Media Evaluation

LINKS BELOW DO NOT WORK ON POWERPOINT (ALL OTHERS DO) http://meganmailidomedia.blogspot.co.uk/2014/09/mojo-magazine-analysis.html Link 1 Analysis of Mojo Magazine // http://meganmailidomedia.blogspot.co.uk/2014/10/codes-and-conventions-task.html Link 2 Codes & Conventions Task //

Drafting & Planning: Front Cover

For my final front cover I only needed to make one change.
I changed 'Lana Del Rey's New Album: Ultraviolence is here' to 'Lana Del Rey's Ultraviolence is here' as it was too informative. By changing it I have made sure that the cover line is demanding and 'out there' like it is brand new whilst also sounding like Lana Del Rey has a quality in her that has arrived alongside her album. It is very forward.

Drafting & Planning: Researching Album/Single Reviews

On the contents page, there are two sections which features Single and Album Reviews. I have included made up bands and also real life bands in them.
Instead of just making up random ratings out of 5 for all of them (excluding made up bands/songs) I researched each album and what different websites had given them out of 5. I collected the data from different websites to see which rating had the most votes and then placed that data in my own work.
I used websites such as www.billboard.com and www.rollingstone.com to help me investigate the ratings of albums such as Lana Del Rey: Ultraviolence, Marilyn Manson: Pale Emperor, Fall Out Boy: American Beauty / American Psycho and Bob Dylan: Shadows in the Night.
For my made up bands/songs I decided that having higher ratings near the top would be the wisest idea as those songs as the top are featured at the top of the "Top 10" for a reason and when going down to 10 I made sure the ratings out of 5 stars were lowered.
I used golden stars for the ratings as it is typical to see the stars in some online versions of magazines and in newspapers. I incorporated this idea into my work so that my contents page has it's own style of uniqueness and so that it was not fully influenced by one magazine. 

Evaluation

I am currently 3/4 of the way through my evaluation and aim to finish by tomorrow :-)

Drafting & Planning: Double Page Spread

I finished my double page spread a week ago and have only changed a few things. I made the page numbers white with a red background to fit with the red colours throughout the magazine. I also moved the quote into the middle of the questions to make it look more neat and clear.

Drafting & Planning: Final Draft Contents Page

For my final draft contents page I have added more pages and added more red lines underneath my features. I got this design idea from my inspiration, Q and have incorporated their ideas into my own. I have also added some section that are highlighted and are more noticeable than others so that it attracts the readers attention. By doing these small sections it also gives readers easy access to top things featured rather than turning to the page in the magazine in case they only want to look at certain things. I also added stars for ratings out of 5 so that it is easy to see the ratings rather than flipping to the page it is easily accessible. and it looks more professional and typical for the section.I also made the font bigger on the "This week in INDI..." so that it stands out and it is clear that it is a weekly magazine. Finally I added a page number "3" which is typical in most magazines and is an obvious feature. 

Drafting & Planning: Front Cover

I think I have finished my draft front cover and I'm actually pleased with it so I think that this could be my final front cover. I haven't changed much of it since I first did it but I took out "into" from my main cover line so that it says "THE LIONHEARTS STORM THE MUSIC INDUSTRY" rather than "THE LIONHEARTS STORM INTO THE MUSIC INDUSTRY" as it sounds more like they've rolled in and just taken it as a whole. 

On my front cover I have kept the colours of red, white and black consistent and they are also consistent throughout the entirety of my magazine. All of the artists featured in my cover lines are featured in my contents page.

Drafting & Planning: Updated Double Page Spread

For this updated version of my double page spread I have made all of the text much smaller and moved the pull quote. I moved the pull quote because I thought it looked a bit silly where it was first placed. I also added text at the top where there is an introduction about the featured artist. I'm struggling to fit anymore text on and am considering taking a new photo at this late stage. I might just leave it after I get more feedback to see what I could do to improve.

Drafting & Planning: Contents Page Improvement

I have once again improved my contents page. In this previous post I had added a 'features' and red lines. In this improvement I have added more pages and features to close the gaps on the page. I prefer this one to the original and the previous one and am much happier with it.

Drafting & Planning: Improved Double Page Spread

On my double page spread I changed some of the font so that it is red instead of white/black because then my colour scheme is consistent throughout my front page, contents and double.

