RECCE

Possible locations for my front cover

As my music genre is Indie I wanted to have an organic feel this is because you mainly see stereotypical Indie lovers at music festivals which you could connote with freedom. Also my theme for my music magazine is vintage so once I have chosen my image I will edit it to make it look retro with either black or white or sepia effects. I thought that I will try to shoot the images outside as when I think of organic  However as it is winter it will be quite cold and the weather is unreliable which will make it difficult to make a specific timetable. I have chosen a little village called Weekley which is only 1 mile from my house to take the pictures, I regularly go here for dog walks and I know that the surroundings will look good on my front cover.
This image shows that although Weekley is a little village it is easy to access. These photos allow you to see the village and some places that I would like to take my image. However I have to think of the time of day I will take it and the weather conditions.




Risk assessment
I will have to be aware of anything that will dangerous whilst I take the pictures, also how I will use the equipment safely, this is called a risk assessment.
As I haven't looked at the exact place that I want to shoot for my pictures, I will quickly go to the village before I make my timetable of the day which I will take the photographs. However 

because the weather is unpredictable I might change the location in Weekley as it might look better somewhere else for example if it is snowing then the trees will look prettier than a small section of land. If it is raining then I might have to shoot indoors as it could damage  the equipment. My camera will not need any wires so I will not have to think if they will  

be in the way for someone to trip over them or if it rains then they will not get damaged. I will have to think of the temperature and dress the person who I will be taking the photo of in correct clothes that it will not overheat them or make them freezing cold. I will be using a tripod to make my pictures look professional therefore I will have to think  about the conditions that I 
use the tripod in, for example if the floor is muddy then I will have to put something on the ground before I place the tripod as I will be borrowing it from the school. 
Also I will have to think about the time of day in which I want to take my pictures as I will have to set my camera to a specific setting so I can get the best possible photo. As I will be 

taking the image in winter I will have to think about the dark mornings and nights, however I really like the sky before it gets dark as I think it make it a bit mysterious. So when it comes to edit my photo it will look as though it has been taken in winter which is the season when the magazine will be published.

Uses and gratification theory

So what is the uses and gratification theory?

Its is an active audience theory that focuses on 'what people do with the media' rather than what the media does to people.

The uses and gratification theory is split into four main groups called;
1- Surveillance
2- Personal Relationship
3- Diversion
4- Personal Identity
There is several needs and gratification for people these are:

Cognitive needs:
People use media for acquiring knowledge, information etc. Different people have different media needs these could be knowledge so they will watch quiz programmes on Tv, or search engines to find out information. Particularly for the internet search engine they can browse for nay topic under the run with no time restriction.

Affective needs:
It includes all kinds of emotions, pleasure and other moods of people. People use media like television to satisfy their emotional needs.

Personal integrative needs:
'this is the self-esteem need. People use media to reassure their status, gain credibility and stabilise. So people watch Tv and assure themselves that they have a status in society for example people get to improve their status by watching media advertisements which can make people buy these products, so poeple are changing their lifestyle and the media helps them do so.

Social integrative needs:
It encompasses the need to socialize with family, friends and relations in the society. People now use social networking sites to satisfy their needs. Another example is if your friend is watching a programme then you watch it so you have topics to discuss.

Tension free needs:
People sometime use the media as a means of escapism and to relieve from tension. For example people ted to relax watching Tv, listening to radio and for satisfying their need for entertainment there by relaxing from all the tension, people watch films.

One criticism of uses and gratification theory is that it does not consider the power of the media. One positive thing is that it explains how the media can play within out day to day lives.

1001 fonts

When I created my first draft of a music front cover I used some fonts from the website pixlr. I did really like the font for my masthead as it looks vintage which goes with my theme. However the website 1001 fonts looked good to look on to see if there was any fonts that I preferred. http://www.1001fonts.com
I did want the sell lines to be quite slim as it looks smart and is easy to read. Here are a few I like the look of. I do have a feeling that the aaargh normal is the one that I have already used on my front cover therefore I will probably stick with this as I have picked it out twice, which shows that I obviously like it. 1001 fonts would be a bit difficult to use as I would have to download the font that I like whereas on pixlr I can just pick which one I like the look of on the image at the time. It was good to find out about 1001 fonts as I will defiantly be using this website again!

