Location, props, costumes

Location/props/costumes

A range of components have to be considered when taking these images, but mainly how to make them relate to the target audience and stay relevant to the magazine. The aspects I have had to plan out are the props I will need the person to be holding or in the background, costumes that they will all be wearing as this is a key point in trying to relate to an audience, then lastly the location as to where the pictures will be taken to create the correct ambience, having a mise-en-scene that appeals to an audience is a dire need as these are strong selling points.

The main image on the front cover will be an image of Tom, Tom is the one who has volunteered to partake, though it can’t just be an image of him on a dormant space. He will need to be accompanied by details that will make the image appealing to my target audience, the electric guitar strapped around his neck will be a key point, and then large amps scattered in order to show that the magazine is loud with no drawback on quality. Contents page will have images of the items related to what the pages article is, bands, competition wins etc… The main article will have another image of Thomas as the front cover links to the feature article, to follow the conventions of popular magazines.

Costumes will need to be chosen accordingly to follow the stereotypical ‘punk look’, so the appropriate apparel will be generally skinny jeans or ripped jeans, skating style trainers, a shirt accompanied with an under shirt, denim vests and their own band shirts used for self-marketing their merchandise. Same with hairstyles, a non-formal, ‘against society’ look is what is commonly found, e.g. mohawks, so I will be using messy/spiky hair that will give this impression across. All of these are what make up the punk community as a stereotype and this will give the direct relations between the target audience and Thomas, who is the main selling point of the magazine, so he will need to be connected to the reader in one way or another.

Where I take the images will be an feature that needs to be accounted for, I will not use the studio the college has to offer for the reason that I believe it will be more appropriate to do it in a place that’s similar to the likes of an abandoned warehouse or a graffiti covered run down area of town in the evening, a studio would not appeal to my target audience. However, I will use the studio to get an upper body shot on Thomas and for a group photo that will represent a band, these are to show off these people formally and in a way that will come across as giving the audience a direct mode of address in order to become more personal with the reader. The other images will be taken in a gig location as to show off a band and how they connect to the genre, plenty of amps and instruments, then my feature article will be taken in a night time setting out in a ‘rundown’ section of a neighbourhood to show that he’s anarchistic and does what he wants.

To conclude my images will need to be having similar codes and conventions that a general punk fan follows the location and style. Skinny jeans that look worn out, even slightly torn in areas, shoes that look like they would typically come from a cheap skate shop included with used laces scuffed at the sides nearer the ends similar to a normal skaters shoes. A shirt that could be formal but has been made to look informal to show off that they don’t take pride in what they look like, how they go against orthodox intentionally. The hairstyle will be messy similar to popular punk bands that as sum 41 for instance, having similarities between popular bands in the scene will give clear indicators of how say Tom will portray himself as. My original images will be taken in a warehouse that’s currently being made up, this has the abandoned feel to it along with the gear everywhere and slightly ruined, but also to show we go anywhere we want, going against society as this is what my target audience will relate to.