Production Diary #14

Production Diary #13

I have recently completed my contact sheet. I finalised some of the images from the contact sheet, edited it on Adobe Photoshop by using the spot healing tool to dissolve any blemishes or spots on the model's face, the burn tool on the model's eyes and lips which enhances their features. For some of the images I had also removed the background to make the model the subject of the image and to highlight the importance of the artist on the magazine page. Once I finished editing the images on Photoshop, I saved them as a jpeg. File and transferred them to my magazine. I used a range of different pictures to see what would suit my magazine best. I also adjusted the magazine dramatically to fit the theme of the picture. As a result, I have successfully completed my front cover, the contents page and both my double page spreads. However, I am looking to add an additional double page spread where the artist answers exclusive twitter questions from fans.

Production Diary #12

Recently, I have been answering my evalution quesions, completed my outdoor photoshoot and have been improving my magazine on Adobe InDesign.

The evaluation questions I have answered so far are 'How does your media product represent particular social groups?' and 'How did you attract/address your audience?' The first question I answered was 1500 words and the second question I answered was 691 words. Both questions were focused on the audience, consumers and readers. I went into a great depth of detail of how my magazine appeals to the target audience and how the different aspects in my magazine attracts the different social groups in the target audience. As my magazine is a multi-genre, monthly magazine it would appeal to a wide mass of different people, preferably females and males aged 13 to 30 as this this is the age modern day music is most appreciated. Overall, my audience would be interested in the buzz of the music industry and contain a passion for music. The magazine is ceated in a matter that would reach the audiences expectation and not to be biased that it will seclude certain social groups.

I have made many improvements to my magazine, due to the fact that I have now completed an outdoor photoshoot. I have decided to go for a new engaging front cover image, thus I thought the original image was too 'posey' and did not suit the character 'Cecile Rose' is created to portray. I went to the skate part and the woods, unfortunatley during this time it was raining outside, but looking back at the images it created a positive effect and actually reflected the character 'Cecile' as the theme of the shoot was gunge, pop. There were three costume changes to see what fitted best for my magazine and to create a range of different images. I took the pictures from a range of different angles, landscape and portrait as basing it in one way could be perceived as "boring". I attempted to make the images as interesting as possible.  I used props such as a diary and Dr Dre headphones which is relevant to the content of my magazine and the musical aspect.

Also, I have completley re-created both my double page spreads and have created another double page spread where Cecile is made to answer the audience's twitter questions. The new images makes a big influence to the magazine, the layout is made to fit the images.

Production Diary #11

I have been making improvements to my previous coursework on my blog such as the preliminary task. I thought my preliminary task evaluation was short, thus I expanded it by going into more detail about the colour scheme, images, layout and so forth. Also, I read over my previous diary posts and edited parts to expand it.

Afterwards, I went back to my magazine 'Dynamic' to make little improvements such as changing the font on my article of 'Cecile Rose' which is titled 'Queen Cecile' the word queen was changed into a font that clearly represented the image of a queen and the font was coloured red to capture the attention of the reader and to highlight the danger and exclusivity of the context within the article, whereas the font for 'Cecile' was changed into dolce vitta heavy font that represents her genre of electra-pop.

I will still be making vast tweeks to my previous coursework as there is much to improve on, moreover there is still work that needs to be completed for my blog and magazine. For example, I plan on making two more pages for my magazine where the artist, 'Cecile',  answers specific questions from the readers' that are chosen from twitter.

Production Diary #10

I've mainly been working on the layout for my magazine and choosing the correct images for the pages. I have made a folder named 'FINAL PHOTOS' in my documents, where the images I have identified as suitable for my magazine are held. It's still a work in progress as I need to edit them. It's hard to choose the right image as I have numerous pictures that fits the purpose for my magazine. Therefore, to make my decision for the final photos easier, I have started editing some of the images on photoshop. Some may be the same image but with different filters or the shadow or brightness for that particular image is different, thus I can expand my options and see which one would fit better for my magazine. I insert the images I think are best for my magazine onto my layout and compare them with each other until I know which one looks better.

Other matters I have been doing, are making little adjustments to my layout such as changing the title font on my contents page which is now 'moon flower bold' rather than 'basic noodle titling' from Dafont.com. I have also started contributing cover lines on my front cover and inserting the barcode I customized myself on Dafont.com.

There is still a lot of work to do, I am planning to complete all of my work in the next few weeks.

