Front Cover, Construction Process

As you can see, the front cover is well and truly finished. Throughout this post, I will unpick and justify my decisions made during the process of producing my front cover and hope to make apparent the detail I have included.

Front Cover

Before embarking on producing my magazine, I knew instantaneously that by using such a genre as Electronic Indie, use of graphics mainly concerning that of lighting bolts and smoke brushes would be ideal for the particular style I would attempt to achieve. The genre of such music can be visually described as amplifying a highly contemporized and vibrant display of checkered whites and blacks, blues and ideally another colour which in a successful approach communicates the rebellious and alternative nature of the described genre. The very fact that I would at first be constructing a front page, highlighted to great extent a justification of exaggeration in regards to my use of colours, graphics and layouts. After learning from my preliminary task in which the matter of my front cover was focused on intensely, I knew instantaneously that capturing the genre of both the music and magazine acted as a pivotal aspect, being due to it of course standing as the main selling point of my magazine and informative visual “show” of sorts which would indefinitely decide on whether a perpetual consumer would become, officially, a consumer. It is due to this that I decided to take into account my themes, what graphics and colours I could possibly use to communicate such, and to what extent I would do so. And being that it was in fact a front cover I was working on, I knew that I had to take this opportunity to sell my magazine and mentally “wow” my audience. Ideally, align with what most picture the sub-genre of electronic indie to be; the strive to be unique and bold. The strive to be rebellious.

I began the production of my front cover with a distinct vision for what I liked to call my “million dollar shot”, the image which would primarily stand out as the visual to enforce that more than a suttle glance is achieved when standing on the magazine rack. Distinctly, my magazine required a subject to instantly enforce the overall vibe of my chosen music genre, capturing an image of youthfulness, rebel, and charisma. I drew back to my research, in which I focused on who I would picture as my ideal reader. What did they wear? What would they picture as “cool”? And more importantly, how old were they? When considering how my model would be presented upon my photoshoot, I prioritised all of these questions and took into consideration that this piece of work would of course stand-alone. I pivotally couldn’t afford to take risks and use image which would be defined as unlike the genre I was attempting to capture, meaning that a stereotypical visual of what again my ideal reader would be related to became all too important. It seemed significant that my ideal reader should be able to connect to my magazine, extending their attention and drawing in to greater degree the audience who would be deemed suitable to frequently read such a genre of music magazine.
More of a point to evidently make use of common industry practice; I decided to demonstrate use of the clone-stamp tool within Photoshop to edit and smoothen out areas on my models skin (although such areas were of course already perfect!). Doing so helped me withhold a professional perspective upon the construction of my front cover, and keep in the mind of what an actual editor’s approach would be to differing such an image. More than this, I wanted to make clear a distinct level of detail and practice put into to the construction of this work, and appropriately make evident how even the most irrelevant imagery or seemingly un-needed work can and will in actual fact take place and be tampered with.

The following is a before and after of my subject

-Removal of red eye

-Straightening of eyebrow

-Darkening of hair

-Removal of forehead spots

-Overlay of shadow (burn tool) upon models neck and forehead to implicate lightning effects

-Softening of skin upon certain areas

-Lightening (dodge tool) of certain areas to again realistically implicate lightning effects

Front Cover, Almost Finished

On Friday, I sucessfully managed to complete the task of taking the majority of images for my front cover, contents page and double spread. It was a fairly straight forward task ideally. I knew the images I wanted to take and I would like to say I more so managed to get them. That evening of the shoot, I began scowering through my images to find "the shot", and working on what will conclude to be my front cover.

Cover Shot

Cover Shot Edited (Unfinished)

When the front cover is well and truly finished, I'll make sure to post my justification of choices and make evident the construction process I took to produce my Front Cover design.

My Ideal Reader

This is Cassie. At 18, she's well and truely of the "Rebel" stigma, wishing to stray away from the crowd and stand as above all unique. Very much intouch with the Indie genre of rock, she sustains a great admiration and liking for new, striking music. It is due to this that Cassie above all takes liking to the electronic sub genre of Indie; engaged with escapisim and expression presented in such a form of music.

