Finished Double Page Spreads UPDATE

After recieving feedback from my peers and media teacher clearly describing the need for clearer text on the page, I decided to alter the text by firstly reducing the amount and secondly it was suggested I should highlight block the text. I did this by using character styles in Adobe Indesign and then selecting underline, offset at -4 and then selecting the colour as black. The weight was set at 17. This is how I managed to alter my pages after receiving feedback. I have left my previous finished double page spreads due to my opinion of them being aesthetically superior and to show the progression and comparison of my work after an alteration from readers.

Evaluation Questions: 7

Looking back at your preliminary task (the school magazine task), what do you feel you have learnt in the progression from it to full product?

Since the creation of my preliminary task, I have progressed my understanding of both magazine conventions and aesthetic features. I have learnt key features of both layout and genre based decision making. I have increased my understanding on the use of various technologies, mainly photoshop but also new introduced software such as Adobe Indesign. My knowledge of the magazine industry has also vastly improved since the creation of my school magazine.


In terms of my time management on both tasks, I spent far less time in the planning and research stages of my school magazine than that which I spent on the music magazine. I learnt that in order for the quality of the product to be as high as possible, that research and development is key. For the school magazine task I did very little research, I looked at our school magazine and that was the extent of my investigation. In relation, my music magazine concept was subject to mass scrutiny by both me with my more precise and in-depth research such as looking at various other real world publications (NME and Q) aswell as from my peers (my subject teacher and classmates) in my peer assessment and my target audience investigation.


My equipment of choice for both the creation of my school magazine and my main task was fairly different although the programme Adobe Photoshop made a consistent appearance throughout. For my pictures taken in my preliminary I took my photos using my iPhone 4, being fairly inexperienced, the setting was on the school field. In relation to this, my understanding of the quality of the picture was advanced and I used my new Nikon J1 to take higher quality photo's. This shows a progression of my understanding to create good quality pictures and in turn, creating a good quality media product. 


I put much more thought into the surroundings of the pictures for my main task, aswell as using props more effectively. In all honesty, my preliminary front cover features a fellow classmate holding a camera, this was a random shot and I decided I liked it after coming up with the idea of a media story. In comparison, I spent far longer in the creation of setup and deciding my prop use and backdrop for the music magazine in order to ensure the quality was higher.

The front cover of my music magazine uses a lab coat, geek chic glasses, a clipboard and a pair of headphones to help portray a persona and bring identity to the magazine. Likewise, my contents pictures were taken and edited to match the conventions of the dubstep genre. If you care to look at the pictures in my preliminary, my pictures are unedited and appear skewed due to my lack of understanding for scale of pictures. This also includes prop use and backdrop research ie: if you look above you see that I used a vinyl record to ensure my reader knows who the person is, the background of the picture featuring 'Mote Kontrol' contains a brick wall and metal door, with various graffiti tags across, an effective attachment to my picture, I planned the use of the wall when coming across it before. For the front cover picture composition, I used the same 10mm-30mm Nikon Lens on my camera however to gain lighting without the need for using the built in flash, I used 2 lamps to provide effective lighting for the subject.

As you can see the layout of the front cover appears fairly consistent between both although a greater understanding of the importance of not leaving space is shown in the progression, as is the case for the contents page where there is a severe reduction in the space shown. This is mainly due to the introduction of realistic and appropriate layout methods. I have use the 3x3 grid rule where the page is divided into 9 squares also referred to as the rule of thirds. 

In terms of personal accomplishment, since the creation of the original preliminary I have furthered my understanding of Adobe Photoshop and have a much greater understanding of the capabilities of the software than earlier on in the course. The various effects both for pictures and text have been an example of Photoshop capabilities I have learnt aswell as a general understanding of the importance of layering work. 

My time management (as briefly stated earlier) has been fairly out of balance for both tasks and this is mainly due to this being a topic of new introduction and therefore having to come to the sudden realisation of extensive workloads. 


