Cover Photos Photochoot (Photoshop)

Original Cover Photos

 

 

 

 

 

This is a famous Rock Star (Puck Kiliun), an idol for people all over the world, his image and style has been inspiring the young for years.

Despite that, does he give a bad example?

 

 

 

 

 

This is the original picture:

 

 

 

 

and this is after I have tried a few things with the Photoshop:

 

 

The problem is I still have to work on my croping technique and maybe consider other effects or doing somnething else.

Also if i use it for the cover I would need more space on top for the masthead.

Since this is the main person for this magazine, I will probably use him for the double page spread as well.                                               

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Other photos from the photoshoot :

 

 Another photo that will be includen in the front cover as an extra

(there is no photoshoot for it, just a random picture of a friend):

 

 

 

 

 

 



Front Cover Tryouts

This is the original cover picture:

 

 

 

 

 

 

So far I have tryed sone effects and different styles of the masthead, I still have a lot of work to do. This is one of the layouts I could use as well as the font and picture, I'm still struggling with the choice of colours.

 

 

 

 

After trying different colours:

  (for some reason, I cannot make it bigger)

Content Page Photos

The Original Content Page Photos

 

 

 

 

These are my original contenp page photos. I didn't have the chance to make a full photo-shoot, so I have selected 3 pictures ( of my friends' concert) that seemed suitable.

 

 

1.

 

 

 

 

 

2.

 

 

 

 

3.

 

 

 

This one isn't very good quality, but if I choose to use it I'll consider trying to fix it by using Photoshop or something else.

 

 

 



Notes On Photography

Notes On Photography

In order to make good photographs a few things should be considered:

1. Shape
2. Light
3. Angles
4. Perspective
5. Colour 
6. Line
7. Pattern 
8. Texture

Great photographers often focus on several of these to make their photographs interesting and give the right context.

Examples:

Lewis Hine
 Hine used his camera as a tool for social reform. His photographs were instrumental in changing the child labor laws in the United States. His image emphasis on shape.

Andreas Gursky
Gursky is a visual artist well known for his architecture and landscape color photographs. He concentrates on color and perspective.

Herb Ritts
He focuses on light and contrast, famous for his photographs of celebrities.

Summary:
A lot of things have to be considered in order to be taken a good picture, you have to find the perfect combination and what is best suitable for expressing what you want to express.

Magazine Comparison Chart

Magazine Comparison Chart

 

 

This is my magazine comparison chart, it gives me further information about what real magazines contain. Also gives me a lot of good ideas for my magazine.

Photoshoot Plan

Photoshoot Planing

 

 

Before I start I would have to consider:

 

 

• Location
• Lighting
• Costumes
• Camera shots

Location:

My photoshoot will be outdoors and I think the location doesn't matter that much, because I'm going to use photoshop on all pictures and I'm not thinking of including the background from the picture, so the shooting would probably take action in the school corridors, because they are a convinient location.

 

Lighting:

Unfortunately I have technical problems with my camera, and the lighting in the corridors( my chosen location) isn't very profesional, but I have chosen to fix it with photoshop rather than using an actual day light, because thr theme of my magazine requires a bit more darkness and mistery and something different and unordinary, so a normal daylight picture just wouldn't do.

 

Costumes:

Costumes are a very importaint art of a magazine, they give an image and sometimes say more than words.  I thank my model for puting so much effort in his costume. It is showing freedom and spirit of ribellion: the guitar, the hat, rings, the T-shirt of Iron Maiden, baggy jeans, wide shoes. Some may say: ''Casual'', but to me, the abbility of combining so many things and still looking ok is pure art.

This costume is very suitable because it's eye-catching and affective.

 

Camera shots:

The camera shots I was thinking of are low-angled shots and eather mid-shots or long shots (depending on what I'm going to use them for). My photoshoot won't be very big, because I don't need a lot of pictures and (since I'm not paying them) I don't like taking peole's personal time.

So I'm going to take a few photos and work with what I have.

 

 

Photoshoop Practice

Photoshop Practice

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Today we used Photoshop to create a cover of a cooking book. Firstly I  used a Pen Tool to select the chosen image(the crab) then pasted it on a new page. It was time consuming and didn't turn out very well, so I guess the Pen Tool wasn't the best choice for this task, that's why for the lemons, I chose the quick selection tool ( it was the best one because the lemons are round). After pasting the lemons on the crab I started choosing colours for the background. I used the Paint Bucket Tool to put a colour and chose something between pink and red, because it contrasted the lemons and I wanted them to pop-out. After doing this I increased the canvas size so that I ended up with a blank space on the left side of the page, there I chose a colour as well, a texture filter and finally wrote the title of the book.

