Other Media

At graphics club we were asked to play around with text generators. 

I also made my blog header "TJ's media blog" I made this using the website http://www.wordle.com/ I typed in several media related words to create my header. The words that are bigger are words I typed in more than once. I decided to use black and white so it relates to my magazine. I have chosen to use blue and green to differentiate between my blog header and my magazine. I feel that this colour scheme works well. 

Updated Project Plan

This is my updated project plan, as you can see I am on task apart from designing my TOC. I will start designing this after I have finished with my DPS. This shows that I am on task.

Double Page Spread Article

I have decided to write an article rather than an interview in my magazine because I find that articles are more informative to the reader. Despite my target audience liking less text as possible in a magazine, i thought that because the featured band are a teenage band, the information in the article may relate to them therefore they would want to read it. 



Being in a teenage all girl band in a male dominated industry can't be easy for the new and upcoming band from London. However, being all girls doesn't stop Right Hook Ruin having some serious fun.

Right Hook Ruin, a four piece alternative band from London aged 16-17 are new on the London music scene. Despite their youth, the band have already played venues such as the Camden Barfly and O2 Academy Birmingham. And after supporting Kill Casino back in October, the girls say they're ready for bigger and better things. 

"We feel 2010 is our year, we're going to be the up and coming band that everyone's talking about" states vocalist Vix Allaway with confidence. The singer, 17, from Woodside Park has no doubt that they'll make it big in the future. Not only does her confidence reflect in her body language, but in the way she performs on stage with her fellow band mates. 

The four piece formed at The London Rock Academy in South Kensington back in 2007. All four angst-ridden girls had the same thing in mind, they wanted to form a band and be famous. 

"I found out about the academy through school and I mentioned it to TJ and she came along one day and then we got placed in a band with Vix and Sian and there was this instant connection between us, we all knew what we wanted" says drummer Billie - the youngest of the group. 

"I don't think people really expect much from us being a girl band, and when they hear our stuff they're literally blown away," says bassist Sian. And she couldn't be more right. In a male dominated industry, the slightest mention of a girl band is just laughed at. We stereotype females in the music industry as having very little or no talent at all, we just assume they lip-sync and sing other people's songs. Right Hook Ruin, being one of the few exceptions aim to show not just London, but the world what girl power can really do. "I think we might stand a chance, as we're an all girl band who can actually play instruments rather than lip-sync!"

In 2008 the band recorded a 4 track demo at the Imperial College studios. The way the songs have been recorded emphasize the vocal line and powerful lyrics.

"It was the first time we've all ever really properly recorded we were so nervous!"

The band hope to release their songs Scrape on the knee and Feisty Mandy as singles in the near future. Scrape on the knee is a calm song about a dysfunctional relationship, the lyrics of the chorus are "give and take" which represents a person's unhappiness about a relationship being uneven and how a person feels like they're giving it their all and they're getting nothing back. Whereas Feisty Mandy, a song based on a “slag from hackney" contrasts greatly not only on what the songs about, but the musical elements too. Scrape on the knee features one powerful guitar riff that completes the song. The verse is based around 3 broken chords which slots together perfectly with the vocalist's soulful sound. The chorus is based around the same chords but are strummed to create a beautiful harmony in the major key. Feisty Mandy is slightly more complex with a descending scale of power chords that are harshly played which fit with the harsh sound, lyrics and the image of the band. The band has been described as “20^th century grunge/noise pop” which reflects in this song.

The band has a rather unique and interesting sound; the vocals will be the first thing to strike you. They are fluent and soulful and could be compared to Kate Nash, which clashes with the look and attitude of the band. The actual songs are memorable and filled with melodic heavy riffs that scream teen angst and could even be described as The Spice Girls gone wrong. The band has been compared to Blood Red Shoes and Paramore because both bands have female vocalists. 

