Weekly Progress and Plan

Here is my weekly progress for the magazine project and also a rough plan.

 Week 1: 

- Our teacher introduced us to the magazine brief and the instructions are a bit strict but I think I’ll find a way to make the contents of the magazine fit.

- We learned about the different parts of a magazine and certain conventions that are regularly used in the magazines. I brought a Dior magazine and realized that it doesn’t have most of the conventions that the usual magazines have.

Week 2:

- Our class have been introduced to the representation theory by Stuart Hall. This theory was quite challenging to wrap my head around but it made sense immediately after the lesson when I thought about it. Apparently meaning is created by media and subjects on their own do not have a fixed meaning. This will help in the magazine project as I can now conclude a meaning based on the contents of each page of the magazine based on representation.

- I need to analyse 5 more magazines for homework during the weekend.

- It is actually quite interesting to analyse the different purposes of each convention of a cover page. I started to think about them more after starting the magazine research so that was quite interesting. 

Week 3:

- This week I started to do research for my magazine. This included having to analyze 2 magazine front covers in detail as well as some less detailed analysis for the double page spreads. This week I couldn’t finish much as I underestimated how long it would take to finish the analysis and currently, I have only finished analyzing the 2 front covers. I’ll need to manage my time well to finish the research before the deadline (next Friday). I’ve also started to create the statements of intent for my magazine and it was actually quite challenging to figure out what I wanted to achieve with the creation of my magazine. It was hard to narrow down the genre of the magazine from just fashion. I’m still debating whether to make a general teen fashion magazine or a women’s teen fashion magazine. I’ll need to do more research and ask a few potential models if they are interested to finally choose which genre I want to focus on. 

- In addition, this week I changed the format of my weekly progress to be more reflective.

Week 4:

- This week I have completed the research that I had set for homework last week. A problem arose where I had done the wrong research for the less detailed magazine analysis but I think it isn’t too bad because I have more research for my magazine now.

- I started brainstorming for potential titles, headlines and images for my magazine and I think I’m quite satisfied with the title “Hip”. I still need to brainstorm for more coverlines because I think that the ones I have at the moment are unsatisfactory. For the images I am planning to add for my magazine I need to find a male model which may be difficult because not a lot of guys would like to be dressed up like how I want them to. I have already found someone who is interested in being my female model (a classmate from media studies) but I may need to search for more than one model. I’ll need to make sure to get the brainstorming done as soon as possible so I can start to collect and compile the people and resources that I will need for the contents of my magazine. I’ll try to find models by looking for people who are mutual acquaintances to the people I know in class. 

Week 5:

- This week we did a gallery walk which discussed about the different key concepts of media. I worker in  group with my two classmates and had to discuss about the Reception theory by Stuart Hall. I think that this activity was very helpful as it made me memorize and understand the basic concept of all the theories. This will be applied to my magazine project as I must understand how the theories work in order to know what to put in the content of my magazine articles.

- I also started research on the double page spreads of fashion magazines and I must complete the research before next week. I’ll have to research one more double page spread from another fashion magazine.

Week 6: 

- This week I have finished my research for the double paged spread and have started to write the article for my magazine’s double paged spread. I realized that I might have some problems because the research I did didn’t really reflect how teen fashion magazine articles are written so I might have to do additional research in my free time. Starting to write my article, I am trying to make my writing style more sassy to make it seem like a sassy teen fashionista is writing it. I honestly think it’s quite enjoyable writing in this style as I am also able to be a little bit more informal too. I’ll have to finish the draft article during my spare time and make sure to write at least 700 words.

Week 7:

This is the last week that I’ll be working on the magazine for this term. My teacher has given me a checklist to make sure that I have done and included all of the posts that I need for this project. One problem is that I still need to work on my magazine development and my article, I’ll have to finish those tasks before this Thursday. I’m having a bit of difficulties while working on my iPad but I will most likely polish all my posts with my laptop during my free time to make sure everything works and looks fine. As homework, I’ll have to scout potential locations for my photography during the long term break. I’ll go to around 3 to 4 different locations so I am sure about which location I would like to have my photoshoot in. Here is the checklist I received from my teacher. I’ll be sure to complete it by the end of this week:

End of Week 7 Refection:

This weekly progress post has greatly helped me in keeping track of what I’ve done so far for the project. Although sometimes I find myself thinking that its a bit useless, whenever I am unsure of what I have done so far I look back to this post to make sure that I have already finished a task. This post saves me a lot of time so I don’t have to open up my blog posts one by one when I need to double check my progress. I also think it gives me a lot space to reflect on the things I have done so far. This ensures that I’ll never repeat the mistakes I have made in the past for the duration of this project so far.

