Drafting #4

This is the final drafting of my magazine so far. I have altered the contents page slightly by adding more information and detail to it. I also lengthened my article and added more quotes from my artist as well as information that appeals to the audience about her. I added pull quotes from the article which stood out - this attracts the audience as they're very eye-catching features which intriegues the audience to read the article. I have included more images of the artist into the article although I plan to change these images when I have taken more suitable ones which match with the overall design.
I decided to create a new page called 'Handwritten lyrics', which is one of the features mentioned in my contents page. I wrote some lyrics down along with the signature of the artists and analysed them - I plan on making this into a double page spread later on. I feel like adding this extra page was necessary because it appeals to the audience and makes my magazine seem more interesting as not many magazines seem to have fun, articles like this.

At this stage, I am quite comfortable with the outcome of my magazine although I do still think that there are areas of which I can improve - which I plan to do in the New Year.

Extra page: Handwritten Lyrics

 

Analysis:

She can’t erase him [them] from her mind, the memories and the heart break. She replays the happiest moments and the moment he ended all he had with her for another person. It’s constantly on her mind, although she’s tried her absolute hardest to forget everything. She can’t stand knowing that he said words he used to say to her to another girl. Also, porcelain is very detailed, as in China dolls and antiques; and are often connoted as breaking very easily. She pictures them having intercourse, and everything’s very detailed. He and his new lover knew of everything she had with him, and they both knew that it would break her heart (‘bleeding inside’) as in her heart hurts. These lyrics really capture the heartbreak that Aurora experienced.

Article extended version

What with her eccentric, controversial yet iconic style - and music and match - 20-year-old Aurora Storm is currently causing a sensation in the UK, where her vivid indie-edge debut single ‘Smother’ has charted in the Top 10. Her sassy, bad-girl act echoes that of childhood idols Janis Joplin and Madonna. "I look to Madonna for her philosophy about music and fashion," she admits. "If I'm going to get compared to any music artist, I sure as fuck want it to be her."

Raised in the heart of London, Aurora attended the £17,000-a-yearSylvia Young Theatre School in Marylebone, where she studied music and performing arts alongside Rita Ora and Tom Fletcher. 'I didn't hang out with all the popular girls," she says, claiming to have kept her head down and focused on her art and theatre studies. To the humiliation of her parents – extremely successful lawyers - she ended up moving downtown at just 17 years old following a serious argument she had with her family. Aurora did everything she could to get by – working in a small café at minimal wage and occasionally partaking in nude modeling and busking on the streets of London to songs that she had written in her spare time, just so she could have a roof over her head and place food on her plate every night. “I was doing drugs, I was really out of control," she says. "But what made me different was that I was making music, too. I wasn't just doing drugs."

Her antics caught the eye of musical-director Caius Pawson, (Founder of The XX, Sampha) who found her busking at Camden Lock, before bringing her to the attention of Young Turks Records. Aurora’s debut album Porcelain is released in the UK this month, and she plans to take just herself, her guitar and her music worldwide. But Aurora insists that it’s not all about the marketing and publicity. “I could end up in America selling thousands of records or I could go back to how things were before when no one really knew my name and few people purchased my music, and it wouldn’t matter to me. All that matters is the music. I don’t give a shit about how many records are sold – as long as I am making music for the people I love, and then I’m happy.”

There’s no denying the fact that Aurora is all that everyone is talking about right now – her seemingly overnight success is what has got her to where she is now. When asked if this is the “most insane year” of her life so far, the singer-song writer says, “Everything is so chaotic and crazy right now and it’s so much all at once, but I’m living for it. I’m just having the best time ever and everything’s falling into place like it’s supposed to. I don’t really care if people hate me. I think anyone wanting to pursue a music career would have given anything to be me at that very moment where I blew up, because I was being one hundred percent true to myself… and not many people can say that.”

But it’s not all hate for Aurora. This fact is a kind of icing on the cake for some, who have greeted Aurora not just as the latest, new, indie sensation to appear freshly baked off the assembly line, but as a kind of Trojan horse come to deliver us from the saccharine smiles and full-frontal sexual provocation clogging the charts. “The charts are constantly filled up with pop songs with no meaning, no real passion… just a different combination of the 26 letters in our alphabet accompanied by a stupid tune. Who wants to listen to that?! That’s what I want to change.”

Aurora’s sharp narrative observations – on both the single, and her critically acclaimed follow-up album, Porcelain – have led to her being labeled the voice of her generation.

When we meet, Aurora can barely sit upright. “I came down with a kidney infection just as I was about to get on a plane here,” she says. “They took me into hospital and put me on a drip and now I’m on heavy-duty antibiotics.” With her gothically pale skin offset by dark, red lips, black-rimmed wide-set eyes and her bold, statement full fringe, it’s not hard to see why she attracts the attention that she does – even when she’s ill she manages to look flawless. She looks much older than she is, a perception reinforced by the deep, commanding timbre of her sonorous voice.

On stage the previous night at Brixton Academy, Aurora had betrayed no sign of her illness, or that she had only 20 live performances under her belt. Aurora performed a mix of emotional ballads and when she reached the dramatic climax of the song, she vaults to the top of her range and produces a piercing sound that shakes you to the core. That is the power of the whistle register; the ability to control that part of the human voice is quite rare (think Mariah Carey) and even when ill, Aurora is able to hit way beyond the whistle register. In performance, Aurora has a goofy theatricality: one minute she is indulging in closed-eyed singing whilst simply sat with her guitar, shaking her hair and flicking her hands out; the next, she’s all broad smiles and wisecracks, jokily mocking her audience. Aurora was born with the ability to be a performer and that’s quite hard to find these days.