My font selection has changed from both tasks. After understanding the conventional theme for each type of magazine due to research, you will notice the font choices for my finished coursework piece is genre based and not just the default 'Times New Roman' or 'Arial' font. With Dubstep research complete, the more modern style fonts were selected. I have a better understanding of colour schemes as shown by the gelling of black white and teal as indicated by my target audience and genre understanding. 

Moving on to my double page spread I learnt how to effectively use Adobe Indesign to my advantage. It allows for easy column layout and text wrap options, features I was not familiar with before my introduction to the software. Since the preliminary task, I have learnt that Indesign is a better software in the creation of pages in terms of their layout as guidelines are already set out and you can easily move around your text without the need to create multiple text layers, something that Photoshop lacks and that I was not aware of previously. Although this software would have been fairly useless in the creation of my preliminary task due to the lack of text appearing on the elements, for my double page spread it proved to be a valuable asset. Allowing me to directly import and alter .psd's straight from photoshop itself. 

Decision making was another key skill I have improved on. The ability to make decisions whilst slightly disregarding your own bias opinion of your work in favour of people who are knowledgeable in both aesthetics&design and the target audience for the genre magazine is a key skill which since my preliminary I have used in order to result in the highest standard of work possible to submit. Overall I feel that my progression is seen fairly evidently when reading through this blog however these points clarify and highlight the steps I have taken in getting better at both the subject and getting better in the creation of elements using the various methods listed here.

Evaluation Questions: 6

What have you learnt about technologies from the process of constructing this product?

For this question I have decided to utilise technologies at my disposable and present it solely using various technology techniques I have learnt about. This includes a Glogster wall which if it doesn't load, can be seen here, and a shared project I undertook with my friend, both using the website wallwisher to present the various techniques which we have used. 

Here is the wallwisher erm....wall, that we have created to display all the technologies we have used. It includes such things as GoAnimate. A tool used by many of my classmates and myself in displaying our target audience. Things as simple as google mail and various web browsers are included along with the perhaps obvious but not stated Apple mac computer. For my contents page I created a QR Code which linked to my blog, this was done on a website which allows the customization of QR Codes to go to websites. I have used Microsoft Powerpoint to create various presentations including my front page construction and then placed them into my blog using scribd. I used Prezi to display my contents ideas aswell as the given USB stick. Finally one of the main technologies which helped me vastly in the making of my contents construction video, CamStudio Recorder. It allowed me to record my screen to easily display the photoshop techniques I used aswell as allowing me to provide voice over. 

Evaluation Questions: 5

How did you attract/address your audience? 


For this question I have decided to construct a short video to show the various elements of my magazines front page, contents and double page spread which attract my audience. The video will show the elements as well as show a typical member of my target market reacting to seeing my magazine for the first time followed by the following questions:


1. Could this publication exist as a real media product? (Is it realistic)
2. Do you feel the pictures included are relevant?
3. What are the strongest elements which appeal to you & clearly distinguish the genre?
4. Is there a suitable mode of address? (Do you like the way it is worded)
5. Would you buy the magazine?


Below is storyboard plan for which I'm hoping to replicate to create my video. It will involve interviewing 3 people who all, from my knowledge, listen to my targeted genre of music and show close resemblances to the clubber/raver category of UK Tribes. (click to enlarge)

Update

Since posting my plans, I discovered that using more than one person in the creation of my   question 5 interview may elongate the video and make it dull. I therefore decided to spotlight my questions on one sole member of my TA, the person I felt best fitted the specification according to UK Tribes which turned out to be someone appearing in my magazine however assurances were made to prevent bias by not letting him see questions before I asked them. I have created a short iMovie video asking the main questions involved. These were the responses to my interviewed subject being questioned for the first time on my work:

Evaulation Questions: 4

Who would be the audience for your media product?

