Journalism Practice

Review of "127 Hours" for NME magazine.

Danny Boyle has dabbled in a few genres of movie making; thrillers, drama, horror and even a bit of Romance with the award winning "Slumdog Millionaire". For four years Boyle had wanted to try something a bit different, focusing on a true story. Finally he got round to it, and produced "127 Hours" which is based on the true story of "Between a Rock and a Hard Place" by Aron Ralston. James Franco plays the part of Aron. He makes the character likeable and almost acts as a kind of heart-throb; but his daredevil antics across the Grand Canyon end up taking their toll and leaving him in a dreadful situation. If you're expecting this film to be hours of staring at a rock face then you'd be wrong. The storyline is more than that; we follow Aron as he leaves out of the blue to travel to the middle of nowhere in search of adventure and adrenelin. After becoming attached to his adorable, light-hearted character we feel his distress when he falls and get's his arm wedged between a boulder and the rock face. This is truely a emotional, exhilerating film, a must-see.

Review of "127 Hours" for Rolling Stone magazine.

The long awaited film "127 Hours" directed by Danny Boyle is an emotional true story of Aron Ralston's struggle when he becomes trapped between a boulder and rock face. It is based on the novel written by Ralston himself called "Betwen a Rock and a Hard Place". The actor James Franco who has played roles in such films as "Eat Pray Love" "Spiderman" "Batman" and "Pineapple Express" plays the part of Aron Ralston and manages to portray the emotions exactly as they would have been at the time. We admire his strength and determination to survive and when trapped in the rocks Danny Boyle adds effects to make us feel the claustophobia of being there alongside him. This is a captivating and heart-wrenching film that will send shivers down your spine.

Final mood board for my target audience.

<--Here I have shown the typical reader of the music magazine that i am going to create: mainly females, between the ages of 16 and 30, a large percentage being students and regular gig-goers, and a lot of them being musical or arty.

INSTITUTIONAL DATA "Overview of Industry"

IPC Media produces over 60 iconic media brands, with print alone reaching almost two thirds of UK women and 42% of UK men – almost 26 million UK adults – while our websites collectively reach over 14 million users every month. IPC's diverse print and digital portfolio offers something for everyone, with a focus on three core audiences: men, mass market women and upmarket women. Our men's portfolio (IPC Inspire) comprises a wealth of leisure brands including Country Life, Horse & Hound, Rugby World and Decanter, as well as lifestyle brands including Nuts, Mousebreaker and NME. Our mass market women's division (IPC Connect) comprises famous women's weeklies including Look, Now, Chat and Woman; TV entertainment brands including What's on TV, TVTimes and TV & Satellite Week and, online, the goodtoknow network. Our upmarket women's division (IPC Southbank) comprises luxury fashion brands including Marie Claire and InStyle, lifestyle brands including woman&home and essentials and home interest brands including Ideal Home, Livingetc and housetohome.

This company produces over 60 different magazines read by the majority of the UK's population. For men they produce magazines ranging from "Horse and Hound" to "Nuts" focusing on all classes and different lifestyles. They seperate women into two groups - "mass market women" and "upmarket women". For mass market women they produce magazines such as "Look" "Woman" and "TV Times" whereas for the upmarket group they focus on luxury fashion brands like "Marie Claire" and "InStyle".


INSTITUTIONAL DATA "Music Magazine"

NME
Price: £2.20
Frequency: Weekly
Circulation: 56,284
Readership: 411,000
Launch Date: 1952
Male/Female: 73%/27%
Average Age: 25
ABC1: 73%
Target Market: Men 17-30

About the reader
• 34% are working full time, 18% are working part time and 26% are full time students • 62% read at least 3 out of 4 issues
• Almost half (49%) have been reading NME for at least 3 years
• 84% think the magazine gives them what they want spending an average of 46 minutes reading each issue

This informations tells us that over 56,000 people purchase NME magazine every week; 73% of theses are male and 27% are female. NME was launched in 1952 and now almost half of the people that read it have been doing so for the last three years. They tell us that a range of people read the magazine - 34% have full time jobs, 18% have part tim jobs and 26% are students. This information links to the magazine's target audience: Men 17-30.

Smash Hits mood board.

<--This mood board is for SMASH HITS magazine. It's target audience is young middle class teenage girls.

I have chosen images to show that the readers of SMASH HITS still live in a family home, perhaps with a pet. Also the picture of a cinema portrays what the target audience would tend to do in their spare time.

College Magazine Front Cover Analysis:
The title of this magazine (SOUP) refers to a stereotypical student's lifestyle - living off can's of soup and beans on toast etc..showing that perhaps they dont look after themselves as well as they should. Also the main image on the front cover is an open can of soup, on a red hot ring of an oven. This also symbolises that students dont even know how to heat up the soup, and they do it the most dangerous way possible. This will engage with the young people as they may be able to relate to this with the way they live themselves. The font they have used for this title, and also for the coverlines is fairly modern and contemporary, staying away from older fonts and fonts that are used for other recognisable magazines. The presentation of the image and the style of writing is of a popart kind of style, which is also quite modern and will be more likely to attract college students than if it was more old fashioned. Above the coverlines they have used the word "Ingredients:" which links to the title "SOUP". this is a very clever way to link the cover all together and to make students want to read what is included in the magazine. The colours used are fairly simple, keeping with the popart theme. However they are eye-catching, without being too bright and overpowering.

Questionnaire analysis:

After circulating a college magazine questionnaire to it's target audience (21 students at east norfolk sixth form college); i found that 95% of them don't even read the magazine. This clearly tells me that our college magazine needs some adjustments made to it in order to appeal to a wider range of students.

The people that took the survey said that they would like to see features on: fashion, x-box/gaming, jobs, up-coming events and sports in the magazine. This gives us as indication of what these young people are most interested in, and also gives ideas for successful features in our magazine.
70% of the magazine's target audience said that they would be prepared to pay around 50p for it, depending on what the first issue is like etc.. Others said that they would be encouraged to read the magazine if it was free or contained interesting "free stuff".

Another question in the survey suggested that students would like a "what's on" page in the magazine and wanted information about the college and the subjects they are doing. This confirms that they are not aware of the things going on in and around college; making it a definite thing that we should add into the magazine.

Results showed that 83% of students given the questionnaire advised that the college magazine should be released weekly. However only a few said that they would be happy to subscribe to it.

<-- I created this diagram to show the audience profile for the music magazine that I am going to create.

...This is now different, my music magazine will appeal mainly to girls between the ages of 16 and 30.

The front cover of my college magazine is simple but should appeal to most sudents as it isn't too "collegey" If it was "collegey" (or looked like the handbooks - colour scheme etc..) it may put them off buying it; because most students that took my questionnaire said they would not read college magazine, but are happy to read other magazines. I have used the correct colouring on the college logo to make it look professional and unique to the college; however the other colours are pale and not appealing to mainly males OR females. This should make the magazine more attractive to it's audience. The main image on my front cover is of a typical east norfolk student in a classroom - so all potential buyers of the magazine will be able to relate to the picture as a part of everyday college life. In the bottom right corner i have given a few examples of what students will find within the magazine, which continues on the contents page. The questionnaire students took showed that the most wanted feature was a "What's On" guide, therefore i included this on the front cover, to intice readers to but it.







My contents page doesn't involve any photos; instead I have used a modern floral design to appeal to the age group. The font is simple and easy to read and the colours follow the same scheme as on the front cover. I have also included the college logo again in the same place as on the front cover. Included in the magazine is a "What's On "guide, as asked for by students (this is why it's the first feature of the magazine), subject help (for student's that would like to learn more about their chosen courses - coursework deadlines, trips etc..), Parties and Events (which are bound to be common amoung teenage students - this will give information such as dates, venues and prices), Gaming (a vast amount of students - mainly targeting the male audience - would like information about new games such as Call of Duty, Black Ops. Gaming was specifically asked for as a feature when students took the college magazine questionnaire). College fashion appeals to both genders and was also suggested as a feature in the survey that I carried out. Here I have targeted "best buys" as students will also be looking for bargains that are still fashionable - as most of them are probably low on cash. Lastly on the contents page is "Sport" - looking at the college rugby team and their success. The only problem I can see with my contents page is that colour of the background and the colour of the font i have used for the features and page numbers. It becomes quite hard to read where they are similar near the bottom of the page.

The first thing i notice about this NME front cover is the simple yet eye catching colour scheme. The bright red logo is recognised by many therefore it can be slightly obscured by the image. By adding a white border around the letters and usign a plain black background it makes the title stand out even more. The only other colours used on this front cover are white and beige - by using these fairly neutral colours it draws attention to the title first, then the other text. The black background also creates a more dramatic atmosphere when paired with the main image. The photograph of the Arctic Monkeys is dramatically lit and has very dark shadowing. This gives an effect of seclusion, like the band are alone in a dark room and their expressions are fairly blank - which links to the statement near the bottom of the front cover. This reads "We can't worry about what other people think" - portraying the fact that the band are not bothered how they are seen, they are only concerned with their music and their fans. By using an extract from an interview such as this on a front cover it tells the reader that there is a full interview inside the magazine, without actually stating it.





This NME contents page is typical to most issues of the magazine. It has a simple layout with two main images (this time of Oasis "kicking off their world tour") By using images relating to live gigs, concerts or tours it grabs the attention of most of NME's target audience; this is because the majority of them regularly attend music related events. They may even be able to say they have tickets to or have been to this Oasis tour, therefore making them want to read up on it and see what reviews it has got (which will be inside the magazine.) The colours used are red and black, upkeeping with the colour theme of the "NME" logo. Down the left hand side of the page is a "Band Index" so that reader's can flick to pages they want to read depending on what bands or artists they like most. On the right they have seperated the features of the magazine under sub-headings such as "News" and "Reviews". This again makes it easier for the reader to find exactly what they are looking for easily and quickly.








This "Rolling Stone" magazine cover is similar to the NME cover because the title is also obscured by the main image. This is more common in Rolling Stone magazines but in both magazines it shows their popularity; that people know what magazine it is without even needing to see the whole title. Because of this readers may be persuaded to buy the item and also not be bothered by a higher price, as they believe it to be a popular, well known, good music magazine. They have chosen a plain white background for the magazine to contrast with Amy Winehouse's Black hair and top. This image of Amy is simple, she isn't wearing an etravegant outfit; they have done this so that her main feature is her tattoos, showing a rebellious side. The only other colours used for text on the front cover are red and pale blue. The pale blue is used for the main title and for the name of "Amy Winehouse" at the bottom of the page. The focal point of the page is Amy's face, therefore they have added a bold headline of a feature inside the magazine right next to her face, so that our eye then travels to it after scanning the main image.






This is the only contents page for Rolling Stone magazine that i could find on the internet. It differs from most other contents pages as it does not include photographs. Instead it has one large image of a painting. The painting is not realistic, but probably looks like who it is meant to be (this contents page is froma fairly old Rolling Stone magazine) - almost like a charicature. The colours in the painting are neutral, whereas the colours used for the title line and the page reference of a feature (relating to the painting) in the corner are quite vibrant. The features of the magazine are listed in a simple manner, with different headings to make it easier for the reader to find what they are looking for. This contents page is relevant to the target audience of the Rolling Stone magazine and can be widely appreciated by different types of reader - as the painting adds a different element to the contents page.









I have chosen to analyse this double page spread from NME magazine. The layout of features like this is very important and this particular article uses a large quote as a title in an attractive and intersting style to grab attention. Instead of having a boxed in image or an image on one page of the spread they position the image of Lily Allen to overlap onto the middle column. The white space is spread evenly over the two pages so that the layout is pleasing to the eye. And the only main use of colour is Lily's shirt whereas a lot of articles will use bright colours for the headings etc. The main body of text is arranged in short columns underneath the kicker; which spreads right across the top of these columns and is about the same width of the title. This arrangement makes the text look tidy and easy to follow. The dropcap is just one letter long and is very large - which means the reader will easily find where the article starts. There are not any bold sub-heading quotes within the text, this is probably because the title of the piece is a quote and they do not need to repeat themselves.







This double page spread is from KERRANG magazine and is a lot different to the example from NME above. They havent layed the pages out into three columns, intead - one page is a big image of Greenday and the other is all the text. This consists of a large kicker in capitals to attract the reader's attention and the rest of the text is written as one block of paragraphed text. Therfore there are no gutters - which makes this example of a double page spread different to a lot of others and in some ways original. The dropcap in this article is a couple of words long and is bolder than the rest of the text; making it clear where the reader must begin.