First Blog

FOLK MAGAZINE PROJECT-EXPLORE & RESEARCH:
I have decided to do the print project on my own which is specifically making a 'music magazine'. I didn't want to do the typical 'indie' magazine because in reality 'indie' is not actually a genre of music and I wanted to make my project more original, if that was possible. I thought of one of my favourite bands 'Mumford & Sons' who are getting bigger in the music industry and appealing to more and more teenagers in the UK, however they are a different type of band-they are a folk band and therefore I thought that I would make a teenage 'folk magazine'.
MUMFORD & SONS:
As Mumford and Sons are a British folk rock band who have excelled in sucess over the last year in both England and USA I thought they would be a good alternative/ inspiration for the magazine and help promote 'folk music' to teenagers and help convince them that folk music is 'cool'. As before this band, 'folk rock' hasn't really had a place in the market in the previous years, espicially with teenagers.
I will take the look of the band and apply it to my own magazine, having my own models dressed in similiar
'folk clothing' for the front cover and the double page spread. I think it is important to pick my models wisely so they will actually fit in with the 'folk' style and not loook like teenage college children dressing in country-like clothing and posing with guitars. I was actually lucky enough to watch Mumford & Sons in concert in August and therefore a photograph of them playing live that I personally took will also feature in my magazine. (see below)


STYLE OF MAGAZINE:
I decided I would make my magazine relevant and appealing to British teenagers, so I will create my 'folk magazine' to be in a similiar style to my favourite magazine-NME as it is 'The world's fastest music news service', but I will create mine with a country, folk twist.
Here I have picked out a few front covers of NME magazine that I will explore and take into consideration when creating my own front cover.

FRONT COVER:

-Large and colourful title heading
-Ongoing appealing 'NME' house style
-A well focused image of the boys which touches the top and bottom of the front cover
-Advertising different bands and topics, showing the reader what they can find out in the magazine, this appealing to them more.


-Same NME house style which appeals to the reader
-A colourful,quality image of the band
-A bold heading with a colourful, modern '&'
-Advertisement of different bands that naturally a 'Mumford & Sons fan' would be attracted too.

CONTENTS PAGE:
I will set my magazine contents page out like an NME contents page, and add in the photograph that I was able to take when I watched Mumford and Sons and write a brief article on this page about the success of their recent tour. This enables me to have a striking, appealing story for the readers buying the magazine as soon as they open the very first page and as the band are well known - this will attract more buyers.

This NME contents page in paticular for me, is one that I will use to help style my own.

Why?? because..

-By having an image of the band playing in the centre with a striking heading underneath (in relation to the picture) about the band '..Oasis kicked off their world tour' is a good way in attracting the potential buyers asoon as they open the first page of the magazine.

-The band index at the left hand side is very helpful as it offers a quick guide for people who want to find information and the page number for a certain band that they are interested in.

-The subheadings down the right hand side briefly sum up the intire magazine so the buyer knows exactly what their getting for their money.

DOUBLE PAGE SPREAD:

This double page spread for me stood out in paticular because it was in the style of a double page spread that I wanted to create for my own magazine. What I paticularly like about this double page spread compared to other double page spreads that ive looked at (see below) is the fact that the background of the photograph takes up the whole double page background instead of just using a white background/studio. I personally think that this style in paticular will help massively to create the 'folk look' of my magazine because I will use a rugged country, like scenery as the background picture with an interview of the band on the right hand side of the photograph.

ROCK & FOLK:
Whilst researching on the internet for folk magazines I have come to find that there hasn't really ever been any British 'folk magazine' as such. However,I found a French Folk magazine called 'folk and rock'.
















As I enjoyed this witty title of the magazine, immediately I thought of another witty title I could use for my own folk magazine 'Folk'in hell' and I will nickname it 'FKH'. This might not definately be the title I decide to use in the end project, however it is a starting idea.

GETTING STARTED :
- At this point I had all of my ideas, and the structure of my magazine was set out. I would have my front cover of the two boys, the contents page would be a review of Mumford & Sons latest tour with a photograph I took myself of the band and the double page spread would be an interview with the boys about their plans to move to America and their recent sucess of their album and a photograph of them that I would also take in a country like surrounding.

- I had my models at hand and started on the first photoshoot. I picked the location to show a country style setting, I picked my models wisely and had them dressed in country-like clothing with their ukuleles and flutes. The day was succesful and here are some of the best images from the shoot:



This was the original Image that I wanted to use for my front page of my magazine because I liked the whole look of the photograph and the scenery, however the photograph isnt taken too well as the light is exposed on the blone member - Sean, and the image is not focused on their faces enough. Therefore, i will take a similar funny image but in the media studio.

