Chad: Final Drafts

Callum: Second Draft Contents & DPS

DPS, Second Draft

Contents, Second Draft

Callum: First Drafts

First Draft Front Cover

First Draft Contents

First Draft Double Page Spread

Chad: First Draft Of Magazine

Cover
Here is my first draft of my front cover:

 ANALYSIS


Contents
Here is my first draft of my contents page.

ANALYSIS


Double Page Spread
Here is my first draft of my double page spread.

ANALYSIS

Callum: Double Page Spread Copy, Draft 1

As decided by the whole of alpha, this was 2011.  (Write-ups by Callum Petch)

50] Beady Eye

Different Gear, Still Speeding

(Beady Eye Records)

Ignore the haters.  They, after all, are the same people who believe that ‘Oasis haven't done a good record since Morning Glory!’  Idiots, essentially.  No, Different Gear... is not as good as Oasis (except Standing On The Shoulder Of Giants, obviously).  No, it's not the huge, radical departure we were both promised and kind of hoping for.  But dammit all if it isn't a damn good album!  “Bring The Light” is like Give Out But Don't Give Up-era Primal Scream.  “The Beat Goes On” is so Beatles-esque it's a wonder Sir Paul hasn't gotten the lawyers out yet.  Meanwhile, “The Roller” is the best thing that Liam, Gem and Andy have ever written.  So stop expecting the non-Noel members of Oasis to go polka, ignore the internet and just enjoy a shockingly good album.

49] Chase & Status

No More Idols

(Vertigo, Mercury)

You can easily divide the tracks on No More Idols into three, easy to digest camps.  There's the terrible tracks that should be skipped as fast as humanly possible (eg: “Hypest Hype”, “Heavy”).  Then there are the damn good tracks that are enjoyable but nothing special (eg: “Fool Yourself”, “No Problem” whose major problem is not knowing when to end).  But then you get into the rest of the album and the solid gold hits.  “Blind Faith” is a euphoric piece of dance music, “Fire In Your Eyes” is relentless in its pounding force, “Let You Go” is the darkest 'ballad' since Florence + The Machine's “Girl With One Eye”, “Hitz” has Tinie Tempah's utterly cack yet strangely amusing lyrics backed by a thunderous beat and “Time” and “End Credits” are two of the best dance songs in years.  The highs are so high, that we had no choice but to put it on this list.  But seriously, skip “Hypest Hype”.  You'll be doing yourself a favour.

48] Adele

21

(XL, Columbia)

Yes; it has been cheapened by consistent overplay, Glee bastardisations and an endless parade of X-Factor rejects deludedly believing that they “Truly get the emotional pain that she went through because I went through it myself!” but Adele's second album still packs a huge emotional gut punch.  “Set Fire To The Rain” still soars, “Rumour Has It” has a great groove and “Turning Tables” is a ballad as big as any pop star can write.  But the true stars are, of course, “Someone Like You” and “Rolling In The Deep”.  “Someone Like You” (if you haven't heard it in a while) is one of the most simultaneously heartbreaking and uplifting songs ever recorded and “Rolling In The Deep” is so perfect that not even Jamie xx could improve it!  Compared to her debut, 21 is a masterpiece and easily makes Adele the Year's Most Improved.

47] The Vaccines

What Did You Expect From The Vaccines?

(Columbia)

In order to fully appreciate The Vaccines, you have to strip away all of the baggage they come with.  If this were 2005, they would've been dismissed as another Libertines knock off.  But this is 2011, and because they are a four piece band who write their own songs and play their own instruments everybody and their dog were practically tripping over themselves to crown them, “THE PEOPLE WHO WILL SAVE BRITISH GUITAR MUSIC!”  You know who else they said that about?  Viva Brother, and look how they turned out.  The Vaccines are just a damn good band with a great album full of sing along anthems.  “Wreckin Bar (Ra Ra Ra)”, “If You Wanna”, “Norgaard”. “Post Break-Up Sex”, “Family Friend”...  All bona fide anthems tossed out with barely a fan fare by the band.  It's a testament to how just good those songs are that, almost a full year since its release, it still gets regular spins from me.

