Media evaluation

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Double Page Spread

Content

87.5% of the people I asked prefered the second of these photos. They believed it was neater and linked in with the colour theme better, also they thought it appealed to a wider range of audiences and prefered that it doesn't seem as focused around the one act.

Cover

Contradiction dps article

Contradiction – Why be just one person, when you can be several?

Contradiction took the world by surprise when she flew through the charts in a whirlwind of opposites, changing the previously normal world of music as we know it. Nobody knew what hit them as singer Samantha Love decided that it wasn’t enough to be just one person but wanted to tell the world that multi-coloured is the new pink. Born into a society ruled by categorization and stereotypes she became determined to break free from ‘simply ordinary’ and create a brand new identity; free style.

For her latest album Fantastical, Sam agreed to talk to us about the inspiration for her motives, style and, most importantly, her music…

So, Contradiction is soon going to be a name nobody will not have heard of, is this something you were aiming for, or did it just sort of happen?

Sort of happened, definitely. I mean, when I started it was more a way of rebelling against being placed into a group by people that didn’t even know me. At school I was always a nerd, even if I didn’t act like one. Because I was quiet and handed in homework on time I was instantly forced to have a reputation as someone that was, quite simply nothing like me. I have never been just one person, and I wanted to tell teenagers out there that they don’t have to have just one personality. But I didn’t realize it would be quite that popular! [laughs]

I take it then that this was your inspiration for the name Contradiction?

Oh yeah, I love classical music but I also really enjoy a bit of Bullet for my Valentine and Drowning Pool. That’s what I mean by ‘be several’. There is no way you can just like one genre of music, or just one style of clothing, so I wanted to show that there is no shame in dressing all in black one day listening to heavy metal, then wearing vintage the next and singing along to ‘Little Bitty pretty one’.

You’re music has been compared to the equally popular PARAMORE in the past. Is this something you would agree with?

Being a massive fan of Paramore myself I would consider myself flattered! I have to admit I was influenced by the wide range of music that they produce. For example, you have the more rock songs such as ‘Brick by Boring Brick’, but then you also have ‘Misguided Ghosts’ which is a much slower, calmer song. My music isn’t focused on just one style so I guess in that sense I would agree with the comparison. However, I think Hayley Williams will always pull off the red hair better than I ever will.

What would you say was the hardest lesson you have had to learn since you lost anonymity? 

Wow, erm, I suppose I would have to say the amount of judgment that you know you have to expect when you leave the house. People have seen you in videos and photo shoots and they almost expect you to look like that every day. I hate to disappoint people, but I don’t have a permanent stylist boarding in the spare room. I’m very aware of what I look like now and it’s hard to keep up the image that ‘it doesn’t matter what you look like as long as your happy’ when you have gossip magazines lurking around the corner, just waiting to catch me with my hair in rollers and mascara smeared around my eyes. [laughs]

What is your next move in the music industry?

Right now I’m focusing on my new single, Be Your Own Enemy, so… my agent says I can’t say much more about it so you will have wait until it comes out, but I can promise you that you will definitely find yourself deceived by the name because the content is very different to the cover!

Question and Answer Article

This is an article about someone interviewing P!NK, and its this sort of design that i want to use for my own Article on the double page spread.

http://www.thabiz.com/pinkinterview.htm

Take one

This is my idea for the front cover and although I like the design of the picture I think its too dark and once I have done the rest of the text it might look overpowering and too serious. So I continued to change it and have resulted with this design...

I really like this design because although it looks quite sophisticated the bright blue writing and the lightning add a twist that I want my magazine to portray. However it was suggested that I add some writing across the top and a date for the magazine. The style of the photo and mast head was inspired by the layout of other magazines because it is a very simple and traditional design.

The layout of the artist cover and little details I used as inspirtation for my design. 

   

Paramore Articles

Although I couldn't enlarge it enough to read the writing, I really like the layout of the photo with the mast head and article.

"When bands play home turf, it's often hard for them to please the locals. The very term "local band" is an indication of a band's limits. And within any given scene, envy runs rampant among the bands trying to get a leg up and a way out. Hell, Jesus couldn't even make it in his home town.

So imagine when that town is Music City, U.S.A.: Nashville, Tennessee. Imagine you're Paramore.

That seismic sensation you've felt rumbling up from Dixie for the past four years is the alternative pop-rock explosion known as Paramore, a young and fun four-piece from Nashville. The band - Jeremy Davis (bass), Haley Williams (vocals), Josh Farro (guitar), and Zack Farro (drums) - is blowing up. The success of singles like "Misery Business" and "Crushcrushcrush" scored the band promo spots on MTV, and the group was nominated for last year's Best New Artist Grammy. Everyone loves Paramore - well, almost everyone. Home court advantage doesn't always apply to musicians slugging it out in Nashville.

Of the Nashville concerts, "50 percent of the kids in the audience are already musicians," says Davis from a tour stop in Lubbock, Texas. "So they just sit back, they don't move, they just critique the band... just watch to see if they screw up or something. It kinda sucks."

Until recently, the band dreaded hometown gigs.

"We've always been scared of Nashville shows," he says. "Like, whenever we had a Nashville show coming up, we would just panic about it because we wanted to make the show so good. But now they finally like us. Now we don't worry about the Nashville shows."

Local fan indifference aside, Paramore has earned its fan base by the seat of its pants - pants planted for hours in a tour van, criss-crossing the map, playing shows, and doing homework. This band is barely out of high school.

"I had just graduated by the time we started," says Davis. "But Josh and Zack and Haley were all doing high school stuff. It really wasn't fun at all. There'd be times where I'd be driving and they'd all be back there on their computers trying to get their homework done. Or waking up two hours early to finish it. It's really hard. Zack still hasn't even finished yet."

