Preliminary Tasks: Double-Page Spread Explanation- Blog #16

 

Welcome Back!

For reference:

This blog will be the continuation and finale of my Preliminary Task blogs.

This blog will go more into detail of the process and the result I came up with when creating and finishing my double-page spread. 

For the page I numbered “2”, I used the same font from “THE PLACES SHE’LL GO” for the title “ALL ABOUT LUGGINA” . I kept the frame for the main picture from the original template because I liked how centered and retro it looked. I also kept it because it looked like a house and I thought it would be creative to hint at the fact that Luggina feels a conflict about where she would like her home to be and this picture was taken in Florida so this would foreshadow her final desire but not her final decision. I kept the little X graphic on the top right because I liked the placement. I moved the page numbers to the top right, above the title, because it would have gotten blocked by the graphics on the bottom of the pages. I kept the same shade of yellow for the top half but I wanted to distinguish the text from the top half, as well as make it seem cohesive with the other page so I changed the color from the original template. I played around with what picture to put in the frame and I ended up picking this one because the circle shaped mirror created a very unique contrast with the house shaped frame. Underneath the picture is a caption revealing a fact about Luggina and a topic that will be further discussed in the next pages of my magazine.

Underneath the caption is a graphic of a cartoonish/ Dr.Seuss looking landscape. I added this graphic to fill up empty space and also to start building the aesthetic I wanted. This graphic shows a barren landscape with multiple roads pointing towards different directions. This landscape signifies Luggina’s confusion about where she wants her home to be. 

Below the top half of the page is the text. I found a white background in Canva and added it to the bottom half with the text. In this page I wrote about Luggina’s background. Things such as the political state of Ecuador, the crimes Luggina has experienced herself and how it has affected her norms. Next to the text is a graphic of sketched balloons. In the Dr.Seuss book , “Oh, the places I’ll go”, the character is taken by a huge balloon to the places he will go. The balloons are to signify Luggina going to Florida, the place she will go to where she will realize that there is a whole other world outside of Ecuador. The big “L” at the start of the text is from the original template and I decided to keep it because it reminded me of the beginning of a kid’s storybook. I made sure to put direct quotes by Luggina in bold lettering so it could stand out to the readers.

For the page numbered “3”, I started the top half with keeping the same shade of yellow as it is in the original template. I kept the frame from the original template and I added a picture that framed her face as the center. The text next to the picture is in the same font but in green, this will contain a quoted introduction by Luggina including her name, where she is from, what grade, and something about herself. This is to formally introduce the reader to whom I’ve been writing about throughout the magazine. I wanted to make this introduction a lot more personalized to Luggina so I put it in her native tongue, spanish, and translated it to English as well. This introduction is titled “ Hi! Allow me to introduce myself!”, in green, bold lettering. This is to make it seem like Luggina is introducing herself to her readers, it’s to create a more personal connection.

Below the top half is the text half. I started this half with a “pull quote”, this will contain something Luggina says that will stick out a main point I want readers to know about Luggina. This font and thickness is the same one I used for the numbers and subheadings for my table of contents. I made the top half smaller then how it originally was and I gave more space for the text by bringing the white background up. The title is in the same font, thickness, and color as the recent headings.

I decided to make this page about a “A Day in the Life”. This will be about Luggina’s life in Ecuador, what her routine is in a school day, what she does on the weekends, any hobbies, her dreams, etc. The picture next to the text is a picture with more than just Luggina, its a picture of her having fun and happy. I added this picture because the cotton candy is yellow which goes with the color scheme I am going for. The graphic I added below shows only one, long road, leading to some unknown place. I added this graphic because it signifies Luggina’s need for stability outside of the chaos of a world she grew up in. It also foreshadows her decision of picking somewhere to go, and where she would end up staying. As in the last page, I highlighted any direct quote in bold lettering to stand out to the readers.

*Original photos

*Graphics and templates from Canva

*I gathered all of this information by interviewing Luggina personally

*All bolded quotes are direct quotes from Luggina herself

That’s all for my Preliminary Tasks! 

See you soon!

Preliminary Tasks: Double-Page Spread- Blog #15

 

Welcome Back!

This blog will begin the last set of my Preliminary Tasks. 

Today, I will be revealing my double-page spread. 

This spread contains 3 original pictures, total, involving my main subject. This double spread is titled “All About Me” which is a topic on the main subjects life before visiting Florida. It will highlight a day in the life of a girl living in Ecuador, her struggles personally and what is happening in Ecuador politically.

 The font will be the original font included in the template I selected however, I did play around with the positioning of the colors to result in a cohesive two page spread.  I added a line down the middle of the page so the colors wouldn’t meld together. 

