Contents Page Analysis

Double Page Spread Analysis

Things to include in my double page spread:

Run arounds - These are the almost speech bubble like quotations dotted around the double page spread article, I believe these are very affective in drawing in the reader.

Direct Address - This is another way to draw in the reader, I could directly address them similarly to the Top of the Pops article.

And overall just making sure that my article is suitably layed out to suit the interests of my target audience.

Main Image

The photo I decided to use for my main image on the front cover of my magazine was this one...

On its own it looks pretty plain and apart from the graffiti in the background and the clothing it doesn't have much reference to the grime genre, so I thought it might be effective to add an effect to the image to make it more 'grimey'...

The filter effect use in this photo is known as 'Fresco', after going through virtually every filter on Photoshop CS4 I finally decided on this one, as you can see it slightly darkens the image and gives it an almost dirt-like texture to it, this I believe makes the image look more urban which relates really well to the grime genre.

Magazine Name

The name of the magazine is massively important, it has to give the reader an impression of what they are to expect from the magazine, for example KERRANG! is a rock magazine they have used onamatopoeia to create there title, if you hear this title you kind of get the impression it has something to do with guitars, and guitars are widely associated with Rock thus helping consumers to understand what the magazine is about from the off.
As I said earlier there isn't one current ongoing magazine which is solely dedicated to grime therefore I have a wide choice from titles (all the good ones haven't been taken).
After thinking through my magazine name decision, I thought as my magazine is new to the market and there isn't one around like it, the title would have to make it obvious to consumers what my magazines about, therefore there couldn't be a more suitable name than...

In order to create my masthead, I searched for these two fonts on 1001fonts.com, I then downloaded them and installed them onto my laptop, and uploaded them onto Adobe Photoshop CS4, I then played about with the size of the fonts until I was satisfied.

From my analysis of these front covers, I have noticed that there is a few key techniques and conventions which I could include in my front cover to improve it from my preliminary task:

- The use of a barcode, date and price (These are little things which could make my magazine look that bit more proffesional)

- Theme colours of the magazine change regularly to not bore the consumer.

- Masthead font must stay the same yet the colour can change depending on the colour of the clothing of the artist, colour of the background or just the general theme of the issue.

- Main image should preferably be a mid-shot or close up (makes the cover stand out to the consumer)

- The font colour should always stand out from background colours so it is easily read.

- The main feature of the magazine e.g. artist name should be large and stand out on the page.

CONTENTS DRAFT 1

I thought it would benefit me if I tried out more than just one layout for my front cover, double page spread and contents, this lets me explore further into the different styles and effects that are used to create one of these pages, and hopefully this will show that one layout is better than another, helping me decide which one to use for my final piece.

Here are some of the layouts I came up with...

Location and Images

As my magazine genre is grime I thought it would make sense to take pictures of my artist with a graffiti based background, I done this as graffiti and criminal damage are things that are often related to the streets, which is where my genre originates from.

Here are some of my original photographs...

As you can see I have used a wide range of shots some shot types I have used are:

Long Shot - Also known as a Wide shot this is where the subject takes up the full frame or atleast as much as comfortably possible, this shot will show the whole body of the model in the shot which gives height to the image.

Mid Shot - Shows some part of the subject in more detail while still giving an impression of the whole subject. This is an approximation of how you would see a person "in the flesh" if you were having a casual conversation. You wouldn't be paying any attention to their lower body, so that part of the picture is unnecessary.

Close-up - This is where a certain feature or part of the subject takes up most of the frame. A close up of a person usually means a close up of their face, a close-up of a person emphasizes their emotional state.

Medium Close-up - This is halfway between a mid shot and a close up, This shot shows the face more clearly, without getting uncomfortably close.