CAPTURING THE STUDENTS

I have so far found it very hard to take photos of random people. I have started videoing while walking around the college, this way I can pause and capture multiple images that are interesting. I do have to see what I have so far and what I need in order to take the best photographs.
After talking to my lecturer she has suggested using my phone so I am more discreet and not so obvious, I will have to use this method and see what the outcomes are. If they are at a good quality or not.

THE QUESTIONS

I have already asked a few people some questions to answer. These questions interest me and have always stood out in my generation and around my peers. I am happy with the answers because I think they have been honest as possible and it is much easier to give them questions then to ask them directly - I think this gives them the opportunity to think about what they want to say instead of having the pressure to think of an answer on the spot.

Asking my peers to answer my questions has been the hardest thing i have ever done in these two years of this course but I am happy that I am doing it because It will make this magazine more genuine and not biased. I have only asked girls so far but I intend to ask boys to answer a few questions but I have questions that are easier for them to answer and some are feminine because I would like to see how they react to them and what they intend to say.

QUESTIONS FOR BOYS:

What is the best part of a party or a rave?

What makes you happy?

What is the best part of being in a relationship and why?

What has influenced you on social media?

                                                                How do you make yourself confident?

                                                                Why do you listen to music?

THE CONTENT OF THIS MAGAZINE

Because this magazine will be nearly everything about my generation I need to think about exactly what I will put in this magazine. I have decided to include everything that I see and everything I think has been a trend and has been popular around me.

The rookie magazine reflects what teenagers are doing and what is going in their life. I would like this to be included in my magazine but to only focus on main categories that have stood out around me.

Content:

Fashion trends.
Food.
Health.
friendship and acceptance.
music.
Social media inspiration.

Instead of asking my peers the same questions i am going to have a diverse list of questions that will relate to my content.
So far I have questions such as:

Where do you get your fashion inspiration from?

Do you feel pressured around your group of friends and why?

What is the biggest trend you've seen so far on social media?

Do you think health and looking a certain way has influenced us in a negative way? If so why and What has been the most negative things you've seen online about this?

Why is being a vegan becoming more popular online such as instragram? Is it the photographs they post or is it the "perfect" silhouette that they are trying to promote all over social media?

Why is it important to you to have friends?

How do you make yourself confident?

How does music make you feel?

Why do you where make up?

Whats the best part of being in a relationship and why?

What has affected you the most from your friends and peers?

Describe your style. Why do you like this style?

What is the best part of a party or a rave?

THE ROOKIE MAGAZINE

The Rookie Magazine is an online independent publication for teenage girls featuring writing, photography, illustrations and videos. The magazine and website features monthly issues each revolving into a theme. 18 year old Tavi Gevinson is the Editor-in-chief and founded this magazine in 2011. Tavi intended to make this blog about fashion and the new trends but after being reconised by many other bloggers, she decided to stop writing primarily about fashion. Now with the help of other teenage girls this online publication is about everything that you can think of in teenage life. Her intentions are to make this magazine almost a diary of what has gone on in the year. I really like this website and magazine because it is very similar to what I intend to do. The themes are very enjoyable and lively- this has always been an inspiration to me for my magazine because I think it will make the magazine feel more genuine and enjoying to read. 

http://www.rookiemag.com

MY PHOTOGRAPHY EDITS

To make my photographs more exciting I have edited them by using block colours that bring out certain colours of the images. It just brings out the graphic side of them which makes the photographs more effective and artistically modern. I really like the pink pastel colour with image because it stands out more and makes the photograph more defined and simple. I have highlighted certain pieces of the image that don't stand out to create a two-dimensional effect which i think encourages that youthful side to the image.

I think this has made it more clear to understand my response to Francesca Jane Allens work.

