Production Diary #11

Editing images

Using Adobe Photoshop, I decided to edit my front cover full bleed image. I used a variety of tools such as the brightness levels so the jersey and snapback would be much more vibrant in colour also i used the patch tool to remove any imperfections and the magic eraser to remove the background.
Overall this has enhance my image as it is far more vibrant and clear therefore will be more appealing to my target audience.

Box Text

Cover lines

Draft Article

Intro: West London finest and 2013's biggest success story. HardBarzHarvey thought her life was over, kicked out of school with no qualifications and a drug addiction. Now 12 months on, she has toured with Eminem and signed with Aftermath Entertainment. Only OnPoint has the exclusive on her success.

We are sitting in a cafe, tucked out of view in one of London's stylish backstreets. Not exactly a very urban setting but is said to be HardBarzHarvey's favourite place to get food after a long day at the stuido.10am sees HardBarzHarvey walks in fashionably late with her vintage baseball jersey, snapback and her brand new jordan's looking very OnPoint.

We tuck in to her favourite breakfast of a full English with all the works;

bacon, eggs, beans, mushrooms and endless amounts of tea. "I'm not about this whole size 6 image all the magazine talk about, eating salads and exercising 24/7 fuck that! .I love food way too much to be starving myself! " As the public know Georgia is known for her outspoken opinions and she says "Just say it how it is or you’re not going to get anywhere in life". Our researchers clearly found out that Georgia will not hold back on anything she believes in.

A lot of fans love the way she is, wishing they were just like her as her life seems to be perfect. As Georgia proves us wrong

"I lived on a council estate in West London, YES of course I was one of those stereotypical 'chavs' who owned a Just do it bag, sleeked back hair and massive diamond hoops from Primark. I thought school wasn't important and thought bunking school with my mates, hanging round on the streets and getting involved in all kind of shit was a good idea."

"My life was at such a low, I got kicked out of school when I was 14 with no qualifications, no job...nothing. I thought my life was over. Where was I supposed to go from here?"

This was a surprising side to see of the hard and outspoken image Georgia has always portrayed. Everyone believes her life to be a fairy tale and by simply just posting a video on YouTube got to where she is now. This is far from the truth.

We get a deep and meaningful understanding of the hurdles that she had to overcome to get to the place she is today. When asking about her parents she tells us “whenever I get onto that topic it always ends up in tears or anger.” After a large chug of her tea she starts to tell us exclusively her traumatic experience. “My mum and dad both died when I was only 11years old. They were both in a horrific car crash on their way home. I was waiting for them at home for hours on end until my grandma called me hysterically crying on the phone telling me the news.” Through these tough times life was far from easy for Georgia, “I got kicked out of school and thought drugs would make me forget about it all.”

Georgia reached the lowest point of her life. Spending all the money she earn on drugs, taking them day in day out quickly becoming addicted. “I don’t know at what point exactly it started to be a problem. I just remember liking it more and more," she admits. "People tried to tell me that I had a problem, but I just didn’t listen “Ultimately, Georgia was hospitalized and on the brink of death. “Had I got to the hospital about two hours later, I would have died," she says. "My organs were shutting down. My liver, kidneys, everything. They were gonna have to put me on dialysis. They didn’t think I was gonna make it. My bottom was gonna be death.”

After a relapse and eventual detox, Georgia finally got her habit under control. “I had to regain motor skills, I had to regain talking skills. It’s been a learning process, I’m growing," reveals the rapper. "I couldn’t believe that anybody could be naturally happy with their life without being on something. “Almost dying changed my life, I now realise that I have a purpose in life and that is music”. So I would say to anybody, ‘It does get better, you just have to believe in yourself first.’

During Georgia’s recovery she lived with her Grandmother, Margaret and Grandfather Thomas. “I guess that’s the reason why I am so close to them. They are the reason why I am here today. They did everything for me and actually believed I could make something out of myself. ”

So how did Georgia become HardBarzHarvey? Georgia reveals that even though music has always been her passion in life, she never thought she was good enough to make it. However that all changed when she stumbled upon an Aftermath Entertainment competition. They wanted to find the next biggest worldwide rapper. “I thought to myself how sick would that be to win that competition, a record contract with none other than Dr Dre.” “…I just had to it”. The competition required a submitted video to YouTube of an original song or rap. Coming up with an original song was no problem for Georgia, “I‘ve always been writings raps, I have a whole book filled with them. It’s all I would do in class instead of actually working”.

Within 2 weeks of submitting the video to YouTube, Georgia reached over 1million views.

“I couldn’t believe it. I was actually speechless”. Her video become popular all over the world, getting more and more views every hour. It was no surprise that Dr Dre declared HardBarzHarvey the winner of the competition. He immediately gets Georgia on the first flight to LA to meet in his studio. “The first time I’ve ever even been on a plane is to go to meet Dr Dre in his studio. Madness!”

