Magazine photos

Here are some main photos

My magazine article for my Double Page Spread.

Double Page Spread Article

“My breakthrough as an artist has turned me from little, unpopular EMO girl to Alternative rock star”

British dwelling girl Gemma Shakespeare who is the lead vocalist for Pursuit of the Heroine has had a major impact on Alternative Rock over the past few months. At only sixteen, Gemma has taken the Rock community by storm with a number debut one single “Seeing through One eye”, in over sixteen countries in the Rock/Alternative charts. The single sold 92,000 copies in just one week in the UK and is part on the new studio Album “All Seeing” which has a total of 12 tracks. This album is to be released early 2011 but no official date has been made and features major artists such as: Hayley Williams (Paramore) and Simon Neil (Biffy Clyro). “This album is expected to have a bigger impact than my single.” Said Gemma Shakespeare in an interview earlier today.

Gemma got her breakthrough after finishing school at sixteen, and not having any passion about carrying on at post sixteen education. She said “I’d rather leave school and pursue a music carrier than be bullied by the “CHAV” social group.
Gemma liked to go buskin on the streets of Doncaster from her early teenage years. She would go after school, at weekends or any of her free time. Her main songs were acoustic ballads on the streets, but she also she played the electric guitar.
Whist Gemma was busking one weekend when the head of a major successful record label, Rock Haven, spotted her and thought “She is good. We need to sign her up”
Bill Donington the head of Rock Haven record label said “I saw talent in Gemma from when I first set eyes on her”. Bill invited Gemma to come to a major studio in London with all travel expenses paid for. Gemma wasn’t the only person invited for an interview and to see how talented she was. Bill said “Well obviously Gemma was one of the most talented”.
Well this all happened six months ago. From Victim to superstar.





“Maybe it’s because I’m a girl?”

Do you have many fans?
Gemma: I think so? (laughs) Well I get lots of fan mail
Interview: Really? Is it mainly female or mail?
Gemma: Well, both really. But I’d say more male.
Interview: Why do you think that is?
Gemma: Hmmm… I am not really sure? Maybe it’s because I’m a girl?

What is it like to have become famous all of a sudden?
Gemma: I am used to just being the unpopular kid at school … Yeah I’m kinda a geek. So this is really weird. All of my fans are awesome!
Interview: So you think it is strange?
Gemma: Yes. I can’t really explain because it’s great!

Do you have any spare time lately?
Gemma: Not really… Most of the time we are recording songs for my new album.
Interview: Is that frustrating?
Gemma: Sometimes. But I enjoy doing what I do, so I think its best for me.

When will you start touring the UK and other countries?
Gemma: I think I will start after my album has been out a months.
Interview: Why wait that long?
Gemma: It will let my fans get to know my songs and what they mean to me. So they will understand them and be more excited.

Why is your single called “Seeing through one eye”?
Gemma: *(aughs) ermm… My mum is bind in one eye.
Interview: Really?
Gemma: Yes, because she is blind in one eye I wondered what its like to see through one eye. So I wrote a song about it.

What advice would you give people who would like to become musicians?
Gemma: That’s a hard one. Well the only thing I did was keep singing and doing what I love. I guess I’m just a lucky person who got spotted.
Interview: Do you actually think it was luck? Not pure talent?
Gemma: Well I do think I was a lucky person because nobody knew where Bill would be. And yes if I wasn’t talented I wouldn’t be in a good career at the moment.

Where do you see yourself in 10 years?
Gemma: With wrinkles, one grey hair and bigger boobs.
Interview: I mean with your music career!
Gemma: Ohhh… I hope to be still singing and performing. And hopefully I will still have all of my fans.


What is your favorite meal?
Gemma: Hmmm... Curry.
Interview: What kind?
Gemma: Chicken Tika
Interview: Why?
Gemma: Because it tastes soooo GOOD (smiles).
Interview: Well personally I don’t like it.
Gemma: You must be insane.

