Editing my photo for the contents page

I first started out with opening the image I wanted into Photoshop.

 

 I then found an image on Google of the word 'Indie' written in graffiti. I opened this image and placed it on the skateboard, and erased the picture that went off the skateboard. This is the finsihed photo, which I will be using in my contents page.  

 

 

My magazine so far

 

 



Interview Corrected

 

What genre do you class your music?

I always find it hard to answer this one. I suppose the music I write has been influenced from different genres and artists I have grown up with. Certainly at the moment you could say that I fall into the Acoustic Singer song writer category. As well as being into playing the acoustic guitar I also have big influences in electric guitar and the blues so I try to combine the two. Ideally one day my music will be with a full band, to get the most out of the music but still including acoustic and electric guitar influences.

 

When did you know that you wanted to peruse a career in music?

I got my first guitar when I was four years old. I don’t remember why I asked for one but I remember being adamant it had to be a real guitar and not one of those toy ones. It was a classical guitar and massively too big at the time for my tiny hands and arms. I grew up learning the guitar and singing whilst playing so really from then on it grew into a dream that one day, I could be a successful Musician.  

Do you have a role model? If yes who is it? 

I was obsessed with Nirvana and Kurt Cobain from the age of about 13 to well 17. I still love Nirvana but I’m not trying to sound like them these days. They have certainly influenced me and have played a massive part in my song writing.

Where do you see yourself in 10 years?

In ten years time I want to be sitting on a beach with a cocktail strumming a guitar and making a life out of music. The music industry is a difficult place to break into but I would always regret not giving it a good go. In the next ten years various songs and albums will be released along with various shows and radio slots to promote.

What was the first song you ever sang? How did it make you feel?

The first song was ‘Daddy is taking us to the Zoo Tomorrow’. If you don’t know it, it’s an old rhyme that we used to sing at primary school. I remember learning the chords and singing for the first time and showing it to my mum. The first song I ever performed in front of a group of people was probably Streets Of London by Ralph Mctell.

If you had to describe the music you produce in three words what would it be?

Meaningful, Mysterious, Provoking.

What has been your biggest challenge in your music career so far?

The constant hurdle of getting people to hear about your music. There are so many people who want to be a musician or star and it can be very hard to have your music heard or often it can be judged before it’s even heard.

If you had the opportunity to change something about the music industry what would it be?

Well unfortunately now record labels don’t have the finance, resources or time to develop an artist who needs that early development.  Too many people are robbing the music industry by illegally downloading which has had a massive knock on effect to the industry. Before they were able to make lots of money from C.D sales, something that has been devastated by downloading.  Now artists must tour extensively to earn money. This means that Record Labels are now looking to find artists that can prove they are already selling records and have all the other necessary attributes, because they are less of a financial risk factor.

Sometimes I wonder if anyone gets signed anymore just because they have raw talent - I certainly hope so.

What do you think makes you and your type of music unique from other artists?

Everyone has their own way of doing things, writing chords, lyrics etc. Also every individual artist has been influenced by a different collection of artists which contribute to their own sound.  I can honestly say all my music that I write comes from the heart. I don’t ever force a song or writing - it’s something I do when I don’t mean to; pick up the guitar play some chords come up with a melody and the song starts to develop. I’ve always said that I feel that writing songs is my way of keeping a diary because all my songs reflect bits of my life as it happens.  I think that combining the lead guitar with acoustic guitar and my various influences I’m creating a sound that’s unique to me.

 

 

 

In todays lesson...

In todays lesson, I have gone through what I have done in the holiday's with my teacher Ms Silva and she has given me feedback on how to improve my interview and my front cover.

 

Things I need to change in my front cover is to add or take words out of the interview, this will make the sentences make more sense.   

 

Interview Questions Answered

What genre do you class you music in? 

I always find it hard to answer this one. I suppose the music I write has been influenced from different genres and artists I have grown up with. Certainly at the moment you could say that I fall into the Acoustic Singer song writer category. As well as being into playing the acoustic guitar I also have big influences in electric guitar and the blues so I try to combine the two. Ideally one day my music will be with a full band, to get the most out of the music but still including acoustic and electric guitar influences.

When did you know that you wanted to peruse a career in music? 

I got my first guitar when I was four years old I don’t remember why I asked for one but I remember being adamant it had to be a real guitar and not one of those toy ones. It was a classical guitar and massively too big at the time for my tiny hands and arms. I grew up learning the guitar and singing whilst playing so really from then on it grew into a dream that one day, I could be a successful Musician.  

Do you have a role model? If yes who is it?

