CLOSED BLOG NOTIFICATION

Centre Name: NORBURY MANOR BEC
Centre Number: 14343
Candidate Name: HOLLY-LOUISE HOWLETT
Candidate Number: 9249
Unit: G321

Final Pieces

Double Page Spread: Link to Cover and Contents Page

I created this slideshare to just show the links between my Front cover and Contents page, and my double page spread. I created links when designing my double page spread with the use of colour, font and the images that I used.

Evaluation Question 7: Looking back at your preliminary task, what do you feel you have learnt in the progression from it to the full product?

I made a video explaining the differences between my preliminary task and the final music magazine cover I designed, and then uploaded it onto Youtube.

These are my two magazine covers. The one on the left is my final music magazine cover. The one on the right is the educational magazine cover I made a part of my Preliminary task

Evaluation question 6: What have you learnt about technologies from the process of constructing this product?

I created this slideshow on PowToon. It is a form of media that I haven't used before, and I thought it was a creative and new way to show my skills. I created it to explain some of the new technologies that I have learned whilst designing my music magazine.

Evaluation question 5: How did you attract/address your audience?

I created this Wordle on wordcloud.com explaining some of the techniques I used in my magazine to address or attract my audience. For example, I mention how I used bold fonts and bright colours to try and catch the eye of the person looking at my magazine. I would also address my audience by adding in incentives for them to buy the magazine, such as interviews and competitions.

Evaluation question 4: Who would be the audience for your media product?

I created this on Slideshare, explaining the different types of people that my music magazine is aimed at.

Evaluation question 3: What kind of media institution might distribute your media product and why?

To begin with, my magazine would need a publisher. There are only around 3 major UK music magazine publishers, one of them being IPC. IPC publishers a whole different variety of magazines, some of which are featured below:

They also publish NME, which I am basing my magazine from. NME and Uncut magazines are the only music magazines that they publish, which is why I think that there could be a gap in the market for my magazine.

There are several brands that I would want to distribute my music magazine. An obvious place that it would be sold would be in a CD shop, like HMV:

HMV, although it has declined in shops, sells CDs, DVDs and music magazines, including Kerrang!, Mojo and Classic Rock. Because my magazine is a Pop-Rock magazine, I would like it to be sold in HMV, alongside Kerrang!. Kerrang! is a magazine that is aimed mostly at young people, the same as my magazine. However, because HMV mostly sells classic rock magazines, my magazine would hopefully be sold in other shops, like Sainsbury's, Tesco's or Asda.

These supermarkets are the places where I buy my music magazines normally, and are easily accessible to most people

Evaluation question 2: How does your media product present a particular social group?

I created this Prezi to explain who the audience of my Media Product would be

Evaluation Question 1: In what ways does your media product use, develop or challenge forms and conventions of real media products?

I created a Youtube video in which I compared my magazine cover to that of an already existing magazine, and looked at the similarities and differences between them.

                                                                             

Artist Interview

This is my artist interview. I wrote this, based around the research that I did from reading previous artist interviews. I had to make a few changes to the interview, where I'd made a couple of grammatical errors, and I had to change a few sentences to make it flow a little better, but this is the interview that I ended up writing:

CC Morgana is no stranger to music. Born and raised in South London, she grew up in a very musical household, learning to play the guitar since the age of eight. When she was thirteen, she got her first taste for performing in front of people at a gig in a local club, and at the age of sixteen, she and her family moved to Scotland, where she was signed to Andmoresound records, an Independent music label there. Now, she is ready to tackle the big guns, and here to talk with us in a swanky hotel room in London about her life, love and her upcoming tour.

“I’m not used to staying in places like this,” laughs CC, as we take our seats. She seems comfortable here though. She’s lively and bubbly, and incredibly eager to talk to us, especially when we ask her about how she first got into the music scene. “Both my parents were very musical when I was growing up. My dad used to play in a band, but had to stop when my older brother was born, but he never lost that passion. He taught us how to play; brought me my first guitar. I definitely wouldn’t be where I am today without him, or my mum. She was the one who pushed me to start performing, and too show people what I could do.” And so she did. Armed only with her vocals and guitar, CC attended a local gig night, where she performed in front of people for the first time.

“I was so nervous,” she remembers, “I honestly didn’t think anyone was going to like me. But I remember that the crowd responded really well to me, and afterwards loads of people came up to me and told me how much they’d enjoyed it. So I went back the following week, and the week after that and it just became a regular thing. I honestly think I wouldn’t be where I am right now had I not been encouraged by my family to go to those little club nights.”