That way quick and easy we made a book cover from a simple crab picture. This is very helpful for the picture I'm going to use for my magazine, now I know how to make my ideas a reality and lets hope it will turn out ok. :)



Colour Samples

Colour Samples

Colours are very important in order for the magazine to catch the eye of the audience and not be passed by. Some people would say: ''It's a rock magazine, just make it black.'', Yes, but black isn't going to sell it right? There has to be a delicate mixture of colours, so that it doesn't look boring or too colourful on the other hand. 

  For the front cover:

I was thinking of cropping the picture on my front cover and putting  it on a black background so that it can stand out. Then there is the question with the colours of the masthead and the text. In my opinion 2 or 3 colours would be enough.

1. 

This is the first option, black(as the background) green as some texts and res as masthead and the rest of the texts.

2.

Then it might be black, red and yellow.

3. Or... black, grey and red...

The last one looks too dark and boring.

The target audience of this magazine are young people so I'm aiming for something eye catching.

I'll also consider the colours on the picture I'll be using. Which are yellow, green, black and red, so I'll revolve around them. I'll decide which one suits best when I try them on the cover and see how they would fit the rest of it's image.

Audience feedback would be in great help :)

Treatment Sheet

Treatment Sheet

 

 

 

 

The Magazine: Free Soul

 

 Target Readership: Free Soul is the newest rock magazine aimed at young people and teens (may be boys or girls), who enjoy the sound of freedom and good music. The Free Soul reader is aged between 17 and 25 may also be read by younger brothers of the target readers. The magazine is aiming at a boy audience; however at this age there are a lot of girls who are more likely to spend money on a music magazine, than boys. The readers' parents probably wouldn't enjoy the magazine much and the way it influences their children, so the readers cannot rely much on their parents for financial support, but as they don't approve the magazine, that makes it even more desirable and interesting. An average Free Soul reader is young, often misunderstood or feels that way, feels that they want to shout just so that someone would hear them. This magazine gives them the opportunity to express all they are repressing, as the music they enjoy does. That doesn't mean that the readers are different that other people, that there is something wrong with them (like some people think), or have a bad life, or their parents treat the badly. No, just the opposite- they are often ambitious, very deep and sensitive, but rely on the music for support that they feel that no one else would even want to give them. They may seem like they are trying to push people away, but the truth is they are protecting themselves, often hiding behind make-up or strange hairstyles. They see inspiration when they look at their favourite rock bands and how they have achieved so much...starting from the bottom. They like reading true stories don't enjoy gossip and fairy tales; don't like to be lied to about reality, simply want the truth.


Form and Style: Free Soul is an A4, monthly, full colour magazine with (rock) celebrity interviews, true live stories, news and reviews a bit of gossip, quizzes, posters and prize winning games. The covers use famous rock bands or solo artists and the main colours used are dark ones with very bright ( ones that stand out), for example, toxic green, or some sort of pink, red- the colour of blood and danger, electric blue ( like lightning) or yellow. There will be a strong focus on famous bands as well as attractive male and female celebrities of this type of music. The cover lines will be vibrant and modern, dealing with issues that every young(teenage) person has to deal with (feeling confused, the feeling of losing your way, friends, love, what is wrong with me?, parent issues and etc.), there will also be details of special offers, concerts, fan clubs, charts of the coolest places and songs. Graphics are catchy to show the audience that their money is worth it (only 3, 50).



Themes and Typical Features: Most of them have already been mentioned above and I don't like repeating myself (and I'm sure you wouldn't like reading the same thing over again), just going to say that this magazine will fulfil every fan of the rock's expectations of a music magazine. You are probably wondering ''Then what makes it different than all the rest? Why would anyone choose it?'' Ladies and Gentlemen, the answer to this question is simple. Because everything in this magazine will come through the heart, no faking, no lies, no meaningless gossip... simply the truth, and even if it is not obvious at first, the audience will cense it, and I'm sure, will appreciate it. I'm sure everybody has been lied to...painful isn't it...so with my magazine I want to provide to the audience not only pictures and famous people, which is so impersonal, I want to give them something that they can believe, rely on, true stories, tragedies, the ups and downs in life...but overall never ever to give up.
In my opinion this is what really counts, nothing more, nothing less...


Potential Advertisers: Since the Free Soul readers are mostly teenagers, I was thinking a good advertiser would be MTV (MTV Rocks) or other music channels. There can also be brochures that the first issue will be free, so that people could check it out and give comments and decide whether it is worth following or buying it. Other advertisers could be music shows like ''The X Factor'' or ''Music Idol''. It's own page on Facebook can be made, which will make it easier to maintain contact with the audience. 

