Wednesday, 14 April 2010

Front Cover Ideas :


The image on the right is the final hand drawn picture draft of my magazine front cover. The pictures next to it is just two pictures which I took which could help me in developing my magazine front cover but I thought they was very fashionable than to do with 'Bhangra Music' I like the music but they would be more used in a fashion magazine than a music magazine.

Ideas For Magazine Name :

Here is a mind map of various names that i could use for my magazine, my idea of the title was to have something 'loud' and 'fun'. I picked Desi Jatt as it doesn't really have a name in the Bhangra industry but it comes up a lot in Bhangra songs. The name will also appeal to my target audience.

Pictures For Contents Page :

I also used this picture on my contents page to tell the reader of my magazine that 'Sonia Dhami' is the main artist of the magazine and her making the reader want to read the interview more. I took a medium shot of her, I told her to look to the side and pose because all the pictures of her are all facing the camera. I think the mis-en-scene in this picture I have used quite well even though it doesn't really look musical.

Monday, 12 April 2010

Annotate Contents Page:

Contents Page:
I chose to use the font ‘Prakrta’ from dafont.com as my title as I found that it is a font which not only shows the theme of my magazine within it but also looks quite good. I found by doing my research that many other Asian magazines use fonts like this as it looks like Hindi but written in English, this is because just like in Hindi every alphabet in each word is connected by a line at the top of the word.For the page headings I chose to use a simpler font as I wanted the title to stand out. I chose to do the heading in white and pink as I think that this combination of colours go well together and also look good with the black background. I put a picture of Sonia Dhami under on the left hand side under the title as I thought that this was a well suited place for it because the main focus point for the magazine in this issue was her interview. I also had a picture of the album cover, I chose to put this on the contents page as it emphasised the point that Sonia Dhami is a new and upcoming artist.I placed three pictures at the bottom of the contents page as these pictures gave an insight as to what else was packed into my magazine and made the contents page look more interesting. I gave these pictures a pink border so that they tied in with the colour scheme of the page.

Photogrpahy for contents page:

Picture 1 : Long Shot
Picture 2: Meduim Shot

These are anther picture of my cousin with his dhol (Indian Drum). I chose a male for this picture to show that my target audience isn't just focusing at a female audience but also malethe reason as to why I chose the image of a dhol player as part of my contents page is because I think that this image of a dhol player reflect the theme of my magazine within it and also relates to the title as dhol playing is seen to be a very 'Desi' thing to do. This image also captures the music genre within it, as the dhol is an instrument which is used commonly in Punjabi music.
As I was doing my questionnaire a lot of people used 'Facebook' as her social networking site, so I thought at the bottom of my contents page i would put a 'Fan Club' on facebook for my magazine where they can instead of buying a magazine can get new updates on there Bhangra music. AlsoI chose to add facebook on my contents page as my target audience are likely to have a facebook account as this social networking site is very popular among their age group, therefore i thought that putting this onto my contents page will allow my target audience to keep up-to-date with tmy magazine not just by buying the magazine and reading it but also online using facebook.

Testing Pictures For Contents Page:

First Picture I took:
I told my model to do just a natural pose, I think that the mis-en-scene i used in this picture is quite strong with the bangles and costume, I wouldn't really use this as my contents page main picture as it looks more fashionable than musical.

Second Picture I took:
This is the picture which I think would work really well, i took a long shot for this picture and it was a accidental picture, i think it works really well. The mis-en-scene worked well in this picture too.
I was listening to a Bhangra song called 'Desi Jatt' and I was thinking if its a good name for my Bhangra magazine. Afterwards I was thinking and I thought I'll call my magazine. I think its quiet a strong name for my magazine, the word ' Desi' is quiet loud and bold word to say and its popular in Indian culture. Desi jatt has no specific translation when translated into english however 'desi' reffers to someone who is intouch with their roots and 'jatt' is a caste which is very common throughout south western asia. i thought that this would be a suitable title for my magazine as i believe that this title relates to many people from my target market. I found this font on www.dafonts.com , i feel that suits my magazine because my music is very desified.

Masthead Research:

I did some masthead research on popular Bhangra magazines. I found that the mastheads where quite big and bold, my masthead which I have I think relates a lot towards my magazine.
After doing my interview these are the colours which i am going to stick too throughout my magazine. The colours Purple, pink and blue are colours which something like my target audience would be interested in (14-19 year old). I chose the blue because it's also a boyish colour. There bright and bold colours which would draw readers attention. It also represents the genre of my magazine, because Bhangra is quite loud and powerful and these colours are loud and quiet powerful.

Interview Page:

This is one of drafts for my interview, I feel that the image I have chosen for my interview depicts the personality of my artist ' Sonia Dhami' this shows that she's quiet relaxed and enjoying her music. The headphones show that she's into her music, I've also noticed in most Bhangra magazines they use one image on a double page spread with an interview on top. I put one of her lyrics from her song ' Tere Liye Duniya Bhool Jauoon' meaning ' For you I'll forget the world'. This shows the reader what kind of music she sings. This also reaches my target audience the colours I've use and the way I layed things out. The picture and colours draw the readers attention as it's bright and bold.

