26/04/2017 Coursework Finished!

Hi!
Sorry I didn't post yesterday, I was so stressed over my coursework deadline. I had lost my memory stick with all of my coursework on so I was panicking. I went into school bricking one but thankfully my PE teacher had found my memory stick on the floor in PE as it fell out of my pocket on the Monday. Crisis averted. However, as I mentioned in my previous blog, I had a lot of work to do in a short space of time but thankfully, I got it finished before the 4:30 deadline. I am quite happy with how it turned out, but I don't really like the images I have. If I could do it again I think I would do a different genre because I had some quite nice ideas as I have previously mentioned in other blogs that didn't follow the conventions of an indie magazine so therefore I couldn't use them.

I will post the Finished product in a separate blog.

24/04/2017 I've Lost My Work!

I got back to school today ready to finally finish my music magazine. I couldn't do it over the holidays because half way through the holidays my InDesign just decided to stop working and I couldn't find a fix anywhere. However, I got most of my work done before this happened. But when I got to school today, none of my work has saved from what I have done over the holidays...

I have alot of work to do with 2 days to go.

22/04/17 Taking my last photos

Today I took some photos for my magazine. I needed a photo for my contents page and my double page spread. the photo in the top left is for my contents page. I took alot of various photos and these are not the photos I am using but this is just an idea of what they're going to look like.

21/04/2017 Update

Tomorrow I am going to take my final DPS photo so today I researched some duet band shoots. I would like to take something along the lines of this image.

However, obviously mine will feature my 2 band members and I might take this in a living room or something to show that my band are working even when they are relaxing at home. I think something along those lines would look really nice.

I'll update yous more tomorrow after I've taken the images!

Mojo DPS The Last Shadow Puppets

In this double page spread, the image spreads across both pages. This is quite uncommon in indie magazines but I think it works well with the duet. However, I am not really a fan of the image. Alex Turner is known as a typical rock star but here he looks really happy and dressed really smart. I don't think the image captures the attitude of the band. I like how they have split it so that there is a band member on each page. My band in my magazine is a duet but I don't think I will be doing this with my double page spread. I am going to stick to an image on the left and article on the right.

The headline is nice because it relates to the band because Alex Turner is the main singer of the Arctic Monkeys who are a huge band and Miles Kane is a successful solo artist so the Best of Both Worlds is meaning that they are a solo artist and a band member merging into a separate band. I also like the gradient for the text going from orange to white. It is a nice contrast to the black and white image. I am going to have my headline above my article rather than having it over two pages and instead of having a gradient, I am going to have a coloured drop shadow behind to add some more colour. 

NME DPS David Bowie

This double page spread from NME is quite different from others. For one, there is no mast head saying David Bowie but a pull quote from the article as the mast head. This works really well here because Bowie is such an iconic figure in the world of music that he doesn't need a title saying who he is because everyone knows what he looks like. This feature works well in this magazine but it wouldn't work well in mine because my band aren't successful worldwide and not all of my audience will recognise them. 

The picture of Bowie is very effective and looks very iconic. It links well with the headline because it looks like he is stressed out over what is 'dragging him back'. The black and white effect also links in with this because Bowie is normally full of colour and life but here he is washed out. I like this effect because it contrasts well with David Bowie's personality. However, in my mag I think I will stick to a colour photo, maybe even liven up the colours even more with some effects using Photoshop. 

NME always use dotted lines to separate their paragraphs of text. I think this looks better than having a straight line to separate the text so I will most likely add a dotted line in as well. 

NME DPS

In this NME double page spread, they have put the image on the right hand side of the page. This is not unusual but most magazines have their image on the left side of the page. I don't think it makes that much of a difference but I am going to have my image on the left side of the page.

I like the image because it shows the whole band and you can tell they are all in the same band because they dress relatively similar and they are all holding the same things. It is quite a simple studio shot but I really like it because of how simple it is. I am going to take my DPS image on location because my front cover shot is in a studio and I don't want to repeat anything because it will make the magazine look rushed and boring. 

I like the pull quote included in the text. It is eye-catching and the actual quote is quite a statement. It gives the audience a taste if the bands attitude. By saying "they can deal with us" suggests that they aren't a band that has a negative public image. I like how they have a yellow background with the blue text in. I will include a pull quote in my magazine which will feature a quote from my Q&A in my article. 

Double page spread headline

For my headline for my double page spread, I am saying "In the presence of...". I think this works well because my band is called Royalty and magazines tend to add witty headlines in if they have an opportunity. I have used the same font for my "In the presence of..." as what I have used for "Rhythm" on my front cover. This works well because it shows that they're part of the same magazine by showing the 'iconic' font.

Fonts I Am Using

Using http://www.dafont.com/, I have selected a few fonts which I am going to use throughout my magazine. I surveyed my friends and family and they told me which ones I should use out of 3 possible options. I am using:
labyrinthe_du_paradis
leixo
lemon_milk
royalacid
summer_jams

They will all be used for headlines/headers. I will likely also use either arial or times new roman for my double page spread text.

06/04/2017 Front Cover Re-Shoot

Today I went back into the studio to try and perfect my front cover image. Thankfully, the ones I took were in focus. I got a few different ones so I need to decide which pose I like the best to put on the front of my magazine. I will be editing them at home to make them look crisp.

 I like the fact they're not wearing similar clothes. I know this goes against some conventions of band photoshoots but I think it gives them their own sense of individuality and shows off their attitude. The sunglasses indoors also hints at some sort of drug use/bad boy attitude so I made him wear them.

I will be choosing one of these to put on my front cover but I need to edit them first on Photoshop.

05/04/2017 Failed Front Cover Shoot

Today I went back in to the studio to take my front cover shots. They didn't turn out how I wanted them to. When I uploaded them to the computer I noticed they were all out of focus so I couldn't use them. Here is one of the photos I took:

The photo is out of focus on their faces so I cant use it on my final cut. I really like the outfits they were wearing because it makes them look indie. I didn't want them both to be looking at the camera because I think that looks boring and generic so I had Joe look off to the side to show his "don't care" attitude. 

I am going to be taking more shots tomorrow and hopefully they'll be better!

Rough Cut Peer Review

Today in class we partnered up and reviewed each others rough cut magazine. We analysed them and said what we liked and what needed to be improved on our magazine and blog. Here is my partner said about my magazine:

03/04/2017 New Front Cover Image

Today I went to the studio and took some more shots for my front cover. I changed the photo on my front cover because previously it was shot on location which doesn't really follow the conventions of an indie mag front cover.

This is my new image for my front cover. I prefer it to my old one but I might take another one and make it even better. I will need to change the costume of the guy on the left because he doesn't look as stereotypical as they guy on the right.