Peer Assessment

These are the feed-backs i received on my front cover and contents page from two of my class mates. I am going to act on this feed-back through making adjustments to my front cover and contents page.

Magazine Contents Page Mock Up

I also had to make a draft for a contents page for my magazine. However, i used illustrator instead of Photoshop when creating this.

Magazine Front Cover Mock-Up

We had to create a draft for our music magazine front cover. i created my front cover using Photoshop.

Double Page Article Mood Board And Analysis

Here is a mood board involving a mixture of double page articles from different types of music magazines. After doing some independent research, I can state that the conventions are:

·         Certain letters which are of different font, colour, or size to the rest.

·         A consistent colour scheme.

·         Central images cut out from background or blended into the background.

·         Page numbers in the bottom corner.

·         Quotes

·         Titles

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Here is a double page spread from a Hip - Hop Connection magazine article.

The first thing that attracts the reader’s attention is the full page picture of a well-known rapper, from the "Wu Tang Clan", GZA.

The heading states 'Pure Genius' and the sub - heading mentions that without GZA the Wu Tang Clan would not be as 'big' as they are now. It says he 'Still has creativity to burn' implying that he really can take the Wu Tang Clan a lot further in the industry.

The colour scheme and font style are the same as seen on front cover of any Hip - Hop Connection magazine, and therefore it may even be seen as iconic of this magazine.

One page has a picture, and the other, information related to this picture. In this case it is a picture of GZA, and the information is about his rise to fame along with the Wu Tang Clan.

For the reader, it would be a lot easier to understand what this article is trying get across if they already know who GZA is.

p    In the magazine above, the artist is looking away from the source of the light. The page number and ‘streetz’ is on every page. The gold colouring used in the text ‘Fiasco @ 9:30’ contrasts with the black background. It also matches the artist’s clothing and jewellery. The information in this article has been put into columns in order to make it easier to read and understand. The quote consists of some words in different colour in order to highlight which words are important.

k    The magazine above is based on two of the biggest stars in arguably the world’s favourite boy band, One Direction. You could say that this makes it easier for the writer to present his article as most people will know who they are and so understand things in relation to the article which they otherwise may not have if it had involved an unknown artist. We see two separate images of them cut out from a background and literally placed on the pages. The colour scheme of light blue, white and grey seems to work extremely well, as the colours complement each other nicely. Their respected names “Zayn” and “Harry” are in a unique font and all the headings are in light blue, which helps for it to stand out. Additionally, the quotes are in a huge font for the exact same purpose.

Contents Page Mood Board And Analysis

Here is a mood board involving a mixture of contents pages from different types of music magazines. After doing some independent research, I can state that the conventions are:

·         House style

·         Page numbers

·         Trendy clothes/accessories

·         The writings are set in different fonts and colours to each other to help it stand out.

·         One image is always bigger than the rest

·         Consistent colour scheme

In The Source’s contents page, in which the central image is of Ice Cube, a close up is used. The idea behind this is to display the aggressive expression on his face, which in a way portrays the kind of rap music the artist does. Additionally, the artist’s face is being faded by the dark background, with the intention behind this being to reveal the dark side of hip-hop. The name of this magazine, ‘The Source’, has been placed at the bottom of the magazine as oppose to the top, as the creator wants the audience to be more attracted to the image instead of the masthead. The date and issue number of the magazine is in small print beneath the name of the magazine. The house style is very dark and deathly. These set of colours match with hip-hop’s unforgettable sell-line ‘Hip-hop is dead’.

[     From Q’s double page contents, we see the use of more than one image. However, the images are not of the same size or shape, as if it were it would appear quite boring. We can clearly see how the magazine intentionally made their page numbers quite huge and bold. The purpose behind this obviously being to make the numbers clear and stand out. Furthermore, the colour scheme is red and white. The colours complement each other nicely, and give off contrasting looks of danger and brightness.

The contents page above contains 7 images, with one image being larger than the rest. This is because the bigger image is of the main artist for this magazine and so the magazine is trying to gather all attention towards that artist. Moreover, the text is set in neat columns, which means for an organised look and proves quite appealing to the reader, as they can easily read and find what they are looking for.

Front Cover Mood Board And Analysis

The camera shots used in the magazine front covers above are low angle, medium and two shot. The front covers featuring Jay Z and Ciara both consist of low angle shots in order to highlight the superiority of the two artists. Medium shots are used in the magazine front covers containing Eminem and Chris Brown. The purpose of a medium shot is to reveal both the artist's facial expressions and body language. Finally, in relation to camera shots, a two shot is used in the front cover, which has Macklemore and Ryan Lewis in order to show the relationship between them.

The outfits of the artists in the front covers above have different types of impacts. In the magazine involving Ciara, the only items she happens to be wearing are high heels and so more or less, she is completely naked. This is effective as it is seen as attractive and may attract more people towards the magazine (Sex appeal). Additionally, high heels are seen as seductive and so it being the only piece of attire she is wearing highlights the magazine’s ambition to make Ciara come across as sexually appealing as possible. The other front covers in the mood board above are of male hip hop artists who are in similar clothing. They come across as cool and sort of rebellious through the colour black in their clothing.

The overall representation of the magazine is heavily influenced by the artists on the front covers. The artists above come across as dominant and quite ‘hard’ through their body language and facial expressions. This reflects the representation of the genre of music in the magazine as it tells us the music will most likely be hard edge, which is what we can expect from hip-hop.

The font styles of the title blocks are quite bold and vibrant. The purpose of this is to help the magazine stand out. Additionally, the bright colours help the magazine to look more glossy than dull, as if a magazine looks dull; it wouldn’t attract as many people. Also, the title blocks being bold represent the genre, as hip-hop is quite bold in relation to the style and pace of its music.

The colour scheme used in the magazines is reflective of the genre of music. Dark colours, black for instance, are frequently used to reflect the hard edged connotation of hip hop. Additionally, some bright colours are used, like red and yellow, as it contrasts nicely with black and also to stop the magazine from being too dull.

The types of articles found in the magazines are revealed to us by the puffs. The puffs are quite bold and reveal to us what will be involved in the magazine. Some of the puffs tell us that there will be inside stories based on a certain artist, while others reveal new music and reviews on them.