As Question 4 involved explaining who my target audience is for my magazine, I decided that instead of writing endless blocks of uninteresting text, I would create a short video animation featuring who I believe is my target audience. I managed to create an epitomization of my target audience by using my previous research listed under my blog label Target Audience. Evidence of this can be seen here.

In terms of my media publication relating to the target audience I shall show and analyse a few key areas of my magazine which I created with the intention of the elements appealing to the clubber/raver category of UK Tribes, along with input from my clothing and model research which featured both famous names in the Dubstep circuit along with less well known DJ's which would, in effect be part of my target audience.

Here is a prominent example of my magazine incorporating aspects which according to my research would appeal to my TA. As I found out that the audience in question enjoys such places as Cream and GodsKitchen, including a feature on the best venues to visit with Dubstep artists headlining is reasonably assumed as being a more than suitable feature to include. This is due to the fact that this will include ideas from the brands and with the named association from such well known music related company, it would appeal to passers by who fit into my TA.

As my model research showed, headphones were a key feature in artists within the Dubstep genre. It can be relatively assumed that with the aid of the media bringing the genre into the spotlight, the look of these artists is going to be extensively imitated. Along with this, Dre. Beat headphones are well known amongst DJ's and music fans for their high quality sound performance along with their high price tag. A competition to win a pair, along with a coveted signature from a well known artist would be another selling point of my magazine which would be completely unique and would therefore bring higher sales.


If you were to focus on the overall appearance of the magazine it is clear that when placed amongst well known publications it would 1. Not look out of place whilst 2. Standing out for it's memorable design, using effects which are fairly non existent within NME and Q. Of course as I explained earlier MixMag is a magazine which is bought by my target audience. This means that this would most likely be my main competition. Published by Development Hell Ltd, MixMag focuses on dance & techno music, a close associated relative of Dubstep. Although stocked throughout the UK due to the intense demand of the Brazilian market, a MixMag Brazil exists. My magazine could start off with the possible USP of being solely based for the UK market with the option of expanding into the emerging market in the US. 

Relating back to the point of the only competitor worth accrediting is MixMag as DJ Mag provides weak resemblance to focusing on the Dubstep genre and more focusing on mainstream pop and dance instead of really finding new up and coming talent. People would buy my magazine as unlike the dull front cover of MixMag, mine shows effective adjustments on elements such as the font and the pictures which hopefully will allow my product to look more appealing, along with the fact that the writing will focus on many famous names with up and coming talent showcased through features. I am also providing competition incentives to buy aswell as providing columns allowing people to provide input into the magazine, a relative unknown amongst current music magazines, perhaps leading to revolutionizing the music magazine industry to using this idea.

If I were to refer to the process of using Psychographic segmentation (the process of using segmentation dividing the market into groups according to customers’ lifestyles.) This is fairly hard to obtain and will become more evident in the next question. At 24, many would not be dependant on parental income although this cannot be ruled out as an impossibility as this is becoming more common due to higher youth unemployment. Brand loyalty is apparently strong within this grouping of clubbers/ravers and therefore it can be assumed that if a customer were to buy and like my publication, I could create a reliable, consistent reader base and gain a reasonable flow of sales in relation to this. In response to this data I drew up a cartoon representation of what I believe my target audience would look like. I used the characteristics of headphones, reading MixMag, owning technology and wearing stylish clothes to create this mock up.

Finally I will sum up using key points of who will be involved within the circulation of my magazine. If you were to refer to the socio economics grouping strategy to determine the main audience I would focus on the groups of C1, C2 & D. This would involve people from jobs such as shop floor supervisors to semi-skilled workers. With the average age of my target audience estimated at being around 24 according to the MixMag who would have similar readership, it's assumed that the median age of 24 would mainly work within sectors C1, C2 & D although this is hard to determine and this information is gained from the conventional stereotype of this age range.


