Still life Camera Practice

Today I decided to use my camera to practice my camera angles, ready for my practice school magazine. I used today to focus on still life such as the building. I have uploaded them onto my Flickr account so that I can access them all.
I have decided to use a variety of different camera angles and shots to widen my practice. I mainly focused on close up shots and the angles, this is because they are more commonly used on magazine front covers so that you can see the detail of what is in the shot or so the picture is clear.
We also tried to practice our use of focus, this is because focus can change the way a shot looks. I mainly used shallow focus to create detail to the features that are closer to the camera. This makes the viewer feel that the feature in focus is more important.
Before we went and did our practice, our teacher told us we could take photos of anything within our school but had to complete the criteria of certain shots:

• Point of view
• Long shot (LS)
• Mid shot (MS)
• Close up (CU)
• High angle (HA)
• Low angle (LA)
• Aerial Shot. (AS)

Here I have created a slideshow, using flickr, of the photographs of what we took today:

Created with flickr slideshow.

Camera Planning

I are going to be creating a school magazine in preparation for my final AS piece so I have decided to create a table of practice shots in which I will do with my camera next week. I have included a range of different shots, to be able to get a variety of photos to use for my magazine front cover and contents page. This will help me decide what photos I would like to include for my main image on my practice front cover. The description might include what is in the photo or what I hope the photo will look like. 

Mastheads

I have drawn designs and names of the masthead I might include on my school magazine. The school it is for is Plantsbrook.

My first masthead I have chosen I did in the colours, red and black. I know that part of a magazine is to have a colour scheme, therefore I thought I would do the colours relating to the school logo.However I know that red connotes danger but can also be that black and red link together in contrast and also can be connoted as passionate, as this is how teachers feel towards the school. I felt that using the name 'PB weekly' would appeal to the audience. This is because using a time frame 'weekly' makes the reader believe that it is sustainable and will have a weekly edition. Also to use 'PB' in the masthead relates to the audience of teens whom go to Plantsbrook. I did this because PB stands for plantsbrook and shortening the masthead makes it sound snappier. Also in today's society I feel that younger generations tend to shorten their words to make themselves cooler. Therefore this will look more appealing to the audience. In addition I used the font 'Algerian' as this is a sophisticated and clear font in which you want so that the audience can see exactly what it says on the front cover. However I realise that the font may not be as appealing to the younger audience but the audience ranges from age 11-18 so we have to attend please the targeted audience.

The second masthead i think will probably be the most appealing to our mass audience. I have kept the masthead a black colour to hopefully contrast with the white background. This way the masthead will stand out and will more appealing to the audience which will create more viewers. I also have used the font 'goudy stout' which is a bold font which is slightly cartoon like which will appeal to the younger audience. The name 'Plantsbrook News' seems appealing as you cannot portray the masthead than anything else than a magazine which will inform you about the school. This creates basic understanding to the audience what it is about so that people will buy it, all with the same intentions as each other.

The third masthead I created is named 'PB class daily' This is to state that it is about the students, hence having class in the masthead, also that using 'PB' is a shortened name of the school which students know about but some people may not, making this exclusive. To add I used the colours red and black to appeal to the students as this is the colours of the school uniform and logo. I finally used the font 'Magneto' as it is connoted as 'cool' to the younger audience, reeling them in. Students will get the impression that it is smooth which is how they want the reading to go after purchasing an issue.

If I were to inclue tag lines they would be something like:

• WANT GCSE RESULT STATISTICS? WE HAVE THEM.
• ENRICHMENT ENROLLING NOW.
• YEAR 7'S WELCOME TO PB.
• OUR NEW BUILD INFO
• NEW SCHOOL MENUE HERE.

This is because all of these are related to the school and would include something in which every year targeted could join or should know about. For example GCSE results would be more important to year 10's going into year 11 as they need to know how well the school is doing and which subject did the best. However they would not be as interested in an article to do with the new year 7's as they have already been involved in this and cannot be again, but the year 7's would like to know some information to help them with the nerve racking few weeks starting a new school.

School magazine analysis

Here I have found a school magazine off the internet to analyse. During my analysis I have decided to highlight the words/sentances, the yellow/orange is media language, the purple is key concepts, the pink is denotation and the green in connotation. I have attempted to analyse every piece of the front cover to get a grasp of what a school magazine should consist of.
This will help me to start to think of the conventions in which I should use for both a school magazine that I will be creating, or the genre specific magazine I will be creating after that. I can also see what works and does not work, in order to rule them out when creating my own.

