Photo Planning

This is the plan for the photos I will take for my magazine. 

Improvements of magazine design

Analysis of one of my designs and what I would do different for when I create the real design.

Research on Costumes

Research into lighting

Tips on what sort of lighting to use:
. Fill flash will prevent shadow occurring 
(Fill flash is a technique that brighten deep shadows)

. Soft light is better than hard light because hard light can cause heavy shadows across the subjects face

.Bounce light when lighting is too harsh 

. Position portrait subject near window so it doesn't receive direct sunlight 

. When photographing people indoors move light closer to the object to create more flattering light

  

Character Profile

I have created a character profile of the model I am using for the main image for my magazine. 

Conventions of the main image

Shot Types
. The most popular shot type for the main image is a medium close up or a mid shot.

Angles
. The angle of the main images tend to be eye level.

Lighting 
. High key lighting is used a lot for main images as they seem to stand out more and are happy so therefore more appealing to reader.

Pose/Posture
. The models use mode of address (make eye contact)
. They don't tend to to smile on the front covers
. Shoulders and above or above the waist

Costumes 
. Boys tend to wear smarter looking clothes that fit well
. Woman wear clothes that are stylish so that female viewer will want to buy the clothes
. Women tend to wear less clothing that show off their body more than male models

Colours
. Costumes and background don't clash
. Harsh & obnoxious colours aren't used

Bands
. When bands are the main image the postures, shot types and angles change a bit
- Shot types:
. Medium long shot as there is more than one person in the shot
. High angles
. Hand gestures, stand to form a triangle - the camera at the tip

Treatment Plan

Magazine Designs

After creating different templates for the front cover and contents I decided to design hand drawn sketches of what my front cover and contents page may look like to help me realize what works and what doesn't.

Front Cover #1 

This is my first magazine design, when I create the really thing my background more than likely won't be white but a cool blue tone or a grey colour. With this design I have followed the main conventions of a front cover by including a masthead and the headline in larger size font compared to the rest of the text. In this design it has a pull quote from the splash story as a running head. I have followed my chosen house style as I have kept with my chosen colour scheme. I think it looks good how my 'pop' colour ties a lot of the feature on this front cover together such as the headline, puff text and pull quote but it also makes the colour part of the colour scheme not just an extra colour. 

Front Cover #2

My second front cover is more simple and has less text and has more negative space. In this design the masthead is in the top left hand corner which means I have more space to fill because the masthead is smaller. The model will use mode of address to engage the audience more which can help increase the sales.

Contents page #1 

Contents page #2 

What have I learnt from creating that hand drawn designs? 
I have learnt that when I create my magazine I need to mess around with the size of the text to help fill up the negative/white space. It looks better without the running head but this may because I didn't draw it that neat but just looking at my design the pull quote look better in front of my model. The masthead looks better larger and when its spread across the whole of the top of the page.

Magazine Analysis

Magazine layouts

This presentation was created on zoho to present my layout designs of my front cover, contents page and my two page spread. Please open it on full screen so my designs can be seen clearly.

This google slides holds all the information I have collected from my research.

Colour Scheme

I have created different colour schemes for the front cover of my magazine.

October/November Feedback

This is my feedback from October and November from my teacher. 

My pupil comment:
I have used a range of different technologies and organized my work well. I need to improve past blog posts too improve the grade. When I complete my production work I need to make sure its at an high standard to improve my production grade.

Alternative Music Fashion Mood Board

Font Ideas For My Magazine's Masthead

These are some ideas I have came up with for my magazine's masthead, I haven't experimented with colour yet as I haven't chosen or researched appropriate colour schemes for my alternative music magazine.  

Name of magazine ideas:
Unorthodox
This word means something unusual or original. Alternative music is a genre that is unique and my aim of my magazine is to be a fresh new alternative music, something that's not on the market already so this would be a perfect fit for my product. In the image above I used the font 'blacklisted' and I thought the font went with the word quite well .

