Buying Props - Quick Update

On the 28th of February I will be getting paid from my job so then I will be able to buy the necessary props from stores to be able to obtain a certain look for my individuals that I am taking photos of.

Improvements towards the photos

With the photos that I have taken there are a number of improvements that I can make with them. With the photos with the two individuals in the studio room the main issue that I had was that the lighting was not really flushed out between the two and it was evident that the lighting was aimed directly at their faces not at the rest of their bodies not providing enough lighting towards the entirety of the rest of the photos.


Furthermore with the photos of the individual standing in front of a car if I wanted to cut out the frame of the two of them and place them in a different environment I wouldn't be able to do so. The reason as to why is that the car bonnet was reflecting the backgrounds of the area that they were currently in so having that image inside of a desert for example would be ridiculous as it would show sand around the exterior of the car but then the reflection is then showing concrete walls and grass.


With the clothes that the same individual was wearing standing in front of the car bonnet the problem that I had was that the top half of him looked great with the black jacket but then the bottom half of him didn't really follow through with the design motion for clothing. It looked as if he was wearing jogging bottoms or rather than him wearing jeans which could be more suitable for that photo shoot.


With the images of the two individuals in the studio the problem that I had with most of the photos is that I cut out the top half of their heads in some of the shots or shook the camera as I pressed the snap button to take the photo which was my fault. Further the individual that was on the left was wearing a regular jumper which didn't really go with what the other individual was wearing and because of this one looked better than the other which didn't really work with the initial design of what I wanted for my magazine.


Now with this I will be retaking these photos with better lighting better help and also assistance of better photography students and teachers to help me obtain the right ideas and captures of what I want for my photos.


I wanted to have the main image as either a close up shot of someone's face or rather the other one that didn't go so well which had the individual sitting on the fur chair which then use to much photo-shop which would not suite the ideas that I had.

Photo shots

Front cover plan design

As I was doing some research over the past couple of days I found some magazines over the internet that intrigued as there initial design matched mine with their front cover design. What I wanted was that the front cover of my magazine to be a close up image of an individuals face and having them making direct address. I have images below of where I got this idea from and also some examples of it.

 

 With these magazines the design idea really caught me rather than just having two individuals that were standing in the photo booth practically bathing in jewelry. I knew that kind of shot wasn't practical enough for me to get done at school as I wouldn't know where to get that kind of jewelry from. Throughout the past couple of days I have asked peers family members about it but no one has that kind of jewelry to match it.

I think one of the ones that I would like to take a few design hints from is the XXL magazine below, the main image is in the shot and also has some jewelry and its not to an extent to where people feel intimidated by the level or quality of the jewelry he's wearing and even with that the jewelry he has is silver. The individual is also making direct address which is one of the ideas that I wanted to have while making my own front cover but also the way that the image doesn't really completely blend in with the rest of the magazine as if he's trying to break away from it a little bit really kinds of stands out as the image of Drake for the VIBE magazine shows how he blends completely into the magazine which does also have a strange way of allowing himself to become immersed into the magazine while the XXL magazines main image try's to break away in a sense.

Rough Drawings of my ideas

These are rough drawings of the ideas for my images that I had in mind. the first one is the main image sitting down on a chair showing his status and connotations of that chair being his throne along with the fur jacket showing some of this aristocracy in a sense. The second drawing is the idea that I spoke about with the individual looking into a mirror to see the reflection of himself or his true self in a sense.

Risk assessment

The risks that are present with m magazine are pretty minimal, as the shots that I am taking will not put anyone in any impending danger such as having me myself stand on top of a ladder to try and get a shot of the person balancing on one leg on top of a table. As I have stated in my plan the shots that I will have revolve around someone sitting in a chair which the only risk would be them rocking backwards and falling off. Another risk would be me taking a shot of the individual in the public as I may have to get he consent of individuals just incase I don't annoy someone as they didn't want there photo to be taken.

Plan for my Photography

With the task at hand of taking photos to be used for my magazines front page contents page and double page spread I will need to use the camera that is currently at school, as of now I currently do not have the means to take photos at home and I know that taking the photos with a phone would result in my downfall as I would have low quality and pixelated photos.

For Hip hop magazine looking at the other conventions of related magazines most of there front covers tend to have men who are dressed in a way that makes them look excessive as in anyone's day to day life no body would wear that amount of jewelry or even the type of clothing that they were wearing. For example the latest magazines that I have analyzed shows two men standing next to each other wearing thick coats with fur and loads of jewelry such as gold rings about 10 watches loads of chains tattoos no vests on showing the abs and so forth.