So, in conclusion, it appears my target audience is epitomized as someone who is 24 years old, purchases technology, wears expensive clothing, watches dance tv, wears headphones and uses disposable income on nights out.

Evaluation Questions: 3

What kind of media institution might distribute your media product and why?


For this question I decided to create a short presentation which I uploaded to scribd. It includes all the relevant information on the main publishers and my views and opinions are expressed throughout the presentation, culminating in my own decision on which publisher I find best. 



Music Magazine Question 3 Pres

Evaluation Questions: 2

How does your media product represent particular social groups?


As there are no Dubstep orientated music magazines on the market it is difficult for me to show comparisons to other magazines as I am trying to challenge stereotypical perceptions on such music based publications, much like Dubstep is doing as a music genre. There are however elements which I have taken from existing magazines. Below show's some magazines I gained inspiration from for the creation of my front cover in terms of the model and layout.

Here are 3 magazines in which I gained inspiration from, along with my finished front cover. My magazine featured in the top left hand corner shows my model dressed in a white lab coat, popular "geek chic" glasses, and wearing Dre Beat Headphones. I used this costume to give my model a believable persona, to make him stand out against the majority of bland looking artists, and to also relate back to previous ideas gained from looking at magazines. Artist persona's are not uncommon in today's music industry and are in fact becoming a more popular feature within upcoming artists. Deadmau5 featured in the bottom right hand corner on the cover of DJ Mag epitomizes this statement, using a persona which the majority of people would agree is 'out there' and challenges the common conventions and associations people have in what a music artist should look like. This is the reaction I would like my artist to have on readers and having such a unique style would spark interest in passers by. The slightly visible clipboard is also a prop that was frequently suggested for me to use with the whole science idea and I have done so with the models posture showing resemblance to Ludacris showing a fairly vacant facial expression.


The cover-line I have used to associate with the picture is "Rewriting The Formula For DUBSTEP". The almost pun-like statement can easily be connected with the picture with 'Rewriting the Formula' a common phrase used when talking about scientific related subjects. This connection of the phrase with the picture is similarly shown in the picture opposite, on the cover of Hip-Hop magazine XXL. This shows Hip-Hop artist Ludacris holding a camera with the tag line "Will Shoot Yo' Ass" once again using a play on words with the term 'shoot' commonly used in association with filming.


This is shown again in the example from NME featuring the Arctic Monkeys, dressed up as elves for a Christmas issue with the cover-line "Their favourite worst nightmare before CHRISTMAS". Although not in the same context as this is not the bands general style and persona, it is still relevant in the sense my cover-line is clearly teamed with the picture.


If you want to know why I chose the clothes for both my front cover model and my featuring artist 'Syla' in the contents and double page spread you can find more information (here).


Similarly there is more evidence about the decision of creating a persona for my artist (here).

Although I briefly cover my clothing choices for my other model I felt it vital to show some relevance towards them and to show that this style is visible in real world publications such as Atmosphere Magazine. Here you can see the popular Dubstep artist Sub Focus.


The similarities to my fictional artist 'Syla' are clearly evident. I decided to use my picture in black and white much like Atmosphere magazine. The desaturated effect is seen repeatedly when describing such artists. Both are wearing hooded jackets which backed up by my previous research (link above), is seen as a stereotypical look on Dubstep artists.


It could be argued that both pictures strongly focus on the eyes, Nick Douwma's being the centre of attention due to the rest of his body being blocked by text and a CD, and mine by the vinyl record, a common sight when genre associated gigs are witnessed, blocking his body, resting just below the eyes.

 Here is my double page spread, overlapped with Dubstep artist Gemini. This picture of Gemini helped me base my models overall stance for the Double Page Spread and the similarites are obvious, with some slight differences such as the angle of the shot and lighting although the overall expression and positioning is mirrored. I used this rather than a magazine picture as there are very few magazines which are made using 'Dubstep' as a main featuring genre (if any). This along with the process of getting an accurate representation of the genre based research as well as common conventions of a Dubstep artist, is why this is an approriate choice and would be accepted by the potential readers in the social grouping.

