Progress Update 2

Developing my Double Page Spread - Part 5

To follow up the creation of my writer review box I decided to add a separate fact area that was positioned above as a specific new point of interest for my reader to look at. After much deliberation I decided to not include an extra image or enlargde one in particular, as I had been conducting extended back ground research I discovered that many writers of professional mainstream publications had employed a variety of unique elements to generate interest - whether this was through review boxes mixed with a factual text box or a preview of new programmes etc. To me this seemed more conventional and significant to employ within my final product so I opted to go for this choice overall my initial plan of action. I created the text originally on a Microsoft word document then copied and pasted it into the final draft of the spread. To keep with the conventional trend flowing throughout the production, the title and numbers were encased in the basic red font that had been used on important aspects of the article, I felt this would signify unity throughout the article, therefore the reader would be easily able to identify all aspects were related to one another. Finally a slight adjustment was made to the spacing of the pull quote, it was elevated slightly to create more room at the bottom of the page to add an additional sell/information line.

To ensure that the first two pages of the spread were pretty much fully completed, I returned my focus back to these in particular. I extracted an emotional segment from the article during an interview with one of the girls to use as a pull quote alongside the image. The section I selected contrast sextremely effectively with the image as the girl describes anorexia as 'not a choice' which influences the motions set in the photo as this girl displayed clearly did not opt to develop the condition intentionally, (hence why she appears emotionally distraught) which highlights profound emphasis onto the recurring message throughout my products - that anorexia is not a lifestyle it is a deadly and life threatening mental illness. Te quote was signified further in the continuity of red in the font colour as this created the sense of all elements being related to one another, with their individual messages each resulting in a simple single message - anorexia is a killer. Important words were justified through the use of italics in the pull quote to draw attention to the more significant words, for example 'anorexia' and 'choice'.

As I did not intend for my audience to become confused in deciphering which segments of text were part of the article and which were individual from the main body (for example the review box), I used a background colour to distort these areas from one another. The writer section was filled in with a grey palette, this was allow the reader to identify it was directly corresponding with the text of the article but contained a slightly different context, which justified it in being in its own unique area. The grey contrasts with the colour scheme running throughout all my products as it symbolises the 'black and white' thinking of the anorexic, whilst drawing focus on the medical health side of the conditions and the underlying depression linked to the families and the sufferers themselves.

Whilst searching randomly through some backup information on my hard drive of my own personal laptop i discovered some of the original images from the photo shoot i had participated in many months prior.At a last minute request I asked the advice of my lecturer if she believed it would be appropriate to swap out the image I was currently using as the main photograph on the spread and replace it wit the one which can be seen presented above. I felt i've referenced thoroughly to the desolation and seclusion brought about by the illness, the emotional turmoil of the individual but most importantly the image itself was of a superior quality and to me personified that destructive message more effectively hen the previous one I had selected. After some deliberation she agreed it would be beneficial to make this change, so the images were converted. However I still remained unsatisfied with the background colour layout of the article so I continued to experiment with new styles - the first of which I trialled in this screenshot of having a completely white backdrop rather then a one mixed with white and grey tones resecviely. This enabled me to keep the original background colour of the image and remained in the same colour style I opted for in my brief. Most importantly I preferred the selectively white background as opposed to the grey i had employed previously, therefore as a final informed decision I have concluded I will be using this colour palette over the original which can be viewed in some of my earlier posts of construction.

With the spread nearing completion it was an appropriate moment for me to insert the image of Taylor to use as the writer fo the review text 'Hollie Learie' She was placed above the main paragraph but in perfect alignment with the title and additional kicker - this illustrated how she was equally as important as her article yet she has dominance over the words she has spoken hence whey they are moved to the side of her in an almost 'respctful' fashion. She overlaps into the anorexia fact box in addition, I feel this is an effective manouver as it allows the writers serious words to relate directly to the severe symptoms of the condition itself, drawing immediate emphasis from the reader as to what she has described.

Concept Flatplans for my Products

Before I even considered beginning the ardious task of constructing and developing the products as required in my brief it was highly recommended of me to produce some simplistic yet beneficial flatplans. These would allow me to position and execute where I want particular elements to be displayed (for example the main image and title of my documentary on the poster task) In the long run it would make it easier for me to work off an initial concept then to rush straight into creating a finished production when I would have no indication of where my aspects would be placed, what colour scheme to work with, text layout etc. Most importantly it would allow my lecturers to get a more visual understanding of how I wanted to create my products, they would be able to identify areas of improvement and offer their opinions over what would be a relevant starting point. 

