Video Preliminary

Finished Film Preliminary

http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=tIGHjoZTL_g

Finished Magazine Front Cover and Contents

Storyboard for Film Preliminary

Film Opening

http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=JXq9ZL6kcD8

Sex and The City

When watching this opening scene you would want to continue watching because the mood created is exciting and there is a variety of enigma codes. There is a glamorous and feminime atmosphere created by a choice of colours and fast paced establishment shots, some of which concentrate on the characters and New York City. This appeals to the target audince and the sequence of flash backs engages you into the sex and the city lifestyle making you want to continue watching. The genre of 'rom-com' is clearly identified at the very start by the characters and the use of bright pink font. The music is also funky and up beat and the beats were timed in with the cuts making it flow efficently.

The use of mise-en-secene also engages the audience and is is aimed at the target audience, such as the costumes and outfits are outlined as 'labels' and the characters become idols due to their glamorous appearance. The setting is also made to seem glamorous by the establishment and high angle shots of the city and the fast paced editing when showing The Brooklyn Bridge.

Magazine covers

All the magazines we looked have the name/logo of the magazine clearly visable, sometimes taking up 1/4 of the front page. This logo is one colour contrasting against the background. Most of the pages have a one colour or simple background with a picture that stands out against this. the font used is one or two colours usually the same as the name of the magazine. The pages are often divided into sections enabling the reader to easily navigate around and see what articles are featured in the magazine. There is often one article which is larger than the rest and is usually bigger and in a different font as this is the featured article and is normally in response to the picture. The cover's theme, colours and choice of layout appeals to the target audience.

From looking at these magazines we could incorporate the use of minimal colours e.g. in the name or logo and cut down on the amount of text used.

Video Evaluation

Preliminary Video Coursework
Evaluation

1. What have you learned about Adobe Premiere and DV Cameras? What difficulties did you face with the technology and how did you solve them?

It was hard when filming as you can to make sure that your shots conincided with the rules of the 180 degree rule and match on action. When we finished filming we moved on to the editing suite which I found was very complicated as it was difficult to get all the shots to match up giving a smooth flow. It was also quite difficult to capture the shots that we wanted to use as sometimes the beginning or the end of a shot were cut off but on several occasions we did not realise this until we came to put all the shots together. We also had some difficulties with our sound as we decided to film outside, which we found music would not cover. Also when we came to put together the shots of the door scene together we could not get it to run smoothly and had to simplify it so that it matched.

2. How straightforward was continuity editing? Was it harder than you thought it would be? Do you think your final product is good enough, or could it be improved?

Continuity editing was much harder than I thought that it was going to be, It was hard stringing all the shots together making sure that the shots matched eachother. Our film could have been improved as some of our shots did not match up as best as they could of especially when our actor is walking away after reciving text message. This is because out camera had the 'fade' settings on so we had to cut parts of the end.


3. What would you do differently if you were to produce another film?

I probably would not have filmed outside as the wind sometimes could be heard in the background. Also I would have found some better sound effects but this was difficult as we did not have a lot of time to find some music that matched as we took a long time to finish editing.

Film Production: 180 degree rule and match on action

We are now moving on to film production. In order to make our short films we must know about match on action and the 180 degree rule.

Match on action is when you must have the two actions the same in both shots when you are cutting e.g. open door has to be the same width or eye line has to match.

The 180 degree rule is when you can only have cameras on one side of the actors. You are able to move the camera anywhere along the 180 degrees but cannot pass over the line or else this will not match e.g. if you have two people in a shot, with one on the right and one on the left you cannot change sides or else the people will be on the other sides and their eyes will not be looking in the same direction.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BBPw9C57TuU

Magazine Cover/Contents Evaluation

1. Who were your target audience? How did you ensure that you addressed them? Were you able to communicate to your audience effectively?

My target audience was female students aged 16-20 who were interested in fashion and wanted to know the best shops to get the latest styles at high street prices. They also wanted to beauty tips as well as advice services, real life stories and information about lifestyle and staying healthy. I addressed the specific needs of this audience by making sure that I included articles and headlines that were aimed towards this group which they would find interesting and appealing. I also used an images on my front cover and contents page which were of people around the same age who they could relate to. I think that I was able to commmunicate to my audience effectively as I used images and vocabulary which were designed and aimed towards this particular audience, my magazine was a resonable prices which would be suitable for a college student and all of my featured fashions were from affodable high street shops.


