FRONT COVER

CONTENTS PAGE

DOUBLE-PAGE SPREAD

So Sara, tell me abit about yourself, like how did you get into this business?

Well, every since I was a child I had always had the dream in the back of my head wanting to be a singer and being on that stage singing to millions of people, but people told me I would never make it,  but it just gave me drive to try harder, I didn't have much faith. I started to study journalism and got into concert reviews for a magazine called ‘Shuffle’ I enjoyed it but it was what I wanted. Meeting some of the artists and talking to them gave me the confidence to go out and really try to get my dream. And here I am today!

Wow! so what do you miss about your normal life now that you are a popular singer?

I guess I miss those lazy Fridays to be honest, and those weekends of just hanging with you friends and having a good time.. Oh! And I miss my family so much! I hardly see them with so many tours and concerts.

Yeah, that must be difficult. Would you say your songs have any meaning to them in particular ‘Stand Alone’ your latest single?

Definitely! I always try to make my songs believable in the way that there is meaning to them. Many of my songs are just about enjoying life while you have the chance. ‘Stand Alone’ is one of most meaningful songs as It is about starting to grow up and becoming more independent. As a child I struggled with being independent so I almost describe my journey into who I am today with the lyrics in my

songs. Its quite cool!

It is very cool! How would you describe your

Music to people who have never heard it?

I would like to think that everyone has had the chance to listen to my music! (laughs) But I would describe my music as being a mixture between Rock&Roll and Dubstep, weird mix I know! But that’s the only way I can describe it! You can have a good dance and sing along with my music.

Some good shower singing songs! So if you had the chance to sing with any other artist who would you most like to duet with?

Wow! That’s a hard one, there are so many other artists out there that I have so much

respect for because their music is amazing!

I love Rhianna and think her talent is insane, I also love Ed Sheeran and love his subtle, smooth voice. But then the band I would love to work with in a track together would be Kings Of Leon. I recon out talent and music types are kind of a like and plus I think they would be a right laugh!

 That would be so awesome! So who's your biggest musical influence?

I would say that my biggest musical influence is the artist that really made me believe is Adele. Listening to her songs and the power in her voice it is extremely moving! As you can see I have a wide range of music tastes, I’m just one of those people that enjoys every kind of 

musical talent.

That’s a great way to be! So any kind of love interest come about since you have been in the public eye?

Not really, I mean I have had a bit of

attention from some fans and other

artists which I shall not name (laughs).

But to be completely honest I really want to concentrate on my music at the moment and my future being a singer. This has been my dream for so long and I really don't want to ruin that getting myself into some kind of love triangle thing that is posted all over the press. It would just be unprofessional. Plus I’m new in this music world! I really don't want to make any enemies before I even really started my career.

That’s a smart move! So what is in for the future of Passion In

America?

Well, lots of tours, signings and

Concerts and more interviews (laughs). I

enjoy it all and so will take each day in my stride and continue to follow my dreams! I recon that’s the only way to be. No one knows what the future holds for anyone.

Well thank you for allowing us to chat to you! We cant wait to see more from Passion In America!

It’s fine! thank you so much, I enjoy chatting to all my fans! 

Right, for the last two weeks your fans have been voting for the top 6 questions to ask you. So here they are…

Why are you called Passion In America?

(Sarah Mills-Hicks, Tavistock)

Well, when I was younger I was always a fan of the bright lights and business of the American life and one of my goals was to travel America, so I guess America was my passion and so put together you got Passion In America, it’s just one of those lucky things you think up! (laughs)

What your idea of a perfect boyfriend?

(Molly Megicks, Liverpool)

(Laughs) I have always fancied the tall and dark haired type. So I would say my

perfect boyfriend would be a averagely tall man, with longish dark hair, not short and spiky! Who can really make me laugh and who I can really have a good time with! 

Do you play any instruments?

(William Lane, Ireland)

When I was six I played the keyboard and then performed in front of my class

assembly and totally messed up! So every since have never touched the keyboard (laughs). But I have always wanted to learn how to play the drums, to me it looks really fun just banging away at something and actually making some kind of tune.

Where did you grow up?