Highly social and engaged in friendship, she regulary participates and often plans group outings, organized frequently with her highly acessed Facebook account. It through use of such networking sites that Cassie remains "in the know", remaining a regular guest at public or often private events hosted by both unknown and mainstream bands. She also at times performs in her own band, named "Untitled", announcing and making prevelant various pieces of there own music through use of Myspace Music.

Highlighting her free-spirit character, un influenced by the lifestyle choices of others, she regulary shops at Charity shops, putting together outfits of her own tastes to conform her own tailored style. Of course being a student, Cassie is yet to break the bank, meaning she makes regular trips to places such as Soho or Camden Market-being of high convienence due to their value for money, alternative style, and ease of accessability via transport (meaning her Oyster Card comes in especially useful).

The Plan, Part 2

Seeing as I'm quite behind at the moment, I thought it more then neccesary to put together a plan commenting on what I have to do and when I have to do it. This more then anything should allow me to get back on track.

3rd December
Finalise layout for Front Cover, Contents Page and Double Page Spread.

4th December
Carry out Photoshoot with models. Look into audio wave graphic and attempt to capture image on Audacity or Adobe Premiere Pro. Post photos as evidence on blog.

5th-6th December
Begin constructing front cover and contents page.

7th December
Begin constructing double page spread. Finish off front cover and contents page where neccesary. Post on blog.

8th December
Analysis of front cover and contents page. Justify fonts, graphics, colours, images ect.

9th December
Analysis of double page spread.

Logo Design, Consideration of Layout

The following is the logo of which I am more or less settled to implicate into the design of my front cover.

I chose overall to make present an element of uniqueness about my logo design, aligning with the context of the magazine belonging to a sub-genre of indie/rock (electronic indie). I wanted in the simplist of terms to have a logo which above all stands out, un touched by the dozens of magazines on it's left and right. This would in marketing and presentation values prove to be pivotal in selling of the magazine to petentual buyers. But why "Reverb" you ask? Reverb to me captures the very element of technology, relevant due to it's overwhelming part in the production of the likes of electronic indie. "Reverb" refers to a frequently used audio effect present in most common music editing programs (e.g audacity), being that of an echo or prelonging the depth of sound. But quite simply, Reverb is simple, short and snappy. Following in the style of one word magazine phrasing such as "Kerrang" and "Clash", such a word bears a staple in a customers mind. They don't have to remember it. It simply just "sticks" to you.

When I eventually finish the likes of my front cover, I may however come to differ this logo design, adding possible implications such as audio waves behind the logo to tie into the theme of audio technology and electronic indie.

Consideration of Colours, Lighting and Themes

Upon studying a selection of magazines in designated groups, we began once again unpeeling editorial decisions and justifying the selection of colours, lighting and themes. Examining an issue of "Classic Rock", main content concerning the mysterious death of Jimmi Hendrix. Overall colour selection ranged from that of Blacks, Whites, Greys, Browns and Reds. Such a suttle composite of colours overall helped sustain a respectful yet dark tone, corresponding with the
featured content.

Situating with the nature of the feature, images constrain a de-saturated visual pallete and therefore communicate a mise en scene (everything within the frame/image) of dark undertone. Such themes are continued throughout the double page spread, ending on a image of contrasting nature with engaging florescent multi-colour. This overall paints an image of postitivity and respectfully takes note of the historic figure of which is Jimmi Hendrix (fitting due to the fact that this is very much a classic rock magazine). Use of such undertones in images sparked a possible method in which I could perhaps lay out my final set of images in both my front cover, content page and double page spread.

Feedback and Development

Feedback and Constructive Criticism

After handing in my preliminary task, I underwent a conversation with my teacher to receive feedback on my completed task. Overall, feedback was generally positive and highly complemintive of the detail in which I had enforced into my work.

Of the points discussed, the following contributed t0 the ideal improvement of the way in which I undertake what will eventually be my main task.

-Different font for date on cover

-Different size font for content details-maybe resize other pictures to allow more room for this in your layout

-More variation in your choice of location/setting for the front cover photos

-Consideration of your colour choice for the contents page


By hearing such points in reference to the de-construction of my preliminary task, I felt strongly that I from here was more aware of the slightest of details I would have to keep in mind when in the process of developing my Music Magazine.

