Locke

What is a Young Tyneside cinema card?:
It is a card that allows youth to visit the cinema and experience amazing films for a small amount of money. A lot of these films are independent and aren't normally what you'd expect to see in a multiplex cinema but they are so worth the time to go and try out this experience, you never know ... you might enjoy it. I believe the age range for this card is 15-19, however the age limit may be increasing to 21. This card enables you to see films everyday of the week for £4 no matter the time and it also includes you in offers they have. For example: 2-4-1 offers ... etc.

This is my Tyneside cinema card, they are free and all I needed to do in order to apply for one was bring ID to the cinema with me (in the form of a bus card) and it no more than 5 minutes to get it up and running before I went to see the film.

What do they look like?:
This is my card -  I had to scribble out the ID code or whatever it is ... just looked important. It's like a normal card, nothing flash, pale grey, not shiny, its rather simplistic but I like it.

How much are the cards?:
These cards are free to apply for, all you pay for is the film. There is this scheme however at the cinema where the cinemas ask for a 20p donation per ticket (When I mean ask, they don't force it upon you, it's your decision). This scheme collects all the 20p's and amounts to a grand total which the cinema can spend on funding the actual cinema and can help to renovate and improve the cinema facilities.

How do I get one?:
I'm sure you can apply for them online but the easiest and quickest way I found was going to the cinema prior to actually buying a ticket for the film and it takes roughly 5 minutes to fill out the form. You MUST bring ID.

Why are they good?:
Tyneside Cinema cards are absolutely amazing! Not only does it give young people a chance to see a film any time of week for £4 but on Fridays they do 2-4-1 deals. So if you attend the cinema with someone else it's only £2 per ticket if you decide to go halfers like what I do with my friends. I do enjoy a good film that is out of the ordinary and it is nice to be in such a comforting and relaxing environment like they Tyneside cinema. It has such character and always reminds me of a classic cinema that indulges in showing old and new films. This experience differs from any normal multiplex cinemas like the 'Vue' or 'Cineworld'...etc as it seems to retain the old/retro feel a cinema should have that is filled with heritage.

Website:
 https://www.tynesidecinema.co.uk/young-tyneside-archive/competitions/young-tyneside-discount-card

Review/ What I thought:
Last night myself, Eden and Callum (Media student/ ex student) went to the Tyneside cinema to see an independent film called 'Locke'. Tom Hardy stars as the main protagonist - Ivan Locke. He is a welsh, middle aged man who appears to have conflicting emotions as he proceeds on his car journey to this unknown destination. He is a working man and it is evident from later scenes within the film that he is hard working and his current behaviour is out of the ordinary. He seems calm and collected in the beginning where is phone calls start however his façade is broken when the stress gets the better of him. He has many decisions to make and from the moment he gets in his car his life begins to turn in a new direction.

"Tom Hardy is brilliant in Locke, a film that manages to turn the logistics of pouring concrete into one of the most nail-biting thrillers of the year." - Robbie Collin, Chief Film Critic (Telegraph)

Here is the trailer:



Published review:
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/culture/film/filmreviews/10771751/Locke-film-review.html
(4/5 stars)
This is a nail-biting thriller and I agree completely with this review. It isn't like the generic thriller where there are guns and flame throwers to the left and right of you, it is all centralised on a very ordinary story. At first I thought, (sarcastically) "Wow! one actor on screen throughout the full film? This is going to be fun!". I love independent films and always give a film a chance, this was so worth attending. I think because it was such an ordinary story it was easy to relate to the problems and stress he is facing. Not necessarily the same situation but isn't so unrealistic that it couldn't happen in real life, where as the idea of being held up at gun point and featuring in some wild life threatening chase potentially wouldn't happen everyday.

 

Podcast and bloopers

This post explains what I missed in my media lessons last Thursday when I went on a visit to the University of Sunderland for an English literature 'gothic' themed day.

 

Idea 2

Planning/ research and ideas for the preliminary task

In todays lesson we discussed what we had to do for the preliminary task and how it is beneficial to the course and for our development. It allows us to see faults and learn from our mistakes.

