Monitoring Blog

13th Feb	Homework: Continue any unfinished work
20th Feb Unit 5 Deadline	1.      Update blog 2.      Continue with any unfinished work 3.      Make sure all editing is complete 4.      Make sure everything is finished Homework: If everything isn’t finished, complete it

This was the final week of my production and my goals were to make sure I have completely finished everything to a high standard and that my blog is up to date. I managed to finish eveyrthing on time, although I wasn't able to submit it on the day of the deadline because I had a few issues with turning my file into a PDF, but my lesson after the deadline I got assistance and managed to submit it there and then!

After recieving feedback from my initial hand-in, I was able to make some changes to my products to try and improve them and gain some extra marks. I took most of the constructive criticism on board and made the changes, however I didn't leave myself enough time to make every change suggested so I had to re-submit my work having not improved it to its full potential. I was advised to change the background on my second article because it was quite plain, but for this I needed to find out how to use brushes on inDesign and I didn't leave myself enough time for the research and then to actually dowload the brushes and make the amendments. So my product was re-submitted with the same background, but I did manage to add some borders to my pictures which was also suggested, because it would help my pictures stand out more and give them more significance.

My second article's use of red was said to be a bit too bold and striking, so I toned this down and also added a little logo to my 'help box'.

With my front  cover, I was just recommended to do a general tidy up and re-position my sell lines so they were in line and also reajust the size of some of them. I was also suggested to change my sky-line to make it a running line of offers which fill the top of the page, instead of just one.

I didn't really manage to get much done in term of my contents page, the only improvements I got done was re-sizing the numbering of my pages to make them larger. It was suggested that I include a variety of images instead of just the individual picture because the picture I used looked quite squashed on the page. But this meant I had to get another model and do another photoshoot, I didn't leave enough time for this and didn't organise one soon enough so I just had to leave it with the one picture.

Weekly Monitoring

6th Feb

1.      Blog 2.      Edit photos 3.      Put pictures into double page spread/contents 4.      Edit Homework: Blog

This week I was focussing on editing my pictures and inserting them into my double page spread, contents and also my front cover. The editing process took me a little bit longer than I initially anticipated, espeically when I was editing the picture for my 'body issues' double page spread. My idea was to edit the underwear out of the picture so that my model looked naked, however I didn't realise it wouldn't be so straight forward. It took me a while to get the hang of the technique, but even when I did understand how to do it and practiced a few times, it ended up looking over-done and completely un-natural because I would mix different tones of her skin which made it look strange. In the end I decided it would look better if I just left the picture as it was, because she had nude underwear on it didn't look too bad so I just left her as she was and edited the backgroud of the picture to extend the black backdrop to fill the whole DPS.

I didn't really have much more editing to do because I felt the pictures in their original state looked fine and were professional enough looking to be displayed without masses of editing.

Unit 5 Monitoring Blog

30th  Jan

1.      Have Photoshoot 2.      Choose pictures and edit 3.      Edit photos 4.      Edit photos Homework: Take pictures for second article

This week I had my photoshoot. I thought it went well and didn't encoutner any problems, except a small change of plan when I wasn't able to carry out the shoot I had initially planned to because my model was not allowed to bare anything more than her underwear. This didn't create too much of an issue and I carried on and managed to finish my shoot within the hour, capturing a range of pictures and uploaded them all onto my computer for editing.

I then had to choose which ones I was going to use for my final product, I decided to choose these:

 <- This one I chose for my front cover, because it is cute and girly and the pose, although similar to others you would see on the cover of a magazine like my own, it does differ and her body language is a little bit different to the standard 'hand on hip' pose.
 














<- I chose to use the 'hand on hip' pose for my contents page because I think it shows off the model's outfit well, this is important because I will include navigation to the page where my readers can look at the outfit and where the items are from. Again, it is girly and fits the magazine genre well, but I thought this picture was perfectly suited for the contents page and the slightly different pose was better sutied for the front page because it helps the magazine stand out.











<- This is the picture I chose to use for my 'body issues' double page spread. In my opinion, this was the best picture I got out of my photoshoot because I think, paired with my article, it is really effective and full of emotion. The fact that she is looking down meant that I was able to make it look as though she was looking down on the text, like she was telling her story and looking down on it as a bigger and better person. I think it portrays a real vulnerability and fragility, which is a perfect setting for the feel of the article.