“It was literally a dream. Meeting Dr Dre for the first time in the studio has to be one of the highlights of my life. It was as if we already knew each other before. We connected immediately, we shared so many musical and general interests. I am so thankful for the success and platform he has given me”

Georgia career has been reaching ultimate heights in just a short space of time. But as she reveals one of the most life changing experiences happened only just a few months later, “I was just in the studio, recording my new track Relapse and none other than the rap god that is Eminem walks in. I’ve never been so star struck in my life. I admire him so much from what he has overcome in his life. He is a lyrical genius plus he is extremely hot in person.” After Dr Dre introducing the pair, Eminem admits to truly admiring Georgia’s story of how she got to where she is now. After just a week of knowing each other, Eminem decides to feature in HardBarzHarvey track It Gets Betters. The track is truly mind-blowing, with deep meaningful lyrics and an old school hip hop feel to the song. OnPoint predict this track to be a worldwide success as it can relate to everyone.

Not only did Eminem decide to feature on one of HardBarzHarvey's tracks but also invites the rapper to support him round his Europe tour. “I was speechless. How could someone like me, who lives in a council flat in west London now been going for a two month tour… I have truly been blessed”. Before preparing for the Europe tour Georgia admits to us exclusively, she has never been to a concert before touring with Eminem “I would have loved to, but as if I could afford paying £40 for a ticket.” After revealing this to her team, Georgia is lucky enough to get front row and back stage passes to Kayne West Yeesus World tour, telling us it was “life changing”.

Inspirations were the key reason why Georgia has her passion for music. Throughout her life she has grown up with the passion for R&B and rap music as it has always been around in any tough situation. “The legends Tupac and Biggie are the reason why rap is the way it is. They are never someone I would even try to mimic, I idolised they way too much.” “Of course I love Kayne West,Eminem,Jay Z Drake.. The list would never end but I truly do idolise female artists like Nicki Minaj, Iggy Azalea, and Ciara as they have made such a big impact on females finally be accepted in the rap industry.”

There’s no denying the fact that HardBarzHarvey is all that everyone is talking about right now. Her ups and downs are what have got her to where she is now. When asked if this is the “most insane year of her life so far”, the rapper states, “Everything is so chaotic and crazy right now and it’s so much all at once, but I’m living for it. I'm just having the best time ever and everything’s falling into place like it’s supposed to. Even people who want to hate on me, they can’t even shut down the fact that I’m literally what everyone is talking about. I don’t want to say that I’m on top right now – I feel like I’m kind of an underdog in a cool way.”

“I don’t intend on selling dreams to young people or being a role model. My generation has it the worst; I swear life isn’t the big fairy tale that Disney makes it out to be or the image that the hip hop industry portrays that money, drugs and violence is so badass and cool-far from it. I learnt how hard life is but you know what, I’m tougher.”… “Cause when life puts you in tough situations don’t say, Why me? Just say Try me.”

As Georgia is set to release her first album by the end of this year, expectations are high of what HardBarzHarvey has to deliver. So many of her fans and the public admire the rapper of the struggles she has overcome and the blessed talent she has. Her album Unbreakable is set to sell worldwide breaking records already set by the legends. HardBarzHarvey tell us “Instead of turning to drugs, I express all my experiences and problems into my raps. If any one of my songs can help anyone who is in a tough situation and ultimate low, I will be truly happily. I want my music to reflect how life is far from perfect, as my grandparents have always said to be, Remember that life is full of ups and down but without the downs, the ups would mean nothing.”

Production diary #10

This week i have created the basic draft of my music magazine,OnPoint. I use Adobe InDesign to create this by placing placeholders for everything that is going to be featured in my magazine.By using a draft for my magazine it will allow me to simply replace it with the right information.
Later on in the week I began to place my chosen images into the magazine. I began with the front cover image as this is key in attracting the audience and making my magazine a success.I believe the image I chose makes a statement and is vibrant in colour. Using the tools in Adobe Design I cropped the image to fit the page. I then began to place my other chosen images of my model into the magazine, this included a full bleed image featured into the artists article and also a image featured on the contents page.
After the images were placed, I wrote a draft of my contents page text in Microsoft Word as I would be able to plan all the sections and headings that would be included. After the draft was finished and spell checked, I simply copied and pasted my text into my magazine.I then began to rearrange and adjust the text to fit around the images.

Draft of magazine

This is the first draft of my music magazine OnPoint using Adobe Indesign.I have created placeholders for everything that is going to be featured in my magazine as for example using the box tool i created black boxes to represent where i am going to place photos taken. By using a basic draft for my magazine it will allow me to get through it much quicker and easier as i will simply be able to replace it with the right information when created. As a key concept of my magazine is a higher ratio of photos to text, all pages would include at least one or two pictures. I believe this layout of magazine will attract my target audience the most and will represent my R&B genre.