Gamu Article Rewrite

So I take it you watched The X-Factor on Sunday night? Well most people do! If you didn’t you won’t know that talented gentle Gamu didn’t make it to the final twelve. Chezza Cole crushed gentle little Gamu Nhengu’s dreams. Instead, she let two girls through who . . . well, who did more “acting” than singing. Talk about drama queens. One who is a wannabe Cheryl but shorter and orange? The other being the over dramatic gruff voiced drama queen Katie. What’s with her style? Is it raining inside or something? Then why does she need a parasol or should I say “brolly”. Next its sunglasses in a storm!

Gamu has since suffered with lots of media attention. She got a "double blow". Basically one punch from Chezza and another from our country. A double blow is where two stories are put together. Gamu’s stories are: she is not in the quarter-finals because of Chezza being racist, but also now she is likely to be deported back to Zimbabwe, after her mums visa expired. Not only did Gamu’s mum make a silly error, which made the application be "out of time", but she has claimed benefits which she should not have received... money grabber.

The headlines which shocked the whole of Britain hit Chezza by storm. Some say that Chezza is racist! This resulted in death threats and Facebook groups. “Every1 has a bullet for Cheryl Cole”. So Chezza has buffed up her protection with more body guards due to little threats on her safety. Yeah Geordie Chezza has to be protected because she so “important”. Chezza splashes the cash whilst the roads around Gamu's home were closed after crowds gathered bearing banners supporting her by protesting her X Factor elimination.

Even with so many fans Gamu should not be allowed to return to The X-Factor without a visa, what about the other contestants? They all have visas and made to through the rounds fair and square. No special treatment should be allowed. This will make a brilliant competition as usual with Mary Bryne and Matt Cardle making a huge impact. People are saying that the one and only Simon Cowell should have snapped Gamu up as soon as her saw her. Well I think there are many other stars out there. Just because her Visa ran out doesn’t mean she should because famous. I would understand if everyone turned off The X-Factor but I doubt they would.

Big Cheese Magazine Double page spread analysis.
The main featured article is spread over six pages.
The First and Second page have one large image and one column of text.
The Third and Fourth also has one large image and one column of text.
The Fifth and Sixth have 2 smaller images taking up half a page each and four small columns of text.


First and Second pages.
This image relates to the Cover by being the same band and what the main article is about.
The image covers three quarters of the actual double page. Image is plain and simple with a white background and all band members stood in a line. This image shows the band is the main focus. The image looks natural and creates a calm atmosphere.

Only one column is used for text and very little and is located on the left page.
The text itself which is used is in a sans serif typeface. The first word in the article is “ENGAGED” which is in capital letters. This is to get the reader engaged. Also a quote is used from the interview with the band. This text is a larger script typeface. This text stands out due to its difference.  The white and black colours are used for the house style also but the green and pink are not used unlike the cover.

 

Third and Fourth pages.
These two pages are very similar to the first and second pages of the featured article. One large image taking up three quarters of the page but this time the column of the text is located on the right hand side.
The image is a midshot of all band members stood in a line like the other page. This image is also natural looking and calm. The background is blurred to make the band the centre of the attention.

Text is sans serif and continues from the first and second pages. These pages also have a quote by a band member and it’s larger than the other text to stand out and also in a script typeface.
The layout is exactly the same as the first two pages which make it very easy for the magazine editor by letting them just reverse the layout to link the four pages together. The house colours are used again.

Fifth and Sixth pages.

Two smaller images are used on the last two pages of the article. Four columns are used but are smaller than the other pages. So if put together the images would take up one page and columns would take up two full length column spaces , so it would also be one page.
The images used are also natural looking but the background isn’t blurred this time. Because the images are small they don’t give off an important impression unlike the other images used. One of the images has the band in again but also a piano which gives a sense they are a band. The background has not been blurred because it doesn’t need to be... The band catches your eye enough by being close to the camera which leaves not a lot of background showing.