Magazine Full Analysis

I have used the website 'Thinglink' to create an analysis of a magazine front cover. This is because I want to use lots of different E-media products.
Also this is a good website to use to create interaction with my points. This is because you have to hover over different parts of the cover to find parts of my analysis. The website is easy to navigate through and you cannot forget to save what you have been doing as it notifies you before you exit the page.

I have chosen the magazine KERRANG which is of the rock music genre. It is one of the largest rock magazines at the moment as there are two other forms of media in which they have interacted with, radio and TV. I have found a clearly laid out magazine front cover as it is more interesting to analyse as it has as many of the features as I can find.

If you want to link onto their website here is the link:
http://www.kerrang.com/

Magazine analysis

Here I have been given a task to find 6-9 magazine front covers and find the key mutual conventions of each. Each of these are music based but are of different genres and have a different target audience.

The most common features are as followed:

>The masthead's are similar as they have bold colours which are meant to attract the target audience. Most of the mastheads are on top of a white background this is to make the colours contrast and to stick out more to the people viewing. As well you can see that the main image is either covering the masthead or vice versa. This is because they want the front cover to look as in it is linked with each other. If they kept all the features in their own part of the front cover, not interlinking it would not look professional, this way it looks crowded to an extent which makes the targeted audience feel as if it includes a lot of information.

>We also see that a common feature is the colour scheme, most of the magazines stick to a basic colour scheme, this is to stop the cover looking so crowded and gives a sophisticated, serious look to the audience. Many people use the colour black as it is the most universal colour and can stand out as it is the most unlike colour. Black and white are the most commonly used colour with normally a tertiary colour such as pink, which shows the target audience could be more aimed at females, as the pink colour is represented and linked to females.

>In addition we see that all of the main images are placed in the center of the cover. This is to make a statement to the audience that this is who the main article will be about. Also the main image is of either a mid close up or mid long shot as they want to show some of the clothing but it is to show that the audience should be more concerned about the face of the main image as this is how you can distinguish who it is. Similarly, all of the models on the front cover are looking towards the camera (Direct mode of address).This is to give a more personal feeling towards the audience as you can feel connected to the picture as they are looking at you. Making you feel the need more to buy the issue.
We can also see that most of the females on the front covers are showing more skin than the males, some are not wearing any clothing on their top half. This is to attract the male audience however, it can also be seen as a way to attract the female audience as they believe that they should look like that so they have to read the main article. 

>The sell lines or coverlines of each of these front covers are on the edge of the front cover. This is to try not to take focus off the main image but to still explain else the issue has to offer inside, making it more appealing as it acts as a synopsis. Also you can see on the sell lines that some of them use english language features such as alliteration, rule of three or rhyme. This is to make the front cover look 'catchy' which is more entertaining which helps succeed the purpose of the magazine.

Website reviews.

For my media homework I was asked to review a series of different websites that would be relevant for the next 2 years.
Firstly I have to say that majority of the websites were considered faulty and do not adapt to the computer/laptop I am on, as I would have to download some new version of software such as flash, to continue onto the website, which takes a lot of time. This I have to add was in fact quite hard when I am using an apple iPad.
Secondly I have to admit that 1 in 3 of the websites needed me to make an account, which will now mean that I will be bombarded with emails, on how I have not been on the website in some time.
However I am quite impressed with the amount of storage the photo websites such as Flickr have. It also has a Instagram type look on this page to make it look more relaxant and appealing, in which the niche target audience will agree with.
In addition I have to praise 'tube chop' for the good use of technology in which you can cut audio's and videos to suit you.This will help with my audience research if I wish to do a video or soundcloud audio file.

On another note I have been disappointed with most of these websites and how each app asks for so much storage which creates a problem of which is better or more useful to download.
Secondly Flickr as the amount of demo's I will do for my Magazine AS coursework will need a variety of different photos with different camera angles to find the most suitable one.
Thirdly, Bubbl as for my designs and ideas I will need to brainstorm a lot of ideas so that I am showing all sides of media and becoming very analytical with each idea.
Finally, screencast is a good website for mainly my A2 coursework as I will need some sort of editing software to make my film trailer more accurate and more professional.

But on an overall note I feel that the websites listed were sites that I would recommend:
Pixlr
Tubechop
Google calendar
Giffy
Flickr
Aminoto and pic monkey.