Evaluation Question 7

LOOKING AT YOUR PRELIMINARY TASK (THE SCHOOL MAGAZINE TASK) WHAT DO YOU FEEL YOU HAVE LEARNT IN THE PROGRESSION FROM IT TO THE FULL PRODUCT?

http://shannonmarierosali.wix.com/shannonsdomain#!evaluation-q7/ckcc

Evaluation Question 6

WHAT HAVE YOU LEARNT ABOUT TECHNOLOGIES FROM THE PROCESS OF CONSTRUCTING THIS PRODUCT?

http://shannonmarierosali.wix.com/shannonsdomain#!evaluation-q6/c10f8

Evaluation Question 5

HOW DID YOU ATTRACT/ADDRESS YOUR TARGET AUDIENCE?

http://shannonmarierosali.wix.com/shannonsdomain#!evaluation-q5/cz1n

Evaluation Question 4

WHO WOULD BE THE AUDIENCE FOR YOUR MEDIA PRODUCT?

http://shannonmarierosali.wix.com/shannonsdomain#!contact/c24vq

Evaluation Question 3

WHAT KIND OF MEDIA INSTITUTION MIGHT DISTRIBUTE YOUR MEDIA PRODUCT AND WHY?

Initial ideas of what I could do:

• 'in the style of' video such as the apprentice, dragons den, interviews with each publisher...
• powerpoint presentation made faster on imovie of magazine distribution and info on the main companies alongside small vid/audio of which one would publish my mag.

Magazine distribution is the link between the magazine producers and retail outlets. The outlets are the stores where the magazines are sold and are mostly places which have a large magazine section such as WHSmith. The producers creates all the major aspects of the magazine including the structure and the content. The producers then send the finished magazine to distribute retail ors who will market the magazine and will also aim to advertise the magazine to help target audiences to buy the magazine. There are also several other institutions in the magazine industry which are involved in the production and advertising process before distribution. There is a chain of institutions involved in the production process, firstly, there is the magazine producers who are in charge of funding the magazine and using the funding for new resources to create the magazine. The producers create the structure and the content of the magazine, they also create the final product ready for publishing.

HEARST - produce 300 worldwide magazines with their UK company Hearst UK publishing 20 magazines in Britain including Cosmopolitan, Men’s Health, Elle, Esquire, Good Housekeeping and Company. They also run 20 major websites including GetLippy.com and Sugarscape.co.uk. They also publish 30 international newspapers, 2 radio stations, 30 international TV Channels, 3 international online channels (egCosmopolitan TV) and several real estate companies. They also co- own another magazine company with a US company (Rodale) called Natmag Rodale (health magazines) and co-own a distribution company called COMAG with Conde Nast. Hearst UK tried to buy another magazine company EMAP in 2009 to increase their power but their bid of £700 million was turned down.

IPC MEDIA – The UK's leading consumer magazine and digital publisher. They produce 60 magazines in Britain including NME, Nuts, Woman’s Own, Marie Claire, Loaded etc. Their magazines get bought by 26 million people a month, and their websites get visited by over 26 million people globally a month - almost two thirds of UK women and over 40% of UK men. They also create content for multiple platforms not only across print and online, but through mobile, tablet and events. The magazines published by this company which are most relevant to my media product include NME and Uncut:

Uncut: 56,894, down 9.7 per cent yr on yr, New Musical Express: 20,011, down 16.4 per cent yr on yr

BAUER (incorporating EMAP) – They produce over 280 magazines worldwide with 

80 of those in Britain including Bliss, Grazia, Empire, FHM, Heat, Kerrang, Take a Break and Q. Bauer bought EMAP (a magazine company) for £1.4 billion in 2009 and have carried on producing their magazines since then. Reaches over 19 million uk adults every week. Also own KISS 100, Magic 105.4 and 4music. They connect people and communities with compelling and quality content whenever, wherever and however they want. The magazines published by this company which are most relevant to me are MOJO, Q and KERRANG, MOJO, Q:

Mojo: 79,345, down 6.8 per cent (Bauer Consumer Multimedia)  Q: 58,980, down 8.7 per cent, Kerrang: 37,603, down 6.5 per cent!

