Week 33: Introduction to Documentary Assignment and Homework Assignment

Today I have been introduced to my 4th Assignment and this is to create a Documentary which shows a subject which I am interested in and also shows social and community within the theme of the subject. I have also gained knowledge into what documentaries are and I have been shown the features which should be included within a documentary and the order in which they are put into the documentary footage. For example the background on the subject is very important and also interviews with both the people which the subject affects and experts on this subject, as this therefore supports the case you are trying to portray to the viewer. Throughout this week I will be developing an idea for a documentary which I would want to create and learn more about the different documentaries, as today as a class we also watched some short videos on the BBC website on subjects such as Royal Weddings and the FA Cup, which were factual programmes which included archive footage, sound effects and narration.

Homework Assignment Introduction
Today I have also been introduced to a Homework Assignment which is a booklet with tasks which I need to complete as well as the Documentary Assignment, this homework assignment allows me to gain further knowledge in understanding the Media Industry. Today I have started Task 1, and within this task I am researching into two large companies, The Walt Disney Company and ITV, within this task I am creating a research dossier and presentation of some sort which shows the history of the company, the company income, what the company owns, who owns the company and how many employees the company has.

ITV Logo

The Walt Disney Company Logo

Week 30: Feedback from Target Audience

I created a questionnaire for the target audience of students and secondary audience of parents, I decided to create a questionnaire to gain the potential readers opinion on my magazine front cover, contents page and double page spread as these are the people who will be reading the magazine and therefore the magazine needs to appeal to this target audience. From this questionnaire I got positive and negative feedback from the target audience which was useful as I was able to see the positives and negatives with my magazine pages, for example the feedback on my front cover was quite positive and that the majority of the people liked the image which I used on my front cover, as they believed it represented student life clearly and they were able to see that the magazine was for students. Some negative feedback which I received in relation to my front cover was one comment that my front cover looked to 'busy', I believed it was good to gain negative feedback as this could be an improvement I could make in the future if I were able to repeat this assignment. The main positive feedback came from the questions and answers on my double page spread, as all 9 people liked the content and layout of my double page spread and believed it does look original and eye catching which is the main aspect I wanted to create within my double page spread.
I believe I have gained a lot of feedback from this questionnaire and it was important that I gained opinions from the secondary audience of Parents as well as Students.

Week 30: Completed Front Cover, Contents Page and Double Page Spread

Today I have completed my Magazine Front Cover, Contents Page and Double Page Spread for my student magazine, these images below show my final colour versions of my magazine pages. I also had some problems today related to the image which I was going to use on my student magazine, the second image down shows my magazine front cover which I was going to use as my final front cover. Although, when I printed the front cover with this image of the group of students the image quality was not very good, as the original image itself was affected by the sunlight and this affected the image with the sunlight within it and once I printed the image it was not very clear. Therefore I tried to resolve this problem by changing the contrast of the image, but this still didn't improve the image quality, so I decided to go back to my original image of the two students and I decided to include the group image at the bottom of the front cover. I chose this front cover as the image quality was much clearer and I could also include a smaller version of the group image which showed both genders, which is who the student magazine needs to appeal to. My final front cover is also responding to the feedback I was given last week, I have enlarged the image and from the clients opinion I have kept the image of the students at the bottom of the cover and I therefore believe my final front cover will appeal to students and also parents as this is the response from my clients feedback.



Final Magazine Front Cover



Image which was not the best Quality
to use for my Final Front Cover

This is my final contents page, which I have changed in response to feedback and I have included the title down the side of the contents page as this is still clear and can be read, I believed this was more creative and interesting to read and I also think that this contents page links well with the front cover, as I have tried to keep a continuous theme through the different pages.

Final Contents Page

Below shows my final double page spread, I have finished my double page spread today and I have included the feedback from the client and students from yesterday and the change in the colour of the writing helps the text stand out and is clearer and I have also included the block colour behind the '5 Steps to Applying for University' which is eye catching.



Final Double Page Spread



Overall I am very happy with my Final Front Cover, Contents Page and Double Page Spread as I have carried out a lot of research from the beginning of the assignment into the elements surrounding magazines and I have created a original and unique front cover, contents page and double page spread, I have gained feedback from the target audience on their opinion on my final pages and I can therefore see how I could improve if I were to repeat this project.

Week 30: Contents Page and Double Page Spread Progress

Today I have continued to complete my double page spread, I have also been given feedback from both the client and the target audience of students about my double page spread, I have nearly completed my double page spread today and I have had feedback from a student about her view on my double page spread. The changes which I have made today to my article is that I have changed the colour of the article writing to black, as from a students feedback they said that there was too much red within the article, which I did believe was true and the black text breaks the article up and I think this does work better. I also received feedback from the client and he said he liked the layout which I had with the images in the centre of the double page, I was also shown how to make the quality of my photos better, by using the Curves in Photoshop tool to create a well balanced colour image, the screenshot below shows the curve which is commonly used when using this tool to edit and enhance an image within Photoshop.




Curves Tool in Photoshop

 

This image below shows my nearly completed double page spread, I have changed the layout and included the main article on student life on the first page, with the second page I have added the interview to the left and an additional box at the bottom of the page with 5 Steps to Applying for University. I think the layout of my double page spread is now clear and eye catching and included an article and contents which will appeal to both students and parents and potential advertisers, I think I have now completed my double page spread and I will ask my primary target audience of students tomorrow to complete a questionnaire for feedback on how I could potentially improve my magazine pages if I were to repeat this project.

