Monitoring Blog

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

According to my schedule, this week my aims were to complete a blog post, design my double paged sprea and front cover and make any needed corrections. I have completed two blog posts so far and have uploaded all of my planning documents now that I have a date and time for my photoshoot. I have also began to design my second double page spread, however this has taken longer than I anticipated so I haven't managed to make a start on my front cover yet. This will mean that my homework will to be to make a start on my front cover, ready to put some pictures in after my photoshoot.

So far my double page spread is quite bare, with just boxes which will be filled with my article and boxes waiting for the pictures, but I think it looks promising and once I have filled the empty spaces with text and images, I think it will look a lot better. I'm unsure of whether to give the DPS a background colour, so this is something I will play around with over the next week, probably making my final decision after it is complete with all of the pictures!

Monitoring Blog - 2nd Jan

2nd Jan

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

This is a professional magazine double page spread I was looking at and thinking of taking the design from. I like how there is a dominant image taking up one page and then a manageable amount of text beside it. I think this split would be perfect for my target audience as visual appeal is vital and I need enough text to make it healthy with information, but not too much to put them off.

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.

Monitoring Blog - Contingencies

What could go wrong during production	How are you going to avoid this issue? What’s your back up plan?
Photo shoots take longer than expected – run out of booked time	I will have to make sure I book as much time as I think I will need plus as extra hour or so to minimise the chances of me running out of time during my shoot.
Models not turning up	Make definite sure beforehand that all my models are available at the time of my shoot, and have reliable contact numbers for them all so that I can get in touch should there be an issue. Alternatively I could have some back up models that are able to step up in the event of my original models being unavailable.
Memory stick lost/corrupt or problems with PC	I will save my work on more than one computer/memory stick and make sure I am also able to access it via my emails.
Studio/cameras being unavailable	I will book both of these well in advance to my photo shoot so I don’t need to worry about this on the day. If they do happen to be all booked out, I will have to look for an alternative location to carry out my shoot and perhaps borrow a camera from a friend who
Pictures coming back out of focus after the photo shoot	Ensure I have the right camera settings and am at the right distance from the model during the photo shoot. If it still goes wrong, book another photo shoot as soon as possible.
Props disappearing	Make sure I have spare and alternative things to use, bring my own props so that I am not relying on anybody else who may lose/forget to bring them.
Fonts not installed	Install them in advance and make sure they are definitely installed and saved in more than one place (for example a memory stick) so that I know they are accessible.
Computer crashing	Do regular saves (every 30 minutes) to make sure there is always a most recent draft, when I’m saving I should be saving to the computer I am working on, to a memory stick and also emailing it to myself so that I am able to access it on another computer.
Models turning up with different costumes	Brief them in advance and then just before the photo shoot so they are aware of what they need to wear/bring. Have a spare costume which I will bring myself so that in the event of them forgetting, I have another costume to fall back on.
Running out of post production time and not having software at home	Make sure I’m following my schedule so I stay on track, if I do fall behind, dedicate time after college to use the software and get the work done.

These are the possible contingencies that could occur during my production, with the list alongside of how I could overcome any and all of these problems, should they actually happen.