Tuesday, 14 January 2014

finishing the front cover



This is my front cover so far, this lesson, I am going to try and get my front cover image onto the page and adjust the layout of the cover so that everything looks professional and readable.
 
I have imported my cover image onto photoshop and over layed part of the image over the masthead, I still need to change and move my cover lines to that they can be read easily. 

Second Photo shoot for cover images

These are the second set of photos for my magazine front cover. I have changed the mise en scene so that there is plenty of space for cover lines and so that the person in the photo stands out.


Monday, 13 January 2014

Development of my magazine front cover

 
Today I'm going back over my magazine front cover and improving it. I need to change my masthead by putting some effects on it like different shadow effects. I am going to alter my cover lines a bit by making them more concise and improve the layout of the cover.
 
I have changed my masthead by changing the blending options. I have added a inner bevel and a stroke which will make it stand out. I have also made the barcode smaller and moved it into the corner of the page. I have also moved the issue date and price under the masthead, changed the font to Arial and mage the text smaller. I have also changed my cover lines by making them shorter and more concise and I have added another cover line in.

 

Sunday, 12 January 2014

Article research


1.       Where did the name of the band come from?

“Well, we had quite a time trying to come up with a suitable name for the band, and after a while, we ended up using a random word generator, I know it sounds disappointing but it’s so much easier. Paradox was the first name that came up on the word generator.”

2.       How long has the band been together?
 
“um, I think we’ve been playing altogether for about 8 or 9 months now, were only just starting out but I’m feeling quite confident.

3.       Where have you played so far this year?

We’ve been quite quiet this year, coz most of the time we’ve been together has been practicing and learning new songs. We’ve only played a few times this year. We played once at a pub in culcheth which was our first time, and once at culcheth high school which was a bit bigger. We only played a few songs because we’ve been trying to learn a lot of new songs but making sure the ones we can play, sound good.
 
4.       What is to come from you and the band in the next year?

Next year we are set to play plugged in the park, which is a big deal for us, as a band starting out, hopefully we will have some songs of our own which should help us get better.

5.       Have you been approached by any fans who’ve recognised you?

Well, none of us have been approached by any fans as such, but only a few people from my school or people that were congratulating me, so, maybe there will be fans in the next year.
 
6.       How much have you spent on guitars?

Hahaha, I’ve spent a lot! I have, I think 5 guitars, and about £3000 on amps and other equipment like pedals, and cases and stuff like that. 2 of my guitars are about a grand each, and the rest are a few hundred each.

Wow that’s a lot of money, jeez!

Yeah, and it cost me £200 to insure it all!
 
7.       Wow, so you must be really committed then, so how long have you been playing guitar and how long do you spend a week practicing?
 
We try and practice as much as we can, obviously, it being near Christmas we’ve not done much practicing recently but we try and practice like, 3 or 4 hours a week. We think that’s a good amount of time per week.

8.       In the 8 or 9 months you’ve been playing together, do you feel that you are getting better and getting more comfortable performing together?
 
Yeah, we’re definitely improving all the time. We’ve all noticed our music sounding better and I put a lot of effort in at home practicing to make sure we improve. I think we’re all getting more comfortable with each other but I think it’ll take a bit of time to get used to playing in front of large crowds, as I expect it will do with most people.

9.       Are you in the process of writing any new songs?

Actually we are. We’ve never wrote one before, so I’m finding it quite difficult. We’re spending some time to make sure it’s good and doesn’t sound really bad. It’s getting there but I think it’s getting there, needs a bit more work though!

10.   Are there any bands that you look up to for inspiration?

I look up to a lot of the old classic rock bands like Sabbath and Led Zeppelin. We’ve been playing songs from these bands and may other like them. I think that if I look for inspiration from bands like these that are so successful, it may help us as a band to improve and become successful as well.
 
11.   We’ve talked about what goes on and how much effort goes into your band, but how did this all start out?

Well, we joined a programme at our school run by the council that encouraged youths to start performing together and, er, at the end of the programme there was a concert for the people that had joined. Our performance went well and we all wanted to do another so we decided to carry on.

Music magazine cover and contents designs



Thursday, 9 January 2014

Music magazine cover images


These are some of the potential images that I could use on my music magazine front cover.
These set of images are the first photo shoot I did, but the mise en scene wasn't right for my magazine cover so I am going to re take some of the photos, changing the mise en scene.


Monday, 2 December 2013

Publication plan





Title: LOUD


Positioning statement: Your monthly dose of rock!


Frequency of publication: Monthly


Price: £2.50


Distribution: Supermarkets, Newsagents, Online shopping websites (e.g. amazon) internet subscriptions, Digital devices (I phone, android, I pad) I tunes store, Google play store.


Rationale: The magazine will bring the audience the latest news and events about rock music.  As well as getting the readers involved with our work, we promise to keep the readers on the edge of their seats!


Style: the magazine is going to use informal language and contain lots of slang words, which will make it easily read and understood. I am going to use swearing when appropriate, for example, I am going to use it in an interview, and if the person being interviewed swears, the magazine will not edit it out. From my audience research, I have found out that my audiences favourite colours are red, black and blue, so I will use those colours as the colour scheme.


Regular content: Reviews of the month’s top concerts.


Album reviews.
 Twitter Q and A, send in questions, and the Loud team will answer them!
Album artwork page, showing off the best album artwork, chosen by the readers.

Feature content:
-R.I.P Lou Reed, article about Lou Reed and why he was such an inspiration.
- Summer Festival Line-ups. Top Festivals throughout the summer; who is playing and who we think could be confirmed?
-An interview with Avenged Sevenfold, talking about their new album Hail to the king.
-5 minutes with Fred Durst. A short interview with the Limp Bizkit frontman.
-A short biography about one of the most prestigious men in rock; Dave Grohl
-The UK’s most popular venues.
-Top music stores in the UK.
-We find out more about some of the UK’s top upcoming bands.
-Rise Against, a short interview about their upcoming tour.
-The Red Hot Chilli Peppers talk to us about writing some new songs.
-Golden oldies hitting their way back into the charts.
-Backstage with the gaslight anthem.
-we take a look at Billy Joe Armstrong’s guitar collection.
-Corey Taylor and James Root talk us through their time at download 2013.
-Rob Trujillo talks us through his new signature bass guitar coming out soon.
-Bowling for soup and their final UK tour.
-We chat with Amy Thomas about her bands rise in popularity and what lies ahead.
-Behind the scenes with Linkin park, working with Warner Brothers.
-Foo Fighters set to release their brand new single.
- Vinyl and LPs coming back?
 
House style:
Masthead- cooper STD black
Cover lines- Berlin sans FB Demi
Headlines-Adobe Fan Heiti STD black
Stand first- Adobe Fan Heiti STD black
main text- arial 11pt
Drop Capital- Adobe Fan heti STD black (4 lines deep)