Now in my college I doubt that there is anyone that has the natural look or physique that these men have or that is shown in related magazines. However for my magazine I  don't need them to take of there tops to show there abs or anything of the such. For my magazine I would like to have my main image for the front cover possibly sitting on a furry chair with him making direct address but also showing his hands on either side of the chairs arms rest showing of the rings on his finger and so forth.

For the contents page I would like to have a shot of the individual looking into a mirror but there wont be any reflection within the mirror of that individual. This is to show that is the individual that he is portraying really him, or I could do the reverse where he is wearing normal clothing in the reflection show that's his true self.

For the Double page spread I would like to have an image of just a close up show of an individuals face for my magazine, or have a shot of them walking in public but the rest of the public is blurred out.

My brand eye for my hip hop magazine

Photography Planning

For my hip hop magazine for my main image I would like to have someone who is wearing dark clothing or multiple colours. The reason as to why is that with most hip hop or rap magazines I notice that almost always there is someone who is in complete black which could be just the way the dress but I think it could be deeper than that.

The reason that I think that is that with some people when they are wearing certain clothing they do tend to feel more relaxed or somewhat more important or higher of status because of them wearing expensive clothing as silly as it may seem. However this has become a trend and with most of the magazines there does always tend to be a dark scheme to it or a light one. So following that pattern I would like someone who is in all black to be in my magazine.

For the camera shot of my magazine I am going to have it shot in a low angle, the reason as to why is that it will make the main image look more of a powerful figure that immediately grabs your attention and demands respect in a sense. Further more I would like my image to make direct address as it would help with the main image being more status worthy and also catching the eye of viewers.

As for the place where the camera shot for my main image will be taken I would prefer it to be with him standing on a stage or a platform or if not that then with him having a purple background behind which I can either manipulate or create in real life. The reason as to why I would like to have a purple background if I couldn't have the stage platform is that purple tends to have colour connotations of aristocracy which I do believe would go well with the individual being intimidating to him appearing to be high of status.

The stage platform would be ideal as it would look like he is performing at the time which would help get across the image of him being a hip hop artist, not only that if I could also get the main image to hold a microphone would be ideal.

XXL brand eye hip hop

Front cover analysis

            This another magazine that I was able to receive after trading with my peers, this is a magazine that I haven't seen before as it isn't really available or sold in most stores which I found out as I did some extensive research as I went out to most of the stores that I presumed that would have music magazines to see if this magazine would be there but it wasn't. The shops I went to were WHSMITH and Waterstones, although this range of stores are very limited I did find that these shops were local and distant.

Now the two individuals who are the main image for this magazine are Young Thug and Gucci Mane. These two are placed on top of the brands identity showing that they are of more importance and more value than the mast head of this magazine. The initial colour of the brand identity for this magazine is white and red has connotations of purity and passion but also malice and power. These two combinations are quite strange when looking at it in terms of their connotation textual meanings  but they look eye pleasing when they are put together which makes sense why they would go well and that they would get many complaints using these two colours.

Further more the colour text of for this magazine when it wants to highlight key names or important information tends to be in Gold. I believe that is to convey the way that these individuals or the important information should be looked at. These individuals with their names in gold could be seen as idols or inspirations or role models to certain people. So placing their names in gold could relay the contextual idea of them being essentially kings. I got this idea from the man on the left hand side of the magazine who is wearing purple. Purple has connotations of aristocracy which in a sense puts an individual above the rest as they show their sense of status and stature that allows them to be above the normal individuals.

This magazines front cover does also follow the conventions of having sub headings across the magazine on the top left hand corner, however that isn't always a convention as some magazines prefer having sub headings in the middle range of the magazine. Another magazine convention that they have used is having the barcode at the bottom left hand corner of the magazine which is a norm that I have come to terms with when seeing magazines.

These two individuals are covered in rings and gold chains which does look a bit much in terms of normal jewelry that people would wear on a day to day basis but this could be them trying to prove a point to the normal readers that see this magazine that they aren't the same as them.

Q magazine Brand Eye analysis.

Q Magazine Double page spread

The Double page spread for the Q magazine that I currently have follow the majority of conventions for magazines that have double page spreads. The double page spread for this magazine has the basic conventional idea of a double page which is an article that is placed across two pages. Further more there are 'Drop Capitals' throughout the page with one on each page as you we can see with B and T on the first and second page. Another convention that this magazine follows is that it has some images throughout the course of this double page spread however, with some magazines they tend to just have one image and just have the rest of the magazine focused on text and information from the article that the page is about. Which is a good idea but in my opinion I think that the layout and the ideas that they had while making this magazine are quite ideal and suited for younger audiences as well as older audiences. The reason as to why I think so is that most younger audiences get easily switch off when they see a page that is just covered with writing as not all people enjoy reading and they may in general might just skip the page.

