FINAL MAGAZINE

Final Magazine Product

Here are the final products for my front cover, contents page and double page spread-a Hip-Hop and R&B music magazine-808.

QUESTION7-Compare, Contrast & Evaluate

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

In this post, I'll be discussing my progress in editing and creating a magazine, comparing and contrasting my 'Art & Fashion Academy magazine' and ‘Music magazine'. Then comparing and evaluating them.

When I started creating my magazine, I has some experience with Photoshop but I had never tried creating a magazine, for this project I used Adobe Photoshop Elements, Adobe Photoshop CC, Adobe Photoshop CS5, and Adobe Photoshop CS6 to create my magazines because I was creating them at various locations, at home, in the school-study room, class, and art room. Throughout the process of creating the magazines, I can say I have definitely learnt a lot more from Photoshop, the process of creating and designing a magazine, the considerations, design, contents, layout, and various other elements, I have really improved in my designing, thinking & conceptual skills overtime.

Here is a presentation  which I created using slideshare to answer the question:

Looking at both front covers for my magazine, I would say I have produce high quality standards of work, both totally different from each other, I was able to achieve what I was aiming for in both of them, it wasn't an easy process, but I can say it was worth all the stress, and I am definitely proud of both designs, that's the end to my music magazine project, was stressful but fun, loads of fun, especially creating a magazine that was true to myself and based on what I would want my music magazine to be like. :D

Comparing & contrasting a magazine:Question 7 from sewa18

QUESTION 6

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

Websites
Before starting this project, I had never used any of this websites-slideshare, prezi, or blogger, so at first it was quite difficult to use but with time I got hand over it and found it easy to use. Blogger.com would have to be one of the easiest website I knew how to handle, it makes my work easy to present and look organized, it's quite user friendly, and also allows me to check previous AS media coursework-this helps me to ensure that I'm doing the right thing or for support with any task I find confusing.

With blogger.com I’m also able to insert pictures, embed links-prezi, slideshare, and insert YouTube videos. Using prezi was quite fun as it’s a more interesting and exciting way of creating presentation that’s more interactive. It allows me to creatively design the presentation to my taste by adding, moving and editing videos, images and text. For my evaluation I had to broaden my knowledge by using Slideshare, A.nnotate & Screencast-O-Matic. With Slideshare I was able to embed my PowerPoint presentation on my blog so as to show different ways in which different multimedia could be used on one blog, and my blog becomes easier to read by users. A.nnotate is a website in which I was able to add notes/comments-annotate my magazine front cover, it was confusing at first but with more practice I understood how to use it, the only drawback of this website was, I wasn't able to export my annotations as an Image so I had to change my file to a .pdf file and do the annotations again before I could export it, and even after doing that I had to use a file converter online which would allow me to convert my .pdf file to a JPEG-so I could upload my annotations as an image, however, one benefit of this website is that it allows my work to look organized.

Screencast-O-Matic was a website which I used to add a voiceover to match in with what I was recording on my computer screen and then post it on YouTube.

Creating & Editing

Question 6 what have you learnt about technologies from from sewa18

QUESTION 5

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

I created a prezi presentation to answer this question:

The titles were made to be simple so as to contrast well with the gold frame and to blend in with the image of my models which I made sure were dressed formally so as to show power, and that rappers could also be entrepreneurs. My motto "BACK TO THE ROOTS" is to represent the fact that my magazine is sticking to the originality of music, especially Hip Hop and R&B music, rather than doing what everyone does which is one of the reasons my magazine can be said to be unconventional, I wanted it to be different from any other music magazine out there, stand out for itself, respected for its originality, subtle, but yet stylish and attractive to look at. I placed "Watch The Throne" on the front cover of my magazine as it is to attract my target audience who all know about the album and tour which was rated No.1 on the Billboard charts previously, I used "The Kings Are Back" so as to attract my target audience into buying the magazine as they would want to find out more information on whether my artists are planning out a new album.