A huge part of launching CC’s career was her move to Scotland. “It actually was never my intention to move to Scotland to get signed,” she admits, “My parents got a job transfer. It was never about me or possibly launching my career in music.” She began to perform in pub nights doing karaoke, she tells us, when one night everything changed. “There was a man there, who worked for a local recording studio,” she says, smiling fondly, “He’d just come for a drink with his mates, and he saw me perform my set. Afterwards, he came up to me and gave me a business card and told me to call.” Incidentally, this began her career with Andmoresound. “I phoned them up, and they told me to come in a record a demo. I went into the studio for about five weeks- I’d already written most of the songs,” she explains, “I recorded a seven track EP with them. I then set up a Youtube account, and posted all the songs onto there. I posted them on Facebook and Twitter, (I) started building up my very own fan base.” We ask her if she considers herself to be very hard working

“Without completely blowing my own trumpet, yes,” she says, “But I’m trying not to be big headed about it. I can’t help but feel that a lot of where I come from today has come from me working very hard too get it, but then again, I wouldn’t be anywhere without my family, or the recording studio, or my producer.  I try to do as much as I can to get my music noticed out there.” This leads us to ask: How does she feel about file sharing and illegally downloading. “I’m not totally against it,” she shrugs. “I mean, from the perspective of an artist, yeah, it can be annoying, if you’ve worked hard on something and people are technically stealing it from you, but for me at the moment, it helps get my work out there shared. If people like my work, maybe they’ll come to one of my gigs and in the long run, surely that’s better and I’d make more of a living than I think I would trying to sell records.”

Speaking of gigs, CC has had more than her fair share. In fact, now when we’re talking to her, she has recently just come off tour with City and Colour. She will also be guest appearing on Charlie Simpson’s next tour in a few months, as well as securing herself a spot on the bill of this summers Slam Dunk Festival. “I’m really excited,” she beams, “Charlie Simpson was someone that I loved growing up, and I sight him as a big inspiration for me. And Slam Dunk…” She pauses and smiles. “It’s going to be incredible,” she grins, “It’s likely to be my largest audience to date.” She’s optimistic when talking about her future it seems. “I know it sounds cheesy, but I really think I could go far with this,” she tells us, “I’m extremely hard working, and this is my life, as clichéd as it sounds. I’m taking this world by storm, and I don’t have any future plans to let it go.”

Artist Interview Research

Artist interview research from greenllamafarmer

I designed a Powerpoint to slideshare to show the process I went through when researching interviews for my artist research. Although Kerrang! Magazine isn't exactly the same genre as my magazine, it is a magazine that purchase often, and so I found it a very reliable source when doing my research. 

Layout for my Double Page Spread

My original layout plan was based on a Double Page Spread taken from an NME interview with Mark Ronson. I liked the layout of the double page spread, because everything was very clear and fit into place very well. Here was my original layout idea for my magazine, compared with the layout that I would base it on:

The problem was that I couldn't fit all of my artists interview into the box that I'd designated for it, and so I had to rethink my layout. I liked the design behind the Mark Ronson interview, and so I tried to link my new layout with the design. In the end, here is what I came up with:

I made the text at the top introducing my artist the same shade of pink that I used on my front cover and contents page so that I could create a link between the three of my final pieces, but I tried to keep the layout for my double page spread the same as it was on the Mark Ronson article, just moving the text around a little bit. I think I have managed to create a constant theme between my three designs, but I also think I have modeled my double page spread around an existing article quite well.

Double Page Spread Image Decisions/Layout Designs

I decided that I didn't want a lot images on my Double Page Spread. Initially, I based the layout of it on this image:

This meant that I was going to have a picture on one side of my Double Page Spread, and then my text on the other side.

I planned on taking some medium-long shots of my model, with her either facing the camera, or not facing the camera. Here are some test shots that I did:

However, my model that I had used on my front cover was not present on any of the days when I needed her to take photos(a fault of mine for not taking them earlier), and so I had to change my approach. Luckily, I still had some images of my model from where I'd taken shots for my front cover, so I used one of those.

 

I also realized that my original layout wouldn't work, because I wouldn't be able to fit all of my text into it for my interview. So, I re-thought my design, and came up with this:

Final Double Page Spread

This is my final Double Page Spread.

