Double Page Article (Task 13)

This is the first draft of my double page spread article, which is a biographical article about Keane.


As the world tour for their third album, 2008’s ‘Perfect Symmetry’, draws to a close, we at Pulse look back at the story of Keane to see how they made the journey from a teenage cover band to the first band ever to perform a live show in 3D.
The band we now know as them started life as ‘The Lotus Eaters’, the brainchild of composer, keyboardist and vocalist Tim Rice-Oxley. He and school friend Dominic Scott (who would play lead guitar in the band) formed the band in 1995 whilst studying at University College in London. They invited another friend of theirs, Richard Hughes, to play drums in the band, and they focused on covering songs by artists such as U2 and Oasis. During this time, Rice-Oxley was approached by Coldplay singer and pianist Chris Martin to play keyboards in the newly-formed Coldplay, but he turned the offer down as he wanted to focus on his own band. In 1997, despite the initial protests from Scott and Hughes, Rice-Oxley invited childhood friend Tom Chaplin to join the band. Chaplin took up the offer and replaced Rice-Oxley as vocalist in the band, and shortly after the band changed their name from ‘The Lotus Eaters’ to ‘Cherry Keane’, which was later changed again to just ‘Keane’. In the summer of 1997, Chaplin moved to South Africa to work as a volunteer during his gap year, and when he returned in 1998, the first thing he was told by Hughes was that they had their first gig in ten days, at the ‘Hope & Anchor’ pub in London In 1999, Keane recorded their first single, despite the fact that they did not yet have a record deal. The single, ‘Call Me What You Like’, was sold at live performances in early 2000. Later, in 2001, they released their second single titled ‘Wolf At The Door’, with only fifty hand-labelled copies ever being made. Shortly after the release of this track, disaster struck, and Dominic Scott decided to leave the band with the thought that Keane were simply not going anywhere. After Scott’s departure, Rice-Oxley and Chaplin both started to feel the same way about the band, and all live performances and recordings were put on hold. However in the December of 2002, Keane returned to playing live and one of these gigs was attended by Simon Williams of Fierce Panda Records, and he agreed to release their first proper single, ‘Everybody’s Changing’. The track went on to have huge commercial success and as a result of this they signed to Island Records in 2003.

2004 found Keane being earmarked as the band most likely to achieve success by the BBC’s Sound Of 2004 poll. The year also saw the band’s first release on Island Records, the single ‘Somewhere Only We Know’. The track reached number 4 in the UK singles chart. In May 2004, the band’s debut album ‘Hopes and Fears’ was released. It shot straight to number one and has sold over half a million copies worldwide. The album stayed in the top 75 for 72 weeks. Three months after the release of ‘Hopes and Fears’, Rice-Oxley received the Ivor Novello award for songwriter of the year. The album also received a BRIT award for ‘Best British Album’ and the band themselves won the ‘British Breakthrough Act’ award. The next year was jam-packed for Keane. They recorded two cover songs for the charity War Child and contributed vocals to the Band Aid 20 version of ‘Do They Know It’s Christmas?” The band also performed two tracks at Live 8 in London. It was during 2005 that Keane started recording their second album, ‘Under The Iron Sea’. The title of the album was revealed in March 2006 via a handwritten message posted on their website.

Prior to the second album’s launch, the single ‘Is It Any Wonder?” was released and reached number 3 in the UK singles chart. ‘Under The Iron Sea’ was then released in June 2006 and had sold a hefty 220,000 copies by May 2007. But their happiness was to be short-lived, and in August 2006, Chaplin announced that he had admitted himself to a clinic for alcohol and drug problems. As a result of this, the band had to cancel three gigs and postpone their tour of the United States. However the US tour was to eventually be cancelled to allow Chaplin’s treatment in the clinic to continue. But things started to look up for Keane when Chaplin left the clinic in October 2006 and the band embarked on their tour of South America. Considering that this was the band’s first time to counties such as Argentina and Chile, they received a huge welcome and were shocked at the positive reception they were met with, particularly in Mexico. 2007 saw Keane playing three tracks at the UK leg of the Live Earth concerts at the newly built Wembley Stadium. The tour for the second album ended at the Natural Music Festival in Spain and Keane decided to take a break for a couple of months before reconvening for album number three.

The next we heard from Keane was via a clock on their website, counting down to 4 August. This was to be the date of the release of their next single, ‘Spiralling’, which was released as a free download for two weeks. Keane’s third album, ‘Perfect Symmetry’, was released in October 2008 and reached number one in the UK album chart and number 7 in the US Billboard chart. November signalled the start of their world tour in support of their third album, and in December of that year, ‘Perfect Symmetry’ was voted as Album Of The Year by the readers and listeners of Q magazine and Q Radio. The fourth single from the album, also titled ‘Perfect Symmetry’, was voted Track Of The Year by the same magazine,.