One of the main ideas that was suggested for the preliminary task was a chase sequence. For the first 2 hours of today I brainstormed some ideas on a mind-map and thought of what I could produce. Using the resources I have at the moment, I have decided I am going to do this small project within the school grounds. ( This idea is developed further in the research below). I could be more creative and go outside of school and do something at home or in the city centre however I don't want this task to be overly time consuming, and although I want it to be a quality video, I don't want all my time to be centralised on one thing.
This video will potentially help me correct any errors I have found in the recording so I can prevent it for occurring when I am doing my short film.

Outline of what might be included in the development of research and planning:
* Brief outline of a concept - Idea
* Storyboards
* Potential investigations into the music that could be used
* Plan: Costume, Time management, actors, props and location.
(Will benefit me when I come to plan the short film as I will have an understanding what will be included in each section and how each process works).

IDEA 1:
Chase sequence - Proposal idea

Main Idea:
 - A woman is in her boyfriends apartment and his phone buzzes as it has received a text message
- She goes to investigate and the message is off a girl. the message is confusing - says something that could be assumed in a different way. She jumps to conclusions, probably assuming he is cheating and she fleas the apartment.
- He sees the bed on the phone and not in his pocket like it was last
- Runs out of the apartment and sees the bus leaving with her on it
- he looks everywhere for her, not knowing where she is and when she will return back to his
- Devastated and very confused, the boyfriend returns back to his apartment, where he is surprised by his girlfriend waiting there. ( This is hours later )
- She confronts him and he explains it's not what it looks like and he didn't want to do it here - the proposal - and wanted to do it somewhere so romantic but there was no way out of this situation unless he did it now.
- He got down on one knee and produced a ring box from his pocket
- Stunned girlfriend then says 'Yes' as she agrees to the unanswered question.

Potential Locations?

- A flat/house/apartment? Could use my sisters house.
- For the bus sequence I could use the bus stop down my street/ quite a nice street which opens onto a long road - would give enough time to see the bus ride away with the girlfriend. Straight road - clear shot.
- I could use the surrounding area of my house and maybe in town? probably somewhere local as it is easier for me and probably for the actors as I will be using people that I know and who live close by.

Actors?
- 2 actors are all that is needed to play and maybe someone (or myself ) can text the 'boyfriend' if the CALLER ID on the mobile is changed.

Age range? Who could play this role?
- The age range could be from anyone in my school who looks old enough. If I had to use anyone from school I would rather use my year group as I know the majority of them and they appear to me reliable enough.
- There is the possibility I could use one of my siblings for the role of the female. She is 22 years old.
- I can also ask my friends' siblings to act within the chase sequence if need be.

Costume?
- Average day to casual wear.
- It is just meant to look modern and simple, nothing over done, just what the actors would wear normally so it looks realistic, however I don't want sweat pants and lounge wear as it looks too casual.

A2 MEDIA

 

 
This is the start of my second year in A level media. Today was my first lesson and we discussed what potential ideas we could do for our coursework and who we would work with. I was going to work with myself but then I was thinking about the benefits of having another person work with me. I had to ensure they were reliable and that they would be able to produce a piece of work that was acceptable and looked like it was to a high standard. Alex - my partner for this course, allowed me to brainstorm some ideas and helped me think of what we could do. Commonly, people tend to sway for the horror trailer idea but some have opted for the short film idea. I recently watched one of the year 13s work from this year and their short film was amazing. We didn't want to concentrate on the an exact idea today for the film but we had a skeleton to work from and some potential locations and people we could potentially use as actors.

Front cover

Contents page

Double page spread

 

Article

 

 

 

Eden's video response to my magazine

Callum video response to my magazine

UPDATE:

This video is not uploading to my blog. I have used a lot of ways to try and upload it, such as:

- Blogger
- Youtube
- Vimeo

I will keep trying however it doesn't seem to be working.

There other two have uploaded without a problem.



[NEW UPDATE]

I uploaded that update about processing failure of my video response that Callum participated in.
With his help I was able to upload it to youtube even though it did take a considerable about of time.

 

 

[NEW UPDATE]

Magazine response: Charles Russell

I used a mac book to present my work. I showed Charlie my finished project and asked him a varied amount of questions.

Evaluation - quesiton 7

Question 7:

 

Looking back at your preliminary task what do you feel you have learnt in the progression from it to the full product?

 

Looking back to the beginning of my project I can see a massive difference in the way I work around media and how I think, – my understanding of media and everything involved has changed. From this full project I feel like I now know how to use many software’s on the computer more accurately.

