Final Presentation Entertainment Article

Final PresentationEntertainment Article

Zamira Allen : Project Implementation

Research Project

For the project set during first semester, I chose to look into the dangers of legal highs and compare them to illegal substances worldwide. The aim was to highlight and prove the recorded health issues associated with legally provided substances and discuss how that shouldn’t be interpreted as a safer way of taking drugs.

Magazine Article

So to relate to first semester I chose to take a light-hearted approach to the topic of legal and illegal highs and create a mostly fictional and opinionated piece based on my own experiences and close friends’ experiences with drugs.

Article Style

Article Style

I looked into various Gonzo Journalism writers, obviously the most famous author being Hunter S. Thompson, and then into styles linked with New Journalism, where I came across Lester Bangs.

Existing Publication

So after filtering through various websites I landed on Sabotage Times.A fairly low key, online magazine set up no more than 4 years ago.

Existing Publication

I chose this magazine for various reasons, all important factors for building my artefact.

Existing Publication

1. They cover everything! Music, fashion, film, life, travel, reviews, and many more common topics of discussion; but also features competitions and galleries.

Existing Publication

2. The writers don’t just consist of Sabotage’s people as the magazine allows readers of any journalistic ability to submit an article and if it is approved by the editor it can be published on the website. Some may be paid for if interest rises.

Existing Publication

3. Their demographic is so wide due to the fact that their articles and writers are so varied. This meant that I’d be in with a good chance that someone who regularly checks the website for articles would be interested in a piece like mine.

Existing Publication

4. They have similar articles relating to the piece I wanted to write and that made it a no brainer choosing Sabotage as the basis for my work.

Existing PublicationI came across this article during the research stages which helped me improve and update the previous knowledge I had on Gonzo Journalism. Although this article is more hard-hitting and more focused on the crime rates associated with drug use, it was still useful to see how wording the topic of drugs can change the tone of a piece.

Magazine Article: Design

The design stage for me wasn’t much of a problem as Sabotage have a very simple layout and format. I had toyed around with ideas and decided that the easiest thing to do was to wait until I had written the words for the piece first before setting it onto InDesign.

Magazine Article: DesignThe fonts I used to mimic those on the website weren’t exact matches as I wanted to focus on the content rather than the look of the piece, however I did come across several websites that allow an image of a desired font to be uploaded in order to receive an exact match available for download.

Magazine Article: DesignIt proved fairly simple to find a match using preloaded fonts on InDesign and the only problem I encountered was trying to find the correct colour gradient for the letters and saving the ‘Articles’ logo to the left of the title.

Magazine Article: DesignThe quality of the logo whether saved, screen-shot or downloaded proved pixelated every time so I had to drop it from my design. The name and date was then altered and put in italics as the example from Sabotage shows. (bottom image)

Magazine Article: Design

Initial

Revised

Sabotage Example

Magazine Article: DesignAnother problem I encountered was captions and photos. The arrangement of photos proved difficult to fit into a 2500 word article as I originally had them too big, so I played around with sizes and wrapping text but decided on two images at once with both captions underneath to keep it all compact.

Magazine Article: Design

Box outs were also a fairly simple design process, a few encounters with formatting full stops and alignment of the words, but overall looked similar to the existing publication’s design.

Magazine Article: Design

As Sabotage’s articles are created for the web, they’re pages seem thinner and longer, whereas mine is formatted to InDesign’s A4 layout.

Magazine Article: Design Process

I produced my online article using InDesign, a program that allows the creator to freely move and resize anything without restrictions, however after making it I wondered if I could have created a webpage specifically for the article allowing me to add hyperlinks as a real online article would include.

Photography

The photos, from first glance at the article title, seem not to fit in and that was the point. It’s supposed to be a way of enticing the reader into wanting to know more because it’s likely that they would have a stereotype in their head immediately after reading the introduction and I feel I can completely change that as they read through the piece.

Photography

My photos are supposed to show innocence amongst a world of prejudice against drug users, breaking from the norm and showing young men enjoying nature and involving themselves in an activity together – quite contrary to the social norm of taking drugs whilst at a rave, for example.

Photography

dd

PhotographyThe idea was that me and a group of close friends visit a regular hang-out of ours, Kirkstall’s Aire Valley Nature Reserve. I mentioned that I needed models for my photography assignment coming up and they volunteered to be in them straight away, meaning I could crack on with my work there and then.

PhotographyThis photo is a favourite of mine due to the simplicity and the child-like values it brings. When linked with the article it gives the reader a sense of what drugs really aren’t, aside from any prejudgements they had made prior to reading the story.

Photography

Of course, some photos did involve capturing the use of drugs, not to say that the models were or were not actually using drugs.The guys in the photographs include some I interviewed to help with the ideas supported in the article, so they had a strong sense of what direction the piece was moving in. I managed to jot down extra opinions and views whilst at the nature reserve.

Photography

Magazine Article: Tone

The article is written in the 1st person throughout and the order runs through the dismissal of drugs as a recreational activity, the dangers of legal highs, the experiences of and some things perhaps the reader hadn’t already known about marijuana, stereotyping of drugs and of course, Lenny.

Magazine Article: CharactersLenny is a fictional character I decided to bring in whilst hitting a road block halfway through writing. I wanted to get my points across but was beginning to drone on and on with ‘I think this…’ and ‘This is what I agree with…’ and some readers would be starting to wonder who I even am and why they care about what I think.

Magazine Article: CharactersSo! With this in mind, Lenny was created to run alongside my opinions and act as a subject for demonstrating the dangers/benefits of certain substances.

Magazine Article: Inspiration

Magazine Article: InspirationMuch like the famous Gonzo Journalism piece, my article has a strong, continuous, opinionated voice running through it as a sort of commentary; but I simply couldn’t adapt to giving my view on something whilst trying to write like somebody I’m so clearly not.

Magazine Article: Tone

Magazine Article: Journalistic Encounters

Interviews:I had initially decided that interviews would take place, I would note down what was said and then introduce my friends into the article and write it in as a Q&A kind of scenario; however the further along I got with that the more I realised that I was just listing someone else’s opinions alongside mine which wouldn’t make for an interesting read.

Magazine Article: Journalistic Encounters

Interviews:With that in mind, I decided to include the interview responses in a way that wouldn’t look like an interview and would basically support the point I make. In the consent forms I made certain that the interviewees could choose not to have their words interpreted into something else, and that no names would be used in the article.

Magazine Article: Journalistic Encounters

Gantt chart: The whole time keeping concept was something I was definitely never very good at and after my first Gantt chart corrupted, I’d lost the energy to fix a new one entirely, hence leaving me with nothing but a guideline to run alongside rather than a timeline.