Survey

I constructed a Music Magazine Survey including 10 multiple choice and ranking questions. I posted the link onto two Social networking websites (Facebook and Twitter) and got 24 responses in the first couple of hours. I am aiming to get 100 responses in order to conduct a detailed and varied set of analysis of the results. By next week I will begin gathering my results, so I would be grateful for any more respondents to use the link below to complete the quick survey. Thank you!

http://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=8658855258391059536#editor/target=post;postID=3096520350103433525

Lady Gaga Observation

Lady Gaga Photos (Q Magazine)

After looking through this issue of Q from 2010, I noticed that the photos of Lady Gaga were taken from the same photoshoot. The slight variation in props (from the gloves to the chain) give each picture a very different mood. For example, the photo on the front cover is very explicit and has been placed there to create a statement, and to catch people's attention - which is what an audience would expect of Lady Gaga's extreme persona. Contrasted with the main image, the photo used in the double page spread is very personal as the mid shot and direct eye contact means that the reader feels a lot closer to her. This image sided with the explicit language and minute details included in the article means that the reader finds out a lot more about Lady Gaga than maybe they were expecting. I think this particular set of photos are ones which a select group of people - Lady Gaga fans - would respect the most because they will have seen their favourite artist in the eyes of the media a lot during appearances at award ceremonies etc, but in this issue of Q magazine, they are in a very different, and more personal, level with her which I think they would prefer. I also noticed this same-photo technique used in the Take That issue of Q magazine, so it appears to be something with the magazine creators think is important to include sometimes. The use not only a colour photograph, but a black and white one (which features in the Take That issue as well) seems to work well because the colour photograph is typical of a photo you'd see in a magazine, but I see the black and white one as though the artist has been stripped of the celebrity-status and their glamorous lifestyle to sit down and have this personal chat with the magazine to open up to them, and the readers have an insight into it. Despite the results of my market research, this is something which I definitely want to do because, for me, it helps the reader to connect better with the magazine. Furthermore, I can vision these types of photo fitting in nicely with the ideas I have for the colour scheme in my magazine as well.

Concerns

At this early stage in my project I find I have many concerns about timing. Firstly, I feel as though I am rushing through the analysis just to get it finished because I know I have lots of work lined up to be completed - I think this is because I have already planned lots of different tasks to do later on in my project, but I can't complete these until I finish the earlier tasks. I also feel myself starting a new blog post/task every time I open my blog because then I know what I have to complete to move forward in my coursework. This has lead to me to start planning out how I'm going to use my time so that I can get my work done by deadlines and finally begin creating my music magazine.

By the end of this week I plan to have these completed and updated onto my blog:

• Begin analysis of 5 double page spreads
• Lady Gaga Observation
• Finish drawing the plans for my own magazine
• Have a varied set of results from the online survey I created and to begin analysing them

Photo planning

I made this table so I could plan in advance the photos I am going to take for my magazine. I will fill it out in preparation for my photos, during the process of taking them and editing them, and when they are completed and put into my project.
  

	Camera?	Colour?	Who?	Where?	When?	Done?
1		Colour	Reece	Studio	18/3	Yes
2	4	Colour	Reece	Brick wall, Whitley Bay	20/3	Yes
3	4	Black and White	Reece	Stairs, Tilda's house, Whitley Bay	20/3	Yes
4
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Below this is a second table which explains in detail how I will take the picture and what effect it will give me once taken.

	Angle/level	Camera distance	Pose	Where is the sitter looking?	Lighting	Costume	Mise en scene	Colour scheme	Target audience
1	Eyeline	Close up	No facial expression, eyes slightly squinted looking straight at camera	Slightly to the right	Bright, not much shadow	Purple shirt, matching colour scheme	Hair flicked at the front to stand out and overlap magazine name. Looks smart	Purple/grey	Teens/young adults who are Indie fans
2		Long shot	Leaning against a brick wall, hands in pockets	To the left	Dimmed, not as bright as front cover image	Long khaki coat, blue rolled up jeans, Doc Martens	Flat hair with fringe. Looks casual, mysterious	None	Teens/young adults who are Indie fans
3	Eyeline	Longshot	Sitting on stairs with legs bent and apart, arms leaning on knees, staring straight into camera	Straight at the camera	Bright, but not too overexposed as it will be changed into black and white		Flat hair looks casual. Full of attitude, holding of hands looks strong	None, black and white	Teens/young adults who are Indie fans
4
5