evaluation write up

Evaluation Write Up

Producing my product look a lot of time and effort but in my opinion it was well worth it. I’m very pleased with the end product. I think the double page spread looks slightly armature and maybe with the use of extra brush tools it would look more professional, however I’m very pleased with the front cover. I think it could pass for an NME front cover. There was a lot of editing involved. Firstly, I had to shorted my article as it was slightly too long for the dimensions of the page and let’s say too wordy for what my target audience would want. At first the paragraphs were few and very long, but on the finishes product they were nicely balanced out to make my article an easier read. As far as the text to image ratio is concerned I think that it’s a good balance. The double page spread isn’t over power by neither image nor text but the image is big and striking enough for the reader to be entertained and kept interested.  I did have to compromise with the size of the font though. I think it would have improved the overall look of the DPS if the font was a little larger however, this would have meant deleting more of my article. Over all I did think my article put my message clearly as with the mix of humour and facts makes it an enjoyable read but still gets the reader informed, which is what I think readers of NME would enjoy. For my stories unusual angle I wrote my article in a slightly taboo way with inputs of sexual humour, relating identity safely with safety in a sexual relationship.

My images I thought turned out well. I enjoyed taking the photographs thoroughly and I think photography is one of my strengths; however the images I’d say are more informative than inspirational. My photographs are like a warning, you won’t inspire to be the person in the photo as they are a victim of identity theft. I suppose it would be seen as a positive as the reader would feel superior to the person in the magazine making them feel good about themselves, unlike when a young girl is reading a fashion magazine and gets depressed because she’s not ‘perfect’.  So therefore my images are a window to the future self of what could be you but not what you want to be you. In both my images the eye line in on the top third of the page, or just below. There is no superiority in the photographs as both people (models) are in bad situations so I tried to keep the eye lines level.  The model in the foreground is a victim and the model in the background is the identity thief. I purposely chose similar looking models, petite, short hair, pretty, unsuspicious looking. As much as they look the same they are so very different. The model in the background (criminal) has a darker skin tone and darker hair, to make her look more dark and mysterious, like she has a secret to hide. The model in the foreground is fair with light hair and in a dress to convey a more innocent appearance. The models I deliberately dressed them in black and white stripes for a hint of an old school ‘jail bird’ look. I was going to hand cuff them together but I decided not to as I thought that it would be too much and wanted to keep the image simple.  The expression in the models eyes is also very different. The model in the foreground looks rundown and fed up where as there is determination and perhaps achievement in the eyes of the model in the background. The emotion in my images I’d say are moving. You feel sympathy for the girth in the foreground. For my lighting I used two different types of lighting, so I’s get a dark moody effect in the background to make the (criminal) more dangerous looking. The lighting I used was butterfly and narrow lighting. butterfly lighting in the foreground to create a lighter tone on the innocent person and narrow lighting in the background to create an ominous, dark shadow.

My introduction is a sort of reverse shock style I suppose, it starts of quite light headed then, about 3 sentences in the shock factor is brought out.  I chose to do this because not thinking you’re going to be shocked then being shocked is much more shocking then being shocked straight away, sort of like identity theft. You don’t know it’s happening then, boom, you’re a victim. The language I used was certainly colloquial, as using a formal language wouldn’t have appealed to my target audience. The overall tone of my article is comical and informative, however it does get rather dark in one of the paragraphs just to put forward a little bit of seriousness and shock factor. The read speed is neither fast nor slow; it’s an easy going article and is meant to be an enjoyable read.

I loosely stuck to the three colour rule, using the main the colours of black, white and yellow, but occasionally using read when I wanted to make certain things stand out. With using a lot of yellow made the magazine look slightly industrially, but as the topic was on identity theft I thought using a yellow was suitable. I could however have use more alliteration etc in my article, but there was lots or alliteration on my front cover as well as the use of ellipsis’ and wordplay/ rhyme.

I chose to have three columns filling up just under half the page, the majority of the page is taken up by the main image and there is the use of a breakout box on the left hand side. I’m pleased with my text to image ratio as I think if there was more text it would be too text heavy for my target market.  The main focal point is the main image/photograph, which is placed just off centre to the right, I did this so the article didn’t get over looked. I think the images of a DPS are very important maybe more important than the article itself, after all a picture does speak 100 words. There is a lots of question headlines in the product as I think a question makes the reader interact more, it’s more personal. Using alteration and work play I think makes an article much more fun and memorable.