News and Magazine production Week Seven

This week had high and low points in the project for me. The high points where that I have completed not just one, but two large features and a review. I am also feeling a lot more confident in my abilities as a writer because of the good feedback that my work is getting. The ability to take on-board advice in regards to changes or error is a part of my professional and in some ways my personal work ethic where I feel I was flawed, I have had a tendency in the past to become defensive about constructive criticism but I really feel that I have managed to get over that in this second year of the degree. I have also learned the value of having someone in a management position that is astute and knows what they are doing to look over my work and suggest changes. This leads to an enhancement and that is a good thing. However it is a shame that this constructive criticism does not come from the group, but from the teaching staff. I feel we should be at a level where we can self edit and work on each others work.

Often in a group situation I seem to naturally take a leadership position, and while this isn't a bad thing I don't think my interaction skills people are as good as they could, or should be. I am not very good at being diplomatic, and while I feel I have improved a lot since starting at university, on this project I was hoping that I would be able to sit back and just complete my areas of the project and not worry as much about the over all picture. However, sadly several members of the group have not put as much effort into the project as the rest of us and as a consequence I've found myself doing what I didn't want to have to do, and that is in a sense Marshall a few of the other guys to get them to work. I understand that we are marked individually, but I in a group situation I always believe in the team and try my best not just to do well for myself, but for the rest of the group. The dilemma I see myself in is should I ignore what comes naturally? The desire to lead and try and help people who are falling behind to do better, or to throw those feelings aside and just work for myself and my own mark?.

On the plus side there are some really talented people in this group, half of them turn up on a regular basis, but It is becoming asyemterical in terms of work load. Julian for example, has taken on a higher workload than anyone because he designed the cover, and is also working on an extra feature to fill the gap that other members have left void because that have not done anywork. I also feel that the group has left Julian down because he put himself out there to get the magazine printed thanks to his family contacts but they group cannot even provide a fixed number of pages because we don't know how many we are going to have due to not knowing who will actually have work finished on Tuesday.

I am hoping that the entire group, the whole roster will be there on Tuesday with finished features and we can get to the production stage. The people who were there this week decided that the deadline for work to be submitted would be the following Tuesday, and that if they don't have completed work by then it would not be going in the magazine.

News and Magazine production Week Six

Because of reading week there was no tutor lead session but it was a good chance to use the facilities on our own things are coming together but slowly. Since reading week was a break from the project for me, apart from on the Tuesday where I did some editing of my features I don't really have anything to report. I am hoping everyone will be in next Tuesday with features at least finished to the point of a final draft.

News and Magazine production Week Five

This week I handed my feature piece in. I am glad to report that I was actually ahead of schedule. My piece was accepted and praised although I was asked to make a few changes. It also is being let down by the lack of more than one original source but, I am confident I can gather some more quotes before the deadline. I was advised to move one section of the text to a higher [position in the document to allow for better flow and I have done so, as well as streamlining the opening section. I’ve since abandoned my “first person” perspective that led into the article.

In this week’s learning session we worked on Adobe In design which didn’t go very well since all the machines had problems, however we did pick up some good tips from the board.

Some In Design essential steps.

· On opening the page make sure “facing pages” is ticked.

· Make sure you allow the correct page size

· Number of columns

· Open ‘More options’ To size up the margins and to allow a bleed area which will be essential when we come to print.

· ‘Space CTRL’ Allows ‘zoom’ on page

· Open window pages (F12) where you can view your master pages

· You can now draw a text box.

· Three types of copy (TBD) Body copy/Captions/Headline – In a magazine, set the character styles to AUTO FORMAT, for example Ariel 10pt

· Be aware of the bleed when adding images

· Textures available from CG Textures

Work Placement

As part of the course we are required to find a work placement for one month towards the end of the second year. I am really hoping to find a placement in Germany, and if possible in Berlin. I've been fascinated with the city since the first time I visited in 2004 and I have been back four times since seeing a lot of it and making friends along the way. I have a good grasp of German and I am taking lessons via the university so I can continually improve. There are several English language magazines in Berlin and I think it would be a really good experience to work on one of them for a month. Finding somewhere to stay for a shot while should not be a problem and defiantly worth it.

