My Weekly Monitoring Blog - Final Entry

This week was the final week to complete all of my products and hand them in, in time for the deadline. I have finished my products now and am quite proud of them. After all of the planning to create a front cover with a black background, the reality was not as I had hoped and did not look as effective as I had initially intended. I tried to keep the colour scheme as red, white and black as I had originally planned but the product just looked flat and unprofessional.

I then tried to change the colour to a pale pink to replicate the 'ELLE' front cover but this still looked quite flat and didn't really work as the background is too dark in comparison.

This means that I ended up going back to a pale background and adjusting the colour scheme so that it fits with the rest of my magazine (ie. contents page, double page spead 1 and double page spread 2). I used the colours from both of my double page spreads to create a colour scheme of black, pale pink and pale yellow and was quite happy with the outcome as my different pages did end up matching one another, which was something that worried me and looked quite professional.

The contents page originally looked very plain and bland so I had to add a lot more text and change the photo and positions.

I changed the colouring of my first finished double page spread to make it compatible with the rest of my product, by adding pink. As you can see, the article has been added too and the double page spread is competely finished. I also edited the background so that my text and clothes images looked more boxed off and there was more to my product, with a better structure. I also changed the title layout and size so that it stood out more and was the biggest thing on the page.

I kept the article from my "mock up 2" as my audience had really liked the structure of the paragraphs and the language but I completely changed the look of the product, keeping it classy but making it brighter than my first black mock up. I used the pink to relate to my other products.

Overall, I am thrilled with my products and think that The Northern Echo would be pleased with my work too. Time management was an issue at times but I managed to swap things around to ensure that everything was finished in time for the deadline set.

I left myself more work than I should have for this final week as I had not started my final double page spread, A Night To Remember at this point. However, this was not an issue as I knew that I had my images and my article ready to import from my earlier planning. Managing my time correctly earlier in the project allowed me the time to get everything completely finished by the time it was the deadline day.

I believe that this project has been a success and I am happy with the results.

Front Cover Contingency Photos

As you can see from my planning and research blogs, I decided to go with a black background for my front cover and planned to cut out my model from a white background and change it manually on photoshop. However, I tried this and it looked very unprofessional, as my model looked obviously cut out, with a white outline around her that was hard to get rid of.

This means that I needed some new photos fast with a black backdrop. I arranged a last minute contingency photoshoot to make sure I had time to finish the product and not just take the photos. I used similar poses but a different model and a different backdrop. I was pleased with the outcome of this photoshoot.

This is the image I intend to use for my final product as I really like the pose and it is just the right position for my front cover, with a serious face on my model.



My Weekly Monitoring Blog – 2nd February 2012

Again this week, there was disruption to my schedule due to exams but in the end, I ended up managing to get one of my double page spreads to an almost complete standard, which is more than I had hoped to do. I have developed the layout quite a bit so that it looks different from the original although still keeps some of the original features. I have created my logo as I want it, which is something I said I would do this week and I have prepared my images, ready to be used. The fact that I have almost completed one of my double page spreads to the stage where only the article needs to be added is a huge step forward.

This is my original draft shown in my pitch, hand drawn.

This is my almost finished double page spread.

As you can see I have kept some features from the original idea. I have kept the idea of all the items of clothing that need to be packed into this year’s summer, represented by the clothing and the open suitcase. I am very happy with how this worked out. Instead of putting numbers next to each item and making a list in the bottom right-hand corner as you can see on the first draft, it seemed much more practical to put the prices and shops under the actual items. I kept the idea of angles being used in my double page spread, with the boxes behind the text, the main image and the little “Polaroid” style images, as I had intended from the start. I made the main picture a lot smaller as in reality, trying to fit all of the images at the current size and an article and little pieces of text was making the article look very crowded. I decided to make the main image smaller, use three Polaroid style images instead of two and cut the article size down, so that it fit on one side of my page. In my planning work and Unit 1, I had said that I will include competitions and little fact-style pieces of text in my magazine to keep my audience included and allow them to enjoy my features without having to read masses of text, so in my final double page spread, I have included a competition to win a paid-for holiday to one of the top 5 holiday party destinations this year. I decided to include the top 5, prices and the place to book them so that I am offering my audience the best kind of information for them to utilise.

Whilst I still need to add my logo and main article, I am thrilled with this week’s progress and believe that the Northern Echo would be very happy with my work too. The planning is coming to life in my work now.

