My Page Drafts

While I was creating my pages, I made sure that I mainly stuck to a rough draft so that I know what I need to put on each page and where everything needs to go.

This was my front cover draft. I kept to the draft reasonably well with the only alterations being to the colour scheme and the addition of an extra box on the right hand side for promotion of various parts of the magazine.

This is my Contents Page draft. After looking at my research, I decided on a double page contents due to the ability to include more content and to also give me more space to improve it's appeal to the eye.

Apart from a few alteration I kept to the draft really well. I included both highlighted and non-highlighted topocs andalso substituted the competiton on the left page for author's notes. I also added an area to subscribe to the magazine and which has sponsors as well.

This is my DPS draft. Surprisingly, I kept to the draft so well that only one alteration was made. The alteration was made to try and improve the flow of the whole page text, which it did very well. This was to add two quotes below the main image in the centre of the page. This broke up the text and made it flow better when people were reading it. I did not include a colour scheme for this page because I felt that the colour schemes from the other pages would just flow through to this one. After some careful work, I made this a reality.

When thinking how my drafts were useful to me, I took into account just how many alterations were made and how alike the pages both look. I also look into the idea of both the draft and product having a flow between them. This includes the draft having a basic feel, which is then improved once the real thing is finished. Overall, I feel like my drafts played a vital role in creating my pages. This is because the drafts are all basic plans which are can be classed as unfinished to a professional standard. These were then improved during the design stage, but still hold the basic form of the draft. Telling me that the drafts were good enough for me to work with.

TA Analysis

My target audience are young, diverse, multi-cultured teenagers of both sexes. To make sure that I appeal to the group, I will make sure that I look into representation. To do this, I will make sure that I use multi-media platforms, rather than just printed media. I will include websites, downloads and QR codes as well. The reasoning behind this is due to my group being young. They will not like it if they can only sit down and read, because they will get bored very quickly. Using these different media platforms allows the audience to change platform if they get bored.

I will also remember to use stereotypes to a certain extent. This is because although my target group will likely want to think, they will not want to sit and put a huge amount of thought into one thing. Doing this will put them off the magazine. Stereotypes I will keep include the young Jazz player. They will either wear a suit or a dress. An older player will still be formal but will not wear a suit. So I will be breaking the stereotype of older Jazz players.
One thing I have to remember is what Perkins said about stereotypes,"Stereotypes are not simple." When he says this, he means that stereotypes on a whole are very complex profiles given to a group of people used to collect them all together. For to break this in some aspects could cause people to portray as a different character altogether. One example of a stereotype is that all Rappers are African-American and are very hostile people.

The text I will create will also be as informative as possible. I understand the groups paying to be entertained, so although I will stay informative, I may exaggerate an odd thing here or there, this will make sure that the text is still entertaining while being informative.

Target Audience

While designing my pages, I have been showing a control group of jazz fans of my age my work as it progresses. They then tell me their verdict on these pages and eventually brought me to a conclusion on the TA. The age of my target audience is 16 to 25. I can keep to this by using bright colours in certain areas to get their attention. I would also make sure that the magazine is unisex. This so that I have the biggest target audience as possible. If my target audience is diverse enough that gives the magazine enough of a chance to get sold. I would try and make sure that people with different lifestyles; including those with long working hours, unemployed or people who have only got a weak education. If I can implement enough diversity into my magazine, this magazine will be great for anyone who likes Jazz. Things in which I have to be cautious about though are making sure that nothing which is subjective or offensive to any religion or social group is used. As long as I keep to this, I should be fine!

Front cover page so far

After working for so long I have completed the layout for my music magazine front cover. I have done this from my plan in which I have and will post in the future.

I have chosen the blue transparent banners because the background makes it very difficult to actually annotate to a certain extent. I then decided to add the blue banners, but they were too sharp and were drawing attention away from the photo. As a result I decided to make them transparent. This causes them to make it easier to type over the background but the banner isn't too sharp. The cover story at the bottom was able to stay opaque because the colour isn't bright enough to drag attention away. It would have looked weird as well if the photo involved with it was transparent so I kept that opaque and it works very well.

Props used in Photoshoots.

To stay as minimalistic as possible when it comes to props, I have limited myself to three Jazz related props and one general prop.

The three Jazz props I have used are a cornet, a trumpet and a fedora. I have chsoen these as my desired props for multiple reasons, the cornet and the trumpet were chosen due to them being a hugely popular instrument in the Jazz industry. The cornet and saxophone are also used as symbolism of the industry because of their popularity. I have chosen the fedora due to it being part of the stereotype of a male or a female jazz player. Alot of jazz players did wear headwear like a flat cap or a fedora, so if I were to use a fedora it really bring that across. Fedoras are also linked to the prohibition perriod during the 1920s and early 1930s. With this being around the same time as the birth and spring in popularity of jazz, it seems appropriate to use fedoras to show their value.