Magazine Research 05/11/09 (A-Level Media Studies Related)

During this lesson, we took an inlook into the ideal target audience for various magazines, ours being "Evo" magazine, situated towards the lavish industry of cars. Looking at various pages of the magazine, we took note of the rich yet mature nature of fonts and the use of colours (primarlily blacks and golds). This ideally to us communicated the expensive lifestyle one undertakes when purchasing such a luxious item, and overall puts into perspective the apparent target audience.

After analysing a number of pages, we from here began answering questions concerning the personality and lifestyle of the target audience. What car did they drive? How old are they? What do they eat for breakfast? All of these questions, however seemingly irrelvent, allowed us to think logically concerning the slightest detail being fonts, colours or sizes. We ideally were picking out and neccarily sterotyping target audiences in order to develop an understanding upon what we would finally decide to feature in our magazines.

In this front cover (featured), an evidently slick and contempory visual pallate conforms what would be pivotal to attact a putentual consumer. This is so significant due to the fact that such a conformation of colors (black to silver to white gradient) is in most terms attractive to the naked eye. A buyer is evidently likely to be turned off by a magazine which uses un-concompletary colors schemes and images, meaning that every detail and every pixel bears the highest priority when constructing a magazine; whether it be a front cover, contents page or double page spread.

Contents Page Analysis (A-Level Media Studies Related)

Before embarking on constructing my contents page, I knew well that I would maintain the tone and graphic design of my front cover, e.g. film reel graphic, fonts and colours. When taking the pictures which I would eventually used, I had in mind a continuation of images communicating both the use and availability of technology at my fictional film college. This overall brought me to my main image, presenting a student in the colleges editing suite. To make clear the standard and level of technology in the school, (and the use of Adobe Premiere Pro-a professional editing program, which also at the same linked into the feature of students trying and reviewing modern editing programs), I made sure to print screen the actual editing program I use on my own computer, and super-impose the image on to the computer screen through use of Adobe Photoshop. Darkening the edges of this image and configuring lighting effects overall helped me sustain an image of realism.


Through examining magazines such as Total Film and Film/Media College Magazines, I noticed a pattern concerning the re-appearance of logos and fonts. It is such research which convinced me to again add the logo template of my film college.
Research also prompts me to minimize the image of my front cover onto the contents page, and put into relation the relevant topics and features of the current issue on the right hand side (3, 7, 9, 12). This more so helped me reach a professional and realistic contents page.
Concerning the justifiability of fonts used, I decided to include a more casual and home grown font named Pointy, which in my opinion linked the theme of fun, low budget to the context of the magazine. This I found could uniquely blend with the film reel graphic, by adjusting the perspective of the font to align with the film strip. Such interactivity with the layers in my contents page in my opinion would attract the eye of the reader. When deciding the font and layout of the contents page headlines, I decided to retain the mature yet casual style of the front page headline texts, being that of a simple Arial font. When maintained at a lower case, I found that such a use of this helped even more so highlight the youthful nature of the college magazine. I also thought it wise to stray away from standard straight lines of lettering, and instead rotate the positioning of such text to communicate the quirky subject of experimental filmmaking. As well as continuing the use of particular themes and images on the front cover, I thought to add slightly the graphic of blood splatter nearing the bottom of the page, where the subject of horror movie-making mirrored the use of such design.

Front Cover Final Version (A-Level Media Studies Related)

After I made a few adjustments to my front cover, I finally came up with my final copy.

The changes I made are the following.

• Adding the year to the month and issue number.
• Changing the 2nd image on the film strip graphic due to it's similarity to the main front cover image.
• Adding a more darkened effect to the "BOO" text graphic
• Removal of red eye on the Horror character (bottom right)
• Enlargement of eye on the Horror character
• Tidying up glitches on the film reel graphic, removing amounts of glitches around the edges and adding a burn (darken) effect on some areas.
• Adding a burn effect (darkening) at the bottom of the film camera

Overall, such small changes (as little as they were), helped add an extra layer of professionalism to the appearance of my magazine and subjected a greater degree of attractiveness to the images, graphics and texts used.

Presenting to the Class (A-Level Media Studies Related)

During this lesson, I presented what was ideally the final copy of my Film College Magazine (Reel College for Film). Justifying my principal layout and choices in regards to the content used and the overall style of the magazine, I made sure to explore to great extent the reasonings behind my choices and descisions made. This overall made clear the thought process I had put into the production of my magazine and the planning of content in the issue.