Evaluation Question: 1

After completing my Front Page, Contents & Double Page Spread of my Music Magazine, I will now undertake the task of evaluating my work and the various elements and aspects surrounding the creation of my work. 
In today's fragmented market, it is becoming increasingly harder to be able to consistently keep circulation of your magazine high. As of January '11, the points below show the circulation figures of the most popular music magazines along with the percentage change of this figure from the previous year:

• Mojo ( Bauer Consumer Media ) : 87,555 ; -7.5%
• Q ( Bauer Consumer Media ) : 77,522 ; -12.1%
• Classic Rock ( Future Publishing Ltd ) : 62,354 ; -7.9%
• Kerrang! ( Bauer Consumer Media ) : 42,077 ; -2.1%
• Metal Hammer ( Future Publishing Ltd ) : 35,259 ; -15.7%
• New Musical Express ( IPC Media Ltd ) : 27,650 ; -14.0%

It is made quite evident very quickly that the music magazine industry is a steadily decreasing market, with well known names such as Q (-12.1%) and NME (-14.0%) showing decreases in sales, the level of competition is assumed to be fierce and whilst this may be seen as a problem for a new music magazine intending to enter the market, it can also be seen as an opportunity to bring something slightly different into the market, something which is not widely known and available. With my genre of music chosen being Dubstep, this could be a USP and would allow me to provide a product which there is no direct competition for. Whilst there are Dubstep orientated magazines out there, none are widely bought and talked about amongst the public, in particular my chosen area of target audience, the Clubbers & Ravers. With the popularity of Dubstep related music and news increasing, it appears I could quite easily become market leader and dominate this genre of the music magazine industry.


When reading through the various elements of my magazine it is key to note that as there are no real similar media products apart from large companies such as UKF and smaller companies such as those that I found in my research (here and here). I have had to incorporate new ideas into the magazine as well as make reference to the leading magazine publishers which show some key characteristics that appear in music magazines currently.


In what ways does your media product use, develop or challenge forms and conventions of real media products?

This task is made slightly more difficult by the fact that there are no mainstream music magazines which focus solely on Dubstep & Drum 'n' Bass. Due to this I have had to improvise and show elements from magazines with Dubstep based credentials aswell as showing resemblances with well known mainstream magazines such as NME & Q.

Here is the masthead of popular Drum&Bass, Dubstep and Garage magazine Atmosphere (now currently non existent). As you can see they use a stencil like effect on the Masthead. I feel that for this genre it is extremely effective. Although mainstream magazines such as Q and NME sport rather simplistic mastheads, this is due to both the added familiarity for the reader base aswell as tying in with the genre of music that the magazines are writing about. 

With the strong focus on simplicity within the indie/alternative genre, this is sensible however for the Dubstep genre which is a relative unknown using a masthead similar to this can prove to be popular amongst my readers aswell as providing a sense of familiarity once again, giving potential customers an incentive to buy it. The similarities are evident and shows my idea would work in a real word media product. 

My clothing research proved that using headphones would be a sure-fire way of allowing a passer-by to identify just what genre my magazine was about. There is vast amounts of evidence proving that the image of a well known Dubstep artist wearing headphones is a common concept and I used this knowledge I gained from the research throughout my magazine, frequently featuring headphones on the front cover (seen above left), the contents seen here and my double page spread (scroll down). An example of this being used is found on the cover of an issue of popular dance magazine MixMag (above right). Here the female model is wearing headphones indicating the magazine or at least the feature in the magazine is associated with music, typically that of the Dance/Trance/Dubstep/Techno variety. This once again shows my products elements are similar to those of existing media products and therefore would indicate my front cover would not look out of place on a shelf next to this magazine.