Cranky
This word means something a bit unconventional or strange. Alternative music doesn't fit one genre which why it doesn't follow the normal conventions of music so this will fit the theme of my magazine, I think this word would look good as its short and has a good ring for it. In the image above I used the font 'Lazy Sans' I think this would look good on the front of a magazine and it suits the word 'cranky' as the 'k' is tilted to the slide slightly so its not perfect which suits my target audience and they don't want something over polished.

Miscellaneous 
Miscellaneous; various types, something diverse. Even though my magazine is mainly focused on alternative rock, alternative music as a whole has a huge amount of sub-genres and so this word fits perfectly due to this fact. For the text I used a font called 'wrong time, wrong place' this font is great a it really helps this word spread out, this font could potentially fit the whole top part of the magazine.

Faded 
Something that gradually fades and then disappears, something that eventually dies out. This word may have quite a few negative connotations if it was used as the title of my magazine because it may give off the impression that this magazine isn't here to stay but I think it sounds quite catchy and can be talking about how when you listen to music everything that was worrying you seems to fade away. The font I used for this is called 'depraved' this font sort of looks a bit alike the rolling stone font but also some of letters are not totally clear which is why it matches the word 'faded.'

Pulse
This word in the context of music talks about the rhythmic bursts. When listening to music depending on how we feel towards the type of music our pulse changes. The word pulse is linked with connotations our the heart but also with music and my target audience is for people who love music as those who buy music magazines tend to love music this word is suitable for my magazine. The font used is also called 'pulse' which where I got the inspiration for the word originally.

Misfits
This word means when someone acts different to everyone else so sets them apart from those around them, which leads them to often be isolated from everyone else. This genre was originally for the misfits of music and targeted the more 'original' members of society. The font used is 'nervous' it looks good as its slightly blurry and there's gap which could suit the word as the gaps could be where the people who describe themselves as 'misfits' fit in our society.

Alternativ 
This word is the translation of the word 'alternative' in Swedish. I thought translating the word into another language may look good as its an English magazine so will be going against the normal conventions for an masthead. The font I used for this was 'wrong time, wrong place' its a clear font but also slightly messy to make it look more interesting.

Alternatief
This word is the translation of the word 'alternative' in Dutch. I had another look at an word in an alternative language I prefer this translation only as its more different from the English translation but you still know what it means. The font used is 'Decibel' I like this font as it looks like someone has written it and it put emphasis on the word.

Slur 
This word in the context of music means when a musician glides smoothly over a series of notes without a pause. I thought it'd be a good idea to experiment with some music terminology which could be used for the masthead because its a music magazine. Slur is short and snappy and it similar to the band name 'blur' which fits in the genre of alternative music. The font used was 'dead secretary' this word is a bit more 'fancy' than the previous fonts I had looked at.

Interval 
This word mean the space between two notes or a short pause between songs. This is another word that is part of music terminology. This word could mean that the audience should pick up this magazine to take a short break from their life. The font used was named 'Birmingham' this font is simple and clear but still has some character to it, this would look good for a masthead.

Blend 
Blend; a mixture of substances. I thought blend could work well as music that fits into alternative is put into more than one genre which is why they're put into that category, so they are a blend of genres. The font used was called 'Urban Jungle' which is a nice font as it has a bit of cut outs to make it look like New York City.

House Style

The House style for NME is;

. Having a plain background 
All of the NME magazines I looked at all have a plain background so it doesn't take away the attention from the text and the main image. It adds contrast so the text stands out especially the masthead.

. The masthead's font 
Every issue has the same font for the magazine however the colours and outlines change for every issue to make them all unique.

. The bands or artists name big in bold 
All of these magazines have the main artists name in bold to make it stand out and so the reader knows who they are and who are featuring that issue.

. Position of the Masthead
The masthead is on the left top hand corner and is the same size each time.

. Quotes from the two-page spread 
On most of these front covers there is a quote taken from the interview from the two-page spread.

Kerrang Magazine Analysis

Research on Alternative Music

For my music magazine I have chosen to do alternative music and this is my research into that genre.

Alternative Music mind map

This mind map was created to explore the different types of alternative music.
Make your own mind maps with Mindomo.

Music Genre Research

Part Four of my Preliminary Task evaluation

This is the last part of my evaluation for my preliminary task in this presentation I answered the question: What have you learnt about technologies from the process of constructing this product?

