.

Best example of this has to be ITV or any company that advertises and provides useful information to their customers.Media language consists of  how a text is portrayed to the audience. Media language works through the signs and symbols.

  

Photos. (Planned Photo Shoot)

Most of these shots are close ups which is probably the best for a front cover. This was a photo shoot and I took the best photos from the photo shoot and displayed them here I had planned to take a pictures of at least three candidates smiling with a plain background. One outside mid/close up shot for effect, & one mid shot.

Contents Page

This is my contents page finished. The first picture is with guidelines and the second is without guidelines.

Media Terms

Masthead - The logo of a magazine usually in a large font and bold to attract some readers, it is usually very few words or numbers to keep it simple. For example ‘Q’ ‘NME’ ‘XXL’

Headlines – A headline has a large title which is usually the main article of the magazine and is often linked to the picture on the front of the magazine.

Layout - The structure of the magazine front cover.

Pull quotes and Lure - quotes that have been taken from the magazine's articles to attract the reader/audience and make them read the full article.

Sans-serif style font - a font that does not include hooks, brackets and feet.

Serif style font - A font which includes hooks, brackets and feet.

Coverlines - Text which show the smaller content of the magazine, which is a smaller font than a headline.

Pug/ starburst - a shape or symbol with text.

House Style - The layout of text (Fonts & Style), pictures and colour theme

Visual Syntax - the way in which the readers eye is made to follow through the a page, it can make you focus on one side of the page.

Straplines - Headlines in smaller font.

Magazine Front Cover 2

Magazine Cover 2. This could be improved by re-sizing my image and altering the text I have put on.

Q Magazine Analysis

This is my first magazine cover analysis on Q magazine I have highlighted all the relevant and important headings discovered on this magazine.

Magazine front cover Final

This is my first front cover which is going to be my main front cover.
Update.

Contents Page Layout 2

Contents Page Layout One

Contents Page Layout One
This contents page has one main image which would be a picture of a student then a pull quote about that student, Column of information about another article. Image 2 would be another student but in a smaller size. Heading column is the headline's information.

Key Conventions for a Contents page

Key Conventions For A Contents Page:

Columns - A type of layout to attract the reader/audience.
Structured Layout - Chronological layout to make it easier to read and stand out.
Title - A heading for the page to show the audience what the magazine is.
Pull Quotes - Quotes from the magazine to get the reader's attention.
Headlines - Headline of the magazine to show he most important topic in the magazine.
Page Numbers - Page Numbers for the magazine so the audience can go through and find what they want.
Colour Scheme - Colour scheme according to your front cover to make it look professional.
House Style - Keeping the same style of layout and colour for professionalism.
Issue No. - Issue number of the magazine.
Categories - Catergories for the information.
Font Size - Different font sizes for emphasis, Bigger font is more important and smaller is least important.
Information (Blurb) - A bit of information explaining the magazine to give the reader an idea.
Pictures - Pictures for/about the magazine giving the reader an idea.
Caption - A caption for the magazine to explain what is in the image shown.
Banner - A banner showing some information about the magazine it will add professionalism.

These are all the key conventions for a contents page.

Magazine analysis

This is my magazine analysis, I have identified all the key features of this magazine cover.

Rough Draft For Front Cover

This is my rough draft for my front cover. I have included the key conventions Masthead, Puff, Headline and Coverlines. I have not yet included a picture for the background.

Mastheads

These are my Masthead ideas, I had chosen the PB(Star) because I thought it was the best idea as

it was bright and looked professional.