Desk top publishing and editing your music magazine (construction)

FRONT COVER

This image portrays the front cover of my 'Cloud9' magazine. I have shortened the masthead to 'Cloud9' in order to make the title appear more snappier and catchier as, I have attained some feedback from my sample suggesting that I should shorten my masthead. In addition to, I have made the main cover line of my magazine larger and bolder; changed the colour to red to, enable the main cover line to contrast greater than the other cover lines; to further appear eye-catching towards my target audience of young adults aged 16+. As my target audience is young adults aged 16+, I have decided to make my models do a mutual facial expression; wear sophisticated, simple, black and red dresses in order to, get that calm and mature appeal.

I have called my models 'The Scissor Sisters' because, it connotes the strong bond; friendship us artists have as if we are 'Sisters'.

 Furthermore, I've created a barcode to insinuate the price of the magazine and to make my magazine appear more realistic. I have changed my colour scheme slightly of black, grey and white to black, red and white as red connotes a more fierce and confident appeal instead of 'grey' which would convey a sad and dull impression.

CONTENTS PAGE

1st draft: 

Judging from the previous feedback I received, several people indicated that I should change the background colour of my contents page from white to black. This was mainly due to, the white appearing too 'amatuer' and 'unproffesional'. My following picture represents the black contents page that I have modified and recent feedback from my audience have confirmed that it looks more 'sophisticated' and 'alike to an actual magazine'.

2nd and final draft:

 My contents page as well as, my whole magazine itself consists of no more than three colours to, prevent my magazine from looking amateur and childish as if it is targeted to children. I made my main subheadings red to associate with the theme and to also stand out against the black background. In addition to, I made my main subheading white instead of red to relate to the title of 'Cloud9' and to prevent my contents page from appearing too red.

I have repeated my slogan of 'Its all about the music baby" so that my target audience will acknowledge that my magazine is prioritised and associated with Cloud9. Moreover, I have added two different images of 'The Scissor Sisters' and positioned one picture of The Scissor Sisters first to signify that, they are the most important content.

DOUBLE PAGE SPREAD

1st draft: The following picture portrays my 1st draft of my double page spread.There were faults in exporting my double page spread together with both of my pages.

Gathering audience feedback, the majority of my sample indicated that I should add a few texts to my main image insisting that it looked 'too vague' and alike to a 'Newspaper'. As a result, I've decided to add large two large texts relating to The Scissor Sisters and 'The Twists' to prevent my double page spread from looking too dull and to enable my audience to attain a valid insight into what my double page spread is about.

My layout within the 2nd page of my double page spread looked unorganised, therefore I decided to add an effect to it through wrapping the text around the centre of my quote. That way, my text won't overlap or hide amongst my quote. 

Judging from my audience feedback, the majority of people suggested that I should get rid of the white box within my title. The main reason why was due to, a white background within my title not looking 'attractive' and 'eye-catching'. As a result of this, I decided to get rid of the white box and alter my title to white and red  so that, my title would look more alluring to read; vibrant 

Final draft

This double page spread represents the Question and answer in relation to, The Scissor sisters' latest album featuring 'The Twists'. My double page spread consists of a alliteration used within my main subheading as: 'Sizzling Sister Sisters' in order to, make my title more interesting and alluring towards my target audience. Furthermore, I have added page numbers beside the right side corners of my magazine so that my audience can not be confused; can be aware of what specific content they are reading. In addition to, within my Q&A the interviewer (Holly Hopkins) is written in bold italic fonts so that my target audience will be noticeable of the interviewer's questions. Moreover, I have substituted a certain quote from the interviewees (The Scissor sisters) responses and positioned it at the centre of my double page spread to capture the readers' attention and to also signify the artists' speech.

Within my 1st double page spread, I added a faint image of The Scissor Sisters to highlight that they are the main subject of my magazine; to further indicate that my double page spread is generally related to them as popular R&B artists.

Photography (construction)

*There are two forms of photo shoot backgrounds and these are the white black drop and the black white drop. The white black drop changes the format of the background to white while the black white drop transforms the colour of the background to black.

*Always use flash while taking photos; Soft boxes are used to soften the light reflected on the model. However, umbrellas can also be used as an alternative to soften the light but Soft boxes are more effective.

*The fans in the Soft boxes are used to cool down the surroundings. In addition to, the Godox behind each Soft Box is used for infra-red lightening.