After presenting my magazine, I was supplied with a welcomed of feedback which I took note of. Such notes would overall help me form my final, finished front cover and allow me to venture on to starting my contents page.

The following are such pieces of advice I took on board:

-Include the year along with the already present Month and issue number

-Add a bit more of variety to the images used in the film reel graphic (top of cover).

-Swap around a few of the images. (I valued this as just nitpicking so I will not be putting that bit of advice into action).

Photos (Media Studies A-Level Related)

Today was a rather productive day, being that I managed to get my mits on a super cool and expensive camera to take a load of pictures for my front cover/content page. Before I put this amazing creation to use, I began to draw up a mental plan regarding the style, look and angles of my images. I knew I wanted to get a load of low angle/high angle shots of a student grasping a super cool film camera, so this shot remained high priority for the day. I managed to get such an image (very impressed regarding how it came out), and in some terms consider this as a contender for the front page. After this, I took some behind the shoulder shots of my subject filming someone for a project/film ect. These images are amoughst my favourite, due to how the focus really draws in the use of technology and the productive element to the activities.

I also more importantly wanted to capture images of pertentual editing suites, so I quickly snapped a dozen or so images (which turned out VERY well I must say), of students using and working on the provided computers. I later on plan to take these shots of the subjects using the computers and super-impose an image of my editing program onto the screen. This, if sucessful, should hopefully communicate a broad range of available facilities in the college and the standard of these appliances.

By tommorow, I should be finished regarding my pictures and from there will embark on deciding the best of the best.

Surveys, Fonts, and Colours (Media Studies A-Level Related)

After undergoing by survey on the 12th, I recieved great indication in relation to WHAT I should be doing and HOW I should be doing it. Let me expand on that. After issuing the list of titles to peers in the classroom, I found a strong liking most of all towards "Reel" or "Reel Magazine". Confident on this title, I began to get down to work on titles/logos/possible fonts. I was however brought smack down to earth when I was given a pleasent reminder that my magazine title should be in reference to the actual college/school my magazine revolves around...meaning I had to re-think a thing or two. After much head scratching and lead snapping, I finally came up with a title. Taking into account the liking towards "Reel Magazine" in my survery, I decided to put this into play and go with, "Reel College for Film". Not only did this provide a school/college perspective, but it allowed me to tie in the theme of filmmaking into the actual title (alike to Total Film-Clockwork Orange Font/Eagle Bold).

After deciding on my eventual title, the process of looking for suitable title/s and fonts came into perspective. From the begining, I knew that it had to be distinctly eye-catching and overall unique. Not the typical clique Arial Bold or Times Roman...but something which guranteed a swift flick of the eye or glance. I enventually found a fantastic font named "Eight Trade". This font overall alighed with the look and style of the magazine I had in mind, being of cool, casual, slick and "funky" nature. This more importantly tied into the very target audience and age-range for "Reel College for Film", being 16-19 year olds with a distinct interest of film production and technology. Like any other magazine logo, big and loud stands as the order of the day. Alightment and visibility towards the buyers/students eye is PIVOTAL, meaning the simplest of change in font size or colour could deem my magazine as invisible. And talking about colour...I decided to keep things simple. It's not a rainbow I thought. So BLACK became the final choice here. Why you ask? Black is bold, stylish, and contempory. This overall aligns with the use of modern and "contempory" technology.

For content title font, I decided to put to use "Franklin Gothic Medium Cond". The reasonings behind this choice came down to what extent a paticular font could "show off" my displayed contents in a striking mannor. Franklin Gothic Medium Cond, to me, seemed mature yet casual, communicating my words to my target audience without patronising or dumbing down my readers, regardless of it's ease of reading.

Possible Newspaper/Magazine Names (A-Level Media Studies Related)

The following are possible names I've created for my school magazine/newspaper. I'll be testing these names in a survey of which I'll be giving out tommorow (12th October, Monday). If you could also post your opinions in comment or what not that would be amazing. Thanks!

THE FILM SCHOOL
SCHOOL OF FILM PRODUCTION
REEL MAGAZINE
FAQ ABOUT FILMMAKING
CUTS AND CAMERAS
CREDITS
REEL

The Grand Plan 10th-12th October (A-Level Media Studies Related)

Let’s take an insight into what I hope to achieve over the next few days in relation to the production of my school/college magazine. The dates, the objectives...It’s all here!