Referring back to another issue of the music magazine Atmosphere, you can see I have annotated it on photoshop to show the use of artist listings on the front cover. They have used coloured rectangular bars from the sides of the magazine to exhibit the featuring artists in this issue. This is done in 3 areas of the magazine as I have highlighted here--------------------------------------->.

This is a way of clearing showing the potential buyer who is featuring in this issue and also as a form of advertising the inside of the magazine, showing popular names sparking interest from the reader as to what the stories on these artists are going to be about. I used a similar method after gaining inspiration from Atmosphere magazine. As seen below, I used the rectangular bars to present to the reader who is appearing in the magazine.

I used popular artists at the minute Rusko, Nero and FP (an abbreviation for the dubstep artist Flux Pavillion). Attempting to incorporate a coherent house style, I have used similar effects to that of my mast head, opting for the black and white theme. This allows the names to stand out and really be seen by passers by. I also opted to adding an extra bar entitled "&MORE" I did this as a way of sparking even further intrigue as to who else is featured in the magazine, a similar approach to the popularly used "find out inside" coverline. Once again the similarities amongst the element to a real media product would allow it to exist in the real world.

The final component on my front cover I shall analyse is my created graphic showing the chance of winning a competition inside. Competitions are frequently seen on the front covers of music magazines and are used to lure possible customers into buying the magazines. My particular item directly links with the front cover picture of a hypothetically well known artist which would allow this to be used as a strong USP for this particular issue. I used the logo for Dre Beats as to add to the pulling effect and added the extra incentive of having them signed by the artist to link the competition with my story that features in my contents.
The layout of a similar item featuring on a cover of NME is strikingly similar to mine with the 'WIN' clearly shown aswell as to entice the reader into entering and therefore buying the magazine. Offering a product signed by popular artists (in this case Pete Doherty) allows giveaways to tie in with music magazines and provides added value to a product which is being given away. This is a key and evident alikeness from my product to a real world magazine.


Moving on to the contents page, here (left) is my artist index for my magazine providing readers with the opportunity of finding "your favourite artist". This features in NME especially and is a key selling point which they obviously know due to its frequent appearance in the contents page. It allows buyers the ease of finding the artist story which they are most interested in and for my magazine would be vital as the genre is upcoming, many unknown artists would feature. As to not turn away a percentage of the market who are new to the genre and are only interested in the big names, this allows them to still buy the magazine with assurance they can find their favourite artists. I included what I thought to be the most popular artists at the time with some new faces in the Dubstep world as to differentiate from normal lineups. I then provide the customer with a page in which to search for this artist, a slight but important detail. The index's that appear in NME follow the house style of the magazine using the colours red and black, the consistent colour scheme of the NME as to provide coherence within the magazine. I have chosen to also instigate this and have used the teal/turquoise shade as the outer glow (seen on the front cover and contents mastheads) as well as stick with the black and white simplicity of the text as to ensure it is easily readable. This is a simple and subtle distinct synonymity between my magazine and real world publications.
To the right you can see one of the fundamental aspects of my contents page. As to ensure my product is easily accessible and as to keep with real world publications and modern technology, I decided to insert a QR Code to allow readers who purchase the magazine to read it on their iDevices. As the market for Apple products becomes increasingly larger, it would be ignorant not to accept this is an untapped resource in which music magazine publishers could exploit. Although they are starting to, seen in an anniversary edition of Q magazine (right), it will become increasingly popular and my magazine using the QR Code which is able to be read by all iPhone's and iPad's and some iPod's is a simple but effective selling point, allowing my product to reach the masses and to ensure longelivety much like other music magazines are starting to, showing similar conventional thought. 
The use of the QR code is rapidly expanding and is increasingly becoming the way of using the internet. Please click here to find a prime example of its repeatedly used technology. This is an example of a music video using QR Code technology. This was posted on 8th May 2011, the popularity of this technology has increased since then. This perhaps more so shows my product is developing common known forms of real world media publications.

