For this project we studied magazine covers, by the end of the project we made our own final magazine cover. We achieved this by doing various steps through out the project, this helped us gain knowledge about magazines, what is popular and what type of magazine we would like to accomplish.
Research – during the project i done continuous research throughout. This helped as i was able to understand the value of magazines, what looks are successful and what type of magazines are most common/popular. At the start of the project i started looking at retro fashion but after more research i realised retro fashion is not as widely promoted and fewer members from my age range wear retro fashion as i found out through my questionnaire. After i analysed my questionnaire i decided to base my magazine on street wear fashion as i felt it replicated the target market that i decided on for men’s fashion (16-24). I also researched different high end magazine covers like Vogue and ID magazine so that i was able to see what layouts, colours and texts where the most effective the to the public and to myself. I also studied the four elements of a magazine cover to assure that i was able to include these on my final magazine cover, these included, art (graphics, photos, and illustrations), text, headlines/ titles and subheads, decks, and captions.
Pre production/ planning – For my pre production I first planned for my final magazine cover to be shot outside to increase the aspect of street wear. The further I researched into different magazines and soon was hugely inspired by ID Magazine, this magazine is a high end street wear magazine which made me change my idea to then do my final shot in the studio as I felt ID Magazine represented street wear successfully but using muted colours and harsh artificial lighting in the background and on the model to highlight the main focus instead of other distractions. Throughout the weeks I also done different types of practice photography including, photo therapy, portrait images, emotion with in photography and general fashion images, I feel this helped gain an understanding of what photography would best suit my final cover, it also helped towards my final shot as I was able to practice various angles, lighting, facial expressions and many more other techniques.
How it went – I feel that this project was successful as it helped me gain knowledge in many different aspects of media, the aspects that it helped we with were, portrait photography, different types of photography, layout, how to attract a specific target market and what colours work together to make a successful magazine cover. Portrait photography is the main part of making a magazine so I felt that it had to be mastered, I felt I done this successfully through many mini tasks to build up my experience, I also found that with the knowledge I was given throughout the project helped me complete a high end look for my magazine covers, another main focus is the camera angle as it decides whether the model will look powerful or vulnerable to create a distinguished look on the final magazine cover. I also researched what type of front covers would attract my target audience by looking at other fashion magazines, this helped as I was able to distinguish colours, layouts etc of what my age range are most attracted to, I also feel making a questionnaire strongly changed my views of what was the most attractive. Overall I think this unit was important and helpful to increase my knowledge of media as a whole.
Finb 