Editing photos

Started the process of editing my photos today, and as you can see from the last post there is a lot to be done, note the set is not professional, i appreciate the fact that a kitchen is not the best place fora photoshoot of a big DJ, but i have plans for those photos and i know i need to cut him out so the background does not matter, the reasoning behind cutting him out is simple, just the person on the whit background looks a lot sleaker and more proffessional than the whole photo being up, from my research the majority of photos that feature a single subject are often photoshopped so the subject is cut out and the background is no longer needed.

As you can also see i have changed the colour of my subjects top, the reasoning behind this is I believe the darker colour looks less grubby, the lighter colour makes him seem less serious and, for me, shows a cheaper feel towards his clothes.

Photos taken

Main task photo's

Started planning for the photos i will eventually use in my main task. I have outlined the photo's i need, these are:
-A set of photo's for the main article, an exclusive interview with an up and coming DJ, for this I will use my brother, I think he would be an adequate subject as he isn't too young, (at 21) so he is the right age to be a young DJ, I believe he has the right 'look' as he wears new clothes from places such as 'topman' and 'river island' this is significant as those are the places that my target audience would shop for their clothes. The props i need for these set of photos are a set of DJ style headphones, a vinyl CD and a cover for him to pose with and possibly some accessories such as sunglasses or a hat to make him look more stylish
-A set of photos of equipment that relates to music, such as headphones or speakers that I could feature alongside an article that feature a 'review of latest gear' or I could possibly transform into a logo
-Two or free mug shots that could be used as 'article by' or 'a word from our editor' I have already asked a couple of my friends who agreed to feature, one who agreed to come in a smart shirt so he can pose as my editor and the other who will simply wear a t-shirt to be the interviewer for my main article, I believe the variation in clothing style is necessary as editors would have to wear more formal clothes as they may have to attend meetings, whereas the interviewer talks in an informal style in the interview, therefore it would be appropriate for his clothing to mathc this.

Target audience plan

After purchasing many music magazines, mainly mixmag over the last couple of weeks, as it is of similar genre to what i hope my magazine will end up becoming, I believe i can start planning how my product can appeal to this audience.
My target audience will be young adults, ranging from 15 - 30, the majority of my readers would probably be males. I understand that this is a very small target audience and it's a very niche market. This obviously would have it's disadvantages as sales and such would not be as high as other magazines that have a wider target audience. Having a smaller target audience does come with some huge advantages, such as being able to research said audience and be able to attract them easier, as if i had targeted a wider audience i would of found it difficult to include everyone when creating my product.
It would appear that freebies are the best thing to draw in a target audience that has a smimilar agenda to mine, mixmag, NME and Kerrang all featured either a free poster or a free CD in the issues (as you can see from the images above), this is definatly something i feel i should explore when making my magazine.
Other ways I could attract a target audience is to feature articles that would appeal to every member of my target audience, such as an article about 'current trends' and fashions that are associated with the genre i am featuring, this would appeal to fans of the music, as they would like to know what the latest trends from the scene is.
I could also include some other features that would appeal to the audience, such as gig guides and competitons to win tickets and such. I could also feature 'exclusive' intervies and exclusive reviews of the latest albums or the latest equipment, this 'exclusive' feature will catch the audiences' eye when they are browsing the racks of shops.

Uses & Gratifications = The seed of doubt

Today (17/03/09) our lesson was covered by miss howlett, who effectively stopped me in my attempt to escape to the library to carry on with a looming workload for our main task. She showed us a powerpoint presentation that detailed the meaning of uses and gratfications, and to be perfectly honest it made me doubt my whole main task, as, until this lesson, i was confident that mt magazine cover and contents were up to standard as it looked pretty and had a lot of techno techniques from photoshop, with this slide on uses and gratifications came a whole load of doubt and planning to change, as i needed to include many of the features stated in the lesson.

