Words by Hazel Rockson
Ocean Black are hypnotising the air waves with their new song for the latest instalment of the Stephenie Meyer’s Twilight series, Breaking Dawn.
Like normal Emo-England citizens, the Ocean Black trio love to stock up on their favourite vampire romance series, but what made them want to make not one but THREE music videos for the long awaited film version of Breaking Dawn?
I take it that you are all major fans of the books?
Kat: yeah! Course! Its such an engrossing book that you don’t want to ever put it down.
Jo: yeah it’s so great I even cried when I first read it!
Wow, you must be really loyal to the book?!
Jo: yeah I am one of Stephenie Meyer’s biggest fans.
Kat: me too. I feel an emotional connection to the books. I understand the emotions that they are trying to show us. It’s so intense, it’s so real.
So tell us why you decided to make three videos?
Kat: we thought it would be fun to show you all the views of Bella, Jacob and Edward. We wanted people to see what we saw when we read the book and saw the film.
Jo: it’s to show people the sides of both day and night, right and wrong, love and hate ya’know
I bet you felt honoured to make all three videos?
Jo: we were ecstatic! Kat went through the roof with happiness.
Kat: we were so happy we started on the music just after we got the call.
Do you feel that the song “We Are Broken” and its music videos went well with the film? I hear you was getting a lot praises from the American press.
Kat: yeah, well we thought we was good enough for the film but they suddenly started saying that we should have did the theme song for the last three films instead of the last. Of course we were flattered but Paramore did a great song for Twilight and we obviously thought that the producers wanted to go out with a bang as this is the very last instalment of the Twilight series.
Did it take you long to get the song right?
Kat: no. we immediately had an idea of the theme and it took like…3weeks for the song to be completed.
Jo: it was the videos we had a bit of trouble with. We asked our friend Chris Davies to direct and produce it. Nearly two months it took to figure out what we wanted for our videos and create them. But we think it was worth it.
So how would you rate the new film Breaking Dawn out of 100?
Jo: 110
Kat: 380
Wow. It must be good. Do you think this is the very last instalment for the Twilight Series?
Kat: no way man! Stephenie [Meyer] will make a book about the two secondary characters of Bella’s life, Edward and Jacob.
Jo: We’ve already seen a sneak peak at the new one. It’s called Midnight Sun.
If they make another film would you do any songs for the soundtrack?
Jo: definitely!
We Are Broken by Ocean Black comes out November 31st.
Breaking Dawn comes out in cinemas December 18th.
Thursday 12 February 2009
Final Evaluation
To make a successful music magazine I have taken some ideas of other music publications such as NME and Kerrang! I have used various features such as colours and layouts to make my magazine as successful as them. This means that my music publication should be as successful as theirs because I have added a mixture of features that readers prefer. I have tried to get ideas from other music publications so as to appeal to every reader. This makes it easier for them and also boosts our numbers. I have also given out questionnaires to ask how they would prefer the magazine to be laid out and then compared the answers with other leading magazines to make mine as professional and compatible with the readers as much as possible.
The front page of my magazine has seveal images including a central image. The anchorage text for my central image is at the bottom left hand side of the page because this is where the readers eyes will first look. This is called the sweep spot. The images are underneath the text as they are advertising free posters that are inside the magazine. The title of the magazine will be at the very top of the page and is the largest text within the entire magazine. This is so that my readers will be able to see and identify the magazine with just one look.
Other text will appear at both sides of the central image to tell you who will feature in the magazine and the special first issue offer price. This will help to entice readers into buying Chemical Waste. All of these features that i have put on my front cover looks like a normal front cover form the uses o buzz words, images, anchorage text and slogan (which is aloso at the top of the page with the title).
The contents page has been made to look almost like a website. this is because the audince my magazine is aimed at spend a lot of time on their computers; and i thought to make magazine appeal more to them i have made the contents of the magazine like the navigation bar of a website. I have also added images to make the reader want to read or kno more about that person. I also have a small section of the page that the readers will be able to subscribe to. This is meant to be a convineience for some people who cant go out and buy the magazine weekly. The main pieces of text are in the middle of the page with the page numbers next to them to tell redares were certain articles are. Like most professioinal magazines, i have included a letter from the editor. This shows that my magazine has been made by professonals and have taken time to write to the readers personally.