My contents page for my music magazine was created to be simple and subtle with just one image, my magazine inspirations were-RESPECT, VIBE, THE SOURCE, the gentlewoman & ELEPHANT Magazine.

The features on my contents page were designed to attract my audience-the subtle, unique, stylish and originality, the male and female are both catered for with my magazine:sports, fashion, music, artists of interest, style, lifestyle, business, etc.

I chose a simple, bold, sans serif font so as to match with the style which I was aiming for, the text were placed differently in some situations, like with my magazine title which was right-aligned, also the magazine's slogan/motto "BACK TO THE ROOTS" was placed in my magazine title so as to make interesting, different,and quite contemporary. 

As I stated earlier, I went for a more narrative interview so as to not lose my audience interest, and for them to be able to relate with the artists, this was inspired by THE SOURCE magazine-their interview with the artist Big Sean.

QUESTION 4

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

Who would be the audience for your media product? from sewa18

Example of the type of music My ideal reader would listen to:

QUESTION 3

QUESTION 3: WHAT KIND OF MEDIA INSTITUTION MIGHT DISTRIBUTE YOUR MEDIA PRODUCT AND WHY?

Here i'll be explaining some of the INSTITUTIONS in which would distribute my media product and why they would, THEN I'LL DECIDE WHICH WOULD BE THE BEST FOR MY MAGAZINE. THE INSTITUTION IN WHICH THE MAGAZINE DECIDES TO SELECT FOR DISTRIBUTION OF THEIR PRODUCT MATTERS A LOT AND COULD DETERMINE THE PROFIT IN WHICH THE MAGAZINE MAKES.

What kind of media institution might distribute your media product and why? from sewa18

QUESTION 2

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

Social groups are important to creating a magazine as they help to consider the contents of my magazine, and I have created this Prezi so as to backup certain reasons for creating a unique music magazine, I also placed the annotations to my magazine front cover which I made earlier to support this question:

QUESTION 1

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

Here I was influenced by the contents page for THE SOURCE to create a bold title for my contents page and to create a name for my contents page; "THE SOURCE-MASTER PLAN, 808-THE SCHEDULE", also with my contents page, I centre aligned my text and made the main heading of each page bold just like that of THE SOURCE magazine, I liked the simplicity of the text and followed it through on my contents page.

Just like with THE SOURCE MAGAZINE, I was inspired by RESPECT. magazine to give my contents page a title; "RESPECT.-Order of Operations, 808-THE SCHEDULE."

DOUBLE PAGE SPREAD

DOUBLE PAGE SPREAD-planning

Here I scanned pages from my book which I wrote down, these are the notes I used to plan out my double page spread interview:

FINAL

808 MAGAZINE FINAL PIECE

FRONT PAGE, CONTENT PAGE, DOUBLE PAGE SPREAD

Here are the final piece I have created for my front cover, content page, and double page page spread for my Hip-Hop and R&B magazine, 808, derived from the first programmable drum maker.

After submitting  them, my class teacher might ask me to change some contents-design & layout for the magazine.

PROGRESS

The on-going process of completing my music magazine

This post is going to be showing the process in which I had to take in completing my final magazine products-the contents page, and double page spread interview. Just as my front page is subtle, I carried this style through my contents page and double page spread, I used the THE SOURCE magazine as my inspiration for them.

While editing my contents page, I decided to delete the images I used on the first page and kept only one image, I also made the text-THE SCHEDULE much bigger like that of THE SOURCE magazine, I also change the text layout, alignment, and colours here and there. Here is a screenshot I took of my process in creating the contents page

For my double page spread, I started by photroshopping the images which I was going to use for the page, I used various tools like, adjusting levels-for colours & curves-for highlights & shadows, hue & saturation, clone tool, brush tool and the spot healing tool. Here is a screen-shot of the process:

I had a change of mind and decided to select another picture for the double page spread, I also photoshopped them and further placed them on an A3 canvas in photoshop-the space left here is where the text would be inserted.

I started by typing in the tagline from the interview with the artist and selected a different font then made them bold so that they could stand out from the rest of the text. 

