Shot list

(1) Front page:  A medium shot of a male artist pointing towards the camera. This is a conventional pose as is shown in many Hip Hop music videos. It will also look as if the artist is pressing the play button, linking back to the magazine mast-head which is 'Press Play'. 

The artist would be wearing a red t-shirt and a black cardigan to match the colour scheme; red, black and white. Once I capture this picture, I plan to cut around it on Photoshop using the lasso tool/magic wand; as I want the shot to focus on the artist, therefore the reader can easily focus on him rather than an unnecessary background.

I would like the artist to wear some sort of jewellery (chain/ring/watch), because this is typical from the artist's shot in magazine covers such as 'Vibe' and 'XXL'.  

(2) Contents page: A medium shot of the artist facing sideways and pointing up. Once I edit this on Photoshop, it would look as if he is pointing to the words 'Contents'. Like on the front cover, he would be cut out using the Photoshop tools. He would be wearing the same clothes which would be cohesive throughout. 

(3) Double page spread (DPS): A Long shot of the artist looking up towards the sky, his arms and hands facing outwards below his chest so it looks as if he is praying. This type of pose is demonstrated by the Rapper Lupe Fiasco in a front cover of Vibe magazine. In many Hip Hop music videos, artists rap about their life and their struggle's through it. The artist would be leaning against a tree, showing the natural surroundings of nature. This suggests the pure nature of the artist too, which contradicts to the stereotypes and how the media portray rappers as criminals and thugs. This concept of stereotypes would be explained in the article. The tree symbolises many things, such as the tree of knowledge in The story of Adam and Eve. Therefore, the shot may suggest the artist has visited this tree to gain knowledge, and it emphasises the idea of him praying, as he asks for forgiveness; like Adam and Eve. 

Similar to the front cover and contents page, the artist would be wearing the same clothes, but in this shot his trainers would be shown, these trainers would be black, white and red; matching the colour scheme.

I’m not too sure if I will cut out the background, as I want it to be shown on the DPS.

Flat plan designs

This is my flat plan for my front cover.

The colour scheme is red, black and white; Red connotes danger which relates to the 'Naughty',whereas white portrays innocence and purity which relates to the 'Nice.'

This is a medium shot of the artist, so the reader immediately knows that this artists would be featuring in the magazine.

This is the contents page.

Here is a mid-long shot of the artist. He is looking  up towards the 'Contents'  whilst positioned sideways  so it looks as if she is looking at the features and the text. The text and the image is also spaced out so there would be enough space between them, making it easier for the reader to read. The page numbers are in red which matches the colour scheme.

Here is the double page spread.
 On the right page, there would be a long shot of the artist leaning against a tree, with his facing hands up so it looks as if he is praying (This shot is explained in my shot-list).
Next to the image, there would be a pull quote that relates to the article and the artist would hint it one of his answer's. This will  interest the reader into reading the article.

I think this design looks spaced out, and  it does not look too

Deciding on my magazine name & Analysing Front covers

Here is a list of magazine names that I have thought of so far;
- Essense
- Vanity
- Boss
- Press Play
- Xplosion
- Transition

From the list, I thought that the name 'Press Play' is the strongest and would suit my magazine. I also liked the alliteration of the 'P'. On my front cover, instead of an 'a' in 'Play', there would be a play button, which I believe would relate to the old school vibe of music.

Front cover Images magazine's
 Female artists;
These are both medium long shots;
Colour scheme: White, red and black. Matches the artists clothing. This is something that I would consider in my own front cover.

 This is also a medium long shot. Colour scheme: Yellow , blue and black. This helps to emphasise the sunshine and she is also wearing a bikini which suggests the weather.

 This is a long shot. Colour Scheme: Black, red and white.

Male artists;

Here is a front cover from XXL. It is a medium shot of 50 Cent looking seriously into the camera, which looks  almost patronising. The image mainly focuses on 50 Cents face expression but also his muscular body structure. The colour scheme is white, blue and yellow, which are cool and warm colours despite the blue being a bold colour. 

