Question 3: FInal Version

Question 2: Final Version

Composed in Photoshop CC

Question 1 Final Version

Question 1 by fin on Scribd

Question 7: Looking back at your preliminary task. What do you feel you have learnt in the progression from it to full product?

I feel like I have honed my skills in Photoshop massively throughout this task.

Mise-en-scene and camerawork:  In retrospect from my preliminary I have realized that my Photoshop skills were very limited starting this project.  My preliminary was created to test my skills and attempt to create a baseline regarding my proficiency. I feel my camerawork and Mise-en-scene used in my final product has improved massively and has been performed to a much higher standard in comparison. I have learnt how to model and style my models to fit my magazine genre. In my preliminary magazine the models looked uncomfortable and out of place, no in my final product they give off an air of confidence and look in place regarding the genre they derive from. My front covers mise-en-scene was very limited and almost non existent. I had gone into the studio on a whim and decided I needed images. This resulted in my preliminary images to have little to no relevance and not having much thought put into. I wanted to advertise for pupils at the school for a school magazine, this meant I knew I wanted to use students at the school for the front cover however as I had limited knowledge on school magazines I had very little ideas for how to position my models and what to do with them. This is in contrast to my final product which has been constantly thought through and where mise-en-scene is at the forefront of my mind. I made sure the person I used as a model look natural in front of the camera and would remain in confidence instead of looking shy or awkward. My model is also wearing a band hoodie as to relate and draw in more readers interested in these genres of music. The model’s hair is also important, it is styled in a way popular and prevalent in more mainstream emo subcultures as an attempt to draw in a bigger crowd of following from around the country. This change in stylization shows explicitly the improvements made from my preliminary mock up in regards to the stylization of my models. During my preliminary I also had lots of problems with artificial light. I was only using one light to compose my images causing a dark grey shadowy effect when creating my magazine that I decided to incorporate throughout it. This in my opinion sets the wrong mise-en-scene for my preliminary product. It shows a negative, dark and unwelcoming approach to what should be a happy and welcoming school magazine. This was a big problem throughout my work, the use of black and white mean that shadows made everything. Shadows could change the tone of my images completely in no time at all. This was why I learnt the light manipulation tools in Photoshop, they helped my edit the mise-en-scene of my images to give them a calming and relaxed feel when complimented by the soothing blue of my colour scheme. This effect also allowed me to change the tone of other images, making them darker and fit in more with the punk and emo theming of my final product. My preliminary image was also a very basic pose with quite an off the cuff and random appearance. This gave my preliminary an unprofessional and unappealing look. My final product however was the divergence of this, it made use of leveling with the camera being lower than the subject to give the model an appearance of grandeur. This look of importance is a common trait in emo and punk album covers meaning that readers would notice similarities and want to buy the product as it is relatable and has traits common throughout the genre.

Text arrangement and editing: I learnt through my preliminary work that the text arrangement of my magazine is key towards its progress. In order for my product to be believable I needed the text arrangement to be natural and not look disjointed in comparison to standard magazines. I learnt this as my preliminary’s text was very limited with little in the way of product. My preliminary product used a default font from Photoshop. This font is quite recognizable and makes it so that my preliminary magazine would not stand out of be easily distinguishable from other forms of media. I altered this in my final product by using fonts especially selected for my magazine through a website called DaFont. This allowed my text arrangement to stand out and not blend in with other magazines on the market. The masthead and title font I used is reminiscent of the hand drawn fan-zine style prevalent through out the 80’s. This detail and care is what separates my preliminary from my final product. My preliminary has very little thought about marketing and audience profiling throughout whereas my final product has had all the fonts and page layouts meticulously selected to benefit my project and audience. I have also gone for a more minimal appearance regarding my final product, this gives my magazine a less cluttered approach and also allows the reader to fully digest information, getting a feel for the stylization and format of my magazine. On the other hand my Preliminary has a cluttered arrangement. This in my opinion gives my preliminary an unprofessional and messy appearance, letting readers disregard the information inside and not fully showing effort has been made and taken in order to create the highest product available. I have also realized that my preliminary helped me understand the correct layout of a magazine. My preliminary only includes 8 pages. This is obviously not enough for a genuine magazine free or paid. In my final product I had realized that a free magazine: although not having an extensive array of pages did in fact have to contain a baseline minimum of pages. Through reading fan-zines I noticed the average magazine only contained around 20 to 35 pages. This was my deciding factor when it came to my final product. I wanted to make my magazine a feasible amount of pages long creating a sense of realism and also showing I understood the conventions of the genre.