My double page spread has quite a simple layout with the text being only on the right hand side of the page and the image on the left. I have taster text on the page with the image so as to entice the reader into reading the rest of the interview.
My magazine represents the main social groups that listen to my chosen genre of music, which is rock. This includes cults such as Emo’s, Goths and Scene’s which take it upon themselves to live the life style of the music in which they cherish and try to call it their own. My magazine is targeted to both men and women from ages around 15-26. I have chosen this particular age gap because young people tend to have a fresher intake on what’s new in the music market and what new features they would want inside the magazine.
To make sure my magazine represents them, in the in which they want to be seen in, I have put in all the features and articles that would appeal to them in every sense; this includes colours. The reason why I think the colours that have been used on the pages of the publication; to make sure that my magazine appeal to every cult, is that with every cult, they show their emotions through random colours which usually entail something to do with the darkness of the music they listen to and how it makes them feel.
However to make sure I was doing the right thing by adding dark colours to the page, I handed out a questionnaire to people I know that are associated in cults to get their views in why they wear the things and colours they wear. The positive feedback I received helped to make sure that my magazine will reach most musical cults and to keep my social audience in tact.
The preferable age for my target audience is 14-26 year olds. This is because the content which shall appear in my publication will seem too young for some adults and in some ways too old for certain teenagers. For example, my music magazine does not hold back on its profanities from interviews and we might also feature some articles about recent fantasy books turning into films; for most people in their middle or late twenties, they would think that it might be a little foolish to read about something that teenagers would want to read about. That is why I have not made my audience too old or too young. I have tried to make it perfect for my readers.
Even though my target audience is aged 14-26, I am including cults and other social groups into this equation. This is to make my target audience more specific so as not to attract the wrong type of reader. The types of cults I am including are Emo’s, Goths, Punks and Scene’s of all ages.
To attract and address my target audiences, I have used a range of layouts, colours, and font’s for example.
For my front cover I have based it on one of the best features that Kerrang! has done for its front cover i.e. the smashed up title that represents the loud strumming noise of the electric guitar. For my title, Chemical Waste, I have searched for fonts that go with the title which should be slightly scummy and bright, in the end I chose something that sort of slides slightly down the page and fades slightly with a bright sickly green. This gives it the chemical look I was originally intending for. For my contents page however, I have chosen a website style layout. This is because today’s generation is practically fixed on computers and websites; so to appeal to them I thought I would add the main feature from a website onto my magazine. This makes it easier for my readers to look for something in the publication. I have also added images so as to make sure the reader knows what type of bands they expect to see in the other pages of the magazine. To entice the audience further I have added some free posters. However I have made sure that the posters are of bands/artists that the reader should know about instead of putting in bands/artist that hardly any one knows of. This makes sure that the readers will want the magazine defiantly because they will have known and liked that featured band/artist. This will also help boost circulation so that if other members in my target audience range like this, then they will tell others thus making a bigger profit.
The kinds of media institution that I would like to associate my magazine, Chemical Waste, with would be with successful music magazine distributors such as Bauer. The reason for me choosing this company is because Bauer distributes similar rock band/artist based magazines such as Kerrang! and MoJo. This means that there would be a better chance my magazine would get more publicity as these famous media intuitions like to advertise new and similar music magazines in the other and more popular ones. This also means that my magazine will attract more people who , even though they may not yet heard of Chemical Waste, will be interested in it because it may contain bands/groups and features they may be looking for in a magazine.
Another good thing about Bauer is that they target all age groups from early teens to late 50’s at the least.
Also, Bauer distributes magazines all over the world not just the UK. Places like America and most of Europe will sell my music publication along with those distributed by Bauer.
I think this would be good if Bauer distributed my magazine because sales will pick up thus making a profit and possibly leading to make the magazine even bigger.
From using different types of technologies, I have learnt that it is not very easy to make certain aspects such as text and images perfect.
For example when working on Photoshop, it was quite difficult cutting round the edges of a person’s body to take out the background. The lines come out wonky and jagged which makes the image look weird and distorted. However I have tried to take my images on a white background so it makes it easier to cut and crop the images.
