Planning - Photographs From Shoot - Underground heroes

Wall Wisher

So that i could further my research i created a wall wisher so that i could recieve feedback on about certain aspects of my magazine.

Link to Wall Wisher.

http://www.wallwisher.com/wall/EmmaHMedia

Interactive Evaluation

To make my blog more exciting i decided to produce my evaluation on the site xra normal and created videos using animations in an interview style format. Each of the videos covers the following questions.


1) In what ways does your media product use , develop or challenge codes and coventions of real media products?
2) How does your media product represent particular social groups?
3) What kind of institution might distribute your media product and why?
4) Who would be the audience for your media product?
5) How did you attract/adress your audience?
6) What have you learnt about technology from the process of constructing this product?
7) Looking back at your pre liminary task, what do you feel you have learnt in the progression from it to the full product?

Links to Videos

 - This interview covers questions number 1 and 4. It discusses how similar texts influenced my decisions and outside influences. This interview also goes into detail about codes and conventions and how i reached a decision about who would be my target audience and how other people with different perspectives may read my text differently to myself or my target audience. http://www.xtranormal.com/watch/8085349

- This next interview focuses on representation and what sterotypes are used within my magazine.  It answers question 2 .It also discusses how wider issues influenced the decisions i made and the media ideologies that i needed to be aware of when producing the magazine.  http://www.xtranormal.com/watch/8110099/

- This next interview answers question 3 and focuses on what kind of institution might distribute my media product and why. http://www.xtranormal.com/watch/8110417

- This interview covers questions 5 and 6 and focuses on attracting the audience of my magazine and how technology has been involved in producing my magazine.  http://www.xtranormal.com/watch/8116263/

Deconstruct the front page and analyse how the codes and conventions will attract the audience. 

Looking back at your preliminary task what do you feel you have learnt in the progression from it to the full product? 

Well lets remind ourselves of what my pre liminary task looked like...

After now completing my main music magazine i can straight away notice ways in which this magazine is weak. Especially on the contents page there are no photographs or the use of same style , size or colour font. The article of the magazine looks as if it has just been put on there from anywhere and there is no idea of structure or framing. I can also notice an improvement on my photo shop skills. Around the edges of the photographs you can see where they have been cut out which looks unprofessional. The repetition of the school logo is not necessary and i can now only presume that i was trying to fill the gaps on the page. I believe that i took more time in every aspect of the production on the second product.  

I believe i have made good progress between the two tasks. The use of editing the photographs which is down to me learning how to use photo shop! resulted in me being able to play around with colour , size and effects on the photographs. on the introduction dp i added a pink tint to the background which was originally brown. This would appeal more to my target audience as it adds personality and is not just a brown boring background. In the pre liminary task i had no awareness of the choice of fonts i should use and therefore i have shown progress in the sense that i researched similar texts to get an understanding of what fonts are appropriate to the genre of my magazine. I used more appropriate equipment in the main task which shows in my photographs. A creative problem solving decision i had to make was by extending the photograph on my front cover. For the photograph to work on the cover i had to extent it higher so that the text masthead could work around the photograph. 

Overall i can definatley see an improvement from my first magazine to the second. I carefully planned the photograph shoots more which is a better approach to going and asking random students around school. I have stuck to sterotypes more in my second magazine by showing awareness of what the audience want to see on the cover. The contents page has photographs which is an improvement as my first project was just blocks with words inside. I am much happier with my final media product as i do believe it looks like a music magazine and i have worked carefully to ensure that i have included what i know my audience wanted to see.

Construction - Photo Editing

After completing my photo shoots it was time to make the decision of which photographs would be the best for my magazine. The first decision was which photo would be best for my cover. After searching through the photograph i decided would be best was this one ;

However i believed that some editing needed to occur so that the photograph would work on a cover of a magazine. I liked the edgy effect that the background had. To contrast the plug would need to go so i removed this using photoshop. The colour of the photograph needed to be brighter so i played around with the contrasting. As the main colour scheme of my cover was going to centre around the pink colour of the models lips , i wanted the lips to be more emphasised so i brightened them so they was the main feature of the photograph. Another tool that i used was a tool to thin the legs on the model. Although i believe that the model used looks fine there is a sterotypical view that a model on a magazine cover should be very slim. Therefore i used the tool to make her legs appear slimmer and i removed the scar at the top of her leg as well as giving her a slight tan so that girls would look at the cover and say i want to be her whilst men would look at the cover and say i want to be with her! 