Production Diary #9

I have mostly been making improvements to my front cover, contents page, article and double page spread on Adobe Indesign. I still have much work to do, the layout is complete - I just need to put the information and pictures into my magazine. I have chosen the image I want to use for my front cover, it is of the model I used 'Megan'. I am making improvements to the image by using Adobe Photoshop and brightening it, airbrushing and so on to give it that flawless effect. My contents page is almost complete. I have provided most of the information needed on the page apart from the editor's note. Once I have done that I will apply the images into the contents page.

Production Diary #8

I have recently been making improvements to my front cover draft, contents page draft and double page spread draft.I have written the article for my featured page which is titled 'Candyfloss Queen'/'Cecile Rose - why hollywood, fashion and record labels can't get enough of the London starlet's controversial behaviour' and I have also started writing the features and regulars on my contents page. The majority of the text is done, all I need to do is insert the images.

I have successfully completed my photoshoot which consists of 502 pictures, thus I thought taking a lot of pictures would provide me with a variety of good shots and it did. My photoshoot employed two models that I chose, their make-up and outfits supported the genres I wanted them to be which was electra-pop like Marina and The Diamonds and punk which is like Avril Lavigne. All I need to do now, is to choose the pictures I like the most, edit them on adobe photoshot and insert them into my layout which is on adobe indesign. However, for my double page spread I would like my models to be in a different destination rather than have the same old white background on every page. I was thinking for going for an urban or rural background, something that is different from the ordinairy. I want my overall images to be equisite with a sense of polish to them to make it look estabilished.

There is still much work in progress, nothing is completley finished in my magazine as I plan to make numerous improvements to make it exactly how I want it to be.

Production Diary #7

Today we began the layout for our magazines on adobe indesign. I have almost finished the layout for my contents page, the only matters left to do is applying the numbers, to direct the consumer to where they need to go in the magazine and I need to finish applying the subheadings. However, the layout is completely finished, thus once I have my images from my photo shoot and the actual text - I am finished with this page. I chose to put the words 'contents' in the middle of the double page spread in big, basic and bold text. I did this because I knew my target audience is of a large mass - it needs to be easy to read and to navigate. Although, the font may be simple I think that it contains a unique aspect of which looks of high quality. To emphasise the text I have put a line underneath the title. Moreover, the text that is on the page at the moment is placeholder text that flows into each coloumn,this makes it easy for me as once I have my final text I can copy and paste it immediately and the layout would not change. Also, I have put black rectangles and a circle to where my images will be placed, the images have a text wrap.

Furthermore, my draft for my double page spread is complete. I have placed a big black rectangle where my image would be, this will take up a full page of my double page spread. On the right page is where the article will be. The title is 'CANDYFLOSS QUEEN' with two hearts around it which I think highlights the artist's genre, electra pop. It looks young and fun. The noun 'QUEEN' would emphasise the power and success the artist has over society and it would demand attention from the consumers as it gives a sense of royalty. I have decided the first few lines of the article to be vertical, and then continue in three different columns. I did this because I wanted it to look interesting rather than a plain block of text.

I still need to make a draft for my front cover, another double page spread and to make slight adjustments to my contents page and double page spread. Hopefully, this would be finished in the new few lessons and I would have my photographs by then.

Production Diary #6

This week I have focused on preparing for my magazine 'Dynamic'. The preparation I have done are researching different fonts for my masthead, masthead names, examining other magazines to gain an insight of how my magazine should be, a mood board and lastly I have come up with a few colour schemes that varies depending on the main image.

I wanted to present my mood board in an interesting way rather than various images stuck together in one place. I thought a good way to get the message across of how my audience will be would be by using a programme called ‘powtoon’. I thought this programme was extremely useful. It was my first time using it and it was incredibly straightforward and simple to use. It provided a lot of interesting effects for the video.

I still have a lot of planning to do and there are still matters for my magazine I have not concluded on, like the font I will contribute for my masthead - although, I have varied the font I want to use to three fonts. Also, I need to plan how the photo shoot for my magazine will be. I will do this by looking at other magazines such as Rolling Stones, Billboard, NME and Q (all multi-genre) and view how the images are represented within the magazine.

Production Diary #5

This lesson we had to brainstorm masthead ideas for our music magazines. I contributed a variety of numerous masthead names in my brainstorm that suited my genre (chart magazine). I wanted it to be simple but bold, something related to music and that people would remember. From 'MC' which is an acronym and stands for 'Music Central'to 'Tune Into Radioactive', 'Electra-Heart' and 'Fire Starter' which are phrases and 'Dynamic' which is a connotive musical term that means how loud or quiet the sound is.