Semester 2 

Week 1:

This is semester 2 now, I’ll go back to week 1 just to make is easier for me. This week we started to implement a new system to study called connect. This will help me to remember more easily as I have to talk about information that relates to me which will help to make it stick more easily to my head. Other than that, we learned about production, distribution and exhibition of media in the industry. This will relate to this magazine project as I believe we need to understand the processes of production for our magazines to be able to make them. I also received feedback from my media teacher, Mr. Nick and I’ll be adjusting my blog based on that this week. Lastly, I have now made a post for my location scout and risk assessment which will help me in deciding my final location as I’ll have to weigh and compare the risks, pros and cons. 

Problems:

One problem I have is that I currently do not have enough pictures and locations for my location scout as I went to Korea for my holiday and didn’t have time to complete the location scout homework. I also started working on my risk assessment however my progress was accidentally deleted as I had forgot to save the progress.

Solutions:

For now, I have used one location from Korea which is similar to one that I could find in Bali. I’m simply using it as a location reference as it is similar to what I am looking for and will add more on to the research that I currently have. I will take time from the weekends to continue to look for more locations and take pictures too. As for the risks assessment, I’ll have to complete it in my free time.

To-do:

Week 2:

This week we learned about magazine layouts and how to take pictures for the magazines. I think that for now I’m still having a lot of challenges with designing the layout for my magazine. I also think that I need to definitely work on my photography skills since I definitely underestimated how hard it is. Designing the draft for our magazine cover page was actually quite fun since I got to loosely experiment with composition and other poses. I maybe also need to reconsider some of the poses I have drafted.

Problems:

My photography skills are very limited, I don’t have a specific model I’ll choose for the photoshoot and I think I need to use a better camera.

Solutions:

I’ll watch youtube tutorials and ask for advice from my peers with more photography experience, I’ll contact my male peer to become my model for my magazine cover page. Lastly, I think I’ll borrow a better camera from my father to take the pictures if I am able to.

Shooting schedule (to-do):

I’ll take the pictures next weekend, January 27th, 2024. 

Week 3:

This week I worked on making the mockups of the magazine. I used pictures that I took quickly in class with my peers just to find the overall feel of the layout I should use for my final magazine. I had to apply the skills I learned last week for this project and I think I did rather well for my first time. I talked to my teacher, Mr. Nick about the layout of my mockup magazine and he suggested some changed I should make to improve the readability of my magazine cover page.

Problems:

The major problem is that I am really slow in this process as I am more of a perfectionist. I stumbled through a lot of problems like not having a margin, however I've already found out a solution by searching on google. I need to make sure that my work flow will be faster so I could finish this project on time!

Solutions:

I'll start timing when I work on the magazine and I'll try not to focus into every little detail. I'll research about composition techniques on youtube so I could ensure that my magazine would be aesthetically pleasing to the eye.

To-do:

I still need to take the photoshoot for my main cover image, finish the mockup practice and write the reflections too.

Week 4:

This week we started making the critical self reflection presentation and I think that its honestly a lot of work. I’ve already taken the pictures that I need for the front cover page of my magazine and I think they turned out pretty well! I think I’ll edit it more in post production so that the image pops up a lot more and can gain attention from the “audience” easier.

Problems:

I got sick and I lost a lot of time to work on my project. I also still need to work a lot more on making the posts as I have been quite bad at time management and didn’t have the time to add them. I’ll make sure to finish them by the end of this or next week because I’ll need to finish them in order to make the critical self reflection.

Solutions:

I'll make sure to ask my peers about what I need to catch up on and I will also check up with my teacher just in case.

To-do:

I'll need to make the Canva presentation for the critical self reflection and ask my teacher and peers about the work I must catch up with.

Week 5: 

This week I started working on my front cover page with the final images I took of my peers. I actually had to adjust the colors of the pictures a bit so that I would go nicely with the colors I wanted to use for all the text and the layout.

Problems:

I actually found it really hard to format what I had in mind so I’m thinking to change my magazine theme to more of a vintage-esque one instead. This will definitely mean more work and more research I’ll have to do which is sort of a bummer.

Solutions:

I’ll work on the magazine on my own in the holidays so that I could catch up as soon as possible.

