Double Page Spread production

In today's lesson I produced my double page spread. I used QuarkXPress to do this, similarly I used this to complete my contents page therefore had gotten used to using this program. I print screened how I produced my double page spread, step by step.

Interview for double page spread

What do you think is the best thing about being in a band?
Joey: Making music and getting birds no actually just making music we don’t get any birds
Alex: the banter between the band is hilarious

How long have you been together and when did you start up?
Joey: it’s been about 10 minutes now
Connor: 2 or 3 months now

What’s the most embarrassing thing that’s happened to you at a gig?
Connor: Jay turning up, that was embarrassing
Joey: I’d say probably Alex giving 5 year olds his signature
Alex: yeah the year 7’s
Jake: yeah giving the children his signature at that charity gig we performed at, that was so funny

Who has the worst habits in the band and what are they?
Connor: Alex being late
Alex: yeah I’m always late, shit that’s bad isn’t it

What do you find annoying about each other?
Connor: Alex being late
Joey: Alex nicking my boxies and my blazer
Alex: Joeys always wearing checked shirts
Connor: that hasn’t even came out before, you said it like it was an ongoing joke
Alex: you do wear a lot of checked shirts
Joey: yeah I do

What’s your favourite song to play? And why?
Connor: probably Price Tag (Jessie J) it’s quite fun to play, like the chords and stuff are exciting
Alex: yeah Price Tag or that new melody with written in the stars (Tinie Tempah) and Eminem, it’s like original so it’s fun
What has been your lowest point about being in a band so far?
Connor: I reckon it was when it was 2 weeks before our first gig and we didn’t have any songs practiced properly
Alex: yeah we only had like 4 tunes
Connor: but we did it
Joey: we overcame it, in a twist of fate
Jake: we forged them rivers

Where would you all like to end up?
Jake: playing at Wembley or headlining Leeds fest, or any festival.  That’d be incredible
Joey: anywhere playing music, I don’t want to spend my whole life playing in pubs though, I want to go somewhere
Connor: Wembley
Alex: holy shit that would be amazing
Alex: yeah and I want to go on “I’m a Celebrity Get Me Out of Here”, if I made it in a band I’d go on there

Is this what you want to do for the rest of your lives?
Joey: not sit in this garage, but play music yeah

What’s your biggest fear about being in a band?
Connor: flopping
 What is flopping?
Connor: getting up there and just going down
Joey: or staying somewhere but not going anywhere
Connor: and playing gigs in the Wirral all our lives
Jake: not getting anywhere

What band or singer would you most like to be like?
Alex: we were beautiful (joking as this is Alex’s other band)
Connor: John Lennon or that fella out the kooks (Johnny Borrel)
Alex: Gary Barlow
Jake: I was thinking slipknot but alright
Joey: yeah slipknots a good one
Do you argue a lot?
Alex: no, we love each other
Joey: we don’t argue
Alex: we actually haven’t had an argument
Joey: f*ck off
Connor: f*ck off

Joey: we don’t argue, why the fuck are we arguing?
What do you find relaxes you all before a gig?
Alex: spliff, no I’m joking, I just go really quiet
Connor: yeah I’ll ring you and be like “Alex where are you?” and you’re like dead quiet mumbling weird words
Joey:  Remember that gig we played and before we went on you all went for a poo
Connor: that wasn’t us
Joey: yeah that was Luke and Jay

Who is the bossiest?
Connor: Randy
Alex: yeah I’d say I am, I’m not bossy I just want to sound good
Joey: yeah especially when it comes to tuning
The boys start doing impressions of Alex having a go at them for not being in tune and interrupting the practice.

What is your favourite thing about being able to play music for people?
Alex: I get a buzz, seeing the smiles on their faces and that.
Joey: seeing the smiles on their faces and seeing them dancing to the music
Alex: yeah that is good
Joey: and seeing that you’ve made something and they dance to it and take their clothes off and stuff to it, it brings a tear to your eye.

Who is the biggest flirt?
Joey: definitely Jake
Jake: me? Why?
Alex: yeah I never flirt.
Connor: yeah sure you don’t

Photographs for Double Page Spread

Above are some of the photographs I took for my Double Page Spread. I kept the genre of music magazine in my mind therefore produced photographs that signified the Indie Genre therefore give the right meaning out. I used the middle picture because it portrayed the boys personalities and the genre of music very well.

