Initial Front cover

AKING 1

My original cover photo would have been the one shown above, however I did not believe that it would look nice and professional as the model in the background is slightly blurred and this would in my opinion would not give the magazine front cover a good look that would attract readers just purely based on first impressions. I also believe that the inclusion of the second model may be confusing for the audience as i plan for my title cover to be the name of my main feature which in this case would be called "K.Will" I have used Mis-en-scene to make it look like a typical rap/Hip-Hop magazine, the dark clothing aswell as the feature of the bandana around his neck would make him look more intimidating which is a current theme when i have been researching through different magazines. I have chosen to use Photoshop as my image manipulation software as i am very familiar with the programme having used it for many years in the past. 

I have chosen this to be my final image on my magazine front cover, I have chosen this image specifically as it is a good representation of a stereotypical rap magazine, The image is medium close up which i am able to use effectively as it shows both facial expressions and the straight back and strong upper body that my model would poses, The mis-en-scene is still apparent as I have still included the sunglasses, I believe that this is a good use of Mis-en-scenec as It presents my model as being intimidating swell as a sense of mystery because the audience cannot see his eyes. As shown on the screen I have moved the image down, this is so i can add a bar at the top and include a strap line, other than this the original image is quite plain, I have used lighting on my model to add an additional glow on my models face, without this light my image would be underexposed and hard for the consumer to read, I have also used a dark cloudy background, this would empthatise the sense of mystery of my model and his character "K.Will" I also think that it looks aesthetically pleasing and would compliment the lighter colours on the front of my models hoodie and also my masthead that i was currently pondering over.

Now I have added the dark bar at the top of the magazine cover, i believe when i add some brighter text it would look good as there would be a apparent contrast, I have now also added my original logo, when looking at my magazine cover so far I believe that it was the wrong shape as it took to much space for a masthead, as a traditional rap magazine do not have a very large masthead, Also i believe that i am now going to manipulate the image and make the masthead go behind my models head, this would look more professional and I have also seen this on my music magazines when researching for my own individual magazine. I am able to do tho shy myself with very little help and should not take to long. When choosing my logo i came up with some varied options some options were different shapes and colours however i believe that the colour way on this logo is very good and looks attractive to my consumers, however i Believe the shape of the logo would be wrong and it does not go with the rest of the magazine I am aiming to create.

As you can now see i have edited the masthead to make it a oval shape, I believe this would look much better when inserting it behind my models head, I have also added a stroke and drop shadow to the masthead, this would make the logo look more professional and give the 2-D image more depth, when looking at my magazine I believe that the masthead is now also the right size however i believe that i can manipulate this and change the rotation of the masthead to make it all fit on the magazine cover, I would prefer to make the masthead large because it would enable me to attract more consumers as the masthead would be recognisable compared to other logos from the same genre of music, I have also put the masthead under the layer of my dark bar running across the top of my magazine front cover, this would once again give the masthead more depth of field as it would look more 3 dimensional.

As shown on the screen shot to the left i have began to start the process of making the masthead go beyond my models head, what i have done is using photoshop i have duplicated the original image however have hidden the image this would allow me to have a singular image on display without using the eraser tool on both of the layers, i have then erased the outline of my models head this would then allow me to move the layer and move it in front of the mastheads layer. this would now mean that my models face is in front of the masthead creating the illusion that the magazine front cover is 3 dimensional. to complete this i must now un hide the duplicate layer of my base image and it would look very professional and very clean, i have decided to do this as judging upon my research many Hip-Hop magazines have used this and it looks very professional. I have decided to use the colours red as it would be an indication of danger usually associated with the stereotypical life of a rap star, i have also used the colour white not just as a contrast but to indicate purity and that the purity of my character could be in danger, i have also added a pattern to my masthead text, this would ad allot of depth in the text with the added gradient overlay on the masthead text, this would make my masthead very original as i have not seen this done elsewhere before.

Now having un hidden my duplicate image it is clear to see that the masthead is behind my models head and i believe that this  makes the image look much more professional, when looking at the image i can now identify that it would need text and a large amount of subheadings this way it would truly meet the codes and conventions of a music magazine, another way i am able to meet the codes and conventions of a music magazine would be to include and price and barcode, i have taken a screen shot to show that i am able to implement these convention onto my magazine, i believe that this would mean my magazine would be more professional and would make my magazine look like just another music magazine to choose from when shopping, I have gone against the conventions slightly by adding in a unique "parental explicit" sign to the bottom of my magazine front cover, I believe this would be suitable because

my magazine would be based upon rap/hip-hop music, this would mean my character may use profanities throughout the magazine article which could occur, as you can also see i have added some social media logos in the bottom corner of my magazine front cover, this i believe would be a small promotion technique swell as informing my the target audience that the magazine is on social media.

in this print screen i have added two more images that would make my magazine look more professional and would also make them look more realistic, when researching i have seen many magazines that would have smaller images on the sides of the front cover, this would be to draw attention away from the main image and make it pleasing to look at, it can also inform the reader as to what it is that is coming up in the article. I have managed to do this by putting the images into a separate photoshop file and cropped out the edges to fit in behind the actors arm. I have also then added a stroke on the outside of the images to distinguish where the main image stops and where the smaller images start.