Final Draft of Contents Page

Final Draft - Contents Page 

This is my final draft of my contents page. When previously evaluating my second draft of my contents page I felt like I needed more content in it and make it a lot more interesting. This is why I have added in more imagery of different artists that I have said I was going to discuss in magazine onto my contents page. Also when researching other professional magazines I quite liked their layout shown in the blog post for my second draft. I think it makes my layout more complexed. I also like the way that the page numbers are placed on top of the pictures instead of beside them in a line which the majority of magazines do and therefore makes mine more original. 

Furthermore when adding in other artists pictures I made sure that the readers main focus was still on Lelia and her "exclusive interview" so that the reader would not get confused with who was the focal point in this particular issue. However i still needed to make sure that all my target audience was involved and so I chose a variety of different artist to feature on my contents page. This is why I have placed Lelia's picture at the top of the page and in the centre and then the other images are filtered out underneath her, to make her more dominant on the contents. 

I also needed to include the cover lines on my front cover onto my contents so that my magazine can smoothly link together with the main features in it. So I added subtly added in the stories or events at the sides so that the reader would still be able to quickly scan and find them there.

My Audience Feedback

Second Draft of Contents Page

In the second draft for my contents page I decided to opt out in changing the background colour this is because when asking for other peoples opinions they disagreed with the idea as they thought the white background was more sophisticated and helped me appeal to the older range of my TA. Also when researching other music magazines they too had a white background just like these two different music magazines. I have taken some inspiration from the Billboard contents page (on the right) where they have used a straight line to divide up there page and in the left hand corner they to have also placed there name as well. 

 Furthermore I still used pages as I felt when trying to use pixlr it failed to make changes where they needed to be done so I had to remain using pages. 

When producing my second draft, previous comments mentions how they wanted me to follow the same colour scheme of purple and white so when editing I still made purple the main colour as I feel it does compliment my genre well as it isn't too feminine or masculine it seems to have the right amount of balance to it and when surveying both male and female they agreed. However the male still thought that my magazine was more biased towards the female audience, which I was intending it to. But I still wanted to evoke that mature aspect to it so I chose purple. 

I have still chosen the same picture of my artist from the previous draft as I think that the picture makes her more interesting as it isn't a typical pose. The picture is very different to the front cover shot, something that the people I surveyed liked as it kept them interested and wanting to know more. 

When asking my peers they still thought that my contents page was too simple and that even though I had changed my layout and added in another female artists the though it was "lacking something". Therefore in the next draft for my contents page I am going to include more pictures. However when looking at the professional magazine content page on this blog post I have noticed that they have unusually placed the page numbers with the pictures. I think that will make my magazine page much more interesting and hopefully make it less simple.

First Draft Contents Page

 

This is my first draft for my contents page. When talking to others for their opinions they feel like it is very basic and simple and does not fit with my genre at all. They seem to not appeal to it. However they do like how it links very closely to my front cover. This is done by using the same cover lines from my front cover and including them onto my contents page. They also like the fact that "Lelia Ray" is still the main focal point throughout my magazine so far. By having another picture of her it just emphasises on how the whole issue is based around this artist and how the magazine is willing to capture different sides to her. By capturing different photos it also keeps the readers entertained and to wait for whats there gonna read next. However some of the people I asked like the simplicity as they felt that it was easy to read and good for them to quickly scan the page so that they go to what fascinates them the most. 

When producing my contents page I used the software "pages" which I found difficult to use when editing and moving about texts. This is a possible reason why it is so plain and simple as I was hard to incorporate different techniques to make the contents page more interesting and different. 

On my next draft I think that I will change the background to a plain 'purply' colour and include more features that will stand out, but also keep the easiness for the reader to chose the pages they want to read first and add in more pictures not just of Lelia Ray but maybe even other famous artists that I have wrote about. 

Second draft - front cover

This is my final draft for my front cover. I have kept to the same layout as my previous layout as I thought that it stuck to the usual conventions of a pop magazine. I have kept the same cover lines as before like "first interview" and a "look book" as when asking my peers they liked how I had added in different features into my magazine. By using the "first interview" it makes the audience feel special and important, enticing them to buy my magazine as they would want to read on and see what "Lelia" has to say after her split.  I have tried lots of different cover lines to try and make my audience want to read this issue as much as possible. 