Question 6: What have you learnt about technologies from the process of constructing this product?

Camera:

The camera I used for this was my Canon 40D with a Helios 58mm lens. This lens was created in the 1960’s and still holds up to this day competing with some of the higher range camera lenses on the market currently. I chose the 40D mainly because It was an easily accessible camera as I already owned it. However I also wanted to take advantage to of the 10.1 megapixel sensor and get the highest quality images possible from my magazine. My decisions regarding camera lens were mainly related to the fanzine structure, I wanted to use a vintage lens from the previous millennium as to create the same image stylization that was common throughout the late 70’s early 80’s. I also really liked the mid length of the lens at 58mm, this created a natural look as it was very similar to the normal field of human view so the subject was not distorted in any way leaving all features intact. The lack of any automatic features on this lens also meant that I had to increase my skills in light registry and learn how to correctly expose images without the help of the automatic features that come with the camera. I feel learning this also helped my magazine increase in realism as there was a lot of practical elements to my magazine, common throughout the years in which fan-zines were in their peak.

Photoshop:

Over the course of my work I have massively improved my Photoshop skills. Going into this task I had little to no knowledge on how to use Photoshop (as shown by my preliminary) an now I feel I can confidently manipulate images into a plethora of situations and to my desire. The version of Photoshop we use was CS6, Although not the most in date product it is still the industry standard meaning my skills learnt are directly applicable to real life situations. I mainly improved my skills of editing images by learning about blending, layer masks an adjustment layers. Now after completing my product I feel I have a high understanding of the functions in Photoshop an am able to complete most tasks to an extent.

Other Technologies:

I have also used multiple different websites and technologies throughout my coursework. I have used blogger constantly as it lets me consistently update my work and gives an easy way of tracking my progress through the constant log of posts made that I can scroll through. Blogger is also where my teachers have logged the work set for us meaning that it is a consistent way for us to know what we need to do consistently. I have also learnt how to use scribd to embed word documents onto my blog. Dafont is an extremely helpful website as a bank of thousands of different type faces all royalty free. This helped me browse font to use and ultimately enabled me to follow the themes of my based genre. As a result of this website I also have learnt how to apply new fonts to the Mac operating system, something I was unaware of until this task was set.  I also learnt how to navigate and utilize websites suck as UK tribes which through this allowed me to efficiently set a baseline for my research and planning and find out more about my target audience directly.  I have also used Dropbox, this software allowed me to upload images I wanted to use for my magazine directly without any loss of quality that may be achieved through using a website like Flickr that compresses images to within a certain scale. Dropbox also enabled me to research from home and upload any images or large files to use at school that could not be directly uploaded to blogger.

Question 5: How did you attract/address your audience?

I attempted to attract my audience in a number of ways. I achieved this through my through researching regarding their attractions earlier in the project. The colour scheme, images used, model used and poses of my model all have extreme effect on addressing my target audience and creating a product that readers will look for with innovative and eye catching content.

My colour scheme of basic black and white accented with blue is the running theme of my magazine keeping a cool and calm atmosphere for my relaxed magazine. Through a Google survey I found that the blue shade was preferred by a male audience with blue connoting confidence and intelligence. This colour was therefore picked as to attract my primarily male target audience. This colour is also predominant throughout my magazine in an effort to keep my magazine connected through colour scheme and as I know this pleasing colour scheme will attract my target audience.

