Photography planning

Splash image (front cover)When I was originally brainstorming the look of my magazine and what kind of splash image I wanted for the cover, I stated that I wanted to take the image outdoors in order to be a little more quirky and relaxed than say taking the image in a studio. However, after consideration I feel like this won’t achieve that ‘sophisticated’, well made look that I’m going for, so I’ve reconsidered and decided on a classic studio shot, in order to end up with a very high quality looking product which fits in well with incumbent magazines in the British music market.

The mise-en-scene will remain pretty much the same as described previously, as the only change is the location.

Examples and inspiration for the cover shot are as below;

• Somewhere between a medium long shot and a medium close up

• Possible prop- wooden chair

• Male model• Casual clothing Also will be thinking about

the rule of thirds when taking the splash image. The model will be placed off centre to the right, leaving head room for the masthead, as well as space around the model for sell lines. The model will fall over the two right hand focus point, drawing the audiences eye to him and balancing the page well.

In terms of clothing the model will sport quite a casual, street style, with a colour palette of greys, black and shades of red in order to tie in with the house style colour scheme.

Contents pageThe contents page will feature a handful of photographs, all in thumbnails as a method of visually displaying the contents of the pages.

In terms of the types of images I’ll be using, it will be a variety, as they will represent the variety of different articles in the magazine. I intend to have some long shots of artists, maybe one of an individual and one of a band or group. Some extreme long shots of gigs or concert environments would also work well, as well as a close up of the ‘editor’ which will appear in the top left corner (due to it being the first edition of the magazine).

By including images such as this close up example of Ellie Goulding, readers will instantly recognise the artist and associate that article with them. The close up shot also suggests that that article is quite a personal one, such as an interview, as opposed to a more disengaged, informative piece which may come with an image such as this.

My double page spread will include three images- two on one page and one on the other. 1 2 3

The two images to the left show examples of the type of location the photos will be taken in. The weather needs to be dry, with bright, warm lighting- the type you get when the sky is overcast. This will help to get really crisp, professional looking photos. The location itself is a back passage way, with a gravel/dirty path, trees and a row of old, metal garages. This reflects the character of the artist featured in the article, as he’s a local guy who comes from quite a ‘rough’ estate, and has managed to get a break in the music industry by busking and working hard. I feel like taking images in a setting like this also reaches out to the audience as it’s quite a relatable surrounding, as opposed to a studio or a more grand, up market place. It will allow readers to feel closer to the artist and gain that sense of being an equal to them.

1 This image of Ed Sheeran gives a good idea of the first photo I intend to take for my double page spread. Obviously because of the positioning on the page it will have to be of a portrait orientation, and will most likely be a medium long shot, so taken a little further away than this one of Ed. I’ll also be including my acoustic guitar as a prop, in order to illustrate the model’s talents and draw attention to the fact that he composes and produces all his own music.

This just demonstrates the fact that I’d like there to be a difference in height between images 1 and 2. The mise-en-scene will be continual throughout the three images in terms of clothing, setting, etc, but I’d like this second image to be of the model sat down or knelt down, in order to give a bit of diversity to the page, and make it aesthetically pleasing.

2

3 For the larger image which will form the background to the second page, I’d really like this to be a long shot or extreme long shot of the artist walking away from the camera, in order to get a much more natural shot rather than one that’s posed and aimed at the viewer. This gives a bit of variety, but again will also emphasise that idea of normality (since the image is much more relaxed), that he’s a normal person too and readers will identify with this. With this image I’ll make sure to leave empty space down the left hand side and the top of the image, as some of the article text will overlap it here.