blog 8-evaluation and planning of article

The first article is an interview from mixmag. An interview is an article which can be attractive to anyone if the correct person is chosen to be interviewed. This is because we all want to know about the people we look up to. The interview has to be conducted in the correct style which means the correct interviewer has to be chosen. These things and the presentation of the magazine all have to be suitable for the target audience for the interview to be interesting to the reader. The interviewee in this article is a techno Dj. Her interview therefore will only be interesting to those who are fans of techno music. The style of the interview depends more on the interviewee as the interviewer will usually try to flow with the interviewee. That is probably the main reason for the seriousness of the interview. It is clear from the interview that she takes her music very seriously and their are personal issues in her life that it would be innapropriate and offensive to try to make a joke out of. This ensures that the tone of the interview remains serious throughout. The language that is used reflects this for example there are some technical terms used this demonstrates how seriously she takes her music. She also uses emotive and negative language to describe areas of her life that have been difficult. Although there are refferences to negative points like the frustation of her music production and family problems the overall tone remains positive and she tends to give a positive twist to the negative issues surrounding her life. Although the article has a serious tone it is not a formal interview. They may have used an informal interview because it is more relaxed. Part of the attraction of an interview is that you get an insight into their lives: it may seem less realistic if the interview is done formally as an interviewee may feel less relaxed so it is less natural. The article is arranged in fairly short paragraphs. This may have been done to keep the reader interested and to try to cover as many different subjects in the interview as possible. This gives it more of an overview rather than loads of detail. The article avoids the use of direct address as it is an interview. Using direct address would not be appropriate in this article because it is an article about her and not about anything that directly affects the reader. The double page spread has the first page with a picture of magda taking up the whole page and the only writing on the page is a quote taken from her interview. This creates impact and attracts the readers attention. These things give a brief representation of her and her personality. On the opposite page the text is arranged around the photos one of which being in the top right hand corner and the other being in the bottom right hand corner. The one in the top right hand corner is larger than the one near the bottom of the page. The pictures may have been used to help the audience relate to Magda. Without knowing what she looks like they would not appreciate the interview as much. This is because the photos are all part of the insight an interview is meant to provide. It is clear that the visual aspect of this double page spread is important as they have used three pictures, this might be why they have used a small font.

The second double page spread is structured differently to the first double page spread. This is also from mixmag and differs structurally from the other one because it contains three articles instead of just one. The first page has two short articles both outlining competitions for the readers. The first of these two articles takes up most of the page as it offers a more exciting prize. The article starts by talking about the Dj who is involved in the competition and goes on to talk about the club he's playing at. At the end of the article is a list of the things you win in this competition. They do this so they know exactly what they could win. The article is short and is arranged in short paragraphs so that it gets straight to the point. This enables it to give a short overview outlining the competition. It is not an article which requires huge detail and by avoiding lots of depth it allows the readers to use their imagination which is likely to imagine the best scenario for them. The article itself is informal this is so it appeals more to it's target audience. As the prize is basically the opportunity to enjoy themselves in Las Vegas this would not suit a formal article. The article obviously has a positive tone as it is trying to attract it's audience to the competition. Some of the language used to describe Oakie (dj) include "superstar" and "don" they are both very complimentary. This demonstrates the positive tone of the article. By complimenting the Dj involved in the competition they are making the competition sound better and more appealing. They also make the competition sound more exciting by saying how rare the opportunity is, this will make the competition sound more unique and therefore will interest more people as they will not want to miss out on this opportunity because they will not get another chance to experience it. The article is more descriptive which is why they didn't use direct address. Direct address in this instance may also sound too aggressive as it might sound like they are trying to force the competition on the reader. This could also be why they chose to use an article instead of an advert because people get sick of adverts and learn to ignore them whereas this is a more subtle way of promoting it.



This is the first draft for my article for my double page spread.