The images on this page are ideal and related to the main idea of the magazine as it helps individuals understand what the article is about as some people are visualizers. This means that they prefer having images explain things to them rather than reading. However the images in themselves have been placed appropriately and don't take up to much space, as I have seen with other magazines with the layout of the images it seems that they are using images to fill up spaces where they didn't have anything else to write about.. While it makes sense that they do this it isn't essentially a smart idea as most people may be missing out on content that they could have but they would fill up the spaces with images as they aren't bothered.

The colour scheme and house style of this magazine do mirror  the front cover and the contents page however there is no red which I found contradicting as I assumed there would at least be the brand identity at the top left hand side of the magazine with a big box with the 'Q' inside of it but however they didn't decide to go with that. The double page spread is in black and white and the only source of colour on this page is the actual images and apart from that the text that is in a green colour font.

Further more along the columns of the magazine and the sides of most of the images there is a design going down it which helps separate some of the text and also looks that this page hasn't been neglected in a sense with a bombardment of information and random images but there is a sense of design to this page which I find quite useful and a sense of bland eye candy in a sense with the lack of colour.

Quick update

Sorry for the lack of content as I know if I was 100% I would have been able to do some more work over the few magazines that I have produced. When I am feeling better I will most probably go over them and fill in some key areas that I have missed out on. I have also taken some days off of college due to sickness and I  am still recovering as of now. This also could be due to the time management that I have as even now I am uploading at indecent hours.

Contents page analysis

The Contents page for the XXL magazine  has two sides. This is the first die of the magazine which I have now just noticed that I overlooked the photo and cut out the top half of the magazine not allowing people to see the full title of it. This first side of the magazine is called The A-Side. The contents page for this magazine continues to follow the general conventions for a contents page of a magazine however it is quite shorter than what I expected it to be.  This contents page is spread over two pages however as you can see on one page this is all that is played out and this is mirrored across onto the second page. The lack of content seems to be overshadowed by the images that are layed out in the background. Which is a good idea as it helps with younger audiences who don't really like to read and would rather look at images however this essentially defeats the main objective of having a contents page. If their idea was to do that they should have essentially just gone with a gallery section which was full of images.

The colour connotations for the page are represented in ways that allow them to contrast with each other. For example the colour black which I have spoken about previously in other analysis has the connotations of power strength coldness death and also mystery. These connotations are ideal and also represent the way that younger audiences aspire to be like. The colour red has connotations of intensity passion love anger which also contrasts with most teenagers that are stereotypically seen to be angry at the world and society . Finally white has connotations of purity virginity and honesty. These three colours can be seen as opposites but they have so many ways in which they contrast with each other and the way that they have been used in the initial design of the contents page helps show how they want dot be viewed by the audience. The image of the man in the background is all in black which could convey that as individuals you have to be strong, his surroundings are all in black which conveys that he is alone in the world showing how they dislike the way that society is, and also h has a white top on which could convey be true to yourself.

Magazine audience analysis

Product analysis

Price-£4.99

Advertisers - Musicians.Uk, Q Mail, Musician Store, TicketWeb.co.uk, Giggs,BST-HYDEPARK.COM,Reviews,Full Metal Racket,Digging up the Roots,New albums,Tracks,Live performance tickets

Content- Information about the latest months Highlights regarding the music industry and many more musical elements. Allowing individuals to venture deep into exclusive content regarding famous musicians who don't speak out that much.

                                                               Market Segmentation

Demographic- There is no specific Gender that this magazine is aimed at as music isn't generally aimed at a certain gender as throughout the magazine I have seen images of female musicians who are playing alongside male musicians. This is a unisex magazine.

Geographic- Music is all over the world so I do believe that with this magazine it wouldn't be generally exclusive to the uk but i do think that general population of other countries wouldn't be that interested in classical music unless they are really into music and would be interested in the music from the uk.

Benefits- Allows individuals to learn about the past and how the music back then made an impact on the music that we hear and play today. Further more we are able to see and find out about musicians that aren't necessarily in the lime light of society today, e.g. musicians that aren't main stream but are there none the less. An example of this is Jacob Collier.

Psychographic- Looking at the in-depth information form this magazine I can come up with the synopsis that this magazine wouldn't generally be aimed at younger audiences as there is a vast amount of information inside this magazine that they may not even know about. Roughly around the age range of 22 going onwards.

