Contents page ideas

This is my first idea for the layout of my contents page. The title will be at the top left with the main image behind the text, so it will take up half of the page. There will also be other images on the side which are of my photoshoot. The main articles/page numbers will be on the left hand side of the images, and it will have the same house style like on my cover (e.g. the grey text boxes with black font over it). I also decided to include some editors notes on the bottom to make it feel like the audience can really engage with the magazine.

My second layout idea is quite different to the first. On the left there will be a small image of the front cover, with all the articles underneath. The rest of the page will be much more simple and less crowded. The title 'contents' will be in the top right corner, and the slogan of the magazine underneath, but much bigger. There will also be notes under the slogan, briefly saying things about what the magazine will include within this issue. There will be one big image from my photoshoot below the notes, and possibly another image just on the left corner of that big image. This makes the middle part of the layout (contents page) much neater and structured. 

Final cover [1]

This is the final cover for my music magazine. All of the text except the masthead and slogan has a tab behind it. I used two fonts which is 'Calibri' which is the font used over the grey tabs, and 'Plane crash' (from dafont.com) which is over the black tabs and is also used for my Masthead and slogan. The reason why I chose these fonts was because 'Calibri' was very simple yet bold, and it was a perfect font to use for my articles. I chose 'Plane crash' for the much more important text on the cover such as the titles of the articles (e.g. Top 100) and for the masthead/slogan. Its a very striking font which is fit for a rock magazine as the font has speckles/shatters in it, similar to the Kerrang music magazine font but much more intensified. I chose 'Plugged' for the name of the magazine because it reminded me of an electric guitar being 'plugged' into loudspeakers, or headphones being plugged into a music device, so I thought it was very relevant to the style of my magazine. For the slogan I used 'Get ready to rock' as its easy to remember because the genre of the magazine is specifically rock, and also it makes the magazine much more vigurous. Even though its a gothic-rock magazine, the two different sides of it being energetic, yet dark fit well together.

The image is in black and white because I wanted to stick to it as a consistent theme throughout the magazine, including the doublespread. However, I may use coloured pictures in my contents page to show the different sides of the magazine, and that its not just plain/dull. Black and white gives it a darker and tenebrous feel, to relate to the idea of my magazine being quite gothic-rock.

I chose the name 'Forsaken' for the girls on my cover as it means to be abandoned/rejected, and I associated this with a stereotype of teenagers (especially ones who like rock music) that like to be lonely, independent and individual, so I thought the name of the girl band reflected this and almost sent a small message out to the audience. 

I made up the articles on the cover and I thought they would be very suitable. The 'competition' article is something I tend to see on a lot of teen magazines because teenagers love to be able to participate and be a part of something (like concerts) and so saying 'win tickets everyday' gives them a chance to be within the rock community. For the article for 'Forsaken' I used a small quote "We're being ourselves." which shows the girl band said this quote, and its a small indicator of what the audience will expect to see in the interview in the magazine. 'Top 100' shows the best music in the current charts which will help teenagers discover new songs and briefly expand their knowledge of rock music. This will also increase the amount of people in my audience as they may share it with their friends as teenagers tend to listen to music with their friends. The black text boxes for the title of the articles are tilted so the front cover isn't so structured and makes the cover look more interesting.

Front cover developments - Final stages

These are the final stage of developments for my front cover. I added a brief slogan underneath the masthead of the magazine which is 'Get ready to rock'. Its an easy slogan to remember and it makes the magazine's style much more bold. I made up a band name for the two girls on my front cover; 'Forsaken', so it shows they're featured on this particular issue of the magazine. I also added a list of other rock bands down the side which I noticed a lot of rock magazines do. The picture down below shows where I took inspiration from. I also added a banner at the bottom with a short list of music festivals which I thought would be suitable since its a rock music magazine.

Film industry research

Random Facts - 2012

•    In 2012, UK box office revenues exceeded £1 billion for the second year in succession, while cinema admissions rose to 172.5 million, the third highest figure in the past 40 years.

•    The box office share of UK independent films was 9%

•    The biggest film of the year was Skyfall which earned £103 million at the UK box office to become the highest earning film of all time. It topped the weekend box office charts for four weeks.

•    Fantasy, including The Hobbit: An unexpected Journey, took more money per cinema on average than other genres.

