Evaluation

Foundation Portfolio Evaluation

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My Preliminary Task

This is my preliminary task magazine. I feel I have come a long way from this in terms of editing/layout/contents and now understand magazine conventions in more detail and what works in making a magazine look effective and professional and, in turn, what doesn't.

Style of music for my music magazine

I originally intended to create an indie magazine, however i realised that there was a lot of competition for this type of magazine already and I really wanted to create something different and unique to represent the individuality of my readers. I chose to focus on the folk/indie/soul styles of music as I felt these were taken more seriously by their creators than that of mainstream pop music. From my survey question:

I understood that a mix of already popular bands/artists and new/upcoming artists were equally rated as 7 people voted for new/upcoming bands and 5 people voted for already popular bands/artists and only 1 person chose obscure bands/artists. From this information I decided that my band/artists that was fronting my music magazine/interview should be a new/upcoming band as well as the other artists mentioned - with a mixed ratio of new : already established/popular.

To find out what else to include in my music magazine i researched folk/indie/soul music and also read a number of interviews with bands of these genres such as:

interview with MGMT:

http://www.interviewmagazine.com/music/mgmt/3/

interview with Mumford & sons

http://www.xyzmagazine.co.uk/blog/wordpress/?p=1230

interview with Empire of the sun

http://www.clashmusic.com/feature/empire-the-sun-interview

from these interviews i got a sense of how my artists could answer questions/react to portray their genre of music and the type of people in that genre/how they act. I understood that these people came across as being more normal/down to earth than people are lead to believe through how they are portrayed/depicted in the media. I understood how to write their answers so that the audience get a sense of who they are/what they stand for, the reason being that  people can relate to them more.

The definition i obtained from wikipedia of soul music is:

Soul music is a music genre originating in the United States combining elements of gospel music and rhythm and blues.

I felt that this was relevant to my music magazine as I wanted my music magazine to portray the artist/bands to take their music seriously and for it to be a form of creativity/to experiment which appealed to my key demographic. When researching into 'rhythm and blues' i found that this music orignated from black slaves as they vented their feelings and emotions into their music, similar to a form of therapy, which gave them pleasure in such tragic situations. I felt that this was precisely what i wanted to portray through my music magazine: that music is creative and inspirational.

Photo Analysis

In this photo both subjects are playing their instruments and not looking at the camera which suggests they are very involved in their music. They are not wearing conventional/common clothes and are sporting bright colours which relates to my primary demographic of creatives/experimentalists.

After researching which gender people prefer to see on the front cover of a music magazine and realising people prefer seeing both genders, i decided to include both male and female artists to appeal to these people, however i felt that women are not often found fronting music magazines very often so i decided to put the female in the forefront of the image. 

Double Page Spread (written) analysis

I used colloquial language and idiolect within my interview to represent the artists everyday speech when answering questions. So for example I wrote the word 'like' a lot to portray the artists nature/character. I also used non standard english such as swear words (e.g. sh*t) to relate to my secondary demographic of anti authority rebels. To relate to my primary demographic (creatives/experimentalists) I mentioned how the artists created their lyrics as this could inspire the target audience and cause them to buy the magazine for this purpose. I used the format of a Q and A as I felt that the reader could directly relate to the artists/band if they received answers directly from them and they may be more likely to buy it as they idolise these people more.

I used columns/short paragraphs in order to maintain the readers attention and break down information for them. I also broke down Questions and answers using different paragraphs/making questions bold/underlined, so that the piece was clearer and flowed better. As well as this i used initials to portray which speaker was answering the question to once again make it clearer to the reader.

Double Page Spread (written)

Beatnik & Bohemian. The teenagers taking the UK by storm. Written by Louise Linehan.

Felix Duke (19) and Willow Lawson (17) make up the duo Empirical and whether you love or hate folk/indie music, it is an undeniable truth that when the twosome is present, your eyes will be fixated solely on them. Their mesmerising presence and unpredictable, devil-may-care attitudes have the nation gripped and, despite criticisms the pair received when they first came onto the scene, they are now fast becoming Britain’s number one duo, overtaking the likes of Empire of the sun and MGMT. Described by music critics a vision of beatnik, hippy youths, the pair are already running rings around some of Britain’s best acts, equipped with only a guitar, tambourine and accordion. Their hallucinogenic music depicts the duo’s creative natures entirely, as does their self directed video’s which provide a perfect, psychedelic backdrop. The group tell SOLE about their inspirations, how they came to be where they are now and somewhat hazily, predict their futures in the business.

