PRELIMINARY ACTIVITY DEADLINE EXTENDED TO 14TH OCTOBER

Photography

You are going to need to take lots of photos for your magazine project. These photos will need to be added to your blog as evidence.  It is important to remember a few things when planning and taking your photos if they are going to be successful enough to include in your final designs.

1. Make sure you plan the location, the costume and any props that you need.
2. Plan the camera shot and the angle you require and consider how the shot will be framed.  You will need either a MCU or CU for your front cover.  
3. Take some test shots before you begin to check the lighting is good.  Always use the flash to reduce dark shadows.  You could try using the drama studio with the lighting rig or use lamps or spotlights to try different lighting effects. 
4. Consider the background of the shot.  Where possible it needs to be plain and simple, avoiding unnecessary clutter that will make it difficult for you to read text once it is laid over the top.  You could pin up a sheet as a backdrop or find a blank wall to use.
5. If the photo is for your front cover it will need to be portrait orientation and will also need to be composed to account for the addition of a masthead.
6. Whenever you take a photo try and make sure the light source is behind you not in front of you. 

Magazine Front Covers Photography

What do all of the photos on these examples of front covers have in common?
Which are good examples?  Which are less good? Why?
What can we learn from this in planning your own photos for your front cover for your school magazine?

Rough Drafts for Front Cover

Try out different layout ideas and make use of the conventions we have discussed in class.

Remember that different font sizes, use of bold and italics will create emphasis if you use it in the right place.

Have you included the following?

• large clear masthead at the top of the page
• used a clear house style
• included a 'puff'
• put a short headline in
• with a smaller strap line
• used clear layout & visual syntax with your text
• included cover lines
• and a banner
• lures & hooks
• used different font sizes for emphasis
• added the date and edition number
• used a pug or starburst

 

Example of School Magazine Front Cover Draft Idea

Work for Monday 23rd September

As I am not in today please can you make sure that you work on the preliminary activity.
Please stay in the classroom and do not forget to do some work in private study in order to meet the deadline.

I will be checking progress when I see you next.

Example of School Mastheads

Preliminary Activity

As part of the Foundation Portfolio Coursework you must construct the front cover and contents page for a Plantsbrook School magazine.

• You must identify the conventions of these media products.
• You will identify who the audience will be.
• You must identify the type of content that would be included in this magazine.
• You must develop ideas for names for the magazine.
• You will develop ideas for the masthead for the magazine using Fireworks. 
• You will develop rough ideas for the products.
• You will plan a photo shoot.
• You will produce the products.

The deadline for this activity work is extended to the 14th October

Example of analysis of magazine front cover conventions

Happy Blogging

Make sure that you upload the classwork we did on labelling the front cover of Q magazine.
Happy blogging!  

Homework Task

Complete this task and add it to your blog.

• Search for a front cover of a popular music magazine, save it as a jpeg. in your pictures folder.
• Upload it to your blog.
• Identify the key conventions using the correct terminology from the print terminology sheet.
• Add detail to include denotational descriptions of the content.
• Where possible consider suggested meaning through the use of connotation.

Front Cover Conventions