Thursday 23rd October

Different levels image:




As the last magazine cover idea was a bit too busy, I have created a very simple and non-busy cover. I don't like this either. It really doesn't work well with the black, so for my magazine I will NOT be using black on my front cover, I think it looks tacky and not good. I like the style of the title and the simple teaser.

Wednesday 22nd October

Portrait image:
I'm not too keen on this idea. I dont like the portrait image as it is hard to work with. I have had to overlap a few other images to make it look right. The text is simple, and has simple colours. I dont think it works on the black either as I dont think it looks as professional. But the title of the magazine stands out more, thats about it.

Monday 20th October

Half body image:

I've created the image to overlap the title of the magazine as a different approach to the magazine. I also chose to not make the cover too busy, it is simple and I think it is a good camera shot to work with on a magazine. I like the use of a white background.

Here is some examples of the different shots I have taken, and I have interpreted them into my own designs of layouts for a front cover.

Full Face:
I chose to put the image into a monochome style and create the text in colour. I think this works well and I like it because it has a good contrast between the image and the text.

Here, I selected a photo and then edited the saturation and the contrast. I think edited it using photoshop to explore ways that I can use different camera shots to produce different layouts.

Friday 17th October

CAMERA ANGLES.
I've been thinking about shots for my front cover, so today I have played around with a few camera angles that I could possibly include in my magazine.

Portrait Full Face shots:

Half Body Portraits:

Portrait Shots:



Landscape Shots:







Thinking about different levels:

Thursday 16th October

I am still currently working on my essay, and the sketches of band members but I have started thinking about the different styles of music bands I want to include so I have found different styles of indie music through the internet.

Indie rock
Stylistic origins	Punk rock Post-punk Garage rock Mod revival
Cultural origins	Early 1980s, United Statesand United Kingdom
Typical instruments	Guitar – Bass – Drums –Synthesizers
Mainstream popularity	Largely underground, but several bands have had mainstream success.
Regional scenes
Largely global, England – Ireland - Scotland –Wales – USA – Canada – Sweden – Japan

Examples: Bloc Party, Last Shadow Puppets, Maximo Park, Cage the Elephant, Late of the Pier,

Infomation found on the internet of the style of music I want my magazine to include.

Indie:
Any form of popular culture (such as pop music from a group not signed to a major label) from outside the mainstream; a type of rock music, generally soft-style without screaming or aggression, mixed with synthesized music and electronic; relating to, or being an indie

Style: Tight pants, striped tops, old suit jackets, Converse sneakers or ballet flats, boys in retro shirts, girls in second-hand frocks. As a rule of thumb, Indies tend to be more colorful.

Indie pop
Stylistic origins New Wave
Power pop
Post-punk
Folk punk
Yé-yé
Girl groups
Cultural origins early 1980s, United Kingdom
Typical instruments Guitar - Bass - drums - Keyboard
Mainstream popularity 1980s United Kingdom
Derivative forms Chimp rock
Subgenres
C86 - Cuddlecore - Twee pop
Regional scenes
England - Scotland - Wales - Sweden - Ireland, United States, Australia
Other topics

Examples: Black Kids, The Cardigans, Feist, The Ting Tings, Kate Nash,Noah and the Whale

Wednesday 15th October

Back to the idea of using a white background. Last night I helped my friend with a few practice photos for the front cover of her magazine. I have selected a few of the photos for examples of the camera angles I like, but I am not using one person or this idea. I just wish to have a white background. I want to include four boys, possibly band members, who are showing different characteristics and are standing in different levels within the composition of the photo.

   

Close shots of band members and instruments.

Half body portraits.

Lower angle of full portrait.

Full body portrait. 

Band members full portrait. 


Using different levels of the band members. 

Bare in mind these are NOT my photos, (these are NICOLE WALLS) I want to shoot my practice photos soon, but I need to arrange times and dates for the people I want to practice shoots on. I am thinking of doing practice shoots on friends to get an idea of the angles and people I want to include for my final front cover shoot. I also need to stat thinking about who is going to be in my magazine, why and when, and start to take just a full face photo of the people I want to be in my music magazine. 