I came up with 28 names that could be contributed for my magazine - however, at the moment I am thinking of using 'Dynamic'. I think it is effective in terms of it being related to music, it's simple, bold and doesn't apply to a particular target audience which chart magazines are supposed to do.

I then went on a site named 'dafont.com' which provides a variety of different fonts to choose from. I looked at the basic fonts and chose eight from the variety. Afterwards, I pasted it onto photoshop to see which one I would like the most visually.

So far I am still deciding but I have narrowed it down to three particular fonts.

Production Diary #4

On the 30th September 2013, we were given the opportunity to update our blogs and finish or improve work in this unit.

Firstly, I had to ask a peer to read my music magazine proposal and give me feedback to how I can improve and what I did well in the content. Geeta wrote my proposal feedback on microsoft word, to receive this information she saved it on her USB stick which then allowed me to open it on my computer. I thought a good way to post the content on my blog would be through voki. It would be different and interesting rather than the ordinary text that consumes most of my page.

Afterwards, I realised my survey was still incomplete, thus I had to add more questions. I got a few peers to fill out my survey to see what kind of music magazines they appreciate and what they expect from my future music magazine. The results were successful in terms of it meeting my expectations, it was how I wanted my magazine to set out to be.

Nonetheless, there is still work leftover for me to catch up on, for example  my survey results need to be displayed on a powerpoint so I can visually see the standards of how my magazine needs to be. Also, I need to improve my proposal based on the feedback I had gained.

Production Diary #3

On the 24th September we had started our research for our music magazine. We had to investigate who our magazines would be targeted at and write a profile about the typical reader.

As my magazine 'Dynamic' is similar to Rolling Stone and Billboard I researched their target audience. It allowed me to have an insight of who my magazine would be targeted at. After consuming this information, I created a mood board of all the matters my audience would like such as - Dr Dre headphones, a guitar, concert tickets and various bands/singers from numerous different genres.

 Afterwards, I did a overall summary of who my target audience will be, then I created a typical user profile of one of my readers 'Debbie' and what her interests would be and so on. Also, I predicted the facts and statistics of my target audience e.g. ABC1 75%.

Production Diary #2

A few days ago, I had finally completed my preliminary task. It was easy to do, but I constantly made re-adjustments to my front cover and contents page until I was ultimately satisfied with it. These adjustments included - changing the font colour, repositioning the layout and so on.

In the end, I named my magazine 'Haydon Heat' as I thought the alliteration was effective. I entailed three features 'Haydon In The Rubble', 'Canteen Makeover' and 'Litter Crisis'. I contributed images that related with the features. All of this was done on a programme called Adobe Indesign.

After that, I collected contents pages, double page spreads and front covers from music magazines, as we are now moving onto making our own music magazine. I analysed the contents pages from billboard magazine and Q, the double page spreads from smash hits and front covers from Billboard and Q magazine. This allowed me to have an insight on how to prepare my music magazine and what techniques I could use to make my magazine effective.

I have decided to make my music magazine multi-genre like Rolling Stone, Billboard, NME and  Q. I thought this was a good opportunity as there aren't that many multi-genre magazines. My magazine would be called 'Dynamic' - it relates to music, hence it's musical definition is how high or low the sound is. Also, I thought the name was neutral as it's not aiming to a particular audience - it would appeal to the majority of everyone just like I want my overall magazine to be.

Production Diary #1

On 10th September 2013, we had to start our preliminary task. Our preliminary task was to make a school magazine featuring all sorts of current affairs happening in the school - we were allowed to make it up as long as if they were related to the pictures that would be contained in the magazine.

Firstly, we had to collect our images - we walked around the school taking pictures of various matters. I took pictures of the new food and new refurbishing of the school canteen. I thought of the headline 'Canteen Makeover' for my magazine.

Furthermore, at this time - the school was building a new gym - the gym was nowhere near finished and it looked like an explosion happened right in front of me. I took a few pictures of the scene, I thought of some good headlines like 'Science Test Went Wrong' or 'Haydon In The Rubble'.

I couldn't think of any more images to take - thus I took pictures of random aspects such as the school field, classrooms etc. We were walking down the corridor and it looked slightly spooky, I took a picture of it and thought about a feature of Haydon School being haunted.

We then transferred the images from our phones to the computer by school email. The application we used for our magazine was Adobe In Design - it was our first time using it but it was easy to figure out how to work it.

I started on my title first, I used font from 'dafont.com' (Bebas). It was black, simple and straightforward. Then I found the Haydon logo from the internet - I saved it and imported it onto my front cover and placed it next to the title. 

I still have some work to do but I will hopefully have it finished by tomorrow.