I added sketched graphics around the bottoms and sides of the texts. These sketches were meant to add a hint of Dr.Seuss into each page, as mentioned before. I kept the same color scheme as the last two pages but I did add white for a more simplistic and clean look regarding the text.  I wanted to make sure that the readers wouldn’t be distracted from the text by a bright color. 

I will be going into more detail in my next blog.

Below I will reveal the before and after of my double-page spread:

Before:

After:

*Made in Canva 

*Original Photos

That’s all for today! 

Preliminary Tasks: Table of Content Explanation- Blog #14

 

Welcome Back!

This blog is a continuation of my Preliminary Tasks- Table of Contents.

Here I will be presenting my analysis on the creation of my table of contents. I will be explaining why I chose certain colors or fonts, what the table of contents consists of, and why chose certain graphics. 

This is the before and after:

Before:

After:

Like I previously mentioned in my last blog, I used a template in the same set as my cover page ,from Canva, for my table of contents. I appreciated the retro/2000s style it gives off because it caters to the demographic I am hoping to reach, which is a younger audience. It has the same colors as my cover page however the fonts are different.  I figured that by using the same colors and template set, my magazine would be seen as cohesive and it would have the flow of a good, trendy magazine. 

If you haven’t noticed by now, I have been trying to allude to a kind of Dr.Seuss aesthetic. I try to allude to Dr.Seuss at least once in each page of my magazine. This is to add a piece of myself into this magazine since I can’t disclose any personal information. 

I have always enjoyed the drawings and fonts from his books, it gives me a sort of comfort because it reminds me of my childhood.

So, in my cover page, the title alludes to Dr. Seuss “Oh, the Places You’ll Go!”—my title page is “The Places She’ll Go”. “Oh, the Places You’ll Go!” is about what life is, what you can expect when you get older, and how to move through life’s biggest changes. “The Places She’ll Go” is about a girl  who experiences a whole different lifestyle and realizes that her mentality from living in Ecuador has put her on a flight or fight mode her whole life, now she is thinking about a change. 

 The effect I wanted my table of contents to have instantly is organized chaos. This might seem dramatic but what I mean is everything is in its place but it’s fun to look at. The colors, graphics, font type, box organization. If you look at the original template, you can see that each box has a number and it would end up looking simplistic. Which is good but my magazine is supposed to look retro and fun to look at but not too professional because a younger audience wouldn’t be attracted to that.

I chose a different font for the title than the original version because I felt like it would look more organized since there was already so much going on. 

I based the page numbers off of the amount of pages my magazine is allowed to have (4 page magazine) and how many of those pages I could write on (6 pages, front and back). For example, the section titled “All About Me”, will have a full two page spread dedicated to it. However, the section titled “ Back to the Past” will have one page dedicated to it because that is how much I believe it would take. 

The font I used for the title and the explanations for each section is Kitsch Display. It’s a clean and simplistic. I decided to add some type of cleanliness to my table of contents because I wanted people to focus on the most important parts and not be too distracted by a funky kind of font. The font I used—Tallow Regular— for the banner next to the “All About Me” section contributes to the Dr.Seuss theme I am trying to add in every page of my magazine. This font is more of a cartoonish and Dr.Seuss type of font. I figured it would compliment the banner that looks very Dr.Seuss-like and contribute to the theme I am going for. The font I used for the page numbers and section titles is the original font—fraunces— used in the original template for my table of contents. I kept it so it could give a sense of familiarity of my cover page and to separate the numbers and section title from the section explanations. Each font is to separate the roles of all the elements in my table of

Each graphic is next to a section of the magazine and it hints to what it will be about. For the section “ All About Me”, I put a banner, which alludes to the drawings Dr.Seuss creates and I added the name of my main subject, “Luggina”. For the section “A New Experience”, I put a graphic of the place my main subject will have that new experience in. In this case, it’s Florida, however I searched for the most retro looking Florida graphic to compliment the style I’m going for. For the section “ Realization”, the graphic I put symbolizes two things, first is the main subject realizing that she prefers the place her “new experience” resides in, she sees it as a better home then her home is Ecuador. The second is the inner conflict inside my main subject about where her real home is, Florida?, or Ecuador? The graphic of a house represents her conflict and confusion of where her actual home is and where she wants to be after that new experience. For the section “ Back to the Past”, I put the most aesthetically pleasing stamp of Ecuador to show that no matter what, her final decision has to be going back to Ecuador because that is where her life is established. 

*graphics from Canva

*templates from Canva

                                               That’s all for today! 

                         See you in my next set of my Preliminary blogs!

Preliminary Tasks: Table of Contents-Blog #13

 

Welcome Back!

This blog will introduce the next set of preliminary tasks—my table of contents. 