Text which is used in a sans serif typeface again which is used throughout the entire article. Also another quote has been used in a larger script typeface. This links the pages together making them feel as one. Several lines of text are written in bold to stand out. This is due to the text being questions being asked to the band so people will want to read.

RnB and Rock Magazine Comparison

Both of these magazines both have a similar house styles by the use of red and white. However Flavour and Kerrang are completely opposite, in terms of genre. Flavour being RnB and Kerrang being Rock.

On both of these issues the mastheads and coverlines are white which stands out a lot from the backgrounds. But Kerrang uses a more “punk” style to its masthead which looks like its falling apart which appeals to its target audience. Flavour uses a simple sleek serif sans text for its masthead.

Both magazines use puffs and plugs. Flavour uses a lot whilst Kerrang only uses a few. Kerrangs puffs are less attractive by the use of the word “exclusive”. Whilst Flavour only uses “Hottest” and “Win”. These puffs on Flavour get you more attracted due to the fact that you could win something and “Hottest” makes you think that it is the best designers who’s clothes or merchandise  are the best and you would look great in it, (better than everyone else).

Both magazines use females on the cover. This could be used as a selling point for men to buy because of the main colour being red. Men are naturally attracted to women and the colour red.

Kerrang uses a portrait close-up of their cover star that the lead article will be about and Flavour uses a full shot of two women for theirs. Flavour would attract men more than women due to the fact men are naturally attracted to women and that the women are not covering a lot of their bodies up.

Kerrangs layout is very busy with a lot cramped into the bottom space of the page with images and large text. Whilst Flavour is widely spread out with no other images other than cover image. Kerrang uses image rather than lots of words to show what’s inside which the less educated might find more appealing.

The typeface used on Flavour is sans serif which creates a more relaxed cover which is not formal. This typeface is used all over the cover for all of the text which works well. However Kerrang uses a display typeface which is the same as its masthead for the “Paramore” text to emphasize that’s it is just as important as the masthead. Other typefaces are used also. There are two which are used; they are serif and sans serif. Using both of the typefaces for text works well because they stand out from one another.

Kerrang uses quite large text and a lot of effects to make it stand out and look more 3D. Flavour just uses basic simple text which is reasonably sized and doesn’t stand out that much.

Flavour does not have a barcode, bur Kerrang does.

Photo Ideas

These are some edited photos for my magazine.

Magazine Masthead ideas

These are some Masthead ideas for my Alternative Rock Magazine "Panik"

Unedited Mgazine Photos

Music Magazine Plans

Facebook Genre Survey

This is my survey which I did on Facebook. In this survey I asked the age, gender and the genre the person listens to. This survey to see which Rock sub genre is most popular.  I used Facebook due to Facebook being used worldwide by millions of people from all different countries and backgrounds. Facebook is exceptionally popular with the modern age/ young generation. I want my magazine to be aimed at a teenage audience so I felt is was suitable to ask young people.

My results show that:

Alternative rock is the most popular Genre of Rock.

Females listen to rock the most.

Sixteen year olds listen to Rock the most

Overall this survey shows that the magazine i produce would be more popular if i aim it at sixteen year old females who like Alternative Rock.

Here are Graphs to show my results:

 

Band Idea Logos

Here are some logo designs for my band.

Alternative Rock Research

Alternative Rock Research

First emerged in the 1980s but didn’t become widely popular until the 1990s. Before the term “Alternative Rock” came into place this genre was classed as “College Rock”.
Sounds range from guitars of grunge to gothic rock. More often than in other rock styles since the mainstreaming of rock music during the 1970s, alternative rock lyrics address topics of social concern, such as drug use, relationships, depression, and environmentalism.


In the 1990s major labels actively courted bands including Jane’s Addiction, Dinosaur Jr, Firehouse, Red Hot Chili Peppers, The and Hole.
In the 1990s “Britpop” also emerged and represented by Blur, Oasis, Suede and Pulp.