2009 was to be an exciting year for Keane, as in April they became the first band ever to broadcast a live show in 3D. The show was filmed live at Abbey Road Studios and fans were encouraged to buy the most recent single, ‘Better Than This’, which came with a free pair of 3D glasses. The band’s website also had instructions on how to make your own glasses. The show was broadcast via a stream on the band’s website and was later available to view in high definition.

Now, at the end of 2009, a decade after the release of their very first single, Keane have announced that they will release an EP entitled ‘Night Train’. The EP is to be released in May 2010 which will be followed by a tour of UK forests, including a gig at the Bedgebury Pinetum, a forest near to the band’s hometown of Battle. Tickets for all six dates of this tour are now on sale and the speed at which these tickets are snapped up will be a sure indication of just how big this band have become.

Front Cover Images (Task 13)

Today I took some of the images that I will use for my front cover and contents page. I wanted the model in my front cover photograph to look like the type of person who would read my magazine, and also as if they could be in a band. Here are the images that I took:




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I decided that I am going to use the first picture for my front cover and edit the part of the background out as it is not suitable for what I want my image to convey as you can see the school.

Contents and Double Page Spread Images (Task 13)

These are some of the photographs that I might going to use for my contents page and double page spread.

Keane pictures



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Double Page Article Research (Task 12)

I decided that I was going to write my double page spread article as a biographical about the band Keane. I did some research about the band using websites such as the band website (http://www.keanemusic.com/keane-biography.php) and their wikipedia entry (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Keane_(band)). I also know quite a bit about the band myself and so I will also use my own knowledge.

Sketches (Task 11)

I produced some rough sketches of my music magazine front cover and contents pages. I don't know what my coverlines and images are going to be exactly yet so I haven't specified on the sketches. Also, I might change some of the way the pictures are laid out on the contents.

Front Cover



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Contents Page



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Publication Plan (Task 11)

Title: “Pulse”

Positioning Statement: “At the heart of the music world”

Frequency of Publication: Monthly

Price: £3

Distribution: Newsagents and supermarkets, music shops

Style: Informal style which uses some humour and some slang words. It is more for older teenagers and adults so the language ranges from simple to semi-complex. It has a lot of photographs.

Regular Content:
- Letter from the editor
- Readers’ letters and opinions
- Music news
- The month in pictures
- Question and Answer (where readers send in questions to ask to a band/artist)
- New album reviews
- Gig reviews
- Competition (some sort of puzzle e.g. a crossword or a quiz, to win the prize)
- Upcoming artists
- Top ten tracks of the month
- Gig guide
- A free CD and an article about what has been included on the CD.

Feature Content:
- The best and worst album sleeves
- Ten best cover songs
- Festival guide
- Keane (double page spread feature)
- Interview with...
- In the studio with...
- Songs of the decade
- Best of 2009

Questionnaire Results - Graphs + Conclusions (Task 8/9)

Gender


Conclusion: Most of the people I asked were female so the choices I make about my magazine will be biased towards females rather than males.


Age


Conclusion: I managed to cover a wide range of ages with my questionnaire. Most of the people I asked were between sixteen and twenty years old so my magazine will probably be biased towards them. However there were also a large number of people aged over twenty five so this might balance out the bias.


1. What is your favourite colour?


Conclusion: Out of the twenty people that I asked, a quarter of them said that blue was their favourite colour so I will make sure this colour is predominant in my magazine but also include other colours.


2. Which kind of colours do you prefer to see inside a magazine?


Conclusion: A large majority of the twenty people I asked stated that they preferred to have bright and bold colours in a magazine rather than light colours and pastel shades so I will include these types of colours more than lighter colours.


3. How often do you/would you buy a magazine?


Conclusion: I asked twenty people how often they buy or would consider buying a magazine and gave them the choices of ‘weekly’, ‘fortnightly’, ‘monthly’ and ‘quarterly. Seven out of the twenty people picked monthly and six chose fortnightly so I will choose one of these two frequencies for the magazine that I create.


4. How much are you willing to pay for a music magazine?


Conclusion: Eight out of the twenty people I asked said that they would be willing to pay between two and three pound for a music magazine and seven said that they would pay between one and two pound so for the magazine that I create, I will choose a price in one of these ranges depending on what frequency I decide on.


5. On a scale of 1 to 5, 1 being definitely and 5 being definitely not, how much would you like to see the following features in a music magazine?

News about bands/artists


Conclusion: A large majority of the people I asked said that they would definitely like to have news about bands and artists in a music magazine so I will include this as content in my magazine.


Pictures


Conclusion: Twelve out of the twenty people I asked said they would definitely like to see pictures in a music magazine and only two people said definitely not, so I will include images in the magazine that I create.


