CCR 4

Creative Critical Response Question 4 by Matthew Brown on Scribd

CCR 2

Creative Critical Response Question 2 by Matthew Brown on Scribd

CCR 1

Creative Critical Response Question 1 by Matthew Brown on Scribd

Magazine

The Come Up: Magazine

Day 28

DAY 28: Finished

I decided, instead of waiting until I got home to finish uploading the CCRs, my group and I decided to try and find out how to do this without using Google Drive. We created accounts on a website called Scribd.com which is kind of like Canva, but with with books as well. We used Scribd to upload our PowerPoints and then to create and embedded link which will cause the PowerPoints to show up instead of having to take a link to them. We then took the link and switched Blogger to HTML and pasted the link into this. After that we checked each other's blogs to see if it worked without any blue coating or glitches.

There was also a problem with my first CCR that wouldn't let me update a problem and then upload it to Scribd. I had to go into my blogger and constantly edit my first CCR until blogger had the changes appear on my actual blog. Once my blogger finally updated my CCR, my project was finished and I had to go back into Blogger and switch the modes from HTML back to Compose.

Day 27

DAY 27: Uploading the Magazine and CCRs

Today, I'm finishing up my project as a whole. Within the past three days, I finished up all my CCRs and I've been finished with my magazine for a while. So, regarding this, I've been trying to figure out  how to upload both to my blog. My group and I have been having trouble uploading our PowerPoints to the blog, but we have had no problems uploading the magazine. There is no option on blogger where you can upload a file (that we know of) so we have no clue so far how to put the PowerPoint portion onto our blogs.

After searching for solutions to this problem, I discovered that files can be uploaded through use of Google Drive. The main problem with this is the fact that Google Drive is blocked at the school I'm at, so I need to find a way to work around this. One of my group partners thinks the best idea is just to move the PowerPoint online and then upload it from there, but it doesn't seem to be working that well, so I'm going to see if I can finish uploading these PowerPoints at home and then finally finishing the project.

Day 26

DAY 26: Beginning the CCR

For the last few days, I have been working on the CCR portion of this project. I have had to go over all of the intricacies of my magazine and how aspects of technology were used during the creation of my magazine. I decided to use PowerPoint to provide the responses to these questions for many reasons. A major reason was because PowerPoint is what i was the most familiar with prior to this project. I have been making PowerPoints for years, so I know all of the properties that make PowerPoints appealing to an audience. I went through and answered all of the questions thoroughly on different slides while adding transitions between each slides to add at least some visuals to my PowerPoint since I don't want to overdo animations. If I were to do this it would clutter my CCR and distract from what it's actually used for. I used a template that is mostly used for job presentations as to create my responses to the questions. This template provided me with a aesthetic design that isn't distracting, but is easy on the eyes and very appealing.

Day 25

DAY 25: Fixing the Questions and Answers/Title

Today, I decided to start adding polishes to the Q&A page and the title. For the Q&A page, my teacher helped me decide if the background was right for the page. Previously, the background was a dark image of a beach to help the text pop out since it was white. I decided that the background wasn't that fitting for the magazine so I changed the background to a gradient background that is purple with a shade in the top corner. I also decided to add polishes to the cover to make it seem like a traditional hip-hop magazine. I added a background behind the title and separations between each of the featured cover-lines and the main story. I also experimented with "The Music Experts" being inside a hexagon like my fellow group members, but it felt like too much to clutter my cover and it felt extremely out of place on my cover as well. 