(Isaac Daxford, Manchester)

For a main majority of my life I lived in Devon, just on the outskirts of Plymouth, in a little area called Woolwell. It wasn't very big and was mostly well known for homing the big super market

Tesco's! I then moved down Cornwall for a bit which I really enjoyed because there is great scenery down there.

 

If you had an elephant where would you hide it?

(Jordan Ale, Doncaster)

(laughs) that’s so random! But to be honest I’m rubbish at

hiding things and keeping

Secrets, so I would probably try to hide it in my garage but no doubt someone would find it! 

Question 1

NAME: LUCY GOSLING
TUTOR: 12DT
CANDIDATE NUMBER: 7128

1. In what ways does your media product use, develop or challenge, the conventions of real media products?

The conventions of my genre, which is chart music/ modern music of today, are quite hard to really find and there are not many real life products out there that are specifically directed to music that is featured in the charts, charts such as the UK TOP40 charts. Although in my research I looked into many features of different genres giving me a basic idea of what I need to do and then what I needed to create myself for my own original genre.
The Key conventions of Chart Music Magazine would be the artists features on either the cover or the context inside. This clearly shows the reader what kind of music they are getting, as my genre is very vague with the concept of a specific music genre as many music types are included in the charts this could mean that my magazine is able to be targeted at anyone. But I have included the featured artists on my front cover to make it clear to readers, the artists are popular and well-known to be chart toppers. Another key convention would be the interview section, every magazine that is trying to give the latest on the newest chart topper needs to include an interview with that artist to get the latest gossip and highlights of their success. Learning this I clearly include a number of interviews in my magazine, but include an interview with the newest band and their new single that has taken the charts by storm!  Another convention would be the idea of having a variety of different texts to keep the readers intrigued and also include texts that may be recognisable when seen else where, doing this almost mentally promotes my magazine continuously. You can see in my images I kept the writing/ informative text simple to understand and have the ability to add effects such as bold and colouring to make a certain word stand out to the reader, catching their attention and focus.

I felt keeping to the conventions of the genre was important because my magazine relied heavily on the understand of the genre and the understanding of it being based around the modern music of today and the chart toppers. So keeping to the conventions meant the easy the readers would be able to grasp that.

Although, this doesn't mean that I haven't challenged the conventions of the genre and added my own 'twist' to the genre.

My main twist that I have created for my magazine would be the featured main image on the front.
On my front image I have kept with the theme of music magazines including a close up facial image of their most featured artist/singer/band of the magazine, and so for my magazine this is the main singer of the band Passion In America. To create my own touch on the genre I decided to delete the colouring and put the image in black and white. Then doing so I experimented on Photo Shop and soon came up with the idea of highlighting her eyes and mouth, creating this intense image that is simple but effective. The colour highlighting her mouth and her eyes create a sense of a story, sense of importance of why these features have been shown so bright. The magazine is Visual, so connects with the eyes and text is created with words that come from our mouths, therefore the connection with the mouth. A lot can be interpreted from this image and I like that it is not a simple 'Oh look that's nice' image, it is a 'Oh wow, look that's really cool' kind of image. This allows me to put my own personality and stamp on my magazine but still highly keeping with the key conventions and developing them by fitting them to the style of my magazine and my target audience of being a young generation age group.

Question 2

2. How does your media product represent particular social groups?

Question 3

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

When looking into organisations in which I felt were right to produce/ or distribute my magazine I struggled to find the right sort of company. With in my search for research on institutions I did find Hearst Magazines UK, I thought it was a good company with a variety of magazine in which were popular and well known, also my mixed gender target audience fitted in nicely as the magazine produced were from house keeping, to men's health. But it was mostly targeted at women and I did think that my magazine, although targeted at both genders, would find to be more understandable and attractive to women, so I felt the target audience gender range was spot on with this institution. But I felt there was a lack in the age range of my target audience as well as the genre of music.

