For the final major project of Year 1 Media we had to come up with our own ideas for a project in the area of media of our choice. I wanted to incorporate moving image, publishing and design into one project so I chose to make a photography and graphic based magazine - focused on creative young people - and a video advertisement to go alongside the magazine. I chose this pathway because I always enjoyed using photoshop and shooting/editing videos in lessons over my past year of study at college. I also have a passion for youth culture and creating things (being a 'YouTuber' and musician myself) so I thought that creating something like this would be ideal for me.
I was very pleased with my final design, and I felt that it stayed true to how I wanted it to end up when I first listed it in my Statement of Intent and Project Proposal. If I were to name its strengths, I'd say that the magazine and advert together had a consistent style throughout, giving the project identity and making it seem neat and professional. The magazine also had some really brilliant content giving an intriguing insight into some of the work and creativity that goes on in young peoples brains. The advertisement I thought had a very attention catching style to it and I thought that this made it effective as a piece of work to promote the magazine. I also thought that the final magazine worked well as a product, which I was reassured by from my survey results, with 100% of the participants claiming they'd consider purchasing it. Lastly, I think that it followed a consistent colour scheme which made the magazine match the retro style and look visually appealing.
As for weaknesses in my final production, there are a fair few mistakes which could be improved on if I decided to further develop this idea and make it a real product for people to buy. Firstly, the magazine is only 24 pages long (including the cover pages) which is fairly short for a magazine. If this were to be a product available to buy I don't think consumers would see much value for money in it. If given a longer time to produce the magazine I think I could really prosper in making it have a lot more depth and content. Another weakness in the product would be small errors in the magazine such as spelling and grammar mistakes which can be seen in the printed version. The changes are made in the digital version however to improve on this I would have made sure to get a lot of feedback or even just a proof read of the magazine to ensure it was of high quality before sending it off to print. As for the weaknesses of the advertisement I thought that it could have included a bit more information about the magazine which it is trying to sell, as I focused more on the visual aspects of it as opposed to the commercial aspects. This was made clear to me by the results of my survey of the advert.
The main idea for my theme was to make a magazine about creative young people and make sure that it looked visually appealing and had a retro, 80's/90's style throughout. As for the advert I wanted to effectively promote the magazine whilst at the same time make a stylish video which was timed to music and followed the same theme as my magazine. A main influence for the design and layout of my magazine would be "iD Magazine" & "Dazed" as both of these magazines take inspiration and replicate retro themes and styles in their publications, as well as focus on topics similar to those I wanted to focus on. I looked at these magazines during my research which helped me shape my magazine. I think I stuck to this theme well throughout the project.
When doing research & experimentation for my project I explored different design & layout techniques, camera settings, cameras and video editing techniques which helped me gain a better understanding of all of these things. It also inspired to me to shoot some film photos for my magazine which supported the old school style. Exploring camera settings also meant that when shooting the advert and photos on a DSLR I had a full understanding of how it worked and could adjust it to make it look exactly how I wanted. Lastly, looking at different video editing techniques and comparing an old camera to a superimposed old camera effect helped me shape how my whole advertisement looked and led towards me getting an authentic 80's style ad.
The main idea for my theme was to make a magazine about creative young people and make sure that it looked visually appealing and had a retro, 80's/90's style throughout. As for the advert I wanted to effectively promote the magazine whilst at the same time make a stylish video which was timed to music and followed the same theme as my magazine. A main influence for the design and layout of my magazine would be "iD Magazine" & "Dazed" as both of these magazines take inspiration and replicate retro themes and styles in their publications, as well as focus on topics similar to those I wanted to focus on. I looked at these magazines during my research which helped me shape my magazine. I think I stuck to this theme well throughout the project.
When doing research & experimentation for my project I explored different design & layout techniques, camera settings, cameras and video editing techniques which helped me gain a better understanding of all of these things. It also inspired to me to shoot some film photos for my magazine which supported the old school style. Exploring camera settings also meant that when shooting the advert and photos on a DSLR I had a full understanding of how it worked and could adjust it to make it look exactly how I wanted. Lastly, looking at different video editing techniques and comparing an old camera to a superimposed old camera effect helped me shape how my whole advertisement looked and led towards me getting an authentic 80's style ad.
If I were to compare my magazine to iD magazine, the main difference would be the length of the two as iD magazine is a commercial product and has many people working on it as opposed to one. This obviously makes it have more content. Also my magazine focuses a lot more on unique layouts and design features and is a lot more colourful than iD, which is fairly monochrome based a lot of the time. The similarities would be the quirky styles they both follow, the retro design schemes and the focus on fashion, photography and music. If I started up 'Carpe Noctem' as a real magazine and a brand I think that it would work effectively in the market alongside magazines like 'iD'.
I developed most in this project when experimenting in post production in the programs Photoshop and Premiere Pro. In these programs I was able to mess around with many different layouts, fonts and colours to see how things looked when certain things were added, taken away or altered. Premiere Pro allowed me to really go mad with the advertisement and add various effects to the clips I shot to achieve the exact style I wanted.
When I shared this project with my peers I was proud to show them what I had created and I wanted to hear what they had to say about it - both good and bad things. I liked the fact that they could have a physical thing to hold and look through (the magazine) and I think that most of my peers really enjoyed it as it's aimed at that age group. I also liked showing the magazine to peers and was happy to hear their feedback on it and gain their approval of it. Their feedback helped me develop the project further and add finishing touches.
If I could change something about this project I would make the magazine longer and make sure it had more content. Over a longer period of time to produce it I would be able to do this. By making the magazine longer I would really be able to develop it by adding more topics, photographs and maybe even drawings or cartoons.
Looking back on my statement of intent I'm happy to say that I mostly stuck to it and completed everything that I aimed to do. I changed some of it due to the initial survey I did about what content I should include, which meant cutting out the topic of skateboarding completely from the magazine. The advert stayed pretty much identical to how I described it in my statement of intent and pitch. One thing that developed was the length of the magazine, as I initially only planned it to be 18-20 pages long. Reflecting on my pitch I'd say that my view on the project has cleared up a lot. At first everything was very unorganised in my head but as I continued with the project I had a clearer view of what had to be done and was able to effectively create a final project. It went a lot better than I expected it to and I'm incredibly pleased with the result. Next time the only thing I'd do would be to give myself more time in production in order to make the magazine longer and include more text, topics and photographs.
I developed most in this project when experimenting in post production in the programs Photoshop and Premiere Pro. In these programs I was able to mess around with many different layouts, fonts and colours to see how things looked when certain things were added, taken away or altered. Premiere Pro allowed me to really go mad with the advertisement and add various effects to the clips I shot to achieve the exact style I wanted.
When I shared this project with my peers I was proud to show them what I had created and I wanted to hear what they had to say about it - both good and bad things. I liked the fact that they could have a physical thing to hold and look through (the magazine) and I think that most of my peers really enjoyed it as it's aimed at that age group. I also liked showing the magazine to peers and was happy to hear their feedback on it and gain their approval of it. Their feedback helped me develop the project further and add finishing touches.
If I could change something about this project I would make the magazine longer and make sure it had more content. Over a longer period of time to produce it I would be able to do this. By making the magazine longer I would really be able to develop it by adding more topics, photographs and maybe even drawings or cartoons.
Looking back on my statement of intent I'm happy to say that I mostly stuck to it and completed everything that I aimed to do. I changed some of it due to the initial survey I did about what content I should include, which meant cutting out the topic of skateboarding completely from the magazine. The advert stayed pretty much identical to how I described it in my statement of intent and pitch. One thing that developed was the length of the magazine, as I initially only planned it to be 18-20 pages long. Reflecting on my pitch I'd say that my view on the project has cleared up a lot. At first everything was very unorganised in my head but as I continued with the project I had a clearer view of what had to be done and was able to effectively create a final project. It went a lot better than I expected it to and I'm incredibly pleased with the result. Next time the only thing I'd do would be to give myself more time in production in order to make the magazine longer and include more text, topics and photographs.
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