Magazine pictures

Below is the collection of photographs we have taken over the past week for our poster and front cover:

This is the picture Zara and I have decided to use as our main image on our front cover. It was taken against a wall at my house and i have placed a pillow up my jumper to make me look pregnant! We shot the picture at a mid close range as this is how we have seen pictures on front covers on existing magazine soap magazines, allowing audiences to see the disturbed expression on my face, and my bloated stomoch.











I have chosen these three pictures out of a collection that we took of mine and Zara's friend Ellie-May, at her house in Dartford. We found a white wall in her house to take it against and asked her to pose in a serious expression. This photo is going to be one of the many featured on the magazine cover, which conventionally is cluttered with pictures.








This photograph was taken at Wilmington Boys School, and is of Joe Malloy, another friend of mine and Zara's. The shot was very last minute as none of the boys we asked were very keen to have their photograph taken for some reason. This shot was also against a white wall as it eases the editing process.




This is my favourite photo that we took during the whole process. The photo of Simon and Tom together looking in different directions shows their different characters, also aided by their dress.

This was another successful image of the three of us together, my positioning in between the two of them in a wide shot presenting the storyline in imagery. The only thing disappointing about this image is the fact that you can see Tom beginning to laugh, which happened a lot during the shoot by him and Simon!



This image of Tiffany and Emily, also members of my media class, was taken on a different day to the others and was due to total spontaneity. I love the expression on both their faces which conveys alot of emotion, shown clearly by the close-up shot. I think this image will contrast nicely to the others because it was taken on a different camera the image quality is different, this shot being much more like one that has been lifted from a filming shot from an actual soap. Next to the posed photographs it will contrast which is a common convention of existing TV soap mags.

Front Cover Analysis

Before completing our magazine front cover I think it necessary to look at some existing magazines to understand some key conventions:



This Tv Choice magazine instantly gains your attention with its bright colours and bold headlines. The choice of bold, contrasting colours set against each other, for example blue and orange, really grab your attention. There is a main image on both covers with smaller images surrounding it. Although the page looks cluttered I think it is effective as it represents the busyness of what is going on in all the different storylines featured.

Song Selection

Now the basic premise for our video has been decided its time for the details. The first thing we need to tackle is the background music.

Choices

First of all we discussed have a dramatic instrumental in the background, as we thought that lyrics may confuse the audience away from the narrative of the advert.
We discussed and after some research we found this song on YouTube:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ait-4080MxU

Although I liked the idea of the an instrumental, after vigorous searching I could not find the up-tempo music I was looking for they would successfully convey the suspense, drama and revelation that we intend to convey.

So we looked at other options. It then came to mind that we had already sent the copyright letter to Universal records regarding the Amy Winehouse song "you know I'm no good" :


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vm41ptw_Hfs

It then seemed like the perfect idea to use this song for our main video also, especially after closer inspection of the chorus lyrics ...

I Cheated Myself
Like I knew I would
I told you, I was Trouble
You Know that I'm no good

These lyrics seem extremely fitting for the situation that our main character is in, torn between two men. The beginning of the song also has a very catchy and upbeat instrumental that we could use, incorporating our initial idea.

Ideas just keep coming!

Above is a mock up of what we want our front cover to eventually look like.

I drew the picture to represent where we will place our images on the page, showing the different sized images as well as accompanying text.

Challenge Conventions?

So far the modern soap adverts we have analysed have had a surreal theme to it, we are looking to make our advert a cross between this elements but to add more realism. I highly enjoy the adverts that I have analysed but as the brief states that it is for a new soap I feel that we need to convey the characters in much more depth, whilst combining the lighter elements of the existing adverts.

By doing this in some way we will be challenging the conventions of modern soap ads, but focus on plot and characters will hopefully entice audiences more then an advert which glamorises and particular storyline, which the existing ones seem to do.

Remake Advert Update

So our remake advert is filmed - its a very rough cut as it is just a practise but am quite proud as we had hardly any idea how to use the editing software adobe premier elements:



I am very proud of the little knowledge we had about Adobe premiere meant we were complete amatures, but the video does indeed capture the same elements that the Eastenders original did. There are some major errors on reflection though. Upon completion of the video, playing in back we realised the clip when I say "three" in my countdown does not have the speech on it. We then realised that we had filmed different versions from different angles and this particular one I did not say "three" as I should. By now though the other clips had been deleted and this is what we were left with. It did however teach me some valuable lessons including keeping a backup usb with your files AND not deleting anything till I am 100% sure that its not needed!

Character Profiles

We have decided on having two possible fathers in our video and we now have the decision to make upon who we ask to play these roles. Since characters are vital for any soap we are going to attempt to portray the characters as clearly as possible, as the only dialogue is me talking to the screen, the two possible fathers are going to have to have their personality displayed through other mediums, largely their clothing and the setting in which we film them in. Here's who we chose:

Potential Father One:
Tom Darwin



Tom is to play the first potential father, possibly portraying a rougher character in contrast to father two. We are going to ask him to wear a hoody and film in a cheap looking location to convey to audiences through mise-en-scene his lower class background. Its going to be difficult in a 45 second advert but it is vital that character set up is achieved if our audience is going to be engaged.













Potential Father Two:

Simon Edie







Simon's character is going to be much more upper-class then Tom's. We have asked that he wears a
suit and am looking into possible restaurants that
we can film in to convey his wealth and our relationship compared to mine and Tom's.








Pregnant Character

Beckie Smith (Me!!)







I am going to play the role of the pregnant protagonist character in our video and also in our two ancillary task. I am going to have to wear two contrasting outfits in my scenes with the two boys to differentiate between the two characters. I am also going to have to less made-up during the scenes when I return, to convey my emotional distress at what I have to tell them.

I am happy to feature in our video as I can fully control the emotions that need to be conveyed!