 My double page spread also features some conventional similarities to music magazines with my quote featuring on the actual picture instead of being used with text wrap within the article. The common misconception with pull quotes is they cannot feature on the picture, this of course being untrue. The use of the quote on the picture is used in an issue of MixMag in the interview with Groove Armada as highlighted against the blurred background below. 
Although I feel their use of the pull quote is aesthetically not that impressive I have developed the idea and used a picture across the DPS with the pull quote featuring on the picture of the person. The conventional manner would be to as said earlier place it into the article's text. I feel the quote gains vibrancy when contrasted against the main image and would work with the colour scheme etc. in the real world.

Another point I would make on my double page spread is that I focused strongly on the positioning of the model as to ensure it looked realistic and could be existent in the modern day market. For this I focused my attention on the same issue, and the same article in MixMag. This once again involved Groove Armada. One of the members is seen in a jacket leaning against a wall with his hands closed together looking casual but also giving the impression of thought. Similar stances are seen throughout various issues of MixMag and I felt I could use this information to create an effective double page spread and take a strong picture.

Here I have roughly blurred the double page spread whilst bringing the main attention and focus onto the model's stance. I have also taken the photo with the model leaning against a wall with his hands closed together with the facial expression of thought. I used 1 halogen spot lamp to light this photo taken outside whilst incorporating the headphones mentioned earlier to ensure my model stayed true to the characteristics of common music magazine conventions. This is a clear similarity to a real world publications and along with the various other elements that feature on the DPS which can be related and attributed to not only MixMag but NME & Q also, I feel that this would not look out of place when put up against real world products.


The final element I will point out which perhaps is the most important when trying to relate to real world conventions and perceptions is the coherence of the colour scheme. Briefly mentioning this earlier I have ensured that all of my magazines various pages have a stereotypical blend of the same colours whilst still incorporating various effects throughout as to ensure the magazine does not become 'bland'. Below are my pages up against those from an issue of Q which show the similarities of house style and that in this instance, my magazine 'Duble Take' does not dangerously challenge the public's typical perception of what a music magazine looks like and will not be put off or find it unattractive or aesthetically unpleasant.

Dubstep Artists: What are they like live?

Recently, me and a few friends visited the O2 Academy Brixton to see popular Dubstep Act Nero. This was done purely for educational purposes of course..... nevertheless it allowed me to further insight into the Target Audience of this genre of music, comparing it with my research on UK Tribes. It allowed me to see if the perceived stereotypical specification associated with a fan of dubstep is as it's commonly thought of. Below shows a few video's that my friend recorded from the gig along with a youtube user's interviews with people at the gig.

Here is one of their more popular songs ^'Crush On You'^ as you can see the pictures shown on UK Tribes linked clubber gallery website Dont Stay In shows similarity to that which you could screenshot from here. This gave me some re-assurance that the classification I have chosen to represent my Target Audience was correct. As you look at the various videos taken, you'll notice that the similarities become more and more evident.

 

 ^Nero-Me & You^

^Nero- Must Be The Feeling^

As you can see in ^this video^ and as stated earlier, a youtube user recorded fans reactions before and after the gig. I can use this video to show comparisons between the images collated and the people who are interviewed, turns out, there is much more variety in terms of the types of people than I first anticipated. Many age ranges were taken into account, this can be used to help develop my ideas for my evaluation questions associated with my target audience (questions 2, 4 & 5)

Double Page Spread Construction

Unlike my previous two magazine elements which were both created using Photoshop CS4, my double page spread was constructed partly using Photoshop, but mostly using Indesign, a software which allows the creation of columns to easily and neatly create layouts for text. It also has a tool to create a text wrap effect to make sure that text does not pass over the picture. To show how the tools can be used to good effect for my magazine I have shown the various steps in the creation of my DPS below.

