30/11/17

Aims:

• Take Photos

Reflection:

My models met at my house around midday, already ready and prepared. We drove down to the first location at Newbottle Church. The weather was good so we were able to take photos both inside and outside. We took multiple photos and also got photos of the church and the surrounding areas as well as photos of flowers. Next, we drove down to Houghton and got some photo's in Houghton Park. However, there were more people around here so we left and moved down the rugby club field as this was less full. I took most of my photo's here and got images in various different poses. I was happy with how these images turned out. Afterwards, we headed home. I will upload the images tomorrow and evaluate them. I think that photoshoot was a large success and I can't imagine it going better. 

28/11/17

Aims:

• Complete flat plan for online article

Reflection:
This was the only flat plan where I did not copy off of similar products. I felt that I was confident enough with my knowledge of genre conventions and generic conventions to create a product independently. This meant that I saved time and I was able to go back through my blog and work on the write ups beneath my posts, ensuring that they were adequately descriptive.

Flatplan: Online Article

This was the only flat plan I designed without looking at other layouts. I planned this one regardless of other article styles and based it on my own knowledge of layout and genre. 

I felt that this would follow the appropriate codes and conventions for an article and would suit it's purpose well. The majority of articles in this genre as visual based and this is not what I want from my magazine or website so I have chosen to disobey convention in favour of having a more informative product. I feel that this page is more interesting and visually engaging than some of the example articles I have seen. I also used a comment box as I felt that this would look professional and make my website feel more like a real product. 

27/11/17

Aims:

• Get feedback on initial ideas [Not in initial plan]
• Look at forecast
• Message model

Reflection:

I decided to seek out feedback and compile what I was given into a video. This gave me ideas of what I must improve when creating my products and also confirmed that I had the right general idea and that my work will go well. This took place mostly after college however I spent my time in college emailing the images to my aunt and organizing the interview.  I also looked at the forecast for the week ahead and looked to see what the best day to take the photo would be. I decided that the best choice would be Thursday. I messaged my model to let her know and to confirm that this time and date worked for her.

Confirmation

Here is a screenshot of my conversation with my sister. 

This was just to confirm the date and the location. I am assured that she is fully prepared and I have done everything I can to prepare her for the shoot. This should go well. 

Audience Feedback: Initial Ideas

Before I begin construction, I decided to get feedback on my initial ideas and see if a member of my target audience was drawn to them. I asked her to give feedback on the images I built when I was story boarding and she gave solid advice and approval. This tells me that whilst I will have to do multiple drafts and alter things, my ideas are strong and present my target audience.
Below is the video of the feedback I received.



 Transcript:
- So, what do you think of the product?
- I think it's very bright. It's colourful. It draws your attention in.
- Okay, what do you think of the layout specifically.
- It looks a very strong layout. It fills the entire page and the fact that there's no empty spaces makes it more interesting. 
- Anything about the fonts in particular?
- A good range of fonts, makes the page look more full and more interesting. I also think the fonts you've chosen are really appropriate and match the theme of the magazine especially the masthead. The font there is really elegant and well chosen.
- Thank you. Also, what about the model?
- The model is well-styled, very modern. I can't tell what she'll look like yet till I see the final photo but it looks like you know what you want and what will work. 
- Thank you. Okayy, contents page - what do you think about that? 
- Well the script font is very fancy and it looks nice.
- Images? How you feelin' about those?
- They're quite interesting. It shows a good range of content. 
- Yeah? Anything else that stands out about it? 
- The edition of the editors note - it makes it more personal. 
- Thank you, that was what I was aiming for. So, here's the article, what do you think about that?
- I think it looks good. 
- Anything to say about the layout?
- Well it looks structured, very clean and well presented. 
- Thank you. What about the images, what do you think of those?
- Well I think you could have a bit more detail in the images. You've got a little bit of empty space 
- Right I'll be sure to fill those in the real images. Aaand font, anything to say about the font? 
- They look good. Easy, readable, and they match the theme of the magazine.
- Right, thank you. Okay, so billboard - so what do you think of this? 
- It's very dramatic which means it can draw your attention in, make people look at it. 
- The models? And their pose? Anything to say about that? 
- Well, they're posed in a very romantic and intimate way which matches the theme of a wedding magazine. 
-Anything about the layout?
- It's a bit minimalistic but it looks good and it works. 
- Any final comments?
- I like the font. 
- Here's what I had planned for my website. What do you think about that? 
- Oooh I quite like it. 
- Anything to say about the layout?
- Well, it's pretty. And I like the colours. Buuut, I don't know  if it matches with the other products.
- Yeah I can see that. Anything else?
- I like the fonts and the images. I think they'll work well in the real thing. 
- And here's the bottom part of that same page, anything about that? 
- The layout's still nice and once again I think an editors note would make it more personal.
- Thank you. Here's my other page of the website where you can purchase other issues. Anything to say about that? 
- This page looks very full. Hmm, it resembles the page of an actual real website so it works well. 
- Anything about the fonts, anything about the images?
- Well, you've got a good range of fonts and images. 
- Thank you. And for the little article? Anything else to say about that? 
- I think the images might be a little too dark. You might need to brighten them up.
- I can see that, yeah. Anything else at all? 
- Uhh, a comment box is a good idea. It makes it look a lot more realistic. 
- Thank you, that's all I'll need. 