I got this idea from THE SOURCE magazine-their interview with the artist Big Sean.

I added the bold letter later on for the start of the interview just like that of THE SOURCE magazine and I started typing in the main text. I moved the text around so it could fit in with the image and other text on the page.

Here I had finished typing in the text for the double page spread artist interview

After doing this, I had to justify, move, delete, and add text to the page so as to make it look well organised with a good layout, furthermore, I changed the colour for the page number to match that of the content page. I also added who the pictured was taken by and who made the story.

These are the main steps I had to take in creating my final content and double page spread.

Refresher on Semiotic Theory

The Study of Signs & Meaning

I will be looking at the THEORETICAL UNDERSTANDING of my work.

Creating a sense of collective identity:

Mode of Address-was quite narrative. Clean, stylish, simplicity & wealth.
808 Magazine was created to be different, subtle, unique, artistic, serious, simple, stylish, to have originality within the Hip-Hop and R&B music world.
Layout-Simple & organised
Colour- Gold, white, black & Aquamarine.
People I chose to take pictures of-two males of ethnic origin, dressing, facial expression and body language were chosen to show strength, fashion sense, wealth, style-it's made for an audience which appreciate music, and want to know much more about the music. For those who listen to music, want a deeper meaning into their music and are quite stylish.
Cost- average-for financially stable-not expensive not too cheap just Okay.

My Template approach:

I was aiming for a simple and artistic template, so each publication of my magazine would have a gold frame, a black and white high quality image placed in the centre within the frame, the Header-808 right aligned with a subtle colour and other minimal subtle coloured text.

Reason for dressing my characters in a certain type of clothing, facial EXPRESSION & POSTURE-Reason for my Location:

Dressing-My characters were wearing suits and jewelleries because I wanted to represent them as wealthy, stylish, into fashion & formal. To show that they're business men, not just artists.
Facial Expressions-I wanted an intense face-a serious facial expression, shows they're serious about what they do.
Posture-I wanted that body posture so as to show that they are in power, they're a boss and aren't movable-strength.
Location-I chose a studio because I wanted a simple background for the front cover, and I needed the focus to be more on the artists.

SEMIOTIC THEORY

Iconic-It is what it is
Symbolic/Arbitrary-Has a meaning that must be culturally learned because it doesn't look like what it represents.
Indexical-Has a connection to what it represents and is more suggestive, rather than directly resembling what they represent.

Is the main image of my front cover Iconic, Symbolic or Indexical?

The image I used is symbolic because the artists have to be culturally learned.
While my magazine front cover is indexical because it doesn't look like a music magazine.

MAGAZINE CONCEPT

The Process Of Developing The Concept Of The Music Magazine

I annotated my music magazine's front cover so as to break down the steps in which I considered and took, on the basis for the conception of my final product. Here I considered the layout and design of music magazine conventions, as you would know, I created a music magazine which is unconventional to how most music magazines look, however, there are some elements to my magazine which make it look quite conventional. I wanted my magazine to be unique, simple, artistic & stylish.

MY MAGAZINE

808 MAGAZINE

Here's the first version front cover and contents page for my Hip-Hop and R&B magazine I made, it's called 808  which is derived from the first programmable drum maker.

After reviewing them with my class teacher, I have decided to edit my contents page by looking through some magazine contents page, deleting and resizing some images here so as to create a better contents page layout.

WHAT'S DENOTATION & CONNOTATION?

DENOTATION AND CONNOTATION

Denotation: is the literal meaning of a word or image, in contrast to what you feel it is or what the word suggests, it's basically explaining what you see exactly as it is.

Connotation: is breaking down the meaning of an image or text, it's connecting an idea or feeling of an individual to an image or text to what it literally means.

I denoted & connotated some magazine covers for TIME & HELLO! Magazine:

DENOTATION: Text

Jug of Water

Sugar & Sat In a Teaspoon
CONNOTATION: A simple medicine mixture but yet people still people die from the illness every year.

 

DENOTATION: A child under a Malaria net

Black & White image

Text
CONNOTATION: Starvation in Africa and how a lot of people are dying from Malaria.

DENOTATION: A bold Text-HELLO!

Prince William & Kate

Royal Family

Red & White text
CONNOTATION: Will and Kate's Marriage & the Royal Wealthy family

DENOTATION: A faded image of a man

A hook

Red, Black & White Text
CONNOTATION: A man that lost his arm probably due to some & attack & his blurry face shows discomfort


From this exercise I have learnt how to enhance the design and layout of my magazine cover so as to give meaning for the audience when trying to denote and connotate my front magazine cover. I would want, and I will design & create my magazine to show power, a sense style of style, wealth, power, and most of all uniqueness.

MY MAGAZINE PLAN

FLAT PLAN FOR MY MUSIC MAGAZINE

After carrying out various researches, taking questionnaires and planning, I have come out with a flat plan for my magazine front cover, contents page, a double-page interview.

Here's the front cover, contents page, and double page interview layout for the music magazine, this layout

 might however  look a bit different when the final product of the magazine has made.

MAGAZINE INTERVIEW

ARTIST MAGAZINE INTERVIEW 

For this task, I read a magazine(THE SOURCE MAGAZINE) interview on Big Sean and broke it down into sections by analysing and commenting on the language used, then giving out examples at certain points in which it was used. I also talked about what the article was discussing, then I considered how this interview could appeal to the magazine's target audience, and how the interview promotes/markets the artist, and finally, if any album or single was being promoted.

By reading and analysing the interview, I have learnt and gotten ideas on how my magazine interview would be planned out. Here's the prezi presentation I made for analysing the magazine interview:

PRE-PRODUCTION QUESTIONNAIRE

MY TARGET AUDIENCE RESEARCH

I conducted a pre-production questionnaire on my target audience for the content of my magazine so as to find out the type of things they would want to see in a music magazine and the sort of things they would want to read about on my double page spread interview.The findings which I made from this would help me plan the production of my magazine. I decided to present my questionnaire using prezi:

MUSIC MAGAZINE RESEARCH

RESEARCHING A MUSIC MAGAZINE

I was given the task to research two music magazines of different genres and compare them with each other, I chose a Hip-Hop and R&B magazine -THE SOURCE, and then compared it with a contemporary rock magazine -MOJO, here's the prezi presentation which I made for it.

THE HOBBIT 2 & MY BROTHER THE DEVIL

The Hobbit 2

• Production: New Line Cinema, Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer, WingNut Films 
• Distribution: Warner Bros. Pictures

REVIEWS:

• SCREEN RANT-4 OUT OF 5 "EXCELLENT"
• THE GUARDIAN-RANK 4 by Peter Bradshaw
• 8.2/10-IMDb-220,565 votes                   
• 75%-Rotten Tomatoes-209 reviews

Soundtrack:

There's a blog which was made for The Hobbit 2 which shows various items that were created or recorded when producing the movie, and here's the link to the online production Diaries that were created: http://www.thehobbitblog.com/category/videos/

Few Webisodes were also created by the production team and fans: http://geek-news.mtv.com/2011/04/14/next-movie-peter-jackson-vlogs-the-hobbit/
BOX OFFICE FIGURES: Worldwide- $893,761,251/ Domestic- $256,661,251- FEB 24. 2014
Awards-2012/2013:

• BAFTA/LA Britannia Awards-British Artist of the Year
• VES Award-Outstanding Animated Character in a Live Action Feature Motion Picture
• 2nd Place FFCC Award-Best Visual Effects
• Comic Vine Movie Awards-Best Supporting Character:Ian Mckellen
• IGN's Best of 2013-Best Fantasy Movie
• IGN's People's Choice Awards-Best Fantasy Movie & Best Movie
• New Zealand Movie Awards-Best Fantasy

As it's a long list of Awards and Nominations, I'll just place the link here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_accolades_received_by_The_Hobbit_film_series

My Brother The Devil

• Production: Wild Horses Film Company. Rocks Net Entertainment
• Distribution: UK-Verve Pictures, US (North America)-108 media 