I used Canva to look for a set of templates and picked out the ones I would be using for my magazine. The cover page in my previous blog came in a set of templates that consisted of a table of contents. I decided to keep it so I wouldn’t risk the magazine looking mismatched. I also enjoyed the retro style it had going on so I figured it would be best to keep it. I did keep the same colors but I changed the fonts to a more cartoony/retro style. To fill out empty spaces, I added graphics from Canva that gave somewhat an idea of the topics I would be talking about. I wanted this magazine to give off a Dr. Seuss aesthetic. 

Before:

After:

That’s it, on to the next!

*graphic made on Canva

Preliminary Tasks: Magazine Cover Explanation- Blog #12

 

Welcome Back!

Next on the preliminary task blog series is the explanation to how I created my cover page. It will cover basics such as why I chose a certain color, why I chose a certain photo, why I chose that certain format. This will allow you to further understand my process on creating a four page magazine. 

Now, I will follow up on the topic. I ran into a few road blocks when thinking about what topic I should choose. I always tend to write about things that mean something to me and about something I think others should find meaningful as well. So, obviously, my family’s biggest obstacle came to mind. I come from an immigrant family and my parents have went through many sacrifices to get my family to where it is today. I am very grateful for everything they went through for us so I first decided to base my magazine on their “journey to freedom”, is what I titled the cover page. That’s when I encountered my first roadblock. The picture I wanted to use was the most aesthetically pleasing picture I could find of my parents, but that was only because it was of when they were younger. I had made the cover with all the elements necessary when I noticed the one rule I had to strictly abide to— all pictures need to be original. I quickly scraped that idea and when back to the drawing board. The one thing I knew I couldn’t change was the main idea because I had felt so passionate about it, immigration status family-wise, I just had to find my main subject. While thinking, the answer literally walked past me. My cousin came to visit from Ecuador. She has a different schooling system then I do so she came to visit on her vacation while I was in school. At first look she looks like a normal teenage girl, however, the longer she has stayed with me, the more I noticed. I noticed the way she acted, spoke, and thought was very different then a girl who grew up in Florida. These mannerisms did not come from her own personality, it was molded to the kind of place she grew up in. This was absolutely mind blowing to me so I had to write about this because I thought many people, especially the young demographic, was not aware of it. The cultural differences and normalities of this country and in places like Ecuador have to be noticed and seen to make a change. This is why the pull quote is “ THE FACE OF CHANGE”. 

Now that the mouth-full-of-a-topic is discussed. I will talk about the technical elements and my practical decisions used to pull this cover page together. 

The masthead is titled “ THE PLACES SHE’LL GO”. This is to foreshadow the impact she will make in the places her story will be told and the awareness she would be bringing to this certain topic.

I chose the main image based solely off of the colors she is wearing. Dark, floral tones compliment her skin tone and general style, along with the color I chose for the cover page, it seemed like fate. 

The pull quote seems small but that is why the subheading is titled “ A GIRLS JOURNEY TO ANOTHER WORLD”. The subheading is large in a finer print compared to the masthead to attract enough attention to pull people from the masthead. Then, when they read the subheading and find out that it’s about a girls journey, that will lead them to the main image. Once they see the main image, they will want to know who this girl is. That will lead them to “the subjects name”. This is where they will find the pull quote, right under the girls name. This process sounds rigorous and maybe a tad obnoxious but notice that this would happen in the span of 30 seconds so in reality, it would be pretty effective. The reason why I didn’t want the pull quote to be in a large print was because the focus is her journey, which is said in the subheading. Her journey is what will lead to change. 

Now for the magazine template, I kept the original colors and font. I really love the retro aesthetic, as previously mentioned in my last blog, and the color green matched with my subjects skin tone and style. 

I chose the following topics for my magazine kicker, “A New Experience”, “Realization”, and “Back to the Past”. These specific titles were chosen to not only chronologically create a storyline consistent with the journey concept but to also bring the reader on an organized journey as well. These topics are in the order of the subjects “Life in a New World”. I added 3 banners to the template to showcase my magazine kickers and make them easy to identify.

This shot was taken candidly in a normal standard angle. The focus used was a standard focus where you can still see the background but it is not clear and the main subject is in clear focus. This image would be considered a mid-shot intertwined with a close-up shot to pull the focus more on the subject herself. Rule-of-thirds was considered however I figured it would take took much space on the cover page and too much attention from the main subject. 

The issue date was added for the effect of realism. 

This magazine cover was composed of the following:

• Cover page elements such as the masthead, main image, quote, subheading, issue date, and the magazine kicker.
• Background elements : background color, text, font, etc. 
• Photo: shots and angles; Camera Composition and Movement: framing and depth

*Graphic created on Canva.

*Summery of the showcasing of cover page elements was created on Canva.

That’s it for today, I promise the next blog will be shorter!

Preliminary Tasks: Magazine Cover- Blog #11

 

Welcome back!