Because I received a range of feedback, I condensed it and compiled it into this sheet to help me to work on it. I can refer back to this later rather than having to look through the entire transcript or watch the entire video again.

Weather Forecast

To ensure that I was choosing the best date for my photoshoot, I looked at the forecast.

Upon looking at this, I decided that the best choice for a photoshoot would be Thursday. This is because it is the warmest day with the smallest chance of rain. If this doesn't work, I will try for Friday as the weather looks as if it will be fine. If it does not, I will take photo's inside so that I can begin work and replan the outdoor photos for as soon as possible. However, this suggests that Thursday should work without issue.

24/11/17

Aims:

• Create purchase page flat plan

Reflection:

I evaluated three other purchase pages and chose the best one and then based my own flat plan off of that. This means that I only have one flat plan left to do. 

Flatplan: Purchase Page

The WIX template came with a page with products on. In here, I thought I could put issues that would potentially be for sale. I thought that this would make an interesting page where I could show off my editing skills and also demonstrate that my magazine had a house style.

I looked at three examples of this same thing using an emaze photo album and evaluated which birdal magazine website was using the strongest layout. 

I recongised that this had the strongest layout:

However, when creating my own flatplan, I knew that there was more I wanted than this. After experimenting with WIX previously, I knew that there was an option to add a paid delivery subscription option and I wanted to keep my initial idea of having a list of previous issues. Thus, I went with this layout.

Whilst the influence of the inspiration is there, this design is largely my own and reflects my own wants and ideas. I will continue to develop this and will attempt to keep influences from Belle Bridal as they are also regional bridal and therefore should inspire me. 

23/11/17

Aims:

• Recreation 7 [Not in initial plan]

Reflection:

I had not planned to do a seventh recreation but since I had a day today, I decided to do one and do some final experimentation with my editing. This has strengthened my editing skills and I spent the day playing around with different tools in Photoshop. This has made me feel confident with my editing skills and ready to move onto my construction. 

Recreation: BRIDES

With this, I experimented with text. I used the Text on Custom Path tool. This allowed me to create the effect where the text warps around my arm and bouquet. I also got to play around with fonts and colours to find matches. In the end, the fonts and colours I used were different but I felt that they captured the same effect. I added smart enhancements and added more highlight to my face and eyes to help them stand out. This was good practising for my editing skills, especially revolving around text and model editing.  

You can compare these images below:

22/11/17

Aims

• Fifth recreation 
• Sixth recreation [Not in initial plan] 

Reflection:

Today I managed to complete two recreation instead of one by also working at home.I did my fifth recreation in my lesson. It was useful as it let me look at color manipulation again and was the closest recreation I have done thus far. With my second, due to it being at home, I could screen record and capture the work I did. I will still do recreation work tomorrow so this means that I have done one additional recreation. This will definitely aid my work. 

Recreation: WEDDING

vidoe

For this product, I feel that I recreated the image well. I played around a lot with editing my own face and I worked well with the texts. I feel that the fonts I used were very good recreations and this is the closest I have gotten. This shows definite improvement in my editing skills and demonstrates that I am ready to begin construction of my own product shortly. For this, I also recorded the process that I went through to create this and you can watch the editing process below.

You can compare the original with my creation below:

Recreation: Jane by Design

For this, I used the replace colour feature and changed the colours of background and clothing to achieve the desired effect. This billboard was interesting to recreate as it really taught me a lot about manipulating colour. This was definitely something that I could take influence from when creating my own products - though not as extreme as changing entire sections. The replace colour feature could be used to change small sections and lose or raise their saturation or slightly adjust their hue.

Below, you can compare my recreation to the original product and see how close I got:

21/11/17

Aims:

• Finish storyboard 

Reflection:

I had not expected this task to take as long as it did. I made significant progress in today's lesson and then took it home with me. I completed the storyboard for my article and my billboard within the lesson and then completed the website storyboards at home. This has given me strong ideas for what I will do with my product. 

Here are the drafts from my storyboard that I created to represent my initial ideas:

Storyboard

Storyboard from BethDoesMedia

This storyboard showcases all of my ideas regarding the magazine put together. In this PowerPoint, I describe in depth the research process and how it developed my ideas. I used this research to digitally create my products and I can base my images around these. At the end of my projects, I will compare my initial ideas to my final product.
This was useful as it allowed me to correlate what I had learnt and truly build my ideas. I now have a solid idea of what I want and can visualise my final products with ease.

20/11/17

Aims:

• Work on storyboard

Reflection:

Because i plan to have a very detailed storyboard, I will start work today. I have done the storyboard for my front cover and contents page and will continue this work tomorrow. 

17/11/17

Aims:

• Homepage flat-plan

Reflection:

I created my website flat-plan from audience feedback. I'd had a template chosen for me ahead of time. However, from my research and planning, I knew I wanted to make some changes so I expanded upon that layout. I will make separate flat-plans for my other pages. I am making good progress with my flatplans.

Flatplan: Homepage

Prior to this, I had looked at templates on WIX. I chose this layout.

Therefore, I based my flatplan on this layout. However, when creating my flatplan, I decided to add in some extra features. I wanted more articles and an editors note to make my page look more full and more professional. This is the finished flatplan.

To me, this flatplan is full and interesting. It would draw people in to look at my product and explore my articles. It would also look professional as it is based off of a professional template. This layout would allow me to provide a range of articles and show off many beautiful photos. It also has an editors note which adds a more personal touch. I have observed editors notes in my regional research and I noticed that it gave the product a more personalised touch and I felt that this was one of the reasons why it worked so well as a regional product. I want to emulate this in my own work.

16/11/17

Aims:

• Fourth recreation 

Reflection: 

I have completed and posted my fourth recreation. This was quick to do as it only required color manipulation and one line of text. I have experience with color manipulation from the previous year at AS but this was additional practice to remind me of how to do it when creating my product for this year. Because I finished so quickly, I got to briefly start my fifth deconstruction, which was useful. 

Recreation: Apple

With this recreation, I had to desaturate my image and apply a cooling filter to achieve the blue effect. I also had to search for a handwritten font and, although mine is quite different, I like it. This effect is calming and classy though it is very different to the editing style I want to use on my product. Regardless, doing this allowed me to look in the Enhance window of Photoshop and play around with the tools so this was a useful learning experience. 

15/11/17

Aims:

• Third recreation

Reflection:

I got this done and posted quite quickly however I did quite a lot in the editing process. I used filters and enhancements. Upon comparing the two, I realized that the image was not particularity similar but the editing I did was incredibly useful as it allowed me to explore some tools on Photoshop that I don't frequently used and this practice was necessary. I feel that this will help me in creating my own billboard and that I am making good progress. I did not get to start work on my fourth deconstruction, which is disappointing, but I am confident in my skills and think I can get it done relatively quickly and have it posted by when I said I would. I may have to take this work home with me and do more at home but I will ensure that I complete it. 

Recreation: Robbins Diamonds

I recreated this billboard by firstly using the magnetic lasso to crop out the hand and raise it to a new layer and then blurring the layer behind it. I also used filters to create the sketched version of my face on the right hand side.  From there, all I had to do was add text. I took liberties and moved the text to a part of the image that I personally thought was more suitable for this instance. I then also Photoshop the image I had recreated onto a billboard to make it look more realistic and I like this effect.
You can compare the two images below: 

14/11/17

Aims:

• Second recreation 

Reflection:

My second recreation featured an image of me. Aside from editing the shadows of the image, there was little editing done other than adding the text. This meant that I finished quickly today and got onto my third deconstruction. For the next one, I will be doing a billboard. This gives me practice for creating my ancillary product. 

Recreation: Vogue

(Spelling error noticed at later date. Correction: Vogue*) 

I particularly liked the editing style of Vogue and I thought that their layouts were particularly interesting. They remained simplistic yet they stood out. On top of this, Vogue is one of the most established magazine brands that there is so they should be an inspiration. Whilst this magazine does not fit in my genre, it is interesting to look outside of my genre for editing practice and to try a range of styles to ensure that I am accustomed to all aspects of Photoshop. With this image, I had to crop my head to raise it to another layer above the text. I then only had to use the text tools to place the text onto the image. I did play around with the image adjustments, changing the brightness and the saturation of the image slightly to see what looked best. I used the replace colour to make the darker shades of the image even darker and then adjusted the curves of the image to experiment with this feature. 

These were some of the front covers that I took inspiration from though, admittedly, I did take inspiration from a wider range of covers.

13/11/17

Aims:

• Work on second recreation 

Reflection:

I worked on my second recreation and picked the best images for the other recreations. I should be able to post the second recreation tomorrow and move onto my third within the same day. This fast progress is due to my previous use of Photoshop on my art course and in my previous year at AS. I consider myself to be proficient with Photoshop. I still made good progress with my editing skills. I brought out the black in my image and raised the shadows for a more dynamic appearance. This made my image more visually interesting and I could apply this when creating my own product. 