Final Contents Page

This is my final Contents Page.

Final Front Cover

This is my final front cover piece.

Contents Page Colour Choices

For my contents page, I wanted to have a recurring theme of colour schemes from my front cover. To do this, I used the same pink that I'd used on my front cover in the masthead that I'd taken from my models lips, which is the colour below.

I then applied the colour to certain texts in my contents page, like headings for things that I wanted to stand out. For example, the picture below, an incentive to buy my magazine, I wanted to stand out too people, so I made that text a bolder colour instead of white, like the text below it.

I also made my page numbers this colour because I didn't want them to be bland and boring in just black or white, and I also feel that having the page numbers in this colour gives the section of my contents page that is probably the most important a way of standing out.

Double Page Spread Research

I created a Prezi when looking at research for my double page spread. This will help me in finding out what key features I should include in my own Double Page Spread.

Adding an Image

It was also important that I added an image to my contents page, which I did. This Prezi explains the process that I went through to add a picture to my contents page.

Finding a Font

I wanted my contents page to have a bold, recognizable font, because it is important that potential readers know that this is where they can look to find out who else is included in the magazine. I tried out a variety of different fonts:

This was the first font that I tried, which I liked because it was bold and blocky and similar to the font I'd used for my masthead. However, I then realized that it was important that I showed a variety of fonts, and so I couldn't use this font.

Then I tried this font:

 








I also tried this font, because again, it was very big and bold, but I thought it was too child-like and cartoon-ish for a music magazine, and so it wouldn't work.

So then I tried this font:

I liked this font, because it was different to the font that I used on my masthead, and it wasn't child-ish like the previous font that I tested. I decided that I wanted to use this font.

I then added some effects to the text to make it match my masthead a little more, including a little bit of a drop shadow and then made the text white and my mast head was completed:

Setting up a Masthead for my contents page (Construction Process)

I began by setting up a masthead on my layout on Photoshop, and have created  a Prezi explaining the process in which I made it.

Music Magazine Contents Page Layout/Images used/Fonts and Colour Schemes

This is my basic layout for my contents page. Although it is hard to see hear, I will be taking the pink colour used in the masthead at the top and my page numbers from the pink that I used on my front cover on the masthead. This is so that my colour schemes from my front cover can link in with my contents page. After analyzing other contents pages in the previous blog post, I realized that it will be important to use more than one type of font to show variety. I will also be using the font for my masthead from the masthead on my front cover:

and the font for "CONTENTS" and my section headlines (i.e. "NEWS", "REVIEWS") from the font that I used for my artist name on the front cover to create a link:

I will also be using two pictures on my context page, and whilst I still need to take one of the images, one of the images I will use will be the following:

This is an image that I took at a concert that I went to, and I will edit the picture and sharpen the edges and make the picture a bit clearer and more defined to make it look more appropriate on a contents page.

At the bottom of the page, I will also include "adverts" for my magazines social networking sites, to make the contents page look more porffesional.

Deconstruction of Two contents Pages

We then moved on to designing our contents pages. Too start with, I had to take 2 contents pages and compare them with each other, looking for key themes that they both had, or what they didn't have. In the first cover, there are a lot of images included. This is too show which other artists are featured in the magazine quickly, if you don't want to have to read the contents page and see who else is featured in the magazine from just a quick glance. Also, there is a limited colour scheme in the first contents page, with the classic black and white, as well as red and different shades of blue. However, when I looked at the magazine compared with it's front cover, I struggled to see a link between the colour scheme used on the front cover and the colour scheme used in the contents page. There is also an incentive to buy the magazine down in the bottom right corner, which is there to benefit the reader if they buy the magazine- a sort of "if you scratch my back, I'll scratch yours", if you will. There are at least 3 different types of font used on the contents page, all of which taken from the front cover- this tells me that to show a link between the contents page and the front cover, I will need to use the same fonts that I included on my front cover.

On the second contents page, there is only one image. This tells the reader that the main feature of the magazine will be primarily based around this one person. However, it is not that effective for quickly seeing who else is featured in the magazine. There is a limited colour scheme on this contents page, it being red, black, white and the grey on his trousers. I can assume that the colour scheme is the same on the front cover as it is on the contents page. There are around two different types of font used on the contents page, which creates a contrast, and therefore I will need to include more than one type of font on my contents page, and after looking at the first contents page, I will have to link my fonts on the contents page to that of my front cover.