Above is the original flat plan I constructed to aid me in my development of the advertisement poster for my documentary. The most important factor to me was the size of the image, potentially i wanted it to be enlarged as much as what I could possible achieve without it appearing outlandish and uncovneional. I desired it to be eye-catching enough through a manipulation of size and context (for instance the photo had to be intriguing, dramatic and interesting for the audience to look at) this essentially would allow me to attract a larger variety of target individuals to my product and would prevent them simply overlooking it on initial glances. Furthermore all of the remaining elements would be positioned as to surround the photograph, this would emphasise the notion the image is the most important aspect of the production with the additional conventions simply accompnying it, they would obviously be just as equally as important in the production, but however would not expel that dominant factor as the main focus point of my poster. I'd wan the title of the documentary to be placed in a symmetrical fashion underneath the main image - this would correlate to the audience these elements are linked together and correspond to one another - therefore the viewer would be able to easily identify that the photograph is promoting the content of the documentray. Out of all of the text to be used in this production, the title would be the most significant in size as I need the audience to be able to link the image with the title, this way they will know what the documentary is named and overall what the content will be revolving around as the photo promotes that thought for them. If any other pieces of text were in the same sizing as the title then this could cause them to compete for attention on the page, which could confuse the audience - they would be less likely to identify which is the title for the programme as there would be so much conflicting information it could be off putting and may distract their interest from the products itself but also from which are the main important areas of the poster. To ensure that the top of the product is occupied by something other then blank space I've decide I want to include a by-line quote (whether this is taken directly from the documentary itself or is from a review in a newspaper article) as this would  make my poster more professional and would create new and exciting points of interest for the viewer to engage with. It is important to consider moreover that this wording does not compete for dominance in size along with the title - yes it is a relevant aspect to my production to create necessary attention but if it was to be of equal importance as the title then this may create conflict as the audience may be distracted by too many conventions. The last point I considerd was as an addition displaying the BBC logo along all of the othwr elments on the page, this allows the target viewers to connect with who is the distircubotr so therfroe which channel they will most likely to be able ti view the documentary upon. In addition it promotes a potnetial profit earning programme to the company and allows copy right inuuendo as a way fo saying this documentary firmly belong to the BBC network.

In correspondence with the plan I created for my documentary poster which is displayed above, it is fairly noticeable that similarly I desire the main attraction point for the spread to be caused by the employment of an oversized image. When I conducted some background research into gaining inspiration from mainstream spread publications I regarded that many of the editors had used a large photograph as a selling point, it would occupy all of the left hand page and the majority of the right, I feel this is a method used to instantly avert the readers attention from other articles. The larger you make the convention then there is more chance the audience will be appealed to it, this is an excellent example of how writers obtain most of the sales for their productions. I'm highly motivated from what I have seen in the real world and feel this technique would benefit me most welcome, for that reason I am attempting to replicate what i have seen in the past by using an oversized image on the left page to create the majority of interest for me. The remaining elements would have to fit in accordance to the size of the photogrpah. Like seen previously in my poster flat plan, the headline for my article will be the largest in font size compared to the remainder of the text sections, this is to promote what the article will be directly focusing upon so the reader will get an instant notification of what the content will contain that they are viewing. Essentially as I have stated before it creates a connection between the image and the text to indicate they are related to one another. Underneath the title is the kicker for my spread, this is to provide an added 'preview' of what the article will contain, sometimes these can be rhetorical questions to create conflict within the readers thoughts, which i think is an excellent idea especially when my focus is upon the world of eating disorders and anorexia. it is important to consider that although the kicker and headline are connected, that they cant be in exactly the same size as the reader will find it difficult to distinguish which is the headline etc which may be uneasy to look at, therefore could prevent them from reading the spread. Taking this into consideration I will need them both to differ in size, this allows the audience to identify which is the main point of their interest. In relation to this dilemma what I have just mentioned applies to the text of the article as well, it is essential for that to be the smallest of all, not drastically reduced that it would become unreadable, but small enough to recognise this is the article the headline, image and kicker reference to. It needs to be placed in symmetry with these other conventions, making it easier to notice that everything is related to one another creating a direct loop of things. Lastly I am using a pull quote as this is a element I identified also as being commonly used in mainstream magazines. For this I will directly cut a part of one of the anorexic girls interviews from the story and shorten it to create emphasis on the more interesting and therefore attention grabbing phrases. I want this placed alongside the image as I feel this will help relate to the physical consequences of the eating disorder that is being depicted. It will aid in generating a mature feel over the content as the audience will be able to decipher from the structure of the words and what has been said the nature of the article and the mood (whether its serious, forelorn, happy)

Target Audience Groups

Before I began the initial stages of filming my documentary revolving around anorexia it would be highly influential foe me to conduct some extensive background research into the viewing audience I was aiming to attract to the complexity of the issue being discussed at matter. I would importantly have to take into consideration many matters around the general public I was most interested in enticing as this content would not appeal to all, essentially a very mature mindset would need to be considered before someone was to view this due to some psychologically upsetting images and to understand the issue of eating disorders fully. For these reasons I decided to break down the age ranges into different age groups, analysing them to draw an appropriate conclusion as to which would be the most suited to the criteria explained.

Focus Group One : Teenagers (14-17)

The primary aim and motivation for my documentary is to focus upon a very life threatening and serious mentl illness that comes with it in essence extremely devastating consweuqnces for the indivudas unable to seek theraoy at time, therefore I've targeted a more mature audience to be able to understand fully and deal with the uncomfrtable world of the eating disorder. For this reason alone I will not be aiming my products to individuals of the 'teenage group', these people regualrly are between the lyothful ages of 14-17 and are still engaging in some form of primary education. Although 50% of all eating disorder cases are diagnosed and found within this ages range, I personally feel that the dark and gritty content of my documentary will be diffiult for them to fully grasp due to a still developing immature mindset. Furthermore they may also be dsitrubed severely by the physical symotoms of the illness ( such as the extreme emaciation of the bodily fram) and they may find this mentally scarring to condier. I do not wish my audience ot be harmed in any manner psychologially, taking their best interests at heart I am using a broad range of neutral balc aand white  colours in the layout of my prosucts, namely the double oage spread and poster. I'm hoping this method will disengage them from my publications, normally this age range are attracted to bright, interesting looking articles and prodcutions so viewing something that appears bland and boring may cause them to be uninterested from a visual perspective. The dakr tones suggest a more mature audience is desired, iam hoping my choice of shades moreover will prevent this young viewing audience to be apathetic and avoid my documentary and its related products, this will allow me to easily focus upon the adult audience I have considered.

Focus Group Two : Young Adults (18-29)

Potentially the main target audience I am attempting to attarct with my products is the one you can see displayed above - the young adult range conssiting of the ages between 18 to 29. Out of the four age categories I ahave considered I believe these are one of the appropriate groups of individuals to focus my products entieely upon appealing to. At this point in their lives, people are more profound and aware of the environment around them, they can handle seituations with a degreign sense of maturity and can approch and engage in difficult and often stressful situations well. This contrasts most outstandily to the tennage age group who are still naive ot the world in a snse as they have no fully experienced or been exposed to fully adult situations (these can include being in a job placement, handling a death, dealing with an illness/stress) therefore you could regard them as immature to handling new and often distebing conecpts expeirnced as adults. The young adult's will already have expeirnced some of these siutaions I earlier explained about and they are more likely of having some general idea of mental illness - they may know a family member/ friend who has been diagnosed with one, they mauy have read/wtched a programme documenting it on the television or they could have faced in handling one themselves. For this reason they will know how t approach my documentary in a more mature manner, ultimately thry will have greater empathy towards the girls as they will have a sensitive mind frame towards the desolation an eating disorder can cause to someone.

Focus Group Three : Middle Aged (40-50)

The middle aged population is centrefold to the target audience I am aiming in attracting and requiring to potentially view my products. As with the young adults subculture, these to will have experienced many of life's obstacles and challenges - working, dealing with complicated emotional issues and possibly the experience of death - these characteristics make them suitable as an audience to fit the criteria I am intending to work with. At this age many people may have started a family or have children, I feel as if this is an important aspect to consider because they may have had to deal with the unfortunate circumstance of having a child diagnosed with an eating disorder such as anorexia. If this is the case I believe they will be able to engage with the topic more fluently then other of the other age groups involved, a parent may want to seek reassurance and help for having to deal with such an strong and devastating illness, watching the documentary therefore can offer them the correct support they desire by offering a direct personal relationship with them. Furthermore the middle aged group may have had more situations to deal with involving mental disorders - these can appear in the workplace, within a family, friend or even themselves, this gives them a greater understanding and knowledge of what to expect when the topic in discussion is anorexia. They are likely to be more empathetic to the girls in the programme and recognise what a hardship it is on them dealing with such am evil condition.

Focus Group Four : Elderly (60 +)

I concluded by researching a more older generation audience - typically the elderly people of our society and to consider whether they would all be an appropriate mature audience to be able to engage and understand the concept of my documentary and its related products. Although they have had an undeniable vast quantity of life experiences and will have been involved in many stressful and potentially harmful situations throughout their long lives, I believe this proportion of people would not categorise well with the topic of anorexia nervosa. My concern revolves around the instance that eating disorders have only been recently classified as a mental illness in the last twenty or so years, therefore the publication of this issue in the press would have directly influenced the middle age group but however overlooked the elderly population as at the time they themselves will have been middle aged therefore the new knowledge of eating disorders will not have been a massive influential moment of their younger lives and the discovery is unlikely to have effected them as much. The older generation are also accustomed to very traditional ways - controversy such as gay rights for example will not have been the norm for them back when they were younger so it would be difficult for them to understand this as a new growing phase. The same can be said for eating disorders because it is a relatively new phenomenon that has come to light they will not have had much personal experience with dealing with them, this lack of understanding would make it throughly more difficult to grasp the story behind the content of my documentary. They may have the required mature mindset but their incapability to get involved with the topic in discussion makes them an unrealistic viewing audience to target. There are individual differences however so it would not be uncommon to attract some interest from certain member of the elderly community as they may have a grandchild etc diagnose with the condition - despite these few exceptions the majority of this age group is likely to be uninterested in the debate at hand so I would not be surprised to not attract as many people from this age range as the others I have listed above.