Production of contents page

In todays lesson, I began to produce my contents page. I used QuarkXPress to do this. I took screen shots throughout the time I was completing this task. In the end, I decided against doing a contents page that took over 2 pages because it wasn't needed nor was it what the magazines like Q and NME do frequently.

Photographs for Contents Page

Above are some images that I took for my Contents Page. I used some of the images above that seemed more appropriate with my genre of magazine and article headings.

Production of front cover

In today's lesson, I began to create my front cover. I used Adobe Photoshop to create my front cover because this is the best programme to use for the task that I am set. I have included screen shots of my front cover as it is being produced below, so it is shown how I created it step by step.

Photographs for front cover

Above are the pictures that I took for my front cover. I made sure that there was direct contact throughout and I eventually came to the decision that I was going to use the very top image because it portrays a very Indie theme and is a very good photograph that suits my theme very well.

Article research

After deciding on my front cover and contents page, I then began to research double page spreads. I conducted this research to help me to prepare for how I wanted mine to look and the type of questions that I needed to ask the band. I used the Internet and music magazines such as Q and NME to help me decide the layout and style I wanted my double page spread to appear like.
I am interviewing a local band called The Gladstones. They are a relatively new band around however after seeing them perform at a charity concert, I thought they were incredible. They don't have much publicity however do have a facebook page (www.facebook.com/TheGadstonesUK) and individual twitter pages .
I would like my double page spread to appear like the picture below, with one main image taking up the page, and the text in columns with a drop quote. I also like how this article has a big drop cap.

I like how the magazine has stuck to the similar colour scheme in this article, and the way that it is laid out is very interesting and would suit the genre of my magazine and the personality of the band very well. The drop quote that they have used in this article is one that will entice the audience, I also want to have this effect and use a controversial quote in order for the article to appear very interesting.

Planning production

For my magazine, I will have my front cover image as a Girl looking very Indie with Indie clothing e.g. leather jacket or wearing red. Her hair will be very messy and there will be direct adress. The background of the image will be a plain white wall to add extra texture to the girls hair.
The images on my contents page will be; one of The Gladstones messing around, Take That live in Manchester, Leah Kent (girl from front cover) looking less serious and a few images of music and images that portray music e.g. an Ipod playing Rihannas album.
For my double page spread, I will again have another image of the boys messing around as in the interview it will be apparant that they are jokers therefore I want their personalities to reflect through the images.

Above are sketches that I have drawn which I would like my magazine to look like. This is almost a plan of what i'd like the outcome to be like.
I decided to change the idea that I had and put a male on the front cover, this is because the indie genre was portrayed better with the male and magazines such as NME and Q use male artists on their front cover an awful lot.

Publication plan

In today’s lesson I did my publication plan, whereby I made final decisions surrounding my magazine. I used my questionnaire results to help me make these decisions.
Title:

BASS

Positioning statement: Feel the beat
Price: £2.00

Distribution: Newsagents, Supermarkets, Music shops, Concerts.
Rationale: This magazine is honest and fair about music. We know that every person has their own opinion and respect that. We want the reader to enjoy the music like people should and we will give them as much information, insight and interviews with and about artists as we possibly can.
Style: Informal, uses humour and strong opinion however is not rude. Uses colloquialism in some articles and expletives in a minor form
Images will dominate the layout features.

Regular content:
3) Review
Coldplays new album
6) Fact file
Professor Green
10) Competition
Win concert tickets, free goodie bags and signed merch
20) Behind the scenes
With Louisa
24) Upcoming events
New gigs, charity events, award ceremonies and more
30) Opinions
The readers vote
32) Hot seat
Lady Gaga
36) News
Gossip, gigs and rumours
37) Live and Lost
Plan B is in Cheshire in this weeks live and lost
40) Day in the life of....
Ellie Goulding as she embarks on her sold-out tour!


