Evaluation of Creating My Foundation Production

After planning and researching everything I needed to begin creating my foundation production I found that the process was a lot longer than that I had anticipated. The programme I used to create my front cover, contents page and double page spread was Pages on the Apple Mac. This enabled me to layer pictures and create different fonts for my cover page and also allow me line up text boxes when writing my interview out on my double page spread.

When working on my front cover, I chose to use a black and white picture to make the title stand out as it was red and against a black and white picture red appears very bold. The main colours used on the front cover are red, blue, white and black. This is because they are all contrasting colours and are visible when they are layered on top of eachother. Originally I chose to use a navy blue backdrop colour and then use a cut out of the feature artist on the cover with a white title on a red background against the picture. I decided against this because I found that the 4 colours listed worked better with the final chosen image.

Coming up with features to put in my magazine was the part I found easiest. Much of the articles advertised on my contents are takes on other articles from different music magazines just developed so they aren't direct copies, I decided to put my own spin on the articles as I knew exactly how I wanted the magazine to come across when it is opened by the consumer. My research was essential when deciding how to lay out my contents page. I studied different film/music magazines i.e. Empire and NME magazine. I did this to get an idea of how to lay out my contents page as I don't read music magazines myself and didn't have any idea of what the majority of them look like.

The double page spread is tied together with the contents page and front cover as it has the same feature artist on the two pages. The article is an interview between the writers of the magazine and the bands front member. I chose to do this because I read a lot of glossy magazines and regularly see interviews between a journalist and celebrity and therefore have knowledge on what types of questions to ask and not to ask.

During the photoshoot I took about 100 pictures. In the end I only went for 4 of them as they were the ones I liked the most as the angles were the best along with the lighting and pose. I edited the pictures before putting them in the magazine so I could adjust the lighting and highlights. This enabled me to transfer any of the pictures to black and white and detect any flaws in the pictures then get rid of them to give the picture a fresh, perfect look.

Evaluation of Research

The research element of my Foundation Production went smoothly. I was able to make a questionnaire and send it out to 20 people to get their feedback on what they would like to see in a magazine and the reasons why they buy magazines. This can be found again on my other blog titled Questionnaire.

Whilst doing research I was also able to compare 2 magazine covers that I had found on the internet that were similar to the idea I had in my head about what kind of front image I wanted to produce. Much of the research I carried out was primary and involved asking people what looks good on a magazine cover, also the detail they like to find inside.

Evaluation of Planning

When planning my Preliminary Foundation Production, I had to consider what kind of magazine I had been set to make and what the task at hand actually was. The first step to my planning was to make a preliminary mock up of my first initial ideas of what the front cover would look like. As seen on my other blog the mock ups were just rough ideas and showed two possible front covers for my magazine. I ended up not using either of them as I came up other ideas when I got to using the Mac.

Another factor I had to consider when planning my preliminary production was who I'd make the magazine for and what kind of people. My magazine is for people aged 17 to around 30 so it is very versatile. Part of my planning process is reflected in the blog post that is titled magazine covers on my other blog.