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

Looking back at my prelim task I feel I have developed to creating more consistent work at a much higher standard, I feel the magazine really came alive with my own photos, which helped me to really see the magazine as my own work. My final product is definitely a lot better quality and has a much more professional photos and feel to it. I feel my photography skills have improved, as you can see I didn’t use my own photos for my preliminary task, as the photos I took for it, I felt were poorly shot and of bad quality. I also feel my Photoshop skills have massively improved, although I feel this could just be due to having more confidence in my own ability, and being more comfortable with the software. I also feel I varied the fonts more within my final product which helped to add interest to my magazine and really gave it them professional finishing touches. I feel the contents have improved as I feel I made more of the space that I had, and I feel I used more enticing cover lines and quotes from the DPS article.

 

What have you learnt about technologies from the process of constructing your magazine?

Evaluation question 6 on Prezi

How did you attract/address your audience?

I did a lot of research into various magazines and artists to help me address my audience. I knew from the start that I wanted to photograph the model used, Trinity, as she has a very indie rock look, but I knew she would work with the camera, and be great at putting her own twist on photo ideas I gave her. I researched the band The Pretty Reckless and the lead singer of the band Taylor Momsen, and used the information I found to help me recreate photo shoots Taylor and the band had previously done, I did this so the audience could identify with my band profile but also found it extremely helpful in making my photos aesthetically pleasing. I also spent a lot of time looking into my fonts that I feel would work well with my pictures and my magazine, I finally chose three from dafont.com called ’Edition’ ’Ecolier’ and ’halo hand letter’. I chose these as they were all different, but worked very well together. After I did my first draft of my pages of my magazine, I did a questionnaire on 40 people on how they felt the magazine worked, if they’d buy it and if it was priced well, I felt this really helped me make my final changes to my magazine. 

Who would be the audience for your media product?

My target audience for my magazine is going to be mixed gender between the ages of 18-30. The content of my magazine has restricted the minimum audience age, however I feel this enables me to connect more to the magazine and the content within it, as I am of a similar age to the audience I am trying to appeal to. When I did my audience research I found that people over the age of 30 were not interested in the content of my magazine, so found 30 to be my cut off age. 

What kind of media institution might distribute your media product and why?

My band profile for my magazine is based around the indie rock band The Pretty Reckless, who have featured in current magazines such as NME and Revolver. NME magazine is distributed by IPC Media, I could see my music magazine also being distributed by this company, on a smaller scale. I would distribute my magazine via the internet, through the use a magazine website, similar to NME. Revolver magazine is distributed by Future US, which is a United States media corporation specialising in targeted magazines and websites in video games, technology and music markets. I feel this company would be most likely to distribute my magazine, as it’s an alternative media distributor, that focuses on rock and heavy metal genres. My magazine would bring a different edge to the publishing and distributing company as indie rocks a softer genre, which I feel will help the magazine broaden its audience and the social groups that would usually buy it. I would also distribute my magazine in shops such as WHSmiths to attract a wider audience, but also in small scale record shops to reach out to dedicated music fans. I feel my magazine could have a circulation of 100,000 per month.

How does your media product represent particular social groups?

The pictures above show indie rock band lead singer, Taylor Momsen and my model Trinity Maloy. Taylor Momsen is who I chose to base my models look on, so I feel the fan base for Taylor’s band The Pretty Reckless would represent the particular social group that my media product is reaching out to. Something I first noticed about Taylor Momsen is she dressed provocatively and wears excessive amounts of dark clothing and makeup, this is something I tried to recreate with my model for my magazine, I feel this shows her real rock side, and having this look on the front cover, shouts out to that particular social group, however, she’s in a girly dress, has long blonde hair, that looks relatively undone, and is doing a ‘soft’ pose, this then helps the photo and the magazine appeal to a larger audience, as a girly girl probably wouldn’t buy an indie rock magazine, however because my model looks girly and rocky, it may appeal to that audience as well. I also feel the way the model looks beautiful as well as being fairly rocky, it doesn’t rule out boys being interested in the magazine, as they know the interview isn’t going to be about hair do’s and nail varnish colours, its going to be about real life and her rock band, which helps it to appeal to a male audience. Overall I feel I represented my magazine, my photos as my model well, showing an obvious social group audience type within the indie/rock genre as there are huge similarities between bands around now and the cover artist of my magazine, making it already fit into the music magazine audience groups.