2. How is your text similar to other magazines? What did you take from other specific magazines? How have you attempted to be original? Was this successful?

My magazine in many ways was similar to some of the top fashion magazines as I was inspired by Elle and Marie Claire. I wanted to create a magazine which was similar in style to these, being fashionable and glamorous, but also conventional and sophisticated way. Magazines such as these are aimed towards professional women who are in the position to buy the type of designer fashions presented in things like Vogue, Marie Claire and Elle, but I wanted to make a magazine which incoroporated these features but was aimed towards a younger, less mature audience who could not affored to buy a magazine costing around £3.50. I think that this approach was successful as I was able to create something that would be appealing to my target audience there is nothing on the market like this at the moment. I myself buy Elle or Marie Claire but I am finding that it is too expensive.


3. If your magazine was real, would it be high or low budget? Where and how would it be distributed? Is your audience large enough to interest a major publisher? If not... how would you raise the money to establish your magazine? Advertising? How might this influence the nature of your text?

If my magazine was real I think that it would be fairly low budget as this is how I wanted my magazine to be as it aimed at college students. But thinking about it to create the magazine itself it would be difficult to do on a limited budget as it needs to include glossy images and articles as well as advertising which could cost a lot to feature. However if the magazine sold advertising it would be able to generate enough money to be sold at a lower, more reasonable price. I am unsure if the magazine would have a large enough audience. But as it is a niche in the market it might be quite popular as nothing like it really exists, so it may be able to create a large fan base. But as there are some similar existing products aimed at the same audience, such as 'Sugar' and slightly older magazines like 'Look' and 'Grazia'.


4. What have you learned about Adobe Photoshop, Quark Xpress and using the digital SLR cameras. What difficulties did you face with the technology and how did you solve them?

I liked using each of the different programmes as they worked well for each of the different stages of the production. I however did not use the SLR digital cameras from the college, as I took my picture outside of college time, However I still got an image that I was happy with. Photoshop was fairly easy to use and allowed me to change my backgrounds, crop my image and cut it out with ease. I also wanted to put on some other images, some of shoes and party dresses. I had difficulties doing this on Quark and then understood that I had to put them on the original image using photoshop. Other than that I did not have many problems using the programmes. On Quark it took me a while to understand how everything worked as it is slightly more complex than photoshop and i struggled trying to find how to get other colours than the given ones.


5. What would you do differently if you were to produce another magazine.

If I was to produce another magazine i would try to make it to target a larger audience not just girls who are interested in fashion and looking good but to those who need some extra help with this. Also there are not many magazines on the market which focus on lifestlye that are available to this audience.

Magazine Design

I have now begun designing the front cover for my chosen magazine. I have decided on all the articles which will be featured on the front cover and have planned my masthead. All that I have left to do his prepare my picture.

Detailed Audience Profile

Theme: Fashion, Lifestyle Magazine
Age Range: 16-20
Gender: Female
Jichars Scale: A, B, C1, C2

You are...fun, friendly, active and always well groomed- dressed to impress.
You like fashion, having fun, going out on the town and looking your best.
You need the latest fashion styles at high street prices.
You watch and follow fashion throughly.
You want the hottest fashion designs, newest make up tips and news and reviews of books, films and TV.
You care about fashion but you know its more about your lifestyle and looking and feeling your very best.

Links

Links to magazines:

http://www.elle.com/

http://www.teenvogue.com/

From looking at these magazines i have decided that my front cover will incorporate the idea of big bold headings which are one simple colour which corrosponds with the theme of the issuse and to have one main person in the image with the articles displayed around the outside.

First Entry

My name is Hanna. For my A levels I am doing Media Studies. Our first project is Magazines. I read many magazines like gossip magazines such as OK. But I mainly read fashion magazines e.g. Look, Vogue, Elle and Marie Claire.