Potential Problems

Potential Problems with My Coursework

Potential area where there might be a problem	How I will deal with this problem
Front cover images	There are several problems that may occur when producing and styling my images:  The image may look unprofessional therefore causing the quality of the magazine to be reduced. To ensure this doesn't happen I will take higher quality images so i get a professional finish to my magazine. The image size may be too small or too large  therefore when i scale it to the correct size, it may become blurry or distorted. To ensure that this does not happen, I will use a high quality camera so that my images are high quality too.  My model may drop out at the last minute and decide they no longer want to take part which means i would have to ask a back-up model to take pictures for me. The colours within the images may not correspond to the text around the image. To overcome this problem, I will take photos with none background so that the text is easily recognised.
Article Inside Magazine	There are several problems that may occur when producing the article inside the magazine:  When writing my article, spelling and informality may become an issue. In order to ensure this does not happen, I will use spell checker and I will get someone to proof read my work to see that it is to a professional standard.  My article may be too long for the page therefore I will have to cut out any unnecessary information and leave behind the appropriate info.  The article may be too short for the page, i could solve this problem by getting ideas from other magazines to make the article fit the page.  The layout of my article may not look professional. To ensure this does not happen, I will look at other magazines for inspiration and design a suitable layout.
Images to accompany article	There are several problems that may occur when producing the images to accompany the article:  The images I have taken may not relate to the article and to solve this problem I could re-write my article to match my images or re-take my images to match my article. The ratio of images to text may be too great which will distract the reader from the article. To solve this problem i will ensure that the balance between the two is equal. The images that accompany my article may be too big, which will pull the focus away from the article. To solve this problem I would just re-size my images to a more appropriate size.

Institutional Research

Institutional Research

Institution	Details	Publications
Emap	Emap is a British media company, specialising in the production of business-to-business magazines, and the organisation of business events and conferences.	Magazines they have produced:  - Retail Week  - Nursing Times - Architects Journal
Conde Nast	Condé Nast is a magazine publisher. In the U.S. It focus' on a wide range of subjects, including travel, food, home, culture, and other interests, with fashion being the larger portion of the company's focus.	Magazines they have produced: - Vogue - Architectural Digest - Brides - The New Yorker
Natmags	Natmags was a British magazine publisher based in London. In 2006 it expanded into a digital media and in 2011 Nat Mags merged with Hachette Filipacchi Médias UK to form Hearst Magazines UK.	Magazines they have produced:  - Cosmopolitan  - Esquire  - Coast - Reveal
IPC Media	IPC Media (formerly International Publishing Corporation) is a consumer magazine and digital publisher in the United Kingdom.	Magazines they have published: - Connect - SouthBank - Inspire
Future Publishing	Future Publishing is a media company. in 2006 it was the sixth-largest in the United Kingdom. It publishes more than 150 magazines in fields such as video games, technology, cycling, films and photography. The company also owns the US company, Future US.	Magazines they have published:  - Metal Hammer - Rhythm  - Edge - Total Film
Bauer Media	Bauer Media Group is a multinational media company situated in Hamburg,Germany which operates in 15 countries worldwide	Magazines they have published:  - Q - Kerrang

Stage 2 Magazine Proposal

Proposal Form

Describe your idea for the brief: My article will be called Strobe, The masthead on the front cover will be capitalised and spread across the top of the page, the main image will be centralised and slightly covering the masthead creating a professional look and showing that the image is the main feature. The subheadings will be listed down to sides of the page so that there is no interference to the main image. The contents page will be similar to the front cover with the masthead being positioned at the top. There will be a medium sized main image taking up a lot of the page and a list of contents on what the audience can expect to see within the magazine, there will also be several other images at the bottom of the page to give the audience a taste of what will be shown inside.  The double page spread will focus on a well known artist, it will feature an exclusive interview about the artists life. The interview will be advertised on the Front cover therefore people that are interested in finding out more about the artist will be encouraged to purchase the magazine. The interview will be on one page and the image will be on the other, i have decided to set it out like this as this is the traditional layout of a double page spread.

