Creative Critical Reflection !

The time has come... 

So, this is the end. This project was so much fun, it definitely taught me, and it helped test out the skills that I have developed in my Media Studies class. It was a project that I really enjoyed doing, it encouraged the use of my creativity which is something that I don't really get to express and use in most of my classes. I am really happy with the way it all ended up looking and I hope you enjoy it too! Bye!

A MASH MADE IN HEAVEN! (I've been waiting to use this pun for the longest time)

I AM FINISHED! This week has been crazy! I am so happy with the end result, I think the magazine stayed true to the vision I had. It was really hard, especially combining the two different programs, it definetly took longer than I thought it would. But, it's done! I finished it! And I'm happy! So take a look!

And here is a video of how the interactive aspects work...

SO. MANY. OPTIONS.

So, I have done three different layouts for my double page spread. Not one. Not two. Three. I am going a little crazy I guess. It's just that with the first option, it looks too cramped up, for the second option the magazine looks too generic, and for the third option I kind of combined what I liked of from the first two and I think I have finally figured it out. This will be my cover...

Simple but cool. The blue hues will be found in my entire magazine, it will be the signature color. Likewise,  most if not all of the pictures have this expired-like look, I think it adds to the vibe that the magazine is trying to give off. 

Today after school I met with Em again and we filmed the "funny video". I decided to do a chubby bunny challenge because of the use of marshmallows, or MASH-mallows. I wanted the fun that Pitchfork had with their over/under videos but I also liked how in Vogue's 73 questions it was as if the artist was just going about with his/her routine. Thus the Mash-mallow challenge was created. It was during a photoshoot for Em so you can see that in the video, I really like how playful and approachable the video turned out. 

                           

Interview&Pics

It's currently eight at night and I just got home from school. I can now say that I stayed at school until eight at night, doesn't that make me sound smart and involved? So what did I do at school for all this time? I FINISHED MY INTERVIEW AND I TOOK SOME COOL PICTURES! I met Em and she was awesome, she was easy to talk to, super helpful, and just overall really nice and supportive. Working with her was a breeze! For the interview she didn't hold anything back, she was open about herself and her music. She wasn't camera shy either, it was all just great! While my friends set up for the music video, I sat down with her and I recorded the conversation we had.  This will be the article for my two-page spread. An "exclusive interview with upcoming artist Em Sasson". She told me about her vision, about her obstacles, hopes and dreams, how her music impacted her, how she wanted it to impact others,  and how she started this crazy ride. She gave me some exciting news about her music, her album, and a possible TV appearance!

When my friends finished setting up they started filming the dancer. During this time I took some pictures and videos for the magazine.

These are some of my favorite pictures, I edited the first two using iPhoto on my computer. I still need to edit the last one and I'm get together with Em again later this week to film the interactive/funny video so I might take more pictures depending on how the pictures I took come out. 

I also took some behind the scenes clips to maybe add on to the article, we'll see how it goes!

This is the full interview...

So, how was the experience of auditioning for America's Got Talent? I just submitted a video, but I didn't get in but it was really cool because the same day I got the email that I didn't get in but then a week later I got an email from The Voice. So it's really exciting.

Really?! Are you going to do it? Yeah, but I can't give detail, I can only tell you that I'm auditioning for the Voice.

That's awesome! Do you have any special coach in mind? Umm, maybe Alicia. Maybe, but I have to get in first. I have a couple songs I might do so I have to figure that out.

Are you planning on doing an original song? They don't allow original songs. Yeah it's really stupid, haha. I think they just want to hear what you can do.

Okay, so now for the music vide, what's the vision for the video? My vision is to make it so that there are a lot of sharp moves with the camera. Make it feel like the one line in the chorus that's "trapped inside the cage" so i want people to watch it and feel like they're trapped inside a cage. The whole songs just goes around the idea of me suffocating in my own head so I wanna make it so that the dancer portrays that through movements in a very physically expressive way.

What does this song mean to you? Um, I wrote it in a very difficult time, I had just come out of the hospital so I talked about all the things that went on int my head. It's a way to not just show what went on in my head but also as a way of saying this happened but you made it, you know?

Definitely. So what hopes do you have for this music video?I hope that it will come out the way I want it to hahaha. I want people to get something out of it. Not necessarily educational but a lesson. That no matter how many things you go through and how much suffocation you feel, you'll always get through it.

Do you plan on making a career out of music? Of course! Yeah! I've been wanting to do this ever since I was three years old.

And your voice is so different! I heard your songs and it's so different, it also goes really well with your songs.

Hahaha yeah, thank you! Sometimes I get insecure about it but you know that's what makes me unique so...

Exactly! So last question, what was it like recording this song? I recorded the song in seven hours. Garage band, my room, seven hours in total. Listen at first I was so unmotivated to do it, but then my mom was like " shut up, you need to do this." So I sat down in-front of my computer on a Saturday night, turned my phone off, and it was just me and the keyboard.  

Was it the first time you used garage band? Yes! I was like " I don't know what I'm doing, I'm clicking buttons." I literally learned how to use Garage Band by clicking buttons.

Making the table of contents

Hello! So I'm currently in the process of making the table of contents. I have been looking at some pictures for inspiration, and I have been playing around with the widgets from iBook Author and I have two options...

Option 1
 I make the table of contents interactive using the "scroll down" text that is available in iBook Authors...