Monitoring Blog -

2nd Jan

1.      Photoshoot plan 2.      Continue with Photoshoot planning 3.      Call sheet 4.      Layout of articles Homework: Finish any incomplete work

The week commencing the 2nd of January, I had planned to complete my planning documents and decide upon and design the layout of my articles. I managed to get three of my call sheets done plus my Photoshoot planning document, although I haven’t yet decided on a time and date for my shoot, so that information has been left blank in both my call sheets and Photoshoot plan for the time being. I only ended up completing one of my article layouts as it took me longer than expected to finish my planning documents and decide upon the layout for this particular spread. This design is based upon one used in a Cosmopolitan magazine, although slightly altered to make it more my own.

During the process of working on inDesign to produce my layout, I was able to refresh my skills and develop them a little bit more, whilst getting used to the programme once again. Because I hadn’t used it in a few months I had forgotten how to make use of certain tools, but after some practise I reminded myself of them and think I have included some effective and attractive features which can be seen in professional magazines, such as insert quotes and drop caps. The page opposite the text will be used for a full-page picture, the box entitled ‘intro’ is where I will place my small summarising introduction to the article, and then the ‘help suggestions’ box is where I will include a few tips, help-lines and websites for readers.

This week I have also completed three call sheets (lighting assistant, models and make-up artist) and finished my Photoshoot plan.

 

I have also started and nearly finished a Schedule which will document what my plan for each day is, helping me stay on track. One of my tasks was to get my Photoshoot booked, I did this but then later found out that the time I had chosen was no longer appropriate for my model so I will have to cancel and re-book that early next week, enabling me to fill in the information on my call sheets.

Article planning documents

article genre (purpose, type)	This article will be aimed to inform my readers about body issues by using a first-hand experience to describe what it is like. The purpose is to bring this topic to light as you don’t usually read about it and I feel it is something a lot of young women suffer from. It doesn’t have to be as extreme as actually having an eating disorder, just having body hang-ups and a really distorted/negative view of themselves. This is something which isn’t usually discussed and I think it should be as it will help people know that they are not alone, it is completely normal and help is always available.
Narrative voice (1st, 2nd or 3rd person)	I will use a 1st person narrative for this article as it will be the subject telling her story. I think this was the best way to present this article as it makes it a lot more personal and helps bring emotion to the pages, it is more effective to write ‘I’ rather than writing ‘She’.
Register (informal/formal, colloquial, dialect, taboo words?)	The article will be a mixture of formal and informal. It will be formal because it is a serious retell of a bad experience, however it will be informal as if my subject were speaking to my readers as a friend; it will be simple to follow and understand. The language won’t be so much colloquial in the sense that I will be using any taboo or slang words, but there will be no confusing terms used and everything my audience reads will be easy and suitable.
Stylistics (repetition, strong verbs, adjectives, alliteration, similes, metaphors, sentencing, rhythm)	I think my article in itself is quite strong simply because of the topic and the issue it is dealing with. I have chosen to use strong, bold and effective wording for my title and my insert-quote as this helps draw attention and highlights the most important parts of the story.
Tone of address (hectoring, sarcastic, ‘matey’, ironic, etc)	The tone of address is serious in a ‘young’ kind of way. The article demands a serious tone, yet it had to be presented in an appealing way in order for my target audience to understand and enjoy it. It
Structure and pace (discourse structure, logical paragraphing, connectives, conclusion)	It will be quite a slow pace because I want the readers to be absorbing the story and the information whilst they are reading, instead of following it at a rushed pace and not remembering the important bits ten minutes later. The paragraphs are a reasonable length, about an average of 30 lines per paragraph, which sounds a lot but when presented on the page it doesn’t look as much as it sounds. In conclusion to this article I have ended with a small ‘help’ box, which offers ways in which readers, who are affected by the article, can seek help.