This is another cover from XXL. It is once again a medium shot of Young Jeezy, the camera is placed at a low angle, this suggests power and superiority of the artist, because it looks as if he is looking down towards to reader. He is wearing a vest, showing his tattooed arms and muscles, like in the shot of 50 Cent.

Here is an XXL cover of Ice Cube showing anger, because it looks like he is shouting. The anger is emphasised through the red used in the colour scheme. Red is a strong primary colour, which indicates danger and this links to the image.

As you can see, The female's on the front covers are showing their female bodily figure which would attract males, whereas on the male front covers they are portraying anger which is usually expressed in their lyrics of their music. 

Typical Reader profile

Aaron is a 20 year old male rapper who lives in South London and aspires to become internationally known through the Hip-hop music industry. He uses social media such as Facebook and Twitter to promote his tracks that himself and his friend record at the studio which is set-up in his room. He has recently created his own mix tape which includes 16 tracks, and hands it out to students at his college. He receives positive feedback from friends, but his confidence is still lacking. Aaron needs advice on how to promote his talent even further. He prefers the old school vibe of Hip-hop and his favourite rappers are Fabolous, Lil' Kim and Ja Rule but also listens to contemporary music from Lil' Wayne and Tinie Tempah. On the weekends, he visits the gym to work out in order to keep fit and healthy, and occasionally helps out at his local youth club. In his past, he has committed silly crimes that he is not happy about, and tends to rap about his journey through prison. 

Results from My Questionnaire

{12 days later} Here are the results I gathered from my questionnaire...

From the results that I gathered, I created separate pie charts for each question using Microsoft Excel.

Most people chose the colour black and red for my colour scheme. I think this is the bext choice of colour because it is strong and bold.

Most people voted for 'the artists journey' as a cover story for my magazine. I agree with this becuase I usually purchase magazines and the one thing I enjoy reading the most are the artists journey.

Most people voted for the price of the magazine being £3.00-£4.00, I think this is a realistic price for a magazine, so this is something that I would consider as I do my front cover.

The results also show me that people purchase a magazine every now and again, so I would need to make my front cover look interesting enough for the reader to want to pick it up and buy it.

I also printed of 15 questionnaires and handed it out to people at my sixth form to fill in Here is an example of one that has been filled out.

Colour Scheme

From the results I gathered, I needed to decide which colours work well and complement each other. So I made a colour palette of the following;

From looking at these colours, I think the red, black and white work well together as a colour scheme. Black and red are both bold colours and whereas, the white balances it out. These are the three colours I would use for my magazine cover, contents page and double page spread.  

Questionnaire

Here is the full questionnaire I created;

I previously used Twitter to target an audience & I will also print the questionnaire out and ask people to fill it in.

Writing techniques

As a class, we discussed the different types of writing techniques that would  not only make magazines look affective, but could also be read affectively by the reader.
Here is a table I created of the most affective techniques used and an example of it;

The use of slang is common in Hip Hop magazines, I think this is to reflect the language that Rap artists speak occasionally, which is evident in their music. However, formal English is also used to balance it out; as too much slang would look unprofessional. This is something I will definately consider as I lead up to my final outcome.

Semiotics used in 'XXL' magazine

Task: Select a magazine similar to the genre you are planning to create your own in and evaluate the magazines use of semiotics visually in image and words used.

This magazine, XXL relates to the genre I am exploring, as it focuses on Hip Hop and R&B artists.

 In this front cover, the medium close-up shot of Hip Hop lyricist Lupe Fiasco shows connotations of prayer. The image alone looks as if Lupe is praying towards God because he is looking upwards, almost as if he is in need of support. This idea relates with the text '...Enlightened MC Fights to stay true' and emphasised from the yellow background on the cover. The background is a very simple one with a spot light facing towards Lupe as if he is facing judgement.

The text on the right hand side of the cover is black, which implies boldness and simplicity. The names of the artists are in a bigger font and also bold compared to the text displayed underneath; this reflects their importance within the music industry. Whereas, without the large text of 'Lupe Fiasco', some people may not recognise him, which shows that the use of text is necessary on a front cover.