Production Diary

1. By Abby Hayes
Production Diary

2. Diary Entry 1:
After considering all of the briefs that I could choose I have decided that I am going to create
a regional magazine article as I am confident that I can successfully express an opinion or
idea more successfully through text rather than in a video format. The first step toward
creating my product will be to conduct some initial research to give me a basic understanding
of what a regional magazine will look like and what will be expected of my product to make it
the industry standard. From this research I noticed that the main article that is to be featured
in the magazine is usually what is displayed in the image on the front cover, and when the
content was on an individual there was usually a mid shot or a close up of the subject so that
the audience can immediately make a decision if they want to purchase the magazine, based
off of the information that is displayed on the front. The next stage of research will be to
generate some ideas for what I could base the content of my own article on and to gain an
understanding for the common codes and conventions of a magazine.

3. Diary Entry 2:
I have now begun to generate a brainstorm for the potential topics or issues that my magazine
article can be based on. I have taken into consideration the topics that I will be able to write a lot
about and have decided to generate ideas based around addressing a social issue or presenting
a unique insight. As I feel like this will make my magazine more appealing to my target audience
So to begin my research I am going to look into the common codes and conventions of regional
magazine to gain an understanding for the audience expectations for my own magazine and give
me an overview of the quality/standard that is expected to make it appear successful and
professional like the industry standard. From creating a PowerPoint on the common features and
audience expectations for a magazine I gained an insight into what elements I will be expecting to
include and what techniques that I can use to improve the appeal of my product. I conducted an
interview which featured myself and some of my peers and I asked them what they would do an
article on if they had to create a regional magazine article. I discovered from their responses that
they would all focus on creating something that is relatively personal to them. This then further
helped to influence my decision for the final idea I chose.

4. Diary Entry 3:
After generating a range of ideas to use as the subject for my article I am most likely to base
my article around my cousin Mikey who is 13 and has been living with Cerebral Palsy which
is a physical disability that affects the movement in his lower limbs, restricting I'm from
walking without assistance from crutches or a wheelchair. By presenting something so
personal, the aim of the article will be to raise awareness of physical disabilities and the
limitations that they are given by society, by adopting a sympathetic and insightful tone to the
content of the article.
Although I felt like I needed a more in depth understanding of specific industry techniques
that are used and the effect that these could have in my own product. So I chose two front
covers of magazines similar in appearance to the one that I hope to create and I analysed the
deliberate use of fonts, colour of fonts and composition of the page. I also looked into
the colour palette that was used and discovered the palette was complementary to
the colours that were used in the image on the cover. Allowing it to be more aesthetically
pleasing to the audience, this was something I will consider experimenting with when I reach
the planning and construction stages of my production.

5. Diary Entry 4:
To provide myself with a better insight into the audience that I will targeting my product at I
will conduct target audience research where I will take into consideration the different
elements that will affect the audience I chose, such as their gender and age. Taking into
consideration who my target audience will be, I now feel able to create a more successful
product by understanding who I am aiming it at.
Then I wanted to begin the planning stages of my product, so I begun to sketch some ideas
for the layout of the front cover. I made the decision to use a brain on the front cover as
Cerebral Palsy in Mikey's case effects his mental ability as well as his physical ability. So I
felt like it was relevant to reflect the mental side on the front cover as it provides an insight
into the condition but stills leaves the audience intrigued to how it relates, making them more
likely to read the magazine. I wanted to incorporate my creativity as much as possible
therefore I harnessed my knitting skills and made a brain so that I could photograph it for the
front cover.

6. Diary Entry 5:
After creating the brain I begun to plan for the photo shoot for the cover of my magazine. I
made the decision to leave a large amount of space around the brain itself so that I could
allow a sufficient amount of room for the heading, title and barcode which are all elements
that I will be expected to feature. I then conducted the photo shoot to generate some images
that I could use for the front cover of my magazine. I used a digital SLR camera and studio
lighting as I photographed the brain in a dark room so that I could eliminate the background
space to have a black background when editing the image on photoshop. I took a variety of
different shots during the photoshoot so that I had more options to experiment with when I
begin to construct my magazine article.
I then reviewed the images from the shoot and narrowed it down to the most successful
images, so that I could make a final decision on which image had the best composition to
work best for the front cover. I also asked a range of my peers what image they found the
most successful as I felt like a second opinion would be the best way to ensure that I used
the image that would be the best for the front
cover.

