Blog Write Up

I think that my photoshoot went fairly successfully, both my models turned up right on time with the correct costume and make up. I was working with two of my friends who also had photoshoots to do, so all three of us got our photographs done in just over an hour and a half slot, which gave us a lot of time each to get the costume and make up right for each person's photoshoot, take the photographs and make sure we had an extensive amount of photographs each that completley covered every possible idea. When it was my turn (which was last) the process had become a little tedious and my models a little bored, so it took a short while to get them to stop chatting and laughing and keep a straight face for my photographs, however this didn't take up too much time as I still had a big enough slot to take the photographs I needed. My models knew exactly what they were doing which meant I didn't have to take time to explain it to them, and their poses/body language were perfect in almost every photo. After the photographs were taken, I went back and looked over them again on a bigger screen; this was when I decided which ones I'd be using and which I wouldn't. On a whole, almost every photograph had turned out pretty much perfect and exactly how I'd wanted, with the exception of a small few. None were out of focus and just a couple had the wrong facial expressions/body language so I ignored them and chose between the ones that had gone well for my double page spread and front cover. Here are a couple of examples of how my photos went; and these were the two photographs I chose for my double page spread and front cover.

When I did the first draft of my article, I had trouble writing it as I couldn't think of any original ideas, however the more I wrote the more I got into it and possibly ended up writing a bit too much and too stylistically, which I went over to ensure it made more sense. During the opening paragraph, I concentrated on keeping it very shocking so the article turned out as an expose; the first sentence reads "every week, three 10 to 11 year olds are admitted to hospital after drinking too much" and as this is not the sort of thing you might usually read, it creates a shock/horror and awe effect, making the reader want to read on. In my second draft, I had to concentrate on making sure that each paragraph was talking about one particular thing, and that the topic in that paragraph wasn't continued on into the next.

Last week, we began creating our front covers and double page spreads. I did this by first photoshopping the images I needed, ensuring that images of my model Lisa, looked demonic, while images of my other model Becky looked innocent and influencial. So far, my front cover and double page spread are going well; here are two images of my progress:

I made sure to add a breakout box on the right hand side of my double page spread, and so far I'm adding extra bits to the bottom of it. As for my front cover, I'm still adding more sell lines and ensuring everything looks as professional as possible. While making my front cover and double page spread, i acquired new skills such as when I was making the demon eyes for the front cover; I learned how to transform the eyes to a whole new shape before using the burn tool to darken them and make them appear diabolical.

I think overall, my project is quite creative, I like my idea of everyone having a dark side in which alcohol brings out, and that I could use quite a lot of play-on words and alliterations to accompany it. Last week, there were a few minor problems that I had to get past, such as getting my fonts to work properly and creating the demon eyes for the main photograph in my double page spread, however I think they worked out well in the end. It took longer than expected to create my breakout box, as I used up a whole lesson and a quarter of another just to make that, however I think it was worth it. It also took a long time for my to come up with sell lines, as I am still working on adding more. As it turned out, it was a lot easier to make my front cover than I had initially thought as I started out just photoshopping the original picture, and then slowly adding the masthead and sell lines to it. I think I have organised my time well, as I'm very nearly done and only have a few things left to do before I start perfecting it and making sure everything looks completley professional. I definitely have enough time to finish it before the deadline, especially if I continue working like I have and adding something extra or perfecting something each lesson and in frees. I haven't had to enact any contingency plans as of yet, since everything has worked out exactly how I'd planned and is going well.