So continuing on with my search I came across an America site called NAMM. The site clearly showed me that there was keen hunger for others to love music and to introduce music to young ages such as my young adult target audience and feed them the knowledge to make decisions and work hard to maybe achieve music talents. Now, I know that my magazine isn't a 'how to do' guide on becoming a famous singer but my morals of the magazine was still to inspire, and even looking at the logo for NAMM you can see they aim to inspire. NAMM's mission is to strengthen the music products industry and promote the pleasures and benefits of making music. I would like to think that my magazine would count as the product industry. Having an organisation that has such high levels of hope would mean that my magazine would fall into the success of it all.

But obviously, you also want an organisation in which you feel can be more relateable to your music choice and artists and chart music. Especially as my magazine is mainly targeted at the UK audience, NAMM would not connect well with that. But I thought the research and ideas from the organisation can develop and give me a better perspective of what I would like for my magazine.

Although in itself BBC Radio 1 is not a industry looking to produce and invest in music magazine, I would still like to hope that BBC Radio1 would like to be apart of my magazine and maybe in the future, develop to a partnership. Radio 1 is a huge influence over me and the creation of my music magazine, looking at the chart hits and the latest chart toppers and who's new and who's old etc. BBC Radio 1 is known for 'the new music' and that is exactly how I am trying to represent my music magazine, as being the music magazine that is up to date with all the latest and greatest on ' the new music'.

With a magazine you need to keep with in a set of rules and these are the regulation rules. While creating my magazine I keep in with the regulations rules by keeping to major rules in which I could of broken if unaware of the regulations. Such as, Harassment: Journalists must not engage in intimidation, harassment or persistent pursuit. They must not persist in questioning, telephoning, pursuing or photographing individuals. Editors must ensure these principles are observed by those working for them and to not use information from other sources around them.

When interviewing my featured artists I could of harassed them, by putting pressure on them for answering the question as well as a persisting with question as well as not allowing them there own privacy if asked a question they were not happy to answer. This also links in with the regulation rule of Harassment: Journalists must not engage in intimidation, harassment or persistent pursuit. They must not persist in questioning, telephoning, pursuing or photographing individuals. Editors must ensure these principles are observed by those working for them and to not use information from other sources around them.

With both privacy and harassment regulations I made sure that when questioning and photographing my models and featured artists that I had full permission from them as well as being aware of their own private life while interviewing and allowing a space of comfort and a space of feeling welcome and not too forward or too much for those who were photographed and interviewed. This was very important for me when I was producing and creating my music magazine.

Question 4

4. Who would be the audience for your media product?

Question 5

5. What elements of your text would attract the target audience?

Question 6

6. What have you learn about technologies from the process of making this product?

Question 7

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

Audience Feedback

Audience feedback is important as the people I asked to look and feedback on my magazine and those who will actually go into a store and potentially buy my magazine. Taking on board the feedback they give and maybe making it real and improving my magazine due to their feedback can make my magazine connect more to my target audience and work more to how their perfect music magazine would look like.
When taking my audience feedback, I tried a variety of different ways to open up to my audience and to help me to help them have a better magazine with their feedback.

I have opened up my audience feedback to the online social network Facebook which is very much popular with my target age and audience and also connects to the fact on my magazine I show a link to my magazine on a Facebook Group.

Taking my work and creating them into one big image, I posted them onto facebook and tagged friends to comment on my work and say what they think about it such as the areas of strength and the areas that could be improved. I made this a public post so that even though I tagged some of my own friends, members who saw the post were still able to comment on it and give there feedback as all feedback is welcome.

Here are a couple of the comments I received back. You can see the difference with language and presentation when using social networking.

Theresa Brown It would look bit more informal if yu like overlapped and tilted pictures and text more, like you did in the contents page but in the double page spread, but that's just fussy :L  

Beth Neave Agree with Theresa :) just make the contents page more busy and fill in any white spaces... The front cover is really good! And over all it looks great :) x

I also gave out sheets to people around my school, mixed ages and to both males and females and let them fill out the sheets again looking at what they found successful and what they also think could be improved on.

When giving out the feedback sheets I made sure I handed them out to a variety of different genders and ages between 16-20 years of age. Looking back at my feedback this is the type of information and advise I got given.