I then decided on a chair to be my general prop. This was because using a chair I could get some interesting shots of my model. One in which being of her looking at the camera, facing the camera, while she is sitting on the chair backwards. Little subtle things like this can improve photos by a considerable amount so I decided to use a chair to take these shots and get the best I possibly could.

Reviewing my Third photo shoot

This was going to possibly be the final photo shoot as I have finally got a photo collection which is worthy of being on the front cover.This is a huge step in my coursework because it means that although I have been working b establishing the layout of the pages, I can now add the photos and edit these photos to perfection.
The photo shoot went extremely well as I got photos of my models i the local town and I was able to include some local highlight buildings in the background. I was even able to get a photo shoot in one of the local traditional pubs, which is great because pubs are a significant place in the history of jazz.
Overall, I am happy with ow the photo shoot went and can now continue with my progress to the point where I can near finishing my magazine soon.

All the photos from the photo shoot are on this slidely

Third Photoshoot Plan

In two days, my third photo shoot will be taking place.
This one will e different to the others as this one will not be a studio shoot and will be inside the local town, Brigg. This is to add variation to my photos and to allow my models to be a little more natural. I will be going over some shots I already taken and applying a different environment to them to make sure that al my photos don't look the same.

I have 2 models for this shot, one male and one female. This is to add gender diversity and to create a blend which as two models because all my photos so far only had one model in, so I could improve some of the photos by having a second model in there.

Make up will be the same as the previous two, Foundation and red lipstick. Nothing which has a big impact on the model's face as I want to try and keep the faces as natural as possible. This adds to the character of the photos I believe.

Costumes are very similar as to the other ones I have done. My male model will be wearing a White shirt with Black formal trousers and a black fedora, this is to give him the smart but slightly casual touch in which I feel jazz is. My female model will be wearing White 3/4sleeve shirt and skinny trousers with a black scarf. This is to give her the same colour scheme as the male model but to also show the difference in the two genders when it comes to dressing for the genre. Also white and black are both different shades of the grey which is meant to be a main colour in the house style.

Reviewing My Second photo shoot

After taking some new photos of differing poses and multiple shot styles.

Due to the success of this photo shoot, I have been able to get this model to do another photo shoot with me in the future. We were able to take photos with included Dynamic shots, over the shoulder shots, casual shots, and many others! Hopefully, this will allow me to be able to use these as contents and DPS Photos which could be used as the main photos instead of side photos.

Creating my Contents page

After spending about 5-6 hours on this page I feel I have finished my Contents page at last. I decided to do my contents page first as this was the main one which could be done with the least time involved in it as not too much skill is needed compared to the other pages which includes a high photoshop skill for the Front Cover and a high English skill for the Double Page spread.

I chose the grey background as the house style includes blue and grey. The reason I did this is because blue is a very youthful colour with the grey bringing in age to merge the youth and the age together of the jazz genre.

I have left a black space because I will be putting an image there with some text as an extra contents area. If I can make it what I want to make it, it will be a competition and the only other alterations will be the word topic to be changed to actual topics. 'No' will be changed to page numbers. The 3 big blue boxes will be getting images inserted into them so that the featured topics have a little information added to them.

Alterations to Masthead

After some Target Audience research, I have found out that my masthead wasn't the best and had to change it. My new masthead will be called 'Quarter to Sax'. I chose this because I retook  a survey I made and found that Quarter to Sax was a popular favourite. This choice was also good because was almost the same letter count as the previous choice of masthead which is  not going to alter the magazine too much.

Evaluation of progress so far.

After all the work I have done for my Jazz magazine, I have evaluated what I have done and what I haven't yet.

Content which is of satisfaction but could be improved once all work is done includes;

• General Research
• Front cover research
• Contents page research
• DPS research
• Actors and models

My Presentation has been good and Time management has been quite good as well.

Work which has to be completed now includes;

• Potential TA has not been looked at.
• TA Analysis has not been monitored
• Costume and make up
• Props
• Layouts/drafts of pages have not had a post yet.

The first part in which I will focus on will be TA analysis and profile. This is because the TA are very important and if I cannot have a TA profile I won't be able to attract customers and readers.

Costume, make up and Props will be done after because they are already done and just need typing up. They will be done afterwards because the TA research might change what I do.

Costume/Make up

During my photo shoots I will make sure I use the perfect costume and appropriate make up.

Because my genre is Jazz, it would be good to have a variety of clothing but it would all be with a formality to it, suits are good for jazz but it can also be something as casual as a polo shirt and jeans or light dress. This is because they are reflects of the vintage times when jazz was at it's peak.

Make-up wise I don't want to use a lot of make up as I feel too much could damage the image of the model. I will use foundation and basic enhancement make up like lipstick and eye shadow. This is so it enhances the facial features without making them too artificial.

After the first photo shoot

During the first shoot it was quite fun and really discovered a few ways in which I can help others in multiple ways. I was able to get to grips with the basics of helping direct where people where meant to be. After photography was done with my male model, I moved on to et photos with my female model.