This is the image I will be using for my double page spread.

DOUBLE PAGE SPREAD:

I will begin my work on my double page spread as that is the image I have ready to edit, I will then do my contents page with the image I took at the mumford and sons concert.

I really enjoyed developing the image below and creating it into the front page of my magazine, I decided to keep the photograph the whole image however zoomed in slighty so it was a more open,inviting photograph of the boys. I began editing it first on photoshop and then I converted it to publisher so I could add the interview text and headings that I wrote on word succesfully into the image.


NEARLY FINISHED PRODUCTION :

Whilst creating my double page spread I had to think about all the factors of the magazine about who it would be appealing to, the style of the magazine, the size of all of the fonts, the size of the photograph, the colour scheme and the interview story itself. I had to adapt and continue to adjust little parts of my double page spread to finally get it nearly finished and looking almost professional. I really like the colour schemes and the layout of my double page spread and how it has come to look. The only thing I still have left to change on this page is the size of the heading font 'Were ready to hit america' I will make this slightly bigger. I am also taking another shoot of the boys in the studio for the front cover of my magazine and therefore one of the photographs from the new shoot will also be the photograph that is in the top right box of this page, to add more diverse to the double page spread than the photograph at the minute because it is very similar to the background photograph:

My interview and text reads:
‘‘WERE READY TO HIT AMERICA’’
Feed the crow say goodbye to Britain and move on..
Sean and Charles, the two master minds behind the folk, rock band speak exclusively to FME about their recent British breakthrough and how they plan to shock America with their ukuleles.
‘WE BOTH LOVE FOLK MUSIC’
When the boys came to the studio with their cowboy boots, flap caps and quirky attitudes we managed to squeeze in some questions about what inspired them to
create the phenomenal number 1.album ‘The Gate’.
The Yorkshire lads simply said ‘’we wanted to create something different and we both love folk music and we wanted the people of Britain to as well. ‘FME: So how you feeling lads?
SEAN: Hungover!
CHARLES: He’s always hungover.. he can’t handle his booze unlike me!
SEAN: Shutup..
CHARLES: No seriously, we went out lastnight to the UK music awards in Bristol and there was free champagne and everything! So yeah.. we drank alot. Sean more than most to be honest! You should have seen him this morning ha-ha!
SEAN: Shall I tell them about last weekend then mate or not..
CHARLES: Ok, I’ll shutup now.
FME: Ha-ha boys what are you like!
SEAN: Were like brothers.. we squabble all the time and make fun of each other.
CHARLES: Healthy banter, but sometimes Sean crys about it.
FME: So because you’re the younger one Sean your treated like the little brother who gets bullied then?
SEAN: Yeah basically, he hits me all the time
CHARLES: Ha-ha yeah that’s true but I do love him..
SEAN: Awww
‘WE JUST SAT DOWN, HAD A BIT OF A JAM AND WROTE DOWN A FEW LYRICS.JUST A BIT OF A LAUGH’
FME: Has your new found success made you popular with the girls then or not?
CHARLES: Ha. Not me really but ask Sean what happened at his mums house last month
FME: Don’t keep us waiting Sean..
SEAN: Ha-ha! Well basically I stay at my mum’s 3 nights a week and there was this one girl who camped on the street until I arrived on the Wednesday to see me.
CHARLES: She was there 4 nights, in this bitter cold, just to see him- must be love.
SEAN: Mate, she was a lovely girl.

‘WE WANT TO SEE IF AMERICA CAN HANDLE THE FOLK MUSIC’- SEAN

FME: You don’t think that the fame has affected your personality in anyway then?
Sean: No way, we always promised each other and our families that we’d stay true to who we are and to be honest I’d rather have my own mates than fake celebrity mates!
FME: So come on.. Tell me how you started making ‘’The Gate’’
SEAN: Honestly mate, we made ‘’The Gate’’ over the course of the year as a bit of a laugh at first
CHARLES: We thought it would sell a few records in our home town or in Sheffield or something. We never imagined it to get as successful as it has
FKH: That’s so hard to believe when like you said the success it has had has been utterly fantastic. 5 number ones and awarded with the number 1 album in the UK charts.
SEAN: It sounds so weird you saying that, it sounds so cliché but the British support has been incredible.
CHARLES: We just want to say to whoever has supported us and the album- just thank you so much
FME: So what’s your plans now then for America?
CHARLES: We just want to see if the USA can handle the folk music!
Sean: Ha-ha yeah, we want to see if we can do well there as well really and to have a holiday as well!
FME: So now you’ve done well your leaving us!
SEAN: Don’t worry, once we’ve wrote a few new material for our second album and had a bit of a break we’ll be back!
CHARLES: Ha.. your so cheesy
SEAN: Behave
FME: Before you both strangle each other I better let you go ha-ha. Thanks lads, it’s always a pleasure to have you here.
CHARLES: It’s always a pleasure to be here!!
SEAN: See you next year.

