Cover

Contents

DPS

 

Why i chose san serif fonts

Throughout my front cover, contents page and double page spread, i have been using san serif fonts. I chose san serif as it reflects my genre, electronic dance, more than serif would. Having a serif font would make my magazine look more formal and wouldnt fit my genre. My genre consists of technical, block type fonts so i used fonts like 'exo.2' and 'nueropolitalrg regular'.

Cover

Contents page

 

DPS

Magazine cover progress

Made up album cover for contents

I created the cover for a made up album for my cover. I wanted to include free tracks for my audience as i wanted to differentiate my magazine from others. So I made one using my own photos I took and created on photoshop. 

 I zoomed in on to the second photo and created a square shape on powerpoint and added a gradient. I opened the second photo on photoshop and pcoppied the square on to the photo and added text on top of it.

QnA for DPS

1      These are the questions I asked for my double page spread.

  What is it like working in the music industry?

It is difficult because you have to be up your game and always working or else someone would steal your place and the industry requires hard work to accomplish your dreams and be noticed. Also it worries me that when your name has been slammed it’s hard to recover from it.

2.       If there was anything you could change about it, what would you change?

I would change the sneakiness of people as loads of people would steal your song, take credit for other people’s work which is totally unfair.

3.       So, you are one of the youngest DJ’s out there, what inspired you to become a DJ?

My love for music at a small age. When I was creating some tracks people would be like ‘Oh hey I love your music’ (laughs) that really inspired me to keep going.

4.       What do you want to accomplish by the end of next year?

I would love for my music to be more out there, reaching out to more DJ lovers (laughs). I think what I have accomplished so far is honestly a blessing but having more people listening to my music would be amazing (laughs)

5.       I heard you are releasing your first ever album, what’s it like working with your team?

My team is great! They’re always supportive, always on their game making things better for me and just honestly I couldn’t ask for a better team.

6.       Do you have a specific theme for the album? What made you call it ‘Future’?

Ummm, hmmm, I’m not sure about a specific theme, It’s honestly a mix of emotions and inspiration all in to one album. I called it future because my songs do link to the future and I also have a song called future. But that does kind of give like the audience an idea of what the album might be about.

7.       Have you been working on any other secret projects?

Well, if I tell you, they won’t be a secret then (laughs). But let’s just say tour? (Laughs) maybe. But you all will find out soon, I promise you that.

8.       If you could have a collaboration with any other artist, who would you choose?

Oh god ummmm, there are so many amazing artists to choose from. Can I say 10? (Laughs). No but seriously, one of my fave artists is the weeknd. I feel like I can relate to his music so much, so collaborating would be epic.

9.       What’s your craziest fan experience?

(Laughs) Well, I’ve actually had loads but I’d say the funniest one was when I ended a gig and we were all going home. A girl jumped in the boot of the car and we didn’t know till we stopped at the hotel and she jumped out. I was a bit scared if I’m honest.

10.   What do you want to say to all the fans who have been supporting you since the beginning?

Although you guys are crazy (laughs), I appreciate you all and just want to say a big thank you. I wouldn’t be here without you all. And don’t worry, there is something big happening soon. 

Why my cover star is looking away from the camera?

My cover image star is looking away from the camera which can be seen as unconventional however from my research, I concluded that it is not unconventional in the electronic dance genre. The photos below all have the cover star looking away from the camera. The magazines are also my genre which shows its okay to have someone looking away. Also, in a previous post I had posted my photos I took of my cover star, according to me and my class, the one looking away from the camera is the best one photo.

 

Location Photography

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Working on my contents page

Today i have added more sections to my contents page

Photos i took for my cover

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Content page ideas

Ideas for my contents page:

Because the background of my front cover is dark grey, I decided to also have the background of my contents page the same colour. This will really bring in the magazine together and make it look put together.
I am having a double page spread for my contents as this will fit loads of photos and more information for readers. I am distributing the text across the two pages. so having one subheading on one page, the next subheading on the other etc.
I have decided to use 5 photos in my contents page. 2 images I have taken in the photography studio and 3 location images i have taken. Many electronic dance magazines mainly have images of clubs in their contents pages but because i am underage, i cannot enter a club so i decided to use the closest, similar place which is a concert i went to in the past and took many photos of the place and the crowd etc. This is also conventional as DJ's are in concerts, so these images will be relevant and would be suitable for the contents. I will also be taking images outside clubs as they are lit up and would look good on the contents.

My chosen cover photo

Today I took my images for my front cover. I put all the photos in a folder and then created a sub folder for the possible photos that I can use and that would look good on the cover. It came down to 3 photos and I places them on my mock up to see which one would look best. I had a vote with the class and made them help me decide which one looked conventional to my electronic dance genre. Majority of them said this photo looked better:

I agreed that this was my favourite as it was the most conventional. My model is wearing glasses which shows he is superior and powerful, also with the low angle shot and the fact he isn't looking at the camera also makes him look superior. which is conventional for my genre. DJ's are wearing sunglasses a lot. my model is wearing headphones around his neck as if he has just been making music or has been at a gig. You would often see DJ's with headphones on.

The other photos to choose from didn't show he was superior as the model wasn't wearing sunglasses and was smiling at the camera. Although the smiling does give a friendly impression, it isn't conventional to my genre.

By looking at this main image you can tell the genre is electronic dance. Also, when I was asking people what genre does this look like, they did say electronic dance.