This is the planning document outlining the idea for my first article. It explains what I propose my article to acheive, which narrative voice I will be writing in and how my article will be presented, for example reading pace and stylistics.

article genre (purpose, type)	The purpose of this article is to give tips and ideas to my readers on how to help them look and feel their best and more beautiful. It is all about making the most of what they have and encouraging a positive feeling and outlook. The tips are more focussed on creating a more positive energy and view of the self by enhancing their best features and doing things which are small and give simple pleasures, like spending some time on themselves and having a long bath or doing a comfortable amount of enjoyable exercise to release endorphins.
Narrative voice (1st, 2nd or 3rd person)	I will be using a 2nd person narrative voice for my article, as it will allow me to speak directly to my audience and identify them through use of ‘you,’ which makes them feel singled out and hopefully has more of an effect.
Register (informal/formal, colloquial, dialect, taboo words?)	This will be a rather informal article as it will be like a girl sharing her beauty tips to her friend, it will be girly yet sophisticated and will consist of language which my audience can relate to; a elegant kind of slang.
Stylistics (repetition, strong verbs, adjectives, alliteration, similes, metaphors, sentencing, rhythm)	I have underlined a few words within my article to create emphasis, for example ‘you’ or ‘beautiful’. I think this draws attention to the certain word whilst they are reading it and makes the text sink in a lot more when the odd word is meant to stand out amongst the rest.
Tone of address (hectoring, sarcastic, ‘matey’, ironic, etc)	The tone will be relatively ‘matey’ because like I said, I want it to come across like the friend (article) is sharing tips to their friend (reader). Therefore it will be laidback and easy to read, giving the article a very relatable feel to the readers.
Structure and pace (discourse structure, logical paragraphing, connectives, conclusion)	The article should be read at relatively fast pace, because although there is information to be absorbed, it isn’t heavy or serious, its more light-hearted and information which the readers are going to want to take in any way as it is for their own benefit. The paragraphs are very short because the structure of the ‘how to’ article means there are 5 fairly short paragraphs spread across a double page, the articles are on average about 15 lines long.

This is my planning sheet for my second article, outlining the same kind of features as article 1.

Production schedule

Week	Date	Activity
-3	28th Nov	1.      Complete costing sheet – find prices of everything I will need for production 2.      Continue with costing sheet 3.      Finish costing sheet 4.      Begin pitch preparation – put gathered information into a power point Homework: Continue on with pitch presentation
-2	5th Dec	1.      Continue on with pitch presentation 2.      Practice pitch on 13th Dec, present pitch 14th Dec 3.      Begin contingency planning sheet 4.      Continue on with contingencies Homework: Finish contingencies and finish any other work
-1	12th Dec Planning Deadline	1.      Start schedule planning sheet 2.      Start planning production 3.      Decide on setting of photo shoot and discuss with models 4.      Discuss availability with models Homework: Carry on with any unfinished work from the week
Xmas hols	19th Dec	Plan article 1 and 2
Xmas hols	26th Dec	Carry on with planning
1	2nd Jan	1.      Photoshoot plan 2.      Continue with Photoshoot planning 3.      Call sheet 4.      Layout of articles Homework: Finish any incomplete work
2	9th Jan	1.      Book Photoshoot 2.      Start A2 Blog 3.      Start layout of contents page 4.      Continue layout Homework: Complete any unfinished work
3	16th Jan	1.      Post in blog 2.      Design second double page spread 3.      Continue design 4.      Design front cover Homework: Make any corrections to front page/DPS
4	23rd Jan	1.      Start article planning 2.      Begin to write articles 3.      Revision for exam 4.      Psychology Exam Homework: Finish articles
5	30th  Jan	1.      Have Photoshoot 2.      Choose pictures and edit 3.      Edit photos 4.      Edit photos Homework: Take pictures for second article
6	6th Feb	1.      Blog 2.      Edit photos 3.      Put pictures into double page spread/contents 4.      Edit Homework: Blog
	13th Feb	Homework: Continue any unfinished work
7	20th Feb Unit 5 Deadline	1.      Update blog 2.      Continue with any unfinished work 3.      Make sure all editing is complete 4.      Make sure everything is finished Homework: If everything isn’t finished, complete it

This is my schedule which will help guide me thorough my production and help me keep on track. It gives me a week by week plan of what work I should be completing and catching up on. I found it hard to plan out all of my work at the beginning of the schedule, so instead I completed it as I went by, for example, at the end of or mid-way through week A I would plan week B's schedule of work.