Britpop is a sub Genre of Alternative Rock. It can be interpreted as the United Kingdoms “Grunge”.

Oasis were the most successful band of the last decade from 1995 to 2005. This is proven in a guinness world record. Oasis is a british rock/britpop band. Which took Britain by stom in the 90s. In the recent years Oasis released their 6th album called Dont Believe The Truth. They have rermained popular over the past decade and two of thier albums got the first and second place in the fifty greatest albums of fifty years. They came first and second.

In the current years many Alternative Rock bands have emerged, like: Kaiser Chiefs, Franz Ferdiand, Muse and Paramore. These are popular in the 21st century.
These band are very successful in the new age.

Alternative Rock Magazine Comparison

Alternative Rock Magazine Comparison

Kerrang & BigCheese Magazine

Both:
Target Audience- Rock/Alternative fans. Target Audience are usually young people like teenager’s young adults. This is exposed by the main cover image which always shows young adults who look indie/rock or alternative. Also the younger generation listen to this Genre so mostly young people buy it.

Masthead- White and Black or Red. Big and bold which catches your eye (stands out).

House Style- Red, Black and White for both Magazines.

Kerrang:
Puffs and Plugs- “FREE! Poster special” and “MASSIVE DOWNLOAD TICKET GIVE AWAY!”. The words "FREE" and " MASSIVE" are Puffs because they engage the reader. "FREE" engages you because it costs nothing and everyone wants something for free.
Main Cover line- “Biffy Clyro unfold the puzzle of life…” This shows what is inside the magazine and also refers to an album by the band. Which the target audience will recognise.

Main cover image-
The band featuring the main article in the magazine. Young generation know who Biffy Clyro is so it attracts its target audience. It’s a good selling point because people want to read about Biffy Clyro because they are a popular Alternative Rock band.

Other cover images- Other images of “Lostprophets” and “Funeral for a Friend”. These are images of what is inside the magazine which could be classed as plugs. These two bands are also very popular for this Genre which boosts the sales because people want to read about the best bands at the moment to keep up with the trends.

Typeface- Sans Serif.

Layout- Kerrang has a busy layout with images and text crowded at the bottom of the page. Also the main image has been brought forward to dtand out and to empahasize the band. The masthead has been cut off half way which blocks letters of the masthead. This doesnt matter because of how popular Kerrang actually, so even though you cant see it you know what it is.

BigCheese:
Puffs and Plugs- “30 GREATEST POP-PUNK ANTHEMS” is a Plug because it makes you want to see the greatest thirty anthems, also the list is a plug “Biffy Clyro, 30 Seconds to Mars, Killswitch Engage, Every Time I Die, Dead By Sunrise, In Flames, Bowling For Soup”. This is a plug because it is showing what else is in the magazine.” Greatest” is a puff because the word engages you because Greatest makes you think it is the greatest anthem in the world.

Main Coverline- “Paramore Get the kiss of life” It shows who is inside the magazine and who the lead article is about.

Coverline- “We had to revive the band”. This links to the lead article in the magazine. It makes you want to read about why Paramore had to revive the band.

Typeface- Script, Serif and Display.

Layout- Similar to Kerrang, BigCheese also has the main image infront of the text. But the image does not cover letters so text is still readable. Its also quite busy at the bottom of the page but not with pictures, but with text. The house style is red, black and white but the background is bright vibrant green. Ther band is emphasized because the band is also well known.

Skills Undertaken this Term. (Not Finished)

-Digital Camera Basics-

Depth of Field- One pat of the image is sharp and the other sides or background gradually gets less sharp like it is out of focus. This is emphasizing the subject and  de-emphasizing the foreground and background.

Composition- Composition is the placement or arrangement of visual elements. So its how you position an object or person when you take a picture. This can give a 3-D effect and also emphasize certain objects you want to stand out.