 

In what ways does your media product use, develop or challenge forms and conventions of real media products?

I have conformed to the typical conventions of a magazine to a certain extent throughout my magazine. I used a clear masthead, with a typical music focused name, this is a basic convention of a magazine. I chose the name Melody after coming up with a range of mastheads, I chose this one as its musically focused and is a complete contrast against the genre of the magazine, it almost bends the rules against the magazine genre. I have also incorporated cover lines and kept to only using three fonts and three main colours, so the text doesn’t look too crowded and overdone. I wanted to make my magazine plain and classic, using black and white as my main colour focus, adding in splashes of red, on specific informative text lines. I wanted to do this so the .magazine looked more classic opposed to it looking over crowded and messy. The model on my magazine is dressed in a very glam rock outfit, I feel this outfit shows her fashion individuality but also helps to give the audience an insight to her personality and the genre of her band. She is wearing a ‘rock prom’ dress from the London based dress shop, Arrogant cat, which specialises in one off designs

 

Colours

After seeing another magazine in the class, i toyed with the ideas of taking ideas from pop art pictures, i played around with making all the background colours, giving each a different bold pop of colour instead of using a white background, however i felt it took away from the rockyness and made it look more girly, this being something i wanted to avoid. So for the background colour, is either going to be white or a very subtle neutral colour, as i feel it gives the magazine a classic feel and makes the darkness of the outfits and the makeup stand out more!

Cover Up

After taking some of the photos, with my model in the dress, with her legs out, i feel i could rock it up by putting her in suspended, however this brand, 'Henry Holland' sell tights which look like suspenders which keep the whole leg covered. i chose these ones from the brand as they have gold which will keep in sync with the leopard print in the dress. When i photographed her in these, i feel it looked really good and took the outfit to another level with the tights compared to without, it make it more rocky than girly!

Outfit Idea

The outfit on the left is one that i used for my double page spread photos, i feel this would work really well to use for my front cover, as its girly but edgy. i would then use some of the other photos in different outfits for my contents page, to help add variation.

Tea Party Idea

The mad hatter tea party is the kind of mise-en-scene i want to create,i want to make it really traditional and girly, as that will make the rockiness of my model, and her outfit really stand out against it.

Idea Development

After shooting my photographs, i am really happy with most fo my shots, i feel the variation in the outfits really works, the outfit i most prefer and works best for my photo ideas, is the rocky 'prom dress'. However, when shooting my photographs in and around the car, i feel this idea will need to be changed, as the photos were really awkward to take, the lighting was really poor and the whole concept just didn't seem to work. As i wanted these photos for the front cover, i needed to come up with a new idea, i felt i could of used some of the other photos i had already taken, but the photos throughout the three pages wouldn't show variation. My new idea for the front cover is of my model Trinity in her prom dress outside at a tea party, i wanted to this as she looks really edgy and gothy with black and dark makeup, that against a tea party would be really different and want people to see more.

Cover Page Final Draft

Contents Page Final Draft

Double Page Spread Final Draft

Magazine Cover Mock Up 3

Magazine Cover Mock Up 2

Magazine Cover Mock Up 1

Double Page Spread Mock Up 3

Double Page Spread Mock Up 2

Double Page Spread Mock Up 1

Double Page Spread Article

"Just be as YOU are"
'The clothes are disposable, the attitudes going nowhere'

It looks like 2011 will be there year of the Good girls gone BAD! Not being one to disappoint, Tallulah-Mai shows exactly why she's rocks hottest property! She's rocked out another break up inspired album with a dark 'i dont care' twist, showing her pain really is our gain! The lead singer of Rebelle Fleur ticks all the boxes and quite frankly we can't get enough, today I'm going to delve a little deeper, seeking out musical gossip, fashion and love life secrets locked up in her sexified rock closet.


The Rebelle Fleur singer seems thrilled to be being interviewed, known for her controversy she sat down, kicked of her insanely high heels and got comfy, I could tell from the word go she was ready to get some things off her chest, and would be open to answer any question I threw her way. She was ready to play, 'Hit me with what you got, i'm ready for this' she joked, throwing me a cheeky wink followed by a dirty laugh that hit me, I knew this was going to be fun.