‘‘Songwriting is so weird because you are writing down intimate things and then you go into a studio with someone you have never met,” she says. “For me, the idea of an album touched by anyone else… that would cut me in half. I wouldn’t want to make albums with song writers. I don’t like people who call themselves singer/songwriter when they don’t write all of it themselves. I do everything myself.” When asked about sharing her thoughts and problems with the world through songwriting, Aurora claims, “It was just music that was written when I was getting wrecked just for fun. It was almost secondary to getting wrecked – the fact that people have embraced it is actually really humbling. It’s also kind of conflicting and has sent me a bit mental but anybody that knows me will know that it doesn’t take much to send me mental. When I passed it through to my team, it was a strange situation where something just clicked. My team was very good at being perceptive and figuring out what I do, which is quite a raw, impulsive thing. “

Over the past year and a half, from 2011, Aurora and her team came up with the 10 songs for her debut album, but Aurora says it never crossed her mind that one might become a worldwide hit. She insisted her first songs be put out on free streaming service Sound Cloud without any videos or photographs to promote them. “I put my music out with no kind of commercial expectation, and found out I was a ‘star’. I didn’t see my music as number-one Billboard chart selling music,” she says. “I tried to market my music the way my favourite indie producers did. I care more about giving back to my fans and the people that I love than selling my music worldwide – don’t get me wrong, it’s an absolute honour to be doing what I’m doing but I don’t want to become a marketing product like most pop artists these days. I’m much deeper than that.”

While other mainstream pop acts such as Katy Perry, One Direction and Britney Spears turn to the same small pool of producers in London, Stockholm and LA who deal in radio-friendly generic dance styles, more-experimental acts such as Kanye West or Lady Gaga elect complicated, flamboyant and ostentatious compositions. By contrast, Aurora’s sound is simple yet cinematic, spinning tales of real teenage realities – penniless but happy nights out full of longing and loneliness – that reject clichés of mindless fun and decadence.

“I don’t intend on selling dreams to young people. We’re now brought up believing that you have to live and behave in a certain way to get the best out of life – but that’s completely wrong. Look at Disney for example; as a child I thought I was going to be a princess, just like most little girls do… but that’s not going to happen. Being a teenager and growing up in this generation isn’t what people expect. Y’know, constant partying, your first kiss, being prom queen, falling in love… it’s not what it seems. It’s all bullshit. Growing up is one of the most difficult periods of time that you can experience – yes, it can be great, but just like everything there’s a downfall and people need to be more aware of that. That’s why I write about my experiences. I’ve gone from rock bottom right to the top; I want my music to reflect on this – not everyone is perfect and I want my music to help people through the reality of life… not this perfect picture that generic music seems to constantly portray.”

When asked about what motivates Aurora to create music, she states "Nothing really, it's just an innate need, I've never known how to do anything else. The way my music is so based around music almost drives me crazy. I would rather get away from it than me inspired to create it because I can't ever imagine doing something else."

"The idea of hell for me would be if I wasn't making music. I don't know any other way of expressing myself; therefore I don't really know another way of indulging myself. And a life without indulgence and nuance would be catastrophic. I genuinely don't know what I would do. Music for me kind of commands me how to feel, whether its excitement or emotion or anything. I'm totally, totally defined by music. I would just try to get any job that was associated with music", she says laughing.

“I feel like there’s a genuine hole in me. The little death, almost. I need stimulation. I used to need physical stimulation constantly, whether that is from taking drugs, listening to the sound of my own voice or flirting with guys and girls. I’m not bisexual, but that’ moment when you realise someone likes you – it’s the best feeling in the world. If you could bottle it… [She drifts off for a moment. And then she asks that question] ‘Do you like me?”

Aurora possesses a maturity that is, for now, inoculating her from the madness growing around her. “What I am doing now, I am learning so much that I couldn’t learn at any university at any age,” she says. “Every time I get on stage I learn something new. I’m evolving all the time. My next record could sound completely different.”

Aurora’s album, Porcelain, is out November 26^th.

Production Diary - Week 12

In my last lesson, I entirely changed the article layout to test out other designs as I had been quite unsure about the layout I originally had planned to use. I removed one of the pages and plan to convert it to a page which showcases another act (following a photoshoot that I am going to host next month). As one of my original aims was to feature as many artists as I could, I planned to maybe test this by making another article about another artist or band. I also changed up the first article by playing around a bit with the design; changing images around as well as lengthening the article a bit. I am still unsure as to whether or not use two articles or just stick to one, however with contingency time I am going to create a draft of two articles so that I can choose which looks better and follow through with that.
I also found it quite difficult to lengthen my article by a great amount so by creating another article about a different musician or act, I am able to avoid unnecessary rambling in my first article by creating another instead. I hope that this will make my magazine successful and all go to plan.
In my next lesson, I plan on designing this secon article in more detail and creating the basic scaffolding for it whilst also creating the text that is going to be featured inside, and the sooner that I do this, the sooner I am able to establish whether or not I will stick with my original scaffolding or the new one, as I am still quite undecided.

Chosen Images

I have summed up why I have selected the main images for my magazine is this short Prezi powerpoint and explained why I feel they are successful in representing the genre and the magazine well. I have also discussed what I have used to edit the images and what I did to them such as increasing the brightness and using the patch tools. The images are a huge factor of a magazine which can make or break it, however I feel as though I have chosen the right images which will help my magazine become very well-respected and successful. I have chosen to use the track 'A Punk' by Vampire Weekend as it makes this presentation less tedious and is the type of music that my audience would listen to.

Production Diary - Week 11

In the past few lessons, I continued to use my contingency time to finish constructing my magazine and filling in the rest of my article. I also used Photoshop to edit some photos that I would like to include in my magazine as well as planning the shots that I plan to take sometime next month. I created another drafting of my magazine which includes the two main covers, the contents page and the article. I have made minor changes as I am still unsure on the definite house style that I would like to follow, and I have thought about whether or not to add a double page spread with a quote and am still undecided on whether or not to do so as I have quite a lot of images as it is. Next lesson, I plan on continuing to improve my magazine, lengthening my article and adding in more images.