Gig Guide


Conclusion: Seven out of the twenty people I asked said that they would definitely like to have a gig guide featured in a music magazine and nobody said that they definitely would not, so I will include a gig guide as regular content in the magazine that I create.


Reviews


Conclusion: A majority of the people I asked said that they would like reviews in a music magazine so I will probably include reviews as regular content in the magazine that I create.


Interviews


Conclusion: Twelve out of the twenty people I asked said that they would definitely like to have interviews in a music magazine so I will include one or two interviews with bands and artists as a feature in the magazine that I create.


Letters from readers


Conclusion: There was a mixed response from the twenty people I asked about letters from readers and most people answered in the middle. However, eight people chose the more negative answers and seven chose the more positive answers so I will have to decide whether or not I will include letters in my magazine.


6. Would you be more likely to buy a magazine if it had a free gift e.g. a CD?


Conclusion: A large majority of the twenty people I asked said that they would be more likely to buy a magazine if it came with a free gift so to encourage people to buy my magazine, I will include a free gift.

Questionnaire Results - Video (Task 8/9)

This is a video I recorded of somebody answering a couple of the questions included in my questionnaire.

Questionnaire (Task 7)

This is the questionnaire I created in order to research my target audience. I asked twenty people aged from ten upwards, both male and female. I created the questionnaire using Microsoft Word.




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Codes and Conventions - Double Page Spreads (Task 6)

Codes and Conventions of Magazine Double Page Spreads

Layout
Has drop quotes in the middle or top of article – small excerpts from the article to grab reader’s attention, usually something exciting or controversial.
Page numbers and magazine title in the bottom corners of the page.
Has a by line – says the name of journalist who conducted the interview or wrote the article and the name of the photographer who took the photos used.
A limited use of colour.

Images
Has a large image – sometimes has a caption saying who the picture is of.
Sometimes a picture of the journalist at the start of the article.

Text
Eye catching headline – bright colour, bold, large.
Catchy text that relates to the article and/or the person/people it is about.
Has the text in columns – name of artist or person the article is about is highlighted in some way i.e. bold or in a different colour.
First letter of the article is usually bigger than the rest of the text.
A short summary at the beginning of the article – a stand first.

These are the double page spreads I analysed to get these codes and conventions:



Q Magazine (click to enlarge)



NME Magazine (click to enlarge)

Codes and Conventions - Contents Pages (Task 5)

Codes and Conventions of Magazine Contents Pages

Images
Have a large amount of pictures.
Larger images correspond with main story/stories.
Smaller images with smaller stories.
Images usually have the page number on which links to the story they are related to.

Title
“Contents” at the top in a large font.
Can have the issue number, date and magazine website near to it.

Layout
Laid out in different sections i.e. “features”, “regular content”, “reviews”.
Content in columns with page numbers beside.
Sometimes contents pages are set over a double page spread.

Font
Font size usually 11pt.
Easy to read font which is consistent throughout.

Editor’s Letter
Letter from the editor or editorial team usually with information about the issue.

Credits
Sometimes has credits for the front cover photograph and other photographs.

Information
Information about the magazine – address, phone number, name of editor.
Information about subscribing – price, how to subscribe, how many issues etc.

This is the contents page I analysed to get these codes and conventions:



Q Magazine (click to enlarge)

Codes and Conventions - Front Covers (Task 4)

I analysed some magazine front covers, contents pages and double page spreads and found out the codes and conventions of all three.

Codes and Conventions of Magazine Front Covers

Masthead
Name of magazine usually left aligned or right across.
Uses a large, unique font.
Can be partially covered if the magazine is well established.
Positioning statement is above the title and normally conveys that the magazine is better than the competition.

Barcode
Usually at the bottom of the magazine and has the date, issue number, price and website of the magazine near to it.

Buzzwords and puff
“Exclusive!” “You won’t see this anywhere else” “New!”

Images
One main image which anchors with the main story.
Main image usually close up or mid-shot.
Person/people in the photograph normally looking at the reader – direct address.
Never any text over the face. Smaller images which correspond to other stories in the magazine.

Simple colour scheme
Colours that don't clash and are easy to look at.

Coverlines
Usually small amounts of text near to the smaller images.
Main coverline with main image.
Coverlines all in the same style of font.

These are the front covers that I analysed to get these codes and conventions:



Q Magazine (click to enlarge)



NME Magazine (click to enlarge)

Music Magazine Research (Task 2)

I researched some magazines of a similar genre to the one I am going to produce so that I could get an idea of the price and frequency of them and then I would be able to decide on my own.