Evaluation Question 2

HOW DOES YOUR MEDIA PRODUCT REPRESENT PARTICULAR SOCIAL GROUPS?

http://shannonmarierosali.wix.com/shannonsdomain#!models/cee5

Evaluation Question 1

IN WHAT WAYS DOES YOUR MEDIA PRODUCT USE, DEVELOP OR CHALLENGE FORMS AND CONVENTIONS OF REAL MEDIA PRODUCTS?

DPS DRAFT 2

DPS Draft 1

Contents page construction

Contents draft 3

Contents draft 2

Contents draft 1

Flat plan for Contents

Draft Double Page Spread article

Double Page spread DRAFT

RIDING SOUL-O

“I feel like I’m ready to step out of the shadows and into the limelight”

Above is what I am planning to have as my Headline and Pull quote for the main cover story. Below is the double page spread article written in draft which will require some if not many changes to be the best quality it can be and to resemble other professional and famous music magazines in the country:

Strolling through the infamous Leicester Square in West End London on a cold and icy December afternoon, her entourage consisting of only four security guards, Annalisa Ambros is a face many are surprised to see. Flanked by fans of the Grammy-award winning girl group Liberal Ladies of which Annalisa is a former fifth member, iPhones are held up left-right-and-centre and anxious press are shouting over one another to get their million-dollar question answered first. Annalisa continues to stroll at a faster pace until raising her head ever so slightly. She flicks a long strand of her freshly trimmed Jet Black weave behind her shoulder to reveal the most innocent of smiles. I sit anxiously in the foyer of Asia De Cuba, this musician’s favourite restaurant on St Martin’s Lane, anxiously observing her arrival through the glass wall entrance.

In she comes, brushing the remains of frost and sleet off of her Lipsy London brown, suede coat and on seeing me, she flashes me that wide grin that almost every newspaper and magazine had captured in group photographs, but who had never gone into depth about the character behind it. As I stand up to greet her I notice this songstress is rocking a hip, fresh and modern style sporting Dark Levi jeans with heeled thigh boots and a faux fur waistcoat, paired with oversized hooped earrings and that signature rich, red lipstick. “Your hands are cold”, she says giggling as much as the cold air allows her to. I smile and feel warmed by her easy-going nature making it easier for me to begin my first question.

“Well, what a jam-packed year it’s been for you!”

“Indeed it has hahah!”

“First of all the allegedly sour splitting up of Liberal Ladies, then your signing up to a new record label as a solo artist and now the release of your Debut Album SENTIMENTAL is approaching! What are your thoughts about the events this year has brought to you?”

“Well when you put it like that it’s been a long and winding tale of twists, turns, set-backs and achievements. But to be honest I wouldn’t change a thing - even the really grey areas hahah. I’ve learnt so much about myself this year it’s been like a sort of self-discovery process for me – and a well needed one at that!”

“You mentioned the grey areas. Your group Liberal Ladies formed in late July 2010 released the hit debut single “Kill My Vibe” in February of 2011 which reached the UK top 20 landing an impressive place at number four. Since then you have had four songs reach the UK top 10, 1 of which had a roaring success maintaining at number 2 for several weeks in the UK charts and ranking the 3^rd most downloaded song on ITunes of 2011. What went wrong?”

“It’s a very complex subject but one I don’t mind talking about at all and in fact feel that a few things regarding the alleged spat between lead singer Cassie Emejuru and myself. I cherish every single moment that I spent with the girls in that group, but after the commotion and chaos that came with our second single’s success, I knew something was up. I wasn’t happy anymore. I felt like every red carpet, every premiere, every tour and every photo shoot was a lie, I felt that I was handing the power that all five of us originally shared, over to one person. I felt like all of the hard work, advice and effort I was putting into the song-writing and recording process was constantly being ignored and dismissed. It was like in school when people would push in front of you in the dinner line and you’d have to wait longer and longer to be served. I was waiting and waiting for 18 months for my voice to be heard and I started to buckle under the pressure of ‘keeping up appearances’. On top of this, I felt like the music we were producing was becoming too electrified and techno and instead of producing funky R&B tracks we began to produce predictable, club/dance tracks which slowly started to sink in the charts.”

“So was that the reason you split up?”