Double Page Spread

 I have now completed my Contents Page for my student magazine, I have changed the title within the contents page, I have decided to place the title down the left hand side of the page and I changed the opacity of the font to make it faded, I thought having the title at the side of the page is because I thought this is more eye catching. I have also added an introduction message into the magazine which tells the reader what it within the issue and I have also added the website at the bottom of the page, and I have done the same on my double page spread in the corners of the pages.

Tomorrow I will ask my target audience to fill out a questionnaire on my 3 different magazine pages and I can therefore see their feedback and see whether the pages do appeal to them as the target audience.



Contents Page



Week 29: Responding to Feedback

Today in lesson I was given feedback on my Magazine Pages, this has helped me in improving my student magazine front cover, contents page and double page spread.
Front Cover
The feedback on my front cover which I have taken on board and have started to add this feedback into my final front cover:
Layout: I was given feedback on the layout of my front cover first and this was because the cover which I had created had a white band at the top of the magazine with the masthead and the features within the magazine. The reason why I had the features at the top of the cover is because I thought the image was being covered by the features and I believed this layout looked more imaginative. From my feedback on this layout I have therefore enlarged the main image on the cover, I believe this does work well as it is larger and emphasises the point and clearly shows this is a student magazine. I have also used the band which I had across the page, but from feedback I have slightly slanted and rotated them so this looks more visually appealing and eye catching for the target audience, I have used one of these bands at the top of the cover, with the Issue Number and Issue Date and I have also used two along the bottom of the cover with the contents of the magazine included within them. I believe this layout is eye catching and creative as the contents text is not over the image, but is still clear of what is included within the magazine, this image below also shows that I have enlarged the image and this definitely emphasises that this is a student magazine.
Masthead: I also received feedback on the masthead I had created for my student magazine, I was struggling with creating an eye catching and creative masthead with the name of my student magazine, Students United, therefore Simon gave me feedback and helped me in coming up with a new masthead, a point which was mentioned was that my first final masthead was not clear as the writing could not be read properly. Therefore I created a new masthead using the same colour scheme but made it more creative, by having the S and U sideways facing each other with the name Students United in the middle is much clearer and eye catching.
Colours: Another aspect which was mentioned was that I had used too much red within the magazine front cover, I do think I used too many shades of red within the front cover, and I have therefore kept the colour scheme to two shades of red and white, as this looks clean and the colours help each other stand out on the cover.




Responding to Feedback: Front Cover


 I have also created an alternative front cover for my student magazine and I have changed the image on the cover, and I believe this image works well, as does my other front cover, but this image shows both genders and a group of students which represents student life well. I hope to ask my target audience next week which cover appeals to them as a student, within this alternative cover I have kept the layout of the text and features the same.




Responding to Feedback: Alternative Front Cover



Contents Page

I also received feedback on my contents page the feature which was commented on was the fact that I did not need the masthead for the magazine at the top of the contents page, therefore I have taken the masthead away and I have put the title of Contents at the top, I can therefore place an image related to one of the contents within the magazine at the top with the main image. This image below shows my contents page after feedback and I will be placing an image in the red box at the top of the page.



Responding to Feedback: Contents Page



From the feedback I have been given on my magazine pages has really helped me in realising what makes a good student magazine and how I can make the layout creative to appeal to the target audience and that I have been given feedback from the client, to what they expect for the brief and that with the feedback I am hopefully full filling the brief for them. I therefore hope to carry on completing my student magazine and continue to respond to my feedback for the deadline next Friday, 8th April.

Week 29: Update on Magazine Front Cover, Contents Page and Double Page Spread

Today I have been continuing creating my magazine front cover, contents page and double page spread for my student magazine, the images below show my magazine pages so far, for my front cover I have included the image of two students , as this clearly shows the fact that this magazine is a student magazine and that it shows how good student life is. Another image I have also included within this front cover is an image of a group of students as this shows the different genders and the different social groups within student life and this also represents the same message of student life, I have faded this image as I wanted to create the effect that this is a separate image and that it is another image representing student life. I have included the features within the magazine at the top of the magazine front cover as these are then not placed over the image and therefore the image can be seen clearly.

Front Cover

At the beginning of the week I decided to change the layout of my Contents Page, this is because from my research into existing magazine contents pages the most eye catching contents pages had each of the magazines contents under headings, such as News, Features and Regulars. Therefore I rearranged my layout and also from my analyses of magazine contents pages I found the layout was eye catching and the images were clear and that the contents layout was based around the images. I have therefore included a main image at the top of the contents page and have included other various images related to the features within the magazine and I have placed the different features under certain sections within the headings such as 'Features', this then makes it easier to read and find the feature you want to read in the magazine. For this design of the contents page I will ask for feedback from the target audience and ask how they think I can improve the contents page.



Contents Page

 Below shows my progress within making a double page spread for my student magazine, this shows how from my initial sketch I have kept to this sketch and included the main feature in the middle of the double page spread of the title in the centre with images related to the article of student life around the title. The images which I have placed on this double page spread represent student life and are clearly related to the article, within the article I have discussed student social life, education and issues surrounding students. I have also included an interview with a student about the topics I have discussed in the article and I am also writing some advice for students on what to do after college and university, their next steps for the future.
Today I have also been shown how to create columns and guidelines for text within the double page spread, this will prevent the text going off the page, therefore I will need to ensure the double page spread I am creating has the same sized columns next to each other so this looks professional.

Double Page Spread