My use of images is also very coordinated to remain this calm yet punk effect. Most images have a border on them. as much quality and remain true to my eyes. This will appeal to my audience as the picture wont This rustic border of white or blue can show the confined nature of my magazine, yet the images are coming out of the border connoting the factor that my magazine is constantly pushing boundaries and will remain on the front of underground independent entertainment. The photos were taken on a Canon 40D with a Helios 44m-2 58mm lens. I decided to use this vintage lens (produced in 1960 in the USSR) as it could work at low aperture whilst remaining a reasonably large range of focus. I also wanted to get the ‘Boke’ of a slightly distorted background whilst remaining resistant to large amounts of flare. The use of a 58mm lens was also considered, originally I wanted to use a 30mm lens however I soon realised that that led to a distorting of the models facial features and did not remain with the original integrity. 58mm is close to the standard field of view for human eyes allowing my image to have a natural and photogenic appeal as not to distort my audience’s interpretation of my magazine. The clothing was also decided by me, I wanted the clothes to fit the genre of my music magazine. I did this by making my models wear stereotypical clothes related with the emo and punk genre like band hoodies, flannel shirts and Doc Martens. I do however feel my magazine should feature a more feminine aspect as there is very little appeal to the female demographic in contrast to other magazines. My use of images directly attracts my target audience for these reasons.

The reason I did not want to shoot in a studio was in an attempt to achieve a natural setting that would relate to my audience. The clinical white of the studio was very against the ideals of my magazine, I wanted to capture the natural side of my models and their band. This challenges the conventions of the big magazines like MOJO, Q, CLASH and FADER which rely on using primarily studio lit backgrounds which in my opinion does not allow me to relate to the images and instead gives the artists a manufactured look. This is not what I wanted to achieve; I wanted my band to seem relatable and rustic, not afraid to take risks. The way I achieved this was by shooting outside. This meant that extreme care had to be taken through my lack of artificial lighting, I could only shoot what natural light had offered me meaning I made sure to shoot at 12-1 most days for a week in an attempt to keep the light overhead with full-bodied images and vivid shadows. I think this will appeal to my audience as they will be able to appreciate the care that has gone into the photography throughout. My target audience will also be able to feel more connection with the natural environments over the clinical and over produced superficial nature of using a photography studio.

Over the production process I took a plethora of draft shots over multiple photoshoots equating to over 200 images, I chose the few used as an attempt to show off the range of distances and angles available for me to use and as an attempt to keep my magazine looking fresh and not just the same 3 shots in the studio over and over. This was an extremely challenging aspect of my magazines creation as it involved posing my models in natural ways without making it look forced or over produced. Most of my images have someone looking directly into the camera, this was to make a connection with the reader and to make the experience feel more personal compared to if the models were all looking into the distance away from the focus of the lens. I think this attracted my target audience as it allowed them to take the magazine seriously and also gave a professional approach and viewpoint regarding my magazine enticing people to come and read as they would respect the reviews and relate to the interviews.

Question 4: Who would be the audience for your media product

My target audience are young adults aged around 16 to 25 mainly men with a female audience also who strive to be individual and love the social aspect of music. Through my research reading reviews and learning about the target audience of many bands I can tell that many listeners and fans are within this age range and therefore targeting my magazine towards this age range would be the most successful approach. I have also noticed that this is the age range where people are most likely to go out and see shows, this is why I have included sections in my contents page regarding upcoming shows and gigs. The average acceptance range to go to gigs is 16, this was a determiner when deciding the age range for my magazine as I wanted my target audience to be  active within the music community and motivated to go and explore new bands and genres. My age cutoff at 25 I feel is the age where most people decide to settle down. After finishing University, 25 year olds would be more focused on getting full time jobs over going out and watching bands generally targeted towards the teenage audience. This is cutoff around the age most people try and settle down in life and generally start to become less sociable and start becoming more introverted and retiring. My magazine will try to appeal to both genders however through research I have noticed that there is not that much of of a female audience so I doubt there will be many sales from a female readership.

My magazine would be all about the scene and focusing on the characters and personalities of bands yet also gaining a more serious take on reviewing albums, gigs and songs in detail. I also realized that the clothing worn by the bands members was crucial to making the magazine believable and realistic and appeal to my target audience. I noticed the gap within the market for a free magazine targeted towards more niche punk and emo based music genres creating a perfect market for my product.