I really like the interactive aspect of this option. It's really cool, and really innovative. This is obviously just a rough draft, my table of contents will not look like that it is still missing pictures and even the title "Table of Contents". In this video I just wanted to show and play around with the scroll-down widget. I like it, but I have to figure out how to have both the widgets and the pictures that I want to add so we'll see. Another problem is that in iBooks, there is a special title page, and table of contents page, and then you add on the "chapters" and on these formatted pages (the table of contents page) iBook doesn't allow me to have widgets, so I don't know if ill be able to use this for the final product. Right now what I did is I made my table of contents part of "Chapter 1". However, when the magazine is "published I don't know how it will end up looking so this is definitely an issue.

Option 2
 For my second option I have a more standard table of contents (which annoys me to be honest). I've been taking some close up pictures of guitar strands, and I was thinking of having the different pages and Article titles in between the strands, kind of like music sheets, but with the guitar strands as lines. For this I would have to make by table of contents two pages though, and the bad thing about this is that I would only be able to get one picture int my table of contents, and I definitely want to have more pictures.


The truth is, I like the interactive table of contents more. It fits with the magazine and it's just so original and cool. I really like it. But I have to see if I'm going to be able to do it in the first place.

Call me Tech Master

I've always thought of myself as a good tech person. I know how to use computers and different apps, I help my parents and my grandparents with their issues, and I always find a way around my technological problems. BUT I THOUGHT WRONG. I downloaded iBook author about a week ago and I still can't insert a picture into my cover!

Everytime I tied to insert a picture from iPhoto, it said that I needed to "open" it, but the application was open! The struggle was real.

HOWEVER, call me a Steve Jobs because I have figured it all out! I am using two programs... Canva and iBooks Author. How my one ask? Well, as the intellectual that I am I observed the two programs thoroughly. I realized that the design program from iBooks was not only hard to use but also just plain boring. There weren't many creative opportunities at all, shame Apple (I still love you). However, I looked at Canva and I was amazed. The options for layouts, backgrounds, and templates made iBook Author look like one of those old Nokia flip phones. The main issue afterwards was the fact that my magazine is digital and therefore interactive. I needed the interactive aspect that iBook Author offers but I also needed the design aspect available in Canva. After thinking for a while about this debacle, I had the brilliant idea to use both of this programs and create a iBook-Canna baby. What I am going to do it design the cover page, the table of context and the article layout with Canva, save it and download it as a PDF. Then, I am going to drag the PDF into iBooks where I can enlarge the PDF so that it covers the entire magazine frame and add the interactive aspects of the magazine. I hope it turns out the way I want it to turn out! Fingers crossed!!!!!! 

Look, this is what I did to try out if this idea would work. 

1. Made a little cover page in Canva and downloaded it as a PDF...

(Ignore the picture, this is not my actual picture I'm jut trying out this layout)

2. I dragged it to iBook and it ended up looking like this...

As you can see at the end, I'm still able to add "widgets" that will give the magazine its interactive aspect. 

Complication nation

Well, the band that I was supposed to interview bailed on me. I had a photoshoot and a video interview planned out with them this weekend but it all fell on my face when they told me they couldn't do it. I am not going to lie, I panicked, I begged, I went a little psycho. But there was nothing I could do to get them back, they were gone and I was lonely, sad, and a little crazy.

I texted all my friends. I asked everyone I knew if they knew of a band or an artist in Cypress (our school) that I could interview for an AICE Media Studies project. Thankfully, my mental and emotional health was restored when two angels from heaven called Isabella Armas and Catalina Castro who are taking the A level for this class told me that they were working with a girl named Emanuelle who was a great singer. They showed what the girl was working on, they sent me a couple of her songs, and I was instantly hooked. I begged them for an interview with this girl and they told me that they were going to film their music video at school on Monday and that I could have my interview and photoshoot with her afterwards. I was static. I am also going to email Emmanuelle the questions for the double-page spread so that she is ready for them and has thought them through.

So this is what I have in mind...
- For the photoshoot, I want to get some action shots of her actually filming her music video. It will be like an "exclusive look into Em's music video". Exclusivity is huge. However, for the cover picture I want the picture to represent the type of artist that Em is. Her music is very soulful, very personal. Through her music, you find out that she has been battling with depression, so I want the cover to be representative of music as a way to deal with life. I want the cover image to showcase her in a natural way; makeup free, no jewelry or fancy clothes just her authentic self. It is going to be a close up of half of her face, looking straight into the camera. Very simple, very honest. I am thinking of making the picture black and white, no major filters or touch-ups to represent her authenticity and her badass nature. I might do something with white body paint but Im not really set on that so we'll see how that goes. I just know that I want authenticity, I want the image to showcase her natural, true self. Because after everything she had been through, music lets her be her true self, so I want her picture to reflect this.
- For an interactive video I'm planning on doing a fun LEAST favorite things. Magazines always ask artist about their favorite food, color, number etc. But I want to ask Em her least favorite things; food, color, subject, place, song, TV Show,  and movie. I want it to be fun and quick. This will be done in the school auditorium, while the dancer portion of her video is filmed. Im hoping to have the video-making-process in the background of her interview to give the interactive video an exclusive feel as well.
- For the main interview I want to ask her about her music video mainly. What she's feeling, what her vision is, what this video represents, and what she hopes the video will achieve.

I am excited to see how this turns out, Im doing this Monday at 6:00 PM so that night I'll let you know how it turns out! Wish me luck!