Wednesday, 11 December 2013

Scripting of Double Page Spread


TRAPPED IN THE MAZE… AND THERE’S NO WAY OUT

Its 12:30pm when Liam Maher, better known by his stage name – “The Maze”, struts into the fluorescent, empty, warm studio. As he calmly sits on the chair laid out for him, a massive grin creeps on to his face before asking me “Y’alright?”

2013 has been an incredible year for Maher. His debut single “Lost in The Maze” reached #1 in the Charts in 42 different countries within one week of being released. Also, his self-titled album reached #1 in the Charts globally, gaining Platinum-status 5 times and breaking records as the biggest debut for an independent artist ever.

“I don’t think that I could ever have predicted the amount of success that I’ve had this year…” Maher chuckles, wide-eyed. “It still feels incredibly unreal that I’m here… I still feel like I should be working at my old job in Subway, making Meatball Marinaras for posh w*nkers who can’t be bothered to do it themselves.” He smirks, shaking his head, jokingly.

As well as his blatant musical and lyrical genius, Maher has also received several fans for his comedic and topical tweets, with his Twitter profile “@MazeyMaher” currently at 11 million followers and counting. Responding to a question of him being labelled “the Robert Downey, Jr. of independent music”, Maher laughs. “Well, for a start, I’m not f*cking Iron Man! I think he has me beat there.” Putting on a serious smile though, Maher continues: “Seriously though, I’m quite good friends with Rob… he’s one of the funniest and most genuine people I’ve ever met.” It seems that these feelings are mutual, with Downey, Jr. referring to Maher as one of the best musicians of the past 50 years.

However, it’s not all joking about with Maher. He has shown a serious side when speaking about and donating half of his royalties to organisations trying to stamp out poverty in third-world countries. “It’s an issue I feel incredibly strongly about… I visited Africa in my GAP year and was f*cking horrified at what I saw. People shouldn’t have to live like that. That’s why it needs to change.”
Maher has also become well-respected in the gay community since a video went viral of him intervening and stopping a homophobic attack on a young boy by fellow “musicians” MC Willy C and Dominic Breeze. “You should be allowed to be who you are without being attacked, regardless of sexuality. I will not tolerate bullying of any kind, man, you know?” He looks up, smirking. “If you want to attempt to be f*cking big men and attack people, try that s*it with me.”

All in all, you’d think that after the huge success that Maher has gained, he’d want to take things more slowly. However, this is not the case. “I’m going to keep going, bigger and better than before!” He vows. “The reason I’m called ‘The Maze’ is because once you hear my music, you’re addicted and I’ve got you trapped in my theoretical maze.” He laughs loudly. “I owe it to my fans. You go hard or go home.”

Monday, 9 December 2013

Fonts

In order to choose the perfect title font for my Media Music Magazine, I have narrowed down my selection to 5 fonts from www.dafont.com. Here are the selections:

The first font is called HACKED:
The reason that I chose this font as one of my selections is that it has a distorted yet professional and neat look that would fit in well with my magazine, as well as linking in well with the independent underground vibe that I am  going for.

The second font is called BROKEN GLASS:
 The reason that I chose this font as one of my selections is again that it fits in well with the tone and look that I want my magazine to have as well as the eye-catching effect that it may have on my target audience.


The third font is called WRESTLEMANIA:
The reason that I chose this font is that it bears similarities to other music magazines of my genre that I have looked at in my research, making my magazine look and feel professional while relating quite strongly to other magazines of the same genre. Out of all the fonts, I feel that this one is my favourite.

The fourth font is called KG DEFYING GRAVITY:
This font was the first font that I looked in to on the website, however I don't think that it suits the genre of my magazine, making it look cartoonish and blocky, contrasting with how I want my magazine to be presented.

The fifth and final font is called PLANE CRASH:
The reason that I chose this font is because it looks very gritty and eye-catching, fitting in with the tone of my magazine.



Magazine Terminology

1. MASTHEAD - the title/logo of a newspaper/magazine at the head of the first or editorial page.
2. THE LEAD - the introduction to a text, often in a bold font or capital letters to attract audiences.
3. BODY COPY - the main article of text.
4. SERIF FONT - a font that has small bars at the end of each letter.
5. SANS SERIF FONT - a font that does not have any serifs.
6. DROP CAPITALS - an incredibly larger letter at the start of a text.
7. CROSS HEAD - a small sub-heading that divides two bodies of text.
8. WHITE SPACE - white space on the magazine other than the pictures/texts.
9. MODE OF ADDRESS - how the magazine addresses it's audience.
10. SELL LINES - a motto for the magazine.
11. BANNER - text that stands out on the magazine.
12. HOUSE STYLE - trademark layout of the magazine.
13. BOARDERS - gaps at end of each page.
14. GUTTERS - two pages meeting the middle with no text.
15. LEADING - the gaps between the lines of text in the magazine.
16. KERNING - the space between the letters in the magazine.
17. STRAPLINES - a secondary header below the main headline.
10. BYLINES - credits to everyone involved in the making of that issue of the magazine.
19. ANCHORAGE - when text and images are relevant to each other.

PhotoShop

PhotoShop is a graphics editing program developed and published by American multinational computer software company Adobe. PhotoShop allows the user to alter images, often used to correct flawed photos that contain problems, such as red eye or spots, by removing these problems in effective ways with the photos maintaining their natural look in the process.
An example of a tool that you are able to use on PhotoShop would be the Spot Removal tool that can edit things such as spots of people's faces or graffiti in the background of a photo. An example of Spot Removal that I have done in the past would be:

                                                                         BEFORE
 
AFTER