Specific codes and conventions

Specific codes and conventions

Masthead- the title used by known typography to make the readers become familiar with what magazine they are reading.

Main image- typically consisting of a leading artists or bands within the music genre of the magazine.

Strapline- seen as an introductory headline below the main title to give an insight to the magazine.

Top and bottom strip- these are the strips below and above the magazine that give further information to what may be included in the magazine.

Coverlines- the essential articles inside the magazines are stated through sell lines, these are regularly seen at the right hand side of the cover.

Left third- the left third contains the main feature.  

planning of the magazine

Music Magazine planning sheet

What Genre?

My magazine will cover the genre electronic music but will also cover RnB.

Who is my target audience?  How old are they? Where do they live?

My target audience is mainly for teenagers who listen to electronic music. The readers will be worldwide with all the different artists that are from around the world.

What is the name of my magazine?

The name of my magazine is going to be electronic sound. This is because this is the genre of the magazine and it gives you the sound of the music to your mind.

What will be the main image of the front cover?

The main image on my front cover will be two lads looking up to the sky with their hands up in the air. This is because it will look like they are bringing the music to their mind and joining in with the crowd.

What type of photography will be required?

The image will be a medium shot. It will show what the two lads are wearing to show what their characteristics are like. It will show the vibe which they’re in.

What is your focus going to be on your double page spread?

My main focus will be the main picture on the front cover. There will be information about their careers and what they have done with music recently. There will be a fact file about the two lads and a Q&A.

What are your ideas about the contents page?

My main ideas are that there are going to be many pictures of various artists. There will be the page numbers down the left hand side of the page with the different bits of information of what would be in the magazine. The colours used in the contents page will basic colours like black and white. This is because the main focus is the information and pictures. This will show that there will be more to the magazine than the layout and colours.

Mise-en-scene

Mise-en-scene

My main idea for my music magazine is that the background on the front cover will be a dark coloured background. Using this symbolises the plainness of the magazine and that the main picture on the front cover will be the main feature of the front cover.
The picture of the artist/band will be a medium shot. Using a medium shot helps the audience see what they are like for example what clothes they are wearing. The picture will have 2 guys with their back to the camera, looking up to the sky with their hands up. This relates to the genre of the music magazine (electronic). This is because this sort of music involves this movement.
The people involved in the front cover will be wearing a plain black or white top. This is because they will be dressed casual and not making a fuss what they will be wearing. Also, by wearing this, it goes good with what the background cover will be like.
The composition will be clear and professional. It will reflect the genre of electronic and appeal to my target audience.
At the end, everything on the magazine cover will be modern and appeal to the genre.
The font of the main title will be in bold and in the colour white. Using this helps the audience see it easier going with the dark coloured background.

different shot types

Ben Sommerville Media Homework Camera shots

·         Master- A master shot is a recording of an entire scene. Master shots, also known as long shots or establishing shots, produce the foundational shot for a scene. All subsequent shots are used to highlight close-ups and other aspects of the scene. Master shots can be recorded using different techniques to enhance the emotions or atmosphere of a scene and can be used with any type of film equipment.

·         Extreme Close Up- a picture or scene taken from an extreme close range. You could show an extreme close-up of some lips while someone is speaking.

·         Close up- A photograph or a film or television shot in which the subject is tightly framed and shown at a relatively large scale. Close up shots would be used in an argument when two people are face to face at each other. This is because the camera is only showing the two peoples faces.

·         Mid medium shot- In photography, film, or videotape production, shot where the subject and background share equal dominance in the picture. A medium shot of an individual will take in the body from the knees or waist up.

·         Long shots- In photography, filmmaking and video production, a long show typically shows the entire object or human figure and is usually intended to place it in some relation to its surroundings. A long shot would be used to show the larger settings before zooming in to show the detail.

·         Extreme long shot- A wider frame value in which subjects in the frame are small; a building, cityscape. The use of an extreme long shot could be used when a person is jumping of a building and you can only see the person slightly because of the extreme long shot. You would mostly see the buildings surrounding the person so the people viewing this would see what the person is jumping into.

·         Establishing shot- In motion pictures and television production, opening shot that establishes the environment of a show or scene. The establishing shot usually has a wide field of view and serves to orient the audience to the surroundings of the situation they are about to see.

·           High angle shot- Not so extreme as a bird's eye view. The camera is elevated above the action using a crane to give a general overview. High angles make the object photographed seem smaller, and less significant. The object or character often gets swallowed up by their setting - they become part of a wider picture.

 ·         Low angle shot- These increase height and give a sense of speeded motion. Low angles help give a sense of confusion to a viewer, of powerlessness within the action of a scene. The background of a low angle shot will tend to be just sky or ceiling, the lack of detail about the setting adding to the disorientation of the viewer. The added height of the object may make it inspire fear and insecurity in the viewer, who is psychologically dominated by the figure on the screen.

·         Point of view- This shot shows a view from the subject's perspective. It is usually edited in such a way that it is obvious whose POV it is.

·         Wide shot- A video or film recording made with the camera positioned to observe the most action in the performance.

 ·         Two shot- In film, a shot that gives us a character's point of view but that includes part of that character's shoulder or the side of the head in the shot.

