factual

1. Factual

2. Graffiti scene – York
- Magazine showcasing graffiti in and
around York
- Shoot all photos on film
- Document street name and what
the tag states
- Interview one person, keep them
anonymous
- Create the magazine as a ‘scrapbook’
style.
- Discuss different styles within York;
tags, throwies, hallows, burners, straight
letter, full pieces.
- Discuss the downside or risk involved;
police, general public etc.
Pages taken from Mitchell bradshaw’s photobook ‘kids’
This photobook will
inspire my project as it
features the ‘scrapbook’
style, as well this it has
been shot on film which
will play a major part in
the overall aesthetic of
the magazine.

3. fanzines
A fanzine is an independent publication that anyone can produce
and is not susceptible to censorship or the need to adhere to the
commercial criteria of a publishing company.
Typically the makers of fanzines work on every aspect of the
publication: from its design to its distribution. Because they are
magazines with limited print runs, they are valuable objects to their
readers. Many fanzines used to be printed with very cheap and
rudimentary methods, with production costs taken on by the editors
themselves, who did this out of pure love for the printed product.
Inspired by the sex pistols in 1976 and 1977 fanzine’s popularity
heightened massively due to the speed and cheapness of the format
– A4 pages photocopied and stapled together – allowed for instant
reportage and considerable creativity. There was no censorship:
anything went.

4. Existing product analysis – Analogue delinquents
Analog Delinquents is a U.K. based publication based on documenting
underground film photography. Every issue is driven by a range of
photographers and artists from around the globe. Their aim is to provide a
platform for like minded individuals and film photographers to meet,
share and draw from their personal experiences of the underground
scene.
This zine focuses on youth subcultures from around Europe, the running
theme of graffiti, fashion and film photography is featured heavily in order
to target the youth and gain a greater following around the globe. Despite
been based in the U.K the fanzine allows submissions and features from
all around the world meaning they can not only reach the U.K audience
but also youth from other countries.
Analog Delinquents provides a glimpse into the lifestyle of underground
youth breaking & entering, rocking fly shoes, stacking cash, and tagging
metro trains. Many images have a heavy grey sky, motion blurs, or deep
colour saturation; a view from the lens of film based photographers. What
makes this zine so unique to the rest is the seven brief interviews with the
photographers, detailing their gear, their inspirations, and their
philosophy behind their photos.
My fanzine will take inspiration from this one in particular as the content
in this zine is similar to what I want to feature; graffiti and film
photography. After viewing a fanzine with a similar aesthetic as to what I
would like mine to look like means I can take inspiration and use these
ideas to figure out my own style and layout.

5. Existing product analysis – Fatcap Fanzine: Deshamer
Fatcap fanzine is a Norwegian based fanzine specifically
aimed at graffiti writers and artists. Each issue features a
different writer and showcases all of their work followed up
with an interview. Deshamer’s work dates back to 1985 and
has gained an infamous following over the years; Fatcap
using this well known Norwegian artist within their zine
allows them to gain more readers for this specific issue due
to Deshamer’s following within Norway. Fatcap have also
found archive photographs of deshamer’s work dating back
to when he first started, meaning any fans get to see
exclusive pieces from the artist.
Throughout this fanzine Fatcap have used a variety of
cameras in order to capture a lot of Deshamer’s work over
the years. Digital, polaroids, film and even phone cameras
have all been used; with his older work been taken on film
or polaroid cameras and more recent pieces shot on digital
cameras. Despite the different types of cameras used the
majority of photos featured all have a grainy, warm tone to
them. As far as the layout of the fanzine goes its kept very
minimalistic, with the interview pages containing a few
select images followed by the questions asked and the
responses.

6. Existing product analysis – Hot Stuff
Hot Stuff magazine focuses on Disco-Funk-Jazz-Soul-Hip
Hop and vintage articles. This fanzine includes a wide range
of interesting articles on disco, jazz, rap, hip-hop, funk,
house, rollerdisco and the graffiti & breakdance culture. In
addition to this, the zine contains archived advertisements
and interviews from the 1970s to the 1090s.
As this fanzine looks back the 70s-90s hip-hop culture it is
aimed at the people wanting to look back and reminisce on
those days. Within in the fanzine contains multiple old
original posters; by including these Hot Stuff reach out to
the audience that will have experienced or seen these
posters when they were younger.
In terms of written content and page layout the fanzine
keeps it very simple. Most written pages feature a large
image of old poster followed with information on the
poster. Due to the majority of photographs been shot in the
70s through to the 90s they all have a discoloured “vintage”
feel to them making the fanzine evoke the audience to feel
much more nostalgic towards the zine.