When creating and designing my magazine I kept my research and planning in mind in an attempt to ensure that all my work fitted the stylization and genre I was aiming my content towards. I made sure my models were clothed appropriately regarding the task and fit the genre of music I was attempting to portray throughout my magazine allowing the audience to relate to the magazine. The messy aesthetic of my cover model ‘Ethan Smith’ also connotes the unorganized and layered atmosphere regarding my genre, relating to my target audience. The positioning of my model towering over the cover image also follows the conventions of punk magazines with a confident appeal and aura surrounding the cover artist.

Name:

Rosie Sykes

Age:

16

Interests:

Listening to music, photography, playing guitar, going to gigs

Favorite Bands:

The Front Bottoms, Remo Drive, Pixies, Harlem, Brave Bird, Capt’n Jazz, Sonic Youth, The Velvet Undeground, Dads, Snowing, The Hotelier

Favorite Shops/Brands:

Urban Outfitters, asos, h&m, Zara, Second Hand shops, Pink Pidgeon

Favorite Magazines:

Negative Feedback, NME, Clash, Ray Gun, Beat, ID

Name:

Jay Cooper

Age:

17

Interests:

Going to gigs, staying with friends, buying records

Favorite Bands:

Jeff Rosenstock, Iceage,  Andrew Jackson Jihad, Teen Suicide, William Bonney, Dikembe, Tiny Moving Parts, Merchant Ships, Sorority Noise

Favorite Shops/Brands:

Urban Outfitters, vintage scene, charity shops

Favorite Magazines:

Fantastic Man, Kink, Sniffin' Glue, The Wool City Rocker

Question 3: What kind of media institution might distribute your media product and why?

For the magazine I have produced this project, I have decided that I want to have a large amount of independence distributing my magazine. I want to be able to distribute my magazine independently physically as an attempt to reduce cost yet use a big online distributor to publish my magazine digitally. This publican must have experience and be able to give guidance for future editions and projects. I also want this publisher to have a large reach in an attempt to increase audience size and get my work out there to like minded audience members. This decision is one of the most important regarding my magazine, it is a crucial part of the magazines commercial success. They define the magazines quality and ensure the reader gets the best intended experience whilst maximising profit.

As magazines are periodical publications they are printed on a regular schedule and feature a plethora of content. Most magazines are financed by advertising, subscriptions and of course the purchase price. They are distributed online, through bookstores, mail and other vendors. My free magazine will be distributed at select locations like music venues, record stores and specific clothes stores.

As previously stated I would like to distribute my magazine physically independently as in my opinion it continues with the fan-zine culture and allows me to have a more direct connection with my audience and such. However I have been researching online distributors and have set on the company Issuu. This distributor has a total of 100 million + unique visitors per month. Launched in 2007 this fairly new “digital newsstand” has quickly became a prolific distributor with 100 million active readers. Named one of TIME’s 50 best websites and being a South by Southwest  finalist in 2008 Issuu is quickly making a name for itself as a large distributing power. The company offers a wide variety of magazine genre’s attracting new readers everyday to their online platform. This well established company would be perfectly suited to publishing my magazine, their “advanced analytics, social tools and the ability to embed customised a customised reader”  will only further the accessibility of my primarily Niche magazines target audience. The publisher already has previous experience publishing other punk music magazines such as “Maximumrocknrol” meaning they are aware of my target audience and will know how to appeal to the highest amount of potential readers.

The money for funding my magazine would come from advertising. I would use the niche audience to focus advertising to products related to my magazines  punk roots. Publishers need to be able to make advertising positions appealing and be ale to attract new companies consistently in order to fund my magazine. So that being said my magazines revenue will from its strong relationships with advertisers. The Gentlewoman counts brands Céline, Miu Miu, Balenciaga Saint Laurent, Gucci and Prada amongst its advertisers, for whom the magazine’s tactile print quality is a part of what makes it a desirable place to market their brands. We could subsidize our magazines existence by staging sponsored events and accepting donations.

There are multiple magazines distributes similarly to mine, NME, Mojo and Vice. These are all similar both institutionally and generically. With free magazine structure and similar creative styling. I would hope to gain the same success as these magazines through hard work and a growth of popularity. My magazines price is free which is similar to the example magazines I have listed so far. This means it is not expensive at all, not deterring people from buying my content.

Question 2: How does your media product represent particular social groups ?