MY PHOTOGRAPHY

I have taken photos that reflect the style of Francesca Jane Allens photographs. I used natural light and a natural style for the model. The photographs were taken with the light facing the model to create that 'fresh effect' like Francescas photographs. The saturation on my photographs are more softer than hers though but it goes well with my theme. I had the model wear clothes that are trending and is already a current trend - The stripes and 'mom' jeans.
The white and clean background reflects the graphic element of this project.

ART WORK (OIL PAINT)

I have experimented with images to create my own oil paintings. These images will reflect the graphical and simplistic side of art which will blend with my layout. These oil paintings respond to my art research and mostly relate to the artists 'Sungsoo Kim', 'Henrietta Harris' and 'Antione Cordet'. 

If I photographs these paintings and get them developed professionally, they could have a more effective outcome. I like them because I focused on what I want the viewers to focus on. Each painting demonstrates something about being a college student. 

Such as the importance of friendship, the habits we have in order to feel included, the feeling of being wanted and the pressure to look good or the pressure to look like everyone else. 

PHOTOGRAHY

FRANCESCA JANE ALLEN

http://www.francescajane.com/diary

Francesca Jane Allen is a London based photographer who has worked for many Independent magazines such as the i-D magazine. It is no surprised that her work has been published in these magazines, her style is very relaxed, clean, graphical and modern- everything about her photographs reflect the Independent magazines. 

I have made her a reference to my photography because her work is very similar to both my style and layout of my magazine. The photographs express a youthful effect from the pastel colours to the models 'child' like poses. 

She has inspired me to get that fresh lighting effect and getting that interesting colour combination between the object and the background. 

THE START OF MY PHOTOGRAPHY

I have started taking photographs of the college students with out asking them to pose or stand in the camera. This will make my photography more genuine and real. I have muted the colours of my photographs to create that 90's effect and I have made the contrast soft as well to encourage that effect. The black and white photographs are less engaging than the photographs with colour and I think they would look more attractive against pastel colours. 

PRESENTATION-- POWERPOINT AND MOODBOARDS

For the Presentation I am going to present my project and what my intentions will be. I will be informing them what my inspirational artists are and what layouts I intend to use for my magazine. Because this project is more visual, my whole layout of this presentation has to be engaging. The presentation will relate to my colour palette and magazine layout.
I have made a small mood board that consist of my magazine ideas and artist inspiration. I have not included my photography inspiration on a mood board because the photos i have chosen do not compliment each other and they do not look effective together. Because of this, I have made a small album that has been carefully put together and combined in an interesting manner.

They are more 90's style photography, this is one of the reasons why I have decided to put it in an album. 90's theme is very much coming back into fashion, not only this but also the photography style. This is another reason why I am intending to make it this theme because it creates a timeless atmosphere, as if I have captured a moment that would be kept for years to come.

In my sketchbook I have added some drawings that relate to a few photos that are in my album. I really like using a fine-liner to create simple drawings. I think they look modern, simple but effective with pastel colour paper. I have layered them with some photographers to give it more depth. I I found layering black and white photos with pastel colour paper interesting because it makes the whole layout more defined and captivating. This may be a consideration for my magazine layouts. i have had a slight block with what i should do in the blank spaces; should I leave it? or should I handwrite a message to make it more personal? I may try to write something that would clearly relate to my theme and the photograph but I will make simple by using a fineliner to give it a more neat layout. These drawings are an influence by the artist Henrietta Harris.