Before I took photos of my female model, I was assisting other people around in the shoot. One group needed props and costumes being sorted for them. I was able to help them with them and help them decide how to pose. After all this was done, I found my female model was ready to take the photos. We took roughly around 35 photos today to see what we can choose. A lot had no problems with, but there will definitely be the one where I will need to consider not using due to level of quality. Personally, I believe today's photo shoot was successful.

I was able to get all my photos onto a slidely to display click here to see the slidely

Organisation of models

For the first photo shoot, I have two different models. These models are complete opposites and will e interesting to use as each will represent the idea of the jazz genre not being dead.

One is an elderly male which has history in the jazz industry, he is god as in the DPS  will be needing to reference a professional jazz musician to help with the subject I will be doing.

The other is a 16 year old female which will show that there is a chance for the genre to be revived to the youth.

Other models which are a possibility for future photo shoots are another 16 year old female and possibly a few 16 and 17 year old males. These will demonstrate the amount of people who really get involved into the genre of jazz.

Organisation of Equipment

The equipment I will need for the upcoming photo shoot include cameras and soft boxes.

I was able to get hold of two different cameras in which I will use for varying quality and different photo styles.

One is the Nikon D7000 which is a high quality camera. Better for the action and shots and more complicated shot which are out there. With this i will use a Prime 35mm lens. I will use this lens because it will give me high quality but also so I don't have to control the zoom and i can just move around for that.

The other camera is a LUMIX DMC FZ62. This are middle to entry level tier cameras which are good for basic images due to the basic nature of this camera. I will also use a UV 25mm lens.

Photo shoot plan 1

This past week I planned to do a photo shoot on friday 14th November 2014.

This photo shot would include two models. An elderly Male which was previously and still is a member of a jazz band. I also have a 16 year old female friend of mine to do the opposite sex.

The location of my photo shoot would be the drama studio as there are many things I could do to interact with the model in the studio. I also believe that the drama studio would be better because I will be able to get multiple lighting affects involved as well.

The costume in which would take is different for each model.
I have a traditional and almost vintage Jumper suit which is in a green style colour for the male model. this is good as since the model is of an older age it will reflect his elderhood and portray him as being from the older generation of jazz players. the costume I have for the female model is a fitted black dress with a black fedora. This is good as it takes inspiration from the older fashion for jazz musicians of the female gender from the time. It also has a modern twist with the dress being fitted. I believe this will be good as darker colours showed the class of jazz players, so since it is black, it can't get much darker.

The props I will be using are a trumpet and a saxophone. the trumpet will be for the male model and the saxophone will be for the female model. This is done so that each model will be linked to the jazz genre if you exclude their clothing. I believe that i will also e able to get some action shots with these props if I can which will look good as well!

Any make-up which will be used include foundation and red lipstick on the female model as it will help enhance the model making them look more photo friendly.

Icons and symbolism

There are multiple icons in the jazz genre in which I can implement:

The saxophone - a classic instrument which if seen automatically links to jazz, this could be implemented into images or as a small image near the edge of the page. It could be used as a pug.

Smokey room - This is a vintage and traditional environment in which jazz was usually done in. This would back in the 1920s and 30s to demonstrate at the golden age between WWI and WWII before the Wall Street Crash. This could be implemented as an effect in images or on the front cover.

Suits - Traditional jazz players wore suits to look their best, also as that was the fashion back in the prime of the jazz genre. This could implemented as a costume easily.

Cultures - The African-American culture was the main culture to kickstart the jazz genre. So holds a special place in Jazz history. This would be more difficult to implement, but is possible in the way of models being of an African-American origin.

These are some of the more common icons in jazz and are the most likely for me to try and include in the making of my magazine.

Models

The models I will possibly be using are 2 models.

 One will be a young adult which will symbolise the youth of the jazz genre, and an older man who has been in the genre as a musician for many ears. This combination will show diversity of the jazz genre. I can increase this by including a female friend who could possibly model for me. She will be able to symbolise the unisex diversity of the genre.

These will be involved on the front cover but the elderly male and young female will be included as the main mage and the young male will be used as an image for a cover story. This will also be done as the two males and the female as the cover story. This will be decided upon availability.

Costumes will be different for each model. the more mature male will be dressed in a vintage suit to symbolise the tradition of jazz. The younger male will also be wearing formal clothing, but with a modern twist. This could come in the shape of a different coloured suit or no tie or unique shirt. The female model will be dressed in a traditional dress which would have been used in the jazz genre as a typical costume.

Finalised planning ideas

After all the research I have done I have come up with a final list of things in which I will include.

Front Cover:

• Mast head is 'Sax in the city'
• Font is Graphite Std
• 1/4 of page is masthead size
• Puffs will be included next to small images with the page number in.
• Pugs include the price, date and issue number at the top just above the mast head. The barcode at the bottom right corner.
• No banners
• Colour scheme is blue and grey and other related colours (Eg. cyan and black and white)
• Photo should be medium or long shot.
• Cover stories should be kept to 2 or 3.

