This is the picture I am using on my front cover I have edited the original photo to make sure it fits in with all the writing on my front cover. I used this picture because It looks like the artist is praying or wishing for something.

I am now going to be adding the background and text to show you how the photo is effective on the front cover.

This is the picture being used in an effective way. All my text and mastheads have been put back on to the picture. The text saying "Praying and hoping to be the biggest rap artist London has seen" This makes the picture stand out more and lets the reader understand what's the idea behind the picture and what the rap artist is thinking.

Magazine Article With BIG D

Media magazine article

BIG D

In honour of new and upcoming rap artists we have got an exclusive interview with BIG D the newest and most innovative rap artist coming fresh out of North London. We tracked down Big D after we heard that he has an upcoming mix tape coming out. So we sat down with him and discussed with what it was like on being one of the biggest up and coming rap artists and how exactly it is producing and coming up with a new mix tape. We also get a scoop on the artists he has linked up with to create his mix tape.

Next up we have got the exclusive interview with Big D stay tune for the interview.

There’s talk of a new mix tape for you. When’s that coming out, like what’s up with that? Can you tell me what stage you’re at as far as recording?
Well, I’m bout to finish working on the new mix tape.

Yeah, I have heard the new mix tape is gonna have some new names that people haven’t really heard of.
There’s two different artists that I worked with on this mix tape and ima tell you they got mad bars you will see what I mean.

How will we be able to know when the mix tape comes out
Just watch the face book and twitter accounts as soon as its out its gonna be up and around everywhere in London.

Right looking forward to that. So who’s your favourite rap artists right now?
My favourite rap artist right now is Lowkey his bars are off the hook some mad skills he’s got there. I reckon my other is the game.

Have you met these rap artists?I recently met Low key when I was doing a gig at a club he is definitely someone I want to work with in the future. He’s a bigger rap star than me and I just wanna get noticed so I can help other rap artists.

How many tracks have you got on your mix tape and what artists have you got on there?I have got mostly rap artists on here. I been working with Giggs and Tinchy stryder on 2 tracks I have always been close with these 2 and there only happy to help me get noticed in the rap industry. I have got around 15 new tracks on my mix tape. All songs have new bars and no old crap just new for all the people been following me since I first came out in the game.

What’s you next step in order to get yourself noticed?I am working on getting on Tim Westwood’s show to promote my name and mix tape. Hopefully this will get me recognised amongst other rap artists and maybe make them want to work with me. I have got a lot of connections in the rap industry that could pull’a few strings to get me recognised.

Streetz: Thanks for the interview Big D we look forward to hearing your new mixtape.

Big D: It’s all love bruva if I got any other information ill hook Streetz magazine up with another exclusive interview

Conventions of NME

NME magazine also follows the usual conventions of a music magazine. The title bold and in red, which I have noted is popular colour used in music magazines, The writing is featured at the left hand side, bar code at the left. Title at top of the left hand side, However it seems to me this might be a prescribed issue, because hardily any other bands are mentioned to entice the audience.

Free things such as posters are also usually entailed to give something back to the reader.

Conventions of a music magazine

 It is clear that when producing a magazine there are certain ways media presents the content, when making my magazine I followed the usual conventions a music magazine would follow. I kept my magazine more of a masculine magazine, and in doing this I used a male artist on the front.

However, the magazine I was potentially aspiring to follow used a woman on the front of their magazine, yet as you can see it’s quite a masculine pose.

As you can see, the Name is not the main feature, and the artists name is in massive bold red writing, They have used a large dominant icon who people recognize who is giving eye contact, her outfit even fits in with the colour scheme of the magazine front cover, which follows, Red, white, grey and black.

I followed this convention on my magazine, tying all the colours together to create a theme itself. My theme was Rap Artists; because of this the colours I chose to fit in with the scheme was red black and white. The main writing follows down the left hand side, I also decided to follow this technique to make it look like a believable magazine. There are 2 people featured on the front page of the magazine because, you have to show there are more people included, Names of other bands are also used to show the magazine entails more than the main character, because some of the audience may not be a Madonna fan, they have to appeal to everybody in one way to sell more magazines, Teasing contents. I also incorporated more than one artist, as you can also see when it mentions interview; it has a humorous quote from Madonna which shows the magazine isn’t completely serious and entails more fun than a boring interview.

The bar code is placed at the right hand side, which you will find with a lot of magazines. The price is usually shown small as if not a big issue and worth the money. And also something free is usual given away etc, free poster in this case it’s a 70 page special about women in music.

Magazine analysis

Kerrang

Kerrang is targeted to people with an interest in rock music around the ages of
14-24 years old. For this particular issue it could also attract fans of the “You Me At
Six” as the front man of the band is the main image on the cover. The magazine has a
large circulation with Australian and Spanish publications. Also the magazine claims
to be the “World’s biggest selling rock weekly”.