 

Within this project I have found an understanding for how magazines are constructed and what is involved to create a professional looking magazine. The content is also important when creating a good magazine so that has to be taken into consideration.

 

From when I started this course I took pictures around the school to put onto the mock exams and they were appalling. They were unclear, wrong in more than way possible, they were atrocious. Now looking at when I just started taking pictures for my front cover the angles, the framing/positioning is 100% clear than when it was. Tees images are clear and fit happily within in any magazine and that do seem the best.

Quesiton 6 continued

 

My blog: Using a blog has been new, exciting and different. To post information about your project via the internet is a new age idea and I believe that it is also a simple idea. It's better than all of this coursework with a trillion stacks of paper that the examiner has to mark.

 

I have found it easy to post - sometimes. There has been difficulties when trying to upload media like podcasts and other technical powerpoints because it could just take a while for it to load which is time consuming and sometimes; especially in my case, i'd upload something and it would not show up to any one else, which is very frustrating.

 

There is a schedule on the blog posts so if you have accidently missed something out, you can slip it in and it'll go along side the work you want.

 

I love working with Blogger. It's new and it presents your work so it looks like its efficient and when using all forms of media, it looks amazing.

 

 

Evaluation - Question 6

Evaluation - Question 5 contuned (part 2)

Listen Music Files - Download Audio - MEDIA CONTINUED

Evalutation - Question 5 continued

Upload Music - Listen Audio Files - Alevel media question 5

Evaluation - Question 5

Listen Music Files - Embed Audio Files - Media question five

Evaluation - Question 4

What would the audience be for your media product?

 

Audience profile:

 

Gender: Male/female

 

Age: 35-40+

 

class: middle class+    -  this is due to the stereotype of the high class enjoying more calm and relaxing classical music or the stereotype that you must listen to classical music because its 'posh' and that’s what rich people do.

 

Interests: sports, music, etc...

 

Disposable income for magazine: £5-£10

 

My ideal audience would be someone that could obviously afford the magazine but appreciate everything within it, for example, in my issues there is score paper that is given away free – score paper is not cheap and is very resourceful to composers, it would be ideal for the reader to have some connection with music. This could be in the form of a player or a composer. Even if the reader didn’t have a clue about classical music but just enjoyed it that still wouldn’t be a loss.

To find out this date I used open questionnaires mixed with a couple of closed questions.

Why did I do this?
- Open questionnaires measure the opinion of someone, this is good when you want a large number of varied results and this gives you insight into what the personal thinks about it as its their independent thought.

- Closed questionnaires are easier and faster...you normally just have to tick a box or something. This is to get a general understanding of what people think and it allows the process of grouping answers together quicker because there aren't answers that are personal ones - there is a set amount of questions and people have to choose from them.

Evaluation - Question 3

Evaluation - Question 2

Evaluation - Question 1

Reader profile

 

A reader profile shows what the reader is interested in. It shows the typical interests of a reader and can also show what people are interested in or what they potentially could be interested in.

Statistics give a rough average of who has stated they do a particular thing ...etc

Good pictures of the instruments and children

I really love pictures like this, even though it doesn't have the child in properly, it looks like a good professional photograph. The colours of the skin and the violin contrast a lot and make both of them stand out. The housestyle would go great with this violin because like the front cover model, he is posing with a violin.

 

- To improve I would cut the girl out the back, and focus the camera more on the front of the violin so the strings would be in focus and the rest blurred. I do like this close up shot. Maybe if I were to concentrate more on the front of the violin I could use a medium close up.

The colour of this violin is bright and I do like it. I would use this on the front cover or in my magazine even though it is a good quality image. This is due to the nail polish she is wearing, its just a nit pick of mine but I would have preferred if no polish was in shot. Also I don't know if its just the way the image has uploaded but it appears that the image seems too sharp and the strings look gritty.

This boy was amazing with the camera, he is really photogenic and he posed and knew exactly what I wanted to take a picture of.

Again, the colours of the violin compliment his pale skin and I do like the stance he is in.

The lighting could have bee better here however I wasn't working with a backdrop and amazing lights like I did for my other photos. This was taken in a corridor of my school with weak lights from above us and a white wall.