Drafting & Planning: Improved Contents Page

After some consideration I decided to change my contents page again and add a few things. I made my image at the top smaller so that I could fit more underneath. I added a sidebar saying 'features' and under each feature in the magazine there is a red line going across. I got inspiration for the red lines from Q magazine as they tend to do it a lot. I wrote a little bit of text by my Katelyn feature as there was a gap that needed filling. I think I prefer this contents page to the other as it's not as boring.

I did all of this on pageplus and I'm quite happy with the result.

Organisation: Improvements and When

Tomorrow I will receive more feedback on my magazine, until then I will not change anything on my magazine until I know what I should definitely change.
I'm thinking about rearranging my entire contents page but I also love the updated version so I will wait for my feedback on it.
I'm pleased with my cover but think I will change my double page spread as I think it's too simple.
I think my double page spread needs to be more fixed around my artists rather than all over the place, which takes ages to do.

Drafting & Planning: Updated Contents Page

After receiving feedback from a classmate about my contents page I decided to add some things to it and change it around a little.

I changed my image and moved it up so that the "contents" fit in the corner of the image neatly with the "this week in INDi" underneath. I also added some page to my magazine so that it now goes up to 42 as a weekly magazine because 38 was too little but nearly enough. I also added a twitter URL and website URL at the bottom so that there is a clear link to the magazine website and the magazine itself. 

Drafting & Planning: Feedback to First Draft

My magazine was assessed by a classmate and they gave me feedback on what I did well for my magazine and what I needed to improve on.
They said that on my cover page there was good photography, the colour scheme is consistent, I have conformed to the codes and conventions and my cover line stands out and is noticeable. To improve they said I should make some fonts bolder on certain cover lines and articles to make them stand out. From this I know now that I should bold certain things such as names of artists to make it more clear.

For my double page spread they said that my colour scheme is still consistent and so is my good photography. They also said the effect of blurred lights on my image is great. To improve they said I could make the name of the band bigger in the corner but I'm not sure if I will do this yet because I saw a magazine double page spread that ad the artists name smaller in the corner so I will need to think about this.

For my contents page they said I had great photography again and the colour scheme was still consistent. To improve I need to add more detail and more pages if I want my magazine to be monthly. I think I may just have my magazine as a weekly one but if not I will add more pages up to 50/60 pages. 

Drafting & Planning: Double Page Spread

Here is my final draft of my double page spread. For this I used paint.net to add effects to my image such as blurred lights and for my text I used both page plus and publisher to help me position the texts in different ways. It took me quite a while to get the text positioned as originally it wouldn't fit so I had to add spaces to make it fit along the side. I quite like the layout of my double page spread, there are a few improvements I would do but overall I'm quite happy. I feel like everything fits nicely and it has page numbers as well. 

Drafting & Planning: Article Questions

I have thought of some questions for my article for my double page spread and here they are. I will also write an introduction for the article too and put it in another post. 

How do you feel about the release of your debut album, Valour?
Isabella: I've had this album planned for a couple of years, I mean, I started writing songs at fourteen and ever since then I've always had an album name and songs for the album. I feel like this is something huge for me and to finally be able to release something that means so much to me honestly, it makes me feel so good and accomplished. 

Is there any reason to your album and songs names? 
Isabella: My album is called Valour because Valour is another word for bravery which as I was growing up, a lot of people told me I was very brave and courageous. My songs names are all based off of my growing up and inspirations to me. My first track "Flowers in Your Your Hair" sounds quite happy and is inspired by me as when I was younger my father used to place daisies in my hair. As you go through the album my song names get a little darker and each song progresses to something more in depth. 

What inspired you to write your songs and your album? 
Isabella: I went through a pretty rough time growing up and throughout my teenage years I dealt with a lot of depression and illness which inspired me to write as it gave me something to focus on and move forward for and it made me happy. 

Is there a person who has inspired you or helped you write?
Isabella: Definitely. My mum has been a huge inspiration to me as she went through the same issues that I did and she has been my rock throughout. I am also deeply inspired by Demi Lovato, who went through the same problems too. I learnt from her that you just have to stay strong and keep going and she taught me that writing music helps you to cope. 

