Within this blog will include my thoughts, feelings and designs on my AS and A2 coursework. My AS coursework is to create a music magazine and the A2 coursework is to create a film trailer for a non-existing film.
I have created a mind map to brainstorm about the questions I could use as my interview for my double page spread. If that is what I choose to use as my style for my double page..
My favorite question is 'What is your savior song?' This is because I feel that the question is very personal which my key demographic would appreciate. However to follow key conventions I have brain stormed questions such as 'Who are the inspirations for your band?' this is a question which is more likely used in magazines, which means it is more professional to use in my magazine.
From looking at double page spreads of the same genre, I have came up with some conclusions on the style and subject of what I might do my double page spread:
Style:
Interview
story
synopsis about one topic
comments of different things/different to an interview
Topics:
Songs
concerts/festivals
A problem that has been in the media recently
new album
tour
tattoos
leaving a band, or interview about forming a group.
I have changed the main image to see if there is any other photos that look good with the colour scheme and would give me enough space on the sides to have clearer coverlines.
On some of the front covers I have changed the plug on the side to see which shapes look better and fit more to the conventions of the magazine.
On the top left I have included two banners to make the front cover to look more busy which I think looks good for the magazine
Some of the fonts have changed as I think I need to experiment with different fonts on the coverlines to see which are better suited.
For my magazine I decided that I would go into Birmingham city center to seek out urban photos that I could use for my front cover and contents page. I asked my three models to come with me as I could take photos as I walked around. I visited numerous parts of Birmingham, such as ikon, the custard factory, around the art gallery and the canal. This helped me to find different themes of the photos I could take and to use different features to help change my photos such as angles, lighting and props. However there are certain places in which I wasn't able to get to or wasn't allowed such as abandoned warehouses, the mailbox and around the think tank. In total I took around 100 photos, all ranging to have a wider variety of photos.
I feel that this was a successful visit as I have a number of photos I could use in my magazine. I have used a wide range of effects, like changing the location, the angle, shot and lighting to get a better effect. I also tried to change the camera settings to see if this would change the way my photo looked. However I thought it would be better to take original photos and then edit them the way I would like them afterwards.
Here is a collection of the photos:
There are a number of photos I prefer in which I will more likely use, such as:
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Why these photos?
I feel that these photos are more appropriate for my magazine front cover inparticular as the majority of them include a direct mode of address, by looking at the camera making it more personal, also the majority of the photos include more than one person, which is what you are likely to see on a rock magazine front cover. Some of the photos which only have one person in the frame is to be included as a thumbnail image which could advertise posters. I will now start to experiment which is the best suited for my front cover.
Genres: Rock, screamo punk, Bands: Asking Alexandria, Pierce the veil, Bring me the horizon
Her style is very unique but is a good representation of my targeted audience. She has a dark clothing sense, dyed hair and likes to wear lots of gothic/emo jewelry. She is a good model for my magazine and we will be comfortable with the way she looks. Also she will be able to give ideas on the day of shooting on what she thinks will be appropriate and something in which the audience will like
Jack Purcell-Burrows
Genres: Punk, metal, rock Bands: Architects, Neck Deep, Northlane
Jack's facial features and body shape will be ideal to photograph as he will be very clear on the camera. He likes the style of music of the intended genre of my music magazine, so will be able to give me good input on what photos to take on the day. However he does not have the exact style of my representations for my audience. But as long as he wears dark clothing he will look similar to the look of the others in the photos.
Joshua Peralta
Genres: Indie, rock, punk
Bands: Bring me the horizon, Lower than Atlantis, The 1975
Josh is a keen photographer, who will be able to give me a good idea and understanding of what looks good and how to take an effective photograph. However he will be involved in my photos so I will have to take my own judgement on the photographs. He also has a very unique style that is similar to the representations of my intended audience. He also likes the genre of music that I am doing for my music magazine, which will also help me to get some feedback on the photos I should take.
I created this power point on www.canva.com however I cannot embed it as a presentation, therefore I have uploaded them as photos to show the presentation.
This presentation is to show how I have edited photos on befunky.com, and have used one photo as an example. I have decided that changing the colours and saturation is the most I want to edit otherwise my photos will not look as professional and will over edited. My favorite photo, by the way it is edited is the 3rd down as it has a soft edit but can still see the original image and has a dark atmosphere to the photo which will go with my photo. However the photo is too light for the genre of magazine I am doing.
Throughout the holidays I have been practising with my portrait photography skills and how to edit photos. I downloaded an app called 'Afterlight' which is a editing app for photos. I have used this to try and change the way my photos look to appeal to my key demographic. The photos I have taken are from my Ipod with a 'selfie stick' to show that these are my own photos and that I have experimented in my room as much as I can with lighting and camera angles.Below is a tutorial of how to use afterlight which I took some ideas from when editing my photos. I feel that using the 'dust effect' was very effective for my work. I also changed the colouring, the use of shadows, and saturation on my photos to see if that also made any difference. My favourite part of afterlight is the use of overlapping my photos. I have used these in many different situations,
A person who uses this type of skill is an artist called Jerry Uelsmann who creates dark and strange photographs/pieces of artwork. I have found some pieces of his work to be able to take ideas from which I could include in my magazine to make my magazine more unique. I have used the website cincopa to help show the different photos in a gallery to make the visual more efficient.
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I could consider some sort of editing skills like this within my magazine, but I do not think it would be appropriate for my main image on the front page. I feel that this could be used when I use thumbnail images on my double page spread or contents page, or if I was to use a themed magazine issue such as Halloween or Valentines. I took a video on my phone of me trying different settings on one photo to see how it changed. I went across the different effects you could imput on the photo to see which would create a greater effect. I like the idea of black and white, however I could not use this with my magazine as it does not fit in with the Key conventions of my magazine. On the other hand I can change the colouring of my photos and edit them in a different way, maybe include a fade effect of the colour so that there is the use of a coloured photograph as my main image but can make it look less colourful, which helps to make the picture appeal more to this genre.
I used this photo as I thought this would be challenging to see the difference between the colours and the contrast. However I could see the difference from the white of the wallpaper and the complexion of my skin was changed slightly. Overall I do not think I should adjust or edit my photos very much due to this magazine wanting to look more realistic so the audience feels that we are reliable. Also if it is over edited it will not look as professional, however I feel we do need to change the photos to make them look darker and fitted more to the genre, therefore I can do that adjusting the parts of the photo such as the shadowing and the brightness instead of putting a colour over it.
Finally here are the other photos that I have taken which I can consider on my magazine front cover. I feel that the best photo to use on the front cover at the moment is: this is because it follows the conventions, portrait, mid shot, has piercings and the symbolic hand gesture for rock. To improve I could include the fake tattoos on my body somewhere and have a more dramatic background to make the picture stand out more. Otherwise I could edit the photo to look better by having an effect or darker picture as the lighting on the right hand side is very bright and does not follow the conventions.