I have also learned that you limited when it comes to looking for fonts that go with the name of the magazine and for the rest of the normal text throughout the publication. You will have to search for a while to look for the perfect title that has to go with the name and the type of audience you are trying to attract.
In order to make sure I get everything right, I have sent out questionnaires and set up polls on my blog to see what type of names they think are better, the colours that should go with the title and what type of features they would prefer to have in the publication.
I have learnt that you must appeal to all major groups who you are targeting your publication on. You must know what they like and see what entices them. You must appeal to their needs in a successful publication. These features are what help to make an appropriate music magazine. Without them, the magazine will not sell thus having no profits and no real target audience.
With this information gained; I think I have done very well from creating a school magazine and going on to make a successful music publication. As they are both niche magazines, I do not think it has been too hard to find out what they audience wants from what they need. I think I have done well to cater to my readers needs with all the technologies I have used and the time and effort I have put into making the magazine.
However, setting a target audience for my niche music publication was difficult. Not many people between the ages 14-26 like the same things of follow the same cults which others might not like. I have tried very hard to try and put in every type of popular rock that people would know about, so as to appeal to every one. This includes the colours and font text. Not many people like the colours green, white and black. But as this niche publication deals with rock music, I thought that black would be appropriate for a normal background colour. I have not added too much black to the magazine so it does not overwhelm the page. I have used green for the main title as it suits it perfectly. I have also added white for small pieces of text. This is so the page does not look too crowded with images of text. It blends in well with both the black and green.
I think have done fairly well with making my new niche publication as making a school magazine does not require too much demands. It fairly easy to make when you know what to talk about in the magazine, what the audience wants to see and their needs for the information they are craving for.
The front page of my magazine has seveal images including a central image. The anchorage text for my central image is at the bottom left hand side of the page because this is where the readers eyes will first look. This is called the sweep spot. The images are underneath the text as they are advertising free posters that are inside the magazine. The title of the magazine will be at the very top of the page and is the largest text within the entire magazine. This is so that my readers will be able to see and identify the magazine with just one look.
Other text will appear at both sides of the central image to tell you who will feature in the magazine and the special first issue offer price. This will help to entice readers into buying Chemical Waste. All of these features that i have put on my front cover looks like a normal front cover form the uses o buzz words, images, anchorage text and slogan (which is aloso at the top of the page with the title).
The contents page has been made to look almost like a website. this is because the audince my magazine is aimed at spend a lot of time on their computers; and i thought to make magazine appeal more to them i have made the contents of the magazine like the navigation bar of a website. I have also added images to make the reader want to read or kno more about that person. I also have a small section of the page that the readers will be able to subscribe to. This is meant to be a convineience for some people who cant go out and buy the magazine weekly. The main pieces of text are in the middle of the page with the page numbers next to them to tell redares were certain articles are. Like most professioinal magazines, i have included a letter from the editor. This shows that my magazine has been made by professonals and have taken time to write to the readers personally.
My double page spread has quite a simple layout with the text being only on the right hand side of the page and the image on the left. I have taster text on the page with the image so as to entice the reader into reading the rest of the interview.
My magazine represents the main social groups that listen to my chosen genre of music, which is rock. This includes cults such as Emo’s, Goths and Scene’s which take it upon themselves to live the life style of the music in which they cherish and try to call it their own. My magazine is targeted to both men and women from ages around 15-26. I have chosen this particular age gap because young people tend to have a fresher intake on what’s new in the music market and what new features they would want inside the magazine.
To make sure my magazine represents them, in the in which they want to be seen in, I have put in all the features and articles that would appeal to them in every sense; this includes colours. The reason why I think the colours that have been used on the pages of the publication; to make sure that my magazine appeal to every cult, is that with every cult, they show their emotions through random colours which usually entail something to do with the darkness of the music they listen to and how it makes them feel.
However to make sure I was doing the right thing by adding dark colours to the page, I handed out a questionnaire to people I know that are associated in cults to get their views in why they wear the things and colours they wear. The positive feedback I received helped to make sure that my magazine will reach most musical cults and to keep my social audience in tact.