46] Gil Scott Heron vs. Jamie xx

We're New Here

XL, Young Turks

Gil Scott Heron was very sadly taken from us this year at a time when he'd finally rediscovered his form and put out his best album in years (I'm New Here).  So this remix album from Jamie xx is, essentially, the last new release from the legendary musician.  And, make no mistake, I mean it when we say new.  Whilst the same lyrics and vocal tracks off of I'm New Here are utilised, the backing music to Heron's cracked, throaty drawl is all new.  It takes a little while to get going, but by about third listen you'll be sucked in.  The only exceptions are “NY Is Killing Me” and “I'll Take Care Of U” which genuinely astonish the first time you hear them.  This is more than a fitting tribute to the legend so great James Murphy felt the need to shout his name to the heavens on LCD Soundsystem's “Losing My Edge”.  R.I.P.

45] The Go! Team

Rolling Blackouts

Memphis Industries

If Proof Of Youth was The Go! Team remaking Thunder, Lighting, Strike, then Rolling Blackouts is them remaking Proof Of Youth if that makes sense.  Not that that's a bad thing, mind you.  Whereas Proof Of Youth featured a couple of low points, Rolling Blackouts features none.  “T.O.R.N.A.D.O.” is old-school hip-hop cranked up to 11, ditto “Apollo Throwdown” with Ninja laying down her raps at 100+mph.  The title track meanwhile, takes a trip into grunge whilst Yosemite Theme and Buy Nothing Day are The Go! Team operating at Thunder, Lightning, Strike levels of greatness.  They’re still the exact same band you knew and loved from 2004, just older, wiser and as good as they ever were.

Callum: Double Page Spread Analysis (Clash)

Clash Double Page Spread: “2009 Heroes” (February 2009)

The first thing that sticks out on this double page spread is the amount of white space on the page. There is a white border all around the page and there is a small amount of white space in between each photo and entry/article. This creates a nice, stark design which is extremely easy to read but, at the same time, looks professional.

In fact, the whole design of the spread is extremely simple, clean and professional looking. There are staged photos (presumably physically taken by an actual photographer) that stretch from the top of the page (besides the border) to the bottom. This means that the images lead the article and particular focus and attention is put upon them.

Then, instead of having the text elsewhere on the page's white space, a set of white boxes are overlaid on the images and the text is written on there. This means that the magazine is able to stick to the same colour scheme without having to worry if it will be readable on the background of the images featured.

Speaking of the colour scheme, the feature sticks to a loose three colour scheme. Barring the images, there is a colour scheme of black, white and green. It's extremely simples, effective, easy to read and fits the professional tone and audience they are aiming for.

The feature has banner headings and subheadings. The headings are the band names whilst the subheadings are discussing random quotes that are neither in the feature or particularly relevant. The aim, presumably, is to show a more humorous side of the bands and to give an interesting story. The bylines are underneath the headlines for the two half page entries and underneath the subheading for the full page entry. This is presumably because the half page entries have their headline at a smaller size which means the byline is more likely to fit in the initial rectangle than the lengthy subheading.

The text in the article is completely San Serif and almost completely black in colour making it look professional and easy to read. There’s also quite a far bit of spacing between words and columns in order to keep the easy to read style. The headlines (which are in Serif), pull quotes, drop capital and lead sentences (for the first entry only) are in bold. This creates emphasis and a nice clean separation from the rest of the article. Pull quotes, drop capitals and lead sentences are only featured in the first entry (the single page one), presumably to continue the heavy emphasis on the main band of the article.

The only time the black and white colour scheme is changed is for the “Fact Box” section. The title of both the box and the sections of it are white bold on a green background. This is presumably to make it stand out, draw attention to it for readers who can’t be bothered to go through the whole article and just want the important parts and to include the other colour in their house style.

The mode of address of the copy is rather informal. Using lots of chatty language (“Queens Of The Stone Age scrapping with The Futureheads”) and focussing less on the music in their introductory subheadings and more on interesting stories or random, out of context quotes (‘“We’re the best band in the world at enjoying tacos,’ says Patrick Wimberly.”) However, it’s still formal enough to fit their target audience (late 20’s early 30’s). It just helps engage them more.