  During the process of making my magazine I did extensive research on the Emo and Punk subcultures in an attempt to find out what my target audience’s interests are and what their lifestyle includes.  This involved me making an audience profile during the research phase of my coursework, from this I was able to have a clear representation of what modern “Emo” and “Punk” consisted of, bands like Andrew Jackson Jihad, American Football, Joyce Manor and Iceage allowed me to see the aesthetics and mentality’s of these subcultures.

I used the website UK Tribes as well for this process as I needed to further my knowledge of these subcultures and themes involved. It has a clear catalogue of different social groups, making finding out about my specific social groups fairly simple. Through this website my target audience were termed as being “Hardcore” which means they are described as “Your roots lie in the punk rock culture of the 80’s but unlike some other Alternative Tribes this isn’t just about style and music. You live by straight – edge ethics, represented by your various tattoos.” Although not being entirely accurate of my Desired social group this allowed me to set a baseline for how I should appeal towards my target audience. Through this I learnt that my social subculture relied upon changing trends and was a very diverse.

From this research I realised that my artist has to either be prolific in the scene or new, up and coming. I realised there are no second chances in the Midwest Emo and Punk scenes meaning my artist had to stand out. I also noticed that fashion is a very important aspect of the subculture. My model Is dressed in a black hoodie with a rather dirty text scrawled along it, this quite punk aesthetic also stands out compared to other typical Emo and Punk band pictures as a different from the stereotypical plaid shirts and dad hats whilst still staying relevant and typical of the genre. The overall atmosphere is quite relaxed yet also still edgy.

I based Ethan on multiple current musicians relating to my genre.  Bands like Andrew Jackson Jihad, Iceage, snowing, Glocca Morra and American Football were my main inspiration for my fictional band as they hold a high dominance in their respective scenes (Punk and Emo). They really portrayed what I wanted to achieve atmospherically with my band. I do however feel that there is not a set look to this genre and it is all very subjective regarding fashion.

My magazine overall represents the particular punk subculture with a cool and relaxed appearance with no pressure to fit in with larger cultures. They choose to portray their creativity through their musical achievements rather then their clothes or sociolect. My magazine mainly focuses on the male side of the genre yet I feel if I had to make more I would like to explore women in the punk scene also with a broader spread of artists.

Question 1: In what ways does your media product use, develop or challenge forms and conventions of real media products?

The title of the magazine: The Masthead of my magazine follows some of the many conventions for music magazines mainly “Clash” and brings separate interpretations on their well renowned cultural presence and their instant recognition. I wanted my magazine to have a stylized look that could be instantly recognized by readers, I realized that the first place to start in this would be by using an innovative masthead. I noticed the common theme of blocky magazine mastheads with large and bold letters (ie CLASH) and realized that this could cause confusion with potential audiences buying the magazine at a store. This is why I decided for a gothic almost cursive style font, it allowed my magazine to be instantly recognized by font alone and would also separate my product from other less niche music magazines giving hopefully a good initial impression on my target audience of young adults with less mainstream music tastes as a magazine centered in Punk rock and Midwest Emo Revival. The positioning of my masthead is heavily inspired by “CLASH” with the off center masthead acting to split the page in two. One section shows the title, information, date and featured band yet the other half of my page being free to display my cover image and allow the readers full focus of each element separately. The blue coloured masthead in contrast to the black and white image is used to set the theme for my magazine, the use of this odd colour scheme was to pay homage to the classic punk DIY fan-zines that were prevalent throughout the 90’s with the inability to use vivid colour palates and the usual default of black and white products due to  low costs and accessibility. The reason for the use of “Gaze” as my magazine title is because it is short and punchy again following along the conventions set up by music magazine greats like “CLASH” “MOJO” “DIY”. It is easy to remember and sounds nice read out loud.