Contents text

www.OnPoint.com
www.facebook.com/OnPointMag
@OnPoint_Mag

Contact sheet

After producing my contact sheet using Photoshop, I decided to print of my contact sheet and by using a magnifying glass I was to clearly see the detail within all my images. I decided to do so, as seen in many other professional photoshoots, this technique is used to be able to demonstrate how the image will look once printed out in a real life copy of the magazine. After doing so, it was clear that several of the images would be suitable for my magazine by attracting my target audience and suiting the genre of my magazine through the clothing and body language shown.

Equipment

Hardware:

The interfit lights work by a trigger, as i pressed the button to capture a photo, the light flash on in sync. This was handy as it helped my photos to look well lit and professional. The Canon DSLR made the photoshoot much easier as it enabled me to take hundreds of photos at great quality that could simply be look back on. Also the white backgroup was used to remove any background from the photos taken and would make my photos look more professional by only focusing on the model and would be much easier to use throughout my magazine.

Software:

After uploading my photos from the memory card and putting them all together in a folder. I decided to create a contact sheet as this would be easier to both myself and others to view all my pictures taken. I create my contact sheet using Adobe Photoshop as this was very simple to do by simply choosing the folder with the photos taken and Photoshop would automatically create this.

Behind the scenes

 I decided to do a behind the scenes of my photoshoot as this would show more in detail about the set up and everything used. I created both a video and pictures on my phone as this would show clearly how my pictures were created.

Model Release

This is the model release form for my photoshoot for my magazine. I have decided that I would like Georgia Harvey to participate in my photoshoot as I knew she could portray a very urban feel.
Before taking photos of my model Georgia, I had to make sure that Georgia was happy with being photographed for my magazine. As she signed the form it clearly states that Georgia agrees to take part in my photoshoot.
Model releases are used in professional photoshoots due to needing legal rights granting permission to publish the photograph. Without having a model release can result in civil liability for whoever publishes the photograph due to privacy and copyrights issues. A model release form is proof that the model is giving the photographer permission to use and sell the photos. Additionally, the release is there to protect the photographer, the model, the agency and the end user of the photographs. Therefore using a model release for my photoshoot was essential in preventing any legal actions taking place after publishing the several photos of Georgia in my magazine.

Production Diary #9

This Thursday I completed my photoshoot with my model Georgia. I was very curious on how my photos were going to turn out and if it would all go to plan. I had all the professional equipment such as a back drop, lighting and professional camera. This resulted in all my photos being of a high standard and quality.

I began with my casual outfit of just a jumper and leggings as I could get the hang of using the camera and lighting for the first time. I realise that long shots did not work as well and close up or high angle shots gave the best images.
 The second outfit of an american football styled top and chain worked best as they were vibrant in colour and would go well with the colour scheme of my magazine. I made my model try a variety of poses and position so i would have a lot of varied images to choose from. After looking back at the photos taken i realised the best position was a mid shot of Georgia bitting the gold chain. This worked best as it would clearly stand out and grab the readers attention therefore make a successsful front cover.
After the photoshoot, i went home and began looking through all the pictures taken.  I picked out the best images that i believe i could use throughout my magazine as these would attract my target audience as they make a statement and also involve very trendy fashion.

Props/Costume

Production Diary #8

This week I have been catching up with my work by completing my promotional methods, new media, props and costumes and my model release. This shows clearly on how I am going to make my magazine a success. This is mainly done by using new media as it relates to my target audience and will be easy to access by anyone. I am now thinking more into how I will involved all these concepts into my magazine. I have thought of ideas such as displaying readers tweets at the bottom of each page also including readers pictures in the magazine as this will make them feel more involved. 

I still have a lot of pieces I would have liked to complete. However I would have to wait after I have done my photoshoot on Thursday to complete the behind the scenes and contact sheet. I am excited to do my photoshoot as I will be able to experiment with many angles and shoots and also costumes. It is important that my photoshoot is a success as the full bleed image on the front cover is what attracts the audience to the magazine and will clearly state the genre of the magazine. Due to OnPoint being clearly about trendy and urban music it has been made clear that all clothing and accessories used in the photoshoot must be trendy too. I have now figured out outfits that I would like my model to wear which include;

A American football style top styled with a gold chain and Nike air forces.

A Boy London jumper with leggings underneath styled with a gold chain and timberlands.

Both outfits will have props such as a microphone featured. The makeup will be very simple as by studying other existing R&B magazines, the makeup is very natural with just a bold lip or fake eyelashes used.

I will also be doing another photoshoot in a urban setting outside however I will be using a different model from my front cover to show variety. I will have to pick a date and time that will be suitable for my model as school takes up a lot of their time. Also making sure the weather is suitable on the day so it doesn't ruin the photoshoot by having a dull background.