Production Post 4

In today's lesson we began to organise what we needed to do and when it needed to be done by. Mr Fisher provided us with a planning sheet which we voted to work through independently so we could pick and choose what topics we wanted to do and in what order we preferred (to an extent). We ticked off our preliminary task as we had all completed it. The next task on the list was to analyse 3 front cover music magazines, 3 contents and 3 double-page spreads. I decided that multi-media style posts were a good way of putting out work up as it wasn't just writing and boring but more of a fun and interesting approach. I chose to do my first analysis on Prezi and I did the rest on Powerpoint.

Double Page Spread Analysis

Double Page Spread Analysis

For my double page spread analysis I decided to choose 3 very different styles and ideas to help me decide what vibe I was feeling. I discovered that the model was the main feature and icon in the double page spread story. It's clear that you need to spend a significant amount of time choosing your model, their clothes, position and any props needed. Other feautures of a double page spread is the text and title layout. How certain items are placed on the page are important and will decide in whether someone will pick your magazine up and read the entire article or simply just flick through. If I, again, follow all these steps I will hopefully create a professional look double page spread.

Content Page Analysis

Contents 2

The contents page is the one part of the magazine creating process which I struggle with the most. I find it difficult to arrange all the information I want to include in a professional, stylish way. I only analysised one page contents even though I want to create a double page contents. I was unable to find a doublt page spread one which I liked and wanted to use. Again, it's clear about the main codes and conventions of a contents page which make it look and read effectively. I know that if I use all these conventions to create my contents page, my magazine will look realistic and fit in with all the other music magazines of my chosen genre.

Front Cover Analysis

Front Cover Analysis by

The purpose of this task was to try and use existing magazine front covers to help me figure out the main codes and conventions of them. This would then eventually lead to me using these basic codes and conventions on my magazine being the same to those of existing, successful ones. I discovered that most magazine front covers include the following; Masthead, Sell Lines, Main Image, Main Sell Line, Colours, Date/Issue No. To guarantee my magazines success I will have to follow these ideas and utilise all the resources I have available.

Equipment

Good photos depend on the equipment used and how effectively it's used. The quality of my final product will depend on how professional the photos appear on each of the pages. I have to make sure all my lights are positioned correctly to allow the perfect amount of light on the photo. Here are some images of the equipment I will be using.

Production Post 3

Me, Alfie, Clare and Faye filmed a visual analysis of a few different magazines last lesson. Faye was filming and Alfie, Clare and I all participated in speaking about the main structure of the front covers of different magazines. See below for the video.

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The Growth of my Preliminary Task

As you can see, the growth of my preliminary task increases layer after layer, it's necessary that we use layers when using photoshop as if, for some reason, you need to change of edit a specific object or piece of text then it makes it much easier to find and delete. Also you can arrange what appears infront of eachother by simply dragging a layer above or below another layer.

Preliminary Task - Production Post 2

For our preliminary task, we were required to create a rough magazine for our school. It was to help us gain knowledge in the Photoshop basics and allowed students who weren't familiar with Photoshop, understand the basic tools needed. I decided to keep my magazine quite simple and not too busy. I included all the necessary information such as plugs, headline, main image and cover lines.

The contents page contains all the main stories included in the magazine so that the reader can go straight to them if they wanted to.

If I were to pick something to improve I would definitely add more onto the front cover on the left-hand side. I have noticed there is no bar code so that would fill in the gap that is there.

This was a good starter topic for us to begin with as it wasn't stressful at all and refreshed our memory on how to create simple things using Photoshop. Starting our Music magazine should be much less stressful now and will therefore let us be more imaginative, creative and adventurous with our ideas.

Production Post 1

In today's lesson we started to design a School Magazine in practice for our music magazine. We began the lesson by getting into small groups and taking a camera to a location where we would take our pictures which would appear on the front cover and contents page. After we had taken the photos we then returned to class and uploaded them onto the computer where we imported them into Photoshop. I am familiar with working with Photoshop so I cracked on right away with the makings of the magazine. I started by increasing the scale of the main image so it filled the entire page and would catch any audiences eye. I then moved on to decide an appropriate title for the magazine and making it stand out above the picture. I experimented with many fonts that I could possibly use for my music magazine which would save me one job to do when it come down to planning it. I chose the name "The Big H" as I thought it wasn't too cliché and may stand out over other magazines. After I had designed a suitable logo and name I began to think of some typical inside stories I could include on the front cover which would be typical of a school magazine. I also needed a cover story that would be suitable for students to read and be interested in. 

Sir also told us about the coursework side of the AS exam. He explained to us that its important that we get the best possible mark in our coursework and keep improving it until we reach the best possible mark. This is so we have something to fall back on if the exam doesn't go how well you want it too. 

Possible ideas for my music magazine:

          - Bass

          - The Bass Line

          - The Vibe/Vibes

          - Sound

          - 411