"It's nice to be compared to Blood Red Shoes, as last year they were only just starting out really so it gives us hope for the future"

Rowland Rivron have described them as "Hook by name, hook by nature" Which couldn't be more true. I feel this group has definite promise and their sound could definitely dominate 2010. They have a very unique yet modern look which definitely fits with their style of music.

"It sounds stupid when people ask you what you want to do in the future, and your reply is rock star but it's really what we want to do" 

The girls have yet to release an official demo/CD but Right Hook Ruin say that 2010 is their year. 

Mockups and First Drafts (DPS)

This is one of the few Double Page Spreads I am designing. I have stuck to the colour scheme of the front cover so this avoids confusion for the readers. I have chosen bright colours because it will attract my target audience. I have chosen bright pink because my featured band is a girl band and i'm sticking to stereotypes, codes and coventions to appeal to more people. My image of the drummer and vocalist. I have asked them to pose like this because it shows anarchy and rebellion. This will appeal to teens as they too will be experiencing a phase of rebellion, it may even influence them to start their own girl band. I have stuck to a number of double page conventions. I have used a slug and a caption in the top left hand side of the image. A slug is a short snappy bit of writing at the top corner of a magazine. In this case it's entitled "news" This will tell the reader that this section of the magazine is based on news. As I only have one image I decided to add a caption underneath the slug. My caption says "for more info, www.reverbmag.co.uk" This lets the reader know if they want to find out any further information about the featured band they can do so by going to the magazine's official website. I have placed a by line in the top right hand side corner of the magazine. I decided to place it there because that side of the magazine looked bare, and i wanted to add another double page spread convention. The by line tells the reader who took the main image, and who wrote the article. I have also put in a pull quote reading "we're going to be the up and coming artist that everyone's talking about" This arrogant quote tells the reader that they are in fact going to be the up and coming artist that everyone will be talking about. It is a very cliched quote but the confidence of the quote may attract media/record label attention to the band, it will also attract a lot of people to go and listen to their music as they are so confident. I have quite a lot of white space in my image, I have edited it this way to avoid the page looking too busy, this caters for my target audience as they have a short attention span and if the page is too busy they won't absorb all of the information. I have added a page number at the bottom right hand corner of the page. This will tell readers what page they are on. I have also added the magazine name next to the number. I thought this would look better than just having a number. I have used the same font as the masthead on the front cover.  I also have leading text which introduces the article. I have decided to include this because it gives the reader an insight to what they are reading before they decide to read the entire article. It's also in a bigger font so teens will prefer to read this. I have used grungy brushes from photoshop to emphasize that the band are grungy. I have used these as backgrounds for text and my page number. 

This is my mockup for my first double page spread. I have used several DPS conventions such as, slug, caption, main image, article, page number and by line. My image is slightly over half the page so it crosses the gutter. My article title follows the third rule, it is slightly off centre to show the informality.

This is one of my double page spread drafts. I have stuck to the colour scheme of pink black and white which features on my front cover so this avoids confusion and complexity for my target audience. I have chosen bright colours because it will attract my target audience. I have chosen bright pink because my featured band is a girl band and i'm sticking to stereotypes, codes and coventions to appeal to more people. My header is entitled "Spice girls gone wrong" This will attract people who like the Spice Girls. My image of the drummer and vocalist. I have asked them to pose like this because it shows anarchy and rebellion and they look quite angry which relates to the stereotype of teen angst. This will appeal to teens as they too will be experiencing a phase of rebellion, it may even influence them to start their own girl band. I have stuck to a number of double page conventions. I have used a slug and a caption in the top left hand side of the image. A slug is a short snappy bit of writing at the top corner of a magazine. In this case it's entitled "news" This will tell the reader that this section of the magazine is based on news. To fill the space under the article i decided to use other images i have of Right Hook Ruin. I have added a grungy polaroid picture effect to meet the needs of my target audience. I have added an introductory paragraph as it is a double page spread convention. I have decided to include this because it gives the reader an insight to what they are reading before they decide to read the entire article. It also fills the space above the image. I have made the text slanted to show informality. I have quite a lot of white space in my image, I have edited it this way to avoid the page looking too busy, this caters for my target audience as they have a short attention span and if the page is too busy they won't absorb all of the information. I have added a page number at the bottom right hand corner of the page. This will tell readers what page they are on. I have also added the magazine name next to the number. I thought this would look better than just having a number. I have used the same font as the masthead on the front cover.  It's also in a bigger font so teens will prefer to read this. I have used grungy brushes from photoshop to emphasize that the band are grungy. I have used these as backgrounds for text and my page number.

This is a mockup of one of the double page spread that i am designing. I have set it out so it follows the eye flow rule. The reader will see the header first, then read the introductory text, then see the image, and the read the article. I will use grungy shapes to meet the needs of my target audience. I will include a slug and caption as they are double page spread conventions and will inform the reader about the magazine. I have added supporting images to fill the space and my target audience prefer more images than text.

Demonstrating Photoshop skills

I attend my school's graphic club where we are taught how to use photoshop. In this specific lesson, we learnt how to fill in words with images.


First, I chose the font pokemon solid. I chose this font as it quite a chunky font meaning it will be easier to fill in. I then browsed the web for some images which I then pasted into photoshop. I then used the magic wand tool to highlight the section where i wanted to paste. I then clicked edit, past into selection which allowed me to paste into the section. I then added a black and pink photo filter and played around with the gradient to get the final result.

Double Page Spread Analysis 2

Double Page Spread Analygsis

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Script
Slide 2
Paramore are a famous American female fronted band well known around the world. The band formed in 2004 when the band was in their early teens thus appealing to young teens as the band was young teens themselves. Their songs are upbeat and with a fast tempo and use lyrics that appeal to the teens of today giving them a large teenage fan base. The fans that listen to this band tend to be what’s known as “emos” emo means emotional hardcore. It is a style of rock music derived from punk. It became a fashion statement as well as a genre of music in the noughties. Emos are stereotyped for wearing skinny jeans, band t-shirts, vans or converse, facial piercings, having an attitude, being constantly depressed and having hair over their face.


Slide 3
This double page spread has used a number of conventions such as
Pull quote – this is a quote pulled from the body text that stands out from the article. This article has gone for “This is a huge turning point for the band” This quote will attract fans of the band as they will want to know what the turning point is. It will also attract people who might not have heard of the band but because they’ve had a turning point may be intrigued to find out what the turning point is.
Body text – This the text on the page whether it’s in an article form or an interview. This double page spread have decided to lay it out as an interview.
Image – This is a vital convention in a double page spread as it’s what the reader sees first. This image is of the whole band in a recording studio. They’ve placed the singer on the far right hand side to fit the rule of the eye flow as the eye tends to follow the page in a c shape. Even if the magazine was going against this convention the singer would still stand out as the image doesn’t really use much colour but her bright red hair stands out.
Caption/Slug – This is at the top left hand corner. The editor has coloured the text red to fit in with kerrang’s colour conventions. The caption says “for all the latest news www.kerrang.com” This tells the reader where to find the latest news, proving helpful to the readers.
Drop cap is used to draw the readers in.


Slide 4
The target audience are teenagers. Paramore are barely in their twenties, so a young band will appeal to a young audience. The picture on the bottom left shows the guitarist of the band looked a tad depressed. This is the look most of their audience go for (emo) So the target audience will obviously be attracted to this. Also the fact that the lead singer is a girl rather than a boy will attract a hoard of teenage boys to read the article. It may also inspire young girls to make a band of their own.


Slide 5
The majority of the article’s language is informal which appeals to the target audience. Complex and hard to understand language will drive away the target audience. The use of the word “awesome” shows that the article is using language that caters to the target audience and also shows the band is quite young themselves and not forcing the informal language to appeal to the younger fans. In the context that the word knocked is used shows again that the band aren’t forcing the informal language, it’s the way they actually speak.


