Making It Cohesive

Hey blog
I'm having a lot of trouble with the colors of the magazine. The cover is going to be have a black background but I want to add color to the magazine through what the models will be wearing but I'm having trouble finding an aesthetic that I like and can stick to that goes well with the cover.

I have been trying to figure it out on canva but I think its too light and maybe too colorful. Once I put in the other pictures I will have to see what looks best. In other news, I have decided that the name for my magazine will be Spotlight. I took the advice that I was given in the group meetings and thought spotlight was inclusive theatre and not just specific parts of it. Also a lot of phrases for marketing can be made out of it. 

Table of Contents Planning

I have been looking at a bunch of different layouts for my table of contents and I came down with two main options. inspired by the following two table of contents.

Out of these I came up with two ideas that I liked. I made more graphics so I could visualize them. one is a drawing and one I made on my phone.

#1

For this idea I wanted a dance move that was very linear so that the text or title table of contents could easily fit around it. One of the problems I have with it is that I think my magazine will look too dance focused. Also this is solely for the purpose of layout. The colors in the picture are disgusting and not at all what I plan to use in my actual magazine. This is also not as creative as I would have liked it to be but it is defiantly more conventional. 

This idea was heavily inspired by the third photo and the concept for it is to have theatre related things like a headshot, dance shoes, makeup, etc. and have them cut out and put on the left side of the pages. This would let the reader of the magazine see things like rosin which they might have never known was used for theatre and learn more about the behind the scenes of the art form. I also think this would be way more inclusive and encapsulate more aspects of theatre other than dancing.

Group Meetings

Today we had group meeting in class and I was given good feedback on my project. One of the things I was struggling with was the name of my magazine and one of the girls in my group gave me an idea that really helped. She recommended to find things that have to do with theatre and try and use that as names so like backstage, spotlight, etc. I thought that was a good and simple way to create a title. one of the things I wish was that there was another person in my group doing a magazine. While I like giving and receiving feedback from people who doing film openings, I wish I could get tips and feedback from people who are experiencing and creating the same thing I am.

Scheduling :/

Scheduling has presented itself as a significant issue in my project. The girl I'm doing the article on for the magazine is very busy and we are going on a field trip to state theatre convention. With the states trip coming up soon we both have rehearsal and things we have to do to prepare for the field trip. I'm trying to think of ways to do complete the interview and the pictures efficiently. In order to make it not a large time commitment, I'm going to do the interview over the text or email. Although this isn't my ideal way of interviewing, I have to work with both of our extra activities and school work. For the cover image since I'm photographing multiple models I also have to find a way to meet with them. When I first came up with the idea for the cover image I didn't realize how much of the a challenge it would be to find time to meet with each person.

Despite this, I think the product will be worth it in the end especially since for the cover all the models are trying to pursue theatre whether it be in directing or performing and they inspire me a bunch. So I'm still very excited. I just hope I can photograph everyone I want to.

Theatre Magazines

Since I have changed my original genre for my magazine to theatre, I needed to do way more research to find common production and content conventions. The magazines I chose for my research are the Canadian Theatre Review and Playbill.

Canadian Theatre Magazine is mainly produced by college students and is published by university of Toronto press. The magazine analyzes current theatre developments in Canadian theatre. It discussions many topic regarding theatergoers, critics, performers and more.

Cover Image

• black background
• pictures are of multiple people instead of only one subject
• there aren't any cover lines only the topic of the magazine 
• the setting is a stage 
• barcode on lower left corner
• colorful masthead 

The history of the Playbill magazine is hard to find but on Wikipedia it said Playbill was published by New York Theatre Program Corporation. The content focuses on new play and musicals.

cover image

• dark background 
• focuses on one subject
• cover lines mainly on left side
• barcode on lower left side in a large white rectangle
• brightly colored masthead

In my cover image I want to include the dark/black background, colored masthead, topic of the magazine, and stage setting. The content for my magazine is going to be more similar to the Canadian Theatre Review and focus on topics/issues within the theatre industry.

Planning The Cover Image

I have been really stuck on finding something I think will be engaging for the cover image, especially since the background will be black. I was trying to think of how to make it not look like a dance magazine and use acting, singing and dancing in the cover. I had the idea to make a collage of all the three aspects of musical theatre.

This is the (very) rough sketch I made in my phone of the idea I had and then I tested it to see if it was actually doable. To do this I brought out the skills I gained from making really bad fan edits in middle school. This included a specific app called Picsart. I have used Picsart for many projects and it definitely came in handy to bring my idea to life. I first created stickers of people dancing and singing on stage using pictures from google. 

After that I created a collage and made a really rough first draft of my idea. 

Overall this really helped visualize my cover image and I definitely recommend others to try Picarts.

Interview Questions

I have been having trouble finding questions that create lots of thought for the interview. Here are some of my ideas:

1. what is the most empowering character you've played? 
2. what kind is leadership roles have you received in your theatre company and what have you learned from them?
3. who is your biggest influence?
4. what is the most empowering thing about musical theatre?
5. how has theatre affected your life and the way you express yourself?
6. how has theatre impacted your ability to be vulnerable? 
7. how does theatre promote social change?
8. how has performing affected your confidence?
9. how has movement and dance affected you?
10. how has singing increased your vulnerability?
11. what has theatre taught you about work ethic and working with others?
12. how has theatre increased your emotional intelligence? 
13. what are some personal obstacles theatre has helped you over come?
14. what has theatre taught you about yourself?

While was thinking of these questions, I came to the realization that only doing one interview new might not be enough content for a double page spread. I searched up double page spreads and many magazines made one page an image and the next full of text. This is something I might consider for my layout. The girl I originally wanted for the interview said yes so yay!

             

here are some articles ad videos I found that gave me ideas for questions:

• https://www.dance-enthusiast.com/features/view/995/
• https://youtu.be/uCob8MtXeX4
• https://www.backstage.com/magazine/article/ways-acting-beneficial-kids-teens-8666/

Throwing My Original Idea For My Magazine In The Trash (but not all of it)

My original idea for my magazine was to create an empowering magazine about women in different jobs. Each issue would be a different job and would include interviews and the empowering aspect of each job. The issue I was going to create was women in theatre but then I realized I don't know many women who are currently working in theatre. The people I know who have worked in theatre or work in theatre but as teachers are the director, choreographer, and vocal teacher at inside out theatre. while I think my dance teacher especially is extremely inspiring and hardworking, I really wanted to focus on how theatre affects and empowers young people or young women. it was also hard to find common genre conventions that were about feminist and created for younger audiences.

Instead of this I want to create a theatre magazine which has way more established conventions and are much easier to research. One theatre magazine that is extremely popular among the theatre community is Playbill. The issue of the magazine I want to create will focus on empowered teenagers who are working towards being in the theatre industry. This way I can show that I understand genre conventions and I can include the main subjects I wanted to discuss like empowerment in theatre. The thing I'm still unsure about is whether I want to make it focus on young women or adolescents in general. Especially since I switched my idea, now I have to do a bunch of research about theatre magazines instead of feminist ones.