Chad: Final Drafts

Callum: Front Cover and Contents Final Drafts

Front Cover: Final Draft

Contents: Final Draft

Callum: Second Draft Contents & DPS

DPS, Second Draft

Contents, Second Draft

Chad: First Draft Of Magazine

Cover
Here is my first draft of my front cover:

 ANALYSIS


Contents
Here is my first draft of my contents page.

ANALYSIS


Double Page Spread
Here is my first draft of my double page spread.

ANALYSIS

Chad: Mock Ups

Here is my front cover mock up.

Here is my contents page mock up.

Chad: Photoshoots & Selection/ Rejection

Photoshoot 1: Friday 21st October

I decided to do the photoshoot for my front cover first. Because it is meant to be a high class magazine aimed at mid twenty year olds, I chose my model's costume to reflect this, so I dressed him in a chambray shirt and piped charcoal blazer (I neeedn't bother with what trousers he was wearing, as it was only ever going to be a mid-shot). I chose these because they look smart, yet stylish and edgy - and I think this fitted with the musical scene. I didn't apply any makeup, because I thought that there was nothing that I couldn't fix with Photoshop.

For the front cover, I wanted a studio-style shot, like you find on the more classy magazines. One flaw was this, though, that I did not have access to any kind of studio. To resolve this issue, I identified the most important aspects of studio shots - being well-lit and having no background- and wondered what I could do about them. I decided that to have no background I could simply do this on Photoshop, as long as I did it well. To fix the lighting issue, I would get the best lit place I could find, and face my model at the light source. I took my photos between lessons, and used the best lit place in sixth form.  I think this worked well.

Selection/Rejection
Here are a few of the photos which I rejected:

 

I chose to not use this picture, as it wasn't a Mid-shot. This would mean I would have to crop it more than necessary which would reduce the quality in the final print.

I chose to not use this picture because, the facial expression was incredibly bad. The lighting was almost perfect, but the expression I could not even edit to improve...

I chose to not use this picture, because it was over-lit. This would have meant it would have been almost impossible to edit too. It also wasn't in the right orientation - it wasn't portrait, which would mean I would have had a lot of cropping to do. Plus the pose wasn't that great either.

In the end, I chose to use this photo:

I chose this because I like the pose - it is quite a professional looking pose which I think will go well on my front cover. It is not that conventional, as he isn't looking at the camera, however not looking at the camera has been done before - see here and here. Also, it is in full focus and the lighting is quite good - apart from it is slightly too too yellow, yet I can fix this in photoshop. Finally it is in portrait, which means there is less to crop.

I have also chosen to use this picture for my contents page. I have chose this because I like the pose, and the lighting. I would not use it for my front cover as it isn't serious enough I think. I will change the background to a more colourful photo too.

Photoshoot 2: Tuesday 25th October

Next I decided to do the photoshoot for one of the contents page photos. I used a female model for this picture, as in the survey analysis we realised we should at least feature some females, to make it appeal more to that market. I wanted to try and feature artist's that look like they represent different areas of music, and so I was aiming this picture to look like an American Pop star. Because of this I dressed my model up in an American style -  varsity jacket, and a matching striped dress. I did use makeup this time but kept it natural looking apart from some red lipstick, which I thought would add some American glamour. Unfortunately, my model did have some moles where makeup would have to be very thick to cover them, so I will remove these and any other imperfections in Photoshop.

For this picture I wanted the location to seem American too, so I want it to be in an American looking city at night. There are two problem with this - one is that night time photos are tricky to get the lighting just right, and the second is the most obvious - I do not have the budget to travel to an American city to take the photo. I will resolve these two issues in two ways: Firstly I will take the photos in daylight and then in the Photoshop editing stage edit them in a way to make them look like they were taken at night. It is much easier to control the light if you take them during the day, and this is what some professionals do when taking night scenes (e.g. the nightime surfing sequence at the beginning of the film 'Die Another Day') so it is not unheard of. I will cut out my model from the photo using photoshop and, place it over a night time american city background, and try to make it look as realistic as possible. For this picture I wanted to take a photo that was well lit, but with some shading so that it would fit in better within the night time scene. It didn't matter where the location was, just as long as the lighting was good.

I took this photoshoot in Brigg, midday Tuesday 25th October, which was the half term holidays.

Selection/Rejection
In this photoshoot, there were some good as well as bad photos. Here is a selection of the photos which I rejected.

A close up. I didn't use this one because I didn't like the facial expression, and I didn't think it would work as a photo. I may consider doing a close-up photo in the future however.

I chose to not use this one because almost all of her face is in shadow. This does not look at all professional.

I could not use this picture as it was very blurry. This would not look at all good in the magazine, and would look incredibly unprofessional.

Here is the photo that I am deciding to use.