Drafting #3

Here is the update of the drafting of my magazine. As you can see, I have updated the fonts and altered the front cover slightly. I have included coverlines that appeal to my target audience as they are one of the most vital features of the front cover as they are what initially brings the audience in to purchase the magazine.
For my contents page, I have added a few images that I plan to use (Jake Bugg image that I will imitate) and also including other artists that will be featured. I plan on holding more photoshoots to create a band and use images on this contents page as well as another photoshoot for my main artist, Ruth. I have also assigned all of the articles with page numbers and matched them to their photos as well as including page numbers from using the Master page.
I have added box text to my article which creates a personal relationship between the artist and the audience as it gives the artist's personal views in a different and unique way. I plan on increasing the length of my article and adding more images which I plan to take soon.

I have pretty much finished the scaffolding of the magazine draft now, however I still plan on improving things such as the article and adding in images and altering things to make the magazine to the best of my ability. During my next lesson, I plan on adding and selecting more images to include in the magazine and improving my article and increasing it's length.

Production diary - Week 10

During this week, I continued to create my magazine scaffolding and completed my box text to put into the article. I also finished creating my subscription cover, however I still plan on using any contingency time that I may have to make the cover to the best of my ability. I've added sell lines to my cover and have applied the colour scheme throughout, as well as adding more photos to my contents page and adding the subtitles and captions for the articles. This will help me to save a lot of time as everything is pretty much in place, so I only have to lengthen my article and add photos as well as slightly improve anything that I do not like and I will have almost completed the project.

Equiptment

Camera / Lights
To takes images for my magazine, I took my model to one of the media classes in our school and we used a variety of different equiptment such as cameras, lights and whitescreens to mimic a professional photoshoot and create the desired look for my magazine.

I used a Canon SLR camera as it enabled me to take high quality images which is mandatory for any successful magazine. As my magazine needed to be completed to the best of my ability, I felt it was necessary to use a white screen as it allows the audience to focus on the model and nothing else. White screens are effective because they are very simple and plain, and can easily be edited on softwares such as Photoshop to enhance the image. The lights enabled me to change the way my images appeared and allowed me to create the best looking images for my shoot, and the lights also allowed me to cast the shadow I wanted so that the editing process was a lot easier and smoother.
The lights and the SLR camera were the most important to me as they created high quality images which made my magazine look professional and realistic.

Computer software
I am currently using InDesign to create my magazine as it is a lot easier to use than Photoshop (which we used for our GCSE magazines). InDesign enables you to view the document as a magazine and you can use various different tools such as the Master page which quickly and effectively adds the same text to all of the pages. This makes adding page numbers and the website name of the magazine very easy and saves me a lot of time which I can instead use to improve my magazine elsewhere. Paragraph styles has also been very effective as it also saves time and matches the fonts up when necessary.
I used Photoshop to edit the images for my magazine as there is a huge variety of tools that you can use to make the images look more appealing and suitable for the magazine. Photoshop is very widely used by successful magazines in the indistry therefore I felt that it was necessary to use it.
I also used Powerpoints, Word documents and Scribd a lot whilst planning tasks and used Scribd to upload the documents to my blog.
As I am not used to using these programmes, it took quite a while to get the hang of using all of the new tools however it was quite easy once I knew how to use them.

 

Contact Sheet #2

Here is the contact sheet of my second mini photoshoot. I needed to create extra artists for my contents page to enhance the new and upcoming acts that are I plan to feature as well as the popular artists so that there is a balance within the magazine. I took various different photos of my model, including shots where he gives direct mode of address and eye contact, as well as looking below and around him portraying that he's superior and shows very little interest otherwise. I chose the location of a brick wall because it's not a very conventional location and it illustrates the artists' edge. I felt that it was mandatory to create as many artists and bands as I can to feature on the contents page to make my magazine unique and fit within the aims that I originally set myself and I feel that I have done this well. I plan on creating a band within the next few weeks and holding another photoshoot that I can feature in my magazine, as well as another shoot with my main artist and model Ruth which will feature props such as guitars and amps.

Drafting #2

Here is the drafting of my magazine that I have completed so far. I have since created two front covers, one being the main front cover and one being a special subscriber only issue. For the main cover, I have included band and artists names that feature inside the magazine as this entices the audience to purchase the magazine as it lets them know who the reviews are about instantly and easily. I also included a cover line of '50 gigs you must see this decade' as it appeals to the audience as they typically enjoy attending gigs and this coverline exposes the most legendary gigs of the past 10 years. My main coverline is about Aurora Storm; I have used this coverline as it is about the main artist that my magazine is dedicated to. The article is about Aurora and her previous life as well as her views on the music industry, therefore I needed a coverline that represented this article well and I feel as though this portrays the article well as it indicates her increase of popularity in the music industry and makes her seem more appealing to the target audience as it foreshadows her popularity. For the special/subscriber issue, I simply combined a bold image with thoughts inside Auror'as head and quotes from the interview which creates a more personal tone and relationship between the artist and the readers. The coverline is a play on the words of 'storm' - I used the word storm as it is the artist, Aurora's surname and it also connotes the chaos she has created in the media as a new sensation of the Indie genre.

I have also put my article draft text into the draft however I still have more text to add. I've also placed images that I would like to feature in the contents page and the main article as well as adding the text into the contents page with subheadings and captions.

Production Diary - Week 9

Throughout this week I have completed a lot of work, including my coverlines, box out text and continuing to improve and design the scaffolding of the magazine.

As I have chosen to use two covers for my magazine, a main cover and a special fan/subscriber edition, I have had to balance time between the covers in order to create them both. For the main cover, I added a masthead as well as the full bleed image which includes the coverline and band names on the front. I plan on adding other coverlines in my next lesson where I also plan on improving the design again as I still feel as though it needs a bit of improvement. I have chosen this image of my model, Ruth (Aurora Storm) for the front cover as she is giving direct address of eye contact to the audience which draws them in, and her bold eyes and red lips connote her danger and seductiveness which appeals to the target audience of the magazine as well as matching the house style of the magazine. Ruth is portrayed as bare which indicates how she's being honest in the article as well as moreso attracting the target audience.