Model Release Forms

My Weekly Monotoring Blog – 26th January 2012

I did not set myself a huge amount of work for this week due to the fact that I had two big exams in other subjects. This meant that I had to give myself time to revise and prepare, as well as including the time of media lessons that I have missed due to the exam and lesson times overlapping. The tasks I did leave myself in my schedule were experimenting in Photoshop with my images and creating a rough draft of the layout for my magazines. I was meant to carry on working on the layouts all week, ready for insertion of text and images.

I have struggled to keep focused on my media project this week, in all honesty because of the pressure of my exams for other subjects. However, I have managed to create rough drafts of the layout and inserted some images to get a better idea of what the pages overall will look like in the end.

I feel confident that I will be able to keep up to date, as once my exams are over, I will have complete concentration on my media work. The Northern Echo may be concerned about my progress, that may result in me being left behind. However, I am sure that they will understand and am determined to meet my deadlines.

Front Cover and Contents Page Photoshoot

Here are the images taken for my front cover and contents page. The pose of my model is essential to the overall image of my magazine and to attract my target audience. My model needs to be confident and looking directly at the camera. To make sure I was ready for this photoshoot, I researched some poses and got my model to recreate them in my photoshoot for the front cover and contents page. Here are the poses researched against the poses of my model. I was happy with the outcome of the image.

I particularly liked Katy Perry's pose on the front cover of Cosmopolitan. This magazine is a magazine that I aim to be similar too, with a very similar target audience to mine which suggests that this image is a success with the audience. The model looks very confident and very sure of herself, which is something my target audience will be looking for. The pose is also flattering to her figure and will encourage my audience to aim to be like her. My model matched this pose very well and also looks like someone my audience will aspire to be like. I took photos of this pose in both outfits, to give myself a choice.

The second image was also from Cosmopolitan. This model looks very confident, looks directly at the reader, helping to intergrate them into my magazine. The hands on the hip stance is very effective and is flattering for their figures. I like this image.

I like this pose as it is quite fun and flirty. My model recreated the olden days pose well and looks good. My target audience would admire these images as the models look confident and have good figures in their costumes.

This pose is for my contents page. The image that I chose to model the pose off was infact from a contents page itself and I thought it looked very effective. The text will wrap my model on the right-hand side which I think looks very trendy and stylish. I took some other photos similar to this which may also be used, as they look quite good. I am pleased with all of these photos.

I like how my models hair is laid out on the floor. I particurlary like the bottom image as it is more from a birds-eye angle. I believe my front cover, contents page will be very effective in the end.

My Weekly Monitoring Blog – 19th January 2012

In my schedule I had left some time available to make any contingency photoshoot times. This was a good idea as it turned out that I did have to use this time to capture more material for use in my final product. I had to organise another photoshoot for the images I will use as my front cover and contents page. My homework was to decide if contingency shoots were necessary and arrange them. I had to make new call sheets for my model (this only required one model), so that she was aware of what was happening in this photoshoot. Because this was later, it gave me time to do more research into the image I want, the type of poses I want and the front cover styles that I want.  Because this is an hour and a half lesson on Monday, I also did the basic editing on the images, rotating and cropping them, so that they are ready to work with. On Tuesday I said I would begin more in-depth photographic post production and on Wednesday, I was going to cut out my images from their backgrounds and create my masthead creation. Due to the change in the order of events, I decided to wait until I had all of my images to create contact sheets. I have now finished this, this week too. Unfortunately at the end of this week, I had an exam in a different subject so I had to focus on that and give some time for revision.

I feel I am getting on top of my work and just need to completely finish everything so far. I feel that I am on track and have enough time to complete my project. I believe that The Northern Echo would be pleased with how my work is developing as I am staying on task and have given myself enough time, so that the set back of having to rearrange my photoshoot has not affected my production.

Throughout my project and when looking at my flat plans, I was always unsure as to what colour I want my front cover to be. I have decided to go with a black background and black clothing with white and red writing to create a three colour scheme. I thought this would be very effective on a young and stylish audience but wasn't sure if it was a bit too dark to catch my target audience. However, after some research, I discovered that fashion magazines in fact do use black backgrounds with the colours white and red to contrast and it is actually very effective. I even found this style of magazine published by Vogue and Cosmopolitan, my two role model magazines. This has given me the confidence to go ahead with my original idea and the confidence that it will be successful when going into publication. I originally liked the idea because it was different and looks very sophisticated and dramatic. I would definately buy these magazines based on their looks.

and if I decide that the red is a bit too dark and not very feminine, I could always swap it for pink, like the magazines below. This doesn't lose any effectiveness.

 

Comparing the flat plan of my magazine to the above, it does not look out of place and looks just as good. This research has really made me happier with my product.