Genre/ sub genre: list similar texts which have inspired your thoughts The genre of my magazine is house music, this is very unique as there are not many magazines that focus on this genre. I want it to be different to all of the magazines that are already being sold on the market. 'Tillate.com magazine' is a well known House music magazine shown worldwide, this has inspired me to do a similar genre and gave me a few ideas on what i could include in my magazine.

Target audience: gender/ age/ characteristics/ behaviour My target audience is a young audience ranging from the ages 14-30 as these are the sort of people that are interested in house music. House music tends not to have many lyrics in and therefore very young people and adults aren't interested in listening. I have aimed my magazine at people who enjoy going to gigs and festivals as apposed to people that listen to the UK top 40.

Major conventions  Front cover My mast head will be positioned at the top of the page and my main image will be centralised and slightly covering the masthead, this is to show the image has more significance and to show that i am confident that the audience will be enticed even without seeing the name of the magazine. I will use subheadings to give the audience a bit of information on what will be inside the magazine however not too much, leaving them intrigued. There is a website that the audience can visit which tell them all about the magazine and about the content.  Contents page There will be a masthead positioned as the top of the page and a medium sized image of the artist that is going to be featured in the double page spread giving the audience a visual aid and making the magazine look professional. There will be a list of content down the side of the page informing the audience of what they will be expecting to see within the magazine.  Double Page Spread There will be a title telling the reader what the article is about, there will be a subheading underneath giving the reader a better idea of what the article will focus on. The article will be accompanied by a large image of the artist that is featured in the article.

Conventions I may subvert/ change/ not use There will be a minimal amount of text in my magazine as too much writing will be off-putting for the reader, as soon as they see a huge chunk of text they will loose interest. The magazine will not be too crowded and will have sufficient text to image ratio.

Original images: what/ where/ what My front cover of my magazine will display a large original image of an artist. They will be standing indoors and the image will be a medium shot of the artist staring into the camera, connecting with the readers. My other images will be of friends posing and some images will be natural shots.

Potential difficulties/ Plan B: The quality of my images may not turn out right, to ensure this does not happen i will take the photographs on my high quality camera in order to make the images look professional. Finding models to feature in my magazine may be a problem, therefore i will ask friends if i can use them as models as i can rely on them to help produce my magazine.

Photoshop skills Development 2

I created this image to advertise the Simpsons Movie. I did this by using Adobe Photoshop. I began by changing the background to a blue sky colour and adding clouds, i did this because this is the original background of the TV show which gives the audience some familiarity. I then added the original 'The Simpsons Movie' title and changed the usual position of it. I positioned it at the bottom of the page instead of the middle of the page and then added another image of homer and positioned it at the top of the page. The poster shows homer jumping for the doughnut which portrays his personality as being greedy, the audience know his character and can therefore relate to the image on the poster. Next i added the date that the Movie will be released on, i positioned it in the bottom right hand corner next to the title so that the audience read it afterwards. I chose for the colour to be black because on the title 'The Simpsons' it is also black which shows similarity within the poster.

Photoshop skills development 1

I have used Photoshop to manipulate this image of Jarvis Cocker and make it into the front cover of a magazine. I started by duplicating the layers, this allows me to have separate images of Jarvis cocker, one with the background and one without. I then changed the colour of the background, I used the Magic Wand to delete the previous background and then used the paint bucket tool to change the colour. I then used the gradient tool to change the background more so that it had a twirl effect. I then added text to the image by making a masthead and sell lines, the masthead is slightly behind the main image as it has less importance and the main image is the convention that catches the audiences eye. The Mast Head, the Main sell line and the '65' on one of the sell lines are in white text so that it stands out from the green and blue background, it is a bright colour that will attract everyones attention. The rest of the text is in a pale green colour which contrasts with the background. Lastly i added the bar code, it was very enlarged when it had loaded onto my screen therefore i had to shrink it a lot so that it was the right size to fit onto my page.