TEXT FOR DOUBLE PAGE SPREAD - INTERVIEW WITH JESSICA QUAIL

So Jessica, this is the second album from you that we have been long awaiting, how do the tracks from this album differ from your older material? Talk us through the songwriting and recording process and what makes this album different?


Well, my first album I spent years creating this sound and specific type of track that I wanted the album to be typical of, but with this album I had a lot less time to create such depth to all the sounds I was working with and I wanted to make something different, but still recognisable. So this one is really stripped back, I wanted to focus a lot more on the lyrics and the voice as opposed to the sound and instruments. For the old album, we would use lyrics that I had written years and years ago and try and turn them into a successful track by adding a wide variety of different beats or instruments on top of them, but with this album I spent nearly all the time just working on the lyrics and using my voice as the main instrument and trying to experiment really with what it was capable of.

You mentioned quite a lot there about your lyrics, is this album quite focused on personal sentiments? Will we be able to notice any general themes?

Yeah I think this album particually is very much focused around my own personal experiences and emotions that I have felt. There are quite a few re-occuring themes in the album and the main one being centered around a break up I went through not too long ago so yeah, I would definitely say there are some re-occuring themes in this album.

You’re on a collobaration record deal partnership with Moshi Moshi records and Island Records, who have signed the likes of Florence and The Machine, U2 Amy Winehouse and Drake. Does this add any pressure to you or do you think it motivates you?

Yes I am, and it definitely does add pressure! Whenever I was writing a track or recording it in the studio from this album I was constantly thinking to myself what if people don’t get it but you can’t think like that or you’ll never succeed, in this industry you have to take chances and just hope that you have people that will always support you in what you make and what you do.

So the first album off the track is called Revolution which was released a month back. Talk us through this particular track and the lyrics behind it?

I was thinking to myself about my generation and it’s pretty much just me asking you kow, what’s happening? There’s a whole load of madness that goes on today just as much as there was back in the sixties and seventies, but for some reason back then people felt they had a voice and that they could fight for what they believe is right, whereas what we do, is well we don’t really do much so it’s just me saying we have a voice, so let’s speak.

It’s been an absolute pleasure talking to you and we can’t wait to see you in action soon, when will you next be touring?

I will be touring early june, after the release of the album and I will be doing all over the UK hopefully and then over to Berlin, Paris and Amsterdam which are places that I love playing so I am really, really excited about that.

DEVELOPING MY FRONT COVER

This is my first draft of my front cover, I chose the image of my model that I thought was most appropriate and fitted my theme best. I used a colour scheme of Orange and Blue because my issue is a spring/April issue. I think the picture works well because she is face on and looks quite posed however she also looks natural and comfortable giving the magazine an inviting feel.

I highlighted the model in white so she really stands against the grey background. I still need to add more cover lines on but I have my main two on at the moment.

FRONT COVER IMAGES

I took pictures of my friend Jess to feature on the front cover. I decided that I wanted the image background to be outdoors so we went to an old church and graveyard to stand against an old deteriorating brick wall.

These are the best of the images I took:

I then decided on a few that I think would work best on the front of my cover after looking at them once I got home and began to edit and touch them up a bit to make them look more professional:

These three that I edited are my favourite out of the pictures I took however I think that the one that will work the best against my masthead and look like a magazine is the top image, however I think I will include the second and third in my contents page or on my double page spread.

CONTENTS PAGE IMAGES

These are some of the images I have taken to use in my contents page. I am going to use them to create some album covers that I am going to include. I used a fish eye film lomography camera to take the pictures to maintain the vintage indie theme.

To make an album cover I took an image I thought resembled a band, and then edited a name of a made up band onto it and edited the contrast, brightness and saturation of the image. 