10^th October, Saturday

1. Completion of a basic sketch to gather an idea for my initial layout and style for my magazine. Scan image and post on blog.

2. Come up with at least 7 ideas for titles. Post ideas on blog.

3. Consideration of possible title fonts, sizes and colours. Explanations of these decisions to be posted on blog.

11^th October, Sunday

1. Decide on the style of my magazine. Acknowledge the difference between COLLEGE magazines and SIXTH FORM magazines. Post on blog.

12^th October, Monday

1. Issue a survey amongst other sixth formers to find the best title. Post the results on the blog.

2. Take as many pictures as possible for images to use for magazine. Blog the process of this (e.g. how it went, how many images were taken).

3. Transfer images and begin to play around with them. Lay them out ect.

Magazine Research (A-Level Media Studies Related)

Magazine Research - Part One

Lesson Objective: Why does a magazine cover carry a certain appearance/visual/layout?

· Who is the TARGET AUDIENCE?
· How are they represented?

1. What is the STYLE?
Slick, cool, and stylish. Aligns with the atmosphere and visual style of the featured film “The Spirit”. Heavily eye-catching.

2. What are the CONTENTS?
Large iconic logo of Total Film. In small lettering to the right, the issue number and website of the magazine. World exclusive of blockbuster film “The Spirit”. Looming and visual image of the main “hero” peering downwards....toward the readers eye line. Graphic design/positioning of text is unique and suitably retro and comic-style, matching the nature of a typical comic book. Top headline announces freebies consisting of free posters for the likes of Star Wars: The Clone Wars and The Dark Knight. Exclusives of other films are listed below which would attract the interest of the viewer.

3. What are the COLOURS?
The colour used is of identical nature to the style and grading of the film featured. A striking array of Whites, Reds, Greys and blacks. Such colour co-ordination is extremely attentive and captures the reader’s eye instantly.

4. What is the font?
Total Film Logo is “Eagle Bold”, slightly squeezed.
Same font as “A Clockwork Orange”, of which is a cult British film. Such a font as this can therefore be put in relation to film, justifying the decision of the magazine editors. Headline font is of retro and comic-book style, inverted outwards. Appeals towards comic-book fans and fans of the comic of the film “The Spirit”.

5. Summary of findings
Concerning magazine content of “Total Film”, I would state here that the choices made concerning fonts, sizes and colour are in some cases decided in relation to the film/s covered in the particular issue. This is an interesting spin on magazine presentation and heavily allows the cover to stand out amongst others to a great extent. Colour grading used GREATLY compliments both the images and the logo of the magazine and can instantly attract a potential buyer. Regarding the font choice for the iconic Total Film logo, the relation to a particular Cult-British film is heavily ingenious and is a concept I may perhaps introduce into the production of my magazine.

Hi.

Well, the reasoning’s behind this first sudden emergence of this brand new, fresh and amazing blog is partly down to my Media Studies A-Level work. Time to time you'll see random appearances of class summaries and coursework related shenanigans which will have utterly no relevance to you if you’re here for other reasons.

But yeah, I'm scarily new to this kind of thing so hang in there. I thought however it would be reasonable to give you some sort of introduction to me myself and I; so....my name is Alex, short for Alexander and what follows from that is the sir name McNeill. So, Alexander McNeill. Brilliant. Now let's unscramble the meanings behind "The180Curse". This little name happens to be my youtube username, and seeing that the majority of visitors to this blog might indeed be fellow subscribers or random viewers, I thought it would make a degree of sense to link it to good old tube; you know, so no-one gets lost at all. And the actual meaning of it? Well, "180" is a reference to Final Destination. 180 happens to appear randomly throughout the series so kind of curse is implied there. So, thats all done and dusted-on to the dreams and aspirations area:

I'm an aspiring Director and Editor, and make my own short films, music videos and trailers on a site called YouTube. I'll make sure to post some of my new work on here time to time so that should give you a reason to come on here; and as a bonus, I'll give some insight into some upcoming projects and the progress which goes along with it. Lovely! So, yeah...I'll be more then definitely updating this blog on a frequent basis (I actually don't have a choice. Seriously) so make sure to bookmark this.

Let's hope this thing works out.....CYA!