7. Existing product analysis - Untapped
Untapped is an American, hip-hop inspired art fanzine.
This issue mainly focuses on recent fan art all inspired by
the hip-hop scene and culture.

8. As part of this fanzine research I chose to conduct an interview as an experiment to figure out
and get a deeper understanding of how interviews work, this is a section from the interview.
When conducting the interview I found the more long-winded answers a lot more interesting
as it gave me the opportunity to ask new questions based on the interviewee’s response.
Therefore ending up with a much more in depth response to my question.
There were three things that I thought went well within this interview. Firstly, the research
prior to the interview helped me out massively as I had developed some basic knowledge on
the subject and it allowed me to ask more specific questions and receiving more detailed
answers. Secondly, I felt that my interviewee was very knowledgeable on their chosen topic
causing my interview to run smoothly throughout; while also gaining a deeper knowledge on
the topic. The third positive when conducting this interview was always following up an
answer with why. Asking why turns the question asked into an open ended one allowing
interviewee to give me a more constructed answer.
Despite all three of these things positively impacting my interview there were some factors
that didn’t work or things I could change to improve my overall interview. To start with I think
conducting the interview a different way would’ve improved the outcome. For example,
rather than typing up the interviewee’s response I could’ve audio recorded the interview and
then taken what was said in the audio and written it up. I feel this would’ve allowed me to get
better answers as the interview feels much more like a conversation rather than a formal
interview. Another part of the interview that didn’t really work was not making my questions
clear enough to the interviewee. Some of the questions I had asked had to be explained
therefore slowing down the interview process. I think next time I will make my questions clear
enough for the interviewee to fully understand them. Throughout this interview despite
asking some follow up questions which benefitted the outcome of the interview, I feel as if I
could’ve asked more leading to much better responses.
Been interviewed myself definitely has helped me get a better understanding of how an
interview works. Seeing the other perspective of an interview has allowed me to realise what
how I would like to be interviewed and what I would like to be asked; meaning when it comes
to conducting an actual interview I can put these things into place and relate to the
interviewee.

9. Experiments - cover design and logo
This is a mock cover created to get a rough idea of
what my final cover could potentially look like. To
start with i created my logo "Yo Graff" in photoshop
by testing out different types of tag fonts. After
finding my font I had to write out my chosen words to
see if it worked. Some of these letters didn’t work
with others so I had to re-draw and erase certain
parts to create a new letter shape that worked until I
was left with my final design. After I had created a
logo, I opened an image previously taken that fit the
aesthetic. I then added a transparent version of my
logo onto this image as my fanzine title. This is where
I wanted to create a paint splatter effect so used the
charcoal brush tool to draw around the edges of the
logo. After this, all left to do was select a different text
and add the issue number and what the fanzine
actually is.

10. Experiments – Page Design
This was an experiment to help me figure out
how I will create the scrapbook style when it
comes to producing my fanzine. To create the
effect of the photos been ripped out and
stuck in I used images of page rips and
overlayed them onto the image. On the right-
hand side of the page the photos have been
edited to look like polaroid images and have
been stuck onto the page. Designing my page
this ways allows the photographs to take the
spotlight and the text is only a caption. Using
the scrapbook style allows the fanzine to
have its own unique feature that graffiti
writers can relate to as well as it still
containing all the basic key components that
feature in fanzines.

11. Audience research
This fanzine is going to be aimed at graffiti writers, artists or anyone that has an interest in the art form. It will specifically
be aimed at younger more current writers aging from 16-30 that are involved or heavily interested in the current scene.
The fanzine will mainly feature the "bombing" side of graffiti for example, tagging and throwies (throw-ups) rather than
pieces that have had a lot of time spent on them. Including these refines the audience that may want to read this magazine
as it only focuses on a certain side of graffiti that some artists may not be interested in. For these artists, this fanzine can
act as something to read to learn more about the other side of graffiti that they may not particularly know much about.

12. Subject research – history of graffiti
Tagging as we currently know it is widely seen to have begun
in the mid sixties with two figures Philadelphia’s, Cornbread
(born Darryl McCray) and Taki 183 (real name still unknown)
in New York. A way of passing the time and making their
mark, graffiti gave these young people a voice, even if it was
only to tell the world they existed. Through the seventies, as
New York City fell into political and civil chaos, graffiti
became more widespread and took on a far more socially
conscious form. This view on graffiti eventually became
intertwined with the up and coming sub-cultures of both
punk and rap. However, this did not encourage the NYPD’s
law enforcement to look upon graffiti any more kindly, and
by the eighties, taggers like Alex ‘Defer’ Kizu were using their
work, and even their names, to protest the “draconian
policies” instituted by city authorities.