7. Diary Entry 6:
One of the key elements that I will be expected by the audience to include on the front cover
of my magazine is a barcode, as this is a common code and conventions that is used by
magazine companies. I created the barcode in PhotoShop so that it is unique my magazine
and not recognizable from another well known magazine. I created a step by step guide on
how to create a barcode in PhotoShop by screenshotting the process as I did it and
uploading the images to a PowerPoint where I then annotated the different steps. I presented
it as a slideshare on my blog so that it was easy to view and I kept the amount of text to a
minimum so that it would be simple to follow with the help of the images that guide you
through each step.
Another key feature of a magazine article is a variety of different styles and colours of fonts,
so I was keen to experiment with all the possible options. As PhotoShop did not offer a great
variety of unique and interesting fonts I went online to DaFont where I could view and
download a huge variety of different fonts. I then annotated a small selection that I thought
would work well with the tone of my article. I wanted to keep the fonts simple and not too
extravagant as a reflection of the delicate nature of the content of the article itself.

8. Diary Entry 7:
I then uploaded the final image from the photoshoot into a Photoshop document so that I
could begin to edit it to become the front cover. As I had previously researched the common
codes and conventions of the front cover of a magazine I had an understanding of the
starting point to constructing my front cover.
The first version of my front cover appears quite different to my final version. I decided to
document this development of my front cover as a way of showing how I had grasped a
deeper understanding through the development of how to improve the quality of my
magazine to make it the same standard as the industry. By including small details I was able
to make it more successful, for example by including the issue number and a price in the right
hand corner it follows the codes and conventions. In addition I experimented with using a
variety of different effects on the fonts such as satin and shadow effects. By doing this I was
able to improve the overall aesthetic of the front cover and it appears more professional and
less basic and simple. Positioning the subheadings around the shape of the brain that is
central to the page helps to draw an equal amount of focus to both the subheadings and the
image featured on the front cover.

9. Diary Entry 8:
After being satisfied with the quality of my front cover I decided to begin my research into
contents pages so that I could start to construct the next page for my magazine. So I begun
some research by searching for examples of contents pages through Google until I found two
examples that I think could closely influence to construction of my own contents page. I
proceeded to analyse the common features used in both of the contents page examples and
how they could influence the element of my own article. One of the most influential aspects
for me was the use of different colours, styles and sizes of the fonts. As I feel like it helped to
keep the reader's attention drawn to the page with so many different aspects to look at. Also
to help clearly divide up the information visually for the reader so that they can easily
navigate to different sections of the magazine like the exclusive content features.
After analysing the common features of the contents pages I then felt confident enough to
begin to brainstorm some ideas for how I could layout my own contents page. I found the use
of an image down one side of the page and the contents on the other a really interesting and
effective layout, so I am going to experiment with using this layout to discover how successful
it is for the article that I want to create.

10. Diary Entry 9:
As the topic of my content for my magazine is a physical disability I felt like it was relevant to
directly portray this to the reader as in the image on the front cover the main content of the
magazine is relatively suggestive. Continuing with the idea of using an image down one side
of the page I decided to photograph the crutches that Mikey uses to support him when
walking, so that the reader can get a direct idea of what the article will be about.
By already having an idea of the layout that I wanted I was able to base my photoshoot
around this to produce the most successful images possible. I placed the crutches up against
a white wall, as they are colourful so would contrast with the background making them the
focal point of the image. Once I had reviewed all of the images from the photoshoot I was
able to select the most successful one and begin to develop an idea for how to construct the
next stages of my contents page.

11. Diary Entry 10:
The next stage for developing my contents page was to research into the different fonts that I
could use, as when analysing similar products I discovered that using a variety of different
fonts was a successful way to keep the reader's attention. I used DaFont which is the same
website that I had used to gather the fonts to use on the front cover of my magazine. I
wanted to keep the theme of the contents page similar to that of the front cover to help the
magazine to flow better and look more professional. After choosing the fonts that I thought
would work the best I then annotated why they were the most suitable fonts to use.
Then I felt like I was ready to begin editing my image to construct my contents page. I
uploaded the image into a Photoshop and began to add the different elements like the page
numbers and the contents. I adjusted the brightness and the contrast of the image to enhance
the white of the background and the colours of the crutches. I then added in the different
elements that you would see on a contents page, as I experimented with colours, fonts and
layouts I included a blog post to demonstrate the developments that I made from my initial
contents page to the final product.

12. Diary Entry 11:
The next stage was to begin to develop an understanding for the codes and conventions of
the main article in a magazine so that I could develop an insight into how to construct my
own. One of the first things I addressed was the layout, I researched into images of the
potential layouts that I could use and selected the three that were the most interesting and
the most similar to the layout that I could use. I then analysed these examples
and highlighted the different featured to make the layout effective and how I could potentially
incorporate these features into the layout of my own main article. By using a range of fonts in
different styles and sizes the readers attention is constantly drawn to the variety of different
elements featured on the page ensuring that they do not lose interest. Also the addition of
images further help to draw in the readers attention as they question the content of the article
based on the image and are therefore more encouraged to read the article.

13. Diary Entry 12:
By selecting examples of the content of magazines I was able to provide myself with an
understanding of the necessary tone that I need to address in my own article in order to
captivate the reader's attention and maintain it. I chose my examples based on the different
approaches that was taken, as one example takes a more scientific approach and the other a
more personal and in depth approach. By finding examples of both of these approaches I am
aiming to incorporate them both together in my own article content to provide a good balance
between statistics and facts for the reader and personal information about the individual who
the article is based on.
The next stage was to begin to construct the content for my own main article, I begun by
planning out the paragraphs and what I will mention in each one to give me a rough idea for
the structure that I will be using for the article. I produced the draft for the content in a
Microsoft word document rather than typing it straight into Photoshop, as there is no spell
check and it would be easier to rearrange my ideas.

14. Diary Entry 13:
When constructing my main article I felt like there was a large amount of text in comparison
to the rest of the page, also as I had used an image for the background of the page I found it
difficult to think of another object to photograph to include on the page that had relevance. So
I researched into other elements that I could add to help provide a break in the text. I found it
a common feature on some magazines to include an introduction at the start of the text just
below the title to give the reader an overview of the content of the article and provide a break
in the text. As I found this element successful I decided that it would be effective to include it
in my own article. Also I included a quote to help break up the text and to give the reader
something to consider and reflect upon when they read the article. During the final editing
stages of my main article I experimented with changing some of the colours of the fonts to
make the page appear more professional and eye-catching.
Now that I have completed my main product I can move onto deciding the ancillary tasks that
I am going to include alongside my main product.

15. Diary Entry 14:
The first of the ancillary tasks that I will be creating is a radio advert, where I will inform an
audience of the content of my magazine article and when it is going to be released. I will
being by researching into the codes and conventions of radio adverts so that I can create an
successful and professional product. I then had an understanding of the length that the
advert should be and how using a clear voice and adding music in the background can make
the advert more appealing to the target audience. After listening to some examples I decided
to construct the script for my advert by starting off by using a statistic so that the audience is
instantly aware of the content of the article. At the end of the advert I included the name of
the magazine and the date of which the magazine will be released.
I used a voice recorder to record the audio and uploaded it into Final Cut to edit. I decided to
edit in Final Cut rather than GarageBand as I had previous knowledge of how to edit in Final
Cut so my end product would be of a higher quality. Then I included music over the top to
follow the codes and conventions of a radio advert.

16. Diary Entry 15:
The second ancillary task I will be completing is a billboard advertisement for my magazine
article. I developed an understanding into the common codes and conventions of billboard
advertisement by researching into examples through the internet. I discovered the common
features like the use of colour, logos and product details. I can then incorporate these
features into my own billboard to make my billboard more professional and realistic to the
industry standard.
Next I used one of the images from the photoshoot from my front cover to use for the
billboard advertisement, as the audience can make a direct link between the advert for the
magazine and the cover of the magazine. I also included a question on my billboard so that I
can draw in the audiences attention by giving them something to think about, making them
more likely to be interested in the article. Although I left the question open to every individuals
personal interpretation so that they can take time to reflect on how would react if they were in
similar circumstances to the individual that the article is based on.

17. Diary Entry 16:
Now that I have completed the final version of both my main production and the two ancillary tasks
I will now move onto the evaluation stages of my production. Where I will reflect back on my final
product and generate audience feedback from my target audience in order to act upon developing
on any improvements with my product that this feedback might highlight. After gaining some
audience feedback I can then act upon this to further improve the quality of my product and make
it more professional, therefore receiving this feedback from my target audience is a vital part to
ensure that I have made my product to the best possible quality.
I will also take into consideration the different types of digital technologies that I had used in the
construction, research and planning and evaluation stages of my production highlighted the use of
both software and hardware and how this would have impacted on the quality of my final product.
Also how my previous knowledge will have given me access to create a more creative and
experimental in my approaches and would therefore lead to a more successful product. Within my
evaluations I will also reference how my product would have both challenged and conformed to the
codes and conventions of other regional magazines. Also I will highlight the how effective the
combination of my main production and ancillary tasks are in relation to the feedback I receive
from my target audience.