The preferable age for my target audience is 14-26 year olds. This is because the content which shall appear in my publication will seem too young for some adults and in some ways too old for certain teenagers. For example, my music magazine does not hold back on its profanities from interviews and we might also feature some articles about recent fantasy books turning into films; for most people in their middle or late twenties, they would think that it might be a little foolish to read about something that teenagers would want to read about. That is why I have not made my audience too old or too young. I have tried to make it perfect for my readers.
Even though my target audience is aged 14-26, I am including cults and other social groups into this equation. This is to make my target audience more specific so as not to attract the wrong type of reader. The types of cults I am including are Emo’s, Goths, Punks and Scene’s of all ages.
To attract and address my target audiences, I have used a range of layouts, colours, and font’s for example.
For my front cover I have based it on one of the best features that Kerrang! has done for its front cover i.e. the smashed up title that represents the loud strumming noise of the electric guitar. For my title, Chemical Waste, I have searched for fonts that go with the title which should be slightly scummy and bright, in the end I chose something that sort of slides slightly down the page and fades slightly with a bright sickly green. This gives it the chemical look I was originally intending for. For my contents page however, I have chosen a website style layout. This is because today’s generation is practically fixed on computers and websites; so to appeal to them I thought I would add the main feature from a website onto my magazine. This makes it easier for my readers to look for something in the publication. I have also added images so as to make sure the reader knows what type of bands they expect to see in the other pages of the magazine. To entice the audience further I have added some free posters. However I have made sure that the posters are of bands/artists that the reader should know about instead of putting in bands/artist that hardly any one knows of. This makes sure that the readers will want the magazine defiantly because they will have known and liked that featured band/artist. This will also help boost circulation so that if other members in my target audience range like this, then they will tell others thus making a bigger profit.
The kinds of media institution that I would like to associate my magazine, Chemical Waste, with would be with successful music magazine distributors such as Bauer. The reason for me choosing this company is because Bauer distributes similar rock band/artist based magazines such as Kerrang! and MoJo. This means that there would be a better chance my magazine would get more publicity as these famous media intuitions like to advertise new and similar music magazines in the other and more popular ones. This also means that my magazine will attract more people who , even though they may not yet heard of Chemical Waste, will be interested in it because it may contain bands/groups and features they may be looking for in a magazine.
Another good thing about Bauer is that they target all age groups from early teens to late 50’s at the least.
Also, Bauer distributes magazines all over the world not just the UK. Places like America and most of Europe will sell my music publication along with those distributed by Bauer.
I think this would be good if Bauer distributed my magazine because sales will pick up thus making a profit and possibly leading to make the magazine even bigger.
From using different types of technologies, I have learnt that it is not very easy to make certain aspects such as text and images perfect.
For example when working on Photoshop, it was quite difficult cutting round the edges of a person’s body to take out the background. The lines come out wonky and jagged which makes the image look weird and distorted. However I have tried to take my images on a white background so it makes it easier to cut and crop the images.
I have also learned that you limited when it comes to looking for fonts that go with the name of the magazine and for the rest of the normal text throughout the publication. You will have to search for a while to look for the perfect title that has to go with the name and the type of audience you are trying to attract.
In order to make sure I get everything right, I have sent out questionnaires and set up polls on my blog to see what type of names they think are better, the colours that should go with the title and what type of features they would prefer to have in the publication.
I have learnt that you must appeal to all major groups who you are targeting your publication on. You must know what they like and see what entices them. You must appeal to their needs in a successful publication. These features are what help to make an appropriate music magazine. Without them, the magazine will not sell thus having no profits and no real target audience.
With this information gained; I think I have done very well from creating a school magazine and going on to make a successful music publication. As they are both niche magazines, I do not think it has been too hard to find out what they audience wants from what they need. I think I have done well to cater to my readers needs with all the technologies I have used and the time and effort I have put into making the magazine.
However, setting a target audience for my niche music publication was difficult. Not many people between the ages 14-26 like the same things of follow the same cults which others might not like. I have tried very hard to try and put in every type of popular rock that people would know about, so as to appeal to every one. This includes the colours and font text. Not many people like the colours green, white and black. But as this niche publication deals with rock music, I thought that black would be appropriate for a normal background colour. I have not added too much black to the magazine so it does not overwhelm the page. I have used green for the main title as it suits it perfectly. I have also added white for small pieces of text. This is so the page does not look too crowded with images of text. It blends in well with both the black and green.