Tuesday 14th October

Today i have been looking at "The Art Directors' handbook of Professional Magazine Design" and I have found a few useful pages. A few examples are below.

I like this double spread layout because it is easy to complete, but it looks really good! I love the idea of using two pictures across the pages, there is no text, but the images say a lot.


CUT THE PICTURE!!!********

I absolutely love this idea! The boarder across the two pages looks really good. The image is so simple, yet it looks great. I think this would work really really well in a music magazine, and I am thinking about creating this idea in my magazine thanks to this inspirational picture!

CUT THE PICTURES *****

This front cover caught my attention because of the simplicity of the layout. Four monochrome images of a band. I like this idea. Because the images are monochrome, it really makes the people striking, yet the text is still visible.
I LOVE this idea! I think it is really different, which is why it is so nice and eye catching. If I can, I think I am going to consider using this idea in my magazine because I think it is a really different approach to a layout. I could possibly do this with an image and transfer it across to the back page by using the same technique used in this layout.

Monday 13th October

1000 words planning section
Ok crunch time folks, Part one is due on the friday before half term 23 rd october so i have time to mark it over the holidays,

Part one of your writing is about your Research and Planning and the early work that led into this project

You should write approx 1000 words about your Thriller project so far.

You could start by writing about how you were introduced to imovie and the use of the camera equipment, the beast which is the Canon XL2, and the introductory exercises you did with them, and you must always refer to what you have put on your blog so far.

You should address the following points: discussion of what a Thriller title sequence involves - including points about use of music, graphics and introduction of characters, setting and narrative.

An analysis of some the Thriller sequences you looked at - this should allow you to discuss what real thriller openings and student examples you thought were effective and why.

Some consideration of the target audience of your opening

You should also discuss the initial ideas that your group has had - what type of Thriller have you thought about making? Why?

What is your group's idea for your opening sequence? Include reference to setting, characters, props, costume, music and other sound, text you intend to use, the title itself, challenges which you foresee, an outline of the timescale you will be working to.

AIM FOR 1000 WORDS.

After feedback from me, you should make any suggested changes and then start work on the next part of the essay, carrying on from where part 1 ends, so that you upload it as a continuing document NOT as separate parts.


I have started to plan and make a start on my essay today. This essay is due in next friday before half term, it will show my planing, research where I aiming to get too.

Thursday 9th October

I have started drawing rough sketches of front covers of magazines and looking into different styles of layouts. I will carry on sketching ideas for front covers over the next few lessons. 

Wednesday 8th October

After finishing my preliminary I have been spending this lesson looking at a few magazines to get a few more ideas for my front cover. I have decided that I want to shoot my front cover with a white background as I think that the simple background works well. However, I still like the idea of using isolated places for a few shots of 'band members'. 

Friday 10th October

I though of an idea for a DESTINATION!

To give me a little more inspiration I have decided on a destination that I would like to take a few shoots. Possible for an artist or a band. It is based at my friends house, who has a lot of open fields and isolated places (for a contrasting image). I didn't manage to get that many photos as my camera ran out of battery within the first few minuets, but I have an example of about two of the places I would like to have a shoot in. Some time in the future I will be able to go back and take more photos to show the exact location I wish to take photos. He also has an old boat which I think would be really interesting to look at for taking photos.

Tuesday 7th October

I have now finished my preliminary exercise as I have finished my front cover to a school magazine. Here is my finished front cover.

I have found that I have got used to using photo shop and have benefited from completing the preliminary exercise. 

Thursday 2nd October

I am still continuing my preliminary, and I have started working on a front cover of a school magazine. 

Wednesday 1st October

I have finished my preliminary exercise. I finally have found out how to make the corners of photos curved. I started by selecting the layer (of which the photo I wanted to edit was on), I then used the circle tool and placed it on a corner. Then I pressed 'apple' 'C', which copied the circle that I had just created, followed by 'apple' 'Z'. This then created a new layer, but I selected back onto the first layer and used the rubber tool to rub out the corner, created a curved affect.

This is my finished preliminary: