Journal 'Critical Reflection' on Shoot (Billboard)

For my billboard the images that I was going to use was from St Michael's Mount which was where I started my photoshoot. Because I was focusing on my billboard in this area I wanted to get the majority of my photos landscape and appealing to the eye from a quick glance as many people will only quickly view a billboard.

 This image was taken beside the notorious St Michael's Mount. As St Michael's Mount is surrounding by water I thought that there may be many scenarios in which 'youths' are partaking in water based activities. Although I did capture this image in which there is presumably a father and son walking in the shallow depths of the sea. I feel like as this image does not include a 'youth' it may not appeal to my target audience. But then again this image does really advertise the location and the fact that it can be a family experience. When reaching your teenage years, for many, its the last years you spend constantly with your parents and therefore this could advertise a good experience for a family while they can. 

This is a landscape shot of St Michael's Mount with the causeway making an appearance. This image captured a lot of light bouncing off the shadow sea and the causeway giving the image a not very nice gaze although I feel like this image could still work through editing. I do like how bright and vibrant this image is and additional bright colours and images will attract to my target audience. 

This is another long shot of st Michael's Mount. This landscape photo like the one above has a lot of dead space around the main focus (St Michael's Mount). This dead space is where I can put my catch line to draw people in. As people are not going to view my billboard for very long this text can't be very long but I have left enough dead space on the top half of the image to have some bold catch line. Furthermore I wanted the rock in the foreground where I will be able to put the title of my magazine, this will not be the main focus point of my billboard but I feel like it should make an appearance to get the name out and this photo complements that idea. 

Designs for Ancillary (Flat Plans)

These are some of my designs that relate to the creation of my billboard. I have created three different designs and annotated them all individual. 

Photography/Lightning Research (Billboard)

Photography Research:

Photography is essential in order to create a successful and attractive product. Over the past 20 years there has been outstanding changes in digital photography and is one of the most popular advancements. Until the invention of digital cameras, film was used to capture images which would be made visible through photographic processing. As digital photography has also come along way and I'm in a fortune enough place to use high-end quality cameras this quality should transfer into the images.
When it comes to creating my Billboard I will be mainly focusing on taking landscape photos. For most of my other products I will be mainly focusing on  two shots as they fit the convention for a regional magazine, EWS (Extreme Wide Shot) & VWS (Very Wide Shot). Although as my potential consumers will only see my billboard for a very short amount of time the immediate impact of my billboard needs to be huge. Using a EWS or a VWS on a billboard will not put as much focus on the product therefore not catch the attention of my potential market. I will want my product as the centre of the attention on the billboard and to make it stripped back as simplicity would work well here.

Ross Hoddinott, aged 37, is among UK's leading outdoor photographers and is published is many national magazines including Digital SLR Photography and Wild Planet Magazine. Ross is well known for his close encounters with wildlife and also his landscape photos of many stunning UK places and coastlines. Ross was born in North Cornwall and still dedicates the majority of his work to this area. This region and its natural history is a constant inspiration to him. As I'm creating a regional magazine in the same region as the majority of his work, I can take a lot of inspiration from his work. He has captured many images from destinations in Cornwall in which Im planning to visit. In particular I mentioned that I would be planning on visiting St Michael's Mount and capturing its eye catching scenery. Ross, already has previous work in his areas and looking and some of his work will allow me to plan and construct a more productive and successful photoshoot.

This is one of Ross' imagoes of St Michael's Mount and one that I believe will work well on my billboard. I will hoping to take a similar photo to this but with the product larger so it will appeal to the eye. The concept of the image will appeal to my audience as its located in the same region so the audience can relate to the image.






Lighting Research:

Natural:
There are many different types of lighting used in photography. One from of lightning is natural lightning either inside or outdoors. It is probably the most flattering form of light as it how we see most things everyday.

Window Light:
Window light is not direct sunlight coming through the house but when it comes through the window it creates a sense of clam and mood to any image.

Outdoors:
Direct sunlight can be very difficult when taking photos as they can cause many unwanted shadows and the worst part is you can't control it.

Natural Plus Fill in flash:
This is used when you have no choice to shoot in direct sunlight, if you use flash it will always keep the sun behind the subject.

Ambiant:
Ambient light is general 'man-made' light that surrounds us. It softens any contrast between brightly lit task areas and their surroundings.

Studio:
Studio lightning is used when taking a portrait, close up or interior photography and is suggested that using high end lighting will benefit you massively.

As I'm creating a regional lifestyle magazine and all my products will relate to this I will be mainly using outdoor lighting. As my Billboard needs to sell my magazine I will need to use some iconic images of famous Cornish destination and/or coast lines and represent in all the Billboard. So I will be working with direct sunlight but believe this will benefit me. The best time to take landscape photos outside would be at sunrise and sunset as these creating the most interesting photos.

Analyse 3 Existing Products (Billboard)

Billboard Analysis

For one of my ancillary tasks I will be creating my own billboard to promote my product. Beforehand I will be analysing three existing products in order to get a good knowledge and understanding of what is required on a billboard, its location and how it attracts its potential audience. With the amount of billboards and advertisements that pop up around us all the time is forever increasing and it’s becoming more and more competitive.

As this game debuted back in 1977 it gained big publicity through its advertisement mediums and became one of the most universally acclaimed video gaming series. To advertise the release of Grand Theft Auto V (or five) these super-sized billboard creative’s have appeared along L.A.'s busy streets, and the individual ads focus on two of the three main characters in the new game. The giant-sized billboard spied along Wilshire Boulevard on September 4, 2013 features 'Michael', a rich and miserable family man (and former bank robber) who's addicted to chaos and looks like he's about to have a major mid-life crisis. This character from the video game would attract a lot of young adults to buy the game as this character is dangerous as he is ‘addicted to chaos’. This would then relate to a media theorist as Hebdige said that ‘Youth is fun, Youth is trouble’. The general rule of thumb for a billboard is not to include that much writing as were always on the move we generally only have around 6 seconds to see a billboard so 6 words or less should only be included on the billboard which works well on this one as its dominated by pictures and this should already be recognisable but it still includes the title of the game in the centre.  Billboards are only supposed to contain a short and simple message which will stick in the potential customers head rather than containing phone numbers and website addresses. This billboard does this very well as I’ve stated before that it only contains the name and the release date, which isn’t too much information where people could become distract and not be able to take in all the information but at the same time it’s enough information to create a thought process in a potential customers brain. The main image is split into three large images of three men. These three men are the main characters of the game and are the most recognisable faces to anybody who has a liking to this game. Each of these three main characters has their own colour scheme/theme to them. Across all of the advertisements the characters have the same background colour, which changes for each characters plus the same colour of clothes. This is done so the potential audience can remember and begin to recognise them even if they didn’t mean to the brain would get used to this colour scheme. The colours are bold and that’s the beauty of them as they contrast each other and makes the whole billboard very easy to view. This billboard was one of the last pieces of advertisement to come out to promote this game so its job was to reinforce the colour matter and because of its size people would find it hard to miss the billboard. People would of already know about the product through other advertisements mediums so this again why there is next to no text and just colour as the producers are showing here and not telling the audience about the product. 

This is a very effective Coca-Cola billboard due to its colour scheme, slogan and its image denotation and connotations. The main colour used on this is the red background colour, which is very bold and makes it very noticeable. Because of the strong red in the background it makes the white text really jump out at you. The colours would really appeal to its potential target audience because neither of them is suited to one gender. The slogan ‘refresh on the Coca-Cola side of life’ suggests that you must buy this drink in order to feel fulfilled with life. It tells us that you will be refreshed and relaxed and that your life doesn’t have to be boring. The slogan is very short and straight to the point which is effective on the billboard as people will be able to read it while traveling past and it’s also short enough to be easily memorised when the potential customers wants to re visit the product. Coca-Cola as a brand is very well-known brand already so the billboard doesn’t need the ‘Coca-Cola’ in massive bold writing taking up 9/10 of the billboard because people already known who they are they are smart and let the infamous colours and design show the audience who they are. As also they are very popular it will appear to a vast amount of people, as they want to feel popular too. The target audience of this product is teenagers and the billboard would really appeal to them because of the massive Coca-Cola bottle. The motive though would probably be to encourage more sales and promote the product that perhaps has not had the opportunity to try it. The font is used is very basic and very easy to recognise. It’s also very casual because they do not use capital letters otherwise it could become too formal for their target audience and same goes for the boldness of the font. The font makes the text very easy to read even from a distance, which makes this billboard very successful as it does what it’s supposed too. The main image is an empty bottle with a straw in it and a ladder hanging next to it from the rooftop. This way it looks like somebody made a lot of effort to get to the drink.

The third and final billboard I’m looking at is this one from Adidas from their advertisement campaign ‘nothing is impossible’. In 2003 the company reported that its total sales in the United States had dropped 16 percent in the first nine months of that year. Further confounding Adidas, which sponsored the 2004 Olympic Summer Games, was the loss of its sponsorship rights to the 2008 Olympics to its competitor Nike. To gain an edge over the competition and to reenergise its business in the United States, in 2004 Adidas-Salomon AG introduced a $50 million brand-marketing campaign—the largest ever undertaken by the company—that included television, print, and Internet ads. Themed ‘‘Impossible Is Nothing.’’ This campaign was driven in order to focus on its primary target audience, which are sport enthusiasts between the ages of 12-24. The colour scheme on this billboard is very strong because its uses only two bold colours which is contrast so well off each other (Blank & White). The background is a strong black so each bit of white writing on top stands out to the eye which is effective as people won’t see it for very long. The billboards layout is simply but effective as it only involves three parts to it, the main image, slogan and logo. The main image is a photo of one of the most legendary boxers who ruled the ring, Muhammad Ali who is then cleverly linked to the slogan. As you can see this is his famous quote, which then led to Adidas’ slogan. Muhammad Ali endorsed Adidas at the peak of its era and this is why Adidas got affiliated with this slogan: through brand endorsement and smart positioning. Adidas said that ‘Impossible is nothing’ as a brand and an attitude that is known and shared by all athletes around the world. In 1974 Adidas launched a series of the “Impossible is Nothing” campaign as short videos featuring the legendary Muhammad Ali. The first in the series was a boxing match between a younger version of Muhammad Ali and his three time female-boxing champion daughter, Laila Ali, at the height of his own boxing career. More videos was then released including more legendary athletes of recent times such as: Zinedine Zidane, Laila Ali, David Beckham, Tracy McGrady, Ian Thorpe, Haile Gebrselassie and Maurice Green. Impossible is Nothing has been a powerful Adidas slogan for many years and many people will continue to remember the brand with the same philosophy for times to come. This is what makes the slogan so recognisable now that Adidas don’t even have to but their logo on the billboard for people to know is associated with them. Although the logo is small and at the bottom but again in white which follows the theme for the rest of the billboard and also again really stands out from the black background of the billboard.

Roland Barthes research how an audience will view text. he said "If narratives are episodic this helps our reading. A chain of cause and effect is expected but the audience desires to see a story of morals." He argues that: "The audience look for signs to help them interrupt the narrative, these deeply rooted signs are based on expectations the audience has due to their prior knowledge of old tales or myths."
So looking at my last billboard by adidas, is has has many other representations. Adidas is now known to many especially youths as a fashion brand. You can also represent this symbol to a sponsor as your favourite sportsmen could be wearing clothing with the adidas logo on it. Furthermore, it can also be represented as a popular sports brand and a global company.

Equipment List

n order for my photoshoot to be successful I will also need a good set of equipment and my disposal. As of this I will take full advantage of the colleges photography where they top of the range cameras, memory cards, tripods and other photography equipment. The camera in which I hope to use is the Cannon 600D which takes professional standard photographs.

Other equipment will include:
Cannon 600D
300mm Lens
64GB Memory Card
Tripod
Adobe CS6 Master Collection
Apple Mac
Fuel and Transport

Photography Lighting Research (Website)

Photography Research:

As all my products relate to my magazine which is a regional lifestyle magazine all my photography is going to be similar. There will only be a certain amount of shots and types of photography that I will use as I want to create a feel of familiarity and consistency. Imagery on my website need to be particular appealing as my target audience like to have a lot of visual so I will have to ensure that the images are placed in a good area and are attractive to my audience.
As I'm in a place where I have the opportunity to use high end digital camera and equipment it will support me with my photography. using this equipment should allow me to produce appealing photos for my target audience. I will taking a variety of photos for my website include landscapes and portraits. I will mainly using EWS (Extreme Wide Shot) and VWS (Very Wide Shot) of some of Cornwall's iconic structures and coastlines while possibly including some medium shots of people taking part in activities.
Adam Burton is one of UK's leading landscape photographers with his photography being published on over 200 magazines, books and calendars and is also an author of five books. Since 2008 he has become a full tie photography and captured stunning photography in five different continents and now focuses most of his work in the south west in the UK. This is the region in which Ill be taking my photos so looking through his gallery is inspirational and motivational. I also am able to pick up some techniques on hoe he captures his photos as he has tips and workshops on his website. Adam has also captured photos of Cornwall's famous structures such as St Michael's Mount in which I'm planning to visit as well so his photos gives me ideas of how to get the best possible photo.




Lighting Research:
The lightning research really won't change at all from my main task and my billboard research. As I will be going on 3-5 different photoshoots I will will be applying the same lightning techniques on all of them because of this my lighting research for my website will be the same as my other photoshoots.
See more here http://jamesford2014.blogspot.co.uk/2015/09/lighting-research.html

Masthead/Title Ideas/Text

Traditionally regional magazine mastheads fits a archaic font style while still fitting into the modern bracket. A serif can also be used on the masthead which connate nature and presents ideas of an older target market. In this post I shall be looking at a couple existing mastheads on regional magazines in order to get a feel of what the common codes and conventions are to create a successful masthead.

This is 'Cornwall Today's' masthead and it fits most of the common codes and conventions for a regional magazine. It has a archaic/serif style and the first line of the masthead is in capitals while the line underneath is all in a lower case. I like this feature as it puts emphasis on Cornwall and they also contrast each other. This masthead spacing also fits conventions as the letters are close together but not too close to make things feel too compact. I also like hot the masthead itself is dark against the brighter background in order for it to stand out and grab the customers attention. Overall I really like this masthead and it follows a lot of the common codes and conventions so I have defiantly gained some inspiration from this masthead.

The next regional magazine masthead I'm going to look at is this one from Coast. This masthead is different from the Cornwall today as its less formal because all of the text is lower case which might symbolises that they're trying to attract a younger target audience. Using all the text in lower case is more welcoming and inviting though. The spacing follows conventions though as again its close enough but not too close too loose its professionalism. the colours used here is green which connate nature and the background is blue which not only do these colours contrast well but blue also connate the sea and sky and all of these thing are heavily linked to Cornwall.
 After looking at both of these mastheads I have defiantly gained some more knowledge on how to create an effective and successful masthead that would work in my genre and appeal to my target audience. The top masthead uses a serif style font while the one below uses a sans serif font style which arguable attracts and appeals to a younger target audience. The bottom is also a lot more vibrant in comparison to the one above and therefore this also looks like it will appeal to a younger target audience. I have learned that I will want to make my masthead bright and vibrant and using an sans serif font style. I will also need still remain a level of professionalism and to do this I will need to ensure that my typography and font style in appropriate and does relate to the genre of the magazines.