Slide 6
The colour scheme of this DPS is orange. This is because the lead singer has bright orange hair and loves the colour orange. The editor has highlighted the key words of the pull quote in orange to emphasize and draw in readers. The questions and the Drop cap are also orange. It appears the editor has also used an orange filter on the image. I’m not entirely sure if it’s true but it does appear that way. The slug at the top of the page also looks quite orange/red. The band themselves are wearing quite dark colours, this could be associated with their emo look or it could be used to emphasize the colour of the singer’s hair.


Slide 7
The slug at the top of the page has used an orange font to relate to the band, which is in a sans serif font, which represents the magazines informality. The unimportant text in the pull quote is a serif font. This is to distinguish between the important bits of the quote and from the unimportant bits as the important bits are in sans serif font, which is a typical trait of kerrang magazine. The questions are in an orange serif again to represent the band and the answers are in a sans serif font.


Slide 8
The entirety of the double page spread is the main image and the body text is placed at the bottom of the pages. This goes against the codes and conventions of left thirds. However, the pull quote comes across 2/3 of the page so it does stick to some of the codes and conventions. The layout caters for the audience because teenagers prefer to look at images rather than read text, so the image taking up the majority of the 2 pages caters for teens.


Slide 9
I feel that the article is actually talking to the readers as if they were an informed fan. The pull quote suggest this because someone who had never heard of Paramore wouldn’t particular care if this was a huge turning point for them. The article makes numerous references to show this.


Slide 10
The way the band is sitting gives us the impression they’re laid back and don’t really care, again the image of the guitarist could represent the emo audience. The band are also quite young which is shown in their fashion sense.


Slide 11
Both the article and dps use sans serif font to show the informality of the magazine which caters for it’s target audience. On the front cover, it advertises a poster of paramore, which will attract Paramore fans to purchase the magazine and then in turn read the article.


Slide 12
The article talks about band members without actually telling the reader who they are, which only Paramore fans would know. They talk about bands associated with the band so you’d have to know who these bands were. So a certain level of prior knowledge is needed.

Double page spread analysis 1

Y12 DPS TJones
Uploaded by mrlautest. - Full seasons and entire episodes online.




This is a presentation I did based on the presentation below.

Double Page Spread Analysis

View more presentations from guest72024f5.

Script


Slide 2


Enter Shikari, are a well known band on the teenage circuit. (CLICK) Their songs are fast, upbeat and combine rock with rave which caters pretty much for all teens. The band is barely in their twenties, (CLICK) and younger bands tend to appeal to younger fans. The image in this DPS shows what appears to be a party; this will appeal to teens as teenagers are stereotyped for having wild parties. (CLICK) Enter Shikari’s gigs are known to be wild with crowd surfing and moshing happening in all corners of the room including the stage.


This Double Page spread has followed a number of magazine conventions such as:


1 Pull Quote – This is a quote pulled form the main extract that stands out from the rest of the article. This pull quote “This year’s gonna be wicked” shows the colloquial language that the band uses.


2. Slug – Is a short snappy bit of information usually at the top left of a magazine. In this case it’s entitled “news”


3. Caption – is an explanation of an image or block of text in a magazine.


4. Main image – This is the image that will attract the reader to read the article. In this case, it is a strong image placed to the right which follows the eye flow rule.


5. Gutter – This is the margin between both pages of a magazine


Slide 3


Who are the target audience? (CLICK) Teenagers. (CLICK 2) Who tend to be doing this sort of thing. (CLICK) This image shows the featured band “partying hard” and because the band are featured in a teenage magazine it could suggest that the band are trying to fit the teenage stereotype of (CLICK 2) “Partying hard, living fast and dying young”


Slide 4


The majority of the language used in this article is (CLICK) informal and colloquial (CLICK). The pull quote “This year’s gonna be wicked” shows the informality and will appeal to the target audience. The ending sentence “Enter Shikari kick (CLICK) off their tour” also shows the informality of the language. The use of the word kick shows how the editor is trying to use words of today to communicate with the target audience.


