My Photoshoot

My Photoshoot

These are a few of the images I took on my photoshoot for my school magazine that I am making for my prelim task. I only have a select few on here because the rest of them did not turn out very well and these are probably the best ones. The colour tones are all very neutral which match the tone that people feel about school in general for instance, boringness, sadness, dullness etc. 

Flat Plans

These are the flat plans for my music magazine

Front Covers

Contents Pages

Double Page Spreads

Evaluation

These are the flat plans that I created to plan my magazine pages before creating them properly. I did 3 for my front cover, 3 for my contents page and 3 for my double page spread but the camera did not pick them up very well so they are not easy to see on here. In my opinion none of them are very strong so when creating the real thing I will incorporate factors of each but with the double page spread I will most likely use the flat plan on the right hand side of my double page spread section. The reason for this is I feel it follows the generic conventions of professional magazines and also looks more professional anyway and looks 'tidier'. For my contents page I think either the left or right one will be the one I stick to the most in terms of lay out. This is because, even though the middle one sticks to common conventions more than the others, they look more unique and modern, which is the type of feel I want my magazine to have. For my front cover I am most likely to use the flat plan on the right or the flat plan in the middle as a base for my lay out. This is because of the same reasons for my choices of contents page, they do follow conventions of generic magazines but also challenge them slightly to create a modern and unique look. I like the way the one in the middle features an acceptable amount of teasers/information/text but not an over-the-top amount, and I like the how the one on the right has minimal amount of information/teasers/text but it will be in boxes with borders around them etc which will bulk them up a bit. I asked a couple of people who some were in the range of my target audience and then a couple of others who were not within my target audience and they all agreed with the choices that I just stated except for 2 people which were not in the range of my target audience (they do not like rock music) so therefore their opinions do not affect my choices and ideas.

Target Audience Research

Target Audience Research

After analysing my survey results I have realised I need to make sure I aim my magazine at both genders as both genders did my questionnaire. This means I can't use certain colours or images that will stereotypically only appeal to just one gender such as pinks or purples or images of cars. 

According to my survey results my target audience (11 - 19 year olds) want to see a range of articles. 100% of students want to see images of students, 33% want to see images of the school and 67% want to see news and information. 

When I asked what would liked to be seen on the front cover 100% of people said lots of images, 67% of people said info on the things inside and 33% of people said lots of bright/bold colours. This means I need to add a bit of each into the magazine.

I asked in my survey if people enjoy reading magazines so that I know whether it is a fair survey. For instance, if people do not like reading magazines in general they are not going to enjoy reading a college magazine however good it is. 67% of people said they do enjoy reading them and 33% said they do. 

After looking at my survey I realised I didn't ask many questions that were relevant to my study. Next time I will make sure my questions are more relevant and helpful. I think it's better to ask 5 really good questions than 20 not very good ones. I also could have done with giving more options for my participants to choose from. 

Magazine Contents Page Analysis

This contents page is very specific to appeal to its target audience (women aged 24 - 35) as most of the text is very small and not spread out (people with bad eye sight would not be able to read this very well which indicates it isn't for older people as stereotypically their eye sight is not as good as younger peoples), there is just one image of a woman who is between the ages of the target audience which shows what you have to look like to read this magazine. It is stylish and neat which matches the articles and features inside the magazine and also the audience that stereotypically read this.

This contents is different to the previous one as it is busier and more colourful. It is clearer to read and easier to have a quick look at. Again the main image of the girl is likely to be the typical image that this magazine thinks/want their audience to look like. The target audience is probably around the same age as the target for the previous magazine but with a slightly different lifestyle, I can tell this by the articles and features it is showing pictures of. 

College Magazine Cover Analysis

This magazine is an example of a magazine that doesn't meet the common conventions of a successful college magazine (bold masthead, teasers, information on the articles and features inside etc). It has neutral colours and a lot of them which makes it messy and is not likely to draw an audience in. It also has a lot of people on the front which means more people are likely to pick it up and take it home (the people on the front) (this is another reason why it looks messy). The Bodmin College logo uses the school colours which are obviously red, white and yellow which are also featured in the school uniform, this gives the audience a sense of belonging and familiarity. 

This college magazine is completely different to the one I previously analysed. One obvious difference is the main image, there is just one girl - a girl who is stereotypically 'pretty' as she has blonde hair and is wearing make up and shorts. This makes it likely to be a popular magazine and to encourage a lot of people to pick it up. It sticks to the same few colours (red, blue, black and white) which makes it look more professional. The masthead is likely to draw the audience in as it is bright and bold. Another thing that is likely to draw an audience into picking it up and reading it is the fact that it has teasers of what is inside the magazine (something the previous magazine did not have). 

Analysing College Magazines

In order to establish what the common conventions of a college magazine are and make sure my magazine includes the necessary conventions so that it appeals to my target audience, I am going to analyse 2 college magazines and 2 contents pages. As shown in the following quotes creativity is not always an easy process:

"A process needed for problem solving. ..Not a special gift enjoyed by a few but a common ability possessed by most people" (Jones, 1993)

"The making of the new and rearranging of the old" (Bentley, 1997)

"Creativity results from the interaction of a system composed of three elements: a culture that contains symbolic rules, a person who brings novelty into the symbolic domain, and a field of experts who recognise and validate the innovation" (Caikszentkmihalyi, 1996)

Prelim Task + Flat Plans

As a starting task to develop my skills in Photoshop, photography, pre-production and critical reflection before starting the main task I have to complete the preliminary task. This is a good idea because it will boost my confidence in completing the main task to a good standard.

These are the flat plans I created for the prelim task

Front Cover

Contents Page

  

These flat plans are a series of ideas I have had for my prelim task. I will incorporate ideas from each into the final main cover and contents pages but for the cover I am most likely to use the flat plan in the middle as even though all 3 are quite similar, I feel this is the most unique and professional looking one. For my contents page I am most likely to use either the flat plan in the middle and add images of the college into each 6 of the squares however I will have to experiment with this as I am not sure how the outcome will look when created on photoshop, or the flat plan on the right although again I will have to experiment as I am not entirely sure that this is a strong idea. I think the flat plan on the left is professional looking but it could end up looking quite plain, especially the background, as there are no images on it.

My AS Coursework

After going over the options of the brief I have chosen to do the print brief for my AS portfolio. This is because I have a strong interest in music and the magazine industry (this is a career I wish to go into in the future) and felt this would be the best one for me. I also feel like this would be a good opportunity for me to build some key skills in this area.