Also from my previous draft my feedback was that they didn't like the placing of the master head therefore I moved it up sightly and made it more transparent. This is so that you could see my models eyes (which previously was covered up by the title). Now, from the adjustment, you can clearly see the models eyes where now my model is making clear eye contact to the reader, again being used so that it will entice the reader into buying the issue. 

Furthermore I added in the price, vertically next to the master head. I thought that this was the best place to put it as it is clearly visible to the reader where they can quickly find it. When looking at other professional 

First Draft - Front Cover

This is my first front cover draft I have firstly called in Relic as within my surveys the majority of people chose this name and also it was my favourite as I felt it gave that edgy twist to the pop genre that I was aiming for. I have placed it in front of the model as i feel that the name is the most important feature and convention out of the whole magazine. It is what makes you recognisable and differs you from any other product. 
Furthermore I have decided to go with a mid shot of my artist as when researching other magazines like Billboard and NME the majority have done mid shot and close ups. When doing my surveys they also agreed that they preferred this image to the other pictures I took (shown in previous blog post). They felt like they had the most connection with the artist in this shot and this was the main reason for choosing this picture. The eye contact the model gives seems to appeal with the audiences something which I was aiming for when taking my pictures. 
When editing my pictures I only used pixlr which could be a disadvantage to my magazine and in my other drafts I will change and try to use a variety of softwares so that I can find lots of different editing skills to bring about the best possible outcome. However when using this website I fist of all cropped my image as it was originally a long shot and so I edited it to be a mid shot. Also I added in the different cover lines that had bold wording like "top 10" and "first interview" to make the audience feel that my magazine was special and was the only one to have these features in it. I took some of these conventions from other pop magazines like Billboard and alternative magazines such as NME and Q. I used this method also as in my survey the audience revealed that they wanted cover lines that "stood out" to them and to make them want to read it. 
Next in pixlr I stuck to the same font family being "sans" and again only used three different types of fonts as I didn't want the audience to become to overwhelmed with the front cover and feel like there was too much on the page. When looking at pop magazines like "top of the pops" I felt like this was the case and so I tried to avoid that from happening. 

Planning My Photos

Location

I have decided to take some of my test shots outside, just to see how natural lighting would effect the pictures. I did like the outcome, however because I didn't have the correct equipment to make my pictures believable I have decided to take them in front of a green screen instead. This is so that I can edit the background to my advantage. I can manipulate the background which is unlike taking it in natural settings as it would be impossible to control the mise en scene and unpredictable.

Who am I planning on taking pictures of?

I have decided to not use a classic look for an indie pop artist. Instead I am planning on using my model Christel who is 16 years old. I am using someone I already know because again the reduces the risk of unpredictably also they are easy to get a in touch with and plan my photo shoot with. As I am already friends I know what their comfort zone is and how to act with them. Hopefully by using a friend I will be able to produce a good end shot. 

Clothing

As my magazine isn't classic pop I have decided to almost juxtapose the style of my model by them wearing a dark colours. Black would then contrast with the light pink leather jacket I am going to place on my model which I think would clearly portray my idea of my magazine being pop that is represented by the pink and then the black which symbolises how it is the mature side of pop to fit my target audience; it shoes the versatility of the pop genre. Also this type of jacket would represent my social group as well as it would be the kind of thing they would wear.

Risk Assessment

During my risk assessment, by choosing to do my photo shoot inside I have eliminated risks that may occur outside. This could consist of the weather, especially when the winter season is happening meaning that it could be raining, icy, foggy so that my model could slip and injure themselves. Furthermore due the temperature decreasing my model could begin to get very cold quite quickly (especially if they are wearing something that fails to keep them warm.) There I had to constantly keep checking that my model was good carrying on with the photo shoot

However when taking my pictures inside I had to be wary of the spacing. This meant making sure that it was a big enough space to take my shots but also be aware of anything being on the ground. This could be the flooring and making sure its safe to walk and that there isn't any pins, loose wires and just anything that is a hazard to me and my model.

Comparison of First and Final draft Front Cover

 

In this post I will be discussing the comparisons between my first draft (on the left) to my final design (on the right). When making changes and editing I kept referring back to my questionnaires and surveys that I underwent.

