Inspiration

using www.photovisi.com i have made a collage of images to do that are associated with music/live performances from google images. after collecting pictures of live events, i have noticed that most of the better and more popular images are of male artists. this may be a coincidence or it might be that the media is actually concentrating on male artists rather than female artists. this collage has given me inspiration and more ideas of the kind of photo i want on my music magazine cover and contents pages.

Similarities and Contrasts between NME & NITELIFE

• 'NME' is a weekly issue whereas 'NITELIFE' is a monthly issue. 
• 'NITELIFE' is locally based (in Bristol) whereas 'NME' is read worldwide.
• 'NME' is £2.20 whereas 'NITELIFE' is free.
• 'NME' is available worldwide in shops whereas Bristol can only be found in some shops in Bristol.

Magazine Research Two: NITELIFE

 2. NITELIFE - "Bristol's essential listings guide".

NITELIFE magazine is Bristol's "essential listings guide" which features all the local venues that "you need to know about". It is a very simple free magazine which consists of mainly pictures. It advertises local bars and clubs and gives a monthly lowdown of what gig and events Bristol has to offer. You can find Nitelife Magazines in certain clothes/shoe shops in bristol, e.g. 'Cooshti' or 'Size'.






Front Cover:

This episode is January 2012's. The title is very bold and easy to read. The photograph takes up the most of the page. The colours used in the photo are bright fun and contrasting - which makes the photo interesting to look at. The red circle with 'Free' written inside stands out from the white background. When customers see the word 'free' they are more likely to look at it and perhaps take a copy because they know they don't have to pay - and no one likes paying!

http://www.nitelifeonline.com/

Magazine Research One: NME

For my project, i have to create a music magazine cover, double page spread and contents page of a music magazine. i am going to research and explore existing music magazines to help me get an idea of what they look like/are about.

1. NME - "new musical express".

NME started as a music newspaper (in 1952) and then gradually moved toward a magazine format during the 1980s. It was the first British paper to include a singles chart, in the 14 November 1952 edition. In the 1970s it became the best-selling British music newspaper. An online version of NME, NME.COM, was launched in 1996. Today NME.COM has 5 million users per month. The NME magazine describes itself as "the world's most recognised and iconic music magazine", published to give a "truthful, honest, informed account of what's going down in music". NME includes news/information about lots of different genres of music but focuses mainly on guitar and rock music; Oasis Arctic Moneys, The Rolling Stones and many more.

• 80% of NME readers feel that music is an important part of their lives

• 79% of NME readers like to listen to new bands

• 63% specially choose to listen to indie/guitar bands

• 49% specially choose to listen to live bands in studio

• 52% are interested in taking a musical course/qualification

• 36% are thinking of buying a musical instrument in the next year

more statistics on http://www.nme.com/mediapack/pdf/nme_media_information_full.pdf

Front covers of NME all share the same "NME" logo at the top left corner of the page - usually in red but special edition covers are in different colours. the title is very easy to read as it is bold and stands out. The two front covers i have chosen are 2 of the 10 "special edition covers"and happen to be of much more modern music artists - Magnetic Man and Rihanna. the other artists for the special edition front covers are Jack White, Florence And The Machine, LCD Soundsystem, Kasabian, Laura Marling, Foals, MIA, and Biffy Clyro. Magnetic Man are an electronic music project consisting of dubstep producers and DJ's, and Rihanna, a female r&b role model. the colour schemes for both of them are simple - they only use two colours.

NME magazine are up-to-date and use new media to promote. They have a facebook, twitter and tumblr page which people can 'like' and 'follow' to find out very current news and information about music artists.
http://www.facebook.com/nmemagazine
https://twitter.com/NMEmagazine
http://nmemagazine.tumblr.com/

http://www.nme.com/

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/NME

Preliminary Task: Draft 2

i did a second draft for my school magazine front cover. most school magazines have their school logo on the page, so i added the marlwood logo onto the top left hand corner of the page. i still think the page looks quite boring and the speech bubble is quite tacky. i will include more text when it comes to making my music magazine. 

Preliminary Task: Draft 1

Using Pages, i have created a school magazine cover for my school as my preliminary task. Having never used Pages before, this was something new to me - it was very simple. I quickly learned how to insert text and shape bubbles onto the page and set the whole page's background to one of my photographs. I chose to use this photograph (cropped on iPhoto) because it has bright colours and gives a warm feeling about the school. It has a good composition that shows drama masks on the left, books in the background and a sixth form student enjoying working on a computer. I covered up the electrical plugs in the centre by putting a speech bubble over them because they look un-neat. When i come to create my final piece for a music magazine, i will include a more text, shapes and detail in general onto the front cover. it would also be a good idea to include the marlwood school logo on the page.


To get more of an idea of how successful this magazine cover is, i asked my friend annie (a sixth form student at marlwood school) what she thought of it. she said it needed more text around the picture, a few more contrasting colours because the colours i have used blend in together to well and dont stand out. she said i should write the date of the issue somewhere on the page. she also said i should include the marlwood school logo.

Photo Shoot For Preliminary Task

Using an SLR Camera, i went around my school to take photos of everyday school activities so that i could get a photograph to use for the front cover of my school magazine (preliminary task). i concentrated on Sixth Form pupils in particular.

My Photography - Rule Of Thirds

These are just two of the photos I took which contributed to my GCSE Photography coursework which particularly show effective usage of the rule of thirds.

Rule Of Thirds

Composition is very important when it comes to photography. The "rule of thirds" is a compositional technique with is a unique grid of lines arranged to divide your image into thirds (9 squares). Along one of these lines, or especially at an intersecting point of these lines, you want to position your most important (focal point) subjects in your photo. The rule gives an interesting effect which draws the viewers eye directly to the focal point.

School Magazines

Fearns Community Sports College School Magazine

These magazines are of summer 2007, 2008, 2009 and 2010. Although the four different covers have completely different front pictures, they share the same format; having the school logo and motto at the top, with writing often on the bottom left corner - this shows that they are from the same school and follow on from each other. The covers uses bright colours and show pictures of students enjoying themselves which portrays the school as a fun place to be.