On my double page spread, we can see my model, and my best friend Roland Timotity, in a medium shot. Behind him there is a light grey background with lots of smoke that spreads to not only one page of the double page spread but touches the other one as well. This effect allowed me to create a well balanced looking double page spread and make sure about the professional look of it. The reason why I have made this decision, because it creates a more welcoming environment to the target audience that I am appealing to, because it does not diversify the pages into to, therefore physiologically it is easier for them to relate the photograph, the model, and the magazine's image to the article that we are talking about and perhaps, link the different conventions subconsciously to the article. I chose this photograph to work with because this is a medium shot which has a lot of benefits, for example we can see his face on the photograph clearly, and also we can see him looking directly into the camera which forms a direct mode of address. This allows the creation of a communicational tunnel between the audience and the magazine or the artist which increases trust between them and it gives the impression of appealing exclusively to the target audience.
The mise en scene of clothing and props for the photograph itself is really simple, he is wearing a black hoodie with some writings on it however we cannot tell what is actually on it because of the position that the model is in, which makes the audience not focus on the writing, this enhances the focus on him and on the article which is more important then the text on the hoodie. The colour of the hoodie as I already said is black, which brings a dramatic taste to the double page spread. This is because colour black signifiers darkness, power, fear, unknown. This was a key decision to make because the colour of the clothing could change the whole mood of the photograph. It could create a signifier that appeals to the model, in this case Roland (in the double page spread known as Timo T) that he has something to hide, or he is bringing a certain kind of dark energy that we never knew before, which also relates to the article, because we are talking about his brand new album and the changes he went through. At the same time it could relate to his personal origin, or simply it could have been a stylish decision that he or his stylist made in able to look appealing. These are the possible signifiers that we can link the mise en scene to when we are talking about clothing.
He has his hood up as well, which creates mystery and this is also being associated with the Hip-Hop, due to the idea of hiding personal weaknesses, showing off dominance and power, hiding qualities or values that could be personal or physical. This increases drama, and the dark feeling of the magazine, which is being enhanced due the light background that we can see.
The colours I have chosen to this double page spread are two different shades of grey, a light and a dark one, black and red, which is only three main colours that are the leading colours. It is not too complicated therefore it doesn't confuse my target audience with a large range of colours, this is because every person relates to different colours in different ways, however too many colours could create a mixture of emotions that might make false or not appropriate message towards them.
Red signifies power, energy fire, blood, which creates a dramatic and really visible look to the magazine which brings attention to the main tittle which says "Timo T the come back". Thisis the only place I wanted to use this colour to show the importance of the tittle and increase the curiosity of the target audience. Also the shape that is in colour red sort of resembles a blood drop or a paint drop on the floor, which could signify blood, which shows seriousness of the topic. Also in certain cultures they used to cut themselves to spread their blood to show how serious their words are what they said, or how serious they are thinking the promise they made. This could also be linked to the shape of the red tittle frame that I have chose. At the same time it has a very appealing look, and it makes the whole magazine double page stand out.
The colour grey signifies a dirt, negativity, and it gives a boring look, however at the same time it also shows a intelligent, sophisticated, and most importantly a professional and original look to the double page spread. It could easily be used with any colour and it enhances other colour's power and effect.
The colour black which I have used for the font colours gives an emotionless, dark mysterious evil look to the double page spread, however it makes it extremely formal, which is really beneficial, this is because the main aim was to create a professional looking magazine, like big media institution would create.
I have coloured the originally white background to this light grey colour with a slight amount of light blue, because it is welcoming, neutral, which benefits the look of the double page spread to adapt to any other colour and compensate them by creating high contrast.
The mise en scene of body language is quite simple. Unfortunately on the picture we cannot tell that he is squatting, however he is, which allowed me this particular body position that creates a little bit of mysterious body posture, which is defensive in a way. He is directly looking into which directly appeals to the audience.
The mise en scene of settings takes a big part of this double page spread. This is because I have chosen this smoky effect to be added to the background. Smoke comes after or with fire, which is a signifier for power and heat, which at this point is being associated with Timo T. At the same time it gives a smooth and professional look the magazine. Also smoke is being associated with drug consume, due to other rappers lifestyle, the smoking and the lot of money. This places him in a position where he looks like a superstar, and consuming marijuana as a rapper is a high status, because it is illegal and also expensive, however this is a part of his "bad boy" image, that he does not care or he can afford it. Also the smoke appears on the front cover as shown on my final pieces. This is because brand and issue loyalty, not to confuse the customers and create a well balanced look magazine.
