Midterm Submission

My magazine is called Celebration because it gives advice on how to decorate, make food, and stay under control during many different holidays/events we celebrate. For my cover, I chose to make the title red because of the theme of my magazine. It stands out at the very top. For some of my articles on the cover, I used different fonts so that the main article would stand out and to make some of the smaller articles look appealing. My picture is very colorful in the background and clearly shows that the consumer will be reading something about Christmas. My table of contents has four different sections with multiple articles listed under them. The picture of the ornament is to give a sneak peek of what the person will be seeing later on in the magazine. For my article, I chose a dark, plum colored title and there is a small description of the article under the title. I added a brief description of who the person I interviewed is. My pictures were of the the different DIY decorations that she described how to make so that the magazine shows an example of it.

Camera Shot Activity

Our teacher made us practice taking different camera shots with a group. Our shots included a high angle, low angle, extreme close-up, mid-shot, canted angle, and a wide shot.

high angle

low angle

extreme close-up

mid-shot

canted angle

wide shot

Planning Activity- Schedule Photo Shoot

I have not had my complete photo shoot yet. I know what I want to take pictures of, but a time is needed to take these photos. I want to dedicate a week to taking all of my pictures and making sure I have a variety of good photos. Time is always available to take my phone out and take some pictures, so the scheduling should be easy. My main article is going to be about making your own home decor for Christmas, so I will need to make some decorations myself that I can take pictures of. I am going to take pictures of a decoration made of ornaments that hangs on a window, all the different ornaments in the store to show the many options, a mason jar decoration that has lights inside with winter decor sticking out of it, and my friend putting one of these crafts together. I will have four different photos in my main article, but many more for my photoshoot to make sure I get the perfect picture. My table of contents is going to have a picture of a holiday food that will have its recipe in a smaller article. My cover is going to be a picture of my Christmas tree to show it is a Christmas themed magazine.

Planing Activity- Scout Locations

One of my pictures is in Target because I wanted to show the product being bought that needs to be used for one of the DIYs. Target is a good place to get materials for DIY crafts, so I chose this for one of my picture locations. Another location I am using is my own house. I am going to make the DIYs and decorations to put in my bedroom to take a picture of because it would normally be put in this type of location. Another area of my house is where I am taking my picture for my magazine cover because my Christmas tree will go there.

Planning Activity- Schedule Interview/Questions

I will be interviewing Jaqueline Taylor. She is an adult friend of mine who is an interior designer. She has many skills in improving people's living space and also creating DIY ideas to spark up the home. I have not scheduled my interview yet because I am trying to find a time that works best for us both. We both have busy schedules to work around. I will need to find a time over a weekend where we can both sit down so I can get her answers to my questions. Some questions I will be asking her are:

• If I want a themed Christmas tree, what are some important things I should keep in mind when decorating the theme?
• I don't have a lot of time to decorate. What are the most important areas of my home that I should focus on decorating?
• What are some simple, but cute holiday decorating ideas that are inexpensive?
• How can I create a fancy dinner table set-up for Christmas?

The answers will be important for the readers because it will guide them into having a nice looking home that family and friends will enjoy, especially if they are in a rush.

Planning Activity- Flat Plan

The sections in my flat plan include family, home decor, food, and self care. There are some additional articles for people to read also. Some articles listed are "Cheap, But Thoughtful Gifts Under $30," "DIY Snowy Mason Jars," "Comfort Christmas Cookies," "Dealing With Hectic Holiday Stress," and an additional article is "Comfy and Cozy Winter Fashion." These will engage the audience because it gives them the opportunity to make their own decorations and food, which is fun when you do it yourself. The people reading my magazine will find it helpful that there are tips and advice included in the articles. As in similar magazines I have seen, I placed a lot of ads in the very beginning before the table of contents and multiple ads in between articles. Towards the middle and the end, the number of ads in a row decreased a little bit, but are still evenly scattered throughout. During my magazine research, I found that there was not as many ads from the middle of the magazine till the end.

Planing Activity- Table of Contents

I don't have the names of the articles yet, but I am putting the main article towards the center of the magazine so that it is the main focus. My articles will be about making your own Christmas decorations, food recipes, and much more. I am using one photo on my table of contents to make a simple look. I don't want to add too many pictures because I want the readers to see most of them when they are actually reading the articles. For my title that says contents, it is in the font called "Bernard MT Condensed." It is a bold font that stands out. I liked how the letters were closer together than my title was. I didn't want the letters to be too spaced out. I put side bars on the side to make it look more aesthetically pleasing and other magazines I researched had figures like this around the word. For my section titles, I used the font "Cambria" because it is easy to read and looks very classic and simple. My articles are in the font "Verdana" because I wanted to match this font to the articles that are on my cover so that it looks similar. It is a basic, easy to read font.