This picture is also one of my favourites. He understands how to hold the violin and makes it look authentic. Again, there is the issue with the lighting and everything could have been a lot sharper and more defined with lights.

I adore a lot of these close ups of the violin, I enjoy the detail the camera picks up even with the lack of light and a back drop. I I were to use this everything in the back ground would be cut out or blurred. The colours here are sharp, powerful and it really captures the grain, shape and beauty of the violin head. The angle also works really well, I am really impressed with these images.

The bow angle is nice and looks real. As a musician I can pick out the faults of him holding the violin - his hand should be further up and this is only an issue because if people are buying my classical music magazine, id hope they had knowledge of music so they could also pick this out and see the faults within it and see that this is not an authentic picture.

 

( the story that would go alone with these children 'playing' the instruments - or the headline - would be that they were the new age playing instruments and classical music was not a dead language in the world of arts and music. )

[ On my front cover, I decided to change it around a bit a try and make it look a lot more minimalistic due to how much text and images I had on the front cover. It looked so over crowded.

I asked 4 children from my school - 2 girls and 2 boys if I could take some images of them with some instruments.

These are the good images. Some didn't look particularly nice and some of the poses didn't seem to fit what I wanted for my front cover or for wherever I was going to place it in my magazine. ]

Picutres of children playing instruments (BAD)

- The 3 children are masking each other

- The angle is odd, they aren't positioned correctly

- The lighting is terrible

- Not the correct positioning if I was trying to pass this image off as them playing the instruments correctly

- Lighting is atrocious

- They aren't looking at each other or in the correct direction

- Aren't holding the instruments correctly

- No back drop

- Blurred image

- Not focused

- Incorrect positioning of the hand

 

 

- Lighting

- Position

- Posture

- Handling of the instrument

- No backdrop

- Lighting

- Position

- Posture

- Handling of the instrument

- No backdrop

- Angle

- Lighting

- Position

- Posture

- Handling of the instrument

- No backdrop

- Angle

- Facial expression

- Direction of expression

Screen shots ~ Front cover

 

Why are women used in magazines?

- Women are attractive

- They attract the opposite sex

- A lot of magazines want a mixed gender audience

- Females - according to what I've read on the internet and from personal experience are interested in other females lives in the magazines, and will always - not always always, but sometimes will read articles and short stories on these women.

- Women aspire to be like pretty celebrities in magazines

So Far...

I HAVE....

- Taken more pictures to add to my front cover - the ones that were relevant of course.

- I have uploaded a barcode to make it look like an authentic music magazine.

- I have used 4 colours and 3 fonts in different sizes because too many would be too much on the magazine and it would be too much for the reader,  the magazine is full enough, it has so much on it that it doesn't need anymore distractions.

-  I based this off the 'music' magazine.

- The front of it is more minimalistic compared to mine however you can see the elements shining through like the use of the orangey red box in the corner of their magazine, I did the same however mine is bigger.

- A lot of the text is similar too, I tried to base what I found on their magazine and to use it in my, obviously changing it but I used that as a huge inspirations

- She is also holding a violin however I believe the female model on their magazine would attract more males relating to the Naomi Wolf ideal and how females present a more attractive feel to a magazine.

- If I were to do this magazine again I would possibly use a female because it would bring more men to the magazine due to the fact if I had a female model standing in an attractive pose looking rather beautiful it would definitely lure more people to the magazine.

- The reason I didn't use a female on my magazine front cover is because out of the two models I preferred the look of Josh, he seemed more relaxed around the camera and his shots looked a lot nicer

- I also preferred the violin because it made the photographs look a whole lot more vivid.

New font ideas

I had some ideas further down in my blog of what I want my mast heard and my front cover to have featured on it.

I wanted something that would stand out and that would be recognisable to a wide diverse audience.

I needed something that related with the genre of my magazine: classical. - I was looking through a lot of technical vocab for music and came across things I actually likes; things like 'allegro', 'andante', 'fortissimo', 'piano'. I looked at abbreviations too.

mf = means moderately loud
f = loud
piano = quiet
pp = really quiet
fff = really loud

I tired these out with this red colour and with different fonts. I adored the 'mf' version. It looked sophisticated and sleek and those who are unaware of all these technical words can stay blissfully unaware of what it means as it is just a symbol/ name for the magazine. However I believe it is an added bonus for those who understand music too.

