Ben Blakesley has created a production diary documenting the process of creating a rap-based magazine. Over the course of 16 entries, Ben details researching similar magazines, conducting photo shoots, designing pages like the front cover and contents page, editing photos, and refining details. The final entries discuss completing tasks like proofreading text and evaluating the magazine through different media formats.

1. Production Diary
Ben Blakesley
G321
Media Studies

2. Entry 1
I want to do the print task as I am a creative person who reads a lot of magazines and I have a lot of
ideas about what I could include in my rap based magazine.
I have created my preliminary task which I think went quite well as its my first time using adobe
Photoshop. I liked my theme and layout however I could have used more Photoshop features to make it
look more professional. I also created some videos to expand my knowledge on film as well as
photography so my photo shoots can be the best they can be.
My next stage is researching more similar products so I can get the feel of what mine should be like as
well as brainstorming new features unique to the rest which will make mine better. While doing this I will
consider different layouts and colour schemes which look the best as well as professional. I will plan on
where my photo shoot will take place along with who’s in it with the clothes and the props I should use.

3. Entry 2
After completing my mood board, I started my first photo-shoot with my
rapper in a variety of clothes that a rapper would were in a of range of
different locations. Some clothes included Stone Island, Nike and Adidas which
were very common in my mood board of styles and clothes used by modern
rappers. I have also begun to look at different colour schemes that go well
with my type genre, the most popular was black and red or yellow as these
colour’s had heavy connotations with the meaning and songs of the rap genre.
I also researched fonts and styles of my magazine however the rap one are
usually quite basic but every detail holds lots of meaning.

4. Entry 3
I have been working primarily on my blogs adding research that I conducted in
order to get an idea of what the rap genre is like. I have analysed existing rap
magazines and studied what I believe is effective and extracted ideas that I
could potentially use in my production as they are conventional and would
work well in my production. I have added a video that a small group and I
created to learn the basics of recording and editing with a professional
camera. This was good as I understood some key aspects of using a Mac
computer and final cut X which I need to know when I use these software's in
the future.

5. Entry 4
I have created contents page analysis which I show what I like about it and
what I can use in my production to get an idea of what its going to be like. I got
a big range of pages and studied them all and I could see what worked well
and aspects I could use in my diary. I have been researching and watching
videos of music magazines and it gave me a good idea of how they decide the
best photos from a shoot so I can use the same technique and overall it gave
me a good insight of what my magazine should be like.

6. Entry 5
I have been looking at websites of music magazine and did some background
reading of their different articles so I could use ideas to make sub titles of
them in my front page and contents page. I have chosen my fonts and colours
with suitable and meaningful background picture's that set the personality of
the magazine theme. I added various little details which are colour coded
differently to enhance the connotations of the colors as they all inter-
connected. I have also begun my contents page and made some beta versions
to help brainstorm ideas what I want in my final contents page piece. I have
also begun editing some of my photos so I can implement them throughout
my magazine if they go with the page. I also updated my blog by bringing in
new posts as well as changing the theme and making it look more professional
and personalized.

7. Entry 6
I have been heavily working on my contents page, adding different pictures
and editing them along with the little details of the page that make it stand
out and look good. I have been focusing on the positioning of the details on
the contents page as I know it is very important and can be very powerful if
the pictures and the details combine in a certain way. I have also been playing
around with Photoshop, editing some images and changing them to see what I
can make and the products made were quite good and can be used into my
work if needed. I have also gone back and looked at my front page and made
some minor tweaks to make it more professional.

8. Entry 7
I have been heavily concentrating on my front page and double page spread,
mostly working on little details of the front making it look professional,
realistic and accurate to a real rap magazine. I have continued writing for the
main article as well as designed some ideas with different colours and layouts.
I have also completed my 4th photo shoot in another variety of clothes and
locations, making my options of photos wide and more relevant to my
magazine, as well as improving my photography with less focusing and light
issues.

9. Entry 8
I have been primarily working on my main article with designs and started
editing the photos to go with it. I focused on the fade of the double page
spread along with suitable colours and fonts for the article. I also continued
writing up the main article, making it as accurate as possible for my rapper. I
displayed some of my beta main article text on my blog and will be further
analysing it to see if I can make improvements. I have also been adding more
depth and detail into my production blogs along with changing the theme of
my blog with different colours and pictures to personalise it.

10. Entry 9
I have been heavily updating my blog with lots of new content surrounding my
magazine work with posts with my older versions of my work and analysing it
to find a way to improve it. I also posted my best pictures from my shoots and
why I like it and how they were implemented into my magazine. On my
magazine, I have been paying attention to detail making the pages more sharp
and better looking with better placement of my writing and organization. An
example of this is in my contents page, I put a red fade behind my test to make
it visually better and more like an actual rap magazine.

11. Entry 10
I have been primarily working hard on my main article, editing and working on
the text making it as good and as realistic as possible. I have also been editing
and cropping out good and relevant photos that can go with my main article
and my contents page. However I have been working on my blog a lot too,
adding different posts and I have been working on a video recording short
interview of questions asking different people of the target market what they
thing a rap magazine looks like so my blog has a range of different medias on
there.

12. Entry 11
I have had my feedback and I have been working hard at the little details to
improve my magazine from the smallest of details from underlining sizes and
positioning of letters. I was working with one of the pictures to bring part of
the picture in front of some text to make it look more dynamic. I added more
titles into the front page and worked on the barcode making it have more
depth as well as making it look more realistic. Making the barcode consisted
on making lots of lines at a certain length and thickness with a number to
make it look realistic.

13. Entry 12
I have been working on my blog and finishing up my magazine. I have re-read
my main article to eliminate any remaining mistakes I may have made. I have
also made my front page more detailed with a banner at the bottom along
with more headlines which makes it look more like a rap magazine. I changed
up some fonts to make it more realistic and now it looks really sharp and
realistic. I have also looked back at my blog posts and edited some and made
them up to date.

14. Entry 13
This week I have heavily been working on my blog adding new posts in a range
of different media forms. I added a post of the exact locations of where I
conducted my photo shoots with some details like why I chose this exact spot
and at what time of day. I also shown evidence of research as I looked up
weather my magazine is mainstream or not and if its beneficial if it’s a
mainstream magazine. I have made another copy of my front page
experimenting with a slightly different layout and colour scheme to see the
effects if it looks more professional or not.

15. Entry 14
This week I continued working on my other copy for my front page with a
slightly different layout, making it look more sharp and dynamic then the
original so I can decide what one I can use for my real front cover. I have also
changed the opacity of colours of my rectangles as they play a huge part of my
contents page to make a faded effect in places to make the edges dynamic and
appealing. My contents page and double page spread is almost completed
however I keep adding slight fading effects to make it look more dynamic.

16. Entry 15
I have now finished proof reading my main article ensuring there are no errors
in my writing and making sure the test is laid out nicely and professionally as it
doesn’t touch the images around it. I have also checked that the title is in the
right place and everything about the double page spread is where I want it to
be. I have also finished my contents page ensuring all the details are in the
right places and the underlines are all the same size and in the right position
so it keeps the page looking professional. I have also double checked the
images and made sure it is in the best lighting and looks the sharpest. I have
now completed my front cover with all I have to do left is make sure the lines
between the headlines are a consistent length apart.

17. Evaluation Question Entry - 16
I have now started my evaluation questions and have produced them in a
range of different ways such as a voice recording, video recording and slide
share. Before recording and uploading, I proof read my script and added as
much relevant detail as I could and when editing I made the transitions look
smooth and high quality. I have also been researching my target audiences
opinions on my magazine as this will feed into my evaluation writing and may
inspire me to change parts of my production.