Call sheet

Mock up

This is my mock up for my music magazine. I have established many conventions for the genre i am doing which is Electronic dance such as:
- The main image star showing superiority by wearing glasses and looking down.
- Colour scheme, Red, white and black which is conventional to my genre
- The name is relevant to my genre

Flat plan for Music magazine

My chosen location

My Chosen Locations

For my Contents page I will be including location photos. Because my genre is electronic dance I will be taking photos of my main image star and/or another person outside a club. I chose this as one of my locations as the outside of a club is quite flashy and bright and my main image star is portrayed as a DJ and DJ's often go to clubs for gigs and my audience go to clubs to dance and so they can relate. Clubs are also conventional to the electronic dance genre.
My second location would be perhaps of an empty road and my cover star walking. the image will be shot from his behind so we can see that he is walking and that he is on a road. I chose this as it relates to the cover line 'journey to the future'. The photo will perhaps imply he is moving forward, alone.
My third chosen location would be of my cover star playing a DJ set at a studio with headphones on and grinning to show he is having a good time. I may not be able to access a studio or equipment so I will improvise and use something similar but not show that its actually not a DJ set etc. Also I can use an extreme close up or a close up so we can just see the persons face.

My magazine proposal

trying out illustrator

Today we learnt how to use adobe illustrator and some main functions in order to make our music magazine in future. We learnt how to change the shape of text, changing a text colour to a photo. Here i will talk step by step on how i achieved my end result.

we started off by opening a new file and changing its size to A4. We then added a text, it could say anything as it is just practise. we played around with different font types and sizes.

Starting my proposal

This is what i have done so far:

Magazine proposal

Title of magazine:

Your chosen music genre: Electronic/dance

Type of content included:

·         Feature artists such as Calvin Harris and David Guetta who specialise in electronic music

·         Reviewing songs/albums that are popular in the genre

·         Gossip and news

·         Help in starting a music career

·         QnA’s

·         My unique selling point would be including freebies in the magazine and also selling merchandise online.

Publishers like Bauer might publish my magazine as they publish many other music brands but only have a few magazine brands. They also do not publish anything to do with the genre I am doing, which is electronic/dance. Because my genre is different to what they normally publish, it is likely my magazine will be chosen as companies are looking for unique ideas. If there are two of the same magazines, they would probably be alike. 

Distribution

Evaluation and Distribution

You can purchase Mixmag magazines in many places. You can buy them in stores or even purchase subscriptions and get the magazine sent to your house every time they publish a new magazine. They get people to purchase monthly subscriptions by adding in free coupons or deals. On the mixmag website it says if you buy a 10 month subscription for £30, you can get all the previous issues from 2012 and a 30% off voucher for Beatport. This is synergy as they are both working together, promoting each other. You can also get issues sent to your house instead of purchasing mixmag on your phone/tablet. They include freebies to interest potential customers. A customer may not be interested in buying a subscription, perhaps because they are new and just want to check out the magazine. Mixmag also offers purchasing the single latest magazine; sent to your house or on their app which can be downloaded on your phone/tablet.

There are some features that are included on the website but not in the magazine. On the website you can purchase tickets to gigs. There are many artists to choose from. This feature isn’t included in the magazine as you can’t buy tickets from a magazine. They also have videos included. Of videos and songs which obviously isn’t featured in the magazine. Most features are included in both website and magazine such as news and reviews etc.

Mixmag uses popular mainstream social media to promote the company such as Twitter, soundcloud, YouTube and Facebook. This is because they know loads of people use these social media and so more people will see the promotions. Social media such as Twitter and facebook will allow other users to share their tweets or posts.

College Magazine Evaluation

College Magazine Evaluation

What went well:

I had a clear 3 colour scheme that is easy to spot. This makes my magazine look put together and professional looking. I added many magazine conventions such as star cover lines, sky line, puff/pugg. I put a lot of effort in to the cover which payed off as it enhanced my magazine. My main photo was conventional as it is a mid-shot, and they are used often in magazines. The main image is giving direct address which gives a friendly impression, engaging with the audience. In my contents page, when i wrote about the featured pages, the language i used was engaging and interesting as I used rhetorical questions and made it fun which would be suitable for my target audience.

What I need to improve on:

I need to improve on my contents page as it looked too bland. I could've added more colours to the contents page and filled in the missing white blanks with pictures or more text. 

3 Key points for main task:

- Don't leave any blank spaces. Keep the page busy but still look intriguing.

- Always use colours that compliment the main image.

- Think about the audience and what would appeal to them.

college mag front cover

College mag contents

Flat plan for college magazine

Magazine photoshop task

In lesson, we learnt how to use photoshop. We learnt the basic tools and used the knowledge on making a quick music magazine for our chosen genre. I haven't finished my magazine but the image shows what I have done so far.

Task 2 - EDM magazine

Edm MagazineJ by Aatiqa on Scribd

Task 2 - Mixmag magazine

Mixmag magazine.. by Aatiqa on Scribd

Production Schedule

Introduction

Introduction

My name is Aatiqa and I study Media, Film and Law. In this blog, I will be posting my journey of my media coursework. I chose media as I enjoy it and find it interesting. I also did media as a GCSE and liked it and so thought to do it as an As level too.

My favourite part of the coursework would be probably the photography and the editing of the magazine because that's when I can be creative and design to how I like it but still following the task. 

Induction article