This deflates any local band jealousy. Paramore's success wasn't just handed to them.

"All the local bands we were friends with - and even some of the bands I was in before - are very jealous of this happening to us," Davis says. "We got a lot of flak. But what you have to understand is when they were in Nashville building up their band and going to school, just doing everyday normal things, we were out working our butts off. And we all had to do school work on the road while we were touring. Bands in Nashville don't tour. They just play in Nashville and get big in the Nashville bubble."

Paramore's drive is no doubt a product of the work ethic that Williams and Davis developed while playing in the teenage funk cover outfit The Factory Band. The band played marathon sets for class reunions, weddings, you name it.

"It was crazy," Davis says. "We played four-and-a-half-hour sets with a 66-song set list, which is ridiculous. We played the longest sets ever."

The Factory Band eventually fell apart (perhaps from exhaustion) and Davis settled into studio session work for various Nash Vegas tunesmiths before getting the call from Williams, who was already getting the ball rolling with the Farro brothers.

"I met up with them that first day," he says. "And I remember thinking - Zack was about to turn 12 and me being a studio musician already and playing with some great drummers - this isn't going to work. And then I heard him play for the first time and he literally stomped all the drummers I had ever played with. He just had that potential."

Paramore began playing regionally, and in early 2005 the band was picked up by Fueled By Raman Records after its founder caught the band at a show in Florida. The band's debut, "All We Know Is Falling," was released that summer.

Paramore's potential, and the massive attention the band has received, centers a lot around Williams, a spunky orange-haired pixie with a solid voice, boundless energy, and songs full of lyrics that mirror her audience. This is a quartet, but Williams' presence dominates. You even get a sense that she's already being groomed for solo work and sojourns into fashion, a la Gwen Stefani. Davis finds it ironic.

"It's kinda funny," He says. "There're rumors of how we're so envious of Haley being out there, and people recognizing her first. We just sit and laugh it off, because if there's anyone who hates to be singled out most, it's Haley. She hates to be singled out. I think having Haley as a front woman is, first of all, a key part of the band. But especially since she's a girl, dude, that's like icing on the cake."

Paramore will play select Warped Tour dates this summer before jetting overseas to headline the Give It A Name Festival.

"We're stoked," Davis says. "I can't believe we're freakin' headlining it."

The band also aims to entertain the troops in Iraq, and is busy writing new music, now that most of its members have graduated. Davis' country music hired-gun background may even rear its head.

"We definitely enjoy country songs," he says. "We'll probably do one, but it'll be Paramore country."

Now that oughta burst the Nashville bubble."

The language in this article if very informative but is also extremeley informal which means that it is on the readers level. This is the sort of style I am aiming for because i want people to get some information but i want to talk to them as a friend rather than as an encyclopidia. I also really like the idea of using lots of quotes so i intend to make my article a question and answer one, therefore it will give information but will be very informal. I intend to be slightly guiding as i want the reader to learn to love a wider variety of music so i need to make them see the good parts of each genre.

eScala

ESCALA

Escala are an electronic string quartet that made it to the finals in 2008 on Britains Got Talent. Although they play classical music they proved very popular showing that classical isn't just for those who play instruments. It has also become a method of contradiction to have the performers wearing clothes that will make them look sexier, even though classical is traditionally performed by people dressed in very formal attire. I incorporated this into my magazine by having the model wear props such as a scarf and jacket over a prom dress to show that classical music has more than one side and would appeal to more people. 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q6XNCNIRub0

Mode of address

The mode of address in Kerrang! is quite formal as it gives information in a way that implies it is simply telling you what is needed to know about the band.

The language in the Editorial is very formal and although it is sharing information it is also guiding the reader into thinking how they think as a mag. Therefore the mode of address isn't very friendly in the sense that they aren't having a conversation with the reader.

"Back in January, Good Charlotte announced that they'd scapped the initial sessions for Cardiology - the long-awaited follow-up to 2007's Good Morning Revival. And, as you'd expect, K! Towers was inundated with hundreds of letters and emails, on pretty much a daily basis, from distraught fans who were convinced that this was the beginning of the end for the Maryland pop-punks"

For my magazine although my mode of address will be relatively informal it would probably be slightly formal  as well. I intend to make the Double page spread a question and answer style atricle and so it needs to be relatively chatty, but it also needs to appeal to a wider audience so i will insert an element of formality into my writing. It will also be more sharing than guiding because I want it to appeal to a slightly younger audience as well (15-16).

Photoshoot 2

Photoshoot 1

Classical Music

Performed by Kitty Bolton

Calendar

By the 18th February I hope to accomplish:

• Complete photoshoots
• Chosen photos for contents, cover and Double page spread
• Designed and drafted cover (at least) 
• Designed and drafted content (at least)
• Planned Double page spread and started writing article
• Completed research and blogged it
• Created video of classical music and uploaded it
• Organise Blog content

The Brighton SOURCE

The Brighton SOURCE – Friction causes heat

Target Audience

Age: Student – around 17 to 25 because it’s not a well known singer so is maybe more specific to a certain genre – or trying to advertise new groups to the younger generation.

Gender: Mixed but leaning towards male audience because it has a very masculine image – also has a very formal mast head and layout suggesting more male aspects.

Socio-economic group of readers: Over the range of C1 to B because students will not have a lot of money but it is possible that the older readers will have a job and therefore will spend more.

Lifestyle and what he/she spends money on: public transport, CD’s and gigs/festivals etc, education (i.e. university)

Leisure pursuits: festivals/gigs, cinema, bowling – not expensive activities.

Interests: Music, film, future careers

What he/she wants from the magazine: Information, entertainment, what’s the film to see/music to listen to.