Contents page:

• 2 columns
• Use photos at the top of the page or at the bottom with a page number next to them.
• Use some smaller photos embedded into a geometric shape.
• Highlight the heading texts with colour scheme related colours.
• Use a professional font.
• Keep the Pages in order.
• 2 Pages long.
• Cover 20 topics with 60 pages.
• Use about 3-6 images possibly more if needed.

Double Page Spread:

• If the text is to describe use one font, if there is a sub heading change it, for every meaning to the text use a new font.
• Quotes and such to be in italics
• One big image. Used to give a rough idea of what the text is about.
• If a big image can be embedded with text, do it.
• Use colour on the page if it is appropriate.
• Link topics together to be able to add more text.

Mood board

To help me with my final decisions I decided to get a mood board set up to give me inspiration. This can help me by showing me what can be used and what styles/themes are linked with jazz.

Locations for photoshoots

I have been thinking for a long time and have come up with a choice of possible locations for my Jazz photo shoot. These are decided on the actual genre and it's own characteristics and where about it would fit.

The list;

• A Pub/Bar - This is a good choice as there are always small musical groups going into pubs and bars to perform to increase their prestige
• In a outdoor performance area, like under a shelter in a market square - This is is possible choice as there is always groups playing and small events as well including farmers markets and the such.
• On a stage - Its music. Music has always been played on a stage. So why wouldn't it fit?
• On a bridge - There are multiple ways in which a bridge can be a good location. Jazz is known as one of the most secluded genres, being played on bridges at night and under bridges as well. If I were to get a photo of the model on a bridge with the town in the background, then tat would definitely be a good choice for a picture.
• In a music studio - These are always good when the musician is just practising and messing with something to create something new.

These would be the pacs I am most likely to choose to take photos as they are the most appropriate.

Musician update

After researching local jazz musicians I have finally found a musician from the name of John Thompson.  This can help my double page spread as I can use the interview with him to expand on other subjects. This could potentially lead onto many other subjects in the spread.

Institutions Research

I have created a new magazine for an emerging genre - Jazz. Bauer Media do not have a Jazz magazine for the 16 - 20 age group TA. Therefore i have been looking at the institution Bauer as i believe they would best produce and distribute my magazine.

Additional reasons:
1. They conduct research with my TA

2. They are looking for new ideas and magazine genres
3. They are cross media and can promote my magazine online and on social media.

4. They already successfully promote Mojo and Q
5. They are interested in niche audiences eg Steam railway.

I have been impressed with the Bauer website: http://www.bauermedia.co.uk/

and feel they offer my magazine the best chance for regional, national and global distribution.

Double page spread research 3

After researching the contents page I can now look at possible Double page spreads.

This is the DPS of a proposed recreation of the jazz festival magazine in Glasgow. This is a unique one as the actual magazine doesn't exist yet. But we can still analyze it.

The first point I would like to make about this spread is the idea of having text scattered on the page inside geometric shapes. This is a good idea as it spreads the text out on the page making cover more space than if it was just done in columns on the page. This is also quite creative and uncommon so young people will be more willing to look and read it.

The second point is the colour on the page. The main colour on the page is a blue hue but the colour is also altered by the idea of having the geometric shapes on the page be a yellow hue. This is good as it is basic and appealing to younger people as bright colours appear fun.

The one problem I have with these pages the idea of having the bottom half of one page being nothing but advertisements. I find this to be a bit of a waste of space as so much could have gone there, but the space is taken up by adverts. I would take this into account by only having a small corner as an advert or none on the double page spread at all.

Double page spread research 2

After researching the contents page I can now look at possible Double page spreads.

This is the DPS from a September 1995 edition of the a jazz magazine I found. This to me seems better than the first one I found.

One reason towards this the idea of an image on the second page with texts embedded into it. This to me is a great idea as it makes the page seem more interesting while also being very informative. If there is a page just covered by an image it isn't always the best use of the space unless the story or case is too small to cover two pages.

The next point I like is the technique of placing the headings on completely separate lines to the other text. This makes the headings stand out a lot more. This could be good as it keeps the reader intrigued to see what the next section says. If you don't have enough text then this technique is also useful to help the text stretch over the required space.

One factor I feel I will not consider though is the point of placing an image right in the middle of a body of text half-way through. This I feel is not needed and can cause the page to look untidy and scruffy. If the page doesn't look organized then it lowers the appeal to readers.

Double page spread research 1

After researching the contents page I can now look at possible Double page spreads.

This is the double page spread from the February 2011 edition of Jazz Inside. This is a good DPS as there is different fonts being used throughout the whole of the spread. This is split between different areas of texts, so headings would be different from the main body text and quotes. This to me is good as it differentiates the text and makes it all seem more understandable.

Another good point about the pages is that there is an image in the bottom left corner. This to me shows that the image is used to be recognized as part of the subject instead of being placed to cover a whole page. This also doesn't class as being a filler then to prevent there being an area of free space.