From this double page spread we can use the informal yet professional method of address in our own double page spread, seeing how we are trying to appeal to similar audiences in our own magazine.

Callum: Double Page Spread Analysis (NME)

NME Double Page Spread: “Fifty Best Albums Of 2010” (4th December 2010)

I chose to do this as my double page spread analysis because this type of article is what I’m basing my feature article on. The first thing that sticks out to me is the complete usage of staged stock images in the article. In the first two pages at least, there are no original images. They only use stock images that the band gives out for publicity material or images that were already taken by the magazine in a previous issue or feature on the band. This is both practical for the magazine (far easier than sending out a photographer to take brand new individual images for each band) and more cost effective for the magazine.

The feature sticks to a roughly four colour scheme of black, white, pink and green with two colour choices for each section. Black and Pink for the album entries and White and Green for the lists that are dropped in randomly on the pages. This creates a colourful and easy to read design that feature text that are very easily readable on their backgrounds. Said backgrounds have lots of white space which works for the readable style the feature is going for.

Text is organised into tight columns with black dotted lines being shown to separate the individual columns and entries. This makes a nicely organised and very tidy design with very clear separation between the individual columns and entries. Most albums get small and succinct explanations for their inclusions, but others get expanded pieces with a stock image of the band and, in this case, a short Q&A on the band’s reaction to being featured. This works for the length of the issue because the feature needs to be able to fit in the issue and shines a spotlight on those bigger artists that the magazine frequently trumpets.

The byline for each entry is reserved to just the initials of the author of that particular entry and comes at the end of the text. Less “byline” more “signature”. This is presumably done both to save space and due to the list being decided by the whole staff instead of just one writer. The only time this changes is at the end of an extended entry which features the author’s full name; fitting considering the extended nature of these entries.

Mostly unrelated lists and band member specific favourite albums are spliced onto the page. The lists are featured in the columns whilst the band specific quotes are squeezed in between the columns. The lists being in the columns makes it seem like they are just as necessary to read as the rest of the article and mean you just read them as the article goes. Not jumping straight to them. They are, however, separated in a green box in order to inform you they are not part of the actual article.

The band specific favourites, on the other hand, are in a circle with a grey background, a “My Album Of The Year” in the green background (and white text) that the lists have wrapped around the edge of the circle. Finally, there is a cropped image of the band member who the feature is referring to next to the entry. This completely seals off the entry from the rest of the article, draws attention to it and the photo helps the reader recognise who the band member is.

The headline is a mixture of multiple styles. Whilst the headline is entirely in San Serif; the “Fifty” is bigger than the rest of the headline, in bold and black. The “Best Albums Of 2010” is slightly smaller than the “Fifty”, italicised and begins in pink but slowly turns green the further to the right it gets. This makes it stand out and introduces the colour scheme that the rest of the article will be using.

The lead of the article takes up the bottom of the first half of the first page of the article. It’s in bold and remains in San Serif for emphasis. In the third quarter of the page there is an advertisement that tells you to go to the magazine’s website in order to get more info on each of the entries, a very subtle attempt to get more hits for the website I presume.

The entries for each album are written in two different colours, fonts and styles. On the shortened entries, the number is black and in bold, the artist is in pink, the album is in black, the record label the album comes from is in brackets, not bold and smaller than the rest of the entry. All of the text is italicised. This makes it easy to read, separates the different information and fits the colour scheme. Things change on the extended entries. The number isn’t in bold, the artist’s name is black and not italicised and bigger than the rest of the info text. The album name is also in pink instead of black. This is presumably to show the difference between the smaller entries and the extended ones.

Each entry also features the artwork next to the info. This makes it look more professional and is a good point of reference for those who may remember the album in question from the artwork instead of the name.

The lead of the article and the extended entries both get a stylistic bullet point that incorporates the colour scheme of the article. This is done, presumably, to add special emphasis to those entries and to draw attention to them quicker.