The use of the main image on the front cover of a magazine s to attract the
readers view and to make the magazine stand out off of the shelves. On the front over
of this issue is the frontman of the band “You me at six”. The image bleeds from top
to bottom to give him an intimidating presence. But he is also seen with a grinning
smile which represents a cheery side to the magazine. The cover also uses a rule of
thirds involving an important section of the cover in each section required.

Kerrang is a music magazine which mainly specialises in rock music and is
commonly known for covering all the latest bands and the most popular bands around
the music scene at the current time. Kerrang is published by Bauer Media Group a
large global institution. Bauer Media Group also publishes the music magazine “Q”
which specialises in a range of Alternative music. Bauer Media Group also runs
several music channels.

The placement and visual look of the title is very important so that the reader
knows what magazine they are buying. “Kerrang” is situated right at the very top of
the cover so that it is easy to see. The lettering of the title is broken like glass to give a
representation of rebellion and vandalism

The colour and font of the magazine cover is a risky part of the magazine
cover. If it is too bright it can be very off putting to buy and it maybe difficult to read
any text situated on the front cover. If it is too dull and boring then it won’t stand out
to the reader and it won’t get a large circulation. The cover uses very plain and
standard colours but it makes them contrast off the main image and backgrounds to
make text and other items to stand out.

Picture analysis

View more presentations from stoliros.

Photoshop / iphoto

In this post I will be describing what I have created using 2 programs called:

• Photoshop
• iphoto

Photoshop
When i was creating my magazine the main program I was using was photoshop I started off by creating the Masthead. Once i found the name for my masthead I then went about chosing a font to make sure that it looked appealing. I then started to add all the sentances and straplines that will entice my target audience. Once I had got all the words that I was happy with on my front cover I then decided to customise the layers. To customise the layers I added colour overaly to all my text to make sure the colour was perfect. I also a background layer behind the text to make sure that the text was highlighted as best it could be. I then applied the picture behind all the text to highlight the text even more. This picture is supposed to represent the magazine and as the magazine is aimed at boys. I decided that it was important to have a male figure on the front page. I then lastly applied an artistic filter to the photo to make the magazine look unique and interesting.
iphoto
I used iphoto to upload my original pictures that I used in my magazine. I uploaded the pictures via the camera that I took the pictures with. This piece of software helped me with all my photos and allowed me to take my pictures from iphoto on to photoshop.

Evaluation of prelim task

In this evalaution I will be talking about the Prelim Task I have completed. The main subjects I will be talking about in this evaluation are:

• The masthead
• strapline
• colour scheme
• target audience

I am now going to start my evaluation.
I will start with the masthead of my magazine first.
Masthead
I have chosen my masthead for a number of reasons the first reason being that I think it is an appropriate design and also a good font that represents how the magazine is aimes at. I included the football as the o in Sports because I thought I would give people a clear idea of what the magazine was about before they saw anything else on the magazine. This also makes the masthead a bit different and not simple and plain.

Strapline
I used a unique strapline to enhance my magazine. "For the sporty person in all of us" This doesnt only just draw in one type of audience its opening up the target audience because people that might not have thought they was that sporty. May realise that this magazine is for them aswell and start to get into sport.

Colour Scheme
I have chosen a stereotypical colour scheme that represents boys. The main colours included in the magazine are red and blue these a stereotypically boys favourite colours. As my magazine is a sports magazine I am stereotypically aiming the magazine at boys. Girls could also be interested in the magazine if they are into sports.
Target Audience

The main target audience my magazine is aimed at is teenage boys of the ages of between 12-17. The reason why  have chosen boys to aim my magazine at is because most boys are interested in sports. Where as hardly any girls are interested in sport. I have also chose to aim it at the age group I stated because I feel that between that age boys are very interested in sports and also at this age boys are trying many different sports.

Research into existing music press

I have recently been looking into different music press in the UK to help me with my magazine and the way it is designed. The different genres of music magazine I have been looking at include:

• R&B 
• Rock
• Pop
• Rap

The music magazines I have been looking at are NME, Top of the pops, Kerrang. 

http://nme.com/ 

http://www.totpmag.com/ 

http://www.kerrang.com/

I have been looking at NME mainly because I wanted to research the typical conventions of a modern music magazine that is widely purchased.

I have been looking at top of the pops magazine because I wanted to see what it took to attract a younger audience towards a magazine and what I would need to include In my magazine in order to attract a wider range of people.

I have been looking at Kerrang because I wanted to make my magazine more diverse and not just aimed at mainstreamers that are stereotypically associated with rap music.