For the special fan/subscriber edition of the magazine, I first used a special device where I had to draw on a pad with a pen which was connected to the computer, so that when I drew on the pad it would appear on Photoshop and transfer the writing to the cover image of that edition of the magazine. I struggled whilst using this device, so instead I wrote various lyrics and quotes from the aritcle on a piece of paper, scanned it into the computer and used Photoshop to brighten and remove the background from the text to later add it to the image. This worked quite successfully and I am happy with the outcome of this cover of the magazine, however next time I need to bring the image in front of the text as I ran out of time to do this. I plan on using any contingency time on improving this cover as it was quite difficult and time-consuming to create, however I think it was worth it as it will overall increase the readership and circulation of the magazine.

For the coverlines and box out text, I simply did some research as to what my audience would like to read about and reflected this in the articles featured, such as the 'Top 50' and various band and artist reviews. The content in the magazine is especially important as it is essentially the main purpose of the magazine, therefore choosing the correct coverlines was important as it could make or break the magazine however I feel that the coverlines that I have used appeal to the audience quite well as they want to hear about arists and new, upcoming music within the indie genre. The box out text was also important as it gives the article an exciting twist which creates a personal relationship with the audience as it impacts hugely on their views and perceptions of the music industry and other artists.

In my next lesson, I plan on continuing to construct my scaffolding and replace the placement texts with my article and images to begin slowly constructing my magazine.

Coverlines

Box out text

Aurora Storm gives her opinion on some of the most well-known Indie artists of the generation:

The 1975:
The 1975 are one of my favourite bands!!! I especially love their song 'The City', it's so catchy and always stuck in my brain. The impact they have made in such a short time really reflects well on the type of band they are, and I encourage everyone to buy their debut album otherwise you'll regret it!

Ed Sheeran:
Ed is actually one of my close friends, he's an absolutely amazing artist and we actually plan on working together in the future! But shhhhhh... you didn't hear it from me!

London Grammar:
I've heard some of their stuff - they're great, but a little bit overrated. Maybe that's just me but I personally think that they haven't quite produced the life-affirming set they may have bee capable of... But don't get me wrong, I think that Hannah (lead singer) has an absolutely beautiful voice, however there is always room for improvement with anyone, including me. London Grammar have the potential to be a chart-topping, tear-inducing live act – but when I saw them live at Brixton, it was not their time or place.

I decided to use a box out of  Aurora Storm giving her personal opinion on other artists for many reasons; including how it further promotes the many Indie artists that my magazine intends on reviewing. It also creates a personal relationship with the reader as it makes them feel as though they are talking to Aurora and it can influence their opinion on the arists too. Using a box out feature in my magazine is effective because it increases the interactivity between the reader and the magazine as well as the artist which is one of the main goals that I strive to achieve.

Editing images

Here is one of the photos that I have selected to use for the full bleed image of my main cover. I edited the photo in Photoshop and used a variety of tools such as the brightness levels and the patch tool. This enhances the image to make it more appealing towards the target audience.

Contents ideas

In addition to these contents page ideas, I have also chosen to include a social media port at the top of the magazine. I felt that it was essential to include social networking to increase personal relationships and interactivity within my magazine. It is also a main convention of contents pages therefore it has made my contents page look more realistic and professional. I included Twitter, Youtube and Facebook.
In addition to the social networks, I have also included a reviews area. This gives a glimpse of what reviews are inside the magazine and introduces the main review (which is about The 1975). It makes my contents page look more interesting and it appeals to the audience.
Another convention included is the issue number. This informs the audience what issue is currently available and also makes the magazine sound more authentic and reliable as it has been running for a long time.

I have selected the regulars and features that I plan to use in my magazine as well as including the band index of the artists that my target audience generally listen to. The tag lines appeal to the target audience therefore they will be intrigued to purchase the magazine; I have included features such as a guide on how to play the drums and an interview with Ed Sheeran as well as the artist that I have made up, Aurora Storm. Some regulars that I have also included are quizzes, The Top 50 and what's new in the world of Indie. These regulars entice the audience to buy the magazine as it creates a personal relationship with the audience as they feel as though can rely on the magazine to keep them up to date with music as well as providing them with trustworthy reviews. I think that the regulars and features that I have created will appeal to my audience quite well as it fits within the demographics and stereotypes of the indie genre.

Production Diary - Week 8

Drafting #1

This is the first drafting of my magazine. I have created my contents page as well as my article draft. This is the basis of my magazine which enables me to get through the project quicker - as soon as I have all of the materials, I will be able to quickly and effectively drop in the information. I used the box tool to indicate where I would like to place my images, as well as placeholder text to fill the space where I will later on add my article and contents information. I also used the paragraph and charater styles tools to follow the regular house style that my magazine will follow. I used the colour scheme of red as it's the most relevant and effective colour scheme for my audience and it represents my indie genre well. I have based my magazine upon the very successful music magazine Q.

Article draft

What with her eccentric, controversial yet iconic style - and music and match - 20-year-old Aurora Storm is currently causing a sensation in the UK, where her vivid indie-edge debut single ‘Smother’ has charted in the Top 10. Her sassy, bad-girl act echoes that of childhood idols Janis Joplin and Madonna. "I look to Madonna for her philosophy about music and fashion," she admits. "If I'm going to get compared to any music artist, I sure as fuck want it to be her."

Raised in the heart of London, Aurora attended the £17,000-a-year Sylvia Young Theatre School in Marylebone, where she studied music and performing arts alongside Rita Ora and Tom Fletcher. 'I didn't hang out with all the popular girls," she says, claiming to have kept her head down and focused on her art and theatre studies. To the humiliation of her parents – extremely successful lawyers - she ended up moving downtown at just 17 years old following a serious argument she had with her family. Aurora did everything she could to get by – working in a small café at minimal wage and occasionally partaking in nude modeling and busking on the streets of London to songs that she had written in her spare time, just so she could have a roof over her head and place food on her plate every night. “I was doing drugs, I was really out of control," she says. "But what made me different was that I was making music, too. I wasn't just doing drugs."