One thing I do not like is the amount of text in the page spread. This is because this could put people off of my age as the younger generation like to see images more and lengthy texts less. This could be considered for my DPS when it comes to creating the spread.

Contents research 3

After deciding what my front cover will be like, I have decided to move onto what my contents page will look like.

This contents page as about 19 topics covering about 60 pages. There is also 1 image included but is irrelevant to the contents page.

This is the February 2011 edition of Jazz inside magazine. This is a very basic and almost laughable version of a contents page.

The only part of this page in which is the contents is the right hand column. This is the contents and is too basic for much research. One thing I can take from this is that the problem with this contents is it doesn't follow with the page numbers. Some of the first few pages would be in the last category which make this a very messy contents page. 

I can take the fact that I must keep the page numbers in order for my contents page to be successful form this page.

Contents research 2

After deciding what my front cover will be like, I have decided to move onto what my contents page will look like.

This is the second contents page I will examine. This is a contents page for a fictional jazz magazine by a designer from the site behance. The image can be seen here.

This contents page has about 20 topics covered on about 95 pages. There are also 4 images on the page. This is will be about average for depth of the contents page but this one covers 2 pages.

 This is a very good contents as it is very basic. I like the idea of having the heading of the pages being in a bright colour instead of being black as this makes it stand out more from the rest of the text. I could implement this as a possible idea as it adds professionalism to the contents page.

Another fact I like is the idea of images being implemented into basic geometric shapes. This is because it makes them a little more interesting to look at and also has a hint of modernism with it. This can be seen on the top middle of the image where there is text 'win a tenor 54 sax'.

One part I definitely do not like how there is so much white space though. The white space comes across as plain. This can be solved by adding a colour or tint of a colour to give it more person.

Ideas I can implement into my contents page from this include the idea of cropping a photo into a shape to give it more appeal instead of just a rectangle. I will make sure not to leave a lot of white space as this looks plain and a colour might be used for this case.

Contents research 1

After deciding what my front cover will be like, I have decided to move onto what my contents page will look like.

This is my first contents page I will examine. This is from the Smooth Jazz magazine. The issue number and time is unknown.

This contents page has 26 separate topics covered o it with about 62 pages used. This contents also has a total of 6 images used on it. This would be classed as a very heavy contents page with lots of things covered.

One thing I noticed straight away is that the layout is mainly images at the top of the screen with a few small images posted next to the topics in which they are related to.

The colour scheme seems to just be bright colours for this contents page as all the main headings for different parts of the magazine are highlighted with a bright colour behind them. This appeals to me as it stands out quite brightly.

Another point in which I like about this is how the contents page is split into two columns and there is also like a very smooth flow from one column to the next.

One thing I have to criticize is the font type of the numbers. It isn't very clear to me and this for me brings across a negative feeling. If it was a different font where part of it wasn't so thin then I might not have a problem with it.

How I would apply these to my contents page is the fact that I may use the idea of two columns if I have enough topics to do. I may also use the idea of colour highlights to show where the Magazine splits into separate categories.

Final Masthead ideas

After careful decisions and also some target audience research. I have chosen my masthead to be 'Sax in the city'. This is chosen because Jazz is quite an urban music genre and all the main places you hear jazz from are very urbanised. It also links to the famous American TV show 'Sex and the city'. This is good as this Tv show was quite popular in the current generation and this brings the idea of youthfulness to the magazine.
The chosen font is also Graphite Std. This is a sans-serif font which has some parts of the letters wider than others. This is good as it is quite a modern font.

Model Ideas for front cover

After careful thinking about the Model type I will use, I have decided I will try and get TWO models into my front cover. One will be the traditional Fully grown adult/middle aged jazz musician and the other will be a youthful teen/20s young person. The reason I have thought of doing this is because jazz is a classic genre which was mainly popular in the early and mid 1900s. This will be represented by the older model and his dress code. The youthful model will be there to show off the ability of young people to be included into the genre. This is done to symbolize a new birth of the jazz genre and will show how jazz is far all ages, not just for the older generation.

So the clothes of each model will be very different, almost completely polarized. The elder model will be dressed in an old style suit with a historical style headgear like a fedora. This is to symbolize the 1920s and 30s in America, which was when Jazz was at the height of its popularity. The younger model will be dressed in clothing quite new and in style. This could include the likes of skinny jeans and a stylized shirt with sneakers or basketball hi-top trainers. This will be done to demonstrate the current generation and to show that the Jazz genre can have a rebirth into modern life.

I came up with this idea because all of the magazines for music I have seen only have models of one generation. Jazz is guilty due to most of the models being more mature and rarely ever being youthful or targeted at the younger generation.

Jazz Musician

After searching for almost a week, I have found someone who could possibly help me in finding a jazz musician from the local area. This is good as if I can get a musician from North Lincolnshire, this makes the magazine have a more personal touch to the area. It will also give people from that area a sense of achievement.

