Magazine Cover Reflection- Alejandra A.

I created the HER HORIZON magazine cover in Adobe InDesign. This project helped me understand the process behind the creation of an actual magazine cover and how the aesthetically pleasing and information dense features serve genre and readership. I learned about the relevance of media industry standards and how visual hierarchy and conventions contribute to successful media industry creation through my own creation, experimentation, and refining of my layout.

Learning the Magazine Conventions:

What I learned about magazine conventions is that they make for a realistic, professional magazine cover. They also prevent the magazine from looking tacky or like something a fifth grader came up with in a matter of moments. For example, inappropriately positioned masthead, primary image, cover lines, bar codes, prices, dates and taglines are all failings of a magazine cover. Furthermore, I learned about guides, margins and appropriate alignments that make things aesthetically pleasing and easy to read. Therefore, using such conventions helped to make my magazine cover more professional.

My Genre Choice and Representation:

The genre of my magazine is self growth and emotional wellness for women. I chose this genre because it embodies a sense of nostalgia, reflection, restoration and transformation. My cover conveys this genre through the softness of the colors on the cover, the outside setting of the image and the fact that the woman is looking towards what's ahead (the horizon). Even the language of the cover lines supports this genre with healing, growing, boundaries and self image.

The Magazine Conventions and Effectiveness:

Many magazine conventions were used to create an effective cover. The masthead is large and at the top of the cover for brand identity. The main cover line is large and central. Secondary cover lines are dispersed around the image but do not interfere with the subject. I also placed circular outlines behind some of the text for clarity and aesthetic appeal. These conventions move the eye in a natural motion and allow for the magazine's purpose to be easily conveyed.

Challenges and Successes:

One challenge I encountered was ensuring legibility with the background imagery, which was solved through font adjustments and shape backings behind prominent text. Another challenge was to ensure a layout so that the cover did not feel cluttered. One successful challenge was creating a final product that ended up looking very polished and professional, ensuring, at first glance, that it falls into the proper genre.

 

Important Takeaways and Next Steps:

One of the biggest takeaways from this project is the idea of layout and hierarchy. Something as simple as adjusting where an image sits or the kerning of a font will make it more or less professional. I'll certainly be more aware about layout before setting elements in place for good and will always play around with typography and placements.

Connection to My Portfolio Project:

 Not only will this project be a great asset to my portfolio but it will also stand as testament to my successful engagement with industry standard software and media standards. The topic applied will help me bridge the gap to increasingly complex layouts, denser visual narratives and more refined media products. I now possess a tangible product as proof of my ideation and later realization. 

 

Video Editing Practice Blog Reflection

Learning how to use Premiere Pro

In the beginning of this process, I found it a bit overwhelming to learn Premiere Pro with all of the buttons and panels. But after binning my clips, I started to understand the software more quickly. I also kept my interviews and B-roll separate, which helped along the way. Once I figured out dragging and dropping into the timeline and how to trim clips, the layout also became increasingly more straightforward. Since everything was relative in the project panel, it helped me learn where everything would go easier.

Creating the Clip

What I loved most about this edit was that I got to piece together the b-roll in combination with the interviews and let the story play out. I feel like I worked with the fair b-roll and the pineapple whip stand b-roll to match up what's being said with what they're saying. I feel like it was effective to see it all on a timeline for greater acknowledgment of how it all came together. Also, getting to see it all in one preview window helped me understand what would visually work best for me.

The Manager Interview

Getting the lower third for Zach Fortner was a process. I had to adjust the font via the graphics panel and shrink and move it around to make it not look gaudy in its placement. I also had to ensure it was on screen long enough for everyone to take it in. It was all about text layering and learning how to position it with the rest of the clip.

Challenges

Volume leveling became a very important issue as some interviews were louder than others and required me to manipulate the audio level between various tracks. I also needed to solve the issues of trimming but not making the cuts sound too harsh; I needed them to transition well, which meant I had to go back and edit in various places multiple times.

Successes

One the greatest successes involved aligning the B-roll with the interviews. Once I figured out how to overlap certain shots and time them appropriately, the unified vision for the entire project emerged. Another success was figuring out how to stay organized so that I wouldn't misplace different versions of the same video clips and audio.

What I've Learned

I learned to edit cuts down to the frame, level audio, insert textual graphics, and manage multiple layers of video and audio. I learned the necessity of organization in editing; I was able to maintain my sanity while cutting through my footage because everything was in bins, But most importantly, what I learned from my footage was the tempo of a project and how every single frame plays a part in the rhythm of the finished product.

The biggest thing I'll take away from this is that it's a lengthy endeavor. I ended up having to change and adjust a lot for it to be how I wanted it to be. I also learned that so much revision creates a narrative for how the information is presented (what to emphasize, what works better than other elements to everything else). Finally, I'm more confident in the editing features and I know I could create something even more spectacular next time.

How this helps with my Portfolio Project

This was extremely useful for my portfolio piece because it taught me more about how to professionally and extensively gather the interviews, b-roll, sound and text in an organized manner. I came into this exercise not knowing how to maintain pacing, audio quality and visual details to efficiently put together a final product. But now that I know what I need to do, my portfolio will definitely benefit from this professional quality because I'm feeling prepared to make much more extensive edits in the remainder of this chapter.