Copy Of My Interview:

Here we are with bhangra's new star of 2010. We got close to Sonia Dhami as she tells us about her experience backstage and how she got this far in the bhangra industry.

Have you registered your songs for copyright protection?

Yes, i have a registered trademark as i think that this ensures that people will not be able to download my music illegally which therefore meant that i thought it was a good idea and worth it.

Have any of your songs been published?

no not yet as they are still in the making, but i recently posted a preview of my song on youtube to see what my target audience think of it and im happy to say that i got a positive response from them which make me more motivated in finishing my album as fast as if can.

What is your music background?

My music background consists of just me really however i work with a range of producers and
directors. my music started of with my singing just as a hobby this eventually turned into
something i highly enjoyed and i then started attending a class in which i learnt the art of classical
Indian singing this enabled me to sing both classical and the 'new bollywood' songs it helped me
to see both sides and how important it is to understand wach and every note before you sing it.
and because im born and brought up in england i was able to connect with the people who reside
in the uk. some people might think its east to have skills and then go to india and work in an
industry you dont really know much about but it was hard and my knowledge in indian music
helped me to make a career in music.

Who is your fan/costumer?

Confined to something you have to understand some people may like the beat

of the songs as appose to the lyrics. When I first started off in this industry I

thought that my fans would be restricted only to Asians such as Indian and

Pakistanis however when i released my 'tester track' i saw that I had fans from

every race which showed me you don’t have to understand something to like it

or to be a fan of it you can just 'bop' to something and like it so i therefore

believe my fans are people who enjoy my music who mostly tend to be people

of the teen age group.

What are your songs about?

My songs are range from being both humorous and very meaningful. Being brought up as a Punjabi in the UK i've been brought up around a 'typical Punjabi family' who drink hard, dance all the time and just take life in a relaxed and laid back way so most of my humour comes from my childhood and the idea of a 'typical Punjabi family' on the other hand my more sensitive and meaningful songs are about peace love and respect as i believe these three thing make the world go round and without these three things we would be in big trouble.

Do you write your own songs?

Yes I tend to write my own songs as they reflect me and my feelings. I don’t sit there and think I have to write a song I just write when the words flow in my head and when I get inspired. In my teaser track I got inspired by a fight between two boys which was happening outside on the streets of England when I was in the UK due to religion, this inspired me to write my song about being

peaceful and respecting each religion.

Who are your musical influences?

My musical influences come from back home in India as I was always really in

to classical Indian music along side the up beat bhangra and always wanted

to combine the two so that both old people and young people could listen to it

as when I was growing up when I wanted to listen to classical Indian music my

frends would tell me to change it to bhangra and when I listened to bhangra

at home my parents told me to listen to classical music so there was

always conflict which I wanted to abolish with my music so that everyone can listen to

it together.

What are your immediate music career goals?

My immediate goals are to release my very first album and then see how that goes and then hopefully collaborate with other artists.

Final Image of double page spread interview of 'Sonia Dhami':

When taking this photo i asked my model to blow some glitter as her albums called 'Tere Pyaar' meaning 'Your Love' The glitter was to show the 'Love'. The mis-en-scence i used in this photo plays an important role in this picture which is mainly her costume and make-up, she was wearing a blue and pink indian outfit, i then did her make-up the same colour to match her cloths, the jewellery where indian earing and a huge ring. i used glitter and headphones to show that shes listening to music. This was my favourite picture out of the other one which i took as a test which i was going to use for a double spread. i blurred out the glitter and made the bakground a bit more darker. Her posture is quiet strong, her facial expressions show that she is enjoying the music, and that music is important to her. I took a medium shot of her to create a good effect and also closely zoom in on her facial expressions.

Preparation and Dress Rehearsal:

This was anther test shot which i took in the garden, the mis-en-scene used in this picture are very bold, i placed her on a bench and i told her to lay on the bench and look at the camera this time. i chose to a medium shot again looking back at some of the existing pictures from bhangra magazines i found that they were mostly meduim shots, i then 'brightened' this picture on photoshop.

Test Shots :

This is one of the early test shots:
I used my cousin for this shot, i dressed her up in an indian outfit which is very common in indian culture. I placed her sitting on the floor with the bacground of her 'chunni' maked her stand out i chose to do a meduim shot of her i told her to pose as if she is playing a musical instrument, and told her to look at away from the camera. I then used photoshop and used 'Brightness and Contrast' to make the picture more brighter and i also blured out some on the background.

Album Cover:

This is an album cover which i made on photoshop i used my interview to help me with making this album cover, 'Tere Pyaar' meaning 'Your Love' is her new and upcoming album, i used the same picture which i am planning to use on my front cover. This helped me more on how to layout my front page and magazine.

Existing Album Covers

These are some existing 'Bhangra' album covers.

Rough Layout:

Rough Layout- Front Cover:
Rough Layout- Contents Page:

Questionnaire:

I carried out a questionnaire to help me reach my target audience for my magazine. I went away and asked 9 people what kind of music their into as well as what artist they like the most, if they use social networking sites more people use 'Facebook' than other social networking sites also people like to listen to music online via 'Youtube'. This has helped me choose my target audience.