Q Contents Page Analysis

Top 5 songs from the visual album BEYONCÉ

Recently Beyonce has realased her brand new visual album with 14 new songs and 17 new videos on iTunes without any sort of promotion or a peep out of Beyonce for two years and it has already sold more than 460,000 copies in the first week and reaching #1 in 73 countries.
Here are my Top 5 favourites from her new album.

#5 - ***Flawless - "I woke up like this, woke up like this, we flawless"
This is one of my favourites from this album as I think the music is good, the lyrics could be better however it is a completely new sound that is being tested.

#4 Partition - "Driver roll up the partition please"
This is another one of my favourites with a more similar sound to her other albums but still a great song.

#3 Yoncé - "I sneezed on the beat and the beat got sicker, Yoncé all on my mouth like liquor"
One of the best, shorter songs however it makes up for it being more up beat.

#2 Grown Woman - "I'm a grown woman, I can do what ever I want"
This is one of the best being the most upbeat song with a catchy beat, this is by far the most dance worthy/up tempo song on the whole album.

#1 XO - "I love it like XO, You love me like XO, You kill me boy XO, You love me like XO"
This is by far my top favourite from the album as it's magical music and catchy lyrics can always put me in a good mood

I have made this post as these music videos are similar to the type of genre that I will be using in my music magazine.

Q Front Cover Analysis

Top songs of 2013

Here is a video made by Daniel Kim showing off all of the most popular songs of 2013 condensed down into 6 minutes.

Task 16 - Q magazine Voki

Here i have used voki to analyse this magazine cover from Q

Task 15 - Music Magazine Analysis 2

Here is another magazine cover and using the terminology I have learned, I have annotated the magazine cover on slideshare, as seen below:

Task 14 - Magazine Terminology

Great uses of Photoshop

I was browsing the internet the other day for different Photoshop tutorials when I came across a post on The Fan Art Exhibit Website that showed an incredible use of Photoshop where someone had used Photoshop to turn Marvel's Avengers into Females. The series of posts are entitled "If Women Ruled The World"

Lokia 

Thora

Miss America

Iron Maiden

Lady Hulk

You can find the original thread of posts at this website here where you can find numerous other posts that use Photoshop to a very high level.



College Magazine Contents Page

Here is my template contents page for my college magazine

Task 13 - College Magazine

My next task was to create a college magazine that I would make on Photoshop as practice for my final Music Magazine that I would create.

I had taken the two pictures using my phone camera however I would like to use a better quality camera in order to have better quality images. I had also used bright red colours for the banners as to make it stand out a lot more and I had used a white font as to make it look big and bright.

Task 12 - Impacts Of Photoshop

Photoshop may be a very useful tool but it can have different effects on people, both positive and negative which can have a dangerous influence on people of younger ages.

Positive:

• The music magazines will benefit the most from photoshop as it is assisting sales
• The models will benefit also because it gives them more publicity and improves their image
• It gives the consumer something to look at

Negatives:

• It gives younger girls the impression that they have to look like the models in order to be considered "beautiful"
• It can cause younger girls to become anorexic because they are starving themselves to look like someone who doesn't even look like that themselves
• It gives men unrealistic expectations of women

Task 11 - Photoshop Album Cover

I have completed the album cover in photoshop using a variety of different skills such as face merging, colour blending, smoothing tool and text tools and many other techniques. here is the final image:

I decided to make the album cover a mix of both of their albums as i have merged both of their faces onto each others bodies, however both of the artists are from completely different genres so i decided to make the album different from what music genre they are from as a parody Jazz album using both of their album titles and giving the cover a starry night and a grey-scale tone.

Photoshop - Album Cover Practice

I was set a task to gather pictures of two celebrities and merge them together somehow and make a mock album cover for them and the two celebrities that were given were 50 cent and Susan Boyle, Here are the two images that I will be using:

 

Photoshop Modification (Continued)

In a previous post I had began to edit a picture of Emma Blackery with different tools, well I have looked at different online tutorials for Photoshop and I have learned how to merge and change an image so that it gives a face-swap kind of effect, as seen below:

As you can see the face is blended into the original image and the skin tone was changed to match that of the one in the original photo.