REVIEWS: 

• "A compelling gangland saga...crisp, cool and consistently street-smart." -Empire 
• "A cracking debut...Slick, muscular, entertaining and emotionally satisfying."-The Hollywood Reporter
• 'Favourite narrative feature' -The Daily Telegraph at the Sundance
•  'An energetic and imaginative tale...a film that so artfully refuses to surrender to convention.'-Variety  
•  'Gritty and gripping' -The Independent 
• Rotten Tomatoes rates it a 91% 
• Total Film gave it film of the day and placed it in its Top 3 Films at Sundance 
• Screen International named it 'a luminous event' 
• "Brutally honest and slick…go see it"RWD Magazine 
• "A triumph"Evening Standard
• "This is a must see film…brilliance at it’s best."The Hip Hop Chronicle
• "One of the best films of the year"Clash Magazine

Soundtrack:



BOX OFFICE FIGURES: Domestic- $44,906- MARCH 22. 2013

Awards-2012/2013:

• Best Cinematography atSundance Film Festival
• Won Best European Film (Europa Cinemas Label Award) at Berlinale
• Best Newcomer - Sally El Hosaini at BFI London Film Festival
• CBA Worldview Sundance Impact Award at Sundance London
• Most Promising Newcomer -Sally El Hosaini at Evening StandardFilm Awards
• BIFA for Best Newcomer - James Floyd at British Independent Film Awards
• Grand Jury Award at LA Outfest
• Audience Award - Annonay Film Festival, France
• New Vision Award for Cinematography - Manaki Brothers Film Festival, Macedonia
• Won Best Actor - James Floyd at Milan Film Festival
• Honorable Mention Outstanding First Feature, Frameline Film Festival

Nominations-2012/2013:

• Grand Jury Prize at Sundance Film Festival
• Most Promising Newcomer - James Floyd at Evening Standard Film Awards
• Best Newcomer - Fady Elsayed at BFI London Film Festival
• BIFA Douglas Hickox award for Best Debut Film - Sally El Hosaini atBritish Independent Film Awards
• Sutherland Trophy (Best First Film) - Sally El Hosaini at BFI London Film Festival

IAMLEGEND SWEDE

I AM LEGEND SWEDE

Months back, the media class team which I was assigned to and I created a swede for the I Am Legend Trailer. There were various tasks in which we had to do to create our project: from pre-production stage (planning of swede/storyboard, props, etc.) to production stage (distribution, posters, etc.). Each member of the team had task in which they were assigned to; giving each of us different responsibilities, contribution and roles like: editing, props, creating props, directing, camera work, creating posters, making social accounts, blogging, etc.

The Original I Am Legend Trailer

Preparing the Swede-I AM LEGEND

Planning: During this stage, we had a group meeting and were assigned different responsibilities such as the poster designers, bloggers, directors, producer, video editor, and camera-man. As a group we chose the perfect task that suits our abilities and skills. Schedule: Finding slots for our shoots was very important in creating the swede., so was preparing the props for the shoots. Post-Production: Here the video was being edited by a member of the team and the non-diegetic sound was being added to it by using the  tascam recorder. My main role was to create and design a poster that will advertize our swede. Here's the poster I created for the swede:

Production stage: After the swede was created and the poster had been made, different social accounts were created for the swede like, a Facebook account and a Blog so as to increase the amount of people that viewed our swede and to motivate people to like the page.

• The I Am Legend Blog was created so as to give more Information on the swede-Here's the Link: http://iamlegendswede.blogspot.co.uk/
• The Facebook Link: https://www.facebook.com/IAmLegendSwede

The Swede: I AM LEGEND

Distribution: This was the final process to the swede, here we presented our work to the whole media class, and we received various feedbacks on the positives and negatives from the swede: what looked good and what could have been worked on.

The final task was to share/distribute the swede as much as we can so as to get the most views, so the team with the most views ends up being the winner.

We Won with 376 views!!!  We also received a prize from this project for being the winner...NOT BAD AT ALL :D