Her antics caught the eye of musical-director Caius Pawson, (Founder of The XX, Sampha) who found her busking at Camden Lock, before bringing her to the attention of Young Turks Records. Aurora’s debut album Porcelain is released in the UK this month, and she plans to take just herself, her guitar and her music worldwide. But Aurora insists that it’s not all about the marketing and publicity. “I could end up in America selling thousands of records or I could go back to how things were before when no one really knew my name and few people purchased my music, and it wouldn’t matter to me. All that matters is the music. I don’t give a shit about how many records are sold – as long as I am making music for the people I love, then I’m happy.”

  

There’s no denying the fact that Aurora is all that everyone is talking about right now – her seemingly overnight success is what has got her to where she is now. When asked if this is the “most insane year” of her life so far, the singer-song writer says, “Everything is so chaotic and crazy right now and it’s so much all at once, but I’m living for it. I’m just having the best time ever and everything’s falling into place like it’s supposed to. I don’t really care if people hate me. I think anyone wanting to pursue a music career would have given anything to be me at that very moment where I blew up, because I was being one hundred percent true to myself… and not many people can say that.”

But it’s not all hate for Aurora. This fact is a kind of icing on the cake for some, who have greeted Aurora not just as the latest, new, indie sensation to appear freshly baked off the assembly line, but as a kind of Trojan horse come to deliver us from the saccharine smiles and full-frontal sexual provocation clogging the charts. “The charts are constantly filled up with pop songs with no meaning, no real passion… just a different combination of the 26 letters in our alphabet accompanied by a stupid tune. Who wants to listen to that?! That’s what I want to change.” Aurora’s sharp narrative observations – on both the single, and her critically acclaimed follow-up album, Porcelain – have led to her being labeled the voice of her generation.

When we meet, Aurora can barely sit upright. “I came down with a kidney infection just as I was about to get on a plane here,” she says. “They took me into hospital and put me on a drip and now I’m on heavy-duty antibiotics.” With her gothically pale skin offset by dark, red lips, black-rimmed wide-set eyes and her bold, statement full fringe, it’s not hard to see why she attracts the attention that she does – even when she’s ill she manages to look flawless. She looks much older than she is, a perception reinforced by the deep, commanding timbre of her sonorous voice.

On stage the previous night at Brixton Academy, Aurora had betrayed no sign of her illness, or that she had only 20 live performances under her belt. Aurora performed a mix of emotional ballads and when she reached the dramatic climax of the song, she vaults to the top of her range and produces a piercing sound that shakes you to the core. That is the power of the whistle register; the ability to control that part of the human voice is quite rare (think Mariah Carey) and even when ill, Aurora is able to hit way beyond the whistle register. In performance, Aurora has a goofy theatricality: one minute she is indulging in closed-eyed singing whilst simply sat with her guitar, shaking her hair and flicking her hands out; the next, she’s all broad smiles and wisecracks, jokily mocking her audience. Aurora was born with the ability to be a performer and that’s quite hard to find these days.

‘‘Songwriting is so weird because you are writing down intimate things and then you go into a studio with someone you have never met,” she says. “But it was a strange situation where something just clicked. My team were very good at being perceptive and figuring out what I do, which is quite a raw, impulsive thing.”

Over the past year and a half, from 2011, Aurora and her team came up with the 10 songs for her debut album, but Aurora says it never crossed her mind that one might become a worldwide hit. She insisted her first songs be put out on free streaming service SoundCloud without any videos or photographs to promote them. “I put my music out with no kind of commercial expectation, and found out I was a ‘star’. I didn’t see my music as number-one Billboard chart selling music,” she says. “I tried to market my music the way my favourite indie producers did. I care more about giving back to my fans and the people that I love than selling my music worldwide – don’t get me wrong, it’s an absolute honour to be doing what I’m doing but I don’t want to become a marketing product like most pop artists these days. I’m much deeper than that.”

While other mainstream pop acts such as Katy Perry, One Direction and Britney Spears turn to the same small pool of producers in London, Stockholm and LA who deal in radio-friendly generic dance styles, more-experimental acts such as Kanye West or Lady Gaga elect complicated, flamboyant and ostentatious compositions. By contrast, Aurora’s sound is simple yet cinematic, spinning tales of real teenage realities – penniless but happy nights out full of longing and loneliness – that reject clichés of mindless fun and decadence.

“I don’t intend on selling dreams to young people. We’re now brought up believing that you have to live and behave in a certain way to get the best out of life – but that’s completely wrong. Look at Disney for example; as a child I thought I was going to be a princess, just like most little girls do… but that’s not going to happen. Being a teenager and growing up in this generation isn’t what people expect. Y’know, constant partying, your first kiss, being prom queen, falling in love… it’s not what it seems. It’s all bullshit. Growing up is one of the most difficult periods of time that you can experience – yes, it can be great, but just like everything there’s a downfall and people need to be more aware of that. That’s why I write about my experiences. I’ve gone from rock bottom right to the top; I want my music to reflect on this – not everyone is perfect and I want my music to help people through the reality of life… not this perfect picture that generic music seems to constantly portray.”

Aurora possesses a maturity that is, for now, inoculating her from the madness growing around her. “What I am doing now, I am learning so much that I couldn’t learn at any university at any age,” she says. “Every time I get on stage I learn something new. I’m evolving all the time. My next record could sound completely different.”

Aurora’s album, Porcelaine, is out November 26^th.

On Location: Camden

I went to Camden with two of my models, Ruth and Elsie, where I took various photos of the location, fashion, food and style of Camden. Here are a few images that I have gathered from the mini-photoshoot. I plan on going back to Camden to take more images to use for my magazine as Camden represents the genre of my magazine very well, and it helped influence more ideas for my magazine.

