Testing Photoshop - Front Cover Design Concepts

I have tested using some photoshop effects on some of my 'On Location' shots. I have tested certain font effects, including the 'Cogs' font, imported new brush effects, that give a 'Paint Spray' effect and I have also practiced with changing the contrast and brightness of the picture itself, whilst cropping it to fit into the front cover.

Rejected images

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Photos on Set: Police Lineup

I have taken the photos I planned earlier on in the course, and uploaded them online, where I can being the process of choosing which photos to use, and manipulating them:
http://picasaweb.google.com/ellis888/MusicMagazinePhotosPoliceLineup#

In-Depth Analysis of Kerrang Double Page Spread

This double page spread was featured in ‘Kerrang’ music magazine, Issue November 14^th 2009. These two pages may be considered an advertorial, due to the way that the writers have emphasised the band as being “the best”, where they also advertise the band’s new album (by teasing the audience with the “New Tracks” section on the right hand side, and describing the tracks with words like “epic”), set for release next spring, which begins to create a sense of anticipation for fans, where the article both entertains and promotes the band. This positive promotion of the band may also be down to the writer’s ideology about the genre of music and their coherent system of values within modern society. Within 'Kerrang', the majority of the band members that are presented seem to be male, suggesting a 'Male Superiority' view of the writer's opinion, particularly within this double page spread, where the main picture is a low angle shot of the male, lead singer, giving him dominance (reflected throughout other articles in the magazine). The meditation of the magazine would also have had an influence on the content included within the article, because the publisher of ‘Kerrang’, ‘the Bauer Media Group’, would impose their ideology onto the product, to insure that consumers that buy it are entertained and informed, in order to make the magazine profitable for the company-e.g. if the article was to insult a certain group of customers, or make a statement that is not generally acceptable to the multinational audience that ‘Kerrang’ attracts, the consumers be less inclined to re-purchase the product, and the company will lose profits.

The punk/emotional rock influence on the magazine is instantly recognisable within the setup and pictures of the double page spread, where the article is expressed as a “World Exclusive”, making it seem unique and special, where it is only available to the readers of ‘Kerrang’-it is also emphasised that the band has “invited” the magazine specially to their recording studio, so that readers can get an insight into the life of a famous band and the ‘celebrity lifestyle’-increasing fandom for the band. The majority of the two pages are used up by images, where there is only a small amount of text on the second page. Each of these pictures has been manipulated, to create a black and white effect, which matches the dark (almost gothic) emotional rock style of the band and its music. This is complemented by the bright red colour of certain text on the double page, which also relates to the bands style, with connotations of anger, blood and excitement. The font used for the title is very clear, using a ‘worn out’ effect, again relating to the punk style of the band. This title has then been set at an angle, and “best MCR” has been highlighted by using a larger font than the rest of the title, in white rather than red. This gives a subtle hint of informality to the double page spread, giving it more entertaining feel as the mode of address.

Language is also used as an advantage to the magazine, differentiated from other music magazines by its unique mode of address to its readers. The way the main picture has been framed, with the singer looking down while on stage, with a serious facial expression, almost reclining away from the audience is again associated with the emotional rock style of the band, and almost conveys an uninviting connotation to the picture, which readers will recognise as being ‘My Chemical Romance’s’ approach to their music. The title of the article is a quote from the band itself, which uses specialised language, such as “MCR”, that only certain groups in society will understand, creating a sense of community within the magazine. Other language used in this short article is often professional within the music industry, relating to the affluence of the young audience that may take an interest in the magazine, yet contains a personal element due to the number of long quotations used, made from an interview with the band. This more professional language, using phrases like “epic grandeur and theatrics of the quintet”, may have been used in order to underline the professionalism of the band itself, and describe the particular, new style of music that the band will adopt in its new album and contrast it with the old style, so that the audience can understand “what’s to come”, and get an exclusive ‘preview’ of it. This type of language is not often included within ‘Kerrang’, because language that is usually used is so that the audience can ‘skim read’ the contents. This text has been set out in columns, being a convention of magazines to do so, although it is a very short article and so could be related to looking like a story. Among the more serious tone of the main article, the captions of the pictures seem to add an anecdotal and humorous element to the double page spread. Adding elements such as “Oh no! I’ve forgotten to lock to bloody front door...” makes the article more entertaining for the reader, and may appeal to the young type of audience that would read the magazine.

All of the factors used to produce a double page spread relate to the ideology of the writer and the publishing company, relating to the set of values that the majority of the audience will have. The producer’s intent is to inform, entertain and change opinion, while making the magazine profitable to the company. Consumers that buy the magazine are of a young audience, who take interest in the particular style of music (emotional rock/punk) that has been adopted by ‘Kerrang’, where they invest their own money and time into the magazine. The medium of presenting magazines that readers can flip through and skip is very important, and must be acceptable for the fans of the bands that are mentioned and contain their interest, adapting to fit the opinions of the niche groups that read it.