News and Magazine production – Week four

Sadly I was unable to acquire a copy of DRAINOR magazine as it appears to no longer be in production. Despite this, it seems to have been a cult hit among the Urbex community online even though I can only find two issues of it, both of which are sold out. This week’s session was very productive and I received some positive feedback for my work which was nice! Some points to expand on the piece were offered.

These include working towards understand the psychology behind why people enjoy a sometimes dangerous and always mysterious pastime.

What are the numbers involved? How many active Infiltrators are out there?

The motivation

I also decided to expand from just photography and try and find some other media that was related to Urbex. I remember a great music video from one of my favourite bands that might in fact be considered as such.

Faith No More – Ashes to Ashes http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T6oKhMPemjY In the video the shots are very reminiscent of the type of photography seen in Urban Exploration.

For next week I plan to have to have my article ready for submission and editing.

(Updates as and when)

News and Magazine production – Week three

For me the third week of the production process has been mainly taken up with research. I decided to look on the internet for other magazines that are of a similar nature to the one that we are attempting to produce. Though I was unable to find anything identical to our pitch (which is actually a good thing) I found several web based magazines that are on the subject of urban exploration. I’ve decided to read through and study them to give myself some ideas.

URBEX – Urbex seems to have only been produced twice and had a six month interval between issues. I quite enjoyed the first person perspective writing and it is something I had already planned to use in my own feature piece. The magazine is understandably image led, I felt the text was printed in too small of a font which made it difficult to read.

http://www.explonation.com/magazines/book/3-urbex-mag-2/1-urbex-mag

DRAINOR – This magazine is a UK based Urbex production. Unfortunately only a very small preview was available to view so I am unable to comment on the strength of their writing, however the producers of the magazine have used a lot colour and bold text on the cover and first few pages which is very attention grabbing, I may purchase a copy and look further into it.

http://www.drainormagazine.com/preview.html

JINX – Probably the best one I have read, they have collated a lot of stories from all over the word including some really good work in a “Chernobyl Journal”

“Jinx is the magazine of Worldwide Urban Adventure. Jinx publishes its reports on urban exploration and international adventure here, along with dossiers of its Friends and Enemies. The magazine has been published, irregularly, since 1997. It has been online-only since 2001.” From the Jinxmagazine site.

This is a really great site, and I am going to continue looking into it further.

http://www.jinxmagazine.com

On Tuesday, which was the third class session of this project we presented our ideas and “mood boards” Our group was almost complete with only one member missing which was quite a good turnout. Our next task is to have draft features completed by next Tuesday. I am confident I can get my completed; I also have to get at least one interview and I will email a site that I have followed for sometime now, which I believe to be one of the best Urbex sites and defiantly worth checking out.

www.zenfolio.com/anotherstateofmind

News and Magazine production - Week Two

The second week of the magazine production project was far more intense than the first. Planning the magazine took up most of the time with Art Direction. It was decided that each member of the group would construct a “Mood Board” which is a poster design that consists of images, text, and samples of objects in a composition of the choice of the mood board creator the idea behind it being, to develop the design concepts and to communicate to other members of the team, and/or a board of directors or financers. It is important to consider when constructing mood boards is other similar publications that are in your area and what they have in common with your own, and importantly will your advertisers allow you to break conventions? The answer is usually ‘no’.

The next thing to decide on is the size and quality of the paper used. “A sizes” are the cheapest, but it is really all dependant on your budget and how you have split it up. Once paper size has been decided on a grid system using vertical lines, developed along the requirements of the advertisers is useful to get set your layout up. The more columns you have the more flexibility you will have but, remember to leave space to accommodate news as well as a double page spread(s). Typography is also important, the fewer typefaces the better and “Serif” fonts are easier to read over a long period of time. http://www.fontpark.net/ provides free fonts for commercial and personal use.

Colour. Ideally limiting the pallet you are working with will make the job easier and cheaper to print. CMYK (Cyan, Magenta, Yellow, Key). Images need to be either a minimum of 300dpi or in a vector format. It is advisable to remember that art departments prefer unedited “Raw” Images.

The cover of the magazine is the point of contact with the consumer and therefore the masthead is VERY important, as is the cover image. Remember to leave space for barcode and price information.