Photoshop Modifications

I have been practicing with Photoshop lately as practice for when I will create my Music Magazine Cover and I have been experimenting with different tools and finding out their functions and what they will do, currently I am experimenting with a photo of Emma Blackery and I have managed to remove the background and rounded down the edges of the image, This is what I have done so far:

I hope to continue to experiment with Photoshop and image editing.

Task 10 - Music Magazine Analysis 1

Here i have a magazine cover from NME and using the terminology i have learned in the lesson i have annotated the magazine cover, as seen below:

Intro to photoshop

Today i had my first lesson on photoshop to create my college magazine cover, i took an image of the school and edited it.

Using photoshop i removed the background/sky using the magic wand tool and i also added text to the top of the cover, i also experimented with the brush tool and the burn tool. I also used the text tool and experimented with the 3d shading.

Task 9 - Analysing A College Magazine

When i look at this magazine the first things that i notice is that it looks extremely formal as there is lots of text laid out in columns, there is also very little images on the front cover which doesn't make it look very exciting. However, at the bottom of the cover there is a section about a christmas concert which shows there are some extra curricular activities and there is also a column on the side with the sub heading "Head's Message" which shows that the head teacher is involved in the activities of the school.

Other parts of the cover that I notice is that the school crest is at the top of the cover and the Title of the newsletter which also has a winter theme to it as it was published around christmas time. Also the images of the graffiti on the wall shows that school has a relaxed attitude and likes to involve students.

What would i do differently

Firstly, I wouldn't call this a magazine at all, it looks more along the lines of a newsletter. Also i believe the newsletter looks too formal as it has lots of text but i think it could use a couple more images and a little less text.

Task 8 - Ideology

Ideology is the system of ideas and ideals that form the basis of how we think of something or someone

For example, the ideology of my school can be shown through different ways; the typical ideology for a school is a safe and non-threataning environment, for example, in the following images:

In this image the ideology makes it look like a cool image, however, there are some aspects of the image which makes it look uninviting. The dark sky even though photoshopped looks gloomy and miserable and the angle it is taken at makes the building look big and almost looking like a prison.












However in this image the ideology is good and it make the building look inviting. The sky is bright and clear and the building is not shot in a way which makes it look scary, the building looks more inviting and it shows a more safe learning environment.

Task 7 - Applying The Male Gaze

We can apply the male gaze to practically anything in the media and not just that in music magazines but television.like Hollyoaks, the male gaze can be applied to this clip here:

In the start of this clip we see Mercedes washing a car in small shorts and a tank top and her friend joins her and Mercedes tries to get her to dress more revealing as to get more male attention and get more business. As they continue to wash cars they start to get more customers and when the two guys come over and try to wash cars they do the same as the girls by taking their shirts off but still getting little to no business, the girls taking all of the customers by washing the cars in an over sexualized manor by bending over infront of the men and washing themselves with the water and showing lots of skin. The girls are using the male gaze theory to their advantage in order to get more male attention by making themselves look more pleasing to the male eye which in turn attracts more customers.

Task 6 - The Male Gaze

The Male Gaze Theory 

The male gaze theory was first introduced by Laura Mulvey, the concept was developed to show how an audience views women. The ways in which they view women can be thought of in 3 different ways:

• How men view women 
• How women look at themselves
• How women look at other women

The male gaze shows the power women can have over men using their sexuality, women in pop culture are typically seen doing this, for example:

In the Q magazine on the left Lilly Allen is not being shot on the cover to promote her music career or any sort of music industry, she is portrayed on the cover in a way that is over sexualised in order to gain male attention. Her seductive, highly suggestive pose and the strap line "Lily Allen & Her Wicked Wicked Ways..." is used to appeal to the typical male patriarchal society and convince them to buy the magazine.

Now in this image we see  the lead singer of Joy Division, Callum Moreman where image is just focused on his face where he has a cigarette in his mouth which gives him the appearance that he is cool and has a "bad boy" personality type, where as you wouldn't usually see females in this type of pose.

Here we can see Beth Ditto who is completely exploiting the male gaze theory as she is not typicaly what the male patriarchy would call attractive which is why it has had such an effect. This is not entirely out of character for her either as she contiusly takes her clothes of during her shows.

Task 5 - Introduction To feminism

Feminism is the movement that is promoting gender, social, economic and political equality, this also includes establishing equal opportunities for employment and education.

Feminists mainly campaign for women's rights such as the right to vote, the right to equal pay and reproductive rights. Lots of powerful women in the media are feminists such as Lady Gaga and Wendy Davis.

History Of Feminism

Feminism became popular during the 1940-1950 period where women would usually do the typical "male" jobs. Once the men returned from war, women continued to remain active in the workplace instead of returning to the house to continue to do housework.

In the beginning of the 20th century is when women started to gain more rights such as the right to and education and equal marriage laws, in some countries women were even allowed to join the military.
 

Major Events

• In 1928 women had secured the right to vote the same as men over the age of 21
• In 1963 congress passed the equal pay bill which made it illegal for employers to pay a woman less than what a man makes for doing the same job.
• In 1978 the pregnancy discrimination act was passed which made it illegal for employers to deny jobs or promotions to women based on if they are pregnant or planning to become pregnant.

Famous Feminists

There are many feminists today and many of them are in pop or in the media, such feminists include:

• Lady Gaga
• Wendy Davis
• JK Rowling
• Hilary Clinton
• Oprah Winfery

Task 4 - Semiotic Theory

Semiotic theory is where human action involves signs in three different ways.

Firstly, the person becomes aware of the sign, this is called The Perception Stage.
Secondly, The Manipulation Stage where the person interprets the sign and decides how to respond to it. Lastly, there is The Consummation Stage where the person responds to the sign.

Denotation - This is the exact literal meaning of a word such as childish meaning that of like a child.

Connotation - This is a word that can be used to convey an emotional response such as Childish which could imply that someone is immature.

This theory can apply to music magazines as if the magazine has a dark colour to it and have depressing pictures then it could not bring people to buy the magazine. However, if the magazine has a bright complexion and have more positive aspect to it then it can give a more positive influence and attract more people.

Task 3 - Questionnaire

Please take the time to answer my questionnaire which can be found below 

Task 2 - Audience Research Methods

I will be using two main methods of research that will help me towards my music magazine:

• Qualitative Research
• Quantitative Research

Quantitative Research is used to measure and predict leading to a final course of action.

Qualitative Reserch is used to uncover and understand thoughts and opinions.

The two types of data that will be recorded are:

• Primary - Data that nobody else has recorded such as questionnaires and surveys
• Secondary - Data that others have already collected such as Internet and Newspapers

Task 1 - What is a Music Magazine

To put it simply a music magazine is a magazine that is dedicated to music culture and would typically include different items, such as:

• Tour Dates
• Profile of different artists
• Interviews
• Current Music Events
• Photo Shoots
• Advertisements
• Music news

There have been many different music magazines in the past, the most notable ones include

Q Magazine                                                            NME

                      

One of the longest running music magazines in the U.K is a magazine called B.M.G which is a magazine that has been running since the 1900s, That particular magazine is associated with the Acoustic genre. Different music magazines genres would usually have information based on those certain genres which would tailor to the specific needs of the buyer .
Some of the different genres include:

R&B                                                  Alternative                                 Acoustic

                      

B.M.G may be the oldest magazine in the UK but it is not the most popular. Currently the most popular music magazine in the UK is The Fly, another extreamly popular music magazine would be The Rolling Stone.

The future for music magazines could go in different directions as more and more people can get their subscription online instead of physically buying it which could have a negative effect on it's profits but it could also be very good for them as it would be possible to increase sales as they don't make a set number of copies, customers can just buy them online.

Introduction To My Blog

Hello, and welcome to my blog!

Here is a Voki explaining the purpose of this blog