To begin with I have changed the size and the effect of the master head. I defiantly wanted to keep "RELIC" name in front of the artist as i feel like that is the most important feature to the magazine and how it will become recognisable to the readers. The name is the crucial element therefore it would remain in front of the artist. However when undergoing my questionnaire the audience felt like the name was covering up my artist face and put them off in buying the product as they felt it was "too harsh" having the name on top of their face and it seemed they just had an overall negative effect to the placement of the name. To evolve my draft I therefore decided to change the opacity of the text and made it less opaque so that the name would still remain in front  but you could also see the artist face as well. Also another feature I changed to the master head is the size of the text making it larger and spread further across the top of the page. I did this because the text was less bold I had to still remould it into being the focal point of the cover. I then moved the title above and around the eyes of the artist so that they were not covered up as I wanted the artist to give eye contact to the reader to essentially 'draw them in' to my magazine and make the reader feel like the model has a secret almost, something to tell, something the reader wants to know. 

The next thing I decided to edit is the colour scheme. Even though the colours remained the same being just purple and white which I chose as I had previously seen in a Billboard magazine when researching and decided that I think that they would compliment my photo and the overall genre. I didn't want to use pink, (the typical and traditional colour used in a pop magazine) as I felt like that was a convention that I wanted to challenge almost and try to make my pop magazine have a more edgy feel and look to it. However when editing I felt like some of the titles where failed to be seen according to my questionnaires and therefore I had to rearrange them in order for them to be seen clearly. 
Also due to my editing in the final design to make the whole picture brighter and more vibrant I had to change which texts where purple or white. For example when writing "She's Back" due to the lightened pink jacket you failed to see that text in white and in my survey I recorded that the reader failed to read the cover line and actually didn't want to struggle to read it and someone commented on how they would move on to the next magazine. This resulted in me changing this particular cover line into purple so that now it can defiantly be read clearly. 

Furthermore in my first draft I failed to include some very important conventions being the bar code and the price so in my final design I made sure that I included these conventions.  

However what from my questionnaire I agreed that I didn't want to change the layout of the magazine, so I kept it very similar when editing. I felt that when researching magazines like "Top of the Pops" it seemed like their product suffocated in cover lines making it difficult to the reader to depict the message that issue wanted to portray. In my survey it revealed that the reader appreciated the fact that I had one main cover line being focusing on the artist "Lelia Ray" and how she was the model in the front cover. But they also appealed to how I did have other little cover lines so that they could see the other main features in the magazine which they could find interesting. Also they liked the fact that the features I have decided to include are very versatile so that I can hopefully involve the whole of my target audience and maybe even appeal to others outside. 

Target Audience

In a previous blog post I have provided a general outlook to my target audience, discussing the age range, gender, social groups and other traits that contributes to make up my audience. 

However this will be a more specific description on my particular audience. 
                                                      
This is Emma, who is 17 years old and lives in Sheffield, England. Emma is my ideal reader for Relic  as she is into a variety of music but her favourite is indie pop as she enjoys the music but also all the other aspects that follow, being the fashion, artists and going to see them at concerts and gigs. 
She is currently studying Art, Media, ITC and English Language for her A levels. Here favourite subject is Art as she enjoys being creative and experimental. 
Emma is inspired and looks up to the artist presented in the indie rock genre and buys every issue of Relic when released monthly with her money provided by her job from the cafe in town. Emma's hobbies include painting (outside of school) and playing the guitar with her band.

Emma is my ideal audience member as she would be dedicated to Relic and would provide an interest in the artists mentioned and other articles that would be shown. 

Intertextuality

Intertextuality is where another author has taken a previous texts ideas and has shaped it into their own. Its essentially their inspiration. In this era its called post modernism, where the idea has already been done, yet they references to it. It can included in the following forms

• thoughts 
• architecture
• conversations
• sounds 

However intertextuality can also be achieved through parodies, translations, quotations, plagiarism and illusions. 

Artists who have used intertextuality to inspire their image include Madonna who has transformed into Marilyn Monroe. 

On the right is the famous 1950s sex symbol Marilyn Monroe, who perfumed 'Diamonds are A Girls Best Friend". Then on the left is Madonna who sings 'Material Girl' both famous songs of their eras. However this provides evidence for intertextuality because it shows how Madonna has take the inspiration for her music video for the previous 1950s video. It shows how Madonna has taken the same costume, physical setting and just the whole mise  en scene has taken reference from Marilyn Monroe, from the pink dress, blonde short hair and a dozen men holding love hearts in ore.

Another example where intertextuality has been taken into the music industry is where Taylor Swift uses her first single of 'Love Story' where the music video "creatively" uses Shakespeare famous play 'Romeo and Juliet' reference to reproduce the love story between the two characters. One popular scene in the play is the balcony scene. This is referenced back into Taylor Swifts music video as she to replicates this famous moment.