As we sat getting acquainted, she pulled out her heavily gemmed blackberry, went online and tweeted, 'attitudes in top form, ready for my interview', Tallulah already had a clear idea of how she was going to handle this interview, holding nothing back. I was itching to find out what life was like being thrown in the celebrity spotlight at just 15. '15? I've been modelling since i was 2, no child wants to work, you want to get f***ing filthy and run around with pants on your head, but I had no choice back then. I've always been aware of the celebrity lifestyle, living it is a completely different thing, the fame I have now is cause of Rebelle Fleur. I'm constantly photographed, even when i'm looking rough, I read so many lies about myself (laughs) but it goes with the territory, i wouldn't change it for anything, you've just gotta role with the punches and take what you can get!'


The conversation then changed to her writing and promotion for Rebelle Fleur, intrigued what the indie rock band had lined up for 2011. 'Writing is like my child, I'll lock myself up for days and won't let anyone hear what I'm working on until i know its perfect, then I'll let people judge it. I'm not going to feel comfortable with people criticizing it unless I'm happy with it myself, then if you don't like it, you just don't f***ing listen to it (laughs). I had to admire her honesty. 'As for Rebelle Fleur, we've been offered to support Rihanna and Paramore on tour with other big bands such as Frightened Rabbit, which is f***ing cool. It's so surreal, these are people we'd normally listen to, so to perform with them is major for us, but we're good at what we do (laughs) so we're gonna kick a**! Other than that, we've got our follow up album, which is going to be released 5th of February, and will be performing at Reading and Leeds Festival.' Right then a big grin spread across her face, I could see the excitement in her eyes for the release of her second album, and Rebelle Fleur's involvement in festivals for 2011. 'It's a step above our first album, they were like our introductory songs, this album is basically saying we're her and we don't give a sh*t about what we say any more, we've not played safe, its a dangerous album, we can't wait to see what people say about it'.


After making it to 8th position on the worlds top 10 sexiest females, I was dying to know how she felt about being up there competing with the sexiest diva's of the fame world. (laughs) 'What a joke ayy! I'm constantly slated for how I dress and how I present myself, yet I'm awarded for being sexy. The way I dress is the way I am, I'm not a little kid playing dress up. It's all very real. The clothes are disposable, i can change the way i dress whenever i like, but the attitude's going nowhere, if you don't like, don't look at me!'


The conversation then turned to her band mates as I started to ask about any in band secrets and what the chemistry within the band was like. 'The three of us get on like brother and sister, being with two guys, i'm constantly out voted on everything, and we're not partial to an argument every now and then, but thats what helps us stay grounded, if we're acting like tw*ts, we'll tell eachother, it soon makes you come back down to earth'. I could sense the admiration she had for her band members, it was easy to see their friendships weren't forced for the sake of the band. 'Jack (guitarist) is the loudest of us all, we're all pretty wild, but he's extreme with everything he does, his wild side comes out where ever we go, he's always playing tricks on people and having a laugh. Where as Billy (drummer) always has his head down writing lyrics with me, knocking out the hits, his alter ego comes out on stage though, its like the lights go up and the diva comes out (laughs). As for secrets we all love to get p***ed as much as anyone, but we know our limits, we've learnt from previous mistakes what to do and not to do, we're all pretty loved up so there's never any funny business either, (laughs).'


As my interview drew to a close, I could see Tallulah was the real deal. She had the wardrobe of a rock star, and the attitude to match, I knew she was in it for the music and massively keen on staying down to earth, with her take no nonsense approach, holding nothing out of bounds to discuss. Her passion and excitement for Rebelle Fleur filled the room, only making room for me, her and her cigarette smoke. Her new album is set to be the most controversial release of 2011, she won't be running scared from the criticism it may receive, the one thing I know is with the new album and her plans to tour and gig, Rebelle Fleur is set to take the music industry by storm, holding no prisoners. I predict they'll be huge this year. Watch this space!

Rebelle Fleur

The lead singer of Rebelle Fleur, is going to be the only female of the band, Tallulah-Mai, she is going to be the focus of the double page spread, so i feel im going to have to concentrate on her makeup, hair, and outfit choices alot more than the male members, as they are only featuring on the front cover, and will be shirtless, with a hoodie on, undone with the hood up over their eyes, i chose to do this as it shows them as a band but concentrates solely on the 'face' of the band, Tallulah-Mai, as i feel it would be her who would be recognisable to fans!
For the outfit choices for Tallulah-Mai, im hoping to have her in a look, of Underwear as Outerwear, trying various different looks, toning it down if needs be with a fur coat, or a leather jacket, the photos below are the look im going to attempt to recreate.

