Final Products!

Drafts of Front Cover

This is the first draft I made of my front cover. I had used a photograph I had previously taken in a photo shoot for my textiles AS level as I thought it was a professional looking photograph with good lighting and that the white dress would allow me to place sell lines on top and arrange them better. I looked at similar magazines from the genre such as Vogue and Harper's Bazaar to get a feel for their layout and the way they place their sell lines. I have included some of the covers I looked at in a post called 'Professional Front Cover Analysis'. I found that they put their main sell line in the same colour as the masthead and at the bottom of the page. They also used a different font which would be bolder at the bottom of the page which would draw the eye more. I decided to also use this technique. On some of the covers they also used blocks behind some of the text over darker areas to allow the sell lines to stand out more therefore I also used this technique when sell lines were placed over darker areas such as the hair of the model. I predominantly used bright pink, pale pink and black and white for the cover, this is because I did not want it to look too busy and for the colours to not compliment each other. I saw also that on Harpers Bazaar they used a sash across the top right hand corner and I thought this looked professional and effective as I have also seen this technique used on the covers of Vogue occasionally. 

Once I had finished the first draft of this cover I decided that I did not feel it had the look I was going for and that the imagery did not look as dominant and effective as I had hoped for. Therefore I decided to take some more images in my next photo shoot which would seem more bold and dominant. I decided to use the same model however as I liked her look and style. 

I then produced this magazine front cover after my photo shoot. I changed the imagery so that it looked more dominant and added a brush stroke to the background of one of the sell lines so that it could also stand out against the page. I used a different font for the main sell line at the bottom of the page as I did not feel it stood out off the image and with it being the main sell line it needed to be bolder. I then produced the second draft of my front cover which I feel looked more dominant and bolder, I also thought this looked more professional and more like the professional competitors. 

Eventually, I had produced my final draft of my front cover. I kept changing and adding more sell lines so that it looked more professional and like a real magazine, I also changed the depth of colours used, I decided to go for a deep purple for the masthead and main sell line as it looked more dominant and stood out better off the image background as this was hard to do due to the big hat used and the patterned shirt the model was wearing. I again changed the font of the main sell line to something younger looking and bolder and added a thin white stroke so that it again stood out better off the image. I then added little details such as lines and crosses to add more detail to some of the sell lines and I changed the colours of some of the sell lines to the pink colours so that they still fit in with my house style. Overall I am very happy with my front cover and I think it looks effective and like it could compete with the professional ones I have used as inspiration.  

Finished Products Before Final Revisions

Below are all of my final products which were handed in at the first hand in date. There may be possible revisions to do to these products however these are my solid drafts.

Monitoring Post 28/02/14

Charity Shop Haul Article

If you were given 15 hours to find a full, elegant, designer esque outfit for under £60 where would you turn? Surely not a charity shop…surely yes! Charity shops are being vamped up and aren’t as tatty and shabby as before, you could even find yourself blissfully near charity-shop nirvana. London obviously have the best charity shops, such as TRIAD and Salvation Army on Princes Street, however finding a little designer number in one of these will probably cost you a small fortune. A vintage Chanel can knock you back a few hundred pounds, so for now let’s stick to the non-major branded items. Admittedly, unless you’re followed by a fairy sprinkling magic dust, you will never find an excellent charity shop item at the click of your fingers. A little hunting and imagination will get you a long way. Open your mind, walk aimlessly and look for inspiration!

Your first time charity shopping can be a little frightening and disappointing, but the key is to not give up. Look through all of the items on the rail; you never know what may be lurking out of view. If something takes your eye, take it down from the rail and inspect it. Think of things you already have in your wardrobe you could team it with or what trend it will categorise under. If you can imagine yourself wearing it or have something to team it with, buy it. If you can think of a way to up-cycle it and make it more your style, again, buy it. Each item will only knock you back £2/£3 at a time, it won’t break your piggy bank!

I met up with a few friends and asked them all to go to a charity shop, hunt around for 15 minutes and bring me back an item they would wear. One brought back the cutest, crochet white, halter neck summer top. With her slim-line, tall, slightly sun-kissed skin she looked to die for. Another brought back a pair of Levi jeans which she admitted she added a few rips to, so that they looked more vintage and up to date with the latest trends. Ripped jeans are big this season so grab yourself a cheap pair from a charity shop and get ripping! (Psstt..I will show you how to later on). Two of my friends brought back scarfs, one tartan and one burberry, which were both massive trends winter 13/spring 14, they had successfully found excellent, cheap items which were made of rich fabrics for a tiny price! What could possibly be more great?

Statement Pieces Article

Razzle Dazzle;

An array of shimmering sequins, beads and all things blingy, you’re bound to cause a scene and stop traffic passing you on the streets! Follow the designers such as Tom Ford and Stella McCartney who are making sequins a massive part of their AW14 collections. Embellishment enriches our wardrobes, whether it be day or night. From barely there glimmer, to a heavy sumptuous sparkle, the entire collection offers up a rich feast for the eyes. It’s such a lust affair!

Designer and high street brands both have created some lavishly detailed pieces over the years, however AW14 will be the time to shine! From a twist on the basic camisole, to prepped up sport wear, sequins are set to drop a big bombshell on the fashion world. The thirst for shimmer will be immense, so grab some sparkle while you can. All aspects of the colour spectrum are allowed for this trend, however pastels are set to be a big hit.

Why not glitz up one of your old wardrobe items using craft shop beads and sequins to make a totally special piece, nobody else in the entire world will be rocking? Now that’s fashion. Grab an old shirt with a collar and a couple bags of sequins and beads and a tube of fabric glue and hey presto, you’re already on your way to creating an iconic statement piece. Glue on the sparkles one by one ensuring you fill all the gaps causing big clusters for maximum impact. Why not arrange in a pattern to gain a higher quality effect?

The Colourful Collarless Coat;

The intense coloration of luminosity and undertones are vital to pull off this key trend of AW 14. What’s a coat without colour? The BRIGHTER the better! Whether it be used to shield the harsh winter wind or a nippy spring breeze a bright, collarless coat is vital. Deep saturation is better than muted undertones for this trend, ten times over. Chanel and Lucas Nascimento are big players of this trend. Chanel uses a lot of bright tweed fabrics, which look like they have just stepped off a plane from lux city. What a way to lure us in! Celebs such as Rihanna have also been spotted sporting this trend on the streets of Hollywood, so it’s sure a trend us aspiring fashion legends are going to chase!

Both designer and high street brands are nailing this trend. Topshop is currently a big lover of the colour spectrum coat ranging from £70-£100, a little pricey but for a key fashion item I’d say it would be an excellent investment. For a cheaper alternative for this trend, why not visit your local charity shops or your Grandma’s closet. Bright coats have been around for centuries drifting in and out of the fashion spotlight however we think this time they’re here to stay. The heavier the fabric the better, however any fabric can still be made to look ostentatious! £10 in a local charity shop could get you a fabulous, out dated coat which, with a little TLC, could look brand new again. How about adding new buttons to give it a richer looking effect?

Additional Images Contact Sheet

Contact Sheet Photoshoot Statement Pieces

Contact Sheet Statement Pieces Photoshoot

Front Cover Photoshoot

Risk Assessment QE Studio

Hazard: Cables

What could cause harm? Loose cables on the floor from equipment such as lighting and camera leads

What is the likelihood of this happening? Unlikely however it is possible

How much harm? Could cause someone to trip which could lead to little pain, a sprain or broken bone

Apply the following priorities, how will this risk be managed (provide detail)?

Control – this will be done by ensuring that all cables are not loose and the walk ways are clear so that the risk is very unlikely of them to be near any cables.

Hazard: Lighting

What could cause harm? The flash lighting could cause harm to the eyes, lamps are very hot so when adjusting them they may get burnt

What is the likelihood of this happening? Unlikely

How much harm? This could cause pain and potentially blindness, scarring and burns

Apply the following priorities, how will this risk be managed (provide detail)?

Reduce or substitute – to reduce the risk of damage occurring is to have a low flash lighting setting on the lights to reduce the harshness of the flash when the photographs are being taken, also to keep the models in as similar place as possible to reduce chance of having to reposition the lights

Hazard: Electricity

What could cause harm? The plugs from the equipment both in and out of use, could be plugged in and not in use, could have plugs lying around with the potential to stand on them

What is the likelihood of this happening? Unlikely

How much harm? This could lead to slight pain, electric shocks, and potential big damage

Apply the following priorities, how will this risk be managed (provide detail)?

Eliminate & Control. – this will be controlled by ensuring that all electrical items if in use are plugged in with the switches off until they need to be turned on and fully in use, also ensuring that anything electrical not being used in the shoot has the wires and plugs wound up and placed in the corner out of the way of any walk ways.

Recce

Potential Locations - Description	Photograph of where you will shoot.	Is it suitable – how? Why? (Access, Lighting, Sound )
The main location which I will be using for the majority of my photo shoots will be QE Media Photo Studio. This is because I am after a high quality finish and this will give me a good chance of achieving that aim. I will be using professional equipment to ensure my magazine has a chance against real magazines.	This is an image of the media photography studio, however I will be using a white backdrop instead of black so that my images look like those from within my genre and look professional.	This is the most suitable place for me to take my photographs for my magazine as it is easily accessible for myself and all of my models. This is because we are all students at the sixth form therefore are there 5 days a week and have easy access to the studio. It is easy to book a slot to do the photo shoot in the models and my own free periods so that we have a good use of time. The studio is also available to use after college hours therefore if needed I could have done a photo shoot after college however that is not appropriate for all of the models as some will have to get a college bus, however the majority of my models drive or live in the area therefore it could have easily been arranged. The studio has all of the professional equipment I will need to get high standard, quality photographs which can compete with other magazines of the same genre and similar target audience. The studio has a full flash lighting system with different lights available for different lighting techniques wanting to be used therefore the layout is easily changed to suit the type of lighting needed for separate photographs. The camera used is also a professional camera which is key for producing quality products. There is not a lot of sound that reaches the studio due to it being situated down a small corridor between two classrooms therefore only used when travelling from one room to the other which is not a regular occurrence. This will mean we will not be easily disturbed or interrupted.
The second location that will be used is outside on the grounds of college. There is an old brick wall with graffiti on and an old painted door and I think it has an old abandoned, quirky edge to it.		This location is not exactly a typical location for a high fashion magazine, however I thought using that as the backdrop for some images would add a quirky edge to the magazine and make it a little more interesting. The location is situated on college grounds around the side of the building so again it is easily accessed by myself and my models as we are all students at the college and it is just outside. We will be able to take photographs at any time at this location without bookings etc. therefore it is a quick location to use when getting additional photographs needed. This location does come with its downsides however, it is right next to a road leading on to a car park so it should be avoided at busy times such as dinner time and the start of lessons. This could cause problems however I do not think it will cause that much bother as we will have to collect the camera and gather props etc. before moving to the location at the start of free periods so this will not cause problems for us. Also the flash lighting kit cannot be used outside therefore we are relying on natural daylight and the flash on the camera which is risky as it may be too bright due to the bright sun or too dull due to clouds. Also due to the location being outside it could mean that if there is bad weather such as rain we may have to reschedule which could have a knock on effect on the rest of the magazine. There will be sound at this location and some disturbances however I do not think this will be a big problem.

Monitoring Post 14/02/2014

Last week I had successfully made two solid first drafts of my two feature DPS's like scheduled therefore I was still on track due to my schedule which meant this week I would focus my production on my front cover and contents page. I have already set up the Photoshop documents for both of these pages with the layout boxes on my contents page ready to input text, mastheads and photographs. I scheduled to start the week focusing on creating a solid draft of my front cover with all of the main elements included and move on to the contents page at the end of the week, I plan at sticking to this however I may use some of the longer lesson on friday to continue with the front cover. I had the photoshoot for my front cover and other elements of the magazine on friday and I felt this was the most successful photo shoot I have done for the magazine. I shortlisted some images I could use for the front cover over the weekend to give me a head start and I am pleased with the high quality of the images, they look very professional. I had previously taken some images in one of my other photoshoots for another DPS however I did not feel it had the look I was trying to achieve therefore I thought setting up another photo shoot and finding inspirational fashion photography images to work from was the best option. I have included a blog post called 'Front Cover Photoshoot Images' where I have shown the shortened list of images. I chose the strongest image to use for my cover considering pose, shadows and facial expression. I started Monday's lesson by editing and airbrushing the photograph to use for the background and I then set that in to place on the document. I then layered on top the masthead, fiddling with the width, depth and size of the font to get it to fit proportionally across the top of the page without covering too much of the models face. I then started to add all of the individual sell lines onto the page and rearrange them accordingly. I then added more layers such as blocked boxes for behind text and brush smudges. I changed the colour of some sell lines and the masthead. I spent monday's lesson and another 1hour 30minutes on monday creating the first draft. I was happy with the draft I had created however I did not feel it was as empowering as I had expected therefore I decided to make another draft and change the colours, layout of the sell lines and some fonts to create a more powerful cover. I spent Tuesday's lesson and another hour re-creating this draft. I then asked some peers from within my target audience which they prefered. All of the people asked said they prefered the second draft therefore I decided to stick with that as a solid first draft. In the last half of the week I moved on to create a solid draft of my contents page. I included images from my different photoshoots in a mosaic pattern onto my contents page and added the masthead and text. I also used some images from online to create a more professional look. Overall I feel that I have been successful this week in production. I have created two good first drafts of a front cover and a first draft of a contents page. This means that I am on track with production and are scheduled to be finished by the deadline. My homework for this week is to print the drafts and gather some quick feedback. However I have also done this within my lesson time therefore I will not need to be doing this as homework this week.

