CLOSED BLOG NOTIFICATION

Center Name: Norbury Manor BEC
Center Number: 14343
Candidate Name: Holly Hawkins-Lucraft
Candidate Number: 1076
Unit: G321

Final Front Cover

Final Contents Page

Final Double Page Spread

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?

Evaluation Question 7 from HollyRosa98

Evaluation: Question 6

What have you learnt about technologies from the process of constructing this product?

Evaluation: Question 5

How did you attract/address your audience?

Evaluation: Question 4

Who would be the audience for your media product?

Evaluation: Question 3

What kind of media institution might distribute your media product and why?

Evaluation: Question 2

How does your media product represent particular social groups?

Evaluation: Question 1

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

Links of Front Cover, Contents and DPS

This is a Prezi presentation I created talking about the links between my magazine Front Cover, Contents Page and Double Page Spread.

DPS Layout

Artist Interview

This is my interview:

Rising star, Ava Garcia (21), has been a main focus in the alternative music scene in recent months with her smash hit debut album ‘Splinters’ that soared to number 1 in December. Critics are describing her as ‘a passionate and fierce young woman’ as well as her career ‘having a huge impact on the industry and could change the face of music in the next few years’.The release of your album last November created quite a stir, was this expected at all?

No way did I ever think that my debut album would actually sell well or get recognized. I’ve just got lucky, most artists have to release one or two albums before they get anywhere, but somehow I managed to skip this process which I am extremely thankful for.

Okay so judging by this recognition, you’ve had to adapt to your new life of being ‘famous’, has this in any way changed the way you do things?

Hell no! I’m not someone who changes easily, I mean it’s hard to adapt sometimes to being followed by the paps, but otherwise I still go about my usual daily routine if I have a day off and I always used to tell myself that fame isn’t allowed to change me if I ever get to that.

Now this album has had two singles released from it so far, both of which got to number 1, so we were just wondering what the meaning behind the songs are?

Well most of my album is focused on love but I’m not a romantic so there isn’t anything cringe worthy or cheesy in it, most of it is focused on the pain of it and how love can twist a person and drive them crazy. There are some songs though that are about issues such as death and suicide, because I have known people that this has happened to, and I find it is an important subject and wanted to write about it to make more people aware of the pain it causes as well as why people do these things.

I can imagine this is quite a pressing focus for you. So moving on, you’re going on tour next month, exciting? What have you got in store for your fans?

Yes, I can’t wait! I’m not going to lie though, I am incredibly nervous too, I’ve never performed directly to people who want to see me, I’ve only done TV shows, such as BBC Radio 1 Teen Awards, so it’ll probably be terrifying but hopefully I’ll warm up to it. I’m not the sort of person that wants to have a massive production when I perform so my shows are going to be quite laid back, it’s just my preference I guess plus I don’t think my fan base are into crazy shows either, well I hope so anyway!

We thank you so much for taking the time to come and do this interview with us today!

Thank you for having me!

Ava’s album is out now in stores and on iTunes, you can still get tickets to your UK tour too, if I’m correct?

Yes you can, they’re being sold on ticketmaster.com and gigsandtours.com, so it would be awesome if you could all come along and support me. I'm really looking forward to it so I hope to see you there!

It’s safe to say that Ava is one of the most sincere artists we’ve ever spoke to here at Hybrid magazine! She happily answered everything we asked her about and genuinely seemed happy to speak to us, not what we always get from artists, it was an absolute pleasure to have her. Like she said, you can buy her album for £10.99 on iTunes as well as in stores.

What it looks like on my magazine:

DPS Image Decisions

This is a 'wideo' I created to show the images I'm using on my Double Page Spread and the reasons for my choices.

DPS Standfirst

DPS Market Research

Magazine Interviews:

This is a slideshare I created breaking down two Kerrang! magazine interviews.

Dps research from HollyRosa98


Video Interviews:

This interview compared to the magazine ones is a lot more question and answer style even though the questions being asked aren't actually heard, so it's more like the band talking to an audience which I like. This style of interview is good because it makes it seem more personal for the audience watching, it's also not too formal therefore making it a tad boring, which is also often seen in Alternative Rock magazine interviews. 

This interview with All Time Low is most similar to how I'm planning to set my interview out - the interviewer is asking the questions and the artists responds. It's also extremely laid back and there's some swearing and crudeness which is often seen in this genre. I also like this interview because it directly links to music because the interview is mainly about one of their sets they performed that had a thunderstorm throughout.

Contents Feedback

I asked some people in my media class for feedback on my contents page so far and this is the response I received:

From this feedback I am going to act on it and maybe make some changes to the page, especially if I agree with any of the comments on what I could improve e.g. adding more detail under some of the features of the magazine.