Different audience Theories incompleted

Passive Audiene- the passive audience theory is where the affilates of the audience just sit and consume the aspects of media texts. This mainly happens in adverts. This is because it is believed that the active part of the brain wasn't needed to be used. This is because the audience believes that all messages in media text is acceptable to the brain. All of this infomation is the passive audience theory.

Active Audiences- the active audience theory is the theoryof kind of the opposite of the passive theory. Because of this, this theory doesn't involve the audience being 'couch potatoes' unlike what they were in the passive audience theory. The main reason why the active audience theory is different is because they interact with process within the communication and have their own purpose for media texts.

drawing of idea for magazine cover

Progress Production of a magazine

Content- At the beginning of the production cycel of a current issue an editorial team will get together to decide what will be covered in the magazine. The meeting is a forum for new ideas but also it is where the editor can inform the editorial staff of changes to the format, extent or placement of regular items. Many magazines feature articles about topics they have covered in previous issues. This is because the repeated topics are particularly relevant to their target market and there is an opportunity to include new developments. Regularly featuring key topics increases the likelihood of enticing new readers. The editor has to be careful to keep the balance between old and new to keep longstanding readers happy too. Once the focus of the particular edition and the topics to be covered are decided, the editor can then meet with the art director and/or commission an illustrator or photographer to work on imagery for the front cover. The main front cover image needs to be striking and symbolic of the issue’s main theme. Sometimes imagery for features and news pieces will be discussed, however, it is often the writer of an article who sources the imagery to go with it.

Research and Writing- What follows is a frenzy of research and copy writing. The editorial staff phone around contacts, arrange meetings with interviewees and often do background topic research using the internet and any online subscriber news databases they have (eg Reuter’s Textline). Often they will do background research specific to a particular interview or press conference before they attend. Members of an editorial team usually take it in turns to do ‘post duty’. This involves sifting through post sent to the editorial office by marketing managers, agents and PR agencies and sorting it into useful items, potentially useable items and rubbish.

Sub editing- Depending on the publication, sub-editing can take place before page layout or during page layout. The editor or sub-editor, if there is one, will act in the interests of quality control and query any loose ends, ambiguous text or items that may not be clear to the reader. Once they have read an article they will cut it down to a size to fill the space available or ask the person who wrote it to cut down or re-write certain parts to clarify them or bring them into house style. If the article runs too short they will ask the writer to fill it out.

Production- When most of the articles have been written, the editorial staff and/or dedicated layout staff typeset or lay out the pages using Quark XPress, Pagemaker or InDesign. Often the layout team, under the direction of the art director, focus on setting advert pages while the editorial team, under the direction of the editor, lay out the article pages. This saves time because the writers of the articles don’t have to spend time passing their text on to someone else to do the layout. Difficult or complex articles to lay out are usually given to the art director to arrange a suitable layout treatment.

Proof Reading- As laid out pages are completed, members of the editorial department will print them off and give them to the other members for proof reading. Once the corrections are taken in, an article will be printed out again for a second round of proof reading by the editorial department and any corrections previously missed will be incorporated into the publication.

preliminary front cover mock up

research- kerrang linkin park

Research- Vibe Magazine

Magazine research- elektro

The Magazine cover is dominated by the title. Using the red font and it is extremely bold instantly makes you look at it as soon as you see the magazine. The title is a plain simple title. This connotes that it gives the reader what they need without being muddled by unneeded information. Elektro shows that it is a big music magazine. This is shown by the amount of the famous DJ’s names which are printed onto the magazine. This gives the reader an idea that these DJ’s are a main part of the edition of the magazine. Using the amount of names which have been used, it connotes that there is going to be a lot of information about these DJ’s which may give fans of these a lot of excitement about purchasing the magazine to see more things about their favourite DJ’s. Along with the title, it has the words ‘premiere edition’ going through the title. Using this shows that this edition of the magazine a huge edition. This is because the word premiere is spelt as it could be one of its first published. Also, it is in a bright yellow colour. By using the colour yellow, the brightness of the font would have the reader looking at the ‘premiere edition’ along with the title. The background of the magazine is a DJ who we can assume is the main feature in the magazine. The lighting of the picture shows that this type of music makes people happy. The DJ’s eyes show that he is looking at the crowd. This instantly connotes the happiness of the background.

Preliminary exercise evaluation task- completed

Evaluation

Points of success- 

The points of success about my preliminary task was that i could layout a simple magazine and contents page. Another success is that i could remember the basics of using Photoshop and In Design from GCSE Media. This helped me a lot so i could get on with my work without asking for help from Miss.

Areas for improvement-

I think i need to improve on my layout for my layout for my magazine. This is because i couldn't decide  where i would put my pictures and texts. This would help me loads in my final task because it could help me get a brilliant grade in my final design. 

What have i learned?-

During this task, i have learned more about Photoshop and In design that what i did at GCSE. When i come up to do the final task, i will understand which tool is which and how to use these tools. I have also learnt how professional i can make my final task. I also have learnt how a professional Magazine looks like. I have learnt how i can make my final design look as professional as i can. 

Have i met the criteria for the brief?

i feel that i have met the criteria for the brief. I have placed a picture and text on my front cover to show what would be in the magazine and information about the magazine. 

Preliminary contents page mock up

Action Plan