Rule of Thirds- Imagine an image split up into equal squares, You look at parts of the image to find more interesting photos which reates a better effect, rather then taking a normal portrait mid-shot.
I have taken several pictures using the rule of thirds:

-Image Manipulation-

Cropping- Cutting off unwanted parts of an image to focus the main section you want.  

Layers- Layers can be used to bring more than one image onto another. Each seperate layer can be effected without effecting the others. You can experiment with manipulation to bring the images together.

Background- The background of an image isnt really necessary so on my magazine cover i blured mine to get the student to be the main focus. It is like depth of field. Also the background can be cut or cropped out so somthing else can be in the background.

Adjusting Colour- I have used colour adjusting on the magazine front cover, this is so the colours remian bright and vibrant to attract attention.

-Planning a Product-
When i planned my school magazine cover and contents pages i drew a basic layout on paper first. Not just one but several designs to see which one looked the best. After i selected my design i drew it up again this time adding text and picture to give a drawn outline of the images.
Then i made another basic design of Page Plus and several more to get my finished product.

-Forms and conventions of magazines-

-Getting yo grips with DTP and layout-

-Font and Colour-

-Understaning of genre and target audiences-

NEO Magazine Cover and Article Review

COVER:

This magazine is called "NEO". This magazine targets the audience of Japanese Anime and Manga or Asian film fans of any gender. This is a niche, due to the fact that NEO is the only UK Anime, Manga and Asian film magazine.

This issue number is 74 and the price is high at £4.25.

The masthead of this magazine is always the same apart from various colour changes each month. The colours remain bold and simple. This attracts the readers. The main cover line is "Bumper coverage! Characters & Story Arcs Bleach". This will attract the main target audience because it is a popular Anime and Manga. The cover line is showing that the main article inside is about "Bleach". It makes you want to read due to the Puff "Bumper", it makes you think that a lot is revealed about characters and stories arcs.

Also there is a lot of other cover lines which are not the main . These are there to sell information about the inside articles. "MCM Expo Cosplay. NEO's winners revealed!”

Plugs are also used "Inside this mag: Naruto Shipppuden Movie, Fish Story, Gundam Unicorn, Gunsmiths Cat Burst. This gives you a preview of topics inside the magazine which hooks the audience.

The font or Typeface used on the magazine cover is Sans Serif. This is basic text which makes the magazine more informal which creates an easier read, relaxing, unlike a newspaper which uses Serif which is used in formal newspapers. Also another typeface used is Japanese. This targets the main audience of Anime and Manga fans because it originates from Japan.


The main colours used on this issue are yellow, white and orange. These bright colours attract the reader. The orange links to the anime "Bleach" because the main character has orange hair which every fan will recognise. Also the word "Bleach" is large to emphasise what the magazine is about this issue.

This magazine has a barcode.

ARTICLE:

 
In this article the main layout is set into three columns. This is the house style of NEO mag. This is so when designing the magazine monthly they can do it with ease, just by using the three column template.
 
Four images are used on these two pages. Each picture is linked to the articles by showing the anime its self and giving previews.
 
The font used is sans serif because this magazine is not formal and wants to provide an easy read for the consumer. The font colour is black and the background is white, also arounf the "D.Gray-man 2:1" article has a grey background which could be linked to the name "D.Gray-man".
 
Each article has a red box at the bottom with the anime rating in stars with a comment. The box is red because it stands out from the plain black text and white background. This is so the consumer will look at this and then it could make them want to buy the anime, which creates profit for the producer of the anime. Also the anime DVD is shown in a box beside the review. This shows us the release date, price, run time, age rating, episode number and label.

Codes & Conventions

Target Audience - The consumer of which a particular product is aimed. Etc, Age, Gender, Sexuality, ethnicity and demographics.

Genre - The type of media product which is identified by the codes & conventions E.G. Comedy, Horror, Action and Romance.

Conventions - Characteristics in a given genre like blood in a horror film.

Code - The way in which we transfer the meaning to the audience without words. Etc, Make up and Lighting.

First Media Lesson

Made a blog in the first Media Studies lesson.