Q
Price: £3.90
Frequency: Monthly
Issue Size: 170 pages
Positioning Statement: "The UK's biggest music magazine"



NME
Price: £2.90
Frequency: Weekly
Issue Size: 66 pages
Positioning Statement: Doesn't seem to have one



Kerrang!
Price: £2.20
Frequency: Weekly
Issue size: Unknown
Positioning Statement: "Life is loud"



Rock Sound
Price: £3.80
Frequency: Monthly
Issue Size: Unknown
Positioning Statement: "New music first"

Main Task Decisions (Task 1)

For my main task, I am going to produce an indie music magazine.

The target audience for my magazine is teenagers or young adults and fans of indie music.

Preliminary Task Evaluation

For the preliminary task I had to plan and produce a front cover and contents page for a new school magazine. I had to come up with a title for the magazine as well as the features and regular content. I also had to think of which photographs I was going to include on the front cover and contents page and then take them myself. I was to create the front cover using Adobe Photoshop and the contents page using Quark Xpress.

My front cover follows the codes and conventions of other magazines in many ways. For example, it has a main image of one person who is looking directly at the camera which is direct address. The image is anchored to the main coverline. It also has a plain coloured background like other magazines. The masthead has the title, which goes across the top, and the positioning statement. The title is in a unique font which isn’t used anywhere else in the magazine. The barcode is at the bottom of the page and has the price and date next to it. There are also some smaller photos which anchor with the other coverlines. It deviates from some of the codes and conventions in the way that it does not have an issue number and that there are only three coverlines.

The contents page follows the codes and conventions by using things such as columns and sections, for example, it has a features section and a regular content section. It also has information about the school such as the address and the website. There are images on the contents page which have page numbers that correspond to the feature the image belongs to. However the contents page does not follow some codes and conventions, for example, it has a coloured background and there is a lot of empty space.

I used Quark Xpress for the layout of the contents page. It has a feature which allows you to insert columns which makes it easier to follow. I also used Adobe Photoshop to help edit some of the photographs such as the main front cover image as I had to remove the background.

I think my front cover’s main strength is that the title is in a simple font and is a bright colour as this makes it stand out and it is easy to read. I think I could have improved it by putting more coverlines and by picking a different cover image as in the one I used, the girl is wearing a purple top and this made it difficult for me to place the main coverline as a lot of coloured clashed with it.

I think I could have improved my contents page by having more images and by making better use of the columns. I also could have added an editor’s letter and maybe a small image of my front cover with arrows pointing to the cover stories. I could have arranged the text better and had more content so that there was not as much white space.

Contents Page

This is the finished design for my contents page:

Front Cover

This is the finished design for my front cover:




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Editing

I edited the image I am going to use for my front cover so that it has no background. This will make it follow the convention that magazine front cover images are usually on a single coloured background.

More Photos

Today I took the final photographs for my magazine and contents page and started editing the ones that I had so that I could use them.

I took these photos for my contents page and front cover:






I also decided to use a picture I took from when I was practising camera angles:

Preliminary Exercise Task 5

Today I took the front cover image for my magazine:



The only photographs I have left to take are some of the images for the contents page.

I also edited one of the photographs I had previously taken because it had a date in the bottom right corner so I edited the date out using Photoshop:

Preliminary Exercise Task 5

Today I took some of the photographs that are to be included on my magazine contents page:





I still have to take a few more photographs for the contents page and I also have to take the front cover photo.

Preliminary Exercise Tasks 1-4

Today I started the preliminary exercise. For this I have to use desktop publishing and an image manipulation program to create the front cover of a new school magazine. The front cover has to include a photograph of a student in medium close up and some appropriately laid-out text. I also have to produce a mock-up of a contents page. I have nine different tasks to complete and today I started on the first four.

For task one, I had to come up with a title, coverlines and details of the mise-en-scene for the magazine. I decided on the title "School Today" and I came up with four different coverlines which were "Learn to love languages on Language Day", "School food gets a facelift", "Raise money on Pink Day" and "Welcome to the new year 7". I also came up with "Win! A theatre trip!".

For task two, I had to draw a rough sketch of my magazine front cover.



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For task three, I had to list the regular content of my magazine as well as ten feature articles that will appear in the magazine. Finally I had to list the images that will appear in my contents page. I decided that I would use three or four images in my contents page of pictures such as fruit for the school food feature and other pictures that are relevant to the features. I managed to come up with six or seven feature articles.

I had to produce a rough sketch of my contents page for task four.



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Practising Camera Angles

Today I practised taking photographs using different camera angles. I was given a sheet with different tasks on it and these are some of the photographs our group took:

1. An extreme close up of the time:


2. A medium close up of a teacher:


3. An over the shoulder shot of somebody writing:


4. A big close up of somebody using a mobile phone:


5. A long shot conveying isolation:


6. A photograph which has connotations of friendship: