Research: Existing Magazines and Heavy Metal

Here are two of my bigger pieces of research. The first is a look in-depth at a variety of photographs from existing music magazines (All of these images were from an issue of Q) and studying the various conventions that are displayed and utilized in order to implement similar techniques in my own photoshoot.

Sam White - Media AS Mood Board analysis

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The second is an analysis of the genre of music my magazine is geared towards: Heavy Metal. It also looks into the general idea of the target market, as well as some common tropes and traits of heavy metal that can also be integrated into the production of the magazine.

Metal Presentation AS Sam White

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(PLEASE PAUSE THE SLIDESHOWS WHEN VIEWING EACH SLIDE, THE CONVERSION PROCESS HAS DELETED MY PREVIOUS TIMINGS I SET UP ON THE POWERPOINTS)

Putting the Pages together

I have been focused upon editing this week, and so far it’s been pretty good. I’ve been designing the cover, content page and double page spread in such a manner that I can simply slide in the photos of the band members I have and edit them there and then. Here is my progress on each so far:


The title is in a font from dafont.com, a massive and incredibly useful font resource. I decided to focus on three colours for the entire magazine to get a feeling of familiarity and solidarity from the readers, and firmly establish the unique aspect of my particular magazine. It is also a system I have seen in the other magazines I have studied, or if not three colours then at least sticking to a very tight spectrum of colours. Red and black are both indicative colours of the genre of Heavy Metal, as I have established, and white exists to provide a contrast to both.

Editing this together has been challenging, but ultimatly very enjoyable as well as an oppotunity to hone my skills with photoshop. I am also very happy with the editing thus far. All that remains is to clean up the pages, create the text and insert the photos into their appropriate slots.

Photoshoot Retrospective

Well, I finally got around to doing the shoot, and so much went wrong its barely funny. Two of my models were unable to come to the shoot, due to a misunderstanding about when exactly the shoot was going to take place. Hence, they had made other plans, and I was down to a single model. This wasn’t too bad, but I couldn’t find a replacement available at that time. I had to takes the photos of the individual poses separately, simply because I knew I could integrate them together later on. Because I could only find one replacement model, I stood in for the 3rd band member I needed, utilizing the timer function on my Digital SLR camera. Taking all these photos at different times was something of a chore, but by this point, I can’t afford to extend time for my preferential outcome: I have to get this done so that I can blast on with the editing and finish my main product. I will elaborate on this in my Evaluation.

Plans for the Photoshoot

I want at least two or three different people, set up, standing in a row. Their dress will be discussed later. The rough idea of the pose is illustrated below. The theme is battle, and ferocity. The guitarist is stood forward, wit the guitar over his/her shoulder, akin to an axe or similar broad weapon. The second person, either beside or just behind the guitarist on their right shall hold aloft a microphone like a sword, (I’ll add a glowing effect to simulate a blade protruding from the the Mic). If we have a third person, then I’d want them behind the guitarist on their left, holding a pair of drumsticks, appearing to be spinning them. I can edit the appearance to make the photo show this, but I want them looking fairly quiet or subdued compared to the other members. Each one is linked to a specific emotion. The guitarist is confident and proud, the vocalist is aggressive and energized, the drummer is subdued and relaxed, maybe distant.


As far as Appearance goes, I want a female guitarist. Mainly to break a convention in that the lead of a band is usually male, and guitarists themselves are usually male, exceptions notwithstanding. The Vocalist I want is male, to maintain the traditional

male presence within Heavy metal. The drummer is either male or female, but if I find a female willing to, I want the appearance to be somewhat male, as I will elaborate on in the clothing.


The way they are dressed is also important. I want the Guitarist and vocalist in leather jackets. I own one, but I will have to be somewhat reliant upon the models I pick to supply at least one other. The guitarist will have a plain white T-shirt on beneath, although if there is a logo or emblem of some kind, it is preferred. Bottom half is either blue or black jeans the vocalist will have the jacket zipped up, so shirt/t-shirt doesn’t matter. Ideally, a large belt buckle would be feature on the clothing, along with them wearing black trousers or jeans. The drummer will look decidedly more casual, with a black shirt and some manner of necklace. The necklace itself doesn’t particularly matter, as long as it’s silver. I also want sunglasses over their eyes. Bottom half is, like the guitarist, blue or black jeans.

Current Focus'

I am focusing right now on two things:

1) pulling together research on the genre of music that my own magazine will focus upon, which I have decided to be heavy Metal.

2) Thinking of and finding models to use in the photoshoot for the magazine

For this photoshoot, I am going to create a fictional band composed of models I can find playing instruments that I have some access to. At present I have my uncles old electric guitar up in my attic, making potentially the most expensive prop no problem at all. I want to also have a vocalist and a drummer, and their instruments are far less costly. The vocalist will simply have a microphone, and I know a friend of mine owns one, whereas the drummer will simply have a pair of drumsticks. I cannot afford to bring a drum set to the shot and it would not be efficient or entirely necessary.


Thus far, this is all I have really thought of. I will develop these ideas over the next week and have a full description posted here for next week

School Underground Magazine - Inside

In practice for our Product of a Music Magazine, we were asked to create an underground school newsletter, one that doesn't necessarily report what a school would want to advertise itself in a positive, PR-friendly manner. These are the Cover and Contents pages I was asked to create.

WARNING!!! : Large Images shown, prepare have to scroll down a lot!

I primarily used Red and Black colouring on these covers, as they are the stereotypical colours of "evil", and they are fairly easy to make look distinctive, as they naturally clash. The Title font was of my own editing, to reflect both the nature of the Newsletters content, and the enclosed, penitentiary-like atmosphere that the magazine tries to present the school as. The repeated use of the graffiti tag style font as to emphasze the rawness of the message given.

R&P - Featured Band Music.

"Coat of Arms" by Sabaton



"Ready to Roll" by Jet Black Stare

Both of these songs draw heavy referances to the genre of Rock. The formr focuses more on the heavy side of things, similar to bands like Dragonforce and Metallica, whereas the latter is more youthful, rebellious and faster-pased. It's easy from these to see the diversity that the Rock and Metal Genre covers, various subcultures notwithstanding. I chose these two to feature for two key reasons: 1). Both of these bands are not nearly as well known as I'd like to think they should be, and 2). The music made by both is symbolic of what Rock and Metal is. The allusions to bloody war and savagery in the more old-time metal style in "Coat of Arms", compared to the more modern equivilant of breaking the law with an adrenaline rush while speeding down a highway in "Ready to Roll". WHile this has the disadvantage of the bands being less popular (and therefore somewhat counter-intuitive to the idea of a Metal Magazine), it can draw viewers attention to a wider array of their favourite musical style, achieve one of the main aims of a magazine; to inform the reader.