 Here I have shown some of my experimentation with different colours and fonts for the sell lines. At the end of this week I had came up with a good solid first draft of my front cover. 

Professional Front Cover Analysis

Here are just a few of the magazine front covers I looked at and used for inspiration. Something that was typical from the brand on their covers was the main sell line at the bottom of the page in a big bold font, I thought this was really effective and that it was something I would use in my magazine. Also they placed the sell lines typically down the left side of the page in a line and had some additional to the  right side, I also thought this looked effective and would be a method I would use when designing my magazine cover. They also used the sash across the top right hand corner of the page and i thought this added a special touch to the magazine and made it look more professional therefore I too decided to use this in my magazine. 

Model Release Forms

Monitoring Post - 07/02/2014

This week I have planned to have 2 out of 3 articles to be nearly finished and at a high, professional standard so that I can gather some feedback from my peers and target audience about what they think of the articles and if there is anything they feel needs a massive change. Throughout the week I will be continuing to create the secondary elements of my pages. I will spend two lessons on each of the article pages to ensure that I am spreading my time across them to ensure that I am completing all of the DPS's in plenty time to make professional touches and have time to make any needed changes before the deadline. I will be focusing on the new DPS's Charity Shop Haul and Statement Wardrobe Pieces building up the layers to create depth and a professional finish. I decided to use a three page scheme for both of these DPS' to give them a different edge and so that I could show off some of my skills on Photoshop and introduce a fun, yet high fashion edge to my magazine and it's articles. I chose to spend monday and tuesday's lessons creating more layers and adding the body article text and basic images to Charity Shop Haul. I edited the photograph which was to be used on the opening page to the DPS and introduced the masthead and introductory paragraph on this page and that was quickly finished within 30 minutes, however I feel I have still completed this page to a professional standard. I had layered up images to create a background in a circle then layered my model on top to create a fun edge. When I showed this to my peers they all said they liked the idea and thought it looked professional. I then proceeded to add the main body text and main imagery into the already placed layout boxes onto my documents. This would give me the base layout to work with and layer up to create a professional finish. I added mastheads, introductory sentences, smudge brush marks and quote inserts. These are all of the basic things to add which will make the magazine look more professional before adding the finishing touches. I then realised that I did not find the imagery effective therefore I will be taking out the photo shoot again in the up-coming days to then place into the article and add with the final finishing touches. On Thursday and Friday I then moved onto the Statement Wardrobe Pieces article which I also decided should be a three page article for effectiveness. I have been using pattern making skills on Photoshop in my Textiles AS course and I decided to use this technique on the introductory page of the article as similar things have been used in Company and Vogue magazine however nothing as effective as this. I decided to twist the images of the models taken to make a large distorted flower shape out of their bodies which I would use as a feature of the opening page for flicking appeal and to draw in the readers attention to stop and read what the article is about. In these lessons I also started adding all of the basics and the extra layers to the Statement Wardrobe Pieces article as I did with the charity shop haul article. I had a solid structure of both of the DPS's finished by the end of the lesson today which meant that I was on track and I feel like I have made a lot of progress this week and are well on the way with producing a solid, professional looking final piece. The homework for this week was to finish writing article three and input it into the InDesign document. My main target for this week was to have a solid draft of articles 2 and 3 and I feel that I have successfully done that.

Contact Sheet Photoshoot Charity Shop Haul

Contact Sheet Charity Shop Haul Photoshoot