Hello and welcome to Overt it’s great to have you here, how are you?
I’m good and it is great to be here.
Firstly I would like to know a bit about your roots; where you came from, how you became interested in dubstep?
I am a Brighton boy born and bred and I still live there in fact. Brighton is a city which is big for music and this is one of the reasons I think I have always been so interested in music. I have tried playing different instruments: guitar, drums, French horn, double base and the list goes on but I found although I had the timing to play these instruments I never really enjoyed playing them. I found that whatever I was told to play just wasn’t my style. Although as I said Brighton is a great city for music and it has some great venues when I was growing up none of the music that was coming out of Brighton suited my personality. There was music I loved but it was from so many different genres, this is a good thing in some ways but it meant I was never really interested in producing my own music. I think this is what stopped me producing music before I did but I think it has made me a better producer now as I can include elements from so many different genres. One of my best friends got me interested in dubstep because he was always trying to find mad new music and when he showed me dubstep I knew that this music just fit me perfectly.
How have you tried to get yourself out there and how would you advise others to do so?
Internet is how the majority of my music is found and it is how I would advise others to get themselves out there. One of the main reasons I think that the internet is the way to get yourself out there is because it is accessible to anyone and people are not afraid to give you their real opinion.
What do you prefer production in the studio or playing live to a crowd?
I love the buzz you get from a crowd but it is nothing compared to the buzz you get from finishing a tune, it is just so satisfying. I have only really played small events and for my mates birthdays etc so that could all change if I start playing some big events.
Ok so what’s the worst tune you have ever played because you have fancied the person who requested it?
If I tell you that it will probably be the end of my career.
You can hold me personally responsible.
Errrrrrr
Go on you can’t leave without us finding out.
Ok it was ……. but she was a stunner and it was her birthday and I have learnt the error of my ways and apologise to all the fans of good music.
Ha that is quite shocking but I won’t hold it against you, this is an important question I need to ask and we ask everyone we interview what has inspired you?
This is a question that is difficult to pinpoint an answer for as I am and I think we all are inspired by everything that we experience, even if we don’t realise it. A tune doesn’t have to be good to inspire me for example.
That is a very interesting answer; I don’t think we’ve ever had one like that before. This is perhaps another tricky question for you; who would you most like to play live with?
That is another tricky one because there are loads of people I would love to play with, but flux pavillion is still the maddest live performance I have seen so it would have to be them.
Everyone including me is dying to know where you are gonna go next so what are your plans for the future?
I find if things are too well planned your life becomes too rigid and you miss opportunities and things that you really want to do, however with that in mind I am trying to contact dismantle as I love his music and he is someone I really want to work with.

I’m afraid that’s all we have time for, thank you very much for talking to us.
It was a pleasure and thank you for having me.


Hello and welcome to Overt it’s great to have you here, how are you?
I’m good and it is great to be here.
Firstly I would like to know a bit about your roots; where you came from, how you became interested in dubstep?
I am a Brighton boy born and bred and I still live there in fact. Brighton is a city which is big for music and this is one of the reasons I think I have always been so interested in music. I have tried playing different instruments: guitar, drums, French horn, double base and the list goes on but I found although I had the timing to play these instruments I never really enjoyed playing them. I found that whatever I was told to play just wasn’t my style. Although as I said Brighton is a great city for music and it has some great venues when I was growing up none of the music that was coming out of Brighton suited my personality. There was music I loved but it was from so many different genres, this is a good thing in some ways but it meant I was never really interested in producing my own music. I think this is what stopped me producing music before I did but I think it has made me a better producer now as I can include elements from so many different genres. One of my best friends got me interested in dubstep because he was always trying to find mad new music and when he showed me dubstep I knew that this music just fit me perfectly.
How have you tried to get yourself out there and how would you advise others to do so?
Internet is how the majority of my music is found and it is how I would advise others to get themselves out there. One of the main reasons I think that the internet is the way to get yourself out there is because it is accessible to anyone and people are not afraid to give you their real opinion.
What do you prefer production in the studio or playing live to a crowd?
I love the buzz you get from a crowd but it is nothing compared to the buzz you get from finishing a tune, it is just so satisfying. I have only really played small events and for my mates birthdays etc so that could all change if I start playing some big events.
Ok so what’s the worst tune you have ever played because you have fancied the person who requested it?
If I tell you that it will probably be the end of my career.
You can hold me personally responsible.
Errrrrrr
Go on you can’t leave without us finding out.
Ok it was atomic kitten but she was a stunner and it was her birthday and I have learnt the error of my ways and apologise to all the fans of good music.
Ha that is quite shocking but I won’t hold it against you, this is an important question I need to ask and we ask everyone we interview what has inspired you?
This is a question that is difficult to pinpoint an answer for as I am and I think we all are inspired by everything that we experience, even if we don’t realise it. A tune doesn’t have to be good to inspire me for example.
That is a very interesting answer; I don’t think we’ve ever had one like that before. This is perhaps another tricky question for you; who would you most like to play back to back with?
That is another tricky one because there are loads of people I would love to play with, but flux pavillion is still the maddest live performance I have seen so it would have to be them.
Everyone including me is dying to know where you are gonna go next so what are your plans for the future?
I find if things are too well planned your life becomes too rigid and you miss opportunities and things that you really want to do, however with that in mind I am trying to contact dismantle as I love his music and he is someone I really want to work with.
Is there any more advice you would give to new music producers?
One important piece of advice is do not allow music trends to change your music and I don’t mean don’t let anyone influence your music but don’t allow the music you create to depend on what other artists sound like. I am basically saying be brave enough to be yourself and that can help you in all areas of life. The other piece of advice I would give is use the technology available to you. Technology gets blamed for a lot of problems with the music industry today but the truth is without technology we wouldn’t have such great music. In my opinion a computer with the right software is the best instrument known to man.
I’m afraid that’s all we have time for, thank you very much for talking to us.
It was a pleasure and thank you for having me.