Day 24

DAY 24: Finishing Touches

Today, I began adding touch-ups to my magazine to make it seem more like an actual magazine rather than a project. I continued to look at other hip-hop magazines to see what they had that made them seem like an actual hip-hop magazine. I started to put filters on my pictures to make the pictures seem like they were taken in more of a photo shoot setting and less like they were just pictures taken on a cell phone. The filter I ended up using was a filter called "Summer." It makes the pictures look like they were taken right as the sun was going down which provides perfect lighting for most of my pictures. On my article picture, I used a filter called "Festive,"  because it made the lighting and the plants pop out more than they actually were. It makes the plants look fresher and greener without destroying the whole atmosphere of the photo. It also brightens up the lighting around the artist's face which is sort of a spotlight on him showing that he is the subject of the photo. On the cover page, I might add more, but so far I've added a bar code for scanning the price like every magazine has on its cover. I did this to add to the traditional magazine cover as all magazines have a bar code on them.

Day 23

DAY 23: Finishing the Q&A

Today, I finished up the rest of my Q&A session with my artist about his career, personality, attributes, etc. I decided to change the background because the white text clashed with the bright lights in the picture. I believe that white text fits the best for this interview, so I scrapped the picture and found a new darker background with waves in the background which added a nice aesthetic, in my opinion, to the page. I also changed the title of the Q&A since the title "Questions and Answers" was just a placeholder title until I could think of a more traditional rap magazine title. I decided to go with "The Come Up Interview: K.Walden." It's kind of bland, but I can't think of an extremely interesting title for something like a Q&A. Regarding the picture, I shrunk the background picture down and put it in a sweet spot above the text. I also changed the interviewer's (me) name to "TCU" instead of "Me" and I changed the name "Walden" to "KW" to lessen the room the whole name takes up.

Day 22

DAY 22: Finishing the Articles

Because I didn’t completely finish the Q&A section of my article, I decided to work with one of my group members to come up with questions for his rapper persona. I asked general questions about what his best attribute is and why hip-hop fans should start listening to his music. I also asked questions about some of his most famous songs, specifically a song called “Switchit” which my artist decides to go in depth about how sometimes you can’t trust your closest friends while being famous because they want to use you. He then used the example of rapper 6ix9ine who recently has been called a “snitch” by most people in the hip-hop scene because of what he told the court about his gang. With this example, my artist was able to really show the meaning behind one of his hit songs. I also decided to change the background of the Q&A page to a picture of the artist looking into the sunset which in my eyes it’s essentially him looking into his near future and how he’ll have to work for his stable spot in the hip-hop industry.

(Unfinished product)

Day 21

DAY 21: Starting the Article

Today, I began writing the article for my two page spread. After interviewing my artist I realized how he wanted to be portrayed to the general public as a rapper and hip-hop fans in general. I began by talking about his analytics, which with how a lot of rappers now a day act, matter a lot to boost ego and help them continue what they enjoy and love. I continued by writing about his style and personality, which will go more in depth in the Q&A, that makes him one of, if not, “the best new rapper to come out of Florida. I began the second paragraph by talking about my artist’s overwhelmingly positive reviews by both his audience and music reviewers/professionals that actually know what they’re talking about while reviewing hip-hop and rap content. Due to technical difficulties I wasn’t able to continue writing the beginning of my article. I would have written and gone more in depth about his bodies of work and his rapping style that makes him “the best new artist coming out of Florida.” My subject and I are also working to change the artist’s name to something more along the lines of an actual rapper, so K. Walden is just a placeholder name for now.

Day 20

DAY 20: Main Story Template

Today, I decided to look around for different templates that would fit my magazine the best stylistically. I decided to use a travel magazine template as it's main picture was enough space for me to put a feature picture of my artist and it had enough space to begin my article. The picture I used has bright colors and great lighting to show features of nature while depicting the artist as the main subject of the photo. The colors in the picture also contrast the dark atmosphere that the article's colors feature. They pull the attention straight to the picture and the great cinematography my artist is involved with. In the center of the page there is the artist's name (in case the reader didn't already know) which should lead the reader's eyes in quick succession from the picture to title to article/interview. The second page template seems like the right amount of room to finish up the article with a quick Q&A which will provide any extra details that hip-hop fans will need to know before diving into the artist's discography and personality.