The feedback from Halle suggesting that I make the 'Contents' look more prominent has affected some decisions I made, for this I have added a grey bar behind the title to help it stand out more:

Hannah's feedback suggesting that I add more detail under some of the features of the magazine has also helped me make improvements and changes as under the 'Reviews' section each subheading has some form of detail or description underneath it:

Editor's Note

When doing research, I discovered that a lot of Alternative Rock magazines include an editor's note on their contents page which briefly outlines what to expect in the magazine and often includes light humour without much formality. As this is a common convention I decided to include one myself: 

My Inspiration:

My Editor's Note:

Contents Page Colour Choices

Contents colour choices from HollyRosa98

This is a presentation explaining the colour choices I made for my contents page.

Contents Features/Text

This is a presentation I created on emaze about the features and text I've chose to include on my contents page.

Contents Page Image Choices

Contents image choices from HollyRosa98

This is a SlideShare presentation I made breaking down the images I'm including on my Contents Page and my decisions for using them.

Model Consent:
                                                                   Shivani

Trisha

Chloe

Contents Page Layout (so far)

This is a prezi presentation I created explaining the layout decisions I have made so far for my contents page.

Contents Page Research/Deconstruction

This is a video I created of the contents pages I have deconstructed and looked at. I discussed what I thought worked well on the pages and what didn't as well as why and how features on the page were effective.

Front Cover Audience Feedback

This is a video I filmed with Hibah and Rubab, also media students, and they have given me some feedback on the front cover of my Alternative Rock Magazine. The improvements they gave at the end of the video will help me to ammend my magazine and see if there is anything I could change at all e.g the suggestion of making my pull quote look more like handwriting so it seems more personal.

Front Cover Linked to Research

This is a 'Prezi' I created to show the links I made between my front cover choices and the research I conducted.

Extra Features

This is a brief explanation of some of the other smaller features included on the front of my magazine, I explain my decisions for including them and also why I placed them in certain areas on the page.

Front Cover Features (text)

This is a video I created on 'wevideo' breaking down the text I'm including on my cover and why I'm using them.       

                                                                                                                        

Cover Layout Decisions/Photoshop

These are some slides that break down the decision process and reasons behind the layout of the front cover of my magazine so far.

Photo Manipulation

This is a presentation I created on 'emaze' of the photo manipulation I did for the main image on my front cover.

Masthead and Font Decisions - Front Cover

Masthead and Font Decisions from HollyRosa98

This a presentation I made on SlideShare explaining the decision process for my masthead and text to go on my front cover. 

Final Shots/Mise-en-Scene

This is a video I made on 'Animoto' explaining why I chose my final image and why I didn't choose others.

Model Consent form:

Test Shots

This is a video I made on StupeFlix of the shots I took of my artist for the front cover, contents page and double page spread. I have included some images that wouldn't be up to standard to include in the magazine as they may have shadows, parts of lights, some are out of focus or they might be when the model moved at the wrong time. However I have also included some of the images that I could use for my final shots to go into the magazine as they are centred, there are no shadows and the lighting is good and the overall quality of these images are decent.

Model consent:

My Artists' Image

My Artists' Image from HollyRosa98

This is a presentation I created on SlideShare to break down the choices I made for make-up and outfits used on my artist.

Model Consent:

Shot List

This is my shot list that I am using for my test shots and from those I am going to take my final shots to use in my magazine. I have included a variety of shots I will try out for my front cover, contents and my double page spread. These will help me to test out which shots suit the magazine best and which ones go with the genre well as well as those that are the most sensible to use in a music magazine.

Flat Plan Feedback

I asked some students from my target audience to have a look at my flat plan and tell me their thoughts on it, this is the feedback I have received:

Angelie: I like the overall layout of the flat plan and used the space wisely however I think you could include an element to make the double page spread cohesive with the content and the front page. 

Rubab: I like the overall look of your flat plans as I think it links well with your genre of Alternative Rock. I also like the drawings and general idea of your shots as it suits well. I think you could create a stronger link your pages though.

Hannah: I like your flat plan because it shows what genre it represents. I like the double page spread a lot as it is simple but effective.

Trisha: Overall I really like the layout of your cover and I really like the masthead and the font. I also like the spacing of the contents and front cover

Hibah: I really like the graphics and I think the masthead and model pose really suit the genre

Sana: I think the contents page is really simple and ‘rock’ looking

Anmol: I love the double page spread it is set out really nicely  

Shivani: I like the layout and simplicity of it. I especially like the contents page as it is different and eye-catching. It fits the genre well, especially the title.

Naomi: I think that the layout for the contents page is creative, the front page fits the genre well.