Part Three of my Preliminary Task evaluation

This is the third part of my school magazine evaluation this answer was presented on thinglink.

How did you attract/address your audience?

Part Two of my Preliminary Task evaluation

Part One of my Preliminary Task evaluation

This is the first part of my evaluation for my final draft of my school magazine.

For this part of my evaluation I used powtoon to answer the question In what ways does your media product use, develop or challenge forms and conventions of school magazines? 

School Magazine Contents page

This is the contents page for my school magazine. 

Second draft of school magazine

This my second magazine for my school magazine: 

School Magazine and feed back

This is my First draft for my school magazine:

Feed Back:
This the feedback I received from my teacher and my personal view of my magazine. The post stick notes include other improvements by my peers.

September Feedback

This is the feedback from all of my blog posts from September: 

Survey for School Magazine Results

I asked ten different people to complete my survey about my school magazine I will be creating. I had already designed a few drafts but the point of the survey was to get more ideas on how to make it better and which parts of my draft magazines was already working.

The first question I asked was "Which Masthead do you think is more appropriate for a secondary school magazine?" I showed them three examples to choose from. From my data I have collected I can see that 'Masthead three' was the most popular choice however it only one by one point so therefore if I couldn't corporate into my design I could use 'masthead two'. 'Masthead  One' was clearly the least favorite masthead so therefore I will not be taking that design forward.

The second question I asked was "From the three designs which magazine would you more likely to pick up and want to read?" 'Design One' received three votes whilst 'Design Two' received no votes and therefore 'Design Three' received the remaining seven votes, this shows that 'Design Three' clearly has the best overall appeal and this will help me create my finish design.

For the third question I gave them three different topics to choose from and asked "Which do you think is the best main topic for the magazine?" I also then gave them the option to put forward there own ideas, the ideas I received from that was gossip from around the school. The first magazine headline was '2015 GCSE and A-level results- best results on record?' this headline received 20% of the results which means this option is not popular to take forwards however I could use this as another subject on my magazine cover. The second headline option was 'Out with the old and In with the new' this headline is about the new school building and this headline was the most popular headline option as it received 70% of the vote so consequently I will be using this as my main headline.

When I asked "What should the color scheme be for the school magazine?" 80% of the votes went for the school colors - black and red. The other 20% of the people believed that the colour scheme shouldn't just stick to these colours but it should be more colourful. So for that reason I will be sticking to Plantsbrook school's traditional colours.

For the next question I asked which of the three magazine drafts looked the best, this wasn't about what was on the page but more as where everything was positioned on the front cover. The results for this question was very close and neither of the options really stood out however 'Design two' received the most results out of the three. Due to 'Design Two' not winning by that many votes I will change 'Design Two's' layout a bit differently by using the other results as the masthead and other factors will change and they all need to fit and due to 'Design two's' layout I will need to tweak that design slightly anyway.

The other question I asked was"Do you think the masthead is big/clear enough?" It was only a yes and no option and the results turned out to be yes which means they believed that the masthead was the correct sizing for the magazine cover. As a result I will not need to change the size of the masthead I have used for the drafts on my official school magazine.

The last question asked was "How many sub-headings do you think this magazine needs?" I asked this question because I wanted to see my audiences opinion on how many they thought would be enough without making the page too crowded. 70% of the votes believed three-four subheading would be best suited for my magazine front cover, I think this is a good amount as it will help fill up the page without making it messy and look overcrowded. 

I have created a survey to find out which design ideas to take forward for my official school magazine. Please be helpful and complete my survey to help me make my decision, you can do this by clicking the link below
https://www.surveymonkey.com/r/NVNFQKN

Magazine covers 2

These are my three magazine designs for my school magazine. I have used different layouts to try and find out which is the best and I've also used different mastheads also to experiment which fits best for the style of magazine I'm going for.

This magazine hasn't stuck to the usual colour scheme (red and black, that I have used on my other magazines) I have used different colours to try and make it more attractive to the audience and to see if my target audience prefers this. This magazine has included a more cartoon type of logo to also see if its more appropriate for my target market group. 

My third design has adopted less colour and more serious design however the design at the moment may look more darker due to the fact the main image isn't in colour- yet. This design uses more simplicity which I think works well as it gives the magazine cover a more classic look overall. The school logo and slogan stands out more due to the darker colours used with the rest of the magazine.

Front Page Layout Ideas

These are five different designs I could use for a front page of an magazine. I've tried different layouts too see what works best for the front cover. 

School magazine front cover layout designs from serenaharper

My magazine design

Camera Practice

These are some ideas I have come up with for my school magazine, I have created a table to organize my photo ideas and what sort of shots and angles I will use for them such as medium close ups or long shot.

Photography Lesson 2

What we've learnt in photography in media so far:

Rules of thirds- 

Cambridgeincolour(.com) says that the rules of thirds is "The rule of thirds states than an image is most pleasing when its subjects or regions are composed along imaginary lines which divide the image into thirds — both vertically and horizontally." The rules of thirds is generally used as a guideline for photographer more so when taking portraits. The rules of thirds allows the photographer to take better photos so they look more balanced and less busy.  

Depth of field-

Miri(.com) says that depth of field is "Depth of field is the amount of distance between the nearest and farthest objects that appear in acceptably sharp focus in a photograph. A preferred selection Depth of field ("DOF") in a focused subject in an image can be quite subjective." The depth of field is good for photographers as they can have what they want in sharpness in an gradual transition. 

Lighting-

There's lots of different types of lighting we can use, lighting is important as it changes the quality of the photo but also can change the way we look at the photo. Some examples of different lighting is soft light, hard light, synthetic lighting etc. 

Visual lead-ins/ Lead-in lines- 

A lead-in line can be any line to take the viewers eye to the image. It draws the viewers eye to the subject in your photo. 

Movement in photographs- 

Movement helps to bring the photo alive. So if the photo is blurry it shows something is happening and brings the movement in the photo alive, 

Model/Subject position-

The position of the model helps tells the story of your image and what it may represent. 

Photography lesson 1

We went around the schools in a team taking different picture of our surroundings. We tried to use lots of different types of shots such as extreme close up and different angles such high-angle. The idea of this was too explore different techniques I can then use when I take my real photo for the magazine.

Magazine masthead analysis

School Mastheads

School Magazine Analysis

Magazine Analysis

Music Magazine Covers

                            AT A GLANCE

When looking at all the different music magazines out there on the market I tried to find a connection to what make a good magazine cover. However due to the different factors such as the target audience, genre etc. it makes every magazine cover very unique to each other. 

Here are the few good quality points each magazine seemed to all have:

. Logo, every blog needs a logo on the front cover whether its slapped across the top and in the middle or hidden in the corner but still boldly shown. (The logo is something every company needs not only a magazine) however for the magazine its also the title and the logo needs to be bold and noticeable. One of the reasons for this is so that when someone is looking to buy a magazine one of the first things they'll notice is the logo and this will also persuade them to buy it or even put them off buying it. The magazines title says a lot about the magazine and who they are and what they have to offer.



.Taglines, tend to be a catchy statement which hook you in and make you curious about the magazine so you want to buy it. Taglines are not just for that though they also tell you what the magazine has inside to offer.



. Cover model, all the artists on the front cover are all looking at the camera directly, this is direct mode of address this make the reader establish an relationship with them through that connection, which convinces them to buy the magazine even more. Another thing they do is star a popular celebrity on the cover as more people will be interested in the magazine which will therefore increase the profits of the magazine.  


. Incentives, most of these magazines offer an incentive into buying it, sometimes it can be an actual item and sometimes it will be advice or a chance to win something. In the Kerrang magazine there's a chance to win which makes the reader wanting to buy it so they can win the prize. Both Country Weekly and Rolling Stones magazine use the word 'special' which makes you think the magazine has more to offer then some and on both magazine cover the word special is written in white to make it stand out to the reader.        

                                                                                                                                

. Central image, all these magazine cover don't really show the full length of the celebrity on the front. However in the Kerrang magazine you can see what the celebrities are wearing this could tell use that this magazine may not be as formal as some of the other magazine such as Rolling Stones.