Test Shots for Contents Page

Today during my lesson time, I thought it would be useful to take some test shots for my contents page as this would help me decide what type of image fits in and what I am looking for on my contents page. I used my friend to be a model in one of my contents page images so I used her to try out some poses. This is the results of the test shots:

I took these test shots to try out different poses with my model so I did not take the background in consideration today because I thought when I decide on my final shot I want to go forward with, I look into the background/scenery for my shot to be taken at. 
Any ways, after looking at the pictures I took today, I did not think there was enough variety to chose from so I will be taking more in tomorrows lesson. Also, I decided to play around with effects and came across an effect that could potentially work on my contents page as shown below:

In this image, I have used the effect of a strong/sharp black and white. Why I like this effect is because it stands out and looks quite effective, so I would be taking this in consideration when deciding/editing my images for my contents page.

Wordle ..

I thought of some words that are associated with my chosen genre (Hip Hop/R'n'B.) By putting all the words together creatively I thought this looked more effective and used a website called www.wordle.net to do so. 

Updated flat plan

Taking in what was had been noticed on my old flat plan by my class mate as she peer assessed my work last week, I have re-created my flat plan (only the front cover and double page spread) as that is what I also thought my work needed improvement and tried to follow the Hip Hop/R'n'B conventions. Why I also had to re-create my flat plan for my front cover and double page spread is because the male artist I tried to get in contact with did not contact back which is why I had to find an alternative model to be my 'artist' who is female so I had to change the images I drew.

Here is what I came up with for my potential front cover and double page spread:

Front cover

Double Page Spread

Flat plan - peer assessment

My class mate had peer assessed my flat plan and here is what she had said what she thought about it:

Appropriate material for target audience – Excellent
Understanding on conventions of layout and page designs – Proficient
Awareness of variety in fronts and text size – Proficient
Accurate of language and register – Excellent
Planning of the photo - Excellent

What she said to improve on is to come up with an potential colour scheme that would work on my magazine. Also she said since I would not be doing the artist I tried get in contact with, I should re arrange my flat plan and base it on a female model which I have got hold of (mainly on my front cover and double page spread which I have applied changes on to.)

More Research!

In the lesson yesterday with Miss Silva, what we as a class was discussing was what makes a good interview for your magazine and analysed three double page spread interviews. By doing this, it has alerted me what type of questions to include in my interview when I'm asking my 'artist'. Of course I must relate back to my genre as this is important what are the conventions of asking questions in the Hip Hop/R'n'B genre.
Here is the work I did with the class:

Because in class we did not come across a Hip Hop magazine, I decided to look on-line on YouTube for interviews with famous hip hop or R'n'B artist. I found one interview which was with Rihanna and found the questions being asked is based about her personal life. This tells me when I come to design my interview questions, I would mainly base my questions on asking personal questions in a informal format. Here is the video I thought would be a good example towards designing my interview questions:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h_E2AhbbwdY&safe=active

Updated Shot List

In my first shot list, I was not sure of who my model would be since the artist I tried get in contact with did not get back (Shide Boss). Now that I have my final main model, I know when I would be taking pictures, what she would be wearing and other models for my contents page would be wearing in what scenery.

Final decision on DPS flat plan

Since I created two double page spread flat plans, I finally decided which one I will be going with which is shown below. Why I have chose this as my ideal double page spread because in comparison with the other one I created, the image I drew on was coming over the middle crease line. In this double page flat plan, the image is large on the left side of the page and another smaller image on the right side blended in with the text. Also since I had tried get in touch with an artist (Shide Boss), he did not get back at me which is why I had to make few adjustments and had to change my main model to an female who would be done by my friend (Aaminah.)

I created a presentation on prezi.com to show examples of hip hop/r'n'b magazine front covers.

Shot List

By creating this shot list, this helped me from having ideas of what type of pictures I would like to have on my front cover, contents page and double page spread. I also tried to manage my time of when I would be able to take my pictures. Also, I thought about the type of shot angels I think would work well on my magazine. By doing my shot list, it has saved me time from when I come to actually taking my pictures, I would not have to think on the spot as I have my shot list as a backup. If I think some things do not work well, I would apply changes to where I think something else would work better then what I have wrote down firstly.

Flat Plans!

Here is my flat plans I designed. I havent quite thought of a actual final colour scheme which is why my flat plan is not fully coloured in. Also I am not sure whether or not my model would be a girl or boy, seeing as the artist I tried get in contact with did not reply back. So I probably will be making changes later on. I also created two double page spreads as I am not sure which one I am going to work on.

Today’s photography session

In today’s photography session, I learnt about planning different types of camera shots when taking pictures of my chosen person, the positioning, lighting and focusing the camera by using IOS and aperture. I also learnt the proprotion of how a standard picture should be taken for example where the eye level should be. This helped me think about the types of shots in different lighting when I come to take pictures for my magazine, especially my front cover so when I come to planning, I would know what sort of lighting I would like to have and what looks more effective on the person I would be taking pictures of. 
We got put into groups and got given a camera to play around with to adjust the lighting and to find out how the pictures in the room with full light would turn out. Then my and group and I took pictures of the photography teacher to experiment with different poses.

I then played around with one of the images by editing it. By doing this, it gave me ideas and practice to when I come to edit, if so, my pictures for my magazine. What I have done in this image is I set the effect of the picture to black and white than went over the person (who was the photography teacher) to go back in its original colour. This looks effective as the person is in colour in a black and white background which shows all the attention is on the model which is ideal for a magazine front cover.

