Competitors

• NME:

NME was the magazine that mine was mostly based on. I will try to incorporate many of the same conventions as they use, given that many participants in my reader profile survey said they like to read the magazine. The magazine's genre is very similar to the genre that I would be covering, indie/alternative rock. Therefore it would probably be my main competitor as the content covered within the two magazines is very similar. Also, both would have a very similar target audience. This would tend to be a multi-generational audience of people within the age range of approximately 15-30. However, NME is a weekly issue priced at approximately £2.50 per head, where-as my magazine is a monthly magazine priced at £3. During research, I found on online surveys that people found that the quality of NME issues is sometimes low due to the sometimes tedious nature of the content and the fact it is mass produced. Being a monthly magazine ensures that the content would be fresh within each issue, resulting in my magazine having a slight edge over this particular competitor.

• Mojo:

Given that this magazine is targeted more at just adults makes itself and my magazine slightly more different, however it would still be a large competitor due to the fact that the genre covered once again is very similar. Unlike NME, this magazine is a monthly issue, as is mine. This shows that there would be high demand for this as the readers may want to see fresher content that isn't out of date. Sometimes, NME tends to cover many different aspects of rock music such as, heavy metal, pop rock, etc. However Mojo tends to purely cover indie rock. My magazine would also do this. Not many other magazines cover only one kind of genre like this therefore there would be lots of competition between my magazine and Mojo.

• Uncut:

This magazine is very similar to Mojo in that it is one of the other few magazines which concentrate on indie rock, therefore there would be lots of competition. However, Uncut does tend to have a slightly older target audience and the content doesn't tend to cover new, up to date artists very often, therefore there may be more demand towards that magazine from older readers. Also Uncut is a monthly magazine so therefore readers may want to see fresher content, like they would if they were to buy magazine, so therefore there will be competition between my magazine and this one.

Time Management - Week 8

• I have created a post justifying the date of my photo shoot and why it will be appropriate for the photo shoot. 
• I have taken screen shots of the messages I sent to my models when arranging the photo shoot. This shows that I have organised my models and photo shoot appropriately.
• I have created a presentation looking at the types of costume I want my models to wear within the photo shoot. Therefore I can inform the models what they need to wear within the photo
• I have created a presentation looking into the different types of lighting that should be used within a photo shoot, and how I could use them to create certain effects within my product.
• Similarly, I have looked at cinematography and camera angles. I created a presentation on that as well to help my gain a better understanding.
• I have also done research into the sub genre of my magazine. This will allow me to make reference to the sub genres within my product.
• I have completed my Photoshop planning document which is a compulsory task and helps me to plan my photo shoot easily.

Communication with Models

Here is a screenshot of the email that I sent to my models prior to the photo shoot. This ensured that models knew exactly what they were required to do and that we had a good, organised schedule where-by everyone knew where we had to meet, ect.

Photo Shoot Date - Justification

Here is a screenshot of the weather forecast for the day that the photo shoot is set to take place. As you can see, the weather is going to be good on this day, therefore I will be able to achieve the natural light that I need for one the outdoor photo.

Sub Genre Research

This is a presentation of my research into the sub genres of indie rock; This research hoped me a lot because it ensured that I had a much deeper knowledge of the genre I was covering. It also made me realize which which sub genres were appropriate for the content of my magazine. For example researching the sub genre 'c86' taught me to include certain artists such as primal scream within the magazine as they were part of that particular sub genre.

Lighting Research

A video/slideshow showing my research into lighting. This research has helped me a lot as I now understand the connotations of certain lighting types and how they can be used in certain ways to suit my target audience and mise-en-scene. For example, I may use high key lighting in my photo shoot to make the band seem nice, friendly characters as this lighting method has connotations with brightness and friendliness.

Camera Angle Research

This is a video/slideshow I created on Powtoon showing my research into camera angles. This research has helped me a lot as I now understand the connotations of certain camera angles and how they can be used in certain ways to suit my target audience and mise-en-scene. Forr example; using a low angle to make the band seem to have authority and dominance over the reader.

Photo Shoot Planning Document

This is my photo shoot planning document in the form of a Powtoon presentation.

Costume Research

Here is a presentation that I created on Prezi showing various items of clothing that I want my models for the magazine to wear. These items are also strongly associated with my target audience.

