Friday, 27 March 2009

Week 8...final article...



This is my final front cover, I have added the different image to the left page. I also put checks on behind the photo and i think it really gives the front cover that 'music' feel. The only thing that i should say is that the measurements are not 100% perfect. If you look closely the checks dont line up perfectly on a part of it. Also around the edge it isnt a perfect straight line all the way around. But saying that i am happy with my article over all.

Wednesday, 25 March 2009

Week 8...Developing article...



I have added a few things to my article since the last blog. I have added the photos on the right page and have made it a little more quirky by adding a black background for half of the page. I htink this makes it lok more like a music magazine article, with more detail on. However i still need to change the main photo.

Week 8...developing article...



This is my double page article. I still need to change a few things, but this is my main layout. The empty boxes on the right page are going to be photos and i am going to add captions to them. The photo on the left doesnt really look right, i cut it out of photoshop quite roughly. I am going to change the photo. The text doesnt look clear on here, but printed out it is very clear. I like the colours used, the burgundy.

Monday, 16 March 2009

Week 8...article...

This is my article so far, but have much more to write.

After his turbulent life of losing out on the big bucks and clambering back up again, BLANK is back, raring to go, to sing his heart out and to hopefully take us along the ride with him. Blank has had many failures during his career. From losing out on a record deal to losing someone close to him. But this hasn’t stopped the gorgeous, kind- hearted indie star. He fought for the chance to be a multi million selling solo artist and here he is, fresh faced and ready to go on this wild adventure.

The first meeting between us may be awkward, but a lovely place called The Castle Bar in central London may break the ice. I arrived first as usual, fifteen minutes early, to be prepared for whichever lucky star I am interviewing. After waiting around only ten minutes I see the most talked about star since Elvis Presley in 1956. Like any other icon, he arrives in a brand new black Lamborghini; of course with the blacked out windows, to ward away any celeb-hungry paparazzi.

After sitting down at the table, which has an awesome view over London, BLANK orders a sparkling water with ice and lemon, I went for a refreshing mango frappe. BLANK apologises for being late due to a busy schedule. I accept the apology, I mean, how often do you get to interview a superstar like him? Although we are not the only people present today. BLANK has his publicist and manager with him so I don’t ask any dodgy questions. Don’t worry BLANK I wouldn’t do that to you! Ok, im going to stop being a star struck fan and get to the important stuff.

I think the perfect question to start a questionnaire is the simple, “how’s life?” “Life’s awesome, I mean, after the highs and lows of my career things have finally come together and I am as happy as I could ever be.” “Hopefully good things are going to come my way!” BLANK seems to be over the moon at this moment in time, although I want to delve more into his past. Tell me about your ‘highs and Lows’...? “Highs and Lows?” he answers. “Well I think everyone pretty much knows about my past. I’ve had a rough time, something that I don’t want to chat about too much into detail.” BLANK plays with his words for a second, “The loss of my father wasn’t good for me” It seems BLANK is more sentimental than the press makes out to be, but HEIGHT OF SOUND isn’t the type of magazine to bare too much information about such subjects. Onto happier subjects, tell us the most random and humiliating thing you have ever done. “There are many of these in my life!” he laughs, “But the most idiotic thing I have ever done was when I was intoxicated with Jack Daniels and Beer. Let’s just say the girl I was sitting next to, never spoke to me again.” Ouch. Did you fancy her? “Yeh, she was hot. She was my best mate’s sister” he chuckles. BLANK casually takes a gulp of his drink while trying to contain his laughter. What are you laughing at BLANK? “Oh, it’s just the thought of my mate reading this now, its quite funny, ‘coz he didn’t know I shagged her”. BLANK we are ashamed of you, but it’s quite funny. Speaking of women and your love life, you’ve been seen with Sarah Harding a few times, what’s the deal? “Well, we are just friends, she’s an awesome girl and I get on with her really well. There’s nothing going on. I promise.” O.K we believe you. So is there any lucky lady in your life? “No sadly. I haven’t got the time at the moment, works kind of taken over” We understand, BLANK has been a busy man touring around Europe for a year.“Touring has been the best time of my life. I could do it over and over again for the rest of my life and that’s what I intend to do. The favourite part about touring is definitely the fans. When I was in Germany, they went nuts. There was a bit of a problem in the audience, I think someone went to hospital for being trodden on!” BLANK is well known for making an audience go crazy for him. Singing isn’t the only thing he does on stage. BLANK usually films a music video, when on tour in certain countries. If you’re lucky, you may even get invited on stage from the audience to get involved with singing his songs. “The reason I get the audience involved is because I think it is important to share the music with everyone. They are my songs, but the reason I created them is for my fans benefit. They are part of my inspiration for writing the songs. Obviously there is some inspiration from people personal to me, but the fans are mainly.” HEIGHT OF SOUND loves the fact that people keep looking over and miming, “Is that BLANK?”, “oh my god look!”

One girl has the courage to come over and ask for a photograph. Her friends are laughing and giggling into their hands in the background. BLANK positively agrees to have a photo taken with her. When the girl has left, BLANK smiles, “I love it when they come over. Other celebrities hate it, but I really love to chat to them. I enjoy their company. Especially hers, she was gorgeous.

That last comment from BLANK raps it up. He has become a very successful solo artist and is loved by millions of people all over the world. From Germany to America, this guy is not going anywhere. This short chat has hopefully given you an insight into BLANKS life. If you want to hear BLANK’s music, im afraid you’re going to have to wait until Monday 14th June.

HEIGHT OF SOUND

Thursday, 12 March 2009

Week 7...Contents page...



this is my finished contents page. The only thing i have added is the contents down the left side of the page. I am really happy with the finished thing, because it is exactly what i imagined it would be.

Wednesday, 11 March 2009

Week 7...developing contents page...



This is a more developed contents page than the one earlier. I have added text onto the scrap piece of paper. I think the 'scrap book' effect has payed off, and i really like the different fonts used. I also like the arrow, because i have noticed these on magazine covers before, they are a brilliant way of giving more information in a more interesting way. The final thing i need to do on this, is to add my contents to the side of the page.

Week 7...developing contents page...



this is how far i have got with my contents page. Im really happy with it so far, because i have roughly stuck to my sketch. I have used a different photo to what i had in mind, because i think this one levels out the layout more. I also put a scrap piece of paper onto it, to create a 'scrap book' look to it. This was quite tricky to do, because i had to print off the contents page, stick on the scrap paper, scan it, and then photoshop it. I also made the size of the scrap paper bigger, originally i was going to have only a small sized one but i tried out different techniques and this looked the best.

Sunday, 8 March 2009

Week 6...Front cover...




This is my front cover. I'm not calling it a final front cover, mainly because i may change my mind about certain things on it. From the last post of the cover i have changed and added some things. The photos that are on the cover have been resized. I thought it would look quite effective if i made the top photo small, the second a little bigger and then of course the last photo being the largest. This makes it look a bit more different from other front covers. I also did the same with the text to match each photo. I then added the main hook in. 'BLANK is back' i think this is quite blunt and would persuade the reader to read more. I like the word 'BLANK', the way i used fill effects on it and then made it slighlty transparent. My house colours are black, white and burgundy so i thought black and white would stand out more. I also added a ...... at the bottom of the cover like any other magazine, to add extra information. Again i used white text on a black background. I think that the angle i put the hook in at makes it look like its in action and fast. A metaphor for BLANK'S career. The one at the top is my current front cover. I changed the title to make it more quirky to match the genre of magazine.

Wednesday, 4 March 2009

Week 6...developing my front cover...



This is my front cover so far but lots more work to be done. This is exactly how i imagined it so far. One of my favourite parts about this cover is the colours. Black, white and burgundy. I think they contrast really well and fit the genre of my magazine perfectly.

Week 6...developing front cover...




Refer back to my sketches of my front cover, and you can see that i have planned on having 3 photos scattered down the left side of the page. These are two of the three i want to put on there. I have also used the filter to enhance this photo like the main photo. I added a double border to each of the photos as well, because it makes it look smarter and the colours match the house colours of my magazine.

Week 6...working on front cover...



This is the photo i have chosen to use on my front cover. I took the photo with the person to the right hand side specifically so i could add things to the left hand side. I have unsharpened the image using the enhancement filter to make it much lighter and strong. I also used a cartoon filter on the brick wall to make it look more artificial, but not so much as to make it look unrealistic. I also decided on changing the colour slightly. I chose burgundy and i think it could be used as a warm colour, but if it is mixed with the right colours it could be more about Rock and indie music. I have also added a border of the colour black, because in my questionnaires, many people said that black would be a good colour to use and also because i think having a border can make it look more stylish and modern.

Tuesday, 3 March 2009

Week 6...sketch of article...



This is the double page spread article sketch. It looks a litle basic, but when i add colour, photos and text, it will look much more like an article. Articles aren't supposed to look to messy and cluttered.

Week 6...sketch of contents page...



This is my sketch of my contents page. I am aiming to make it look just like this, i think it has a good use of layout and could seem really appealing to readers.

Monday, 2 March 2009

Week 5...fonts...



These are a few chosen fonts that i like. Some of them look quite scruffy and rustic which would suit my genre of magazine (rock/alternative/indie)they certainly have something about them that are attractive to the eye and this is what i would want for my magazine. It is part of the cover and would encourage people to buy my magazine.