Editorial Team: The editorial team for Free Soul will be carefully selected. It will contain professional writers, interviewers  and photographers, however there will always be space for freshmen in the business (for example people who have just finished college or simply don't have much experience in the area, but need some), for bringing fresh ideas and interesting points of view. 

 

 

 



Double Page Spread Layouts

Double Page Spread Layouts

 

 

 

1.

 

2.

 

 

3.

 

 

 

These are my double page spread layouts...in my opinion the 3rd one will be most suitable for the music magazine, only I'm not sure if the article should be placed on the left or the right page.

What do you think about it?

 

 

 

 



Contents Page Layout

Contents Page Layouts:

 

 

 

1.

 

2.

 

 

 

3.

 

These are my contents page layouts and my favourite is the 3rd one, but I may also go for the 1st one because it's unusual...I haven't decided yet, what do you think?

 

 

 

Layout

Cover Layouts:

 

 

 

 

 

 

1.

 

 

2.

 

 

 

 

 

3.

 

 

                                                                        

 

 

 

 

 

 

These are my chosen layouts for the front cover.

My personal favourite is the 2.nd one, although the 3.rd one is different and may be interesting to try.

What do you think?

 

 

 

 

 

 

 





 

Mast Head

  I've been thinking quite a long time for my mast head, because it's difficult to think of something that hasn't already been used. So far I have thought of 3 possible mast heads.

 

 

 

 

Rock on

Free Soul

and

Shout it out

 

These are also some ideas of  fonts that I'm still looking at yet.

So here they are, fellow bloggers please give me a feedback of you opinions and I'll decide which name and font is best suitable. :)

 

 

 

 

 

 

The Questionnaire

The Questionnaire

1. What is your name?
2. How old are you?
3. What type of music do you listen to?

a) Hip-Hop ;b) Rock; c) Pop; d) Reggae; e) Country; f) Other

    4. Would you like a present with every issue?

a)Yes; b)No; c) It depends

    5. Would you like posters with the magazine?

a) Yes; b) No; c) Maybe

    6. What would you like to see in a music magazine?

a) Interviews; b) Gossip; c) Latest news; d)Pictures; c) Charts with songs; d) All, some of the above or something else
    -If the answer is d), which ones or what else?

    7. What is the average price you would pay for the magazine?


   

   After making this questionnaire I gave it to several people to fill it in and these were the results:

 

The  majority of people were around the age of 16-17.

They listened to Rock, Punk or Metal.

Half and half would like a present with every issue.

All of the participant would like posters with the magazine.

The majority would like to see all of the options + a game page with other questionnaires.

The average price the participants chose was 2-3,50 pounds.
They also want to see interwiews, reviews, a lot of rock bands and the latest news around them.

 

 

That gives me further understanding of what my target audience would expect from the magazine and would help me with fulfilling their requests. :)

 



Content Page Textual Analysis

I've chosen this content page as an example, because it is simple and easy to understand.

The picture takes most of the page, which is unusual, but draws attention and says about the magazine more than the written part. From this page we understand that this is a music magazine and the things written in it are mainly about rock bands, which is what I'm aiming for as well.

The connotation of the person's clothes is interesting. He is wearing a tie and s shirt, but it seems like it is with irony. Including the goofy face expression and all the tattoos, it is another way of showing that there is no difference between me wearing suits and people in rock and punk bands, although many people seem to think different.

The way things are place on the paper reminds of the cover of the magazine: the photo on the left third of the page and the articles on the right side.

There is another thing added in the left bottom corner of the page, a quote from a person in one of the bands, perhaps the person from the picture. This always drags the audience's attention.

 2nd content page

The content of this page has a clear layout, making it look interesting, appealing and containing a lot of information. The photo in the middle grabs the attention, especially the one of the fans of the band. The fact that the vocalist appears to be good looking could attract more female audience, despite that they are not usually targeted by these types of magazine. There is a short summary, giving a brief information about the content about the band, contained in this issue.

What is a magazine without adverts? There are plenty of them in this contents page; it is worth noting that in this case the magazine advertises itself, which is a convenient and cheep way of doing it.

At first site the page seems very modest; white background and black letters. This indicates the magazine is popular and well know enough to afford white spaces.

This contents page contains everything we would expect it to contain: news, features, albums and reviews. It is easy to follow and still looks interesting.

 3rd contents page

Starting with the name of the magazine, ''Q'' is very well known and respectable, affording to advertise itself (at the upper right corner) and leave enough white space as background.

The colours are simple (white and red), which enables the content to stand out and focuses in the pictures.