“Not necessarily, I think I was the first one to become increasingly aware of my need for departure from the group, because I was feeling controlled, restricted and overpowered by Cassie, whose confident bravado and easy ability to get to know people worked in her favour as the lead singer. Me on the other hand, have always had a hard time with this aspect of fame and felt like I was being disconnected with the real reason I ever fell in love and wanted to pursue a music career, so the music could touch people. If someone’s telling me how I can and can’t do my job, then you won’t see me sticking around for long, because to them it might be just a job but to me, it’s a passion.”

“Inspiring words! How does your relationship with the band members stand now?”

“After everyone else decided that they too could feel the negative vibes within the group, we all kind of went our separate ways. Charmaine I know dreamed of starting a family and I believe is doing spots of TV presenting here and there, so everyone is keeping well and at the moment it’s a pretty unanimous feeling that the break-up was for the best! I keep in touch with them all though – even Cassie!”

“Well now that that’s cleared up I think it’s fair to say that you have been extremely successful in taking the risk of going solo. How are you finding it?”

“Massive culture change!” she gasps and gulps some lemonade from her glass. “I do miss the girls. No matter what happened there some seriously wonderful times had and experiences shared it’s really a shame that it had to end this way. But with every cloud there’s a silver lining and you just have to look at the positives out of the situation. I now realise the path which I wish for the rest of my life to go down and its time for me now to focus on my OWN music. It’s a perfect time for me to song-write as I have come through a lot and being to come out as a solo artist from all of this has made me feel like I’m ready to step out of the shadows and into the limelight.”

“And that you certainly have! The release of your debut album SENTIMENTAL is due to be released on 31^st March 2014. Tell me a bit about it.”

“It’s called sentimental because nearly every track on the album is solemn, soothing and expressive of true emotion. I’ve completely stripped it back and reverted to my old musical tastes, the reason I wanted to do music in the first place! It’s like I’m my own boss now, it makes making music a lot more fulfilling and exhilarating now more than ever. I have found my own style, my own sound and my own voice, and am hoping and praying that Liberal Ladies fans will stick with me on my journey into the fascinating discovery of Neo-soul twists on R&B funk.”

And with that, Annalisa Ambros released a sigh of relief that the interview was over, resuming to the wonderfully outgoing and bubbly personality that I had witnessed come through that door. It’s clear that this intelligent and well spoken chick has gone from shy to fly and I wish her all the best in the success of her single SENTIMENTAL. It will definitely be on MY Christmas list!

Double Page Spread Research

Before I could go on to plan my double page spread any further, it was vital that I take a good look at what competing magazines are producing for their features, and therefore gaining insight into how to attract my audience in the best way...

DPS ANALYSIS 1 - VIBE - Nicki Minaj 

DPS ANALYSIS 2 - VIBE - Solange Knowles

DPS ANALYSIS 3 - THE SOURCE - Rick Ross

Although a HIP HOP/RAP magazine, The Source is a valid and reliable call of research for my design/layout because it contains many elements that make it distinctive and unique in its style. The example I have includes 4 double page spreads on RICK ROSS, who is not the main feature image on the front page, but is on the Contents...

Across the 4 DPS's there are 5 large, main images, all of which stand out particularly in their own right. The first DPS is a conventional, first one introducing the featured artist RICK ROSS, and because it is starting off the article, the page is dominated heavily by the image which is landscape and therefore covers the entire page. The text has been tailored to fit onto this background photograph. With the image photoshopped so that there is a gradient of darker grey toward the right hand side of the DPS, this allows for large, white font in upper case letters to be clearly visible to the target reader. The main heading on this page and body text underneath is all left justified and the main, most impacting, influential words in the title (HAND, EYES, THRONE) are each given their own line as the longest words, and so stand out more because they are longer and are emphasised to the reader. The power of them then draws the reader in. Although hard to see, before the article leads onto the next page, it also states in smaller font the person in charge of the 'words' and the person in charge of the 'images'. The small paragraph of text itself, includes 2 rhetorical questions and addresses the reader as 'you', with the tone/register hence being quite informal and colloquial through abbreviations and dialect associated with the target readers such as 'cutting' 'records' 'shot' and 'MMG'. The image itself is a mid shot and the mise-en scene is particularly captivating as the artist is situated in front of a brick wall which has patches of dirt and mud connoting the grime/rap style of his music. By contrast, he is wearing a blue, faux furr jacket and a golden chained bracelet which connotes wealth and is an iconic symbol.

