Production

8th March 2011

I spent last week planning out what I wanted to create in my unit three. I planned out what I wanted as the idea behind my magazine and what I wanted to be in my photos and in my articles. To test out the ideas that I had I made two mock-ups as part of my pre-production work testing out different ideas and the ways in which I would produce them. I’m not very confident on photoshop but I am hoping that by doing mini tasks like the mock-ups I will gain more skills.

       At the end of last week I had decided on what photos I wanted to take, completed my photo shoot plan and had my models prepped and ready knowing what they had to do. Furthermore I had outlined two article ideas and I also knew by Thursday what I wanted to write in my article and what style I was going to write it in.

       The only problems that I struggled with was using photoshop and not understanding how to make what I wanted to. The way I resolved these problems was when Stef, an ICT specialist who comes in on a Friday afternoon, showed me what I was doing wrong and taught me how to use different tools effectively to get the effect I wanted. Whilst using photoshop I learnt how to use the free transform tool which I used to change the direction of an object as well as changing size. I am going to develop more skills as I start my production as I will be editing, readjusting and creating my magazine front cover.

        This week I am doing my photo shoot, designing the layout for my Indesign double page spread and I want to start designing my front cover. My photo shoot is on Tuesday 8^th and my models are prepared and know what costumes I want them to wear and I am prepared because I have collected my props ready for Tuesday. Wednesday is our long lesson and this is when I want to review my photos and check I have all the shots I need and that they look how I wanted them to. From there I will spend that lesson, Thursday and Friday’s on working on the editing and layout of my front cover to get started on making as many drafts as I can to make the best product possible. To ensure that I am learning the skills I need to be able to produce my product I am going to find a photoshop tutorial on the internet in the next couple of weeks and I hope to learn some basic skills that will help me in my production.

      Possible problems that could go wrong next week are that my photo shoot is cancelled or delayed because of camera’s breaking or Chris not being able to turn up. In case of this happening I have booked an additional conditional photo shoot in case of any problems with my first one. Furthermore another problem could be that my photos have not turned out how I wanted them in which case I will use my conditional photo shoot booking to take more which I will need to plan out. Another problem with photos is that I could lose them or they could be deleted; my contingency plan for this happening is to have my photos backed up on college computers, a memory stick and my home computer to ensure the safety of them.