Planning Activity- Cover Template

For my title, I wanted to have a something that was short and catchy. This way it is easy for people to remember and recognize. My magazine genre is home decor and DIY, so I wanted to pick a title that was related to that. It was a long process of trying to come up with something, but in the end I thought of the name "Celebration." I thought of this because every issue of my magazine would be decorations, food recipes, and crafts for a holiday or event to celebrate that usually occurs during that month. The issue I decided to make is a winter/Christmas one. The font of my title is called "Berlin Sans FB." It looks similar to some of the magazines I researched such as Good Housekeeping and Real Simple. It wanted it to have a bold look, but not boring. Instead of having big, straight-edged, bulky letters, I chose a font that had some curves in it so that it looked slightly different and more interesting to look at. I chose to write my main article in the font "Nueva Std Cond." I chose this because it is more of a creative look than the other fonts i used, but still has a simple, aesthetic look. I wanted the main article's name to be eye-catching. My other fonts are called "Verdana." This is for my other articles and I chose it because I wanted the smaller articles to have a basic look.

Magazine Genre Research- Good Housekeeping

The magazine I chose is called Good Housekeeping. The cover layout has the title in big, bold letters at the top. There is a big picture in the background taking up the entire page. The main articles are all listed on the front on both sides of the page. The text of the title is very large and bold and the color is yellow-orange, which makes it bright and stand out. The article titles on the sides have different fonts in pink and white colors. The picture has gold, orange, and pink colors, so the text matches the picture. The background of the picture is gray-ish black color which is good for a solid color background to make the picture stand out.

The types of articles included are "Delicious Harvest Ideas," "Style Secrets for Every Room," "Halloween Decorating Guide," and "Pretty Pumpkins." The main, longer articles are in the middle and end, while the short articles are towards the beginning of the magazine. Some of the advertisements featured are Loreal, Purina, Special K, Tampax, Oscar Mayer, and Miracle Whip.

This magazine was a Halloween edition, so the cover has a picture of two painted pumpkins with DIY flower crowns around them that are described how to make in one of the articles. The table of contents has some pictures that relate to the types of articles in the magazine such as pumpkins, food, and home decorations. The distribution number is 6,243,000. Good Housekeeping received a nomination for the National Magazine Award.

Magazine Genre Research- Food Network

The title of the magazine is called Food Network. The cover has the title in the left top corner in a little box. The articles are listed all around the left and right sides of the page. There is a big picture of food in the middle. The colors of the text are red and orange to match the fall theme.

Some of the articles are "102 Recipes: Plan Your Perfect Menu," "Simple Fall Pastas," "The Pie You Have To Try," "Glass Act," "Go For The Gold," "Happy Friendsgiving," and "Easy Holiday Breads." Throughout the entire magazine there are recipes for the different foods, along with some decorating ideas for the dinner table. Some of the advertisements are Land O Lakes, McCormick, Silk, Hellmann's, Pillsbury, Kraft, Countrycrock, and Hershey's. The advertisements are usually after a few recipes to break up the sections the recipes are in.

The photo on the cover is a whole cooked turkey sitting on some greens on a plate. There are small pictures on the left side of stuffing, mashed potatoes, and green beans to feature some of the food there are recipes for. The table of contents and index has a picture of every recipe that is featured in the magazine. The distribution number of Food Network is 13,700,000. The Food Network magazine was nominated for the National Magazine Award in 2010.

Magazine Genre Research- The Pioneer Woman

The title of the magazine is called The Pioneer Woman. The cover has the title of the magazine in a large, cursive font at the top. On the right hand side there are all the main articles listed one right under the other. There is a picture of a woman on the front. This is a holiday edition, so the colors of the fonts are red and green. Some of the articles on the cover are also hot pink to add more color. The cursive text makes it look more aesthetically pleasing and fancy.

Some articles included are "The Cutest Christmas Cookies," "Super-Easy DIY Gifts," "My Big Thanksgiving Feast," "Ready, Set, Party," and "Merry Mantels." The articles are pretty spread out in the magazine, but most of the food is towards the end. Some of the advertisements include Loreal, Purina, Walmart, Jimmy Dean, Glad, and J Jill. The advertisements are scattered around in the magazine, but there are not that many advertisements. The content of the articles takes up most of the pages of the magazine, leaving only a small amount of room for the advertisements.

The photo on the cover is a woman holding three presents. The presents are wrapped in red and white polka dot paper, holly leafs paper, beige paper, and there is a bow made with pinecones on the top. The table of contents has a small picture above every article which includes food, decorations, and style. The distribution number is 500,000. The Pioneer Woman's blog has won an award, but the magazine has not won any awards.