Interestingly, the layout of the 2nd DPS is in the form of 2 wide columns and also uses a Drops Cap on the 'C', a design feature that many magazines have. Once the introduction is finished, the interview kicks in more or less straight away and we can distinguish between the voice of the artist and the writer from the bolded capital text "SHAHEEM REID:" and "RICK ROSS:". We begin to see a consistent house style from page to page with there being 2 columns of text, and a page next to it, 2 columns on a page and an image next to it. As well as a drops cap, a pull quote has been inserted into this DPS. The style of it is the same font as the drops caps but instead of being in speech marks or highlighted in bright colours or in big colourful boxes like in some pop magazines, this pull quote has simply been enlarged, made bold and is in capital letters and spread across the entire width of one A4 page. It is more or less in the centre of the page drawing attention to it instantly. The image on the right has a very simple background, a white brick wall, again with dirty marks on it, and a plain tiled floor. Much like the first picture, Rick Ross' hands are both raised and his position on the page gives us a full length shot of him.

The third and fourth dps are very similar in layout except the magazine ident "THESOURCE.COM PAGE NUMBER THE SOURCE" appears in the bottom corner of of each page apart from those with images. The final dps of the four includes a second picture on the right a4 side and and underneath is a second pull quote which this time is in quotation marks with some in smaller text. At the end of the article there is a small symbol of a red circle with white 'S' inside of it. This captures the magazine identity as well as maintaining a house style throughout.

Front page, contents and DPS comparisons

I have decided to analyse the front cover, contents page and double page spreads of magazines across different genres because although they may be different to the music featuring in my magazine, the principles will for the most part apply to what I am trying to design and the main aim is to see what kinds of things are persistent across all three pages of a magazine e.g: page furniture, other design elements, typography/font, colours,etc...

1st comparison

 

Vibe magazine is well known for its signature simplistic style, however glamour and subtle hints of sophistication and colour tie together an appropriate house style across all three pages. On the front page, the main model is centred connoting her importance and she is shown kneeling down naked wearing nothing but a pair of high heeled black wedges. With regards to iconography, Ciara is presented as a typical, sexy and alluring black female singer, which would attract the male population of the magazine's target audience. On the contents page, the same model has changed outfit into a grey leotard with long sleeves although with the addition of hand jewellery, she is still wearing minimal clothing and sexual allure here is portrayed through her stretched bare legs, this time wearing a different pair of sliver shoes, still high heeled. The model is in a bent position once again on this page. The dark grey to white gradient used for the front page background has been carried through to the contents with dark grey at the top and white nearer the bottom. Finally, there are two focal images on the double page spread the first one being a long shot of Ciara's entire body. She is once again naked here, wearing the same as on the front page, however the difference in position and placement on the page makes it more interested and appealing. Apart from the few orange sub headings on the DPS to resonate with the odd large bold text, in red font on the front page, the colour scheme is mainly made up of greys, blacks and white, meaning the house style is maintained throughout this magazine, very well.

2nd comparison

In this issue of Big Cheese, Sleeping with Sirens are promoted as the feature band and their importance/dominance over the magazine is maintained consistently across the contents page and double page spread. On the front page, we see a long shot of all five members from head to toe. Their facial expressions appear stern and serious, and their clothes are all smart/casual. Interestingly, they are photographed wearing the same clothes on the contents page, where they are dedicated a slightly larger picture than the rest on the page. In addition to this, the reader is attracted straight to the picture of them as it is positioned in the top of the left hand page, the area the natural eye is drawn to instantly. In their image on the contents page, the band members are all photographed but are each standing in a different position, except the man in the middle of the front page. He is kept constantly in the middle of the band from the front page, to the contents to the DPS. This cleverly signifys and maintains that HE is the lead singer of the band. 

DPS Planning

Audience Expectations

To present the expectations of my audience, I created a comic strip using www.pixton.com

To help me discover these expectations, I also handed out typed surveys to a handful of my target audience and above are some of the responses that I gained.