Music Magazine Front Cover Progress

My original vision for my cover of my magazine centred around an indie/rock vibe along the lines of NME magazine. I wanted to have a bright image with striking colours, I also wanted the font to look tasteful on the page. The masthead was to be a main focus on the page and catch the reader's eye. 

At the moment, I am not very pleased with my progress with the front cover, as it is not turning out how I pictured. I feel that my masthead works really well and looks good on the page, and the image I chose works well on the front of an indie/rock magazine but I feel that there are things I could do to improve my cover, such as: 

• Experiment with different fonts, to make the page look more interesting by using a range of attractive fonts to draw the reader's eye more to the sell lines.
• Make the font larger, so there is less 'white space' on the page because at the moment, it all looks a bit lost. Also, I may need to crop the image, which would also help to reduce the amount of 'white space'
• Edit the image to make it vibrant on the page, meaning that it would work well with some of the writing overlapping her body. 

However, what I think has worked particularly well and will not require further editing is:

• the colour scheme of the front cover, I believe that the black, red, yellow and white work really well to identify the magazine as an indie/rock genre.
• taking inspiration from the block letter, capitalised striking style of NME, I feel that my masthead works particularly well. I feel due to the concise nature of the masthead and the outlining style that this would be a legitimate title branding to go forward magazine after magazine which is ultimately my aim. I feel my branding would work particularly well going forward regardless of issue theme or cover photo style. It oozes indie/rock.

Music Magazine Front Cover Progress

I have started my front cover for my music magazine. I have decided to use this image of Lottie because I feel that the gradient of the background really adds to the cover. Also I wanted to make sure there was the gaze, to keep to the codes and conventions of a magazine. I feel this picture reflects Lottie as an indie/rock artist really well because of her pose.
I also started to work on my masthead, I decided to use the font Franklin Gothic Heavy because it almost matched with my design. I added a footer line at the bottom too to get a sense of how big I wanted the image to be.
I will work on my cover over the next couple of weeks to improve these elements of the cover, and also to produce the final cover.

Photo Shoot for my Music Magazine

Planning Document 

Shoot date and time: 6^th January 2014

Image Description: Medium shot/long shot of Lottie looking into the camera

Shoot location: My house, against a white wall

Model/ person contact Details: Lottie Connell (mobile number)

Permission Details: Yes

Props: Microphone

Plan of Shots: Take a variation of angles of Lottie to see what works best

Planning Document 2

Shoot date and time: 6^th January 2014

Image Description: Taking a photo from Lottie’s feet whilst sitting down

Shoot location: My house, against a white wall

Model/ person contact Details: Lottie Connell (mobile number)

Permission Details: Yes

Props: Guitar

Plan of Shots: Put the focus on the boots/make sure the glitter shows up in the tights

 




















Planning Document 3

Shoot date and time: 6^th January 2014

Image Description: Medium shot of Lottie looking at the floor

Shoot location: My house, against a white door

Model/ person contact Details: Lottie Connell (mobile number)

Permission Details: Yes

Props: -

Plan of Shots: Make sure Lottie is smiling, showing her personality. Playing with her hair.

Planning Document 4

Shoot date and time: 6^th January 2014

Image Description: Medium close up of Lottie

Shoot location: My house, against a white door

Model/ person contact Details: Lottie Connell (mobile number)

Permission Details: Yes

Props: -

Plan of Shots: Have Lottie at an angle.

Planning Document 5

Shoot date and time: 6^th January 2014

Image Description: Medium shot of Lottie laughing

Shoot location: My house, against a white door

Model/ person contact Details: Lottie Connell (mobile number)

Permission Details: Yes

Props:

Plan of Shots: Catch Lottie when she's not expecting it, so that she is laughing.

Planning document 6

Shoot date and time: 6^th January 2014

Image Description: Lottie climbing out of the car

Shoot location: In a car

Model/ person contact Details: Lottie Connell (mobile number)

Permission Details: Yes

Props: Car

Plan of Shots: Have the camera tilted 

Finished School Contents Page

This is my finished school magazine contents page. I have made sure that there is white gaps between each section to keep to the codes and conventions of a magazine. I kept with the colour scheme of my front cover to link it together. As it is a contents page, I also made sure I used numbers to show what page the articles were on. I also included a section called 'A word from the Headmaster' to show that it is a school magazine. 

Rough Draft of my Article

Lottie; a name synonymous with stardom, a dominator of the indie rock scene and an award winning artist. On the surface, Charlotte “Lottie” Connell has it all, success as a musician and a fan following like no other, but beneath the smoke and mirrors lies a very different story. Sex, drugs and rock ‘n’ roll; not only a guns and roses smash hit but the mantra of Lottie’s previous existence. Hinted at in her first no.1 single “Hooked”, Lottie has reached out to us here at LEAD to tell the true tale of her formerly unseen world, packed full of secrets, revelations and of course her road to recovery.

So Lottie, after all that success, where did it all go wrong for you?

It all started to go wrong when I began to mingle with the wrong type of people. They were taking me to “A”-list parties and they introduced me to new things, I was easily lead by them and didn’t know how to say no. I started getting high 3 times a day and got addicted. On stage, I didn’t know who I was anymore, I had become a slave to the drugs.

Was that the point when you realised you had a problem?

Yeah, I had a sudden realisation that if I didn’t do something about it, my life was gonna spiral downwards and I had to do something to change that. I didn’t want to end up with nothing because I’d worked too hard to get to where I was, but more importantly I was seriously ill.

Do you think you have treated or cured your addiction?

Cured, definitely. I've been clean for 10 months and I have no intention in going back to the drugs, I’m a changed woman.

So, you’re a changed woman, , will this transpose into your music? Are you a changed artist completely? Or just a changed person behind the mask?

I wouldn’t say my music is going to be drastically different, even though I’ve changed as a person I’ve still got the same love for my music and I just want to produce the best sounds that I can.  I’m releasing my new album in 2014 and I hope that it is successful and my fans notice that I take my career seriously.

We’ve heard through the grapevine that you’ve set up a charity, are you going to coincide your album release with your charity launch?

Yes I have set up a charity to help those who need extra support with their drug addictions. I’m really proud of it and hope it helps as many people that need it as possible. It will come out the same time as my new album, 2014 is going to be a big year!

Are you not worried that some people may see this as a publicity stunt rather than setting up a charity to help others?

I’ve just been really busy trying to make a new start in 2014, and I thought that launching my album and charity at the beginning of the year would symbolise a new start for me. The charity is there to help others, and my album is there for people to enjoy, people shouldn’t associate the two together.

So you say 2014 is your big year, do you have a New Year’s resolution?

I just want 2014 to have a happier atmosphere, I want to promote both my charity and my album and I hope to do a UK tour at the end of the year. I’m really excited to see how things turn out!

Lottie’s album is due to be released 4th January along with her charity launching within the same week. If I were to give my tip off for 2014, it would certainly be this girl, watch this space.  

If you are battling an addiction and would like to seek help go to Lottie’s website www.sayno.org.uk .

First Draft of my Article Double Page Spread for my Music Magazine

First Draft of my Contents Page for my Music Magazine

First draft of my contents page for my music magazine from AlysLeMoignan