Page Layout: The layout of my magazine is rather simplistic. I wanted to keep a consistent font pool throughout my magazine, meaning I had to make sure to use all of the fonts found within my magazine on my front cover. The Font’s used were: “Painter”, “Myriad Pro” in both Bold condensed italics and in regular. I felt that the use of a consistent font theme kept my magazine feel uniformed and professional. My main reason for using “Myriad Pro” in italics was to keep with the distinguishable features of my masthead and it’s cursive stylisation. “Myriad Pro” is also a very legible font in my opinion making it easy to read for articles and pull quotes, it stands out enough to make It easily recognisable yet also it doesn’t fall into the block capital blocky geometric font types used in many popular music magazines. My magazines font sizes are structured as to decrease in size with the decrease in importance meaning my masthead “Gaze” takes up the most space and has the largest page presence in regards to all other text on my page, this is then followed by the bands name “Launchpad McQuack”. This is significantly smaller than my masthead however I have inflicted the monochromatic colour scheme upon it as an attempt to keep the users focus on branding and the cover image, I did this because I feel like readers of my magazine would already be introduced to the artists featured and this magazine would be to give the next depth of knowledge regarding the music industry and scene. I think the relaxed colours used for my front cover create an inviting and attractive atmosphere surrounding my magazine and this is conveyed rather well through my colour schemes. The lack of barcode on my magazine is because of it being a free magazine, this is explained through my editors note on my contents page. I made this decision because I admire the creative choices and the community aspect of free campus magazines, the magazines I researched were mainly functioning around Canada and the Montreal college campus music scenes. This is also the reasoning for my colours scheme, in theory the black and white would be a cheaper printing cost and increase the distribution rates. I also felt that free magazines in the UK did not hold the same quality I saw in other regions. On my contents page I chose to use a header image of some buildings, this gave my contents a rugged and “punk” look contrasting my calm and relaxed colour scheme, I left a gap of negative space the size of one column to separate my table of contents with my editors note and distribution information. This was I think gave my contents page a more relaxed and spacious feel in comparison to some other cluttered magazines like “Kerrang” .

Costumes, props, iconography used to reflect genre: My front cover model Ethan Smith and subsequent band members were styled in a range of clothing over multiple photo-shoots, this meant I was able to pick the exact images I wanted to fit with my magazines genre and the genre of music my fictional band were creating. The clothes are meant to be quite simplistic and  yet they still needed to hold detail even through being made black and white, this is why most of the raw images are actually quite monochromatic and there is very little use of prevalent colour throughout. My cover image consisting of only Ethan has been specifically selected as it has quite stylized “punk” undertones with the blocking of the model looking down upon the camera and with the scrawled writing upon the hoodie, however it also comes across as quite calm with the out of focus high aperture “Bokeh” background normally associated with stylized Japanese magazine covers. This enabled my model to fit with the genre aspects whilst also having a stylized and different flare towards it. This theme has followed throughout my double page spread with the use of one large image and on the second page a collage of images all showcasing the stereotypical “punk” aspects I have become familiar with throughout my research.

Camerawork and framing: As previously stated I have used a low angle on my cover image to show the dominance of the model and fit with the  “punk” themes I researched throughout my coursework. The smooth and “Bokeh” trees backing the image have been used to add a layer of depth to it and comfort. I did not find using the studio practical enough and wanted to take all of my images outside, relying on natural light for composition and giving complex and unique backgrounds for my models. My initial idea for my contents page was for the three band members to be together sitting on recycled props found around the school premises. This is what I did for my first double page spread however I came across a problem related to text and the composition of my image, I wanted to keep the desk in the picture yet it meant I could not fit my article on one double page. This desk I believe give the first image a rugged and nonconformist flare yet contrasted with the blocking of Ethan sat strapped into a car chair it gives a juxtaposed connotations of conformity and rebellion. I wanted to get a high angle for this shot with a (fairly) wide depth of field (50mm) to give a natural perspective and to show the rugged background concealed within the image. For my second double page spread  I wanted to use different perspectives and ranges for camerawork, I chose to use three headshots of the band members to be able to introduce the reader and show the conformity throughout my magazine. The main image of the squatting was something I had not seen done before in many magazines and I wanted to be able to manipulate the blocking and layers of my photo to clearly show the graffiti on the wall behind the subjects. This way of using headshots to introduce the members of the band I have seen used throughout multiple magazines and I felt was necessary to convey the attitude of the article.