I was obsessed with Nirvana and Kurt Cobain from the age of about 13 to well 17. I still Love Nirvana but I’m not trying to sound like them these days. They have certainly influenced me and have played a massive part in my song writing.

Where do you see yourself in 10 years? 

In ten years’ time I want to be sitting on a beach with a cocktail strumming a guitar and making a life out of music. The music industry is a difficult place to break into but I would always regret not giving it a good go. In the next ten years various songs and albums will be released various shows and radio slots to promote.

What was the first song you ever sang? How did it make you feel?

The first song was ‘Daddys’ taking us to the Zoo Tomorrow. If you don’t know it, It’s an old rhyme that we used to sing at primary school. I remember learning the chords and singing for the first time and showing it to my mum. The first song I ever performed in front of a group of people was probably Streets Of London by Ralph Mctell.

If you had to describe the music you produce in three words what would it be? 

Meaningful, Mysterious, Provoking.

What has been your biggest challenge in your music career so far? 

The constant hurdle of getting people to hear about your music. There’s so many people who want to be a musician or star It can be very hard to have your music heard or often it can be judged before its even heard.

If you had the opportunity to change something about the music industry what would it be?

Well unfortunately now record labels don’t have the finance, resources or time etc. to develop an artist who needs that early development.  To many people are robbing the music industry by illegally downloading which has had a massive knock on effect to the industry. Before they were able to make lots of money from C.D sales, something that has been devastated by downloading.  Now artists must tour extensively to earn money. This means that Record Labels are now looking to find artists that can prove they are already selling records and have all the other necessary attributes, because they are less of a financial risk factor.

Sometimes I wonder if anyone gets signed anymore just because they have raw talent I certainly hope so.

What do you think makes you and your type of music unique from other artists?

Everyone has their own way of doing things, Writing chords, lyrics etc. Also every individual artist has been influenced by a different collection of artists which contribute to their own sound.  I can honestly say all my music that I write comes from the heart. I don’t ever force a song or writing it’s something I do when I don’t mean to, Pick up the guitar play some chords come up with a melody and the song starts to develop. I’ve always said that I feel that writing songs is my way of keeping a diary because all my songs reflect bits of my life as it happens.  I think that combining the lead guitar with acoustic guitar and my various influences I’m creating a sound that’s unique to me.

Looking through the answers to the questions, It gives me an insight to what is it like to be an artist and also how hard it really is. To include most of the questions and answers, I have to shorten the answers leaving the most important information. 

Experimenting with different fonts 

These screen shoots are of the different fonts I have experimented with, the font that I chose I will be using for my front cover. Each font is simple but stands out at the top of the page, they make the magazine look more professional. When I was researching different music magazines I noticed that the name of the magazines were always at the top of the page in front or behind the main image. The different fonts are all in the colour black, I chose this colour because it stands out against the grey background well and the colour black brings the detail out more in the fonts.
                                                                               

Editing of my chosen photo for my front cover 

Before

After

To get to this final image, I cropped the photo, making it become a  medium shot capturing the head to just above the waist. I also changed the colour of the background to grey, by using the paint bucket tool. This tool changes the whole background to any colour which you have chosen, this tool can also change the colour of part of the photo and also lettering. Another tool I used was the magnetic lasso tool, this tool allows you to cut out any part of your photo, I used this tool to cut around the hair to make the edges more smooth and to erase the background colour from the previous photo. By doing this to the photo, it makes the photo look more finished and polished. 

Edits of my photo for my front cover

I opened the photo in Photoshop and the tools I used to edit the photo were the Magnetic Lasso Tool, Magic Wand Tool and the eraser tool. These helped to erase the background and leave the main body of the model, once the background was erased it allowed me to change the colour of the background or place a picture behind the model. 

I experimented and changed the background to black, but the hair of the model blended in to the black background, and also the photo didn't stand out enough. 

The original photo was slightly dark, so I lightened the photo by adjusting the brightness and contrast. I didn't want to lighten the photo too much because I didn't want the skin colour of the model to turn yellow. 

Chosen photo for my front cover

I have chosen this photo for my front cover because, I think it captures the meaning of the genre Indie  perfectly, also the photo is a medium shot, this shot is mostly used in music magazines and I wanted to keep to the main features of a magazine. Another good thing about this photo is that the model is looking straight at the camera to the audience, this is a good pose because by the model looking straight to the audience it makes it more personal and the audience feels more involved. To edit this photo I will edit it in Photoshop, I am going to lighten the image slightly, and cut the model out and place him on a white or black background.      

Photo Shoot Photos

These photos I have taken will be used on the front cover and the double page spread in my music magazine.