The reason I thought about the masthead/title so much was because I want everything in my magazine to reflect on the actual knowledge I have of music. It also adds authenticity to my facts and the things I say.

Why have i used them?

Why have I used the equipment and programmes?

The reason is because Photoshop is renowned for being amazing when editing photographs. When using many layers and different images and text on something like a magazine, I personally have had no problems with Photoshop itself, it was either the way I had done things or if I lost something within a layer.

I enjoy using it because it is simple and clear.

I used a stills camera from school - this was because my camera is of a terrible quality and I had all the facilities at school. The back drop and lights added a professional finishing touch the images.

Equipment and programmes i have used

Equipment used when taking the pictures:

- Tripod
- Still camera
- Back drop
- Lights

Programmes used when editing or used in the production my magazine:

- Adobe Photoshop - used in the production of my magazine, contents page and double page spread.
- In design to create my article

 

This is an image of my male model Josh Bloomer posing in the character of 'Josh Bloom' the violinist.

I used the software Adobe Photoshop to edit the pictures I took of him. At the start of my blog or somewhere near the beginning I took a lot of pictures of my two models and I made a collage. Some I didn't use because they didn't seem right or just simply because I didn't need that many pictures of them in my magazine.

I used an eraser tool on a spaced out setting so when I was cutting him out of the white background it didn't look so sharp and harsh but more like a gradual cut so he could be placed on the right background on my front cover.

 

I used some of the additional tools to take away his blemishes - blemish eraser - and a burn tool to darker those features on his face. It enhanced his eyebrows, eyelashes and other crevices that were on his face.

 

- The violin and jumper are lovely colours and compliment each other.

- I do like this pose. Out of everyone Josh did I prefer this one. It shows the classical edge, with the violin and the bow positioning however the way he is standing shows how laid back he is and because he isn't in a suit but in smart clothing again it has that younger, relaxed vibe to it.

 

 

To improve

 
To improve I could continue with the continuity  of the house style and mast head.
- I have used the same 'mf' throughout and the house style which is good as I am continuing with it throughout my magazine which you can tell throughout my blog.
- The fonts are rather clear and I am still sticking with the four colour scheme.

I NEED TO:
- Add another two columns or if I add another one and make the last column bigger I could make it into a review section or like an editors section like on other magazines.

Screen shots

 

Some of the text that didn't show up properly:

"These two are when I had my columns in. The 'mf' were from the masthead/title, and I just copied them in the places I wanted to put them. On the spot, i made up something an editor would say and just inserted it onto another layer. I added relevant pictures into a place on the magazine. Like this image"

"These are more basic stages of how i proceeded with completing my contents page:"

Font ideas

For my front cover, i need a title that stands out and that is easily read however, it has to be recognisable.

I would like my title to either have the letter 'A' in it or the actual word 'Allegro. The reason for this is because allegro is a musical term for the speed of which a piece of music is played. Allegro rolls off the tongue and i just like the word.

Here are some screen shots of titles i could potentially use:

I have tried to look for fonts that look rather decorative and unique as well as intricate. If i have a really boring font it could potentially make everything else look plain and boring and since this is aimed at a more mature audience with elegance and class i believe that the font should resemble that.

 

Why are women used in magazines?

New flatplan

 

FRONT COVER FLATPLAN

 

Likes and dislikes of the photographs

These photographs vary from medium long shot all the way up to medium close up. I didn't wasn't just pictures of their faces as adding their body, clothing and the instruments in bring relevance to my actual magazine.

I really love the close up shots of Josh when he is resting the violin under is chin. The colours work really well. The vibrancy of the mustard colour of his jumper contrasting with the vivid colour of the reds on the violin look amazing and make the full picture stand out. I also like how the light bounces off Josh himself, it makes his skin look radiant and really photogenic. Also, as Josh has pale/fair skin the rich colours bring out a tint of pink in his cheeks.

Alex's pictures work really well. I love the medium close ups of her because her bone structure is beautiful. she has a lovely structured jaw line which compliments her short pixie hair cut. I didn't believe that this hair cut would really work with a classical magazine as i thought of elegant long hair, more stereotypical looks for a classical magazine however this hair style makes Alex look less childish and makes every feature stand out. She has really fair skin and with the light reflecting it also contributes to the 'radiant skin' look. The pop the pink/red lipstick was to make her lips stand out and because when i did my research on classical magazines, a lot of the women either pose in aan attractive way or have their best feature emphasised. I believe Alex has many desirable features about her and choosing her lips has connotations of sexuality and will appeal to the male generations. I wanted to present her as a sexy female.

