Evaluation

Final Product: Double Page Spread

This is the first draft of my double page spread.

This is the second draft of my double page spread.

This is the second draft page spread for my music magazine. After consulting members of my target audience, they thought it would be a good idea if a made a few amendments. First of all, I added a reader response section (Twitter Talks) which shows feedback. I also made the main image larger, and changed the shape/format of the pull quote and image below it. Also, I added a heading to the right-hand page to help break up the page, as well as inform/draw in the reader. Lastly Page numbers/folio/date in the proper position, below the text, giving a more professional look.

Final Product:

After making some alterations, I reconvened with some members of my target audience who gave their opinions on the edited product. They suggested that I alter the colour of my 'Twitter Talks' box out, I thought this to be reasonable as a red background aligns closer with the research I under took. It was also suggested that I alter the main headline as there was excessive amount of white across the page, with a larger image generally looking better.

Final Product: Contents Page

Final Contents Page:

Final Product: Front Cover

The first draft of the front cover for my music magazine.

Final Cover:

After consulting members of my target audience, they suggested that I add a strap line that can be specifically associated with my magazine. This way, new readers would know the genre and type of things to expect within the magazine.

Some Final Shots (Including Editing)

After thoroughly going through and analysing the raw images, I managed to narrow my selection down to 38 images that could be suitable for the magazine, and so can now move on to the editing process.

Above are some examples of the editing that took place in relation to the preparation of my raw images for the magazine itself:

With this image, I used the Clone Stamp tool to remove the guitar hanger from the wall, as well as the corner of the wall itself. Once this was done, I used the 'curves' tool to adjust the brightness/contrast levels of the image. This image may be used for the double page spread, although it is likely I shall use another.

This is one of my favourite from my photo shoot, however, as clear above, the image was too dark to use as it was. Therefore, I used the 'curves' tool again to make the image brighter and thus useable. This image will be used as a secondary image on the front cover to coincide with the double page spread.

This image had minimal editing. I simply used the crop tool to remove some of the excess on the left and yet again used the 'curves' tool to make the image brighter. 

For this image, I cropped around the edge of the record, as the rest wasn't useful. Upon realising the record itself was not straight, I slightly adjusted the angle of the object to make it more suitable for the use in mind on the cover, even though this could be done when placing the object.

Magazine Photo Shoot

Prior to the main shoot of my magazine, I took photographs of some of a friend's Vinyl collection, these will likely be featured on the contents page as a competition or giveaway in the magazine.

Around 10 days prior to the main shooting day, I arranged with the owners of Sound Affects music shop in Ormskirk, use of the premises, in particular their recently built recording studio. This would allow me to take appropriate photographs for the pretense of the featured 'band' creating their 'new album' that shall feature as my double page spread. I ensured that all of the participants were available on the agreed date, and that I had access to or possession of appropriate props and outfits, as well as a list of ideas that of what sort of pictures I wanted. One of the participants is a photography student and so allowed me to use his DSLR camera for the photo shoot, meaning that I could achieve higher levels of quality for my images. In total I took 221 photographs, as this would give a broad range to choose from, and I had to make the most of the time I had on location.

Although there were many pictures that had insufficient lighting, came out blurred or other defects, there are several that I believe have turned out very well and should fit perfectly into my magazine. There were some issues with lighting in the studio, as it wasn't as bright as I would have liked it to be, and some limitations arose when trying to focus the camera from the control room looking into the studio. However these were only minor, and can mostly be overcome in the editing process using Photoshop. On the whole, my participants and I enjoyed the shoot, with it proving quite effective with some very pleasing results.

Music Magazine Mockups

Front Cover

Contents Page:

Double Page Spread