How did you manage to tackle your problems?
Isabella: I took one day at a time and then slowly but surely I managed to get back on my feet. My mum was a huge help and I had great friends throughout school who guided me through it and I feel so much better!

Concerning your song, Sylvia, what is it about? What inspired it?
Isabella: Ah yes! I love my song, Sylvia. It's about Sylvia Plath, the writer. I wrote about her because her works are such a big deal to me and she is my favourite writer in the world. She struggled a lot and I felt like I had to have a tribute to her. 

We've already heard that your album is starting to be a success, how do you feel about that?
Isabella: I'm so proud of myself for coming so far and I'm so glad I released this album and people are actually enjoying it so I have everyone who is buying it to thank for that! I'm very content. 

A lot of people on social media are discussing your album and saying how it's helping them, is that what you wanted to come from your album?
Isabella: Hell yeah! I'm so so glad that people are listening to my album and discussing it. I'm very happy that people are using my music as a device to help them out, that makes me incredibly proud. 

So, what's in store for you in the future?
Isabella: Well, I have a tour coming up in the summer and a lot of album signings around the UK. I'm hoping that I get to go to the USA one day so that everyone who likes my music is able to see it played live. 

Drafting & Planning: Front Cover and Contents

This is my final draft for my front cover and contents page of my magazine. For both, I used paint.net and pageplus to help me construct my images and place the text. On my cover I placed the text around my cover star with some overlapping which I quite like. I stuck to a particular house style of red, black and white because it fits with the colour scheme of my entire magazine. For my contents I used magic wand to crop around my secondary pictures at the bottom and I think it worked quite well. I like my layout for my magazine contents and it is based from a draft I did a while ago which I made in this post. My colour scheme is clear and consistent throughout my cover and contents and I have used the pictures from the same photoshoot of my cover star.

Drafting & Planning: Front Cover and Double Page Spread Photos

I have completed my front cover which will be uploaded and added when I am back on a school computer. I have the basis of my front cover which is below. I used paint.net to help me put my cover star over the masthead but so that it looks decent and not messy. I like how my masthead is in a unique font that to me fits the style of Indie. My final magazine name that I have (FINALLY!) chosen is INDiE which of course is short for individual which I like as it fits my cover stars uniqueness. 

I have also started on my double page spread and I added the effect of blurred lights to my image of my artist. On paint.net I used the magic wand tool to cut around the blurred lights and I then faded them so that they weren't as noticeable. I really like this effect although I don't think it looks as good as when I used the effect in this previous post but I am content with the outcome.

Organisation: Cover Star Images

I have recently changed my cover star due to my previous one being and looking more like a pop artist rather than indie. Here are my new images for my magazine with my new cover star. 

Organisation: Publishers

I have been researching into different magazines such as Q, and Kerrang. Both are published by Bauer Media Group. Bauer Media is a multi-platform media group, with locations across the UK. Following their purchase of Emap in 2007, The Bauer Media Group acquired a collection of media brands, including heat and Grazia as well as a radio portfolio of national radio brands including KISS FM UK and Magic, and regional radio brands across major UK cities. In 2013, Bauer Media also acquired the Absolute Radio Group from Times of India.

Bauer Media also broadcasts TV music channels including The Box TV, in a joint venture with Channel 4. In the UK Bauer Media is the sister company of H Bauer Publishing, who publish titles including Take a Break.

As Bauer Media Group published Q magazine I am looking to use a similar publisher as my magazine is inspired by Q therefore making it a big market magazine so I am sure I will use a well known publisher for my magazine. I will continue to research big publishers until I find the one, even though this may be the one for my magazine already.

I have chosen Bauer Media Group as my magazine distributor. ​

I chose them as they supply a range of magazines such as Q which is my main inspiration for my magazine. ​

Bauer Media is a multi-platform media Group which has many companies that focus on two things - Magazines and Radio. I felt like this was suitable for my magazine as the magazine is so similar to Q and therefore all music involved with the magazine would feature on radios.​

Bauer also distribute Kerrang magazine as well as Q and I think this would be good for my magazine as the genre of my magazine is Indie/Rock which fits Kerrang and Q.​

Bauer also distribute Empire magazine, a TV and Film magazine which I think is also key for my magazine as my magazine has a few pages dedicated to listings of films, which is suitable for my magazine as I will have a feature of a top 50 films at the back of my magazine.