•    Films in 33 different languages (including English) were released in the UK

Film Marketing - 2013

• http://www.the-numbers.com/market/ - This website is very useful as it shows statistics of every movie released since 1995 to 2013, and they're categorised into six following attributes; Creative type (factual, contemporary, fiction etc) Source (book, play, original screenplay..) Genre (drama, horror, documentary etc.) MPAA rating, Production Method (live action, digital animation etc) and Distributor.
• http://www.magnetmediafilms.com/blog/top-social-cinema-marketing-campaigns-of-2013/#.Ut-dAI44m_U - This website is useful as it shows the top social cinema marketing campaigns of 2013. It shows statistics and the different ways the films have been promoted such as Truck commercials, online games, and gifs of the movies from Tumblr which have helped to get a widespread viral promotion.

Developments of my cover

I took inspiration from this front cover of 'spin' magazine. Under the text of the coverlines, I put grey tabs behind the black text and black tabs under the white text. This helped to distinguish the two as the white text over the black tabs are generally a mini title for the grey tabs with the black text over it. Overall, I think it fits with the colour scheme of my magazine (black, grey and white).

Extra images from my photoshoot (coloured)

First attempt of my front cover - Ideas and developments

I wanted to use this font and name for my cover because it was the font I chose out of the other ones I had. However, it didn't suit my front cover as the text was too thin and wasn't in proportion with the image. I also had to change the tones of all 3 of my developments as it looked much more sepia toned before, whereas I wanted it to be black and white.

I tried the name 'loudspeaker' with its original font but I didn't like the way it looked because it looked really squashed on the masthead and wasn't very clear. However I do prefer this font to the 'plugged' one.

I decided to use the font from 'loudspeaker' and use the name 'plugged' and I think it looks a lot better as its clear, easy to read and bold on the masthead. I didn't want to use the name 'loudspeaker' as my images from my photoshoot aren't wild looking like covers of metal/heavy rock magazines, so plugged is much more subtle.

I used the eraser tool on photoshop to rub out the bottom part from the letter 'L' and 'U' so it would be placed behind the models head. It looks much more professional as when magazines are stacked on shelves in stores, the titles are usually placed behind the models' heads so everything is placed properly on the page. It also looks a lot neater.

I edited the second possible image that I may use to make the tones/shadows much darker which make the masthead and the models the main focus of the cover. It made the black and white effect bolder too.

Photoshoot for my magazine

The use of the black and white effect on every photo gives it a much more intense feel to them. As my genre is rock, the models poses are generally quite dauntless which makes them look much more intimidating and frightening to show the power and fierceness of rock music.

The stairs make the photo's look much more grungy so it isn't sophisticated and in a well presented environment.

This low shot can be good on my contents page as it puts the audience in a position of weakness and makes the models seem like they have power, which shows the strength of the genre and the models themselves.

This photo and the one before it isn't as fierce as the others and are much more natural. It shows the two models having fun whilst they're listening to music, so it also suggests that rock music is also enjoyable and lively and not always serious.

This photo can be really good for my cover page if I crop the models in a portrait format. There will be enough space for the masthead & other things on a magazine cover. With one model standing up and the other crouching down, they both look undaunted yet innocent at the same time. Usually on the front cover of rock magazines the band/singer will be posing and they look quite daring, which is what I was trying to achieve.

This photo could be really good for my double spread as the models are quite far apart so they would be placed on each page. The image itself is very bold and it isn't too dark so it makes it look much more professional and makes it more suitable for the double spread.

I really like the lighting of this photo as the surroundings look quite light but the models themselves have a darker shadow over them, again this makes them much more intimidating.

The fence being in front of them makes it more basic and not so done up so it shows the models being in a laid back environment.

I like that this midshot of the models is in a mysterious looking place as there's fences/trees, which shows the models also being quite dark and strange and fits in with the rock genre.

This picture was taken slightly off guard but I like the way it looks as the close up of their faces shows that they're not always so serious and fierce looking, but they still look like they're strong and powerful because of the model on the left having her hand out towards the camera. 

This picture can also be good for my contents page, maybe my double spread as the door looks quite big and the angle almost looks as if there's a fish eye effect, and the model is pushing it open so it makes them look strong and authoritative.

Photoshoot planning

Props: Makeup, headphones, phones

Models: Habibe Alkilinc & Selcan Findikoglu

Camera Used: Nikon D5100

Time: 11am-1pm

Health and Safety: Some of the pictures are being taken on the stairs so its important to make sure that there are no injuries such as falling down.