Week 6:

This week we had 3 project lessons, I worked on my front cover, contents page and double spread! I think that honestly it was a pretty challenging project to do since I’ve never done something like it in the past. I haven’t fully polished and finished all three of them but I will make sure to finish them during the weekend. I’ve asked feedback from my teachers and peers numerous times so I think that my progress so far is quite solid!

Problems:

Again, I have a lot of project work that is stacking up due to my poor time management. One of the lessons were also cut by half because of a ceremony that occurred before school.

Solutions: 

I’ll make sure to stay at home and complete it as well as ask feedback from my peers again. 

To-do:

I'll need to finish the front, contents, and double pages as well as complete their research and development. I'll also make sure that I will finish my critical self reflection too.

Week 7:

This is the final week and I'm really working on a time crunch. I've finished all of the To-dos that I set for myself surprisingly and I’m very relieved I managed to finish before the deadline. I had a lot of trouble and had to stay up a lot to finish all of the remaining things I had to do for the project but I think that the final result made it all worth the time and effort! I talked a lot to my teacher and peers this week because I had to make sure that my magazine and all the pages looked alright, I think it really helped though because if I didn’t, I think I would’ve chosen a theme and colors that would not be suitable for what I was going for. At first when I started working on developing my magazine it was increadibly slow and I was really worried but once I got the hang of it, it was actually relatively fine. I also inputted some advertisements to my pages last minute because I thought it would feel more like a real magazine if I did so and I could also write it as a method to gain profit from the magazine. 

Problems:

My main problem is that I left all of the bulky and hard work towards the end of the deadline. I had only 4 days to finish the list of things I had to do from last week and I really thought I wasn’t going to make it. My poor time management skills really did come to bite me back in the end but I think that I’ve learned my lesson now!

Solutions:

Though its not the best solution, it is still a way to work around the problem. Again as I said before, I stayed up late to compensate the time I lost and worked on it during the nights. I do still think that it was worth all that work though because I think that the magazine turned out pretty decently.

Cambridge submission week:

Our teacher has given us feedback over the long term break. I have been told to add more media terms to my critical self reflections which I have already changed accordingly. Besides that, I also managed to squeeze a bit more development for the distribution aspect of my magazine. I think that it definitely helped a lot getting the feedback since I really didn’t realize how many gaps of information I had beforehand. It was really fun working on the critical self reflection for the past week and I hope it all goes well!

Semester 2 Reflection:

This weekly progress and tracker really helped me to keep track of all my to-dos so I wouldn’t forget about the work I had due. I also think that using this tracker helped me narrow down solutions for problems I couldn’t solve before because every problem I had is documented in this tracker in order to prevent me from making the same mistakes again. At first during the beginning of this project, I was really overwhelmed with the fact that I had to make a magazine because its a completely new experience so the project really made me worry a lot. As time went by though, I started learning new skills one by one to be able to make the magazine easily and I think it really helped me get the general gist of what to have and what to avoid while making the magazine. I really have to thank my teacher because he did a fantastic job in explaining some complicated topics. At some point I even felt like the project was fun (but of course the main feeling I had was stress as the deadlines were relatively short). Some skills I can take away from this project are time management, creative thinking and communication! Time management was a skill that was neccessary for this project. My constant reflections and documenting helped me keep track of things and made sure I finished my work before the deadlines. As I continue to keep documenting, this will help me in other subjects and my future career as deadlines are important and meeting them are important too as it ensures that work is done. I also had to think creatively to design my magazine in a way that it would stand out but still look generally similar to other magazines in the same genre. To do this, I really had to think outside the box because I had to use some elements that I never tried using before and it was a lot of trial and error. This is important especially if I want to be an entrepreneur in the future and want to create a unique selling point. I had to learn how to convey my message through the magazine. This was challenging as unless its an article, maagzines tend to limit too many words as it may cause the readers to be overwhelmed and stop reading the magazine. Especially with the hook coverlines, I had to make sure that they were interesting so that it would be sure that the audience would be attracted to it. This is important because I also want to work with marketing which is all about gaining attention through proper communication in different forms.

Week	Term 2	Week	Term 3
1 (2 Oct)	Brief, Research	8 ( 8 Jan)	Development
2	Research	9	Shoot
3	Research	10	Shoot, Self Reflection
4	Proposal	11	Post Production
5	Development	12	Post Production
6	Development	13 (12 Feb)	Deadline (Monday 12th February)
7	Development	14