Production Diary - Week 7

In the last lesson, we began to create our magazine on InDesign. We created simple, black squares to indicate where our images would be placed as well as including title names and placeholder texts. This makes the project a lot more quick and easy to make when I have all of my materials ready as everything will be in place already. I have started to create my contents and article spreads as these are very significant parts of my magazine with a lot of text and images featured inside them. I have used he colour scheme of red, black and white as this is a very classic and professional colour scheme which is gender neutral and fits well within my target audience. This colour scheme is also used by Q, a very successful music magazine. I have enjoyed creating the template for my magazine as it is very practical and fun, and I look forward to continuing to make this in the next few lessons.

New Media

Promotional Methods

To promote my magazine, I have begun to think about various, effective methods to increase the readership and circulation of my magazine. I want my magazine to have a big readership, especially when it is released as the sales need to be high and the only way to effectively achieve this is by promoting the magazine well. I need to invest a lot of money into promotion such as on billboards and buses, especially as the magazine is new and unknown to the target audience.

A prime example of promotion is billboards. Billboards are very effective as they are very large in size and attract attention from all types of people as they are specifically located in areas where people are most likely to look (eg. when in the car on a motorway, shopping centres). As billboards are located all across the country, I will need to create the billboard to the best of my ability to fit within the target audience to grab their attention. I need to make the magazine look appealing and include some sort of sell line and unique selling point to entice them to purchase the magazine. I will do some research into my locations for my bill boards because certain areas in the UK could have a different perspective on the magazine. I plan on including the release date, website and name of the magazine as well as a little teaser to increase anticipation of the magazines release.

Another way of promoting my magazine will be through adverts on buses. The bus itself is key to promotion as buses travel great lengths, through different destination routes therefore a lot of people will see the bus as the majority of people use public transport (especially those who I have targeted as my audience). Everyone keeps an eye out for adverts on public transport like buses therefore it would be a great investment for my magazine as it grabs peoples attention when the bus passes them. I also plan on using the underground/tube to promote and advertise my magazine as this will enhance the variety of those who will see and possibly purchase the magazine. People become very tedious when travelling so using escalator advertisements as well as large adverts by the sides of the train and in the train itself will be very successful.

 

I will make sure that the adverts are concise and fit within the target audiences interests. I have to make sure that the adverts and content reach to the correct market otherwise the magazine will be unsuccessful. For some extra advertise, I will start the first issue to meet Ruth, the main artist, and win backstage passes to a festival with a signed copy of her brand new single. Some of the rules of the competition will be that the person who enters the competition must be subscribed//following/liked with all of my magazines social networking sites. By doing this I can build an online audience and gain more members interacting with the magazine, which will in turn rise sales. Twitter and Facebook are extremely popular in this day and age therefore I strongly believe that combining competitions with social networking will successfully and effectively build my audience and help gain more sales.

Props / Costumes

Production Diary - Week 6

Throughout this week, I have completed many things in the project.

I started bycreating a Prezi on photoshoot ideas. This helped influence me on what makeup, poses, hair and props to use for my photoshoot which I was going to do later on in the week. I wrote briefly about each and included photos as well as including the song 'Chocolate' by The 1975, which is an indie band of whom I believe represent the indie genre well. After I had created this Prezi, I held my first photoshoot with my main model, Ruth, who signed a model release form to confirm that she is happy with taking part in the photoshoot and is able to participate in a re-shoot if necessary. I used bold hair and makeup techniques as well as her clothes and overall look to make Ruth look appealing towards the audience of the magazine, and to also fit within the dynamics of the magazine as it is very individual and unique. I also have backstage videos and images of the photoshoot.

During this week, I also created name ideas from a spider diagram around the four main types of words: acronym, connotative, phrase and compound. I found a few names that I liked, such as inD and Unsigned as I feel as though they represent my magazine well, although I am still undecided on which name to use. I also created a document on In Design which is dedicated to the masthead designs. I downloaded various fonts from ReFont and DaFont and transferred them over to In Design to decide which was the most effective and suitable font for my magazine. I liked 'Blackout' and 'Broken74'. Lastly, I created another document and In Design which was based on colour schemes. I simply created a row of 9 blocks, consisting of 4 different colours which I think would be a good colour scheme for the magazine. My favourite colour scheme was the red, matched with the monochrome black and white with grey. I like this colour scheme as it is simplistic yet powerful. I enjoyed these tasks as they helped me to develop more ideas about my magazine and were quite fun to play around with.

Backstage at my photoshoot

Model release

 

This is the model release form for my photoshoot. I have chosen who I would like to participate in my photoshoot, and rior to taking photos of my model, I had to make sure that Ruth was happy with being photographed and understood that the images are for a school project. This release form also states that, if necessary, a re-shoot is needed then the model is happy to take part in it. This concludes that Ruth, my model, is happy to take part in the photoshoot and agrees to the engagement.

Contact sheet #1

This is the contact sheet for  my first photoshoot. In this photoshoot, I focused mainly on close up shots of the model, Ruth, for the front page image. I used makeup and hair to make Ruth stand out with prominant and bold features. Ruth also used interesting poses to appeal to the audience of the magazine, such as devil horns and the illiminati symbol which both portray controversy. I used close up shots to make Ruth superior to the audience as well as shots taken from beneath her to enhance her significance. Ruth wore a buttoned up shirt to begin with, and a simple bandeau later on to make Ruth seem bare and attract to the male audience as it gives her some sort of sex appeal.

I also plan on doing another shoot at school, where props will be my main focus. I plan on using guitars and microphones as it represents the genre of music and entices the audience into purchasing the magazine. I am also going on location to Camden to shoot some more photos of my models, a popular place that people of the indie genre are interested in visiting.

Colour

These are the various colour schemes that I have created for my magazine. The colour I like most, and am most willing to use is red. Red is a gender neutral colour which connotes both love and danger, whilst having a very powerful, strong and bold tone as well, especially when paired with the monochrome colours of black, white and grey. Very successful magazines are very fond of this colour scheme, including Q magazine:

 Q magazine uses the red colour scheme very well, using black and white contrasting colours paired with the extremely bold red tone which captures the audiences attention. The red, in this example, signifies Cheryl Cole's sex appeal which foreshadows the audience that the magazine is targeted towards. The red logo of Q follows the house style, however the taglines and main headlines are featured in red too, moreso highlighting Cheryl and her dominance. This is a very successful way of using graphological features to manipulate the audience into purchasing and buying the magazine, and I plan on persuing the same thing.

