Magazine Pitch

This is my Magazine Pitch  for what I am looking to do for my magazine coursework. This gives a run through of the name, style, images and formatting of the magazine.

Band Research

I recently went to see an indie band called 'The 1975' in concert. This research looked at how they set up their scenes and what types of colour's they use for their staging. These images also can be used in my magazine for insights into concerts.

Preliminary Material

NATURE MAGAZINES

For our first attempt at Photoshop, we looked at designing a nature magazine. We started by taking an image from Google and importing it to get used to the text and formats of the software. This testing allowed me to look at moving images, adding in text with different sizes and different fonts and drawing shapes on the page.












My next draft is where I imported my own photo in the background. I played around with filters on Photoshop to give the leaves a more vibrant colouring. I kept the same text because I felt there was a good layout on the page.

This was my final attempt for the magazine. I changed the background image to something that allowed the text to be seen more vibrantly. This image had some editing applied, with focus made on the gradient, contrast, levels, exposure, vibrance and hue.
Also the magazines header was changed, this was made with different text layers on top of each other and the use of the bevel & emboss, stroke, inner and drop shadows to bring in the 3D effect. Also looking at the opacity of the text made it achievable.

Contents Page Analysis

From the information gathered, I can see that there is a common colour scheme of red, black and white used in these kinds of magazines. They are bold and bright, but give that indie/retro look.
The images mainly focus on the main cover artist, but some have others surrounding like competitions and other artists in the issue.
The contents text is usually on the left hand side, and I think i will continue to have it on that side. This allows the audience to view this first because they look at that side first.
I will have the magazines logo on the top of the page, much like the other magazines do.

MOJO Analysis

In class we analysed a Indie music magazine called MOJO, we looked at the front, contents page and a double page spread and analysed them, this was what we found...

Photoshoot Settings

I looked today at possible places to take my photo-shoot. From my previous research i saw that indie artists don`t have elaborate locations for  photo-shoots to be taken, but I felt that these brought some character to the shoots. 

The Indie Look

 These images were taken from this months Q magazine. This image looks at how the lighting is very bright in the image, there isn't a very elaborate background and there seems to be a faded filter applied to the image.

This image shows the background of the artist being very urban, but very basic. There isn't a fancy building but a sandwich shop at night. Indie artists aren't heavily conscious on style and image, they just want to be reflected as themselves.

This image looks more at filters and positioning of the group. They have the main singer in the centre, then groups out in importance. The image isn't clear, it has a black and white filter and has a shadow over the top. They aren't conscious of how they look, they just want to have their band image out.




This image looks again at the black and white filter on the image. Artists use this filter for a more retro and dated look to their images, they don't strive to be perfect, just themselves.






From these images I have found that locations are mainly plain areas, or places with a relation to the band. Plain backgrounds allow a soul focus on the artists and more on the actions they are doing. The street scenes are more for areas that relate to the artists, which is something I could consider for my photos. Having artists from Harlow, the Harlow scene and surroundings would be a good starting point for my locations. The black and white images are something I would also like to use for my photos, because I think it fits my theme and gives the indie look.

Magazine Theme

The theme of magazine I have chosen is 'Indie'.

Looking at Indie Magazines like 'Q', 'The Fly' and 'INDIE' they have a repetitive image of the main artist/group on the front, and text around the image. The front page focuses solely on the artist and mainly focuses on a medium close up of them. 

'The Fly' ( which is a indie magazine)  is a good representation of how the medium close up is used on a artist. The background is very basic and allows a sole focus on her. The text is very bold for the main titles and the second name of the artist is used on the left to attract the audience. This could be referenced in my work by having a main artist face on with a medium close up of them.

Q (which is another example of an indie magazine) takes a more colourful approach to the magazine, and uses a closeup of the artist to fill the whole page. There are no additional images on the front, just bold text and a stand out area of an offer or competition etc. Again, the Q logo is on the left hand side to allow customers to buy from a newsagents rack. This is another way I could represent my magazine by having a extreme close up of the artist.








From this research I have found that the most common style of photo is a medium shot of a single person on the front cover, with bold colours and a style that represents them. This will be useful to look at and reference when I am making my magazine.

Pop Magazine Analysis

We looked at the magazine 'WE <3 POP' where we discovered the layout and format of a pop magazine.

THE TASK

Create a front cover, contents page and double page spread for a new music magazine. 

All original images and text.