Monday 28 January 2013

Weekly Production Schedule #1

Starting from this today, I'm going to start posting an entry every week explaining what I hope to achieve by the end of the week. This will help me keep on schedule and work more efficiently. At the end of each week I can review how I've done and how my magazine is beginning to progress.

I have just about finished my research and planning so the first thing I want to start this week is the front cover of my magazine. I've taken alot of images already but until I've started creating my front cover, I don't know how those photos will look on the front cover. So on Wednesday, I hope to upload a entry to video discussing the pictures I've taken so far. At the end of the week I want to also to start writing up the feature article for my magazine.

By the end of the week I want to have:
  • Start making my front cover on photoshop using a style model
  • Upload a video talking about the pictures I've took
  • Started writing up my feature article

Saturday 26 January 2013

Indie Rock Band Names

I made a poll asking people to rate a list of names I found or made up for fictitious Indie Rock bands. The point of the poll was to find out which names were most popular so I could choose the higher rated ones to appear on the front cover of my magazine. The results are as follows.

BAND NAME
RATING
ñ Launch Pad McQuack
70
ñ The Windwakers
67
ñ Lost at Sea
66
ñ The Editors
65
ñ The Faded Curtains
63
ñ The Citizens
62
ñ Paper Towns
60
ñ Crowd Control
59
ñ Open Sketchbook
55
ñ Empty Bookcases
51
ñ Cinema Club
51
ñ Short Focus
50
ñ Moe and the Lawns
44
ñ The Monitors
41



The most popular band name, 'Launch Pad McQuack' will be the name of the feature artist and the rest of the top 5 will have their names make it onto the front page. This is evidence that I am looking towards my target audience for inspiration and using their opinions to create a magazine aimed at them.

Friday 25 January 2013

Final Draft Plan

This is the final style model I've created. The primary influence is from the NME magazine I bought featuring David Bowie. However, I will alter some of the tags and the image to merge the style of NME with MOJO, because I think a cross between those two styles accurately represent my target audience. Later, today I will upload the results of a poll, to see which of the Indie band names I made up were most popular.

Thursday 24 January 2013

Preparation for the Music Magazine


Django Unchained

DJANGO UNCHAINED
Directed and Written by Quentin Tarantino (Pulp Fiction, Resevoir Dogs, Kill Bill etc.)
Starring: - Jamie Foxx
               - Christoph Waltz
               - Leonardo DiCaprio
               - Kerry Washington
               - Samuel L Jackson
Cinematography - Robert Richardson
Editor - Fred Raskin
Studio - A Band Apart
Distributor - The Weinstein Company
Budget - $100 million
Box Office - $200 million

Django Unchained is the new film from Quentin Tarantino. Django Unchained is an "epic western" inspired by the Sphagetti Western's of the 60s, most notably Django (1966)and Hercules Unchained(1959). The film follows the story of an ex-slave (Jamie Foxx) who journeys across the Deep South with German bounty hunter Dr King Shultz (Academy award winning Christoph Waltz) to save his wife from the charastmatic plantation owner Calvin Candie (DiCaprio).
        Quentin Tarantino is famous for his critically successful films and status as a cult icon, having had a massive influence over 90s and contemporary cinema. Recently, he has gained a reputation, along side many other directors (Christopher Nolan), for being against digital film. He doesn't see the point in it and claims it is just "TV in public", what that means, I'm not entirely sure , but as a great director he has gained a very large ego.
        However, he is allowed to have a big ego. His new film Django Unchained is another masterpiece in cinematic entertainment, it is daring, bold and bloody. The cinematography and directing is brilliant and the screenplay is beyond that. (Tarantino knew how to write good screenplays since the 80s and hasn't lost his talent) The characters are all interesting and believable and the performances given by the actors were all fantastic. The supporting cast were superb, some of the most tense and engaging scenes in the movie wouldn't be possible without the devotion of these actors. The gore and violence was entertaining and shocking, you laugh when tarantino wants you to laugh and you cringe when he wants you to cringe. The violence is shocking, but used at all the right times.
      The film shows it origins in Sphagettit Western's through the epic set pieces and clever use of the camera's lenses to pay homage to the cinematic style of the 60s. Then Quentin Tarantino's signature style of over the top violence and captivating dialogue is put into the mix to create a truly great film.

Inside NME

Wednesday 16 January 2013

Flat Plan


This is the flatplan I drew up, using MOJO as a style model. I really like the style and I think it reflects the Indie vibe that I want to go for to appeal to my target audience. The colour scheme of the original is also very interesting. However, there are some problems:
  •  Mojo's core demographics are men over the 30. The old, retro style of the magazine is aimed at them. Although, it is worth noting that the style does appeal to indie fans.
  • The CD - even if I can justify having a CD because of my audience analysis, I don't want to alienate some of my target audience just because it has a CD and not a digital download.
I need to look at more magazines that seem as if they could act as style models, because I might find one that suits my target audience a lot more. However, as it is, I really like the MOJO style model and think it accurately represents the style of magazine my target audience wants.