As for the copy; it’s extremely informal. Even by NME standards. “Are you, like us, compulsively driven to mentally machete the continuous sensory assault that is human existence into small manageable chunks and then rearrange the severed bleeding portions into nice numbered lists so as to give some semblance of order to your farcical and chaotic life?” By using complex words and lengthy sentences the magazine attempts to appear more sophisticated, but I personally find it just comes off as pretentious.

The actual entries aren’t much better. “Anyone still dumb enough to use the 'e' word, well, fuck off and listen to Brother or something.” It tries to sound chatty and avoid sounding very self absorbed (seeing as the magazine is listing what it thinks are the 50 best albums this year and, as such, all your opinions on them are wrong) but comes across as rather immature. Especially with the swear words.

So, there are several things that I can gleam from this double page spread for my similar feature. For a start, my copy is not going to be so informal or juvenile. Considering our intended audience (late 20 to early 30 year olds), I'll need the text to be authoritative but also slightly informal in order to keep it from seeming too snobby or the reader from being too bored. This may be a tight line to walk.

I'll be taking the simple colour scheme that makes things clear and easy to read, however the copious amounts of white space will not be coming with it. I plan to create an interesting background to the article that will be interesting for the reader to look at yet still fit with our intended tone. The extra lists and band specific bubbles will not be utilised, with all focus instead being left on the countdown. All entries (at least in the early goings) will get the exact same amount of attention and detail and space with no one band getting preference over the other. The album artwork for each entry will also be used. And bylines will be restricted to the initials of the entry's author, although this is for space reasons more than anything else.

The first page of the Double Page Spread will be dedicated to the title and the lead paragraph. Although mine will be considerably less... 'verbose' than the NME's one. The actual countdown will start on page 2 of the feature.

Chad: Mock Ups

Here is my front cover mock up.

Here is my contents page mock up.

Chad: Double-Page Spread Analysis: Metal Hammer

Issue 212

The double page spread uses a simple three-colour print. This consists of of black, white and blood red which suits the dark grungey, metal genre which the magazine mainly is.
The spread is a picture led article with a staged photo of a man wearing makeup and looking 'a bit scary', which covers the entire left page. He is very stereotypically 'metal', as he is wearing black leather, black lipstick, and black runny mascara. The photo has been manipulated using an image manipulation application so that there is less colour (it's been desaturated), more contrast (which could have been manipulated using levels/curves/contrast), which, again fits the genre. The image is a photo of a seemingly oldish, chubbyish man - eating what looks like a mangled human brain. This is obviously a disturbing picture, though disturbing images seem to be a normal style for the metal genre, which is a genre based around rebelling from the norm and being controversial.

On the right hand page is the article. At the top of the page is a headline in a large red typeface. The text has then been edited and had graphics/artwork added to make it look like it was made from blood, fitting with the 'scary/disturbedness' of the image. Below this is a black strap line with the stand first in red uppercase - which adds emphasis. The reccurring black and red colour scheme fits the metal scene as explained before.

Below this is the start of an article. It has a leading cap in a large red typeface, which draws your eyes to the start of the article. The article has a formal mode of address with an extended vocabulary, which to assume the readers are somewhat educated. All the text in the double page spread is in a sans-serif typeface which makes the magazine seem more modern.
There is a byline above the article, which could be because the magazine believes the writer and photographer for the article are very important - more important even than the content. There is also a pull quote in a really big red typeface at the bottom of the page, and a humorous caption next to the picture - which makes it seem less serious.

Chad: Photoshoots & Selection/ Rejection

Photoshoot 1: Friday 21st October

I decided to do the photoshoot for my front cover first. Because it is meant to be a high class magazine aimed at mid twenty year olds, I chose my model's costume to reflect this, so I dressed him in a chambray shirt and piped charcoal blazer (I neeedn't bother with what trousers he was wearing, as it was only ever going to be a mid-shot). I chose these because they look smart, yet stylish and edgy - and I think this fitted with the musical scene. I didn't apply any makeup, because I thought that there was nothing that I couldn't fix with Photoshop.

For the front cover, I wanted a studio-style shot, like you find on the more classy magazines. One flaw was this, though, that I did not have access to any kind of studio. To resolve this issue, I identified the most important aspects of studio shots - being well-lit and having no background- and wondered what I could do about them. I decided that to have no background I could simply do this on Photoshop, as long as I did it well. To fix the lighting issue, I would get the best lit place I could find, and face my model at the light source. I took my photos between lessons, and used the best lit place in sixth form.  I think this worked well.

Selection/Rejection
Here are a few of the photos which I rejected:

 

I chose to not use this picture, as it wasn't a Mid-shot. This would mean I would have to crop it more than necessary which would reduce the quality in the final print.

I chose to not use this picture because, the facial expression was incredibly bad. The lighting was almost perfect, but the expression I could not even edit to improve...

I chose to not use this picture, because it was over-lit. This would have meant it would have been almost impossible to edit too. It also wasn't in the right orientation - it wasn't portrait, which would mean I would have had a lot of cropping to do. Plus the pose wasn't that great either.

In the end, I chose to use this photo:

I chose this because I like the pose - it is quite a professional looking pose which I think will go well on my front cover. It is not that conventional, as he isn't looking at the camera, however not looking at the camera has been done before - see here and here. Also, it is in full focus and the lighting is quite good - apart from it is slightly too too yellow, yet I can fix this in photoshop. Finally it is in portrait, which means there is less to crop.

I have also chosen to use this picture for my contents page. I have chose this because I like the pose, and the lighting. I would not use it for my front cover as it isn't serious enough I think. I will change the background to a more colourful photo too.

Photoshoot 2: Tuesday 25th October

Next I decided to do the photoshoot for one of the contents page photos. I used a female model for this picture, as in the survey analysis we realised we should at least feature some females, to make it appeal more to that market. I wanted to try and feature artist's that look like they represent different areas of music, and so I was aiming this picture to look like an American Pop star. Because of this I dressed my model up in an American style -  varsity jacket, and a matching striped dress. I did use makeup this time but kept it natural looking apart from some red lipstick, which I thought would add some American glamour. Unfortunately, my model did have some moles where makeup would have to be very thick to cover them, so I will remove these and any other imperfections in Photoshop.

For this picture I wanted the location to seem American too, so I want it to be in an American looking city at night. There are two problem with this - one is that night time photos are tricky to get the lighting just right, and the second is the most obvious - I do not have the budget to travel to an American city to take the photo. I will resolve these two issues in two ways: Firstly I will take the photos in daylight and then in the Photoshop editing stage edit them in a way to make them look like they were taken at night. It is much easier to control the light if you take them during the day, and this is what some professionals do when taking night scenes (e.g. the nightime surfing sequence at the beginning of the film 'Die Another Day') so it is not unheard of. I will cut out my model from the photo using photoshop and, place it over a night time american city background, and try to make it look as realistic as possible. For this picture I wanted to take a photo that was well lit, but with some shading so that it would fit in better within the night time scene. It didn't matter where the location was, just as long as the lighting was good.

I took this photoshoot in Brigg, midday Tuesday 25th October, which was the half term holidays.

Selection/Rejection
In this photoshoot, there were some good as well as bad photos. Here is a selection of the photos which I rejected.

A close up. I didn't use this one because I didn't like the facial expression, and I didn't think it would work as a photo. I may consider doing a close-up photo in the future however.

I chose to not use this one because almost all of her face is in shadow. This does not look at all professional.

I could not use this picture as it was very blurry. This would not look at all good in the magazine, and would look incredibly unprofessional.

Here is the photo that I am deciding to use.

I have chosen to use this, mainly because I like the pose. Also the lighting is quite good too, as not much as in shadow apart from the side of her face and the folds of her clothes. Obviously it has been taken during the day, however I can make it look like it was taken at night time quite easily. It is in full focus which will look crisp and sharp in the magazine, and it is a Medium Long Shot.

Photoshoot 3:TBC
Photoshoot 4:TBC

Callum: Mock Ups

Front Cover

Contents