Organisation of the photo shoot

SHOT LIST
This is the Shot List for my photoshoot. I had to complete this timetable sheet to show the order of how I would do things on the day. It starts with me preparing my photoshoot, down to the styling, lighting, and pose. It ends with me selecting where the setting of my photoshoot is going to be. There are also specific times that we had to state on there.

Flat-planned ideas [Front Cover Pose]

FLAT PLAN IDEASIn class, we got told to flat plan our image ideas for our front cover.

[1]  This idea I saw already from another existing magazine. There is a bench with my model lying on it sideways. She will be facing towards the camera in a pose. Her name will be in the headlines

[2] Here in this idea; my model will be standing a positioned stance where she will look tall. The shot will be taken from a downwards angle, so it looks like she is taller.

[3] The prop here used is stereo speakers and a microphone. She will be acting like she is singing into the microphone.

[4] This idea is the idea I am more keen on than the rest. There is a stool that she will be sitting on, and she will be holding a big piece of card that will say her name on it and that will be the headline.

Main Image - Ideas

Who: My sister or my friend

What: My music magazine image front cover

Where: At my home, against a white background

Why: I think that a white background, makes it look sort of more professional. I also just want to keep it simple but then make the styling more dramatic; so not everything is happening too much at once. 

PROPS:

In a few of my ideas, there are props involved. One of my ideas there is a tall stool that my model will be sitting on. This is used to put her on a higher ground away from the camera. Another prop that could be involved is a bench. I want my model to be laying on it sideways looking at the camera. Thirdly, a hi-fi bass speakers with a microphone leading out of it - so it looks like she is singing through the microphone. 

COSTUMES:

For my idea on costume and styling I have used inspiration from celebrities whose style I like. I am 16 so I know its going to be quite easy for me to know what people of my age want to see in magazines. As for the images I'd have to think about the styling of the photograph and how I make it relate back to my peers and also the genre of my magazine RnB.

Angela Simmons

Fashion icon for young teen girls. When I found this image, I thought instantly it symbolizes how I want my model to look for my front image. Its casual, laid - back; which is what my magazine is all about. The colours she has put together are mainly dark (blacks and greens). However, she is older than her teenagers years, but yet people younger than her are still aspiring to be her.

Justin Bieber

I think this is great style for boys. In my magazine, if I am photo-shooting for boys this how I would want them to look. Research into the music press; I noticed that this is the normal casual style that young male teenagers are wearing. The styling is also a resemblance of other RnB artists.

COLOURS:

Because, the background is white, I need my model to stand out away from it. I will use bright colours, because that also represents the youthful age that I'm trying to attract. 
On the overall front cover of the magazine, I will also being using alot of bright colours, in different sections on the magazine. So its not just all one colour. 

EXPRESSIONS:

I want my model to have a relaxed and happy facial expression. She's a new artist so she is a beginner so I don't want it looking to posey. She will be looking at the camera, but in some ideas that I have, they will be at different angles. In some shots I will get her to smile/pout/laugh etc .. 


All of these conventions reflect my genre of music because it relates back to what my audience profile said. Both of them answered that they would like to see bright colours on the front magazine because it would attract them more to pick it up and buy. They also mentioned that they like to see smiles on a front cover. They said it makes the magazine seem more warm and friendly. 

Article Decisions

On my contents page, I will have to show that I have thought about what other articles I would include in my magazine - but I don't have to actually create these other articles. These different sections of my magazine could be; reviews of downloads, gig guide/clubbing guide, clothes/fashion, interviews, gossip, photos..

Apart from my article that I have planned, I wanted to include other articles. I wanted a celebrity gossip section. This section would keep my readers up to date with new exclusive news about top music artists. It would be a 4 page section, with paparazzi images and the information behind the story.

Another section of my magazine would be music updates. This would tell my readers the top singles of the week, top albums, al music charts and who is number one that week, also with new releases and videos. 

Apart from the interview that is featured on the front cover as the main story. I would also have two more exclusive interviews with big stars. They would involve photo shoots as well.

To relate to my young readers, I know that they are keen on social networks. So I would create a page where you can see famous peoples Facebook pages, Twitter posts and many more like Myspace.

I would also have a clothes/fashion section. This would show who looks the hottest at any celeb event. Readers can vote into the magazine who looks the best. There would be a female "Who Looks The Hottest?" and a male "Who Looks The Hottest?"

This section would also show what the hottest new trend style is out, and what everyone is wearing, and where it is available for people to buy. 

An events/concerts section would also be essential. Any music artist who is performing, I would put in their tour dates information for the readers

Their would be competitions and prizes to be won for the readers. Prizes would include items like iPods, Concert Tickets, Free Album/Singles.

Another section would be the feature of BASE magazine. Each week I would have one of the editors go behind the scenes of an artist who is releasing a new video, and report back from it into the magazine.

At the end of the magazine, I have noticed in existing magazines that there is always a horoscope section. So I would also include a horoscope section at the end. 

Headline Decisions

The headline I have chose to do is the artists name I am promoting. Im going to have it printed onto A3 paper with the model holding it at a slanted angle, while posing.

Its going to look similar to this: 

Here, how the models are holding their signs, its how I want my model to hold hers. 

I have thought about different fonts that I am going to use, and decided on this one:

After looking at it more carefully, I decided that I wasn't too sure, and got another font style that I can compare it with. 

This is the second font style I might decide to use. For the front cover to show my artists name. 

Who is my audience? - Research into potential target audience

I have chosen for my target audience to aimed at teenagers starting from the age 15. After researching the the existing music press and establishing what I need to think about in my magazine e.g. age, gender and ethnicity and audience profile. I decided to do some research on these conventions to support my mode of address.

AGE

 I wanted to target the older teenager ages starting from 15 and upwards. For this I know that the language can be a little more complex, but not too difficult for them to understand. I also knew that the images had to be suited to them. The image couldn't involve childish things, it had to be more sophisticated. 

GENDER

I have chosen for my magazine to be targeted at both gender types (male and female). I chose to do this because, again, after researching an existing music press, and existing music magazine; both genders are mainly included in RnB/ Urban music magazines. 

Even though on my front cover and main article I will be promoting a new female artist, from my contents page there will be a  section that boys can relate too as well. To show that my magazine is not gender biased to one, I will use a mixture of colours that don't specify to one gender in particular. 

ETHNICITY

When I researched many RnB magazines, there were more black people that were featured on the front cover, rather than any other race. This gave me alot of thought about who I should have on the front over of my magazine. It did give me alot to think about, whether I should support what they had done or challenge it. I decided to support it and go with a mix-race model for my front cover. 

Furthermore, when doing my research I looked at these magazines, the content inside of the magazine involved a mixture of people from different races, but the music genre stayed the same. For example on the front of this rap magazine VIBE they have a white ethnicity music artist on the front when normally you might see a black ethnicity person on the front.

AUDIENCE PROFILE:

To get more of an understanding about who I am targeting I asked two of my peer a few questions about their background and musical interest:

Name: Jimmy

Gender: Male

Age: 16

Ethnicity: Black British

Musical Interests (genres): Grime, Rap, Dubstep, Rap, Hiphop

Music Artist Interests: Eminem, Tinchy Stryder, Tinie Tempah, 50 Cent .. 

Choice in Style: Retro-urban = Checked shirts, New era caps, Nike trainers, Graphic jumpers, Slim/baggy trousers. 
What would you like to see in a music magazine? Style tips, good looking girls smiling or posing, maybe posters like freebies you can win.

Name: Caprice

Gender: Female

Age: 15

Ethnicity: White and Black Carribean

Musical Interests (genres): RnB, Hiphop, Rap

Music Artists Interests: Nicki Minaj, Chris Brown, Keri Hilson, T.I , Fergie, Pixie Lott

Choice in Style: Skinny jeans, Leggings, Converse, Nike, Hoodies. 
What would you like to see in a music magazine? Boys, free posters of celebs, music reviews, fashion tips.

Research and planning into design and layout (image shots)

I have researched already into mastheads, fonts and other design principles. Here is this blog I will be looking at different photo shots that I will be using for my front cover. The different type of shots that I need to think about are; long, midshot, closeup, medium shot, big close up or point-of-view shot.

In the brief it did say that the picture had to be a midshot.

Here are examples of the different shots:

MEDIUM SHOT

LONG SHOT

POINT OF VIEW SHOT

Taking all this shot research into consideration I have looked at the angles that I have to use also. In the medium shot I am going to use it for my front cover. On my contents page I will probably use a long shot and for my double page article I will  use point of view. On my front cover I will take the icon Rihanna to reflect how I want mine to look. The pose will look similiar with the same facial expressions. 

For my medium shot I know it shows the top half of someones body. Knowing this I know that I have to make my models face look effective enough to grab attention on the front cover. I will also have to consider the clothing she is wearing on top, as some of this will be shown.

Evaluation for Prelim Task

What I Had To Do:

The prelim task was to produce a school magazine that has a front cover, contents page and double page article. We had to evaluate two questions on the front cover and contents. We annotated around these and put reasons for why we chose the conventions we put in our school magazine.

