3. College Magazine
During the creation of my college magazine I had less
time to create my products, but this did not stop me
from approaching the task as creatively as possible. I
used a variety of different tools on Microsoft Publisher to
ensure that my final products were as professional as
possible.
Although I did not have a lot of creative control for my
college magazine (Only using Publisher and having strict
rules to abide by for the photo-shoot) I think the final
outcomes were very good. I think they were good
because there was a nice house style which
complimented the photography to make my front cover
and contents page look visually appealing.
4. College Magazine
I did not do much planning into my college magazine
because we had a lot of restrictions in the brief for the
assignment, so I did not need to do much research or
planning for what to do, as what I needed to do was
already laid out for me.
Therefore I feel that my college magazine did not
broadcast my creativity as much as my music magazine
did, as the restrictions that I had to abide by meant I
wasn’t to have complete control over my final products.
5. Creative Problem Solving
For my front cover I was
having problems with the
background and my logo, as
both of them were black.
To compensate for this I
decided to put a grey box
behind the logo, the only
problem with this is the black
background was from the
actual photo-shoot, meaning I
could not layer the box in
front the black background
and behind my models face.
To manage this I decided to
go onto Photoshop and
duplicate the layer, but crop it
only leaving my models face,
and then putting that in front
of the grey box.
6. Organisation:
Location:
The location was already decided to be the TV Studio at
school.
Costume:
Because it was a college magazine it was only fitting that
our costume should be the school uniform, therefore I did
not intend to have my model wear anything else. I only had
control on their hair, which I asked them to have up.
7. Research & Planning
I did not have much time to do my research and
planning for this magazine, but that was okay as most of
my work was restricted anyway, meaning less
independent research and planning was required.
This doesn’t mean that I did not research and plan as
much as I could.
I did ask my audience to fill in a questionnaire and used
those results in my planning.
I also analysed existing magazines for research.
I then finally made a Press Kit stating what it was I am
intending to include in my magazine
8. Time Management
I think that overall I managed my time rather
well, although I did spend the majority of the time
creating my front cover and therefore leaving less time
on my contents page.
However I still managed to stick to deadlines in my work
and did not have any uncompleted work after my
deadline, although I did wish to go back and complete
some work to a higher level.
10. Music Magazine
I had much more time for the creation of my music magazine
and also had no restrictions to hold back my creative control.
This meant that much more research needed to go into the
creation of my final products. This planning included:
Research into existing music magazines (NME)
Audience Research into psychographics and demographics
Questionnaires to find out audience preferences
After gaining these results I began to plan out what I would do
for the creation of my magazine. I planned a rough outline for
the pages I was creating, and also went into more depth to plan
my photo-shoot and locations.
For my photo-shoot I looked deeply into the Mise-en-Scene of the
photos I intended to take, and also completed a costume design for
my model.
For the location scouting I made a “Reccie form” which highlighted
the availabity of the location and the lighting/sound surrounding.
11. Creative Problem Solving
For the front cover I was
having problems because
the colouring of the green
screen reflected on my
models face and clothing.
To get rid of this I altered
the hue of the photo.
By altering the hue of the
photo it helped me to get
rid of some of the
greenish tint on my
model, but also added a
red glow to her, but that
was fitting as she was
named “Burgundy”
12. Creative Problem Solving
Throughout the duration of
creating my contents page I
was really disappointed with
the outcome during the initial
stages. This is because I was
focusing too much on
including what the audience
wanted rather than the layout.
Because I had much more
time than I did when creating
my college magazine, I was
able to dedicate more time to
fixing the page.
I looked deeper into NME’s
layout and decided to use that
as inspiration for the layout
for my magazine, rather than
just for research.
13. Organisation:
Human Resources:
The only time I needed to use other people for both magazines
is when I required models on my photographs.
For my college magazine I was more organized, only needing
one model for photographs and being restricted to one location.
My organization was good in my music magazine, but because I
needed more models and they all had different lessons I had to
work out a schedule for when I wanted to take which photos:
I took all Green Screen photos in the morning whilst it was available.
I also took a few test photos for my contents page against a white
background.
During my years free I was able to take out a DSLR camera to take
the rest of my photos, starting by taking ones in school before finally
going off site for my last few photos. (I took a variety of photos so I
had more choice in the end)
14. Organisation:
Locations
The availability of my first location (Green Screen room) was
only limited to the morning, meaning that all the photos which I
needed this room for I made sure I took straight away.
There was unlimited availability for the rest of my locations
throughout the day, so I organised to take the rest of my
photographs when both me and my models were free, meaning
it could occur as swiftly as possible.
Costumes
To organise and keep control of the costumes, I provided almost
all of it. This was to make sure everything my models wore for
the preferences I required, and also suited the genre of the
magazine. It also meant that there was no possibility of people
forgetting costume, and therefore delaying the process.
The only costume I did not fully provide is some thing that my
main model wore as she was able to bring most of it in herself.
15. Research & Planning
I had much more time to do much more independent research and
planning for my music magazine. This meant I could go out and
research what I wanted to help me plan something that had no
restrictions.
Because of this extended time that I had to complete my work I
think that I was able to research, plan and organise much deeper
and for much longer before gaining a final understanding on what it
is I actually wanted to do.
I was able to not only look into existing music magazines of a similar
genre, but I was able to look into the demographics and
psychographics of my target audience, which meant I was able to
get a much better understanding of them in comparison to the
knowledge I had for my college magazine.
I also had more time to look into the questionnaire results I got back
from my audience, meaning I could pay more attention into making
a product that was appealing to them.
This research and planning benefited my greatly when creating my
final products, as I actually understood what I needed to do to
make my magazine look like the specific genre I wanted, and appeal
to the specific audience I wanted.
16. Time Management
I managed my time much better in my music magazine
than I did with my college magazine, by not only sticking to
deadlines, but also being able to complete work to a very
satisfactory level on the deadline.
All my research and planning was completed before I
started the production of my magazine, and then all my pre
production was completed (taking and editing photos)
before I started actually creating my magazine.
I had to make an extended deadline for my final products
due to half term and my mock exam, but I was able to still
complete them within the extended deadline.
The only thing I think I could’ve done which would have
been more successful with my time management at the
very end would have been to put all of my work onto my
website as I went along the process, because even though I
did do this the majority of the time, there was quite a bit of
planning work that was not yet uploaded even though it was
completed, and that meant a mad rush at the end to find
and upload everything.