CONTENTS PAGE:

I have kept with the Oasis NME contents page layout that I explored earlier in my blog and I have taken the idea of the 'band index' on the left handside and the main photograph of the band ( Mumford & Sons ) and a large heading to support this and to the right introducing other topical stories that the magazine will include. When creating this initial story of the band I had to cut the original photograph to enable me to have more room to the right handside of my page to include more stories to interest the reader. I have introduced a house style which is browns, blacks and based on my double page spread - green also. These colours to me represent the folk, country style that I want my magazine to focus on. Another ongoing theme that I want to potray and keep the same is the title of magazine 'FKH' the size will differ from the front cover as it will be made bigger for advertisment, however the font type and the colour will be exactly the same. I think that the contents page represents the style that I want to potray to the audience and it has enough detail and enough going on without being 'boring' or too much information.

My main story reads:
The moment that.. Mumford & Sons smashed their winter gigs.
Marcus Mumford and the boys of the folk phenomenal band excelled in their 14 gig UK tour in the early days of November and left their fans feeling more than overjoyed. Page 2

FRONT PAGE COVER:
By this point I am confident with my continous production of my magazine as I have both of my contents and nearly finished double page spread created - all that's left is my front page cover. I will take another photoshoot of the two boys in the band and I have decided to take a querky twist on the look of the front cover. As the interview in the double page spread is about the boys leaving Britain to try and breakthrough in America, therefore I will take their wit and charm that is spoke about in this interview and bring the fun element into the magazine. I have thought of an idea of the boys having an american flag wrapped round them or bringing in related American items for example: baseball caps, burgers, big glasses, globe etc.. This fun side of the shot will appeal to teenagers in the UK and will further heighten the upcoming fun and growth of folk music for teenagers. It will also create a link between my front page and double page spread and it will all become relevant and exciting.

THE SHOOT :
I put face paint on the two boys which were 'american themed' colours - red and blues, and Sean had a baseball cap on instead of a flap cap to represent the american feel. The photos came out good and here are a few of my favourite images:

This is the image I would like to use for the extra photograph in the top right hand corner of my double page spread - however I will adjust the brightness.

-This is the image I would like to use as my front cover image however, I will again change the brightness of the image on photoshop.

I will use this image on the contents page to add more interest to the reader and context.

During the process of creating my front page cover I wanted the image to fit to the whole page and the front page to be mainly about this band. However, as I wanted to adress the theme of moving state side I decided that this would be my main caption to draw the reader in but I would still want to get the idea of the Folk magazine across.

I thought of the colour themes that would be associated with America- Blue and Red however, I wanted to keep the browns/greens present that represent the folk side of my magazine.

I looked at this paticular style of magazine and worked around the theme of this layout to create my final piece.

FRONT COVER PAGE PREVIEW:

When uploading this image I like everything about it except I have seen a problem arise- the colour of the brown text on ' Festival Folk Guide 2011' is quite hard to see and therefore I will adjust that before I confirm it as finished.
FINAL LAST MINUTE ADJUSTMENTS :

-I have changed the name of the magazine from FKH to FME - which stands for 'Folk Music Express'. I think this name is more pricise and simple however it works to my needs.
- I have also changed the contents page from being a simple layout to create a more colourful and fuller page that will adress the reader more and interest them.

-I have changed the small photograph image on the double page spread.

-I have also changed the colour of the text on the front page cover to make it stand out more.

FINAL PRODUCTION COMPLETED:

FRONT PAGE COVER:


I had a choice between two and the colour I thought would work best is the brown (right hand side) because It fits in with Charles' t-shirt and gives a good variety of the folk and American colours.

