Draft of Feature Article- "Darwin's Theory"

"So, how long have you been making music for? Well...I've gone through ten speakers, 3 computers and listened to over 300 albums...that's how long." These are the words of one of the hottest new acts rising up through the ranks of the dance scene. Ryan Cowling or better known as 'Darwin', is one of house's bright young talents, hoping to break through and take the world by storm. Born in south east London and son of two musicians, Cowling has always been surrounded by music. From a young age Ryan has always been known by his relatives as a 'music maestro'. When asked, his mother said "right from the off, Ryan has constantly been hitting something, tapping something and just generally been making a racket."  Well at least for Ryan's mum's sake all those years of broke piano keys and    neighbour complaints finally have paid off. Due to his dad's influence, at the age of 8 Ryan began playing the guitar. Being the lead guitarist of the prog rock band 'The Locals' Cowling's dad was more than happy to give Ryan a push in the right direction. From there, Ryan took up interest in the drums, the piano and the clarinet, and by age 13 could practically form his own band. At 14, Cowling began to take an interest in dance music. Through this spontaneous uptake, for his 15th birthday his parents bought him a set of numark dj decks. From this point on Ryan's, or now Darwin's life would never be the same. With this new found style, came a new name. At first Ryan would have a few friends over and they would mess around blending all sorts of pop hits with no serious intention, but as soon as Cowling found drum and bass, things began to get real. One of Ryan's good friends introduced him into one of the pioneers of drum and bass. 'Goldie'. Once introduced, there was no going back. Cowling said "after I heard just 2 of his songs, I ran home and begged my parents for music making software." On Cowling's 16th birthday he was presented with 'Reason' (a top brand music making software). With this Ryan was unstoppable, he was blasting out tunes left, right and centre, he changed his clothing style, his lingo and most importantly...his name. When questioned about his name, Cowling replied "Darwin, like the evolutionist, you know. Darwin was revolutionary to the theory of life, and like him I'm going to be revolutionary to the theory of music." Now, being signed with 3 Beat Music (an independent British house label), having a hit number one on 'Electric Sound Radio', which subsequently was played on Annie Mac's earlybird mix back in July, and having a regular slot at Mile End's Boiler Room all at the age of 19, is truly remarkable. Who knows, maybe Darwin's the answer everyone's been looking for?

Audience Profile

 

Word Document on magazine

 

Production Diary 8

Examples of Mastheads:

The Use Of Colour:
These three examples of masthead are resemblant of what I have planned for my own magazine title style. The overall colour theme for these three is the use of a colour onto a plain white background. By doing this, the magazine becomes very diverse as no matter what colour is used, once placed onto a white background the magazine (especially the title) is made to look bold and very prominent. Further, in relation to the other colours used on the front cover (when using a white backdrop) all the colours can be differentiated from each other, rather than using a specific background colour which inturn could mean either the foreground colours collide or get lost when mixed together. 

Production Diary 7

Now that I have chosen the name for both the magazine and name for the main article artist, I am now deciding on what style to present these names/titles in. I have researched many different styles. Through "style", colour and masthead type is included, for example; dark blue with the same style as kerrang magazine.

Colours:
For the magazine title colour I will use quite bright colour in order to grab the reader's attention, not only this but to also resemble the genre of music the magazine is about. Due to the magazine being about dance music which is an energetic style, the colour will consequently let the viewer recognise what the magazine represents. I will also use bright colours/ a bright colour to stand out from the imagery in the backdrop. I have thought about using yellow, bright purple, light green, or yellow and black together. Another reason to why the colours will be bright and such is because through the title "POWER" the colours must be representative of the title, or what the title intends to represent.


 Masthead Type:
This week I have been looking at different magazine masthead types, and the affect they have on the reader. In order to fulfil it's purpose the title must be very bold. I'm not going to use too much complex styled font, this is as I intend to make the title look very clear, and by making the masthead different (like kerrang) the reader's eye may be taken off of the title itself and more focused on how the title is presented. Magazines I've been looking at are: "Total Film", "Vibe" and "Blender". These mastheads are bold and allow the viewer to clearly see not only the name of the magazine, but what the magazine symbolizes if there is a specific meaning.