Double page spread.

Article for Double page spread

The Crow, maintain anonymity behind a black and white mask which causes audiences left stunned at this musical genius' vocal range with the uber-aggressive style mixed with a soothing potent and unapologetic lyrics, which hit an emotional area deep down in every fan.  The Crow gave us an exclusive interview in which he said "The mask for me represents much more than just trying to cover my identity, with each album I change my mask/look, because I feel as my music evolves, I also evolve as a person so this one, specifically, is supposed to represent the person behind the mask, but then the person behind that person which is one of the reasons why its in two pieces in two different colours and you can peel the one off and its still a representation. So Its almost like having two faces, but its the same person. Furthermore, I feel like having a mask which I feel matches the personality and person within myself allows me to be true to myself because I've accepted that everything that has happened to me in my life... has made an impact to who I am today."  
The Crow, started out making a name for themselves with gigs in local and backstreet stages. He's been adding to his reputation for 7 years. The Crow who's real identity and appearance still remains unknown began climbing towards his dream with very little cash and hardly any possessions to his name which is clearly portrayed through the dark lyrics which mostly focus upon depression, anxiety, death, and other dark subjects which are a part of his and everyone else's reality.  He shared with us what his inspirations were to follow his dreams and make a name for himself as a teenage boy living on the streets, making money by performing in parks for the general public. Reason why so many people love and idolise him due to staying true to his roots even though his true identity is a touchy subject, he goes against the stereotype of a metal singer and composer. Instead of letting fame get to his head he regularly visits his local area's park which he spent most of his teenage years in. Furthermore, with every pay cheque he receives he donates 40% of his income to homeless charities and charities for children going through a rough situation at home. Even though his music displays him as a ruthless badass, The Crow has shown everyone his caring side,but he is still a BADASS nonetheless. 

Not long after The Crow started making a name for himself he was instantly signed to the record label Roadrunners Records, which help promote and distribute his first album 'Hypophrenia'. Which focus' on pain, heartbreak, sorrow and hard situations in every day life.   

Final Front cover

This is my final front cover cover for my magazine. Since the last draft progression, I have created a new pug and I have edited and manipulated the text on the left hand side of the page.

Contents Mood board and Common conventions

Common Conventions
All these contents pages feature common features which can be seen through these examples.

• They all have either one main image which the contents page focuses on or small individual images which give the audience more interest because there are more images. 
• Common conventions of these contents pages are that they all follow the their house style which involves font, colour scheme, whether the magazine is packed with information or if it's going for the minimalist look.
• Due to being a contents page, all of these examples all feature page numbers.
• Across all the examples Ive chosen to review I can see that 'Contents' is always featured as a bold heading at the top of the page, which can be bold due to the bold colour scheme or the size or font.
• From the examples I have chosen, a common convention is to have a caption/ anchorage text of every image which is featured on the contents page.
• All contents pages all follow a structural layout which makes the product look ascetically pleasing.
• On some examples I have seen, a factor which is quite common is an 'editors pick' section which gives the audience an insight into a new band they may not be as well known.
• There are always numbers at the bottom of the pages which will be guide the audience to the articles they want to look at.
• They are usually one or two pages.
• There are always sub headings like featured, news/reviews, on the cover which divide the text so the magazine has structure.
• In some cases, the page numbers are set in chronological order so its easier for the audience to read

Progression

Ive changed the kerning between the Coverline "This is War" so it looks like the text belongs together. Furthermore, I have edited the bands at the top and bottom of the page so it looks more professional due to following conventions of fellow heavy metal magazines.
I also emphasized the bands/ artists in the coverlines, and I gave them bolder colours so the audience are drawn to it.

Progression

Progression

Progression

My decision for my front cover main image.

These were all options for my front cover due to the direct address made by the photographer. 

I have started editing two of the three photos which may feature on my front cover. I am going to choose the first image due to the makeup used represents my genre as it reflects darkness by binary opposites, also it doesn't require me to edit another background between the main image as it doesn't have different textures and materials, plus the second image has objects in the far left which could be cropped.

Final Draft

This is my finally front cover which I create through taking feedback on board from my teacher and fellow media students, I was instructed to have my emphasis on the "The crow" and with the band/artists names so the audience can easily identify who will be featured in the magazine which will will attract the consumers. Furthermore, I used binary opposites to also highlight the artists name like Paul Gray which leads the audience to see the importance of that artist in the music industry and in my magazine.

Draft 2

This is my second draft and I have altered the text sizes and fonts and the model picture I use on the front cover. I also created a new pug for my front cover to attract the audience.

Draft 1

This is my first draft of my music magazine.

What is kerning?

Kerning is the process of adjusting the spacing between characters in aproportional font, usually to achieve a visually pleasing result. Kerning adjusts the space between individual letter forms, while editing the different letters in which is highlighted.