Audience

Collage of Indie images

Prototype of my magazine article

On the sofa with The wombats 

The wombats have been impossible to ignore since "Let's dance to joy division" hit the charts in 2007 and we've been fans of The Wombats music, charisma and savvy songwriting ever since. After endless touring and festivals the band have landed back in Liverpool to chill out. However En(ore were allowed to sit down and have a shindig with the well-travelled Liverpudlians so we gathered on an old vintage sofa and asked the band some of your questions, which resulted in Toys R Us keyboards and some of their top secrets! 

Hello The Wombats, thanks a ton for taking the time to have a bit of a shindig with En(ore. What has the band been up to lately?

" Well we've been busy working on new material for our 3rd album which is going really well. We've also been working on a new fragrance for men we hope to release later this year called 'Guff'. AND... we are heading over to the states to play some of our old classics which is a bit nerve racking!"

So which three tracks are the quintessential Wombats?

"hmm, 3 tracks to sum us up.. i'd say Party in a forest, Tokyo and Jump into the fog"

What's your favourite song of the wombats?

" That's like asking a mother who has 30 children which one is there favourite I can't do that!"

What was the inspiration behind Little miss pipe dream? It's fairly different to other songs!

"Well that's funny we somehow found ourselves in Toys R Us and brought 3 keyboards which then allowed us to mess around with some chords. (we were a bit tipsy) however it's one of our favourites to play"

What has you excited for 2013?

" Well, writing and recording our new album is top of the list then performing in Mexico and a few other festivals this summer and also im quite looking forward to Iron Man 3 too.."

Lastly, what's something about The Wombats that nobody knows yet?

"Well I mentioned it earlier in the interview but we are in the perfume industry and are in the final stages of releasing 'Guff'"

Thank you so much for talking to En(ore! We'll be looking out for your new album hopefully next year!

Prototype of my front cover for my music magazine

This is my prototype for my front cover of my music magazine I am rather pleased with how it has turned out as this is my first attempt, however I will change a few things.
I used Pixlr to create my magazine as I have used this before so I knew that it was reliable and would allow my front cover to look more professional. Although I liked to use Pixlr I will try to use some other picture editing software and mix it up a bit, Pixlr has it's disadvantages as it can go blurry and the pictures effects can change when you press the undo button. However it is free and I was proud with my magazine front cover using Pixlr. 

Firstly I had to choose my  genre I was going to go for musical theatre as there was no magazines for this style, however it was difficult to see what sold well because of this. Therefore I chose Indie as that is my favourite genre so I could easily write an article that is targeted to that specific audience. I would like my audience to be between the age 15-32 as from the nrs website I saw that the best selling magazines for the genre of indie sold to people between that age range. 
On my final front cover I will have to take the picture, therefore it will not be of a famous band (what a shame).

I had to pick the name for the magazine and I narrowed it down to two, these where CONFORM and ENCORE, I asked some people of my target audience which title they preferred and they all said ENCORE. CONFORM is still a name in mind as indie stars do not normally conform to rules so it makes it ironic, also it is very different and I think people will like it as it is sort of a pun to the genre of music. ENCORE is a word associated with music and people always want musk stars to perform another song at the end of a performance or show. EN(ORE allows us to see more of what happens to a star like a song at the end of a performance and I didn't want to just type ENCORE as I wanted something a bit different so instead of the C I have used an open bracket. This also suggests that the interviews inside the magazine have some things that are more important than others in addition it makes the audience see that the stars that are being interviewed have some secrets that do not want to be shared, that are sometimes in brackets.

I like the colours of the magazine as it works well with the genre and also it looks professional, when I edit my photo I think I will make it either black or white or a sepia effect. The border around the picture makes it look rough and edgy like the band, I will have to think if I would like to add a different border each issue or keep it the same for each. 

The font of the masthead is different however I think I will change this as it is not my favourite and I think I can find something that will look more effective although it adds connotations. It looks like a stamp so EN(ORE is a statement rather than a word, it is important and it makes it edgy like the genre, on the other hand it doesn't go with the sell lines which I like. 
In addition I like the october 2013 being down the side as it makes it look more expensive and the + allows the magazine to look less cultured. I will probably keep the font of the sell lines as they make the magazine look clean and professional which I think my target audience will like.

I will put the price and the barcode on my next attempt of the front cover as I'm not sure weather it will look good on the front or to put it on the back of the issue like a book. I will consider this when I ask my target audience some questions about the front cover.