 

For the makeup of Tallulah, im going to have her very pale, very natural, but with large fake eyelashes, overstated eyes that are massively black and dark, and dark if not black lipstick too, i want to do this as it shows her rebellious side, the person i chose to be my lead singer, is very beautiful, which would reflect the flower part of the band name, whereas the raunchy outfit and overly dark makeup would show her rebellious side!

As my double page spread is going to be concentrated on the lead singer of the band, the photos in the double page spread are going to be photos of just Tallulah-Mai on her own, the front cover and contents shots will be with the band. For the photos on her own, i have found some shots i feel would work well for my photo ideas.

Contents Page Analysis

Band Profile

Originally, my magazine was going to be called 'Rebelle Fleur' however i feel this name would work alot better being the name of my band, as it explains what the band is about. I chose to create a band with two grungy male band members, a drummer and a guitarist and an overly glamorous female lead singer. Beautiful as she may be, which i feel expressed the Fleur (flower) of the band name, she's in an idie rock band which shows her Rebellious side, which put together creates Rebelle Fleur. I have chose the lead singer to be female as it would be different from your stereotypical indie rock band, such as the all male bands like Biffy Clyro.
The two male band members are going to be heavily bearded, with an almost gubby look, their hair wont be done and i'm going to attempt to make it look like wardrobe wasn't thought about, how they came is how they were photographed, i did intend to have them shirtless, but steered away from this idea as i felt it would look too obscure compared to the lead singer.

The female lead singer is going to be very over the top, especially next to the 'strung together' look of the band members, shes going to have luxurious outfit choices, with big volumised hair and captivating make up. I chose to do this as it will really excentuatue the differentiation between the lead singer and the band members, this being the exact look im going for. I want the makeup of the lead singer to be very over dramatic, big dark eyes, big bold lips, either red, or really dark, i want her hair to look big and volumised, yet unwahsed and almost grubby looking. For the outfit choices of the singer, i have chosen an almost lingerie look, underwear as outerwear, big high heels and stockings.

For the setting for my photographs for my magazine i intend the front cover of them to be sat in the back of an old vintage car, hopefully a mustang. I took the inspiration from this from old fashioned pin up girls, thats the role i want my lead singer to play, but with a musical twist. The front cover photo is going to be of all three band members in the back of the car, the lead singer in the middle and the other band members either side, the lead singer is going to look straight into the camera, and im going to shoot her with numerous different facial expressions, the two band members are going to have hoods over their eyes, so you can see their nose and their beards, one is going to be biting a tooth pick and the other will be holding a drum stick, this will help the photo steer away from being a fashion photo, and allow something to distinguise this a music magazine, with a band on the cover. The double page spread photos are going to be ranging, from all around the car,different positions within the car and different standing positions, for some i may have the lead singer holding either a microphone, a microphone stand or a microphone wire, im not 100% sure this will work, as i feel it could look too forced and positioned, but i want variation within my photos, so will shoot it for differentiation in my photos and see how it looks and if it works.

The genre of my band is Indie Rock, inspirational bands for my band are The Pretty Reckless and Paramore. Songs that these bands have released that i have the image of my band performing would The Pretty Reckless - You make me wanna die and You or Paramore - I caught Myself, The Only Exception or Playing God. I chose these songs as they show the bands rock side, but also show that my band would have variation, and shows the vocal talent of the lead singer. I feel with the varying songs, my band isn't just aimed at one type of audience, it allows the band and the songs to appeal to a wider audience.

25 Word Pitch

Overall I feel my pitch was recieved as I anticipated it would. This is because i feel my animoto had the relevant information in, it shows clear ideas in respect to colour schemes for my magazine, photographic ideas and decrative ideas for my magazine, such as the name, the font, the target audient and displayed the set genre for my magazine, all of this helped to allow the class to understand what my magazine will contain and where the overall inspiration came from. I feel my photograph ideas got questioned the most, as i for my cover i wanted to not only show it as a music magazine, but also wanted it to contain fashion content, for my artist idea for my magazine i chose to combine a glamourous female singer, such as taylor momsen from The Pretty Reckless, and two male band members with the image similar to band member of Biffy Clyro. This at first confused the class, they felt it was too much of a jump, grungy band members, to an overly glamourous lead singer, however when i explained my artist idea was to be similar as The Pretty Reckless and explained i had done that so i could combine musical content with fashion content, and my inspirations for this, such as The Pretty Reckless and Paramore, it was recieved alot more positively.