 

 

I also quite like the blue/navy colour scheme paired with black and white, however this colour scheme could seem derogatory against female readers and put them off purchasing and reading the magazine all together as they could think that the magazine is very masculine. An example of a magazine targed more towards males with a blue colour scheme is Vibe:

 

 

Vibe has a 37% female readership, compared to males with a huge 63%. This is reflected in many ways, however just the colour scheme alone simply portrays how the magazine is more influenced by the male audience. As my magazine is targeted to both genders, using a blue colour scheme will contradict the audience that I am to target my magazine to therefore it is quite ineffective.

 

Masthead designs

 

These are my masthead designs. I chose these fonts as I feel as though they represent the magazine and the indie/alternative genre well - connoting the individual, distressed and wrecklessness of the audience. I like the 3rd font from the top, Blackout, as it is simple yet eye-catching. I also like the 4th font from the bottom, Broken74, as it is a destroyed-looking font which will stand out completely from the page whilst also representing the nature of the magazine. I am still undecided on which font to use however I will be adding more fonts if I see any that I like and deciding upon the font I would like to use for my masthead once I develop more ideas.

Name ideas

 

 

I began to come up with some ideas for my magazine's name, and I chose these name ideas because I felt as though they represent my indie genre well and will entice the audience to purchase the magazine. I found this quite difficult as I didn't want to go with something too typical of music magazines as I wanted mine to be unique in some way, and it was hard to come up with something without all of my ideas being definite. In order to come up with some ideas, I started a spider diagram of ideas, with 'name ideas' in the middle and everything that I associate with it around the centre. From this, the first idea I wanted to stick with was 'Unsigned', but I later decided against this when I came up with 'inD', as I preferred a shorter name to a longer one. I believe that a shorter name is more effective than a long magazine name as it is more memorable. I am still choosing which name to use for my magazine name as I want it to be the best that I can come up with.

Photoshoot ideas

Production Diary - Week 5

In the last lesson, I begun to create name ideas and masthead designs. I did this by simply creating a spider diagram; featuring four different sectors of words to use for my name ideas for the magazine. These included acronyms, phrases, connotative and compound words. I chose around 35 name ideas - I liked the name inD and Unsigned as I feel as though they represent the magazine very well and are a key signified of what the magazine stands for. I'm still undecided on which name to use as I was to be 100% sure on the name and I feel as though I'm not quite there yet. After I had created name ideas, I went onto DaFont and ReFont to select fonts that I like to use for the masthead. I downloaded these fonts and transferred them onto InDesign where I created a long list of the fonts and compared which one I like most. Again, I'm still quite undecided as I want the masthead to be to the best of my ability as it is one of the most important factors of a magazine as it can make or break it. 

In the next lesson, I plan on possibly choosing my final name and masthead design so that I can effectively move on to the next task, and select shots of what images I would like to feature in my magazine to help influence me. 

Names and Masthead analysis

Production Diary Week 5

Mood board

Key concepts

My research into the key concepts of the indie genre and music magazines in general has helped to develop my understanding further and is extremely helpful for me to look back on for information surrounding all of the relevant topics for this course. I feel as though it is mandatory for my success in the course as research is key for everything and I now have a greater understanding of the genre and key concepts within the media, therefore my magazine will only benefit from this.

Preliminary video

I have captured videos of my preliminary magazine on CamStudio which has enabled me to, one by one, highlight each factor of the magazine and bring it onto the screen. I selected the region that I wanted to record on CamStudio and then selected each segment in each layer to make them pop up. Creating this preliminary video is effective and helpful to me because it allows me to be able to use more programmes and portray my magazine in a different way whilst indicating which order I made my magazine in.

Production Diary Week 4

In this weeks lesson, I edited my target audience profile and added images which represent the audience of which my magazine is targeted at. I created this on Prezi as it is an interactive and fun way of portraying my work in a different way on my blog. I also made a summary to my survey results and explained what I am going to do with my magazine which is helped by the results that I have gained from the survey. I created this on PowerPoint and I uploaded it onto SlideShare to upload to my blog. I provided pictures of the results to prove evidence of my results and then briefly concluded the results.
I also created my preliminary film video on CamStudio which illustrated my magazine step-by-step of what I had added to the magazine. I used InDesign to portray my magazine in the video, and briefly highlighted what I had made. I found this task quite fun as it was quick and easy to complete, and I gained new skills whilst doing it so it's a win-win situation!

Survey results

Using a questionnaire to collect my data had many advantages. Large numbers of people could be contacted quickly and easily, meaning that a lot of useful information could be collected efficiently. It is relatively easy to make and doesn't take too long - once finished, the respondent does most of the work! Another advantage is that it's easy to standardise, as everyone answers the same question. Questionnaires also can be used to explore sensitive material, as they can be anonymous and completed in private. This was helpful because not only did it enable me to gain more information to put into my magazine, but it also told me a lot about the target audience and what they want to see.

3 Double Page Spread Analysis

3 Double Page Spread Analysis

Analysing the 3 different double page spreads helped me in various different ways, including how I could develop these ideas and put them into my magazine. It also taught me to pay attention to every little detail, from the house style, language and the models featured right to the props in the images and the pull quotes to grab maximum attention from the reader. In the future, I will refer back to this post to get some more ideas and improve them to make my magazine to the best of my ability.

Target Audience

Proposal feedback

I found getting feedback on my proposal really useful as it allowed me to understand how my target audience would view my magazine and the ideas resolving it, and also taught me about what they'd like to see inside and how I could improve my magazine. By making small changes like this to my magazine, I will be creating a higher quality product which will resemble a real magazine and will be more appealing towards the target audience.