Features:
2) Festival gossip
Vfestival, Leeds, Reading.
4) 2011's favourite album
Rihannas album 'talk that talk'
8) Questionnaire
On artists live this week
14) Review of an Icon
Gary Barlow
15) Look back at Glastonbury
The mud, the music and the madness
22) Summer stories
The readers stories of a very musical summer
26) In the studio with Jay-Z
Jay-z lets us in
DJ IQ takes control
34) Break ups, make ups, shape ups
41) Festive tunes
Music that really gets the festival season going
43) Tinie Tempah. Disturbing Liverpool
Tinie Tempah talks Liverpool
45) At home with the Followills
Musics favourite family open up
47) Example brings it home
Example returns home to London
48) Behind the guitar with Ed Sheeran
The secrets he tried to hide this summer
50) Day trip with Coldplay
The band take us to Wales
52) Take That make progress
The incredible sold-out tour begins
54) Bruno Mars’ favourite lazy day
The man himself in his pjs
55) Road trip with Arctic Monkeys
Alex Turner is driving...
56) Florence Welch on love and losing
We get to look into her past, present and future
57) Chase and Status talk girls, gigs and g-strings
The guys reveal the things they didn't want us to know, until now.
59) The Gladstones go public
Intimate interview with this new up and coming band
62) Connor
 Tells us how it is

House style
Cover lines: Arial
Headlines: Arial
Standfirst: Arial
Captions: Arial black
Features in the first paragraph include; drop capital (Arial) 5 lines deep.

Body text: Arial (11 pt)

Colour scheme: Red and white

Questionnaire audio and video

In this video, there are two people answering my questionnaire. I used adobe audition to edit the audio and adobe premiere pro to add the title. I also prepared the file for web use.

Above is two people completing/ with my questionnaire.

Above is someone answering my questionnaire through a video.

Results and conclusions

Results

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I used Microsoft Excel to produce some pie charts with the data I collected. This was then made as a slideshare to present the information. My data taught me a variety of worthy facts about what my magazine should include and how it should be presented.

Questionnaire

I conducted a questionnaire on Microsoft Word. I asked questions which related to my music magazine and genre and which would help me to make decisions about the magazine e.g. colour scheme etc. I will print off 20 copies and get a variety of people to fill them in, in order to make the results reliable.

­­­­­­Questionnaire

1)      Are you male [ ] or female [ ]?

2)      How old are you?

­­­________

3)      What genre of music do you mainly listen to?

­­­­_______________

4)      Who is your favourite band/singer?
______________________

5)      What three words do you associate with Indie music?
____________________________________________

6)      What is your favourite colour?
____________

7)      How often do you buy a magazine?
once a week [ ] once a fortnight [ ] once a month [ ] less than once a month [ ]

If other, please specify: ________________

8)      What magazine do you currently buy?
_____________

9)      What do you like about this magazine?
_______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

10)  What do you dislike about this magazine?
_______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

11)  What articles do you most enjoy to read in a music magazine?
__________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

12)  How much would you pay for a music magazine usually?
0-99p [ ]  £1.00-1.50 [ ]  £1.51-2.00 [ ]  £2.01-2.50 [ ]  £2.51-£3.00 [ ] more [ ]

If more, please specify how much you usually pay: ___________

13)  In your spare time, how much do you listen to music?
Daily [ ]  every few days [ ] once a week [ ] less [ ]

If less, please specify how much you listen to music:___________­

14)  What colours do you associate with the indie genre?
____________________

Initial plans

My magazine will be published fortnightly, I chose this for the time of publication as this is how often many other indie magazines publish a new issue therefore I feel that this is what works the best for this genre.
My magazine will be £2.00 because I think that is what will work the best.
My magazine will have 60 pages, because a lot of indie magazines have over 100 pages, however a lot of them also have less, therefore I thought I'd go in the middle because each different magazine has a different issue size.
Regular content in my magazine will include: evaluations of artists live, interview with an artist, facts about different artists, competitions that readers can enter, best single of the week, behind the scenes with a specific artist, upcoming events, posters, readers opinions on specific topics (different topic each week but same column)and an artists opinion on their favourite album of the month.
Feature articles will include festival gossip, free CD, questionnaire on different artists and what people like when they go see someone live, special review on an artist that has been around for years, win concert tickets, survey on the festivals in summer and music award shows.