Time Management - Update 6

Choosing and Editing an Image for my Writer Review

After conducting some extensive periods of feedback featuring opinions and views from both my lecturer and my peers it was suggested to me that to occupy the blank space present on my third page of the double page spread an image of some sort would be required. I was then offered the idea from both sets of individuals to use a photograph of the writer for the un-biast viewpoint over the content of my adocumentary. It would also aid in personalising the entire piece as a whole as the reader would be able to directly connect with the author of the review, being able to see what they look like in real life brings about personal qualities and the audience will identify with them more coherently as an individual with their own perceptions, likes/dislikes if they can engage with them as a human rather than a simple piece of text. As I believed this suggestion would massively benefit the overall look of my article I was prepared to put those words into context.



My classmate Taylor offered to give her input into aiding me create the image for my review by posing as the author themselves 'Holly Learie'. Obviously I was under massive time constraints by this stage and didn't have the frame to book in another studio shoot at the Shiney Row campus so I opted to take the photographs in the media classroom itself. This wasn't a major concern as I only desired Taylor and not the background to be incorporated in the final spread as I would be soley focusing upon the writer and not any unecessary background that may divert attention from the reader. All of the image were captured on a DSLR camera so they were all of professional studio quality which I had no concerns over.

The first image I took was in a landscape fashion as an experiment to see how it would appear as a difference from the traditional portrait. I have no identifiable worries over the quality of the image, the lighting is perfect with no shadows or distractions that could influence the look of the final photogrpah. However as this was basically a 'test' shoot, taylor was not prepared so her posture is not as straight as I would like it, the body language is majorly significant to me as i want the writer to appear confident and edgy so a slightly slouched posture is not compatible with my inital perceptions of them. Finally I want them to be friendly and enaging, so a kind act like a smile could look inviting and open for the audience to look at and they will be more inclined to engage with the article if the writer appears a friendly person. Taylor was as I stated caught off guard so did not capture the expression I desired at the time. Therfore for the reasons printed I will not be using this image.

On the second take I rotated the camera back to a portrait style so as to capture the image in a straight fashion, this would make editing and removing he background in later stages more easier and a less stressful procedure. I warned Taylor before the photograph was taken so she was prepared in advance to what I required her to do. We captured the friendly open expression more efficiently this time, despite that the body posture is still slouched and not as abrupt and held well as I would have considered so this image is also to be discarded.

On the final take I successfully captured the image concept I had intended from the initial beginning. Taylor's expression was perfect - she had a classy sophisticated if yet cocky look to her, to me that gave the impression she was confident and proud of her article, whilst also being friendly looking in that respect as to not deter the reader from viewing the article. This attempt we obtained the correct posture as she holds her back in proportion and straight to emit that sense of confident which I had been aiming to achive. Regarding these in consideration this will be the photograph to depict my writer 'Hollie Learie' in the final production of my writer review for the double page spread.

Now that i had successfully chosen the image I would like to display as my writer for the review box, I followed up by opening the adobe photoshop software and imported the photograph directly into the programme so it loaded up as a new document. From there I selected the 'magic wand' tool which allowed me to remove the background of the image. Ss you can see in the screenshot above, I discarded the classroom environment from behind Taylor ensuring she was the only focal point to view, this would prevent the audience from being distracted from other elements in the shot whilst also emphasising that Taylor herself is the main interest therefore there is no other aspect with her to compete for that attention. I then used the 'eraser' tool, this aided me in removing the rough jaggered edges that I had been left with on my image due to the rough cutting out by the 'magic wand'. Smoothing the photo down as a whole improved the overall appearance, it gave a very slick and sleek edge to the quality of the image giving it a highly authentic and professional quality rather then looking like the work of an amatuer as this could deter the reader from viewing the article.

Above is the final completed edit of Taylor to be dragged immeditelly into the construction of my double page spread. Her image will sit nicely above the review box, there is no confounding aspects (such as an unecessary background) that could potentially distract the audiences attention. Her expression looks inviting yet confident which is essentially what I desired her to be as a 'likeability' factor to the audience. Most importantly I believe I have followed my initial concept perfectly as this is the type of image I was hoping to create as an end result, for that reason I am pleased with the final design and am looking forward to including it in my double page spread.

Archive Footage for the Documentary

After a assessment by my college lecturer it was highly recommended for my best interests that I included some archive footage into the documentary, whether these were to be home videos, personal photographs or images taken from the internet. I was shown a previous students coursework to gain an understanding and idea of how to correctly incorporate the said archive footage into my film coherently so it blended in efficiently with the interview being conducted and was related to what was being said (for example one of the girls mentions her past so it would be an appropriate moment to include photographs from when she was younger) as this would aid the viewer in identifying specific moments in her life that may have been a contributory factor before she developed her anorexia. It may also create an element of sympathy as a whole due to the audience witnessing the dramatic consequences of how an evil illness to put it frankly could strip an individual of so much potential and their life.

These specific images are required when the girl is offering flashbacks into her past when her anorexia was at its most dominant and prelavant within her physical frame. The photographs provide a shock factor to the target audience as they will be able to see with their own eyes how much her illness consumed her, removing the pride and feminine features she once displayed. Realistically they emphasise the severity of the condition and by using these photographs in particular I will be most certaintly broadcast my intended message of how this mental illness is not a 'phase' but is a serious, life taking condition that requires a sensitive but mature mind to fully understand. They may allow the viewer to become more aware of the signs therefore easily identifable should they have concenrs about theit own family members.

Displayed above are the photographs required to highlight to the audience how this individual had a life and was healthy before her illness consumed her completley. It allows a reflection and contrast between the two unique sets of images (healthy and anorexic) to truly illustrate how devastating this condition can be and how much of a person it can remove, evidently she is almost unrecognisable in these images and I believe it will hit home to the viewer the disturbing changes anorexia can bring about physically to a person.

As an extra incentive and to create another vital area of interest for my target audience to engage with my lecturer recommended not only to add my own personal photographs of archive footage into the documentary but of celebrity cultures as well. This would greatly highlight the field of starvation within the mega popularity world where famous individuals are constantly battling to be the 'thinnest' of women in the movie making industry itself. In a particular frame of my documentary 'The Girls Who Wouldn't Eat' one of the intervewees mentions how she was influenced significantly by the media subculture to diet because 'everyone else was doing it in magazines'. I feel this further justifies the major issue my documentary focuses upon - how others (especially celebrities) can influence us in a negative way and due to her exposure this specific woman interviewed developed an eating disorder partially because of her competition to strive to be the 'thinnest' of the celebrities. This teaches a valuable moral point to the viewer, importantly how much the media actually revolves around our lives and how we are so easily warped into its malicious ways. Referencing to these magazines in the documentary shows the audience how dominant this industry is and how moreover it can lead to the development of serious life threatening illnesses.I feel this notion may make the viewer more aware of the negative implications surrounding the media world, whilst also teaching them protective mechanisms in particular to try and avoid this type of coverage so as not to be influenced in a negative fashion.

Peer Review 2 for my Documentary Poster

As reference in any earlier post I received feedback from the head of campus and the media board who had offered me their high recommendations to make some slight improvements to the poster I had already created for my documentary. Of course as I desired a high quality product I took these under my wing whilst also incorporating some of the suggestions my peers and lecturer had recommended to me in addition

Here is the original poster before the adjustments were took into place, the main areas that were identified by both peers and professional colleagues was the reduction in the size of the logo and re-alignment of the title for the documentary.

Displayed above is the finished creation once the errors had been correctly identified, removed and improved. I took all of the ideas I was offered into valuable consideration and ensured the main areas I focused on was the logo and title of the programme. Once all of the required concerns had been corrected, I re-addressed Taylor my classmate to see how she regarded the improved product and if she could suggest any more minor concerns she believed  I could improve on. She praised the use of a right alignment to position the text commenting it allowed the words to flow in sync and harmony with one another. She was also highly impressed with how the institutional logo appeared now it had been reduced, she reflected how her eye-line was directed directly to the title of the documentary rather then alternating attention between the logo and headline when they had been both of an identical size and competition for dominance. The only point she could suggest was to move the position of the logo slightly upwards but besides from this insignificant detail she was content with what I had produced. I feel as if I have benefited massively from this procedure as not only has it aided me in targeting potential errors that could mark my product down but also allowed my peers to suggest appropriate improvements that have helped me develop my technical and production skills as a whole.

Peer Review for my Documentary Poster

Understandably for the final outcome of all my required products I wanted them to be perceived by the audience as professional and to be regarded in a realistic manner as they would be towards a mainstream product. For that reason I felt it would benefit me in the construction of these tasks if I received systematic updates from my peers and lecturer as to what their opinions are upon my main and auxilary tasks, therefore I would gain a better understanding towards the necessary changes I would have to conduct to ensure my products are seen in the highest possible manner by my target audience upon completion. Here my peers would be identifying areas of improvement in association with the various elements (layout,font styles,colour etc) that were incorporated into my productions, this essentially made it easier and fairly straightforward to make adjustments if they were required and in recognition improve the standard of my work in the long run. Since my auxilary task one (the documentary poster) was the initial task I began with this was the area I wanted my peers to target, review and offer advice to me.

My first protocol was to ask my desk mate Taylor to offer her opinions about the product (which is displayed above). This is my completed draft of how I want it to appear to the audience, however as I was still waiting for a response from the head of media on campus over her thoughts I felt Taylor could offer me a valuable starting point of any required alterations that needed to be reinstated. On initial inspection she regarded the image in a high manner and commented how it effectively reflected the mature mindset I was attempting to create - moreover this highlighted that I had fulfilled the requirement I mentioned in my brief about how I wanted the image to be a serious black and white tone to highlight the adult audience. She also mentioned how she was enthusiastic about how the models dress was left in colour as she felt the audience would be drawn to the brightness on an overall dark image. She emphasised the effectiveness of using a quote from a review as this allowed an independent view point on the documentary without having an biased responses from the filmakers. Criticisms wise she suggested that I could experiment possibly with some more font styles for the title as she felt there was possibly a more sophisticated handwritten one I had not yet discovered, therefore more experimentation was essential before I made a final decision over the text. Hr only other concern was to make the BBC logo smaller as she was under the impression the title of the documentary and the logo were fighting for dominance and attention due to them both being in similar sizes.

Kaye my lecturer was the following individual on regards to her advice for major imporvments. Basically she suggested the same aspects Taylor had identified with hints towards resizing the logo - she judged that the title of the documentary is essentially the most important element on the product as it allows the audience to identify with what the programme's content concerns whilst also naming it so they will be aware of what it is called when looking to view it on its broadcasting date. Other then that she was content with what I had created.

With these opinions in mind I decided that changes would have to be employed to improve the quality of my finished documentary product. However before I made any actions I concluded I would wait until the head of campus replied to my email in regards to her thoughts over the task, therefore I had a wider range of responses on what changes were most important to enable my production to be up to its full potential.

Developing my Double Page Spread - Part 4

Once I was fairly confident and content with how the layout of the initial two pages of the spread were appearing I directed the majority of my attention back to the process of enhancing the overall look and effectivenenss of the third page. My first major concern was to deal with the writers review box, currently it did not engage efficiently with the reader as it was in the same style of colour and text as the main body, therfore it appeared to be part of the article and not an indiviual viewpoint from an independent reviewer. To allow it to stand out against the other elements I highlighted the title of the review 'What's getting us talking' and the name of the author 'Hollie Leary' and changed the tone from black to red. This gave undue emphasis on this separate box, it clearly noted to the audience this was additional information that was related to the article but wasn't a direct continuation, therefore it could provoke interest and intriguement due to it being a fresh concept to look at. Furthermore it relates back to the headline of the article, as that too is filled in a deep red tone it shows the audience that the writer review contrasts and is involved with the content of the article so they can clearly see a continuation of prose and how these two are linked together about the topic of anorexia and the documentary itself. The space above still left a genuinley noitceable area to add an image of the writer which is what I intended, however it is too large just for one image alone so it may be beneficial to add maybe another review or a fact box instead to occupy this section.

In addition to the alterations I made regarding the review box I decided my article would probablies benefit more from an extra written area as opposed to one giant enlarged image as this could make my production look unprofessional - to fit a full size photograph in that space could potentially be detrimental as a lot of adjustments would need to be made to the sizing, if it ended up too stretched etc then the overall quality would be effected which could damage the realism and general look of the product. To combat this issue I decided to incorporate a fact box about anorexia which contained three noticable traits and symptoms of the illness and how to recognise it. I kept with the conventional theme of having the text in the same style as the article to show they corresponded and were related to one another, the title of the factual section was encased in red like the headline and writer review before it to interlink all of these sections together of the spread in the understanding they all dealt with the nature of the content (anorexia) but in different ways.

As I had explained in an earlier post I had previously practised with the editing software on photoshop to achieve the correct consistency I required for the colour on the image. I had now decided on which photograph from the shoot I was going to display as the main image on the double page spread, moreover it was the only colour image I had captured so my first task was to alter it to a black and white overtone to stay consistent with the requirments indicated in my brief. Once the colour hue had been corrected and altered the already black and white tone to the 'darker' element which I had experimented with in an earlier post so the photograph was in the correct consistency before being transferred to the main article.

I did not employ many abrupt changes at this stage of the development of my double page spread, I wanted to ensure however that my third corresponding page was near completion before working on the main two pages so my first protocol was to correct any minor errors I was not entirely pleased with. I asked advice from my lecturer about any improvements that could be made to the product's initial look, she suggested filling in the text box of the writers review in a bold colour that would allow it to be easily distinguished from the main article. After several attempts we realised a bright outstanding colour would not justify my article mature theme unfortunately as they looked uncanny and unconventional to the black and white theme occuring. In my personal opinion the bright colours stripped the dark gritty nature I am tring to personify in my work so realistically did not reflect the neutral dismal effect I desired in my brief as overll I did not want to lose that mature adult feel to the production. Therefore I opted to test a subtler shade of grey as I felt not only would this highlight the review box above all the other elements around it but it would allow it to convey that mature mindset across to the audience, therfore reflecting the major theme of my article about 'The Girls Who Wouldn't Eat' which is suited for a developed adult viewing audience in essence. Most importantly it conveyed highly effectively with the black and white effect running through all my products, this allowed it to contrast well and correspond with the continuity broadcasted in the pages and documentary poster.

I finally managed to insert the image I was going to use into position on the left hand page to be the central photograph of my article. Truly I can admire my work from a distance as the image itself strikes me emotionally, the models pained expression and posture is very much realistic and not like a staged shoot - I can feel so much sympathy inside me from looking at this and I'm hoping this will provoke the same necessary response from my target viewing population as well. Essentially I need them to pity the girl in the photo as ultimately she is displaying the harsh reality of a life tormented with anorexia and how the individual themselves suffer from the consequences, this should hopefully elicit a empathetic quality from the readers as hopefully they should be deeply shocked and effected by what they have witnessed, Besides from the image being placed I also added two drop caps into the main paragraphs of the first page for the article, not only is this a fairly traditional conventional element broadcasted in many mainstream magazines, it is also an effective technique disguised by the writer to attract the audiences attention to the most important sections of the article to provoke their interst and keep their attention levels going long enough for them to be intirgeud in finshing the publication to see the outcome of what is being described.