Slide 5


Lots of bright colours are used to relate to the genre of music. Enter Shikari are a Post-Hardcore/ Rave band, which would explain the bright colours. There is a heavy use of colour in the image on the left. The band tends to use a lot of colour because their music fits the genre of electro rock/synth rock and rave culture. The magazine article has stuck to 3 colours, red (CLICK) black (CLICK) and white (CLICK) which are Kerrang’s signature colours (CLICK) and the slug and the notepad follow this too. In the magazine image there is no clear colour scheme, the band are all wearing different colours, expressing their individuality which could suggest disorder and chaos, which appeals to the teenage target audience. It's not organised like a professional shoot with everyone wearing white or black. This shows the band is trying to be different and individual.


Slide 6


The slug, (CLICK) pull quote, (CLICK) and article (CLICK) are in a sans serif font (CLICK). Kerrang tends to stick to using sans serif fonts because of the informality of the magazine and the audience. Like the font, the audience tend to be quiet grungy which again ties into the informality of the magazine. The slug is the “news” section at the top left hand side of the page. The editor has made the font colour red and bold so it stands out. It’s also been manipulated to look grungy to fit the genre of the magazine. It is similar to other Kerrang double page spreads as the magazine tends to stick to using sans serif fonts in order to cater for its target audience. (CLICK) However NME’s double page spread is slightly different in that the magazine uses serif fonts for the article to appeal to its older audience, (CLICK) and it uses a sans serif font on the header to show informality and appeal to their younger audience. (CLICK)


Slide 7


The entire double page is taken up by the image of the band with the article (CLICK), pull quote (CLICK) and slug (CLICK) placed in front of it. The double page spread has been laid out so that the lead singer is directly on the gutter, lying in between both pages. This shows the importance of the lead singer, with the codes and conventions of the singer being in the middle of a shot. The rest of the band have been laid out either centre left or centre right, and the 2 models in shot have been placed further away towards the edges of the page to show the lack of importance. The pull quote, slug and article have all been placed on the left which follows the codes and conventions of the left third rule (CLICK) and the eye flow rule. (CLICK) This layout makes the double spread easier to read to the target audience as it follows conventions, this avoids confusion.


Slide 8


Kerrang as a magazine always refers to the reader as a friend and as an informed reader. This is a way of attracting readers as the majority of readers are teenagers who prefer to be addressed to as a friend/informed reader (CLICK) rather than a reader who gets lots of facts thrown at them. (CLICK) the opening sentence (CLICK) “2009 has been pretty memorable for Hertfordshire dance rockers Enter Shikari” This tells the reader a bit about the band and uses the word “pretty” (CLICK) instead of “very” (CLICK) which shows the editor is using language to cater for the target audience.


Slide 9


The image shows the band partying hard. (CLICK) There are several cans of alcohol in the image which could be seen as encouraging underage drinking. (CLICK) The way the band is posing suggests they don’t have a care in the world which relates to the attitudes of the target audience. (CLICK) The image will appeal to its teenage audience because the majority of teenagers party, drink and pass out (like the models in the image) I feel that they have captured the perfect image to appeal to their target audience.


Slide 10


(CLICK) The article has used the same fonts as the front cover. The slug and the masthead have used the same font (CLICK) and have been edited to create a grungy feel to cater for the target audience of the magazine. The pull quote and main kicker have also used the same font. (CLICK) The editor has done this because it confuses people when more than two or three fonts are on a page. This also caters for the target audience of teenagers because teenagers tend to have a very small attention span.


Slide 11


The article does not demand any prior knowledge (click) which is a good thing, as first time readers will be able to learn about the band without having heard about them first. This is a good way of pulling in new readers.