If i were to imrpove, i would have made them bring more clothes so i could have taken a more varied shot with each model. If they had more clothes i could have taken different ones.

 

The lighting on some pictures actually seem to be too bright when relfecting on the models. The lights look good as it lights up every feature but in some cases it has washed the models making them look ghostly pale.

 

 

Photographs

Throughout this week i have been able to take some photographs for my magazine.

I focused on taking pictures which would be ideal for a front cover or a double page spread.

These are some collages of the pictures i took.

 

 

 

 

Before i took the photographs ...

Before i took the pictures for my magazine i had to find suitable models to appear in my double page feature and on the front cover, basically throughout the magazine.

I chose Josh. He looked well on camera and listened to everything i had to say and when i directed him on how to pose for the camera. Josh used a violin to model with as it is more of a manly instrument. They are beautifully made, the body of the violin is strong and still elegant.

For my female model i used Alex. She is an average build, slim and mid height. She has short hair and i thought she would be well suited to model with a flute. It is an elegant instrument and is long, silver and is rather beautiful.

In preparation of taking the pictures, a backdrop set up had to be made.
there was:

- 2 backdrop lights
- 2 face lights
- 1 back light
- A backdrop
- natural light coming from various parts of the set ( Thee were mainly blocked out by the curtain which separated the back of the stage to the open space in the hall, and the lights were also turned off )
- A still lumix Panasonic camera
- A tripod

 

Before proceeding with taking the photographs i asked my two models if i was allowed to take pictures of them and use them within my project.

Reader profile

Models used

For my magazine i used two main models.                                                                                                A boy and a girl.

Boy = Josh Bloomer
Girl = Alex Thompson

Other models I used:

- Jordan Thompson - Featured on the earlier versions of the front cover, appears on the contents page as the editor and on the article awarding the young musician an award.

- Some other unnamed extras that may or not be present on the final versions of the magazine.

Josh posed with a violin and featured mainly on my front cover and contents page. The reason I used Josh was because he is genuinely photogenic and he has an older presence to him (he looks older then he actually is). Josh is more suitable for a classical magazine and not an indie/pop punk or rock magazine because when he posed with the violin he looked  authentic and like an actual player. His appearance doesn't seem to fit the type of genre like metal which includes dark heavy colours. The accessibility was rather easy too since he sat just a seat away from me in class so choosing him/ asking him to participate my magazine wasn't that difficult and I didn't have to go find a model somewhere else that could potentially fit the genre of my magazine.



Alex posed with the flute and feature on the front cover but mainly on my contents page. I adored her bone structure and her frame and when using medium close ups to close ups her complexion looked amazing under the camera light and she looked so photogenic. Her appearance also fit the classical genre. However unlike Josh, she could have been used for a 'heavier' genre like metal, or rock as her natural foundations - with her short hair and dress sense; seemed to fit every genre. She was easily moulded into what I wanted/ needed and looked sophisticate d and beautiful in my shots of her.

New colour scheme

The colour scheme is more or less the same as the post prior to this one however I have been heavily influenced on the colour of the violin and I want to integrate this into the house style.  

 The colour is so rich and warm, I believe it shows wealth, colour and has other connotations for elegance.

In this image it shows clearly the rich and vibrant colours of the violin.

 

Listen Music - Listen Audio Files - Media pro

What colour scheme would i choose for my house style?

For my magazine, my potential house style would have to consider, using my research what colours would suit a more mature audience without making the whole magazine look dull and boring.

I would love to use pastel colours that aren't so bright that they look shocking, but calm, warm colours that look suitable to continue throughout the full magazine.




Even though these colours seem rather dark, and a tad dull, with the white or ivory page colour to contrast with these colours i believe that these would be a lovely grown up palette of colours for your eyes to indulge in.

Personally i would use either the Taupe, Blue or Sage grey colour as they seem rather cool looking in the sense they remind me of the sea and of nice natural colours.