Prelim task evaluation

View more presentations from ditzychelsea.

Research into Article

N-DUBZ ARTICLE

Here I researched this article of N-dubz. They are a popular urban/grime music band. This article describes how they first started in the music industry. I have noticed here that the image of them is focused on the 2nd page with the questions around them. The questions is highlighted with a black background with white font on it. This makes it clearer for the reader to distinguish who is asking the questions and then who is answering them. They are also in capitals, this helps to distinguish it too. The language in this article is very youthful. This relates to their target audience overall as a band. They are trying to appeal to teenagers close to their age which I believe this article does help to do. The image is a midshot taken from an angle below eyecontact. I have also noticed that the font of the title works with their type of music genre. Its got that graffiti effect which sums up just what they are all about. The use of the background being a brick wall works with this as well. It shows their particular type of lifestyle. The colour that stands out the most is red. The connotation of this is to make the article feel more feminine. With the band being two boys against one girl, the colour red gives back that a colourful look. 


For my magazine I now know that the genre of what ever artist I am using, I will try and relate it back into the layout and design of the article. This will make it clear to the reader from first glance and have some in-take to what my magazine consists of even without reading it. This is just one of the articles.

Research into Mastheads

Going into more research in class, we had to look at different magazines and the conventions that they use. On the front cover we had to analyse: Mastheads, Straplines etc..

Here is an example of one masthead I researched into (JET magazine)

JET MAGAZINE

Here the masthead is placed in the left top hand corner. Its font colour is in white which contrasts with the red background. I have noticed that these font colours are consistent on the front cover as the main theme, also with added colour of yellow.

                           The font style is italic and is given the effect that it has been painted on with a paintbrush. From this magazine I have learnt that on a front cover of a magazine it does look more effective to use a white background. I have also seen that this magazine uses quite neutral colours in the masthead, so therefore the target audience is all ages as well. Having a female model on the front attracts both genders, but not making the cover to female-dominated they have kept simple colour use and text style.

NME MAGAZINE

Here also in this magazine the masthead is placed in the top left hand corner. The font title however, is hot pink which stands out against the plain white background and dark clothing that she is wearing and the colour they have put her name in. The font style is in block bold this also contributes to making it stand out. On this magazine, the target audience I would say for this front cover is female. The use of the hot pink relating back to the colour of he lipstick and font colour, shows how the magazine is keeping attracting females. However, it could also attract males because of her pose. Rihanna, in this midshot image has a powerful pose - hand on her hip - it takes up the whole front cover.

TOP OF THE POPS

This masthead is centered across the top of the magazine. In contrast to the other magazines that are all placed in the left hand corner. Its font is brightly coloured to go with the target audience which is for youngsters. The font is all in smaller case and covered by some of the artists head. This front cover, I have learnt that it has mostly bright colours. The use of pink is used consistently, not just on the front cover, but also inside the magazine.

KERRANG MAGAZINE

This masthead has colours of black and white. This is used in a rock magazine which supports the colour and the effect of the title. It looks like a mirror has been smashed with an instrument. The word itself 'Kerrang' has the onomatopoeia like a guitar is actually being strung or played. The use of black and white keeps its neutral attracting all ages. The gender target audience is more male.  

 From researching these mastheads I have learnt that it has to be consistent with the rest of the front cover. It also depends in what pose your model is in; whether it will overlap some of the masthead. If it does this I have to make sure that you can at least recgonise the masthead and its name if it is covered slightly.

At the beginning I had a slight idea of what font style I wanted to use for my masthead:

I quite liked this at the beginning but then changed my mind because I didnt think that it stood out on the front of the magazine. I preffered for it to be in capitals and in more a more block style. I did however, like the effect of the font style, but didnt think that it related with what I what my genres about. I did like this though, so I did decide to keep it but use it on my double page spread article.

This was my second attempt to find my masthead. Here it is in capitals and I did like it, but I wanted a colour fill of black so changed this for another one. I liked this one because of the boldness and I reckoned that it would stand out on the front of the magazine. But then I thought about colours and if my font cover image was to be underneath the masthead then my title would be difficult for my readers to identify.

I decided on this to be my masthead, Its similiar to the one above that I thought I was going to choose. However, this one has black infill which I thought sorted the magazine. This is going to make it stand out more, especially because its also in Capitals. The style is very basic but I like that because then on the rest of my magazine I can include quite alot of other font styles, so my front cover wont look to crowded. Overall, I am happy with this font that I chose because I can picture it on my front cover magazine as a good and clear masthead. 