I have chosen to use this, mainly because I like the pose. Also the lighting is quite good too, as not much as in shadow apart from the side of her face and the folds of her clothes. Obviously it has been taken during the day, however I can make it look like it was taken at night time quite easily. It is in full focus which will look crisp and sharp in the magazine, and it is a Medium Long Shot.

Photoshoot 3:TBC
Photoshoot 4:TBC

Callum: Mock Ups

Front Cover

Contents

Both: Contents Analysis: DJ Magazine

Issue: February 2009

DJ Magazine's single page contents has a very professional, well designed feel to it. The very first thing you see is the magazines sell line "Living And Breathing Dance Music", as it is on the centre-top of the page. The left of the page ties in with the front cover, because it features the same cover model (though in a slightly different pose) and refers to - and expands upon - the cover story, whilst using the same phrase "Flicking two fingers...". The portrait of the cover model looks quite professionally taken, is slightly artistic, and the colours match the 'FEATURES' section of the contents by being monochromatic. 


The 'FEATURES' section is separated from the rest of the contents as it has a completely different background colour, is in a different column to the rest of the contents page, and has its own colour scheme - which is monochromatic. There is also a unique typeface that hasn't been used anywhere else on the contents page. This is used to describe the feature stories a little bit more.

The contents of the magazine are split into colour-coded sections. The colours used are all modern, neon colours that match the youthful dance vibe of the magazine. The different sections are: 'UPFRONT', 'ACCESS ALL AREAS' 'MUSIC' and 'TECH'. The front of the magazine is the most read part of a magazine, as people tend to flick through front to back, rather than the other way round. The Magazine production team know this, so place the most popular articles (and features) in the first and aptly named "UPFRONT" section. In this section there are: all 4 cover features, plus another 10-page special feature, a fashions page, an editorial, and a gossip page (entitled "Bitchin' - which is a colloquialism"). The  'ACCESS ALL AREAS' section seems slightly more niche, and is filled with articles from clubs/studios around the world. The next section - 'MUSIC'  - includes a guest celebrity columnist's article, and some reviews of singles, albums and compilations - each with their own articles. Finally, the last (and most niche) section of all - 'TECH'  includes reviews of technological stuff. This is probably the least-read section of the magazine.

The typography of the magazine is all in a very modern sans-serif font. The leading of the text is quite large - which helps with keeping the contents page less cluttered. The letters are quite spaced out too, which also helps make it appear less cluttered. Around the mixing deck in the bottom right corner of the magazine, the text is wrapped. The tone of the magazine seems halfway between informal/ easy to read, and technical language. This is because it features informal language and colloquialisms - ("Bitchin' ") alongside technical language ("integrated DVJing software".)

All the photos on the magazine seem quite artistic and -in the case of the club and pool pics - atmospheric. This helps the page seem even more professional. The magazines website is written at the center-bottom of the page. This is to advertise the magazine's website as the contents page is one of the most seen pages of the magazine; and so that readers who want to find out more of the latest dance and DJ related news can look at the website to find this out.

After looking at this contents page, we will try to also have a professional, well designed feel to the ours; our sell line will be situated at the center-top of the page; our photos will be slightly artistic; and we will try to have as wide a range of articles as the magazine, but less of them. Because the magazine will have up to 50 pages, all of them will be similar to the first 50 pages of current magazines - which contain the better, more popular feature articles. This means that our magazine will be filled - from back to front with these quality features. Unlike DJ MAG, we won't feature colloquialisms such as "Bitchin'" as this lowers the standard slightly. For our typography, we will also use a modern sans serif font with a large-ish leading to help look less cluttered, and, in places, we will use text wrapping to make pages seem less 'boxy'. We will try and have a more formal tone of register than DJ MAG, so that the articles seem more professional, however, we will not have it so formal that it becomes too technical and high culture, as this will narrow our target audience.

Callum: Preliminary Contents Page Analysis

This is a mockup of the contents page.  The continued usage of the contrasting Dark Blue Purple and Pure Yellow continues the brand identity from the front page, but creates a very bright and colourful aesthetic for the rest of the magazine.  The fonts (OCR Standard A for “Contents”, Monaco for everything else) are the same as on the front cover keeping consistency.

The stories I chose are keeping in step with the light hearted formal tone that would make it interesting for Sixth Form students to read.  Since this would be the issue that goes out on September 2011, the start of term, the stories reflect this by focusing on help for those who may not be familiar with Sixth Form.  Stories like “The On Form Survival Guide” and “Teachers Are People Too!” are to help newer students come to grips with the Sixth Form.

Meanwhile, the Interview makes the front cover story mean something.  And the regulars are the sorts of things that Sixth Form students would need and want (News, an Events Calendar) and also the kinds of things magazines usually have (Editorial, Letters, Next Issue).

Next time I do a contents page, I will thoroughly proof read it (the misspelling of “People”).  I will also, probably, reduce the size of the text on the page and not re-use the front cover image on the inside.

Chad: Contents Page

In the blank space below, would be an advert or photo.