 

 



Podcast

Draft of article

Sitting in London’s finest De’Vouire Hotel, I anticipate the arrival of Alexi Davies. It’s 9:26 am and the streets are already teaming with traffic while a parade of business men and women flock the crowded and narrow streets of Westminster. I on the other hand, is sat indulging in a lovely strawberry and crème scone with a delightful tea, heaped to the brim with sugar.

At about 9:39 am, Alexis walks in sporting a flushed look, probably from dodging the chaos that was occurring outside the window. Settling into her seat we begin.

 

Growing up in North Yorkshire with a farmer for a father and a Nursery teacher for a mother did you at all feel that the prospects of becoming a musician were small? Even at a young age I was intrigued by the whole concept of music and how one simple instrument could produce such an intricate sound. My friend’s mother played the flute; I always jumped at the chance to sleepover at hers and all night symphonies of pure perfection would be created. My parents didn’t prevent me from playing an instrument but they weren’t overly enthusiastic. They weren’t captivated by the charm of music like I was so my music career nearly never happened if it weren’t for my friends mother.

Do you think if you weren’t an only child, your chances of becoming a flautist would have increased? No, … well, not really. Imagine if I had siblings, the very little time I had with my parents – due to their busy work schedule, I’d have to share with the rest of my brothers or sisters. It sounds selfish but being an only child was amazing. Not that I was greedy and spoilt, but I was able to get the music lessons I needed, and they didn’t come cheap. Also not having brothers and sisters to nag you all the time allowed me to have free time to play the flute and to just relax.

 

Did you ever believe you’d be where you are today? If you told me today I’d be working with an orchestra on the new ‘Divergent’ film I would call you straight out mad. For me, this industry is all about luck and getting people to notice you. You have a few second sin life to prove yourself before someone else jumps into view, you have to be quick. There are people that have been training all their lives to be where am now, I am genuinely grateful for everyone’s help. It’s not all about knowing people and having contacts, it’s about sticking in, working hard and proving to everyone and yourself that you can do this, you are a performer and you are going to make it; if not, why are you still here?

 

How did you handle rejections? Have you nearly given up before? The ‘one door closes and another one opens’ is a lie. You will get a thousand knock back, I have had about a thousand. In 2001 I applied for a Guildhall school of music and drama. Even though it was a school I failed the entry audition and I thought my life was over. For weeks I dwelled on what my life would become. Soon enough I realised that if I am not performing I am not living, I picked myself up and I auditioned and pushed my music into the faces of anyone who would stop and listen, with years and years of blood, sweat and tears I ‘made it’. Well, ‘making it’ isn’t about money and all the fame, it’s about being able to have a career and do what you’ve always dreamed of. I have given up numerous of times, looking back, I look so stupid giving up.

 

What was your greatest achievement? Definitely winning the National Musician award for the youngest musician of the year. It genuinely shocked me and I had some of my idols from when I was a little girl come and greet me and congratulate me. By far one of the best days of my life.

 

Where do you see yourself going? I believe, and hope I am rather young to be in the ‘music industry’. I am 25 years old and have achieved so much in so little time, I really don’t know where I will end up but I do hope its somewhere good. All will be well if I can continue playing my flute. It’s my passion, it’s my job, it’s my life, I really do enjoy every moment of my career so far.

Do you want to start a family? I’d have to find someone first! I would love to start a family. To move back to my home town eventually or somewhere so tranquil and peaceful, to bring up a family in that environment would be amazing. I’d love to have children but right now I’m more focused on my career … but maybe one day.

 

What a wonderful interview with the lovely Alexis Davies. We will post updates on our twitter feed of how she is getting on and you never know, we may be covering an article feature where she wins the Global Musician Award!

Uses and Gratifications

Draft of the front cover

 

This is a screenshot of my magazine - front cover.

- All I have added is the male model and the title//logo

First draft of my double page spread

I have chosen a nude/plain/dullish off grey/blue colour for the background.
I actually took the colour from my models tie// surrounding area near the tie and I think I just enhanced the colour and went 2 shades lighter.

NOTE TO SELF
- The models face needs the yellow taken out.

Mindmap of potential ideas of my magazine

Flatplan

 

 

Flat plan of article // double page spread

 

 

 

 

Flat plan of contents page

 

 

 

 

Flat plan of my front cover

( first design)



What have i done? Podcast -