MASTHEAD:


I have decided to call the magazine ALT LOOK, but have decided to shorten it to ALTlook with the 'ALT' in capital font. This is shortened for Alternative Look, because my magazine is of the genre 'Indie/Alternative' and I want to give the impression of this being an alternative option to purchase instead of other magazine that are currently on sale as well as giving an alternative look on music and lifestyle.
I have some ideas of what I want my masthead to look like and these are a few samples:

These are a few samples of the masthead design I am aiming for, I want the font to be simple and quite large so it has a big impact against the image on my front cover. I have not decided on the colour of my masthead but I want it to be a bold colour so it creates impact on my front cover.

Ideas for front cover:

FRONT COVER IMAGE: image of a girl singer/songwriter of the indie genre, against a background as opposed to having her cut out and then put against a coloured background.
The background is going to be outside and to do with nature, or against some sort of building however nothing too bold or with too much going on because to make sure attention is not diverted from the model.
The model is going to be wearing some form of dress, however it will not be seen because she will be wearing a leopard print fur coat on top as well as green circular tinted glasses.
I've decided to put her in this because it is quite a cliché indie style that is seen more frequently in musicians and celebrities as the glasses are quite daring of the fashion, however create a vintage look which is very 70's.
                                                                              This is the model I am using:


FRONT COVER SELL LINES:
The sell lines are going to be related to upcoming summer festivals as I want it to be an April issue so I can look at future events, however I have taken images from events that I have been too that I can include in my contents page.
I also want sell lines to do with 'Upcoming artists', 'New Album reviews',  the main sell line is going to be related to the image on the front, so an interview with my artist 'Jessica Quail'.

Looking at other music magazines:

Because I want to create my magazine under the 'indie' genre however with a vintage feel, I have been looking at older versions of NME that were in a gallery I visited:

I like the style of the images inside the older magazines, especially the image of Bob Dylan and might like to replicate something similar in my double page spread of an artist.

Planning stages - Reader profile:

READER PROFILE
Age: 16 - 23
Gender: Both, however more leaning towards female

Hobbies: My targeted reader would enjoy shopping in mainstream stores, listening to music, attending local gigs and festivals, creative activities such as drawing painting and photography, watching television programmes such as Skins, Misfits, BBC Three and E4 channels, listening to radio channels such as Bbc radio 6 or radio 1.Using technology and social media such as apple products and blogging sites including Tumblr, Blogger, and other social netowrking sights such as Facebook, Twitter, Lookbook.nu as well as creative sites such as Flickr and Listography. Watching films would be a hobbie, and the cliche genre of film would be contempory romantic comedy or comedy or music, for example Nowhere Boy, 500 Days of Summer and Napoleon Dyanmite, as well as a large amount of older 'classic' films including The Breakfast Club and Ferris Buellers Day Off with older actors such as Audrey Hepburn.
Where they shop: My reader would shop at highstreet stores with an indie sort of style, so shops would inlcude Topshop, Urban Outfitters, American Apparel, Jack Wills, Charity and vintage stores, Doc Marten, Fred Perry, Lyle and Scott, Past Times, New Look, Starbucks, Costa, Waterstones, HMV, Primark and ASOS.
Musical tastes: Musical tastes are quite broad however still typical of the niche genre 'indie', so including classic acoustic and gentle rock singer songwrites this broadens out into a dance and electronic variation ofthe 'indie' genre. Artists typical to my readers tastes would be a mixture of contempory and classic artists so this would include;
The Maccabees, Two Door Cinema Club, Adele, The Pigeon Decetives, The Cure, The Beatles, The Rolling Stones, Amy Winehouse, Oasis, The Smiths, Pete Doherty, Summercamp, Vampire Weekend, Lulu and the Lampshades, Florence + the Machine, Jamie T, Totally Enormous Extinct Dinosaurs, The Clash, Hot Chip, The Taints, Emmett Kelly, Rizzle Kicks, Black Kids, Joy Division, Sky Ferraira.
What they wear: Items of clothing typical of my reader profile for Female:
Floral patterns on dresses and skirts, blouses, traditional brougue shoes as well as Doc Marten and military style boots, skinny jeans, patterned tights, thick knitwear i.e jumpers and cardigans, thick rimmed glasses, natural hair and make up, tweed coats, brightly coloured jumpers with aztec like patterns, tartan patterns, brown leather, satchel bags, band t-shirts, traditional jewellery and child like bracelets and festival wristbands. 