The layout is eye catching because it usually takes just one page, here it has taken two. The written content is placed on the two outside thirds of the pages, while the pictures in the middle have numbers which link them to the written content. On the left page we see a list of the bands and artists mentioned in the magazine and on the right side is the information, listed under the name of ''Regulars'', which hints that it is something typical for the magazine and the fans would recognize it. There is also a review of the magazine at the bottom, giving more information about the issue. 

The photos are difficult to miss, starting with the animated character above the number 44, which represents the specific style of the band ''Gorillaz''. The message it sends, besides the appearance of the band in these pages, could be interpreted in different ways, could be a political statement or something about war. In my eyes this represents the people, blinded by something (love, hate, greed) shooting without seeing at which direction or at who and the fact that the gun comes out if the character's mouth it could as well be a metaphor for words. Overall people blindly say things they shouldn't and hurt each other along the way. 

The other thing that grabs the eye is the contrast between the black and white picture and the on below it, which is very colorful. The black and white one has a dramatic and serious look, whereas the other one has a more casual and rebellious one, they both appeal to a different audience, which gives the magazine a wider range of consumers.

Textual Analysis Of A Cover

  

This is another cover that I found interesting and giving useful ideas for my project.

 The use of colour is very important, and also when it comes to these types on magazines (for the certain type of music) it is counted as a major way of communicating with the audience. For example the combination of the black colour and an electrical( standing out) one is very common. because the dark represents the other side, the rebellion and the  electrical one the power of emotions, especially those that are hidden. Also very bright colours indicate danger, poison, tell you to go away while you can. That's basically the whole idea of the metal and punk as well.
The other thing that interests me in this cover is the picture. Not typical, isn't it? Usually people are used to seeing pretty girls or successful people...someone they can look up to. But this is a different case, the person is unfriendly and shows his emotions and opinion by throwing a cigarette at the audience. His look is addressed directly towards the audience. The other thing are the small parts of articles which are supposed to grab the audience's attention and make them read what is inside. Only one article is mentioned here and it's the double spread one about the band ''Pantera'', wouldn't there be anything else in the magazine, are people buying it just for that article?  This helps me because it gives me also an idea of what I should add or shouldn't do, not only what my cover should look like.
And finally the masthead and the small writing on top of it that gives the audience further information about what is the magazine about what it is going to contain.
The masthead's colour indicates pain, sorrow and also underlines the spirit of rebellion. Since it contains the word ''metal'' and a skull in the end, that makes it pretty much obvious what will it's content be.

Although KEERANG is a very popular magazine, the thing that grabs most attention to this front cover is the photo of SLIPKNOT. It is unusual, because most artists don't use so many costumes for their photo shoot, whereas here we witness a link between the way they are presented ''SOMETHING WICKED THIS WAY COMES!'' and the connotation their costumes give away. The genre ''Metal'' in all it's varieties has always been associated with darkness, death, pain and destruction.  All these are clearly represented by the costumes and make up. In my opinion the most interesting one is the person that has used the prickly wreath, which makes reference to the Christian religion and the death of Jesus and that is unusual, considering that this type of music was, not very long ago, seen as the music of the devil. The other members of the band leave the impression they have come out of a variety of horror movies. This image collaborates with their music and gives a realistic impression to the audience for what to expect.

Leaving the photos for a second and turning to the masthead; the writings above it emphasize on tours, tickets and other bands (AC/DC) which grabs the audience's attention. The colours contrast, which makes them stand out (the black masthead and red writing+white background). These colours are one of the most popular ones when representing ''Metal'' music.

In the lower left corner, two things we find little that presents the content of the magazine; 5 posters of famous bands and a list of artists and bands for which we can find information, articles or interviews. Both of the attract audience and help them decide if the magazine would be worth reading and buying. 

In the down right corner there is a photo of ''Paramore'', who are very famous, and this is either their new album cover or just a photo which indicates that information about them is part of the content of the magazine. Anyways, their photo refers to the movie ''Twilight'', which will attract the movie's fans as well as those of the band.

This cover has a lot less content and connotation that the previous two.

It is emphasizing on the name of the band ''Nirvana''; the interesting thing about this is that it is more eye catching than the masthead itself, which indicates that the band is going to attract more audience than the magazine. This shows that the magazine is popular enough and has created it's authority to let the band stand in front of the masthead. The quality of the photo and the shadow effects used give a 3D effect, which makes the band members and the name stand out. The location and their costumes give them a country look, casual and serious at the same time.  Their costumes are baggy and the colours math the dry grass from the background. A low angled shot is used and combined with the long hairs and glasses gives the impression of authority.