This blog will be the start of my preliminary task series which will be composed of 6 blogs total. We will be going over my cover page, table of contents, and a spread sheet. Following will be an analysis of each component. 

To start off I will present my cover page. I used Canva to look over sample magazine templates to try and figure out what style I am looking for. I already had a topic in mind, I just needed to figure out the aesthetics. What mood do I want my magazine to portray? Is what I asked myself while looking. Based off of my topic, I found a retro style template perfect for the role. I kept the fonts and colors because it matched with my cover photo. The retro and 2000s look is trending right now so I figured it would gather the attention of a younger demographic. 

Now, without further commentary, I will reveal the before and after of my cover page…

Before:

After:

*Graphic created in Canva

* Template used for Cover Page is from Canva 

*Picture used on cover page is an original photo

Camera Composition and Movement- Blog #10

 

Welcome Back!

Camera Composition and Movement controls the narrative and pushes the audience to pay attention to certain characters or important points in a scene. In film, directors deliberately compose the frame in a way that attracts viewers to pay attention to the main point or subject of the scene.  

In this blog, two main aspects that make up the composition of a shot will be mentioned:

• Framing
• Depth

Framing

Rule of Thirds

The Rule of Thirds is when an image is divided into thirds using two horizontal and two vertical lines, this creates the grid you see on the image above. In film, this grid is imaginary and not seen. Technically, there are 9 boxes and 4 intersection points created by the grid, the most important element of the image/scene is positioned at these intersections, it generates more attention and focus towards it. However, visually, the rule of thirds helps creatively use up the blank space. 

Open Frame

Open frame exposes the audience to everything in the scene. This type of framing gives the scene the purpose of showing the audience what the subject is looking at or where it will go. Open frame limits the audience to what the filmmaker wants them to see, however it doesn’t require any background context because it frames the scene in a way where the audience can see enough of what’s happening to understand. 

Closed Frame

Closed frame is is when the audience is limited to seeing mostly the subject or subjects in one frame without exposing a lot of the environment around them. This is to limit what the audience knows based off of what they can see, in closed frame, the audience would need more context to explain what they see. In the photo above, the frame is closed in on the subject and you can’t see their surrounding environment. You can see that the girl has a cake in front of her but you can’t see who she is looking at. 

Depth of field

Shallow Focus 

Shallow focus is when the camera focuses on one part of the picture and the rest is blurry. This technique is used to make the audience only focus on what is in focus and completely ignore the background because it’s too hard to see. For example, the photo above shows the candle as the main subject because its focused and the background is out of focus because it’s not the main subject.

 Standard Focus

Standard Focus is when the main subject is focused but you can see see things in the background. This technique is used to make the audience focus on the main subject but still have background subjects visible. Standard Focus would allow the background to remain visible but not too visible that it would take focus from the main subject. For example, the photo above shows a girl and the camera is focused on her but the background is blurry and out of focus but still visible. 

Deep Focus

Deep Focus is is when all subjects in an image are in sharp focus. This technique is used to capture key background, main activities and subjects all at once by keeping them in sharp focus. This is to allow the whole scene to tell the story. For example, in the photo above, you can see two people taking and in the background, you can see two other people talking. This can create context for the audience by showing what setting they are in and who the main subjects are around. 

* Graphic created by Canva 

* All original photos

That’s wrap for this series of camera shots, angles, composition, and movements. Next, we will go over my first drafts of the start of my magazine project. 

See you then!

Camera Angles- Blog #9

 

Welcome back!

We are now moving on to Camera Angles. Camera angles are important to convey what characters are feeling or what situation they are in without the necessity of dialogue. 

In this blog, we will be going over:

• Low angles
• High angles
• Canted angles

Low Angle

A low-angle is a cinematic technique where the camera is positioned anywhere below the eye line, looking up. This angle is used to make the subject look powerful and the audience look powerless. In this shot, you can see that the pov of the camera is a lot lower than the subject. The subject is also making a power stance or is making himself appear wise and above others. The angle plus the subject posing can make the audience or give the audience the feeling of being lower or powerless. 

High Angle

A high-angle is when the camera looks down on the subject. This angle is used to make the subject seem powerless with the correct mood and setting applied in the scene. In this shot, you can see the subject looking up because the camera is at a high angle pointed down. This makes the dog look powerless, especially with the emotion his eyes are creating, it gives a sense of defeat.

Canted Angle

A canted angle or the Dutch angle, also known as Dutch tilt or oblique angle. This angle is involves setting the camera at an angle, this producing a viewpoint similar to titling your head to the side. This can give two effects, it can give the audience the chance to feel connected to the characters because they feel like they are part of the scene or it can give the audience an uneasy feeling or make them feel disconnected because the angles are uneven or tilted. 

* Graphic made on Canva.

* All photos are original 

Next up, Camera Composition!