I think have done fairly well with making my new niche publication as making a school magazine does not require too much demands. It fairly easy to make when you know what to talk about in the magazine, what the audience wants to see and their needs for the information they are craving for.
Friday 9 January 2009
My Music Magazine Double Page Spread Evaluation
This is my first draft of my double page spread. This page is very simple as I have tried to see what the article should look like from a reader’s point of view. I have added a background which holds a deeper meaning for some readers who know of the article and I have added images of the band that I have interviewed. It is fairly easy to understand the concept as I have made it as simple as possible.
The main target audience for this specific article are for those who have read the book “Breaking Dawn” for which the band, Ocean Black, are being interviewed for, as they have recently made a music video for the film version of the book. This requires knowledge of not only the book, but of the band and the fact that the film is coming out.
The colours I have used for the background are black and white, which goes as the cover of the “Breaking Dawn” book, is a chess board. I thought this would seem amusing to the readers as if it’s a little inside joke. The entire text on the page will be red as is the text on the book. I am imitating the book cover and all of its colours to go with the article I have written.
The layout is simple enough. All the text has been pushed over on to the second page so as to show the image of the band and background of the page.
As I think that my double page spread is very unique and professionally done, I don’t really find that there is much to change. However I think that the text could be made bolder and bigger so it is easier to read.
My Music magazine Contents Page Evaluation
This is my first draft contents page of my music magazine. I have made it simple yet understandable with my choice of pictures and text. This is so that my audience will be able to find what they are looking for quickly and easily. I have based this on other music magazine publications such as NME and Kerrang!
The main basic colours of the page are green with a white background which will be featured all over the publication. This is very efficient as if we used lots of colour around the pages such as black the reader will end up with smudge marks on their fingers because of the printing ink. It is also simple as I do not want too much colour on to the page.
I have layed out the page in to two sections. The first section, which is on the left hand side, will hold the names of the all the bands/artists that are featured in that issue and the page number of were to find them. The second section, the right hand side, holds the usual features of the magazine such as news, up and coming tours/gigs e.t.c. this makes it easier for the reader to look for something than just simply guessing where the band/artist is in the magazine.
Even though the page is very neatly designed, I still think that I should add some more colour and images to the background as it still looks quite plain. I think that if I did add more colours I would use black as the colour represents some of the cults and social groups that will read my magazine such as Goths and Emo’s.
My Music Magazine Cover Evaluation
This is my first draft cover of my new music publication called Chemical Waste! I have based this magazine on other successful music publications. Have made sure that I have added puffs, buzz words, anchorage text and have made use of the sweep spot by putting a big clear heading for my main topic. I have even added a bar code for to make it look authentic.
The target audience for my magazine is 15-25 year olds. This is because they not only start to come into money, but they also buy lots of magazines at this age. The social audience is for people who listen to rock and its main genres such as Punk, Metal, Gothic e.t.c. I have catered to those who like different types of rock music as this makes the publications audience wider. this means that my magazine will be perfect for those who belong to cults like Emos and Goths.
The colours on my magazines are have been kept basic with only black, white and various shades of green. This is so that the cover does not look too over done and cluttered with colours. I have only used one image as I don’t want too much happening on the page to make it looked too jumbled up. All colours have to go together so it looks professional. The layout is very simple so as to make sure the readers know what they are looking of on the cover of the magazine.
To make improvements I think that I could add some more text to the cover. I could also change some of the colours I have made to the text from green to black for example. I want my magazine cover to speak out to the readers and grab their attention. I could maybe add some more pictures so as to make it look even more authentic. I will also change the image as i think that it is not entirely suitable for my magazine. I will take a better image that will suit all of my readers.
Wednesday 7 January 2009
Contents page Preliminary task Evaluation
This is my contents page. This is just a simple contents page. I wanted it to be plain as I thought if I added too much information or colours on the page it would confuse the readers. The contents page is fairly easy to understand to read as there is not much on there.
I have decided not to add colours as I thought it would be nice to have a particular theme for the rest of the pages such as black and white. It is basic and simple.
I think that I should make some improvements to my magazine contents page. This is because some people might think it is plain and boring. I will add pictures and a letter from the editor. I will also add some colour to the page but I will keep it simple and just have two colours.
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