10/11/17

Aims:

• Billboard flat-plan

Reflection:

I looked at other billboards for similar products and based my billboard layout around that. However, I added the relevant changes for my product based on what I had learnt in research and planning. 

Flatplan: Billboard

When planning my layout, I firstly looked at three other billboards. These billboards each had different layouts. Once more, I did not have any bridal magazine billboards so I went with a bridal business billboard and two fashion magazine billboards.



The layout that I liked the most was:

This was because I felt that it attracted the most attention and was the most visually interesting. With this inspiration clearly in mind, I designed the following flatplan.

This was based off of the above image but it has the addition of additional information. This will serve two main purposes. Firstly, it will help to fill up the page and add additional visual interest. Secondly, as my brand would not be as established as brands such as PRADA, it would tell people where they could find out more about or even purchase my product. 

9/11/17

Aims:

• First recreation

Reflection:

I used an image of my friend to create a similar product. I feel that this was beneficial to my editing skills as I experimented with the gradient tool - this was not something I'd previously looked at.I felt that my product strongly resembled the real thing and this aided me with my editing skills practice. 

Recreation: Vogue Man

With this front cover, I asked a male friend to model for me. I had to create the gradient background using the gradient tool in Photoshop. I also used the magnetic lasso to cut around my model and place him atop said background. I edited the lighting and saturation of the image to make him suited to his new background. After this I used the text and shape features to add the text and shapes and fully recreate the front cover. I like this style though my recreation is far from perfect. It is very bright and attention grabbing and particularly simple to create. 

You can compare the two images below:

6/11/17

Aims:

• Take photos for recreations

Reflection: 

I assessed several covers and billboards in lesson that I thought were edited well or were similar to what I wanted. I then had my friend Joseph pose for some photos after college based on the images. I will begin to edit these images in the weeks following.

3/11/17

Aims:

• Article flat-plan

Reflection: 

I have created a flat-plan based on my evaluation of four articles from similar products. I made changes to that based upon what I had learnt in my research and planning stages. This is the last of my main products flat plans and I only have to do my ancillary tasks after this.

Flatplan: Article

To work out what I wanted to do with the layout of my articles page, I looked at five other articles from other magazines. I looked at more layouts than I did with the two previous flatplans because I felt that article layouts were more varied and I had more options to consider. 



In the end, I decided that this one was the best choice:

I liked it because it had an amount of photos that I could realistically provide. I felt it was minimalist without being boring and it had a decent amount of space for text. With this inspiration in mind, I created this flatplan.

I based it off of the layout I'd previously evaluated however I added some features to it. These were pull quotes as I felt it made the layout a little less dull by breaking up the large sections of text and making the page more interesting. I also added credits as I'd observed these in generic conventions and I knew that they should be included. I feel that these changes I made improve my product and make it stronger and more interesting.

2/11/17

Aims:

• Create Recce

Reflection:

I received the questions for my Recce previously and I have worked to ensure that I have answered them to the best of my ability. I used PowToon as I thought that this would be a good way of ensuring that multimedia has been used in my planning. in answering these questions, I have prepared for every scenario and every problem that I could encounter during my photoshoot. 

Recce

This is the Recce. It made me question my photoshoot planning and what I would do if something were to go wrong. I needed to consider these before I went to my photoshoot to ensure that I was prepared. I was given topics (ie. Weather) and I assessed the problems they could cause and how I would fix/avoid these problems. Doing this ensures that my photoshoot will be a success as I have thought of every possible outcome and accounted for it. 

1/11/17

Aims:

• Model Prep

Reflection:

Today, I created a pack explaining some of the facial expressions and poses to my model and giving visual representations of what I want from her. I also linked her to my blog so she could look at the research and planning I'd already done. I felt that the pack I provided went into more than enough detail and that she'd be able to determine exactly what was required from this. The only thing I still need to inform her on is where to meet me and what time. 

Calendar For November

For November, I am focusing on getting my photoshoot planned and I will also be doing a lot of recreations to practice editing ahead of construction. As you can see, I have left a lot of space free for taking photos as I have not yet looked to see what day will have the best forecast. I will look into this during my planning stage.

Model Organization: Support File

I organized the photoshoot with my model today. Here is the log of our conversation:

As implied above, we have spoke about this face to face as well. She has been made clear on what I want from this photoshoot. I also explained later that I had misspoke and said 'pitch' when I meant to say storyboard presentation which will be posted shortly. You can view the link that I was sent her here:

https://niice.co/m/9433037018fbfcb8b5e5dccd2e391ea9

This is a link to the file that I will send my model detailing what I want from her in the images that I will take. This is what the file should look like: