Photoshoot

A few images from my photoshoot. As you can see I tested the lighting to see what worked best and found that when it was too bright it didn't look good. I also used a variety of angles to make sure I had a range of images to use for my magazine. 

Layout for my Front Cover

Call Sheet

Photography Ideas

To get inspiration for my photos that I am going to take for my magazine I looked at Rihanna's photos as I think that she takes interesting picture that capture the kind of thing that I want in my magazine. In the picture where she's looking up in the checkered shirt, I think that this is the kind of image that could be used in my RnB & Hip-Hop magazine because firstly her clothing is trendy, more for my target audience. Also it shows that she is looking up to highlight what is on her neck so this teaches me that if I want a certain thing to be particularly showed in my magazine, for example, the hairstyle, makeup or the models facial expression, i could do it by making them be positioned to show it or make the light hit the model in a way. The image with the black background is an interesting image as it only highlights her unlike the other image of her in the sun which is used to show off her location. The black background image would be good to use for a front cover as it only draws attention to her and that's what I would want to do to catch the readers attention.

My Magazine Proposal

Illustrator Workshop

I learnt how to use Illustrator
I learnt how to edit colour on text
how to make it 3D
how to individually select letters
How to add an outline and make letters topsy turvy
 And how to change the gradient and make it fade out

Press Pack/Media Kit

I did my case study on XXL magazine and I looked at its media kit to understand key things that needed to be included in my magazine if I am making a magazine of the same genre. Looking at the media kit it shows that a high percentage of its readers (78%) are male readers, therefore to appeal to their male readers they may use more male base adverts, such as cologne or sports cars. Also as they have more male readers it means they'll use a lot of male rap artist and more provocative adverts of females for example every issue they have an eye candy section which is photos and videos from women who appear in music videos so they use this to appeal the male readers. A lot of XXL readers are African-American so this tells me that hip-hop magazines have high amount of them particular readers so I may need to do something to appeal to those readers, for example, use a African-American as my main cover star.    

Second Case Study

First Case Study

College Magazine Evaluation

Corrected Evaluation for my Article

I went to an off-license and took a picture of how their magazines was laid out. The magazines went from puzzles and children's at the bottom to entertainment and gossip magazines in the middle to more american magazines at the top. You can see that most magazines have their masthead not completely to the top and to the left side so that when they are laid out next to each other and partly on top of each other, the mast head is what stands out, so that people who are looking for a certain magazine, say Heat, they'll be able see it straight away. Also to make the masthead stand out, they are all bold and have a bright background. The Children's magazines are at the bottom as it is at the height that children can reach so its easier for them. The magazines in the middle are mostly the popular ones so they are at an easy level for readers to see and and pick. The magazines at the top are more exclusive as they are mainly american, so they at put at the top as the shopkeeper may not want people grabbing and touching them as they cost more. 

Magazines are distributed in many different ways. One way is by apps, many magazines now have smartphone and iPad apps and usually people will get a month free trial with it and then pay a subscription afterwards. This helps save magazines money as they save with printing copies, especially in colour, transportation cost and they can reach out to a more younger audience as they use smartphones and technology more. Another method is by electronic brand extension which is the magazine having its own twitter, Facebook, instagram and other social networks to promote itself. They may post upcoming things in the next issue, photos of celebrities and small articles to draw readers in to buy their magazine. This also can draw in younger readers as they are more likely to be on these social networks.