This is similar for boys however without the tights and skirts, blouses and dresses. This also includes boat shoe style shoes (normally without socks), canvas style bags, checkered shirts, mac and parker style coats, sweatshirts and hairstyles that are natural and curly, or short sides and long on the top.  

VIDEO ATTATCHMENT COMING

Analysis of music magazine survey results:

1.This was the first question of my survey, and out of the possible choices of rock/metal, Indie, Pop and chart music, hip hop/rap, RnB, Dance and house music, Indie music recieved the highest amount of responses, so after this particular result I have decided on the genre of my music magazine which has helped me to decide what kind of artits and style I want to achieve.

2. I added this question to help me decide what features of my music magazine should be dominant and what I should really emphasise to create a magazine that that would successfully sell to a wide audience. The answers I mainly got were about who was on the front cover of the magazine and how the image was presented, so this has reinforced the importance of the selecting of my image and model for my front cover. There were also responses about the features that are included, so the sell lines on my front cover, and the promotions included inside my magazine.

3. I then asked if they were interested in or regularly attended music festivals and if so, what ones. I asked this becauseI I wanted to include a festival feature in my magazine. I also asked this because the festivals that people attend can say a lot about their music tastes and lifestyle and preferences, so this would help me create my magazine. I got mainly the response of Lounge on The Farm, which is a local festival with quite a niche music line up, so this will help me with the artists I want to include in my features.

4. I asked how the people taking my survey listened to their music and nearly all said they used an apple device or programme (iPods and iTunes), so when referring to digital music I will use these programmes.

5. I asked what promotions would be considered interesting, and 90% said they would be interested in a music give away such as a digital download on iTunes or a free CD, so if I decide to include a promotion, these are the ones that will be taken into consideration.

6. I asked then about the price and 90% said they would pay between £2.00 and £3.00, which was not the cheapest option. This has given me a rough idea of how much content my magazine should contain if this is the prices people are expecting an willing to pay.

7. I asked what artists people were currently interested in to see if there were any particular patterns and artists that came up more than once so that I would know who to include and help me develop the house style of my magazine in order to appeal to a wide range. Artists that came up included Florence and the Machine, Cher Lloyd, Adele, Rihanna, Example, Kanye West, Katy B, Jay-Z.
Florence and the Machine was the artist who came up the most so I will include a feature in my sell lines on her, and her album that has just been released.

8. I  asked what sections of the magazine people enjoy reading the most and the majority answer was 'Interviews' with 87.5% of the vote. This has helped me decide that I will include as my D.P.S that I will do an interview relating to the image on my front cover.

9. I asked whether the artists that people listened to were more male or female, in order to help me decide on a theme and artists included and image on front cover and the majority answer was 'Male', so I will probably include a male artist on my front cover.

10. I had no answers for extra suggestions.

Music magazine survey

I have conducted a survey similar to my school magazine to help with the production of my music magazine.
I included these questions:

I used a variation of multiple choice answers and essay boxes for comments so I could my results had a good level of depth and helpful information, as well as including a suggestions question so I could see exactly what people want.

1. What genre of music are you most interested in out of these options?
2. What encourages you to purchase a music magazine?
3. Are you interested in/regularly attend music festivals, and if so what ones?
4. How do you listen to your music?
5. What promotions would you be interested in inside a music magazine?
6. How much would you expect to pay for a music magazine?
7. Which artists are you currently interested in? Please list at least three.
8. What sections of music magazines do you enjoy reading the most?
9. In general, would you say you listened to more male artists or female artists?
10. Do you have any other suggestions or helpful comments towards the creation of my music magazine? For example, any particular things you would like to see. If not, please leave this blank.

CAN BE FOUND HERE:
http://www.surveymonkey.com/s/CCCF68H