Modern Jazz Potential

With the deaths of many Jazz legends already past, I have had to turn my attention to other potential artists. One artist which has caught my attention is on the show X factor 'Chloe-jasmine'. She has brought a bond and twist to revolutionise the jazz genre and has the potential to revive the dying genre. This is due to the fact that no one young creates jazz music, this is bad as people use young artists as role models. This Chloe-jasmine has the potential to revive the genre and I can use this as a topic for my course work.

Apart from that I will be doing research into smaller, less well known british jazz artists which are keeping the genre alive. If I find a young jazz artist then that will be an added bonus as it is potential and I can use it to expand the magazine.

Issues with terminology

It has come to my intention that the term 'fusion' was going to be a masthead. This now cannot happen because upon doing further research I found out that the fusion festival in birmingham has altered the terminology of the term 'fusion'

The fusion festival has changed the terminology to that of house/club music so if the term fusion were to be used as a masthead, this would bring across the wrong message.

Masthead reseach

I have been looking at terminology of Jazz and have come across a good word which can be used as a masthead;

"Fusion: a style developed in the late 60s by Wayne Shorter, Herbie Hancock, Miles Davis, Chick Corea and others, partly as a reaction to the eclipse of jazz on the music scene by rock. Incorporated elements of rock into jazz and made greater use of repetition and non-improvised passages. Harmonic language was simplified; key feeling tended to be established by repetition rather than harmonic movement. Straight-8 time and a strong back-beat predominated."

I found this on a website which does all the terminology - sonic.net

Using this I have thought up ideas for my masthead.

Other names in the Jazz genre

I have found another collection of famous jazz artists and have created a slidely including all of the new ones found. I hve implemented a small caption during the whole slidely bcause the eras differ and spread between now and the early 1900s.
Click here to see the slidely

CeltX Image

Using some of the mages from the Orchestra session from 22/10/2014 i evaluated them on CeltX this is my results;

Possible targets for subjects and Famous artists

I have just done some research of the most famous artists in the Jazz genre and was surprised to find a lot were in the past and not many going now. Some of the most significant ones I saw which could be targets for the magazine are:

• Marcus Miller
• Wynton Marsalis
• Herbie Hancock
• Sonny Rollins
• Louis Armstrong
• Pat Metheny
• Keith Jarrett
• George Benson

These all have something in common which can hinder the use of the artists stated. That flaw is that they are all in the past and will be extremely old with the youngest being in his 50's. One way I can counter this issue is to use these in some quantities and after using some of these, I shall look in the local area to try and find local jazz players which are fairly young. If this can be done, then I will use them and do an interview with them. This will help as it can give me ideas for a Double page spread.

Photograph idea 1

After thinking about different ways I could get photos and differing angles I figured out an idea for a possible front cover photo.

This photo would be of a model on stage with saxophone. I would make them wear fairly modern clothing which is a mixture of casual and smart clothing. They would playing the saxophone and the angle  would take would a step angle from below. A good example of this would the photo on the right The Omega Men. The camera would be below them and bring across an idea of status and power. The distance of the shot would be roughly the same as the image below of Antonio Forcione. I would possibly make it Medium shot instead of a medium close up just so I can et more of the person in the photo.

Photography and presentation practise

On 22/10/2014 I went to the Vale Academy's orchestra practise rehearsal. This was for upcoming Concert. I found out that in the orchestra there are multiple brass and jazz themed instruments, so I took this opportunity to try and et some photos and use this time to practise different angles. After getting a dozen photos I made a slidely using the said photos. Click here to see the slidely.

Research results so far.

After going through all the research I have done so far I have found multiple plans and possibilities for my magazine;

-Masthead needs to be at least 1/4 of the page in size.

-Colour schemes I have decided to use from my research are (Red and Black) (Black, white and yellow) and also (Blue and grey)

-Main image to be displayed on the front cover can be close up with grey scale or long shot with enhanced colour.

-The models I know I could use include a female model and two male models.

-The female pull I can use includes female models and a few articles which introduce female artists. 

-Puffs in which I could use would be small shapes with images of the artists embedded into them. This breaks a convention as there are normally no puffs on jazz magazines.

-Banners would be considered because they give a little extra information and also breaks a convention by 

having the banner as they normally aren't included.

-Strong cover lines as otherwise the front cover can get very confusing, therefor less appealing.

-Range of features should be considered as this makes the magazine more informative and also sticks to a convention.

-Pugs which will be included are a QR code for the young members and a barcode for the companies. These are likely to be located on the bottom right section of the cover.

-Layout for the Double Page spread will obviously have a lot of text, but i am considering having the text split up by a variety of images.

I have a list of  other parts I will research and these will help me have a much deeper understanding of this magazine.

Photographs (locations, models)

Male pull

Costumes/ props

features - need a variety

different poses for image

Researching Jazz magazines 4

To help prepare to create my music magazine I have found multiple magazines from my genre and am going to assess them on what I should do to create a successful music magazine.

The fourth magazine front cover I will be using for research is the July 2013 edition of Jazzwise.
One point I have noticed and can take note of is the size of the masthead. The masthead is 1/4 of the page in size and also quite loud in appearance. This is because the masthead is white and is in an Arial black style font which can be thought of as quite modern.

Something I have realised about his cover is that there is no immediate cover line. This is because out of all topic titles and lines, none are exceptionally bigger than others which gives the idea that they are all of the same importance. This gives me the note and makes me take into account that i will definitely need to have one other wise the cover lines will get mixed up and people might not know which of the cover lines is the main one.

Researching Jazz magazines #3

To help prepare to create my music magazine I have found multiple magazines from my genre and am going to assess them on what I should do to create a successful music magazine.

This front cover is from the July/August 2010 issue of 'Chicago Jazz Magazine'.
This looks like an appealing front cover as this has multiple parts which look good and make me want to pick this magazine up.

One point which makes this an appealing front cover is that it looks very professional compared to others in such a way that the colour scheme seems very formal. Everything has a black outline text wise which gives it a good touch.

The image itself isn't very appealing to be honest simply because of the fact that it is just an older man stood there smiling slightly with a trumpet variant. it would be better if the image was of a younger or early 30s person playing the piano or mid gig.

I like the idea of the masthead being done in a font which slightly resembles handwriting, giving the magazine a very personal touch and shows the target audience is a very small group of people.

Points I can take from this magazine include script fonts to give the feeling of personal touches in the magazine and the colour scheme as this is a colour scheme which actually works, while breaking a convention that yellow isn't commonly used in jazz magazines. Banners across the top might be a good idea to add more detail onto the front cover.

Researching Jazz magazines #2

To help prepare to create my music magazine I have found multiple magazines from my genre and am going to assess them on what I should do to create a successful music magazine.

My next magazine I will look at is the December 2011 issue of 'Jazz magazine'

This is a completely different front cover to the one I last researched and this one I definitely do not like and can take a lot from this magazine in which I will not use. One of these factors includes the image. I personally hate the idea behind this image. The blue hue brightening in the background looks alright, but this idea of Keith Revit unveiling himself from a red mass of hot colours with an artist's impression of him looks extremely ugly. This is partly to the fact that the hot and cold colour combination done in this style doesn't suit very well and almost looks like a battle on the page.

The black font colour done over this also looks very boring. This is because the publishers of this popular french music magazine have layered the whole page in colour and then almost decided that there is enough colour on the page. The black also doesn't fit well as there is many bright colours and instead of using a bright colour to keep the theme o brightness going, that potential theme has been invaded with this dark text.

Points I will take from looking at this cover is to try and be careful as to what colours I use. This is because of the scenario of certain colours not fitting together and therefore ruining the feeling. Another point is that if I want to set a colour theme that I must keep to it and not use any colours which do not fit within the them as this can ruin the front cover.

Researching Jazz Magazines #1

To help prepare to create my music magazine I have found multiple magazines from my genre and am going to assess them on what I should do to create a successful music magazine.

My first Jazz magazine I have chosen is the September 2007 issue of 'Jazz magazine'. This looks like a simple front cover which could have been improved. One thing which could be improved for me is that the masthead appears to not be one of the most significant parts of the magazine front cover. This to me is wrong as the masthead is the brand you are trying to sell and if the brand doesn't come across as the most important, then people will not buy the magazine or not know straight away what the magazine is about.

One thing I like is the way the image has been taken. The image has been taken during a recording session so this to me appears to be a natural image. Even thought the model is in fact being photographed inside an institute, this model is not inside a photography studio and has a facial expression as though he is enjoying himself. This gives off a positive feeling to people who look at the magazine and may make them have a look as to why the model is happy.

I also like the organization of how the colour scheme has been implemented. This colour scheme fits into the conventions set for the jazz genre, and they have took the most out of the set amount of colours and created a very attractive scheme of blue and black.

I will take note of the colour scheme combination and the pose and environment set in the image for possible ideas in my jazz magazine as these appear very positive and attractive to me. On the flip side, one thing I will NOT take on board is how this publisher has established the brand identity by placing the mast head in a small corner of the cover as this comes across as demeaning the brand making it seem less important than it really is.

Music magazine decision.

Today, after a lot of thinking I was given a choice between nine genres to do. These include; opera, classical and country, etc.

My final decision is to do a music magazine for the genres jazz.

I have chosen this genre because I can find people from the local area to photograph and i can also use the gap in the market to my advantage by setting a high line for quality.

I can also link the jazz genre to the soundtrack of multiple films as I know a few a fe films which integrate the jazz genre into their films.

The conventions on this genre are really quite lenient, so I can experiment a lot!

The conventions of the jazz genre are;
-Masthead must be 1/4 of the page and is normally in blue, black, white or red.
-Colour themes include the main colours to be red, blue, black and white only.
-Cover stories have a large range of subjects.
-Features of the magazines include new, events, biography, information about performances/ artists, concert reviews, what's on, regulars, letters, gigs, instrument news, new artists and advice.
-Puffs are quite rare in jazz magazines.
-Pugs which are common include the price, date, and in the top corners. bar code is normally bottom right.
-If banners are to be used, which is rarely, they are used on the contents page only.
-Names of the existing magazines are actually quite boring but can be used as research. (Eg. JazzTimes)

Fonts used include sans serif styles, times new roman, italic fonts, thin looking fonts and fonts which give the impression of handwriting.

Layout includes Boxes, Thirds, and Text on double page spreads are quite dense.

Front cover evaluation #3

I uploaded a third and final evaluation to a third format known as slideshare.
Click here for the presentation

Front cover evaluation #2

I have created a separate presentation for another front cover I have done this one is very different to the other one as well!
Click here to see the Presentation

Front Cover Evaluation #1

To prepare to research and draft my music magazine front cover I have thoroughly examined three different Magazine covers to make an understanding as to what makes a good music magazine front cover.

My first cover is from Q June 2014.

This was a good front cover because the masthead is big enough to see but not covering anything it shouldn't do (Eg. The main image). The most outstanding part of the cover to me is the image because it is very dramatic giving me the idea that the image can be very action packed, while the magazine can be successful.

The colour of the masthead also sticks to the house style as Q's house style of red colour. This is good as the house style s basically the brand identity of the magazine if the magazine goes off these colours, then it is possible that the brand identity cold be lost.

On this cover, there are 4 cover stories. This is a good number as it tells us a good amount of what has been put into the magazine and the stories it covers.

The difference between my college magazine cover and this cover is that this cover has the cover stories spread out around the outside. I can use this to my advantage by putting less text for each cover story and by also spreading out across all the edges.

This cover also appeals to the target audience because it is very modern and new. The cover appeals to both sexes because Lily Allen appeals to younger women due to being their idol and also being a significant role model to teenage girls. Young men are appealed to because they can use the male-gaze and also a lot of the cover stories appeal to men including, Ricky Gervais and Nutini. For the older audience, Oasis is also included on the banner at the top of the page with a front cover story.

This image has been altered in multiple ways to enhance it to a higher quality. One way this has been done is the microphone has been edited to give the image that the middle has been completely smashed into many pieces. This is done to give the microphone a more dynamic look to it. The colour has also been enhanced to the next that the shine was distorted. The background has been chosen to not be cluttered so that all the attention was focused onto Lily Allen.

From this magazine I would take the idea of using the masthead in the top left corner. This is because it doesn't take up any important space, while also being big enough to notice straight away. I would also use the idea of putting the cover stories around the outside because it is very tidy and they all fit very well.

Creativity and Reflection

To develop my creativity when designing and making the college magazine front cover, I used the internet to do some research on how other colleges have done the front covers and how I can take notes on them. This helped as I saw that the title is mainly at the top of the page.

 My target audience research didn't help as a lot of my results were inappropriate and open for debate. This is because of my questions being open to any answers instead of having fixed answers. This tells me that my questionnaire and Target audience research needs to be more specific otherwise I will get results just the same as this time and if I do then it wont help at all.

 Font research done was very successful as I found an appropriate font to use and also from looking at other peoples magazines I saw that college magazines mainly use modern, yet professional fonts.

 After uploading the photos i took to the vale media group on flickr, I found that the comments were very useful and I took them into account. One comment said how a photo, which in the end I chose my final choice, had to have a light line in it edited out to make it a good photo.

 I used my draft so much that I almost brought it to life as well which tells me that either my draft was really good or that I could have brought it to life really easily.

 Overall, I feel that I was actually quite creative in how I took this challenge to such an extent that I am proud of what I made.

Evaluation of the front cover

After reflecting on my front cover I have realised there are some things in which were not so great and that there was a lot of things in which I enjoyed and looks appealing.
First of all, I like the front style I have used as I feel it suits the theme well. It is easy to read while at the same time being modern. "Apple Casual" therefore was a good font in my opinion.

On the bottom of the page, I had drafted to put three stories on the page but during the design and  layout period, I found out that I could only do that if I put the cover stories to an impractically small size. I altered this by putting two at the bottom and putting the third on the right hand side. This didn't look that right so in the future I'm going to improve by only using two cover stories, instead of three.

On the flip side, I though the layout of the cover stories on the bottom and the title at the top was a very tidy and organised idea. When I make the music magazine cover, I am going to use this layout as I feel this is an appropriate layout.

The colour scheme for me so far, has worked and I like it. I feel it really symbolises the college well as both schools which the college is made up of have all four colours related to them. These colours are black, white, blue and yellow. Using the blue on the title I fell was a good choice as it fits really well on the black background. I could improve on how I applied them by including the white as the description to the cover stories.

My image I used for the background which was of one of my friends, I did not like how I photoshopped the eyes to look a bit better. This is because I accidentally made it so the iris was completely one shade of blue and it didn't look good at all. How the white was done I feel was quite good but it did look a little over done. I could improve how the photo by making the photoshop a lot better. The only way I can do this is to practise my photoshop skills by altering multiple photos over and over until I do it really well.