Article, header etc. font and style: My article follows a simplistic style, I learnt through my research that most people are likely to just look at the images in a magazine rather than the text itself. With this in consideration I tried to make my article friendly looking and less text focused. I decided to use a bold font for my article reminiscent of the “CLASH” font type, this gave my article a friendly and approachable design. To link my pages together I have also used “Myriad Pro” in bold condensed italics for my pull quotes and headers. I feel this gives my magazine a needed sense of fluidity I would be unable to get with varied font types throughout my magazine.  

Genre and how the magazine cover, contents and spread suggests it: I think my magazine presents the DIY punk scene quite well through the use of black and white, the grungy effect it is given through the black and white leads some to the imagination a key aspect of the punk genre. I also think the black and white theme conveys the non conformist attitude of the punk and Midwest emo subcultures as it is no longer the norm for single colour scheme magazines to be in production, this gives my magazine the rugged and independent aesthetic commonly regarded with these genres. This running theme also adds an aspect of professionalism and would incline the audience to read onwards.

Cover inspiration: My cover was inspired by a variety of magazines, I really liked the use of a single profile shot used prolifically within magazines like “I-D” and “CLASH” however I also wanted to incorporate themes from fanzines with their black and white themes and uses of big borders (E.g. “radio riot” pictured above). Above all this however I wanted to keep a minimal and stylised front cover “fantastic man” esce.

Contents inspiration: My contents page was heavily inspired by the handmade Punk fan-zines of the 70’s however I wanted to give this a modern edge. I did this by using elements of magazines like clash to format my magazine whilst also keeping natural font’s for headings to add to the handmade aesthetic of the fan-zine community. I came about the decision to use a singular colour as an ode to the early 70’s artist Leslie Schiff with her sure of having a singular vibrant colour overpowering the scene in contrast to the dark and monochromatic images

Double page spread inspiration: This was inspired primarily by photographers like Roberta Bailey and her photos of the Ramones with their serious and stern facial expressions. My formatting however was inspired by “CLASH” in the layout of text bodies, I still wanted to pay homage to the fan-zine culture however and tried to use a culmination of images and collage them whilst still keeping to the modern format.

Final Product

These are my final pages for my magazine, I am happy with the final outcome and composition of my product. I feel it has been a positive improvement on my first draft, especially regarding my contents page, My magazine overall looks less cluttered and has a more familiar theming regarding gutters and column layout

Final Product: Cover Page

Final Product: Contents Page

Final Product: Double Page Spread

Final Product Double Page Spread

First Draft: Double Page Spread

First Draft: Contents Page

First Draft: Cover Page

Class Feedback

Afl Cwork Yr12 by fin on Scribd

Photographer Research

Pennie Smith

Pennie Smith (born in London) is an English photographer, known for having photographed several rock musicians. She specialises in black-and-white photography.

Smith attended Twickenham Art school in the late 1960s, studying graphics and fine art. With others, she collaborated with graphic designer Barney Bubbles and music journalist Nick Kent in producing Friendsmagazine from 1969 to 1972. In 1970 she designed the sleeve for the Pink Fairies debut release Never Never Land. Her first major photographic commission was to cover a 1970s Led Zeppelin tour. Smith went on to work at the NME as staff photographer until the early 1980s.

In her career, Smith has photographed some well-known rock musicians including: Led Zeppelin, The Rolling Stones, The Who, Iggy Pop, Sweet, The Clash, The Jam, The Slits, Siouxsie Sioux, Debbie Harry, U2, Morrissey, The Stone Roses, Primal Scream, Manic Street Preachers, Radiohead, Blur, Oasis, David Smith and The Strokes.

Kevin Cummins

Cummins studied photography in Salford. He started photographing rock bands in the mid-1970s in Manchester. Cummins had a 25-year association with the NME, including 10 years as their chief photographer. He has photographed numerous bands and musicians including Joy Division, Manic Street Preachers, The Clash, Sex Pistols, R.E.M., U2, Patti Smith, Marc Bolan, The Smiths, Roisin Murphy, Oasis, Foo Fighters, Michael Hutchence, The Stone Roses and Buzzcocks. His images have been seen as a contributing factor in the rise of the Madchester and Cool Britannia scenes.

Cummins was instrumental in establishing City Life, Manchester's what's on guide and was a founding contributor to The Face, the influential style magazine where he won an award for Magazine Cover of the Year.