Postitive-

• Good range of different shots and photos

• Clear and easy to read front cover with good use of colour

• Good and interesting design layout but still clear and not too fussy

• Young and cool language which is suitable for the target audience/market

• Eye catching different fonts, drawing audience into the interview with 'Passion In America'

• Good to have questions from the reader- makes it engaging and reachable to market

Improvements-

• Few more items written on the front page to reach a larger range of different people

• The layout of some of the answers following the questions need slight rearranging

• Rid of pixilation in the title 'NewSound'

So looking back at my feedback I feel it is important for myself to look at my magazine and see where this feedback is coming from, see their point of view and then act upon them. All of the positives I was extremely pleased with due to my hard work to get my audience to notice these details and understand them and have them as visible that I have used certain colours and fonts and different ranges of camera shots. Looking at the improvements I want to see how I can now take this information and advise on board and act upon them. So the first point, I see that more needs to be added to the front, for this I may see if I can make what I do have on my front cover a bit more bigger and visual for others to see. The second point is that I need rearranging of the text, this is an easy situation that I can work with and change. The third point is a little harder and more technical so improving my title I may edit it on Photo shop and smooth out the edges and blur it slightly to rid of the high amount of pixilation that is visible. I am very pleased with all my feedback and this is what feedback is for, looking and changing and continuously developing and improving to always show that I am learning in and taking everything in and soaking it up in my head and therefore improving my magazine for the better.

Setting Details for images.

There are a few different settings I used for my images, although they are not major settings that by themselves have a huge impact on people, but just changing the different lighting and colours in the surroundings of the images, just gives a fresh and different feel to each image taken.

This image of Scott that I used for a DJ section on my magazine contents page was in this setting. This is a hall way in Tavistock College just outside our study room. This was not a chosen area but was spontaneous and I felt, for this image, the background was not overly important as I have edited the image and made the background transparent making the image stand out more and look more professional. Scott was just leaning up against the wall with some headphones on. An easy but effective image.  

 These images of Polly that were test shots were taken in this class room. Again I have edited the background so it is transparent

again to make it look more professions and  'slick'. As well as this I did not want the class room shown in the background as it is not very smart and does not connect to music at all. Again this was a spontaneous image, I was lucky to have the chance to take some shots with the DJ decks there and get some good images.

This class room was a Media Studies class room so was in a very easy environment.  

My last setting was the area in which most of my images were taken as it is can be a blacked out space and there are lighting effects in which can help create the type of effect you would like on your image. For example, in my images of Polly where she is red and green, I used this lighting effect to create this and so gave it more of a techno and unique look.

 These images were not the only ones taken in this environment as I took the main image on my cover in this setting and a huge amount of my main images. I really liked the surrounds of the setting and thought it was very flexible and could work with any type of image in which you wanted to create.

The area is called The PlayStation and is a drama/dance/performing arts class room.  

...continued settings.

Here is an image of the light in which creates a green effect on the area or image in which you are trying to create. Having this type of equipment available is very fortunate and gives me the chance to create an image that I feel will look more professional than just an image taken in a random area that has not got much actual technical technique to it. I have made many of my images with the lighting effect and I am very pleased with how they have turned out and how the light makes a massive impact on the image as a whole with the atmosphere created around it.

The area is called The PlayStation and is a drama/dance/performing arts class room. It is very spacious and has alot of room to play and experiment with the space around, as well as this the room has been fitted with black out window blinds that can create a dark and maybe sinister feel to the room, but with this feature you can able to have to opportunity to experiment with the room and create what ever atmosphere you feel you want to create.

Between the two blogs I have taken images of the environments and surrounds that I used for all of my images and describes how I used them and how they helped to create my image for my magazine and the effect in which I wanted from the image.
To create an image not only do you need to make the model the way that you would like them to look to create this image that you may have in your head, but you also need to create a the same surrounding to reflect the image and its effect. One of the environments was a classroom, I did not necessarily want the classroom to reflect off the image and I didn't want an education environment inspired image, therefore, I took full control of my model and took away what I could from the background to let me take control of its effect. But The PlayStation was a place I used mostly due to the fact it could blend with any kind of image you wanted to create as well as the lighting effects help with the image itself.