*Press 'test' to the start the camera, 1 is the lowest flash number meaning it is the lowest light intensity; 6 is the highest flash number meaning that the light intensity is very high.

*The circle objects are called the 'Reflectors' and they are either in gold or white. The gold reflector is used to reflect a warm glow on the model's face however, the white reflector is used to emit greater light.

*With SRL cameras, you do not look through the main screen view because you won't be able to see your model clearly so, you must look through the view camera.

*Always position your model 6 foot in front of the backdrop (main background).

*The difference between manual and non-manual cameras is that, with manual you won't hear the beep as you take the picture but with non-manual cameras you will hear a beep.


Camera settings

1) Aperture- The size of the opening in the lens when a picture is taken. The Aperture setting you chose impacts how big or small the lens within the camera gets. The larger the lens, the more light that gets in and the smaller the lens the less light that gets in. Aperture is measured in 'f-stops' e.g. f/2.5, f/5.6, f/5.3.

2) Shutter priority- The time the shutter is opened. The faster the speed, the quicker the shutter is opened and vice versa. The slower the speed the longer the shutter is exposed to light resulting in a brighter image. The shutter priority is effective for the foreground (certain body features) to be focused in more detail while the background remains less concentrated.

Call sheet

Call sheet 

Date: Wednesday 20^th November 2013

Time: 2:30pm- 4:00pm

Assignment: Portfolio shoot

Location: In the studio

Client: Stephanie Omari-Amoako, 17, female and Abubukar Abdulkadir, male.

Media: RAW capture for 300dpi & web resolution.

Compensation: Trade

Primary shoot contract: Anita Ofori

Photographer: Anita Ofori

MUA: Aeni Domme

Hair stylist: Anita Ofori

Wardrobe stylist: Anita Ofori

Model 1: Stephanie Omari-Amaoko

Model 2: Abubukar Abdulkadir

Special instructions:

The following are requested items each model has for wardrobe.

1.    Abubukar- Variety of jeans and two red and black long sleeves shirts.

2.    Abubukar- One black snap back/hat.

3.    Abubukar- Variety of silver chains.

4.    Stephanie- One black dress and any other form of black clothing e.g. shorts, tops.

5.    Stephanie- Jewerly such as, gold chains, bracelet and gold earrings.

Timeline: Tentative- Subject to change

*2:30 Models meet

*By 3:00pm, make-up, hair and wardrobe selection done.

*3:15pm-4:00pm- Shot time

Concept: One male and one female taking mysterious but saucy and alluring photos related to the R&B theme. There will be little intimacy but the poses will be kept clean. There may be some props such as an Umbrella in which Stephanie will pose with to portray a new R&B artist impression. 

Planning for my front cover

I realised from my case studies and feedback that the combination of the genres of Rock and R&B are unsuitable and difficult to pull off therefore, I changed my genre to R&B.

The models to be used within my Front cover is Stephanie Omari-Amoako, 17 (female) and Abubakar Abdulkadir (male). Within my magazine, both models are going to be displayed as new R&B artists both collaborating together for a new song named “Sky High”. I have changed the original artists of Chris Brown and Pink because, from the feedback I realised that it would be much easier to create new artists instead of having to perfect the two different artists., Stephanie is going to represent a new eccentric, R&B artist called ‘Trisha’ while Abubakar is going to represent a unique and cool rapper and R&B artist called ‘Joe’. In order to get these two models to resemble their characters, I will have to select similar clothing styles, props and make-up.

 Clothing:
 The theme for my R&B magazine are black, red and gold therefore, both of my models will be wearing black attire and red props. Stephanie may be wearing a black dress with a gold choker necklace while Abubakar may wear a black long sleeves T-shirt with black trousers. Props: Such props might include a chair for the models to sit down and pose on; another prop might be a black umbrella for Stephanie to pose with. In addition to, Stephanie might wear big, gold earrings, a gold ring and a black bandana for one of her photo shoots.

Make-up: 
Stephanie: Black eye shadow, bold red lipstick, liquid foundation and mascara. Stephanie’s hair may be slicked back with gel through the first 2 of her photo shoots. Abubakar may just need to lotion his face to make him appear shinier in the photos. Position of models 1st photo shoot: Stephanie standing left to Abubakar holding his hand with her right arm (middle shot and detailed image of the gold ring). Stephanie and Abubakar would be smiling towards the camera.