Magazine cover reflection

   It was important to understand the conventions of a magazine before attempting to create one. During class I learned the names and purposes of certain conventions. I labeled a diagram to visualize the features. We were shown the many different versions of magazines. The different color themes, visuals, and purposes. However, we noticed that all magazines followed similar formats. Including the cover, imagine the cover lines, puffs/plugs, strips, boxes, banners, even the simple datelines and bar codes.  

    When creating my magazine, I wanted to choose a theme I was familiar with. I really enjoy traveling the world therefore the genre I chose was traveling. The requirement for the project was to have a cover image of a picture we took ourselves, an original photo. I used a picture I took on my trip to Las Vegas. This specific photo is a replica of the Arc de Triomphe. It was located directly outside of the hotel I was staying at. It is genuinely such an amazing view.  

    The magazine conventions I used were a masthead, cover image, multiple cover lines, a feature article, a puff, a strip, a dateline, and a barcode. The masthead was a well thought out detail; the gold lettering matches perfectly with the cover image. The phrases in the coverlines interact with the audience, drawing them in to read more. The puff and tripe add a pop of color that appeals to the passing audience, making them want to stop and read more.  

    The first challenge I ran into was trying to figure out what the masthead should be and what the placement will look like. I wanted to find a name that was original, something that had meaning. I then came across the word, "wanderlust", meaning a desire to travel or explore the world. I figured it was a perfect detail to add to the magazine. Another challenge I faced was deciding where to place the banners, strips, puffs, etc. It was difficult to highlight these coverlines without drawing too much attention away from the cover image. A success I had was adding relevant information to the cover about upcoming events and including well known phrases.  

    I learned a lot from this experience, and with this information I will be able to better understand the process that goes into making a successful magazine. I will be able to improve in the future if I choose the magazine for the portfolio project. I definitely think it would be a fun experience to create a full magazine as there is so much thought that goes into it. In the future I would also like to work with InDesign more because I am now more experienced and could use every feature properly instead of simply the basics.  

    This magazine cover will give me practice and a sense of familiarity when using InDesign. This magazine cover assignment is the first time I opened the InDesign workspace. In the future, I will be more familiar with the features and improve with practice.  

   

   

Video editing practice reflection

Being introduced to the software, Premiere Pro was a very new experience; it was interesting to see all the factors put into editing. It was a lot to learn, but Premiere Pro made it easy. The hundreds of features seemed overwhelming at first, however the instructor of the video tutorials did an amazing job at describing each feature and how to use them. It was less overwhelming when the layout of Premiere Pro was divided into sections; each one was explained with shortcuts and tips to make it easier to understand. With the videos, it allowed me to go step by step through the process to eventually be able to do it on my own.     Creating the clip was extremely exciting; I was able to bring my idea to life. After watching the videos, creating a sequence of footage was amazingly simple. I struggled at times when trying to remember what controls do during the process of editing. I learned how to trim clips to only display what I chose, I learned how to right click on an empty space between two clips to bring these two lips of film together. The shortcuts and tools I learned how to use were very helpful when making the clip.     I encountered a few challenges when creating the clip, for example was the transitioning between the B-Roll clips and the guitar riff audio, with the interview footage and audio. At times it would either have a space of awkward silence, incorrect timing, overlapping audio, or the clips would not flow the way I would have liked them to. After a lot of trial and error, I was able to understand what worked best for me when using this new platform. Eventually I found success in understanding how to place multiple slips of film together to form simple and enjoyable pieces of footage.     Throughout the process of collecting the clip, I learned helpful tips and tricks on how to make the process of creating the film easier. I was able to create bins to organize my work; it allows the workspace to be in control as it is very organized, I also enjoy the feature of being able to name the bins since it allowed me to distribute my work into separate sections.     An important take away from this is that I have acquired new information and skills. I will be practicing editing in future class assignments therefore this will be particularly useful. This was also good practice for my portfolio; it gave me the skill to edit future videos I will have to make to complete my portfolio. Which includes either a movie intro or any other type of video clip that meets the requirements. This now allows me to express my ideas more creatively the I once could. I hope to use what I have learned to be able to understand more complex assignments given in the future. We were given a very achievable project with simple requirements if effort and practice were given.