Behavioristic- Not necessarily main streamed as most of the musicians inside of the magazine I had never of encountered unless  I picked up the magazine, I think this magazine is for the experienced musicians the ones that really like their music and can take their time to real appreciate the roots of where the music actually stemmed from.

Double page spread analysis

The double page spread for this magazine uses the basic conventions for a double page spread.  can tell this just by looking at it. There is an article that is spread across two pages going in-depth with the information thats present. With most Double page spreads there tends to be one or more images and with this Double page spread there is just the one image. Now this image has been shot in a way that has the man looking down at the viewers. By doing this it doesn't exactly scream out direct address but it still has an intimidating look to the way they had him pose for the shot.
In this shot he is gazing down at us making him look more powerful and makes him demand the respect of the readers. This is also conveyed through the type of clothing that he is wearing.

In This shot he is wearing a furry jacket which I believe proceeds into the hat and around the back of his neck. Fur on clothing has connotations of an individual stature and social status in society. Generally it when an individual has fur like clothing it could mean that they are of a higher class, this is conveyed through the contrast of the colours that he is wearing along with the type of clothing materials that he is wearing. With the colour of black which I have spoken about before in my previous analysis has the connotations of power and authority. Now with with this man gazing down at the readers I can summarise and say that he is powerful man with a high stature and status with the conventions and connotations that are present in the photo. He is also wearing a silver ear ring which also shows that he is also a rebel in a sense.

The layout of the page is separated into paragraphs which makes it more bearable for readers as it can be quite intimidating staring at a page full with text, with each individual paragraph they have set words in bold pointing out key information that would stand out to readers that they may have wanted to read about by looking at the contents page at the start of the magazine.

Going down the middle of each individual page there is an orange rectangular figure. This i believe is part of the page design but could also be seen as the page divider in a sense. Separating each individual section from one another so that readers wouldn't naturally read along in a straight line and getting confused as to what section they are reading from.

On the second page of the double page spread there is also a message from the main image of this page which also helps readers feel more connected with the articles protagonist in a sense. By having a quote or a message from him it we can actually see his thoughts on the situation rather than reading what someone else has summarised up what he has said on an interview as they may not have been able to understand what he was trying to get across.

Product magazine analysis

                                                                  Product Analysis

Price -£3.95


Advertisers- Clothing (Flysupply) Jewellery, Sports clothing,  Music Groups, Music Albums.


Content- Four interviews with Rich Homie Quan, Gucci Mane Young thug, Amber Diamond and Rizwan Ahmed. Information on Albums and Artists that are on the horizon. Also rappers showing their thoughts.


                                                            Market Segmentation

Demographic- Population wise this magazine isn't aimed at a an individual section of society segregating other members of it out of this magazine, This could be stereotypically aimed at men as there are two individual men who look are dressed in a way to be iconic or an inspirational figure to young people and older men. However with some of the research that I have done looking at women magazines I have seen that not only do they normally have main images of women with make up to attract women but there have been some magazines and even tv adverts where they would have men as the main image or the main attraction to get women audiences. So I think that this magazine is aimed at both genders. Also to reconfirm the point a class mate who initially bought this magazine is a girl also.


Geographic- Not based in one set country. This magazine doesn't typically have a set location as to where it was aimed. I think that with this type of genre they would try to get it the word out about it as soon as possible so its probably being spread around using the word of mouth. The two individual artists are from different countries also so that is a incite that this magazine is for multiple places rather than one particular place.


Benefits- The individual readers who want to know more about this magazine in regards to its contents will be able to read and understand the contents of the magazine and also understand the reasons as to why certain songs and tracks/albums have an affect/become popular with the audiences that they have.


Psychographic- Audience tends to be of a young age aspiring to be like their role models. probably around the ages of 16 going onwards I don't think parents would allow their children to read magazines like this at a younger age being wary of the affect on them in the future.


Behaviouristic- Generally revolves around individuals or groups of people who like to listen to Hip hop music or rap music socialising and talking about their individual aspirations for the future e.g. someone wanting to become a music artist in the future which i spoke about in one of my magazine analysis before.

Q Magazine Contents page analysis

The Contents page for this magazine follows certain conventions in general however it is not entirely what general people would expect to see in a contents page. The very lay out of this Contents page goes against the normal conventions but not completely.

For example the top section of the magazine just before the 'Features' part of the magazine shows the brand identity with the 'Q' that they also showed on the front cover of the magazine. However the title of this page 'Contents' takes up a vast amount of space. Underneath it there is a small section of text that helps explain what this page  is about. With normal magazines the 'Contents' part of  this page would be a bit smaller to allow enough space to get more information about the pages and what they are about on this magazine.