Research in the market place

Indie magazine powerpoint
I used slideshare to research different Indie Magazines, I used media packs to do this. This task was so I knew some of the properties of an Indie magazine to help with my production.

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Analysis of double page spread

Codes and conventions of a double page spread

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analysis of contents page

In todays lesson, I analysed a music contents page. This was to help me with my research for my own contents page.

Analysis of Front Covers

Codes and conventions of a music magazine front cover on Prezi
In todays lesson I was told to thoroughly analyse a music front cover, I used Prezi to do this.

Evaluation of school magazine

Evaluation of school magazine on Prezi
This is an evaluation of my school magazine, I used Prezi to do this.

Finished contents page

This is my finished contents page. I am very pleased with it as it very similar to my plan. I used all original images that I had photographed and had the two sections on the contents page, under 'regular' and 'featured'. I made sure to follow the codes and conventions of a contents page for this type of magazine, therefore it suited well to the target audience.

Production of contents page

For the production of my contents page, I used QuarkXPress. I liked this program very much to use for my contents page, as it was very easy to use and I could fully engage in to the task and make a contents page that I liked.

Firstly, I included my title, I used a big bold bright title so the reader knows what page they are on. I kept to the colour scheme to make the magazine recognisable. I added 4 pictures to my contents page altogether, but the first one I added covered 2 columns as it stood out more. I also organised my contents page in to 3 columns, this was to make it very neat and tidy and easy to manage.

I then added a sub-heading which said 'regular'. I kept this bigger than other text, and again as part of my colour scheme. I decided to divide my contents page up in to two parts as this makes it look neater. I had a 'regular' section so readers would know what is regularly in the contents page.

I then began to add the context of the contents page, and what articles are on which page. I used a smaller font so the reader knows that this is the main context of the contents page. I organised the pages by 'Pg.04'for example, because I felt that this is the main way I could gain a lot of organisation within the production of the contents page, and make it look realistic.

After this, I added another sub-heading which was 'featured'. Again, I used a bold font that kept to the colour scheme. I used the word 'featured' so the audience knew what it meant, as it was not a regular occurrence in the magazine.

I then continued to write the page numbers and articles in, under the heading 'featured'. I kept the titles of each article very simple, so it didn't give away too much about the article.

I gave my magazine a background colour which was still part of my colour scheme. I like having a background colour in my contents page as this makes it differ to my front cover, and gives it a bit of colour.

This is my finished product. I added the school website and contact phone number, as a lot of magazines do this in their contents page. I also included 'head teachers notes' which in normal magazines would represent the editors notes. I thought that as this magazine is the 'back to school' special, in most magazines, it would include some form of letter from the person in charge e.g. editor or headteacher.

Finished Magazine front cover

 

This is my finished front cover. I am very pleased with it overall, however obviously there are parts that I would improve. If I could of re-done this task, I would have perfected the layout much more, as I feel as though it is slightly scattered, although as this is a school magazine, it suites well with the target audience. I like how I stuck to my colour scheme throughout, yet didn't over-do it. The images I used are very clear.

Production of my school magazine front cover.

I used Adobe Photoshop to complete my front cover, I included images that I had took around school, and I then added text, including the masthead and quotes from interviews. To make it stand out I used a bold strip of colour underneath the bottom bar of text. I also used a blue and purple colour scheme as this is the schools colour scheme.

 This is the blank page of where I first began to make my front cover. I have shown what I did to complete my front cover in step by step images.

 Firstly I included my main images. I included them first so I could base the other parts of my front cover, including headings around my main images, as the images are firstly what draws the target audience to the magazine.

 I then added my masthead. As this is the main part of the text, and the one that people recognise and as it stands out the most, I put it on the top of the front cover so people immediately could see it.

 I then added my barcode and some information around it, including issue number and price.

 After that, I added some subheadings and labels to the images. I made the subheadings relatively interesting and to not give too much away about the said article or interview.

 I then added some more text and a bottom bar of text, which had a block of colour under it to make it stand out. I kept this block of colour suited to my colour scheme.

I then added some more text, including a quote from an interview for the main story in the magazine. I also added a star with a catchy phrase in, which said 'start of term special 2011' I made this stand out to show that this magazine is the start of term special, which could again make people want to buy it more, as it is a 'special edition' magazine.