Creating Flat Plans

Now my next step is to design a flat plan for my front cover, contents page and double page spread which is to be done by the 22nd January. My flat plan must be as detailed as possible with text and colour completed. It should look like your completed magazine will do (apart from your interview.) I should also show my research has influenced the design of my flat plan and should include a minimum of four different images. The design can and will change and adapt but I must always explain and justify the changes that might occur.

Market Research - Focus Group!

Here is the focus group I bought together. As the magazine front cover, contents page and double page spread is shown on a computer screen, it is not clear on video. So I would post below the actual images my focus group was talking about. 





The questions I asked -

''What do you think makes a good front cover for a hip hop magazine in general?''
Afreen had said the big main image of the artist the magazine is focusing on. This tells me that most readers find images more appealing whilst looking at a magazine front cover.

'' What stands out on this front cover you can see?''
Nadia said the colour scheme and the artist because he is well known & the yellow and the black works well. This tells me that colour scheme should be limited and should link to the genre as a part of the colour itself representing the genre.

'' What age group do you think this would be targeted at?''
Afreen replied the teenagers aged 14-20 year old because Jay-Z is more involved with rap. This tells me that I should think about who I would put on my front cover according to the target audience I would be aiming at. Nadia said the artist is been out for a long time so their would be different age ranges this is aimed at.

''What attracts you on the contents page and why?''
Nadia said the celebrity image and Afreen said she likes the way the layout of the picture is on the left hand side, its not busy and the use of the colour scheme it looks good overall.

''On the double page spread, does it make you want to read it?''
Afreen said it is too simple, the text is small and would prefer a bigger picture. Nadia said there is too much text and colour scheme is plain.

''What would you expect to be on a double page spread for you to want to read it?''
Nadia said less text and Afreen said a drop down cap to make it look more appealing. This implies that many readers do not want to read a lot of text on a page but at the same time the text should be bigger and clearer along with larger images.

                  

Front Cover

Contents Page

 

Double Page Spread

 

Questionnaire Results

I asked 16 people during a period of time to take my questionnaire and from that I analysed my results today. Here is what I ended up with:

What I Learnt in Lesson Today

Today in my media lesson with Miss Silva, we analysed as a class with looking at the mark scheme at two previous front cover, context page and double page spreads that was done by students in previous years. We looked at one good piece of work and one bad piece of work.

What I learned from this lesson is that what should and should not be included on my front cover, contents page and double page spread which are:

Organising a Focus Group

For qualitative research, I arranged a focus group to answer the questions I came up with, according to analysing a Hip Hop/R'n'B magazine. By this it would show me different views from different people so I would know what is the most common or similar answers. From similar answers, this would teach me that I would have to work on what are the audiences likea and dislikes towards planning my music Hip Hop magazine.

Market Research

For my first type of market research, I created a questionnaire on a website called www.surverymonkey.com. Why I thought creating a questionnaire would help me is because since I would be designing the questions for people to answer, It would help me know what people generally think what would be good on and in a Hip Hop or R'n'B magazine. This would give me a brief idea of what is expected by the audience and from the answers I would receive, I would work on from that.


Here are the questions I designed on my questionnaire:

Now I would be asking people to answer my questionnaire and see what type of results I end up with. 

I have been doing research on up coming artists and came across Shide Boss. He is the new and up coming male artist which I hope to be researching about for my music magazine, as he is partly of Hip Hop genre but also R'n'B at the same time.

I thought, by using social networking sites such as twitter, I can possibly get in contact with him and I tweeted him what is shown below:

Here is what his official twitter page looks like:

Chosen sub-genre :)

My final sub-genre I have chose to base my music magazine on his Hip Hop mixed with R'n'B! Why I have chosen Hip Hop mixed with R'n'B is because it is very common and popular genre many people listen to, maybe on a daily basis. Also while I am researching about the genre, it would give me further knowledge on it that I would have not know about the genre itself before. In other words it would give me more insight on the genre. 

Picture Editing

I was playing around with picture editing on a website called befunky.com and came across some good edits. I chose a random picture of the artist Nicole Scherzinger and started playing around. Here is what I came up with which is shown below. The first picture is original picture I started from. 

Click on image to show original size 

By doing this, this gave me ideas of how I would like my front cover picture to be like with different types of edits and which one looks more effective. Also, since I am thinking of basing my magazine on the genre Hip Hop, I think by from the research I have seen images taken of other famous Hip Hop artists, most of their images are either photoshoped or edited to show the intensity of the picture.

Research on Hip Hop Artists!

I have been doing some research about the genre hip hop as I thought this is what is one of the most common genres that many people are into. 

I also did research on the most well known hip hop artists and here are a few examples: 

Drake (Drizzy)

Tyga

Cassie

            Keri Hilson                               

Rihanna


By researching famous Hip Hop artists, what I can see from these images is that what all these images have in common is they are taken from a mid shot. This tells me that in my front cover when I would be taking the picture or planning how I would take my picture on my flat plan, I would take it from a mid shot.

They are also wearing similar clothes as I would see it as they are wearing retro, casual blended with bling of the women images. For the men, they seem to be wearing classy, bling and either being top-less. This tells me that if I chose to have a female as my front cover image, I would focus on her clothing and make sure they are wearing what represents Hip Hop and what most top female Hip Hop artists would be wearing on music magazines. If I chose to have a male as my front cover image I would make sure they are wearing classy with bling type of clothes as many male Hip Hop artists are wearing currently in this generation.  

Analyses of front covers, contents page and DPS

I have analysed front covers, contents page and double page spread so that I have an idea of what is what conventions for certain genres. 

Analysis of magazines media music magg from melrose08