Production Diary Week 3

In today's lesson, I created my proposal. My proposal contains all of the ideas that I have come up with for the production of my magazine. Some of the ideas that I came up with were:

• Genre
• Frequency
• Target audience
• Content
• Mood
• Unique selling point

These factors are significant for my magazine as they are in the general conventions of a magazine and are what will make my magazine stand out amongst the crowd and sit upon the pedestal of music magazines. It is also important that I created this before creating my actual magazine because I can develop these ideas further and make the magazine to the best of my ability.

I now need to gain feedback from my peers to see what I have done well and to also see what I could improve on. This is vital for the project because I can pick up extra marks and generally make the magazine more appealing towards the target audience.

Proposal

I found that creating my proposal was a vital feature towards making my magazine. The reason for this is because this is where my initial ideas were first created, and without the proposal the magazine would crumble. It is mandatory to gather as many ideas as you can and go into great depth with the ideas so that you can make the magazine to the best of your ability, and this is one of my aims. I intend on using my proposal a lot therefore it is very necessary as it is where all of my ideas are and where I plan on adding any if I gather any more ideas soon.

3 Contents Pages Annotated - Music Magazines

3 Contents Pages Annotated

Annotating the contents pages for successful magazines was a very important step and I feel this because it helped me to develop ideas about my own magazine that I wouldn't have necessarily come up with if I had not completed this task as the magazines I used have inspired me in to be more creative within my piece of work. It helped me with what images to use as well as learning what to do and what not to do for each genre (for example, I wouldn't use a bright pink colour scheme on the contents page for an indie magazine). This task has helped me learn what is right and wrong and how to follow the house style of the magazine within the contents page and how to make it look necessary therefore it has been of great use to me.

Music magazine survey

Click here to participate in my music magazine survey!


This is the link to my survey that I have created for my target audience to gain results about what they would like to feature in my music magazine. I have included questions such as what genre the participants think is most successful, what they think the main feature of a front page should be and what type of magazine name to use. I used a variety of multiple choice answers as well as standard questions where the participant selects one answer; this way I gained more information about what my magazine should include. I have 22 participants and aim to come to a conclusion with these results which will impact and improve my magazine. By sending out a survey to my target audience, I'm hoping to gain useful data that will give me the information I need to produce a successful magazine.

Production Diary Week 2

Part 1: Part 2:

Alternatively, you can read below:
This week, I finished creating the preliminary material for my school magazine. I followed my plan and created it exactly how I had imagined. I like the front page and the contents page however I have found many things that I could improve on for next time (see Evaluation post). Using this preliminary material, I feel, will help me in the future with creating an improved magazine so I felt that creating this magazine was mandatory for my learning to develop.

After I had created my preliminary material and evaluation, I then moved on to the next task of creating a survey. I plan to gather information about what people would like to see on my magazine. I have created a few questions about what they would like it to look like as well as the content that will be inside the magazine, as well as magazines in general. I have also developed ideas about what I want my front cover to look like, for example I have chosen my model and come up with a few destinations to hold a photoshoot. Outside of class, I finished my survey and gave it to people to fill in so that I could gain knowledge on what to include in my magazine and get general information about what people like a magazine to include. I posted this survey on many different social media platforms so I could get varied opinions.

Evaluation of Preliminary Task

Cover
Front cover
For my front cover, I close to use the same house style that our school uses; yellow and navy blue. Both colours contrast to eachother and are both secondary colours, and stand out amongst eachother hence attracting the audience. The font I used is quite a fun, quirky and unprofessional font; reflecting on the youth of the audience as it's not a serious magazine and it is more made for entertainment purposes. Both fonts for the masthead are quite fun and the colours follow the house style of the whole magazine.

Full bleed
For the full bleed image, I selected a photo of a young girl smiling and giving the audience eye contact (direct mode of address) to again, attract the audience in. It is a close up shot which reflects her youth, also foreshadowing the youth of the magazine as it is mainly targeted towards students.

Coverlines
I then created the coverlines, which fit smoothly around the young girl, to make her stand out more. The main coverline is about her therefore it is the boldest headline, which again, follows the colour scheme of the magazine. I also used a pull-quote from this article to give the audience a glimpse of what the article includes. For the prom article, I used a circle shape as it attracts more attention and the yellow signifies it's imporance; it is a happy colour therefore I put it at the top of the magazine as it will be one of the main things that the students will be interested in seeing. For the smaller articles, I included photos with borders that follow the colour scheme to make them stand out amongst the more significant articles, however I didn't want to overpower the main articles so I kept it small. The text I used for the coverlines is plain so that the masthead and other features stand out more.

Strapline
For the strapline, I used the navy blue colour as it is darker and will make the yellow font more bold. I included the Haydon Magazine social interaction websites (Twitter and the official website) so that the audience can feel as though they have a more personal connection to the magazine.

Contents page
For the contents page, I again followed the colour scheme that the front cover uses. I featured a welcome message as well as a Headmasters note so that the audience constantly feel in loop. I used a big navy box for the page information to fit inside with yellow text on top; I used this because the contrasting colours really stand out amongst the bland, white background and attract full attention from the readers. The font is quite plain compared to the title of the page, and I did this so that the other features would stand out more. I also included a photo of a happy student to reinfornce the mood of the audience as well as a photo of the school to make the contents page look more interesting. For the background which goes around the box, I used the Haydon stag logo in various sizes and angles to make the page look fun and not too boring.

To improve
To improve my magazine, I could have done many things differently, such as:

• Including social networking and logos for the social networks used.
• Using images that are not blurry.
• Using images that are taken with a more professional camera, not a smartphone.
• Using a more professional font for the masthead.
• Using a more professional colour scheme, or maybe not sticking to it too much.
• Not using more than 2 fonts.
• Using a strapline at the top of the front cover as well as at the bottom.
• Carefully wrapping the text around the images.
• Not making the text too big.
• Not overdoing the use of the stag so much, maybe using it once or twice and not several times all over the contents page.
• Using columns.

To summarise, I think that I made my preliminary magazine quite well however by changing small things I could have made it better, however this is how I will improve when I create more magazines in the future.

Completed Preliminary Magazine