Moving down to the middle section of this magazine the 'Features' section here it tells us about the pages and what articles are located on each individual page is the norm for a contents page. As they follow most of the conventions of magazines such as having the numbers of the pages in a different colour and having the articles in bold to help them become more noticeable for readers. Further on they yet again show the discount that are present in this magazine which the 20% off which I spoke about during the front cover analysis. Yet again they show a picture of Leonard Cohen, I think that most of this magazine was to show reference to him as he passed away in 2016 as it was shown on the front cover magazine.

With the photo of Leonard Cohen he is in a black tux and wearing a brown hat.  I have already spoken about the connotations of the colour black on the front cover for this magazine. The colour brown has connotations of naturalness, neutral, warmth and honesty. These colour connotations could imply the way that Leonard Cohen lived his life and what people thought of him. With the colour black it has connotations of power responsibility and maturity, now these connotations combined with that the colour connotations of brown have a great combinations. I believe that the combinations of these 2 colours could mean that he was a powerful and honest man. Also by wearing suits it can also convey that people are of a different social standing and status than others.

At the bottom left hand corner of the contents page there is another image which is  of 'The Flaming Lips'. This image consists of a Wayne Coyne with a small section that says he's got furry balls and that we should see page 68 to find out more about this. Now as this does sound strange reading this out I do believe that they used that as a way to intrigue the audience to read on for better or worse even though it does sound extremely strange to have on the contents page. Wayne Coyne on this page is covering his eyes but smiling which could be way to convey that he isn't trying to be aggressive in any sense. As with some people somewhat of making eye contact 'direct address' could be seen as a sign of aggression or intimidation.

Front cover Magazine analysis

This magazine that I have is Q and i was able to trade it with some of my peers to help with my research.  On the Top left hand corner of my magazine there is an attachments on it that says CD. I believe that this is to let readers know that they can obtain the CD or a reference for it on the inside of this magazine.  I personally think it was a good design decision for the company to go with the design for their company identity. As you can see the 'Q' is on the top left hand corner, it is quite large however it doesnt really encompass the entire magazine as I have seen with main magazines having their mast head cover the entire top half of the magazine. The colour scheme for the magazine is Red White and Black. The colours that they use have good connotations that can contrast and relate with each other. Red generally has connotations of passion love strength power and energy. With the genre of the magazine and what its trying to convey to its readers the usage of the colour Red was an excellent decision. With the colour White it has the colour connotations of purity innocence and also perfection. With the main image it correlates pretty well as it shows that the contents of the music magazine is pure and perfected.Finally the colour Black has connotations of power elegance and mystery. They also contrasted the usage of the colour Black with that the main image is wearing. Black suits are generally thought to be seen as a symbol of power and class which allows people to stand out from the crowd.

The main image which is Pete Doherty was a tad bit confusing for me at the start when i first saw the magazine as I thought it was Leonard Cohen but I then realized that it was the photo next to the name. However apart from that being the main issue that I had I found, The main image is quite different from the other music magazines that I had reviewed. The reason for this is the way that they had Pete Doherty pose for the photo had him avoiding direct contact with readers eyes which allows him to come away from the direct address that most magazines use which doesn't intimidate its readers or challenge them in any way.  Pete Doherty is wearing Formal clothing generally in black but with a beige hat. Pete Doherty is looking up and possibly with editing or the way that they had the lighting done it looks that there is a ray of light on his face which makes it looks like he is looking into the sun or that he is enlightened in a sense or it could be having him show a sense of respect or reverence to Leonard Cohen who has passed away and that Pete is looking up towards him.  Also on the front cover of this magazine there are small shapes that have information inside of them that I have talked about previously I believe, one of these is the semi-circle but the one I want to talk about is the funny circle. Inside of the circle is a discount to buyers which I think is a good way to obtain the attention of people that are walking past or viewing the magazine. They also made it more visible by having different coloured text to catch the eyes of people who are walking past. This convention isn't rare but it is certainly uncommon as not all magazines just show that they have discounts on the front of their magazine cover. I think that this I good but could also be a problem as most magazines are left out in the open someone could probably take up the magazine open and remove the discount voucher or whatsoever it is and place it back on the shelf.
Another convention that this magazine has is that it has the barcode at the bottom right hand corner of the magazine but not exactly at the bottom a few centimeters above and also not having it touch the  edge of the right hand side of the magazine. Also the subhead lines are layed out in a certain colour format that allows people to key on them without having necessarily 'buzzwords' but have names in larger fonts and in different colours. An example of this is on the left hand side of the magazine there it states 'BOWIE' his last five years, Also on the right hand side it has 50 in a large font size which also helps in getting audiences attention.

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