The final front cover photograph looked like this;

Construction - Article For DPS

Sweet, Pretty and Innocent. These are just three of the descriptions that Maddie Jones has been given since beginning to find her path in the music industry. However as we meet her she is armed with scissors ready to cut loose the labels and give us the exclusive on the real girl behind the guitar. The Bromley born girl gives us an insight into her 'great childhood upbringing’ and says that her place of birth is the 'only thing she has in common with 'pixie lott'. 'Coming into the music industry of course there is going to be comparisons but im just Maddie'. As she begins to tell us more it becomes clear that she is not just an ordinary girl with a guitar.’ People get me so wrong they think im an angel but I went through the rebellious stage the same as any other teenage girl. I had boyfriends my parents hated and I would never let them tell me who I could date'. This may explain why Maddie Jones has decided that the only relationship she will have from now on will be with her guitar!( Well that’s what her parents think anyway!)At the ripe age of 21 Maddie says she is a million miles away from the nervous 16-year old who was so scared of performing at her school talent show that vomited up the steps to the stage. After entering hundreds of talent shows and competitions the nerves have definitely lost their grip.

 One title that could never be given to Maddie Jones is a quitter. She explains how it doesn’t become any easier each time a door is slammed in your face. One contest that Maddie Jones has never tried and is certain she never will is the X factor. From the age of 10 she has written songs even if the first was titled 'school is boring', it still was her own material. This is one girl who wants success to be her own and she does say that she has 'huge respect' for anyone that could do well on the x factor but it would just never be for her. So how has this brown eyed brunette made her way on to our cover? Well I was at a local gig in London and Maddie just stood out. Whether it was the unique sounding tone of her voice or her girl next door looks, that got the audience hooked, everyone wanted more from her. Reviews, reviews and reviews. She has been the topic of many unsigned websites and has still not been grabbed by a big label. Admittedly she says there have been phone calls but none that feel right to take on her music. She does not want to be separated from the girl that has made it this far already and she says that it would be an insult to herself if she was to let a big time producer tell her what to sing, wear and say. Her resistance to becoming an artificial pop star is evident, even in our photo shoot she refuses a stylist and says that it’s not being a diva it’s her wanting to show everyone herself and not a person that is created.

So how did it all begin for this born to sing star? Well as the social networking phenomenon takes over the internet is beginning to play an important part in all of our lives nobody knows this better than Maddie herself. After winning the school talent show with a later song that she also wrote ‘Happiness’ at the age of 14 Maddie Jones was encouraged by her friends to start uploading her tracks onto the internet. A growing interest arose and after only a year of uploading her videos she had struck an outstanding following of over 100.000 fans that showed a growing interest for not only her voice but the lyrics that accompanied. Maddie began taking requests from her fans life experiences for inspiration. Her most successful track to date was written for a girl who lost her father whilst fighting in Iraq. The track ‘We Could Be Heroes’ flew across the internet and everybody wanted to hear more from the voice that was Maddie Jones. After becoming a known figure on the computer screen Maddie Jones has sold her albums to fans with the help from friends to produce the album design and distribution. There is no doubt that Maddie Jones is a self created artist and she described her relationship with fans as being ‘not just professional’ after gigs Maddie is known for partying with fans and has also been spotted dancing on bar tops with her fans she describes it as having ‘a great time with the people who appreciate my music’ not so sweet now aye!

 The only touring that Maddie Jones has experienced, is the late night tour of London pubs and clubs which she is still grateful for but craves for more. In her own words 'you should never knock an artist that has done gigs in pubs and clubs because its from those gigs that I grow and become a step closer to knowing where im going'. Each time she takes her place on the stage it is just her and the guitar. Even as we meet Maddie in her pristine make-up and gorgeous clothes, she is clutching onto her guitar. She introduces it as her baby and says that it is unlikely that you will ever see her apart from it. When asked about what she gets up to in her spare time Maddie raises an eyebrow and laughs. If she's not playing music, writing music or listening to other peoples music then she describes herself as a normal 21 year old girl.’ I wouldn’t call myself a party animal, maybe I act like an animal when I party too much which isn’t very often but I do like a good dance when I go out’. Growing up Maddie Jones was a girl band fanatic and says that her guilty pleasure was the spice girls. 'Now I would say that artists such as Adele and Florence and Machine are those who influence me'. Maddie strikes me as very independent but a girl who has a strong love for her family. Although she currently lives in London her baby pink poster filled bedroom is still open for her to return to once every month back in Bromley. 'If I want to make it in music London is where I need to be but I will always have my Bromley roots'. The future looks bright for Maddie as she leaves for a gig where she describes a growing fan base will be waiting for her. This girl is ready for the music business but the one question that she asks is if they are ready for her? Whether the answer be yes or no I believe when the day comes of Maddie Jones being on the cover of NME she will look like the same Maddie Jones and no doubt her song played on the radio will be written by Maddie Jones and the name that she signs on a fans autograph will be the name of the girl who returns home to her family.

Planning- Photographs From Shoot - Vanessa Ball

Designing - Sketches Of Magazine