VIDEO PRESENTATION

For the presentation I intend to make a powerpoint that will consist of Artists, Directors, videos and Layout ideas that have inspired me so far. As well as a powerpoint, I would like to create a video that shows my ideas of how I will construct the video and what content I will add. It will basically be an example of my final video.For the video I have chosen six classic movies that are about high schools, students, adolescence and youth, such as; The Breakfast Club, Clueless, Never Been Kissed, 10 things I hate about you, Heathers and Mean Girls. They are feel good-movies that exaggerate everything about being a student and they are personal favourites of mine that inspire me. I will add the trailers of these movies and use the best parts out of each of them.Because it will be an example video I will add myself talking, to explain why I have chosen this theme for my Final Project and I will include inspiring photos that will be examples of what photographs I will take.I have typed out a paragraph that I will say in my video. This will explain the feelings I have as a student and what my thoughts are about society.
--
"Why Am I doing this?When you take your first step out of the car or the bus all you see is your peers, you study them, you look at them and for me I question to myself why they dress like they do and why they act like they do. Is it because they want to impress their friends, do they wear the same thing that everyone else wears because they want to feel accepted or ‘trendy’. You can never understand oneself by what you see infront of you, it may just be a front or a comfort zone that they know will be acceptable in front of their peers.   I want to capture moments of their youth, moments where they open up to themselves, some may already have that confidence to express who they are but some may only unveil themselves descreetly.What I find is that genuine laughing or happinees can reveal the real side of you, you can clearly see if it is genuine or not; by the eyes - if they are symmetric with the smile or the creases on your  cheeks as you smile. I want to include this in my magazine because I want the photographs to be more real than ‘posy’, I’d like  this to inspire my viewers by the visual side of this magazine. To show that everyone is different and no-one can ever be someone that there not."


It is brief and not a detailed description of everything I will add in the final video but It gives a visual idea of what the video will be about. 
I have chosen a song for the video called 'The Intro' by 'The xx' , this is instrumental music so there won't be any singing in the background of the trailers. It will be really nice music because the beat builds up throughout and gets more energetic. I have researched many inspirational photos from the social media, such as tumblr, Facebook and many from instagram. They are all shown below.  

PRESENTATION VIDEO

This video demonstrates what I intend to create for my final video. It shows what videos I would like to film and what photography I would like to capture. Me talking in the background makes it more personal which I hope makes it more engaging to the viewers. It also tells the viewers that there is more than what is filmed and what photo is taken. My thoughts will be included throughout this project to get the viewers to understand how I see my peers and what I think of them. 

The music in the background is simple and flows with video very well. I think it makes it more exciting to watch with modern music that most of my peers should know. I need to make sure that I use recent music because this project is about students and the new trends.  

After finishing this video it has made me think of asking the students to film just a day of them being a student using a camera that I will give them. This would make it much more genuine and would reveal who they are infront of the camera and it would make it less awkward for me to ask random people to take their photo. 

I have taken photos of a few people in my course but it just didn't feel real in a way because it didn't express who they were but i think letting them take control of the camera will bring a different side to them.  I am excited about asking people to do this when we get back from our holiday and I will make sure that they take care of the camera.  

MY SKECTHBOOK

My sketchbook will help me experiment with different layout designs and colour combinations. It will help me understand how I can combine the pastel colours with my nineties style photography.
It will be a modern and graphical sketchbook, I won't add everything that I do in this sketchbook because I will do most of my research on this blog.
I will use the same font throughout the sketchbook that I intend to use for my magazine. I have already printed out some photographs in a matte texture because I think it looks more effective against the soft pastel colours. This has also suggested what texture paper I will use for my magazine. Although this matte texture is effective I am not sure if the thickness is too much for a magazine layout but it will depend on how many pages I will print.

INSPIRATIONAL PHOTOGRAPHY, MAGAZINE LAYOUTS AND NINTIES FILMS.

These are a combination of magazine covers, layouts , Indie-magazine photography and inspirational movies. The photographs style and colours will reflect with my own photography and  the inspirational movies will help me create my video.
The photographs have a nineties impression because this style has become a theme on social media and  their fashion has become the new seasonal trend.
The Indie-magazines as well have a current theme of ninety style photography effects that have been combined with modern, graphical layouts.
I have decided after researching the new seasonal trends and the current nineties theme photography that I will edit my own photography into this style, to relate to the social medias updates and because it has become a 'trend-setter' for my peers.
I also like the muted colours of the photography, I think it would look effective against the pastel colours that I intend to use for my modern layouts in the magazine.