F.D: ‘It’s a bit surreal actually; we were at an illegal field party last summer when we were sort of... I hate to use the word “discovered”... it sounds soo pretentious. But, yeah, I spose that’s the only way to describe it. We had a few random instruments around and, to be honest it’s not all that clear in my memory– ha... But.. umm yeah, Willow and me were just tinkering around with an accordion and a banjo when our now manager David Jackson happened to be walking past with his dog. It was funny – everyone got sh*t scared, thinking it was the police at first or something, and a lot of them legged it. Willow and me carried on playing, like, completely ignorant to everything – ha-ha. After we’d stopped, David approached us saying that he liked our style. We took his number and the rest is pretty much history.’

Question the pair on their careers, personalities and ideologies and you receive vast extremes of answers. Willow sits in the corner plaiting a strand of hair, rarely contributing, seemingly in her own little world, while Felix dominates the conversation. The pair are wearing shabby jeans and have an unkempt look about them.

Who are your biggest inspirations?

F.D: ‘Personally, I’ve always listened to traditional music like my parents have always bought me up listening to Irish folk music which I think are just the most beautiful sounds I’ve heard in my life... I dunno about Willow.’ At this point the young songstress looks up wide eyed. She speaks in a tiny voice, light-years away from the compelling tones she produces on the duo’s album ‘Being.’

W.L: ‘Umm... I don’t listen to a specific style of music but I’d say my biggest inspiration is definitely Cleo Laine, and other older female artists with the most passionate voices. I think it’s really important to evoke emotion into the song. I can’t physically sing something very well if I can’t feel or, like, relate to the lyrics I’m singing-‘

F.D: ‘Yeah and that’s why we really consider what we write and that’s why it really pis- sorry ha – annoys us when we get criticised for being pompous or conceited in some way, or when people assume our lyrics are just the result of an acid trip or something, just because of our image or music style.’

So you have never used narcotics when writing lyrics?

W.L: ‘Felix is the most likely to – ha ohh look he’s not happy! Sorry to just contradict you like that dude! Ha-ha. No we don’t usually, I mean it’s not what defines us, but sometimes it just helps us to get into the right mind set – not that I’m condoning it. Kid’s don’t listen to us we’re bad people ha-ha!’

The lyrics to ‘Empirical’ songs are highly ambiguous and poetic like, with magical settings and supernatural tales that wouldn’t seem out of place if heard as a fable from the eighteen hundreds, telling tales of mythical creatures like mermaids, centaurs and angels etc.

F.D: ‘We get a lot of our ideas from real life and the characters in our songs are based on people we know. It’s surprising how easy it is to translate everyday life into something so easily and make it so sort of, abnormal and surreal. It’s a good way of venting too, cause no one has to know that it’s about them. Ha-ha.’

How are you guys finding fame? You’re still so young! Is it harder than you expected?

F.D: ‘Nah not really, we have a good team of people. I’m loving it at the moment. I can see it getting a bit irritating soon, but for the meantime we’re just gonna make the most of it!’

Do you think you’ll end up making a second album? Can you see yourself staying in the business?

W.L: ‘I dunno, I mean who knows what the future holds? It’s inevitable that we will carry on with music but unpredictable whether we’ll stay on the radio or TV or in the papers or whatever. I’m not all that concerned with mainstream things, so fame isn’t a priority for me. So, yeah... who knows?’

The colours in this double page spread give the impression that this band are perhaps a rock/metal band as black/red is often associated with this genre. This is also often associated with the demographic of anti authority rebels as rock and roll often promotes or goes hand in hand with rebellion and breaking away from the mainstream.

The photo's show the band in natural situations/not posing and portrays them to take their music quite seriously as the setting is in a studio/singing on a microphone etc. and not just posing with instruments. This could also suggest this magazine is aimed at the demographic of admiration seekers as the creators of the magazine could purposefully do this to encourage the readers to idolise the artists/band for their music.

The pull quote/heading is a way of drawing the reader in and give them a clue as to what the article/interview will be about so they can judge for themselves whether they want to read it or not.

There isn't a large amount of writing and photos dominate the double page spread. This couldsuggest that image is important to this music magazine in trying to appeal to their demographic. For example anti authority rebels may have shorter attention spans as they don't care as much so images could be used extensively to grab their attention more and keep them involved. Also columns/short paragraphs are used to break down information and make it easier to digest so that it does not seem as if the reader is reading a lot of information.