Double Page Spread draft

This is the draft for the article in my double page spread. I am undertaking this task because, it is a platform of ideas for the final product. I have decided to use the question/answer format for my article because, it is straight to the point and it provides the reader with more clearer and direct information.

How does it feel to be nominated for the Critics Choice Award at this years Brit Awards?
It feels great because, I see this award as a springboard for a successful career. Although I do appreciate the fan base I already have, but its not exactly going to earn me millions or send me around the world on tour is it? I won't be necessarily bothered if I don't win because, I'm already signed to a label and I'll still be releasing my album anyway. This award is basically a cheating method for artists to break into the charts, but you can't exactly deny the facts.

Tell us about your upcoming album.
It is called Worldwide to represent my hopes of becoming a worldwide success and I also think that the name has a good ring to it. It's full of songs that I've written over the years that have all been inspired by the likes of Oasis, Coldplay, as in their first two albums, and the Red Hot Chilli Peppers. I've spent the last year hiding the wilderness of a London studio, which has been an absolute nightmare for me because, London is like a holiday destination to me. I was surrounded by all of these pubs and nice restaurants and so on, so me and my band had difficulty concentrating.

What are your hopes for the future?
The ultimate goal is to have billions of dollars, my own flat in a spaceship, a spare room in the Playboy mansion and play Batman in his three hundredth film. Talking in terms of music, I'd like to have number 1 singles, number 1 albums, sell out tours, arenas or any establishment where people gather to see live music. I also want to be up there with the likes of Bob Dylan, Nirvana, Oasis, Coldplay, Robbie Williams and so forth. I wouldn't mind winning a few Brit Awards, have a few drunken rants and call those acceptance speeches and I think that would really liven that place up because, it hasn't made interesting viewing at all these past few years since nobody can get drunk anymore. However, I would still like to achieve the ambitions outside of music of course.

How has the journey been so far?
Well, it hasn't exactly been a walk in the park as I am not a popstar. I am a serious musician, but for some reason, we're not very well liked by the music industry. Maybe, it is because, everyone is jealous of our talent who know's? Subsequently, I have been rejected by countless major labels and it has really knocked my confidence, but you can't give up your passion, no matter how many people tell you that you're wasting your life.

What is your current take on the current direction the music industry is going in?
I don't really like it to be honest because, it seems that everyone has sold their soul. People like Adele, Ed Sheeran, Professor Green and Coldplay have all lost their way and I fear that they may never find their way back to how good they once were. I only liked Coldplay's first two albums and I liked Ed Sheeran and Adele before they became untouchable. As for Professor Green, he lost all credibility from me as a rapper when I saw him perform on the National Lottery over Christmas. I mean, you wouldn't see Eminem dead doing that, would you? I guess I have this view because, I am not a mainstream person and all of these people are now mainstream. However, I must stress that we need new groundbreaking Eminem's instead of all those rappers rapping about the same thing. We've heard enough of all of that. We need to hear rhymes that affect us. We also need new Michael Jackson's, Craig David's, new Coldplay's, a new Sex Pistols and so forth. It is vitally important that the music industry stays young and ever-changing to fulfill certain roles, certain genres. Otherwise, it would become a laughing stock, full of aging artists trying to act all cool and young.

Second Draft (Contents Page)

This is the second draft of my contents page. As of now, I have printed it out and I am currently awaiting feedback. I am now going to evaluate how I think I have done on this task, what went well and what I could have improved upon.

First Draft (Contents Page)

I have made lots of improvements to my contents page because, it didn't look like a professional contents page at all. It looked more like a very creative powerpoint presentation.

The main improvement I have made is decreasing the font size. When I printed out the first draft, the text was too big for a contents page. The other reason why I decreased the font size was to include more features to ensure that the magazine had more to offer.

I also included a 'features' and 'regulars' because, I have found that most magazines use this in their contents pages. As a result, I could include more features.

Overall, I think that this task went very well and I am very happy with the progress I have made because, this contents page does look very professional.

First Draft Feedback (Contents Page)

This is the feedback I had received for my first draft contents page.

I was told that a magazine advertises more than 6-7 articles and that the font was too big by an industry standard. I was also told to include more capital letters to make the font stand out and to make my columns straight and even.

This feedback has been a massive help to me because, I now know what I need to do to improve my contents page and get better marks.

First Draft Feedback (Front Cover)

I have now received feedback for the first draft of my front cover. There were lots of things I was told to improve upon.

Starting with the top of the magazine, the feedback stated that the text of the skyline usually covers the length of the top and I would obviously need to change the text. Similar feedback applied to the masthead. I was told that it covers at least 20-25% of the page. For the text below, I was told that it was too big for just essential information so I needed to decrease the size of that.

For the the bottom of the magazine, I was told that the barcode required size reduction because, it is only essential information and it doesn't actually relate to the content of the magazine. I was also told that the content of the main cover line was vague and it didn't really explain what the main article was going to be about. Another aspect that I needed to improve upon was the fonts because, I was told that they were limited. Although, I used different fonts that just looked similar.

The point of this activity is to reflect on what I need to improve upon to get better marks on my coursework.

Preliminary Task Feedback

Preliminary Task Evaluation


The link above takes you to the blog, where I evaluated the preliminary task that was such an essential part of my coursework. This was the task that counted towards nothing in relation to my coursework, but if I didn't complete it, I would lose around 15% of my final mark.