Cummins's photographs have been used extensively in cinema and TV documentaries including Grant Gee's Joy Division and John Dower's Live Forever: The Rise and Fall of Brit Pop.

In November 2009, Kevin was awarded an Outstanding Contribution to Music Photography award by the music industry website: Record of the Day.

Audience reaserch through UK Tribes

I have completed the UK Tribes grouping quiz finding out that my target audience base are categorised under the "Alternative" tribe and as being "Hardcore" this is described as

"Hardcores have a serious affinity with a screaming genre of punk and the straight edge scene – wearing their distinctive tribal tats and turn-up look with pride.
The Hardcore joined the Tribes in 2012 in a flurry of slam dancing, and Straight Edge ethics; with X’s drawn on their tattoo-adorned hands. Today the Hardcore remain (especially in the west), but their Hipster-esque look (skinnies, band Ts) means they have come under similar threat from Aspirant adoption."

Although I do not believe that this is my exact desired target audience I do understand that this is a vauge description of a generic group of people commonly associated within my genre's stereotypical work and fanbase. I will adapt this throughout my magazine and try to implement these techniques within my magazine

Fanzine reaserch and review

A fanzine is a nonprofessional and nonofficial publication produced by fans of a particular cultural phenomenon (such as a literary or musical genre) for the pleasure of others who share their interest.

The punk subculture in the United Kingdom spearheaded a surge of interest in fanzines as a countercultural alternative to established print media. The first and still best known UK 'punk zine' was Sniffin' Glue, produced by Deptford punk fan Mark Perry. Sniffin' Glue ran for 12 photocopied issues; the first issue was produced by Perry immediately following (and in response to) the London debut of The Ramones on 4 July 1976. Other UK fanzines included Blam!, Bombsite, Wool City Rocker, Burnt Offering, Chainsaw, New Crimes, Vague, Jamming, Artcore Fanzine, Love and Molotov Cocktails, To Hell With Poverty, New Youth, Peroxide, ENZK, Juniper beri-beri, No Cure,Communication Blur, Rox, Grim Humour, Spuno and Cool Notes. Of these, Tony Fletcher's Jamming was the most far reaching, becoming a nationally distributed mainstream magazine for several years before its demise.

In the UK, there were also fanzines that covered the local music scene in a particular town or city. Mainly prevalent in the 70s, and 80s, all music styles were covered, whether the bands were playing rock, punk, metal, futurist, ska or dance. Featured were local gig reviews and articles that were below the radar of the mainstream music press. They were produced using the technology of the time, i.e. typewriter and Letraset. Examples include Bombsite Fanzine (Liverpool 1977), Wool City Rocker (Bradford 1979 - 1982), City Fun (Manchester), 1984, Spuno (Bath 1980)  No Cure (Berkshire) and Town Hall Steps (Bolton) and more recently ''mono'' (fanzine), (Bradford) with many more across the country.

Style of music magazine is to adopt

Through researching the fanzine culture I have decided that my magazine will be adopting the Punk and Midwest Emo music genre. These genres are no longer prominently displayed throughout magazine culture creating a gap in the market appropriate for my project. In an attempt to keep my magazine fresh and original I wish to use elements relevant with fanzine culture, eg. close knit audience relationships, black and white/cheap printing colour schemes and a rustic and less produced feel to the artists and articles.

Magazine Research

I have used these three magazines as they show a gradual change in style of magazine, "Clash" I feel holds the perfect medium of text and content however "Discorder" shows a more prominent feature of text which works for the low budget free magazine style with colour image obviously costing lots for mass production. On the other hand "Structure" I feel has to little content, it is a specialist magazine so it is printed on high quality paper with extreme focus on quality over content however I feel that this version of stylising is not suitable for a music based magazine.

Magazine Research Double Page Spread: CLASH

Magazine Research Contents Page: CLASH

Magazine Research Front Cover: CLASH

Magazine Research Double Page Spread: Discorder

Magazine Research Contents Page: Discorder

Magazine Research Double Page Spread: Structure

Magazine Research Cover Page: Discorder

Magazine research Cover page: Structure