LOOKING BACK AT THE PRELIMINARY TASK WHAT DO YOU FEEL YOU HAVE LEARNT IN THE PROGRESSION FROM IT TO A FULL PRODUCT?

Megan Darrall

MANAGEMENT OF EQUIPMENTTo use the green screen and the cameras I had to book them in advance to ensure that I had them for the specific time slot that I wanted. If I didn’t do this I would have had to keep rearranging times with my models which would have been quite stressful. I also had to manage the lighting of my shoots so that it was similar to that of a real magazine.

This is an image that I took of one of my models on the green screen.

This is me taking a photo of my model on the green screen.

This is me adjusting the lighting of my shoot.

MANAGEMENT OF HUMAN RESOURCESI managed the people involved in the production of my magazine – the models – accordingly. So that I would have them at the same time as I had the camera and the green screen booked. I asked the models what time was best for them before going ahead and booking as otherwise if it didn’t work for them I wouldn’t be able to use the equipment when supposed to.

I also managed the styling and the costumes worn by my models. This allowed me to have full control over them to ensure that they went with my genre of magazine – Indie.

For my preliminary task I did not manage my models as well as I did not style them or anything I just took images of them around college.

Image that I took of one of my models that I styled to the genre of my magazine.

TIME MANAGEMENT

I managed my time a lot more efficiently for my main task than my preliminary task.

This is because for my main task I had a lot more elements to think about – genre, styling, props, lighting, background, colour scheme, shot and composition of my model.

I think that my time management was successful as I had all my images done very quickly and efficiently. Also, I finished my magazine on the deadline.

CREATIVE DECISONS

FRONT COVER PRELIMINARY TASK

I chose to take my main image outside of the college. I done this because I wanted to incorporate natural colours of the grass and the sky in my front cover – instead of using the green screen to make a plain background.

I gave my masthead – ‘Christ the King’ – a drop shadow so that it stood out from the background. Also it helps to grab the readers attention.

Instead of my puff being a circle, I used a splatter shape instead. I used this because it is less formal than a circle and helps to attract my target audience – college students.

The colour scheme I have used is purple, blue, yellow, white and burgundy. I used these colours because purple is the colour of Christ the King. I chose blue and yellow because they stand out as they are primary colours. I used white for the explanation line of the cover-lines because it doesn’t take attention away from the cover-lines. Finally, I used burgundy because I colour matched it to the cardigan that my model is wearing – which makes my magazine look stylish.

CONTENTS PAGE PRELIMINARY TASK

I have carried on with the purple colour that I used in my masthead to show continuity. As well as the yellow and white. I specifically used yellow as it compliments the colour purple

I asked a student in the college to act as if they are opening the door to one of the corridors. I chose to do this because it will give the reader the perception that reading on will open new doors for them. Also, it makes my magazine appealing as it gives a personal touch.

FRONT COVER MAIN TASK

I added stars at the gutter of my magazine and at the top. I chose to do this because it gives my magazine a hint of glamour and fills an empty gap.

I chose for my model to hold a prop – a vinyl – because it goes with the indie theme and shows that it is a music magazine.

I decided to use a plain grey background so that it did not take the attention away from the main image, cover–line and masthead.

I decided to have my main cover-line in the same style as my masthead as I thought that it would make my front cover look too packed if another style was used.

I chose to incorporate only three cover-lines because I took the less is more approach which is similar to NME.

I have chosen the colour scheme burgundy, grey, black and white. This is because I feel these colours represent the indie sub culture and they attract both genders.

CONTENTS PAGE MAIN TASK

I got the idea for the layout of my contents page to be like this by looking at one of ‘Q’ magazines contents pages. I like it because it is organised so my readers know exactly what they are looking at.This confirmed expectations as my audience all said that they liked how it is easy to read and organised well.

I decided to put the title of my contents page oppositely from the style of my smaller version of masthead. My masthead is burgundy with a black outline whereas a the title is black with a burgundy outline. I have done this so that the readers can clearly tell the difference between the masthead and the title.

DOUBLE PAGE SPREADMAIN TASK

I got the idea for the title of my dps to be laid out like this from an example of a dps of a music magazine that I found on Google. I liked it because it attracted my attention straight away so therefore I thought that using it for my music magazine would be a good idea as it will draw my reader in.Audience feedback confirmed expectations as they all said that they really like the title of the double page spread.

I got the inspiration for my model to wear a mask from my models bedroom. Originally it was just an experiment just to see what it would look like, but it worked and I think it works well with the rest of my double page spread as the title is ‘ROCK OR ROLE QUEEN?’

PROBLEMS-SOLVING DECISIONS

The original image that I used on my front cover reflected a flash on the vinyl. I solved this problem by using the clone stamp on Photoshop so that I could efficiently cover it up without it looking silly.

The flash also reflected on my models face which made her face appear shiny. I solved this problem by using the clone stamp on Photoshop which disguised it well.

Green from the green screen reflected on my model so I had to remove this as it would look strange if I had kept it as no one has a green face. I removed this using the clone stamp.

Originally I wanted to use this style of font as the masthead of my magazine. However, when I asked my peers and target audience what they thought it there was a unanimous vote that it is not very appealing or attractive as other music magazines style of masthead.

I solved this problem by experimenting with other styles of font. The font which I have shown above is the font which worked the best and is the font which I used for the final masthead of my magazine. This font worked best with my colour scheme so was therefore a lot more successful.

IMPORTANCE OF DRAFTINGIt was important that I drafted my music magazine as it allowed me to plan what I wanted my music magazine to look like and not just go out on a win and create a magazine that did not develop from anywhere.However, I did not keep to my drafts for all areas of my magazine as I found that some areas didn’t work as well as expected.

The only part of the draft that I used for my cover was the selling line. I attempted too use the same style of masthead but this did not work as well as I expected it to so I changed to a more normal and appealing font. I used a different style of image to predicted as my image is different and not often seen on a front cover so may be more appealing than just having a close up of an artist.

I have fairly kept some of my ideas for the contents page as I have done the headings in the same way as I planned to. However, I changed the layout as when I tried to do it similarly to my draft it didn’t work as well as expected.

The only thing which I have kept is the positioning of the headline and the drop capital. I did not keep everything the same as my draft because having the title on the main image made it look too cluttered and over powering. I also switched the sides (text on left and image on right) as I thought that this would work a lot better.