Time Management - Week 7

• I have created the recce, which is a compulsory task and helps my to plan my photo shoot safely.
• I have created a post detailing which fonts I want to use and which ones I feel will be suitable to my product.
• I have then created my masthead, using the appropriate font and colour. This font will be used as the main logo/title for my product.

Recce

Masthead as Title

This is my logo for my magazine brand. This logo is pretty much the masthead of my magazine. Big rock magazines such as NME and Kerrang use their names as their logos. However, the thing that makes these logos unique is the font that is used. For example, if somebody saw the font that is used on NME, they would automatically associate that font with NME. The font that I have used is Myriad Pro and I want to ensure that this font is always associated with my magazine. This is why I have included that font on the logo.

Font Selection

The style of font that I have decided to use is Myriad Pro (Bold Italics). I visited many sites such as; Dafont, Font Squirrel and UrbanFonts.com to find the appropriate font for my magazine. However, I didn't find any fonts that I liked. Here a few examples of fonts that I was contemplating using;

       

Comix Loud - I decided not to use this font as I thought it looks too informal. It is the sort of font that would appeal more to children than my target audience.

  

Varsity - I felt this font wasn't appropriate because it has strong connotations with the RNB/HipHop genre. I would feel this my put off my target audience as they would prefer to see a font that is more associated with rock music.







Whilst producing my practice magazine front cover on Photoshop, I browsed through some of the fonts already installed on that program. This is where I found Myriad Pro. I located the font and applied it to the text. I found that this font looked very cool and easy on the eye. However, when it wasn't in bold italics, I found that it looked too formal and wouldn't suit my target audience. I applied the bold and italics to the font and thought it looked like the perfect font to use for my magazine as it looked; neat, professional and very slick.
Here is a sample of the font.

Time Management - Week 6

This week has very much involved getting familiar with the program Adobe Photoshop.

• I created a practice past issue to enhance my Photoshop skills. This is also useful as I will use this issue to advertise the subscription section of the contents page.
• I then created the preliminary college magazine task in a group of several people. This again enhance my Photoshop usage as I was able to see how to use the program effectively in a group.

Preliminary Task - College Magazine

Our preliminary task was to create a magazine front cover and contents page for the college. Here is a presentation showing a step by step run-down of how me and my group created a college magazine.

Photoshop Usage

Before I created this blog, I hadn't used Adobe Photoshop for anything. I was totally new to the program however after watching a few Photoshop tutorial videos on YouTube and getting some help from peers who had used it in the past, I was able to do some of the following tasks;

• While creating the presentation of my magazine deconstruction scans, I used photo shop as a way of transforming the scanned document from being a PNG to a JPEG. This meant that I could save the document as an image therefore I was able to easily transfer the document onto my Powerpoint Presentation.
• This is a practice magazine front cover that I created a practice magazine front cover on Photoshop. 
  
• The original feedback that I received from peers and my lecturer was very positive. They said that the document had a nice simplistic feel, that it looked realistic and professional and that the dominant image was edited well.
• However they felt that there was aspects of the front cover that could be improved and that I should make alterations, such as; filling in the white space in the background, including more photos and including more information. I will take this constructive criticism into account when I create my real magazine in order to ensure it is up to a high standard.
• I also filled out the 'G321 Introduction to Photoshop' booklet. This helped me as I had to write inside the booklet how to perform certain tasks such as; creating new documents, adding layers, using the tool bar and using adjustment tools. This helped me to gain a better understanding and once the booklet was completed, I felt that I was a lot more familiar with Photoshop.

Time Management - Week 5

In this week;                                                                                                                          

• I have completed my proposal form which is a compulsory task.
• I have also completed my potential problems table which helps me identify which precautions I must take when preforming the photo shoot.
• I have assessed my overall time management within September in order to make sure I am up to date with everything within the course.
• I then made a post detailing what I hope and plan to achieve in the month of October.

Potential Problems Table

This is a presentation showing the different possible problems that could occur and hamper the process of me creating my coursework. I have also stated within the presentation what I will do to prevent these problems.

Proposal Form

This is a presentation showing the different steps of my proposal form, such as; original images, conventions, target audience, ect.