Here is the photograph I have chosen to create my double page spread with. The image was one of very few which turned out with such high clarity and personally I liked the stance and found it to show the artist deep in thought with his hands clasped, a look which I replicated from other magazines. The following images show the steps I undertook to alter and improve the image to turn it into my final DPS.

 





Here is a screen shot of photoshop showing the first change I made to my picture. I decided to liquify the face of my model as the process is commonly used within real world publications and I felt my models facial expression could benefit from a slight change in shape. I used a large brush to ensure a smooth effect.

I decided to use a radial blur on the background to intensify the main image and to bring clarity to the model. It also brings a connection to the genre with this effect, along with long exposure settings on cameras frequently used. I firstly used the quick selection tool to select the background. I then opened filters, selected blur, then radial blur and proceeded to create the effect seen above.

To ensure there wasn't an obviously seen effect & that the point where the back wall meets the grass was not evident, I decided to use the smudge tool and smudge the line which divided the two in such a way as to create a similar effect to the radial blur aswell as providing consistency within the DPS. This was done around the model slightly also to allow for the radial blur effect to look as free-flowing as possible.

After creating this effect. I thought the picture looked dull, with the monochrome effect from my Nikon J1 camera providing no differentiation in tone or shade. To ensure that the picture's clarity was intesified and that the monochrome effect would work I decided to increase the contrast levels.

Moving on from my opinion of the picture looking dull, I decided to create an outer shadow effect. I duplicated the layer and used a brush of size 484px. I reduced the hardness of the brush to 0 and changed the opacity to 74% to ensure a soft glow. I then used a circular brush round the edges to gain the desired effect that you see opposite>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>

Here, I created a new layer and set the layer style to colour. This was to ensure the glow effect on the double page spread remained vibrant and provided a sense of atmosphere to the picture as the colour blue/turquoise  generally provides a feeling of distance in the picture and brings perspective to the model within the picture. I used the same brush specification as previously mentioned and selected the colour mentioned.

Here you can see where I have created the artist name on my double page spread. On the text layer I have inserted a black drop shadow along with a turquoise inner glow. I have embossed the text and added a black outer glow along with the colour overlay as the original text was block white, here you can see I added a weak transparency to the text to match the misty, dark theme I am trying to create amongst my coherent house style.

Although I liked the font, I felt the 'y' did not aesthetically compliment the rest of the page. I decided to alter the text slightly by first rasterizing the text layer to allow editing. I then used the polygonal lasso tool to draw out my graphic which will be connected to text. This was followed by using a brush with hardness, opacity and size all at 100 to elongate the y and draw the futuristic looking curve.

I then decided to insert my pull quote using photoshop as to allow for greater manipulation possibilities and to ensure I could place it outside of column boundaries. This uses turnpike font with a strong black drop shadow.

This process was repeated with the creation of my article introduction. I inserted this on a new layer and changed the layout of the text to look like it is text wrapped. This is to ensure the text is completely seperated from the picture and that it stays on the right hand side page.

 For the majority of the article I used adobe indesign. The text taken from my Microsoft word document was inserted into a file with 6 columns in an A3 landscape. I then inserted a black outer glow to the main body of text. As you can see with my highlighted areas, I used the pencil tool to ensure I could apply the text wrap to my picture for the text. Finally, the page numbers appear on the bottom corners. These are made using the font turnpike and are black with a white stroke. The magazines name appears in white font next to the page numbers.

 

This page was created mainly due to the amount of text I wrote in my article needing to run over. As I decided to split my article into two parts, I made this page into a quick fire questions section. This was made with the same outer shadow effect on the picture along with the same contrast levels. I then inserted the edited picture into indesign onto A4 portrait with 3 columns and used the same font as in the double page spread. I used a text wrap around the models face as well as recreating the Syla logo. The Syla text layer was copied from the double page spread and transformed using the free transform tool to fit into the page whilst still allowing the audiences perception of the identity of the artist to remain continuous.