Research into Music Press

In class we had to do some research into existing music magazines. I chose to analyse the front cover of: Top of the Pops. Here is what I found out from the magazine.

Music Genre: Pop

Appearance of artists and fans (boys): Converse, Skinny jeans, Era hats, Checked shirts

Appearance of artists and fans (girls): Boydcon dresses, Skinny jeans, High heels, Leggings, Logo tops, 

Hairstyle (girls): Long extensions

Hairstyle (boys): Flicked hair

Lifestyle and entertainment choices: Shopping, Parties, Cinema, Holidays, Spa days, Restaurants.. 

Musical influences: Justin Bieber, Pixie Lott, Taio Cruz, Lady Gaga, Taylor Swift, Katy Perry..

[include Youtube video of pop artists]

After I researched this magazine, I decided to research a magazine that is my own genre - Urban - VIBE magazine

Music genre: Urban

Appearance of artists and fans (girls): Leggings, Jeans, Lowcut tops, Hoodies, Dungarees, Tight fitting dresses,  Checked Shirts

Appearance of artists and fans (boys): Hoodies, Baggy jeans, High-top trainers, Checked Shirts, Jumpers, Converse

Hairstyle (girls): Long extensions

Hairstyle (boys): Short, Mohicans

Lifestyle and entertainment choices: Shopping, Clubbing, Making music, Sex, Hosting, Parties, Holidays, Restruants... 

Musical influences: Keri Hilson, Neyo, Ciara, Beyonce, Trey Songz, Drake, Usher, Chris Brown, Jason Derulo

[include Youtube video of Rnb artists]

Music genre: Rock/Indie - NME magazine -

Appearance of artists and fans (girls): Black, baggy jeans, skinny jeans, high platforms 

Appearance of artists and fans (boys): Black, baggy jeans, skinny jeans, high platforms, chains

Hairstyle (girls): Short or long, sometimes kind of greasy

Hairstyle (boys): Short or long

Lifestyle and entertainment choices: Going to rock shows, play instrument

Musical influences: Babyshambles, FooFighters, Kaiserchiefs, Kings of Leon

Research Methods (In School)

In school we had to analyse a pop magazine cover. I chose Top of the Pops. I analysed the straplines, mastheads, lures etc. This helped me to plan for my magazine because it showed me what I would need to produce when I was making my own magazine.
To enlarge the picture, click on the image.

Research into Front Covers

In the half term we had to research some music magazines for ideas. I had my idea of my music magazine being the genre of urban and R&B so I knew I had to independently find some magazines. I bought 1 and looked at other on websites. I took a picture of the one I bought :

On the front cover the artist are of an African ethnicity, so it is clearly focused around black urban music. The colors use make it stand out. The use of yellow attracts a readers eye, with a mid shot of two artists next to each other. The masthead is a named music genre. The color of it is like plated silver, this could represent the material platinum that is usually associated with the music industry in trophies or how many albums/singles a artist sells.


Other examples of R&B music front covers:

VIBE

 The front cover of this magazine centers the main image in the middle as a midshot of the artist. The size fits the whole front cover of the page as a straight on angle. The focus of the artist is mainly on his face as their lighting directed on it contrasting his face away from the dark colour of the background (black). The colours used in the magazine are black, yellow and white. These colours together suggest masculinity. The masthead is block centered at the top. The pose is standard, with the artist standing straight. The text is surrounded around the image, making it clear to see what is inside the magazine. This font is in white also making it easy to read against black background. 

RAP-UP

The front cover of this magazine has a long-shot image of three women. It takes up the whole of the front cover of the magazine. The angle seems to be at the bottom looking up at them. This connotation of this image is to make the three women feel more powerful then us but also attractive to look at from a lower angle. The setting has a grey background, while the focus is on all three of them. This could be from the colour. They are all wearing brightly colored clothing. This gives it that fun and vibrant feel. The masthead, is in black block. The letter 'U' has a shape to it like a road symbol. The lighting is not natural. The pose that the girls are doing is like a 'stop' sign. This action causes the reader to stop and look at the front cover, it causes attention. 

SOURCE


This magazine has sort of long shot image. It also takes up the whole of the front cover.  The angle is taken at a lower point of his face. The setting has a white background. This contrasts with what he is wearing. Red; makes him stand out. The masthead is in Gold and in capitals. It looks quite masculine, suggesting the target audience. The pose of the artist is looking away from the camera. On this front cover there is a lot of text surrounding the image. This can kind of make it confusing to read, and what story to read first because you cant see clearly what stories may interest you.