Development of Music Magazines

The Billboard Music Magazine

Billboard Music Magazine, January 1936:

The introduction of the music magazine has been an important contributor in developing the modern music industry, and the social elements that surround it. ‘Billboard’ magazine was the first notable magazine that was devoted to the music industry, and was first printed in 1894. The front cover of the magazine was presented in a newspaper style, with black and white text, though it still contained photographs in order to draw in the audience. Similar techniques were used, as in the modern day, to increase sales, like styled fonts and interestingly manipulated images. As the magazine developed during the mid 20th century, it began to feature professional elements, such as the music charts, which also had an impact on music consumers, introducing a more competitive element into the music industry. The magazine focused on varying genres of music and has developed over its time-span, recently using new technology to its advantage, featuring DVD extras and internet music downloads.

Billboard.com, November 2009:

Since ‘Billboard’ was launched in the 20th century, the music industry has grown massively, developing dozens of new sub-genres such as rock, R & B and heavy metal and has had an increasing influence on the way the audience presents itself. In the modern social community, music inspires emotions, being a large part of life, and is evocative to moods and actions. It often has a large influence on other divisions of the media and can dictate codes of behaviour, fashion, friends and cultural norms among sub-cultures.

Introduction of Fanzines
Audiences of the music industry develop passions within their musical preferences and often want to express themselves further into the genre of music. Music helps to target a member of the audience’s identity, where they can take part in social activities, like going to clubs, watching live performances and creating their own media texts concerning it. In the 1960s, one way that fans began to do this was by designing their own amateur publications, known as 'Fanzines'. These booklets made it possible for musical enthusiasts to document a 'scene' or story that the music press would not publish, and allow them to be creative in doing so, letting other fans hear and understand this experience. These fanzines began to develop and recognise various sub-genres, so that other fans would be included in the community being created, meaning new cultural groups based on tastes and fashion rather than class, ethnicity or gender.

One example of a 'Rock' fanzine is 'Crawdaddy!'. Most fanzines are unprofessionally designed, and backed by no substantial amount of finance, however 'Crawdaddy!' soon developed into what is known as a 'Prozine'. These publications included advertisments to improve the content, and could have been categorised as magazines. It continued to be published throughout the 1970s, often competeing in the national mass market of magazines, and was partly successful due to the popularity of the 'Rock' sub genre, and the large cultural and social groups surrounding it.

Since the 20th century, fanzines have begun to fade out, but fans of musical genres continue to document these amateur stories on the internet, where other fans can easily access the information, and take part in social gatherings, discussions and activities, where these communities can continue.

Music Magazine Publishing Research

Music magazines have long been seen as a way create a relationship between bands and fans, and often contain information that may be of a large interest to these fans, increasing demand for these magazines. Therefore, publication of magazines can produce a large amount of profit and the marketing of the magazines is very important.

The NME magazine is usually priced at around £2.10 per issue and is published by IPC MEDIA, the UK's largest magazine publisher-publishing 80 different magazines each month, of varying types (Music Magazines, Women's Fashion, Men's Magazines, Gardening Magazines, Sports, Television Magazines, Boating Magazines and Celebrity Magazines).

Similarly, another rock music magazine, Kerrang, is priced at £2.20 per issue. This magazine however is published by Bauer Media Group, and is based in Germany. The Bauer Media group also publishes around 200 other magazines, sometimes worldwide, including another famous music magazine, Q, which is priced cheaper, at £1.60.

The community that these magazines create is very important for the music industry, where many awards have been set up in the name of these music magazines, such as the NME awards. These magazines also include a certain amount of advertising, sometimes in the form of covert advertising, so that new bands can become better known, increasing sales of music, and allowing the music industry to expand.

Photos on Location: Gunner's Park

I have taken some photos of a character holding a guitar, at the location I have specified, to be used in my music magazine, and uploaded them online, so that I can begin to choose which photos I am going to use, and edit them:
http://picasaweb.google.co.uk/ellis888/MusicMagazinePhotosOnLocationGunnerSPark#

Kerrang Music Magazine

To research further into the style of different music magazines, I have purchased a 'KERRANG' November 2009 issue.


I have scanned images of the front cover, contents and some double-page spreads in order to gain knowledge of techniques used, and the style of language used in each double page spread.

Main Front Cover Photo Costumes

For my frontcover photo, I would like to use specific costumes, that anchor to the scene that the characters are set in.