     

Here I felt an additional pull quote would be extremely efficient in gaining the necessary interest I craved from my audience. To do this I took a segment of one of the interviewed girls answers, shortened it to create dramatic emphasis on the most significant part of her response and added it beside the model, in this instance on her legs. I chose to keep it in the same bold scarlet red as the headline, this would confer the message the quote is linked directly to the article, moreover it would help highlight the more serious aspects of the illness as the phrase that was chosen questions the publics opinion on what anorexia actually is. In a sense it is a rhetorical question and will hopefully generate some emotions and thought processes from my readers. I can identify a major problem is that i am going to have to situate the quote in a more appropriate area as I feel as the moment it is slightly overshadowed by the deep darkness of the leggings the model is wearing, that black completely immerses the red making it more difficult to distinguish and identify which could potentially be problematic - if the audience can decipher what it says they are likely to be put off from reading the article as a pull quote normally gives some undue emphasis regarding the content of the article, the audience will struggle to identify it is speaking about anorexia if they cannot read what is trying to be said.

Gaining Consent from my Actors

The most important criteria for filming my documentary on eating disorders was to gain the valuable consent I needed from all actors who would be engaging in the schedule. Essentially this was to ensure they were happy with the procedure of the filming, what to expect from the questions asked and if there was any underlying confidentiality issues. They were all given the opportunity to withdraw their interviews from the production and if they weren't entirely comfortable about having their face exposed on screen then they had the option to add a blank face as an added edit in the final documentation. To gain their consent I emailed all of the desired actors via a facebook message in conclusion they were still willing to engage with the programme I had set.

This is the response I obtained from Lorna Shaw regarding her participation, as what can be clearly seen she was entirely happy with what was expected of her during filming.

I gained this answer from Kate Saunders my final actor, as what can be seen above she was in agreement with Lorna and had no major issues regarding her involvement in the documentary.

Developing my Double Page Spread - Part 3

After concluding on the notion I wanted to use the 'Futura' style font to display the headline for the spread I reverted back to it from the 'King' seen previously, retouching the red colouring and sizing of certain words to how they were originally presented. I wanted to see how effectively I could emphasise the 'It' in the headline as I perceived this to be the strongest most powerful statement in the title, as understandably it shows the anorexia as being a controlling monster that denies us from our most basic of instincts - to eat in essence. To do this I drastically reduced the size of the word as to attract the audiences gaze, with it being significantly smaller then the remainder of the words it allowed the eye-line to be immeditelly drawn to it as it was unusually proportioned towards the rest of the eadline. I decided to adjust the spacing of each individual word, i used the right alignment tool to bring them all over to the right hand side of the page, this would give me room to add additional points such as the kicker and timing of when the programme was to be screened. The positioning of the title also grasps attention due to it being in a unique and unconventional place to be situated, this factor alone could hold stead curiosity from the reader who hopefully would be intrigued enough to investigate the article futher. However under these circumstances I don't feel the positioning is very effective, the headline itself loses its dramatic bold appeal as in a sense it had been pushed away from the main body of text making it appear completely unrelated and distant from the spread. I am more inclined to use the original central spacing over this style as it appears to hold many drawbacks and inconviences to my article.

In this stage I reverted back to placing the headline centrally parallel to the connotating body of text beneath it. I added a bold residue to the words in emphasis to allow them to stand out drastically over all the other conventional items on the page, this required me to remove the red overtone colouring to get a better perception of how the bold would enhance the lettering. My next move was to add the kicker proportionally beneath the headline - this was a vital component of my double page spread as it would give a 'preview' as to what to expect from the content but it also had to be enticing enough to intrigue the reader into further continuing with the article about what to expect from the nature of the documentary. Finally I ensured the name of my photographer was present and created a false person to be the writer of the spread (all of this was placed in alignment with the kicker)

Essentially in this step there was no major adjustments to the conventions, the only marked difference is the addition of two drop caps into the article itself. These are a major essential of many mainstream magazines as they aid the reader in identifying where the beginning of the paragraph is, not only that but the draw undued emphasis to the more important and interesting sections of the article to the audience in an attempt to keep their interest from wavering.

As I had made some major coorections and perfections to the main spread I decided I used my time wisely in assisting the improvement of the third page to my article. What was seen in my previous post was that I had located and identified a suitable area to add a pull quote, however I had not currently thought of what I anted it to be or which font to present it in etc so it had remained unedited. To overcome this issue I drew inspiration from a statement made by one of the anorexic girls in the text, shortened it slightly and placed it in the box for the pull quotation. I enlarged the words to allow them to overshadowed the main body of text, although I found it necessary to keep the original font used for the article on these words so the reader could easily refer back to the article where its contained to show these are connected.

I altered the positioning of the pull quote slightly and used the line creator tool to separate the main article from the quotation using two individual line shapes, this allowed the article to 'flow' over the quote but identified they were still connected to one another. Furthermore it avoided the problem of the two elements clashing and merging together - if this had occured then it would have been difficult for the reader to identify what text related to what and so forth.