I have now been given feedback for that task. For the preliminary front cover, I received an E grade and for the contents page, I received a U grade. Since this task doesn't actually count towards my final grade, I am not overly concerned about these grades, especially since my main front cover and contents page are a lot better and I should get higher grades for the main task.

I do understand why I received these grades though.

The preliminary front cover doesn't look professional at all and I wouldn't buy this magazine if I saw it in a store. It looks a design brief made on powerpoint. The only essential information that I included on the front cover was the barcode, which didn't really help in making the front cover look professional. I did include the date of the issue, but again, it didn't really help. I also didn't take advantage of the space and I only included few articles with basic text and font that didn't look like text you would find a professional magazine. Not only that, the different colours of the text made it difficult to read.

The preliminary contents page was worse. It looked unfinished and it resembled something you would find on powerpoint. The image I used for the contents was the same image I used for the front cover. Again, the image and the text made it difficult to read. There was also no clear colour scheme because, I used a variety of different colours which all made the text difficult to read. None of the text stood out apart from the text that wasn't ingrained into the contents image.

If I was to undertake this again, there would be several improvements that I would make to both the front cover and the contents page.
For the front cover, I would have a more clearly established colour scheme and an image that was less busy to allow the text to stand out. I would have also used more article suggestions to take advantage of the space because, the front cover looked bare and lifeless. I would have also used a more bolder font and perhaps a different colour and I would take more time to ensure that the text was readable. I would also include more essential information (issue number, magazine website) to make the magazine look more professional.
For the contents page, I would use another image and I would also use more text with different fonts. Like with the front cover, I would use a more clearer colour scheme to relate to the theme of the magazine and I would construct the images better because, the end result of the image looked unfinished and basic.

However, the feedback is going to help me massively for when I undertake this task again because, I now know what improvements I need to make to increase my marks. I suppose it would have helped with the main task if I had received this feedback before I started it because, I would have known not what to do in advance. However, I do think that the front cover and contents page for the main task is a lot better than the preliminary task.

First Draft (Contents Page)

The next part of my coursework was to develop a contents page to go with the already developed front cover and the upcoming double page spread. Developing the contents page took slightly longer to undertake than it took me to develop the front cover. It took me only one Media lesson to develop the front cover, whilst it took me about three or four media lessons to complete the contents page. This was because, I wanted the contents page to look as professional as possible. When I initially believed that I had finished, I wasn't impressed by how it looked so I decided to change it.

I changed the background colour of the 'Top Spot Contents' box. It was initially red and the colour of the text was white. I thought that it looked like something from a powerpoint presentation and it didn't tie in well with the theme of a rock/indie magazine. I changed the background colour to black and I also changed the font of 'Top Spot' to make it look more professional. I did the same thing to 'contents', except it looked different from 'Top Spot'. Now, it looks professional and something you would find in a music magazine.

I also changed the font and the size of the cover lines. They again resembled something you would find on a powerpoint presentation. However, the cover lines now resemble something you would find in the contents page of a music magazine in the real world of a similar genre to mine.

First Draft (Front Cover)
Overall, this particular task was more difficult than the previous task. It was certainly more challenging to complete because, my contents page lacked a background colour. The background was plain. However, I think that the different font and colours of the text made up for it because, they are types of text, colour and font that are usually found in music magazines like Q, Kerrang and NME. Currently, I am awaiting feedback for this task which I hope will be positive. However, I do think that the front cover looked better and more professional.

If I was to undertake this task again, I would use another image or I could include more text and features because, I have come to discover that most popular magazines (of any genre) have various sections (i.e. regulars, features). However, since it is only a first draft, I feel that I have made a very good attempt.

First Draft (Front Cover)

Magazine Flat Plan and Rationale

This is my magazine front cover for the first draft of my AS Media coursework. This is a vital part of my coursework and it only took me one Media lesson to complete this. Above, is a link to the post which features a flat plan and rationale of my product. When completing this task, I slightly changed the concept of it because, I thought that the product would benefit from more detail to make it look more professional. For example, I decided to feature skyline whilst I was developing the product because, I was looking at other magazine front covers and I thought that a skyline would make my product look more professional. In my opinion, it has. I also decided to feature another cover line because, there was some spare space. I have also used images from the internet. They are; the barcode, the pound sign and the 'red hot chili peppers' logo (at the top right hand of the page). I had to find an image of a pound sign because, I wasn't able to get the pound sign key on the keyboard to work.

I decided to feature the colours of red, grey, black and white because, they are all colours that have been used in real life magazines such as Q and NME (magazines which I have taken inspiration from) I personally think that these colours work well together because, again, it makes the magazine look very professional. The text are different colours because, they stand out more and the target audience will be drawn to the text.

I have also changed the position of the main cover line (star in the making) because, that would have got in the way of the main image.

Overall, I am satisfied with the finished result and it went a lot better than I thought it would. I think it looks very professional and I could picture it on a shelf in a retailer somewhere. The easiest aspects of developing this front cover was inserting the image onto the page. I only had increase the original size of the image. I didn't need to edit the background because, the background colour of a front cover of either Q or NME is normally grey. The hardest aspect of developing this front cover was writing the text in the box. At various points, the box would layer over the text and at other times, the text would stay the same colour as the box even after I had changed the colour. Currently, I am awaiting feedback but I hope that it will be positive.