I would like to use orange prisoner jumpsuit style costumes, however, preferably, I will use other accessories in order to emphasise that it is a music magazine, aimed at young adults. Because of this audience age specificity, these accessories will be fashionable, mainly branded items of clothing, such as Converse/Vans/Etnies shoes, and modern clothing underneath the orange jumpsuits, which modern teenagers would wear, such as polo shirts, checkered shirts, hoodies and styled T-shirts.

Slideshow of Shoebury East Beach and Garrison

Here are some pictures, presented on youtube, that give some ideal photo shoot locations in the area surrounding Shoeburyness East Beach and Shoebury Gunner's Park. Preferably, on shoot day, the weather will be bright and clear, and I will take the majority of the photos at mid day.



I would also like to take some photos during the sunset, because this can often provide a warm mood to the photos, and also give a silhouette effect to the photos (I have planned to create a silhouette effect in one of my photos, with the character standing infront sunset, on the sea wall or pier, holding a guitar). This may suit a wide angle, landscape frame well, and would fit into a double page spread.

Here is a simple 'mock-up' that I have designed using photoshop, to test how effective this photo would be, using the silhouette effect.

Ideas for Photo Shoot Locations

Locations:

• Shoebury Beach
  
• Shoebury Garrison
  
• Set: White Wall
  
• Gunner's Park
• Southchurch Skate Park
• Underneath Southend Pier
• Set: Darkened Room with bright lights
• Barge pier at Gunner's Park
• Lake at Gunner's Park

Some areas of the photoshoot:

Gunner's Park and Shoebury World War 2 Buildings on the site.

View Larger Map


View Larger Map

Here, the barge pier, the lake, a World War 2 building and the beaches are evident, where you can see the location of some of my photo shoots.

Design Ideas

I have made a short sketch of one of my main design ideas for my front cover, testing the idea of using 'Crank' as my magazine title, and ensuring that the framing of my front cover photo will fit into the allocated space in the centre of the page.

My Music Magazine Name Ideas

Through research, I have recognized that most modern music magazines have names that, sometimes, very roughly correspond to what they contain.

Examples of names of rock music magazines:

• Q Magazine
  
• Kerrang!
  
• NME: The New Musical Express
  
• MOJO
  
• Rolling Stone
  
• Wire
  
• Spin

After investigating these names, I have concluded that most of them are short, so that they are simple, and easy to remember, but also ‘punchy’ and will have a large impact amongst a selection of other magazines.
I have developed a mind map of magazine titles that I could use, which I believe follow a similar style to other modern magazines:

• CRANK! (with a ‘COG’ style font)
• Flare
• Flame
• Crunch
• Li-quid (the magazine could be priced at £1- Unique Selling Point being that it is cheaper than most other music magazines on the market)
• Pulse
• Tune
• Beat Route (play on words)

I removed certain names, such as ‘Adrenaline’, because although it relates well to this genre of music, the word is too long, and will not have a strong impact on consumers.

Music Magazine Front Cover Concept

My concept for my main front cover picture is to create a 'police criminal line-up' scene, where a band stands in front of a wall, painted with black lines, holding instruments and each holding up boards, spelling out the name of the band.

In order to complete this photo shoot, I have decided that I will edit the height lines on, using photo editing software, and will use certain techniques, such as a slanted angle shot.

NME Music Magazine Analysis

This music magazine front cover features many elements that are typical to this genre of music magazine: rock. The main picture features the lead member of a rock band, who is performing on stage, with a bright light behind him. The photo was framed informally, from a low angle, giving this ‘rock star’ a sense of superiority. It was taken so that he appears to be shouting, making the picture seem exciting, and more appealing to the younger audiences of the magazine, who listen to this genre of music.
Most language on the front cover is colloquial, using terms that only younger people may understand, such as “ticket washout”, showing that the magazine is intended for them, and making it seem more ‘fun’. A label/sticker effect is used in the corners of the magazine, with smaller pictures at varying angles and text is used in varying sizes and slanted angles, reinforcing the idea of ‘casualness’. Furthermore, many elements of the front cover over-lap each other, relating again to this sense of a relaxed attitude to the magazine, perhaps making the magazine seem ‘cool’.
Overall, the magazine front cover has been packed with as much text and images possible, using a colour scheme of red and black: colours that connote danger, making the magazine ‘thrilling’ and ‘worth a read’, but also making it stand out amongst others. All of the text used is in capital letters, with a bold, modern, but clear style, connoting a ‘loud’ and ‘in your face’ approach, often aspired to by teens.
Many of the elements of this magazine that I have mentioned are elements that I would consider featuring in my magazine during the design stage.

School Magazine Analysis Podcast

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School Magazine Design

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