To enhance the overall quality and appearance of my article I added the red colour tone back to the headline, this was an essential aspect as stated in my brief as I wanted the read to justify the poor physical health and detrimental consequences of the illness which lead to death. It personifies the heart by showing o the reader how it slowly fade as all life from that very person ebs away into nothingness as the brutal illness takes full control. Last but most importantly it dramatically improves the standing the words have on the page, making them more bolder, important and interesting to the reader therefore making it not easily overlooked. Red connotates for a warning and I feel this shade reflects perfectly the danger and destruction anorexia brings with it. he final improvement that was made was by adding the name of the documentary and the date/time it was to be screened on, this is located directly underneath the acknowledgments to staff. As what is expected I want to gain the widest amount of interest as possible from my audience therefore by adding this crucial element in it informs them directly as to when to catch the documentary, this makes it unlikely to be missed s the information will imprinting on their minds or they can easily refer back to it in the article to double check. Essentially this will gain me the largest viewing audience as I could possibly grant.

Actors for my documentary

Unfortunately I had a few issues with obtaining actors for me documentary due to the main female not being available in the hospital environment I desired her to be due to her early discharge from the RVI inpatient anorexic ward. Therefore I had to make some major adjustments and scout out new actors who were happy and willing to participate in the documentary.

Name : Aimee Corner

Age : 18

Originally I had asked the question of a friend who I know with anorexia nervosa to participate in the filming stages of my documentary which she had agreed to and was going to give her opinions on the interview questions. However at that present moment she was an inpatient in the RVI hospital, since then she has been discharged so the whole concept of me filming on the ward has had to be discarded due to her departure. As i was running out of time to locate a new actor I myself decided to step in and act out her part. I have been suffering from anorexia for four and a half years so although I was filming the documentary I thought it would be a wise idea for me to step in the shoes of the interviewee also as I really did not have the time to scout out someone to fill in this role. Getting consent is a straightforward task as I am the director and know what the interviews will involve, therefore I have no concern about participating within the documentary.  Consent is also easily accessible to gain as I am fully prepared to take part therefore no written confirmation is needed.

Name : Diane Corner

Age : 44

Because of the difficulties I faed with my major cast member being unable to conduct her interview as due to her discharge from an inpatient unit I lost the opportunity to interview her mother and father about her anorexia. In doing so I had to find a suitable substitute carer for this important role as it was vital I gained the perceptions and thoughts of a parent, nit only because I had already constructed interview questions for them but because this documentary is to focus on not only the lives of the anorexic girls but how their illness ultimately impacts the parental occupation of their carers. FOrtunately I was blessed when my mother volunteered her services for the documentary, so I am able to film the parent and daughter interviews. My mum openly admitted she wanted to take part therfore I gained immeidate verbal consent from her o no other writen documentation of her partcipation was rewuired. She was briefed over all aspects of the filming as to what it entailled and what questions she would be asked, all of which she concluded she was happy to answer.

Name : Lorna Shaw

Age : 17

As part of the content I had desired I was eager to have a recovered anorexic both physically and mentally to appear in the documentary, I felt this would give an element of hope to the stories of the girls effected, almost a silver lining to say that circumstances can get better and pull through if you have the strength and determination to fight this most devastating of illnesses. I am lucky enough to have a friend who fits this criteria perfectly and would aid in delivering this sensitive and inspiring of messages to my audience - that you can recover from anorexia. I briefed Lorna originally over a text to inform her of a quick run down of what she was expected to do and say in the documentary, which she was able to consent to. Closer to the date of the filming schedule I messaged her on facebook as a quick reassurance that she was deffintely certain she wanted to participate in, again there was no problems. During the interview she was to be told what t expect from the camera positioning, I showed her the questions she was to be asked and double checked she was happy with the nature and wording of them. After the interviews were conducted I replayed the them back to her to identify if there was any problems, if maybe a reshoot was needed and to confidently see she was 100% happy with the footage captured. If needs be she was offered to have her face blurred out for confidentiality issues, however there aware no such problems.

Name : Kate Saunders

Age : 18

My final actor is another recovering anorexic who is developing a more positive mindset physically and mentally. I needed to show several sides to the journeys of an anorexic in recovery, the beginning stages where one is physically and mentally impaired, the recovery stage as they begin to become more healthier and the final when they have adopted a more positive outlook on life and can be deemed physically and mentally recovered. Kate is in the half way stage where she is progressing in both areas so I felt it would be of benefit to get her opinions over her story as it would be an excellent way to compare all of the girls stories. Kate was informed like Lorna via text to begin with as to what t anticipate from the filming, when she would be free and if she was happy to take part, there was no complications from her. Closer to the filming date I sent out anther message via facebook to confirm she was definitely available and happy to take part, again there was no issues. The same standardised procedure was following by Kate being briefed over the questions, confidentiality issues and the location of the filming. She was also given the opportunity to replay back hr footage to identify if there was any concern over the footage.