CONTENTS PAGE :

DOUBLE PAGE SPREAD:

When looking at my final product I was very happy with my contents page and my double page spread however,I was still having a problem with my front cover as it was too empty and didnt show as much as the american feel as I would have liked. Therefore, I redid my front cover page and as I was limited because I didn't have any more pictures that I personally took that I could use on the front cover I used writing to use the space up.





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

My media product is one of a kind; it particularly stands for one, different genre of music that is not particularly highly recognised in the UK-folk music. Especially for teenagers, the most popular music magazines are ovcourse NME and KERRANG! etc... However, these magazines are becoming more and more unoriginal with the same old ‘indie’ style music, where being unique really is the norm nowadays. My magazine is a strictly folk magazine, offering a completely new twist to the music industry and therefore puts up a challenge to these same old magazines that could be seen to be becoming tedious and we almost expect to open a magazine and see yet another shabby band member stood with a guitar. People like difference and a change and therefore if they were to pick up my magazine and see something different in FOLK NEW MUSIC EXPRESS- this will excite the reader and they will put down that NME magazine they have been getting for many years and start something new. Not only is it appealing because it is fresh possibly for the new 2011 year? I have also made sure that it is exciting. Folk music could be perceived as being boring – possibly because it’s sometimes slow and normally only been really directed at old people but I am changing this so that it is teenage friendly. With colourful images and teen related bands the magazine will never go wrong in impressing- sometimes music magazines lack in colour however, I believe that not all music magazines need to be dark and black colours- MUSICIANS CAN LIKE COLOUR! My American themed style issue of my magazine relates to the story and attracts the reader with bright colours and a good image, the colourful theme of the magazine is continued throughout- the contents and double page spread with the green and brown colours of the folk style.

-How does your media product represent particular social groups?

My media product is different to a usual indie/ rock music magazine- where these magazines tend to portray sex appeal. Indie magazines tend to sell magazines based on the look and image of the good looking boy band or solo artist and rock magazines tend to sell due to also the sex appeal or maybe even the violent look which can appeal almost intimidating. Whereas, my magazine has a more cool, laidback appeal to it and would appeal to the more subculture folk music – the two teenage boys are not sex symbols and are more conventional and comfortable almost quirky and nerdy. The boys don’t need to show off any other image except the one in which they want to portray which is a more old-fashioned and quite modest style.
-What kind of media institution might distribute your media product and why?
Newsagents, supermarkets, gig venues and instrumental shops. These sort of media institutions are the sort of places that young teenagers would shop who are interested in music and therefore my magazine would be a success in this area.

-Who would be the audience for your media product?

The audience for my magazine would be 16 to around 23/24 years old and even though it would be advertised at the main popular music industry it could also more appeal to the group of teenagers that don’t necessarily stick to the ‘norm’ or the mainstream sort of music.

-How did you attract/address your audience?

My audience is attracted by the models I choose for the boy band especially because they relate to the type of audience the sort of outcasts almost ‘unique’ and not the same run of the mill indie looking boys. I also attracted the audience being teens by creating the magazine colourful and with little writing on the front cover so they would be more likely to want to buy the magazine – no teenager likes dull, dark and full of writing magazines which resemble a newspaper almost. I also attracted them by putting extra information about other bands on the front cover that would relate to the generally the types of music that they would also be interested in. For example: Brandon Flowers, Mumford and sons, Interpol and Band of Horses.

-Looking back at your preliminary task, what do you feel you have learnt in the progression from it to the full product?
The main thing I have learnt from the start of my task to the end of the created product is that detail is key. When I first created my contents page which is shown earlier in my blog I thought it was complete however when I looked around more in magazines and read into other contents pages I realised mine was far too bland and empty and needed a lot more information added into it. Therefore, I kept the style and the layout of the contents page I had already created however; I added extra images, texts, interaction text with the audience and made my text and headings a bigger and bolder text. This second thought of further evaluation of my product definitely benefited my final product in many ways because it added extra detail and flare and it became a more professional product. While editing my front page cover I recognised that the colour themes of photographs and texts is key and everything has to work with each other- this in particular was the element of creating my product that took the longest to finally get right. As my image for my front page cover was a variety of different colours, I found that the browns, greens and beige colours sometimes did not work and I had to think really hard about which colours to use after going through a process of trial and error. I went for a basic white in the end which went over the photograph and is read able and all so fits into the red, white and blue American theme.
I have also learnt in the process that when creating a magazine it is important to give the reader what they want –inside gossip, colourful images, little writing and it needs to INTEREST THEM from the first glance you have to make your magazine appeal more than other magazines that are next to them in the shop.