More difficult than i expected

I finally finished my contents page on fridays lesson (13/03/09) which was a lot more difficult than i expected, thinking of some article headings that i could put really stumped me, i guess thats what i get for not planning, i literally opened the blank layout of my contents page and started to list some articles that would feature in the magazine, it would of been so much easier if i had planned beforehand how many pages i was going to feature etc. but oh well, too late for that now.
I use the term 'finished' very lightly, i still need to take and edit pictures that will promote certain articles in the contents page, but i just finished taking some for the main article on the double page spread and one for the front cover, so there isn't many photos left to take, which eases my mind slightly. . . .but only slightly

Taking shape, slowly but surely

Thursdays crucial double lesson has crept around again (12/03/09) and again it was two hours well spent down in the computer room, and after this lesson i was quite happy at the stage i'm at with my magazine, i have a good layout for my front page and contents pages, with consistent house styles, which is new for me!
There is still a mountain of work to conquer though, without pictures or an article written and still i lack a layout for my double page spread, which i'm not looking forward to organising that at all.
However i do have plans for my photos and that one task that can be ticked off pretty soon i'm sure. Still feel a little behind others, but i'm getting there

Well there goes my chance to catch up

In Tuesdays lesson (10/03/09) we were teacher less, but the cover work set made me feel even more behind the class, as now some have a fully coloured mock up of a front page, contents page and the middle spread, with work developing for the article that will feature in said double spread.
I'm afraid to say I am no where near this stage and used this hour to get to the stage that the rest of the class were at the start of the lesson, four sheets of (very badly) drawn mock ups, still black and white, and still without any idea of where my pictures are going to materalise from. I'm proud i've thought of a name myself though, as this was one of the things i was dreading the most, as being creative and inventive without fobbing off another's idea is not my strong suit, but i have a name, and more importantly I believe i have a consistent page style, which was what was lacking in my preliminary task, i've tried to go for more consistency in the colours used and in some of the logos and fonts used.

Missed lesson, now a world behind

Well illness sucks, and due to a nasty cold being spread around what seems like every person i talk to on a regular basis i missed Friday's lesson (06/03/09) but from what i gather work for the main task has begun and mock-ups are expected, I'm afraid i'm still behind the class and will try to catch up before the next lesson.

Slideshows

In Thursdays double lesson (05/03/09) we again were rushed straight down to the computer room and were briefed on slideshows, our task was to make a slideshow about a music magazine of our choice (as long as it differed from the one used as the case study in our essay completed in the previous lesson) i chose to use mixmag, as it featured a music genre i really enjoyed and it's a magazine i do not know a lot about, so it would be a learning curve to make a presentation about it's history, it's language style, it's target audience, it's ownership and it's live events.
I did not complete the task as Miss required a 10 slide presentation and i only managed 8, but even that was a struggle and i would of found it difficult to get two more slides out of dwindling resources about a magazine that was new to me.
The task was beneficial though, and it aided me in understanding magazines, just because i focused on one magazine does not mean a lot of the information i took in cannot apply across the magazine industry, like a change in target audience was notable for mixmag, as the new editor claimed 'the industry has grown up, so should our readership' this can be applied for the whole of the music industry, as in recent years the face of the music industry has changed, with digital downloads and endless advertising on the internet comes many more consumers, who are awaiting to be targeted by a magazine.

Essays, essays, essays

In Tuesdays lesson (03/03/09) we were set an essay, 'how do music magazines attract their target audience' we were given the whole lesson to complete this task and had to relate to one of the magazine we previously studied, i used NME as it is the magazine i feel most confident with, as i often read it as a consumer myself.
As with all essays time flew by and as always i got the sinking feeling i didn't put all that was necessary, although the essay was more for our benefit than for an actual marking and grading, as by completing this essay we explored all the ways the professional magazines draw in a regular readership, and therefore how we will make our magazine look good enough and ensure it sticks to the general rules of our target audience.
Miss then asked us to state why we felt we were doing all this work on target audience and on the magazine, i simply stated that i believe it helped our understanding and that it would result in a greater quality of our final product.

Looking at the professionals

In Thursday's lesson (26/02/09) we looked at some music magazines, we studied Top of The Pops magazine, NME, Kerrang, Hip-Hop magazine and mixmag magazine. These were important as it gave us an idea of what our magazine should feature and the language and layout varies due to the change of target audience.
Top of the pops magazine is clearly aimed at a predominantly female audience, this specific target audience shrinks further when you consider the age the magazine is aimed at, Top of the pops magazine is clearly aimed at a younger audience, as the colours used throughout are pink and yellow, showing an immature audience. The free gifts featured are also aimed at attracting a young female audience, as a pink bag came with the issue i studied.
NME and kerrang feature the same music genre, and thus appeal to the same target audience, this is clear with their dark colours that feature throughout and the intelligent mature language which is clearly devised for an older target audience.
Mixmag magazine has recently had a change in target audience and (in an official statement) in states how it no longer hopes to attract the 'booze filled, pill popping raver' and instead is looking to attract a more sophisticated target audience, it shows this by featuring a writing style which holds a higher wit and greater literary techniques.