This feedback will help me to make my magazine look as good as possible and I can take into account their thoughts because they're from my target audience so I will make sure to keep certain aspects of my magazine and possibly discard others if they don't fit.

Flat Plan

Ordinary Flat Plan:

Front Cover                                                                           Contents Page

Double Page Spread

Deconstructed

Visual Moodboard

This is a visual mood board video for my magazine that I uploaded on YouTube. The pictures I took are of some post-it-notes I made that have important words relating back to the genre of Alternative Rock and they could be incorporated into my magazine. The words I have featured in the video are words I believe relate to the genre of Alternative Rock and can help me decide what my magazine will look like etc. On top of the words used in the video, there are of course the other important factors, such as the artists, that need to be featured too.

Artist Profile

Artist profile from HollyRosa98

This is a presentation on SlideShare about the artist 'Ava Garcia' I have created for my Alternative Rock music magazine.


Model Consent:

Reader Profile

Reader profile from HollyRosa98

This is a SlideShare presentation about the type of person I would expect/want to be reading or purchasing the magazine I'm going to create.

Model Consent:

Audience Research - Focus group

For my focus group I took three students from my sixth form and asked them some questions first about music and then music magazines, then I showed them two front covers of the same magazine and asked some more questions about that.

These are my questions:

1) Do you like to know what is going on with artists you like or the genres of music you like?

2) Would you get information from music magazines or in a different way?

3) What do you think are the most important conventions of a music magazine?

4) These are some rock magazine front covers, what makes it obvious to you that it is this genre?

5) What do you like or dislike about the front cover? What works well?

The students I asked:

Yusuf                                                Shivani                                             Neel

Question 1:

Yusuf - Yeah I do but I don't look anything up unless I want to know about new albums.

Shivani - Yes I do as I find it useful to know what's going on with the artists I enjoy, especially if there's new music being released. I also like to know when my favourite artists are going on tour so I have a chance to go and see them live in concert.

Neel - I don't really need to keep up to date with the artists I like because I just listen to their music instead of knowing more about them, also if there's new music being released I'll know about it anyway from other people talking.

Question 2:

Yusuf - No, I don't buy music magazines, I don't want to waste my money on them. I just find out stuff on the internet.

Shivani - I do occasionally get information from music magazines because there's a couple I enjoy reading because you can get more detailed information as well as exclusive things hat you can't really find anywhere else. However I also find out a lot online as well because information tends to be put out a lot faster there rather than a magazine which last for two weeks, so if information is released during that period, they won't release it yet.

Neel - I don't really read music magazines to be honest, not unless someone wants to show me something in one. I just use the internet instead because it's more easy to access plus the information comes up quickly.

Question 3:

Yusuf - The picture on the front should look nice because no one will like it otherwise.

Shivani - I think that the colour scheme is really important because it makes the magazine look really well put together and professional, especially if everything matches, adding to this professional look, if the layout is neat it also really helps. Of course the image on the front has to look good as well and relate to the magazine otherwise, like Yusuf said, no one would like it too much and be attracted to buy it.

Neel - I think, what Shivani said sums up what I think quite well, to me the colour scheme is the most important thing because it brings the whole magazine together and makes it look more professional.

Question 4:

Yusuf - The people on the front look a bit different to normal people, there's a lot of black and other dark colours. Also the name of the magazine looks a bit messy.

Shivani - The most  obvious thing to me is the image, the clothes that they're wearing aren't like your typical pop artists outfit or anything, they look different to most. The facial expressions also relate to the genre as rock tends to be seen as quite angry or weird and their expression could suggest that. The colours used also stand out to me as the running theme seems to be black but on both magazine their is a highlight colour- red or yellow. Also the fact that both covers are quite chaotic represents the genre well because there is often a lot going on in the music and rock covers a really broad spectrum of music.

Neel - I think that the colour scheme makes it look like a rock magazine because there's a lot of dark colours like black or grey but they do have another colour, like red, that makes the magazine stand out. The masthead also makes it look like rock because it looks a bit broken up or something. I can see a lot of graphics too which makes it look more like rock, for example the lightning bolts.

Question 5:

Yusuf - I don't like the pictures on the front because they don't look very normal, I think the colours they used in the one that has a lot of yellow is good.

Shivani - I like that you can obviously tell what genre of music the magazine is, everything about it shows it off. I like that the banner on top looks likes it has been ripped and there is an overall distressed look to the covers, also demonstrated in the masthead. One thing I don't like is how messy the cover kind of looks because there is so much going on.

Neel - I like the colours they used because they look good together, also the colour theme doesn't really change on either cover so it makes it look more professional. On the second magazine I don't like the background because it makes the cover look messier because it's too much happening.

Model consent forms:

Shivani                                                                                          Neel

Yusuf