Magazine Genre Research- Southern Living

The title of the magazine is called Southern Living. The cover has the title in a large font across the top of the page. The main article is featured by itself on top of the picture. Some of the other articles are listed in the bottom right corner in a smaller font. There is a picture of a pie in the middle. The fonts are in orange and white. It makes the words stand out more.

Some of the articles included are "The Best Pies and Sides," "Tips for the Harried Hostess," "Bold Ways To Set Your Table,"Holiday Decorating," and "Tastes Like Home." Some of the more simple, shorter articles are towards the beginning. The longer articles are mainly in the middle of the magazine and most of he food articles that include recipes are also in the middle and at the end. Some advertisements that are included are Always, Pillsbury, Hallmark, Neutrogena, McCormick, and Raisin Bran. Most of these are at the beginning of the magazine every other page or every two pages. There are not as many advertisements towards the end.

On the cover, there is a picture of an apple pie that takes up the whole page. The background is a table covered in a red cloth. On the table of contents there are pictures of food and dinner table decorations. The distribution number of Southern Living is 16,756,000. Southern Living has not won any awards.

Magazine Genre Research- Real Simple

The title of the magazine is called Real Simple. The cover has the title in big, bold letters and many of the articles are listed on the right side. There is a big picture in the background. The cover of this magazine has a pretty simple design. This is a fall edition, so there are lots of orange and yellow colors. The background of the picture is dark blue which gives a contrast. The text is very bold so that it stands out on the page and it is yellow which makes it very bright.

Some articles included are "Your Best Organizing Tips," "One Recipe, Three Dinners," "New Uses for Old Things," and "At Home with Real Simple." Some of the longer articles are towards the middle and end of the magazine, while the short ones are at the beginning. Some advertisements that are included are L'Oreal, Softsoap, Covergirl, Always, Purina, and Bed Bath and Beyond. These appear mainly at the beginning of the magazine. There is usually an advertisement every other page in the beginning. Towards the middle and end the long articles are not really broken up by advertisements.

The photo on the cover has many pumpkins stacked on top of each other and a vase of wheat. On the table of contents, there are smaller pictures that relate to the main articles. There's food, decorations, and interior design. The distribution number is 6,868,000. In 2013, Real Simple was a nominee for the James Beard Award for Food Coverage in a General-Interest Publication.

Project Selection-My Decision

I have chosen the magazine as my project. I want to be able to take photographs and have a small photo shoot to get pictures for the magazine. Some skills i possess that makes this project a good fit for me is my photography and being able to conduct an interview.The main determining factor of my decision is that  I think I will have an easier time thinking of an idea for my magazine topic than making a story for the film. My magazine is going to be about things people celebrate. It could be Christmas, Halloween, or even graduation. There will be different ways you can celebrate the holiday or event and most of it will be things people can do themselves at home. The genre of this magazine is home decorating/DIY. I am working alone on my project.

Project Selection- Film

Based off of my experiences and what I've learned in this class, the film project interests me. Some aspects that interest me are the acting, casting, and editing. We have learned many film terms that will be beneficial in the editing process. It would be fun to make my own camera shots such as close-ups, establishing shots, and point-of-view shots. The editing process would also be interesting because I would be able to edit the scenes and make various cuts and also i can add in sound/music. The mis-en-scene would be fun to create because I can come up with my own costume looks and choose all of my locations to film. In class, I watched Ferris Bueller's Day Off and analyzed some of the film techniques. I learned how to choose some of the film-making aspects and analyze its meaning that relates back to the movie and characters. This project could be a good fit for me because I am good at working with technology such as cameras and phones. I could edit the video well. I am also very good at makeup, so if any scenes required a certain look, I would be able to make it. This project might be a challenge for me creatively because I struggle with thinking of a story line and making a script.

Project Selection- Magazine

Based on my experiences and what I've learned in class, I am interested in making a magazine. Some aspects that interest me are the photography, interviewing, and editing. In the movie we watched, All the President's Men, the two main journalists had to write their own article. Throughout the movie, I saw how they were interviewing the people they wanted to talk to over the phone and in person. Also, in the television show called The Newsroom, the main reporter, Will McAvoy, interviews people while he is on the air and asks them multiple questions to get the answers he wants. I'm also interested in the aesthetics of the magazine. In my magazine analysis, I had to analyze the cover design of a magazine and the colors included in it. I also learned about the type of articles that should go in the magazine, based on what the topic is. The magazine project is a good fit for me because I am very good at taking pictures and having photo shoots which is a quality i need to possess to make my magazine. I would also be good at talking to people to get information for my article because i am friendly. This project might be a challenge because I haven't had much experience with editing page layouts that include pictures and lots of text.