For the font types I wanted to use something that is sophisticated and smart which made me choose the font type "Engravers MT" which has an old school newspaper's font design which allows me to increase the already professional looking double page spread. My introducing capital letter to the beginning of the article I brought another famous convention of different magazines that is being used in several places. For the tittle I have used "Masters of Break" which we can also see on the media magazine cover. I have made this decision to make sure about the loyalty of the brand and the overall balance of the magazine, and create a clear sign that the topic that is being shown on the cover is this particular one that we can see at the moment.
The story/article is about the artist "TIMO T" taking a break from producing music and coming back with brand new themes, and songs, the first paragraph is an introduction from the newspaper, which is being followed by a phrase that he warned every body that he will come back soon. I used slangs to make it sound more comprehensive and realistic and believable that he is a true rapper "told y'all". The size of the phrase is showing importance and it gives a really appealing look to the double page spread.
The two question creates an interview situation where the artist talks about plans and answers the questions that have been asked.
Also I have included a little sign for more information or the full interview "more at www.maxvolume.com" because it markets the brand and offers an exclusive service for the visitors. It appeals to Timo's fans as well, and its offering an extra service, for free.
I made sure that I put page numbers and a water logo onto the page to make it look professional and marketable.
My double page spread represents an urban young social group because of the model is quite appealing to a wide target audience, due to his young but mature face. The use of fonts such as "master of break" appeals to a younger target audience and it represents rappers and hip-hop lovers as cool, fashionable, different, and young. This is being shown through the way the fonts are being curved and organised.
My magazine would be distributed by Time Inc as I said mentioned under my video evaluation, this is because it is a he American magazine publisher by publishing more than 90 different magazine, and they are the leading distributors as well and they are also experienced in this genre. An example for this is NME magazine. They already have a huge target audience, a built up brand reputation and a huge amount of capital that could be invested in developments of different professional magazines.
My target audience would be people in age of 14-25 mainly, and partly over 25 till 30. This is because this age group has already had hip-hop in their life, especially people aged 20 and bellow because hip-hop has become such a diversified culture and style, in become mainstream.
They would be 60% male 40% female. I made this decision based on my survey and because of the look of my magazine is more appealing to males than female, however as I already mentioned its an opened genre, and we are in the 21 century, therefore it could appeal to females as well at the same time. My target audience belongs to a C-B socio economic class which means students, workers, and middle class, maybe high class hip-hop lovers.
The way I attracted was a really simple job. This is because I spent a long time creating an aesthetically pleasing look I was sure that it would have a big influence in attraction to my target audience. However this was only one aspect of attracting my audience. I also used little hints and tricks such as "MORE AT WWW.MAXVOLUME.COM" This is because it directly appeals to those people who are more interested in this topic therefore I give them the opportunity to read more and explore more about this topic, which is an extra free service and shows good treatment which leads to customer satisfaction.
The direct mode of address from the model is appealing and it gives a welcoming impression to the audience and creates trust which is another way how to attract the audience on this article. Bold letters and the way the double page is being built up also boost up the attraction that I can create in this magazine double page spread.
Technology wise I have improved a lot. As you could have previously seen in my music magazine cover evaluation I mentioned that I have done GCSE media studies in my old school, and at the same time currently I am photography student, therefore using Photoshop has not been new to me and I had an advantage that I could have used in able to create a professional look. However on the other hand in my opinion the following double page spread is a challenging looking final piece and it took a lot of time and a lot of effort to create it, as you also can see in my previous post (MOCK UPS) (Developments of final pieces) I had many different ideas in my head I wanted to create but there was more to it. Here I am talking about details such as the size of the double page spread in pixels which I needed to set up in the canvas size in Photoshop. Making sure that the divider is right in the middle to create the look of a real magazine cover. Also adding the smoke effect to the picture by using white paint brush, decreasing opacity, adding blur to it and liquefy it. I had Photoshop CS6 on my computer and I have a Nikon d3200 DSLR camera as I mentioned in my previous blog posts, however the sharp cut of the pictures required me to use layer mask and paintbrush tools to cut it out properly without making any major mistake.
Overall looking back at my preliminary task I have definitely learnt new aspects of using many layers at the same time, as shown on my mock ups. I have learnt ways how to appeal directly to the target audience I want to appeal to. Also I have learnt a lot about settings of a particular photograph, because it allows the person that edits to have an easier job while editing and it creates a wider possibility or wider range of options to choose for the photo in terms of adding effects.
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