Photography Research - Matt Whorlow

Matt Whorlow is an English photographer who is based in Cornwall. His work covers a range of different styles and mediums, including wedding photography, event photography and landscape photography. I am going to focus on landscape photography throughout this post as this is the area which fits the photography used on conventional regional magazines. Whorlow's work is grand in style and elements such as lighting, shot type, framing and imagination show throughout. Furthermore, the use of photographic techniques is highly apparent as ideas and surrealistic styling is shown. Whorlow may use photo editing software to change colouring in his images, however the basis of all of his work is based around a raw photographic nature. 

I like this image above in particular as his use of photographic techniques has allowed him to capture the bright, setting sun, alongside setting a slow shutter speed and capturing the motion of the water. The colouring in the sky is majestic in style - the bright oranges contrast the darker sea and rocks which present ideas of binary opposition. Furthermore, the smooth nature of the water, as it's motion blurred through use of the shutter speed setting, presents a surreal nature which grab your eye and draws you into the image. The vibrant colours and detail and texture of the rocks make you feel like you're there and also make the audience want to see more of his work. Whorlow also perfectly captures the dark horizon, as the vanishing point is presented dramatically, dragging the eye straight up towards the bright sun set. 

In this image, Whorlow has made full use of the contrasting colours, as well as the beautiful reflection of the sky alongside the water. He has chosen to shoot the image with the boat in the foreground, however it does't take 'centre stage' due to the positioning as well as the colours. This I think allows the image to present a sense of natural beauty, alongside presenting the presence of human life alongside the river, telling a story. The horizon, back-lit, shows a clear contrasting style to the brighter foreground and sky above. 

In this image Whorlow had opted for a simplistic shot type, as the blue bells perfectly contrast the green of the trees. He has used a long shot and tried to capture a relatively even 50/50 split ratio on the page. Again, he has captured the darker vanishing point in the middle of the image, which seems to allow your eye to be drawn right in and also to split the two very strong, vibrant colours. 

Colour Research

To allow my final product to look professional and connote the correct genre themes and ideas for my audience, I need to explore the use of colour before I create my product. By acting as one of the more important factor in terms of aesthetic beauty, colour plays a pivotal role in the success of my product. The colour scheme which I choose must fit the genre themes and stereotypes of other products in the market place, alongside allowing specific areas to stand out accordingly. 

I have decided to explore a range of colour schemes through website 'Adobe Kulor' / 'Adobe Color' alongside colour from current magazines. 

By looking at a range of current regional magazines on the market place, on the whole they use bland/lighter colours, which work alongside the background image. However this isn't always the case. Regional magazines seem to use a colour scheme which works with the background image and themes of the page as oppose to a scheme throughout the whole magazine. Whites and blacks are used widely, as shown through Levi Strauss' theory of Binary Opposition which states opposites attract and work well together. Whites and blacks stand out from the background images and also stand out from each other. Colours on regional magazines also seem to follow seasonal colours - for instance in the summer brighter colours are used on their magazines, and in the winter paler colours are used to connote the seasons. Finally, due to regional magazines usually focusing around stunning photographic images, it's important that the colours of type and graphic on the page doesn't detract from the main images.


It's important for the colour scheme to be gender neutral as this would allow my particular audience to be attracted to my product. I have been looking through a range of different colour schemes on Adobe Color to try and gain an understanding of what colours look attractive together and what don't.

I have chosen to look at 'Neutral Blue' to start off with because I think this is the kind of range which I need to be looking at. However, I think it will depend on the cover image and the colours contained in that. Perhaps I could incorporate a wider range of brighter colours to compliment these. I also like 'Sandy Stone Beach Ocean' because of the particular shades used and the way that I can image this particular scheme used in a real regional magazine.

The other two schemes I picked out, 'Watermelon' and 'Tech Office', both use slightly brighter colours and connote a warmer theme - perhaps that of a summer/autumn addition of a regional magazine as oppose to winter months. The use of reds and pinks allow for the content in these colours to stand out alongside that in the duller colours. 

After having looked at a range of different colour techniques and ideas, I think that I am going to explore Adobe Color when it comes to the creation and construction of my magazine. I will also keep in mind the use of colour on current regional magazine to ensure i fit convention and represent my audience correctly. I am now going to create my own colour palate of a rough idea of the colours that I want to use in my own magazine - this will allow me to focus my ideas and gain an understanding of the colours that I want to use.

I have decided to pick a range of colours - some inspired by the research done above, and some correlate to the images which I hope to take for my magazine. I have decided to choose brighter colours alongside ones that stand out against each other and also colours which aren't so harsh on the eye, ones which I can use for text which I don't need to stand out so much. The black and white allow me to oppose colours - a basic choice however a necessary one - and the green and brown allow for contrast alongside the brighter yellow which will grab my audience's eye on first glance. 

Flat Plans

After having researched and evaluated a range of different regional magazine covers, contents pages, feature pages, websites and bill boards, I feel that I now have the knowledge and understanding to create and design my own ideas before I put them into practise. I have designed a range of ideas and designs so that I can decide what layout ideas look good and pick the ones which stand out best. This process is important as it will allowed me to 'play' around with designs and create a range of ideas which will fit my genre, audience and purpose.

I decided to create three cover designs, three contents designs, three feature page designs, three bill board designs and also three website designs. By creating three of each I can explore a range of layout ideas that I know my audience are looking for in a regional media product. I have explored a range of conventional designs in order to fit the idea of 'convenience' as stated by John Friske. It's convenient for the media producer to create a product which fits convention and presents design ideas which initially tell my audience the genre of my product.

The larger images, by themselves, are the designs which were my favourite when creating initial sketches. I have also shown the other two designs for each layout on a single page below this.

Website & Billboard (Ancillary Task) Institution Research

Website:

I have been exploring a range of different hosting sites for my website upload so that once I have finished creating my design in Dreamweaver, I can upload it straight away. After browsing the internet and comparing prices, specifications and other contributing factors, I have decided to use a server called Date Flame to host my site. This is because hosting and also purchase of the domain name comes under one low cost package. The price of £5.95 is considerably cheaper than other of their competitors such as Heart Internet, Fast Hosts and GoDaddy, all coming in at a higher price bracket. I will now purchase the hosting from Data Flame and upload my website once I have created it.

Billboard:

With regards to my billboard, deciding where my billboard is placed is one of the more important factors when exploring this area of institution. I have decided to explore the areas in which current billboards are positioned, and from looking at this I have understood that key areas are in seaside towns, city centres and also around and near supermarkets / shopping centres. My reasoning behind this is because these are areas which either are highly populated at a specific time, or have an audience which would be attracted by my magazine. After choosing the location of my billboards, I decided to research costings on the internet, trying to see which companies would provide the lowest quote for my specifications. Some of the companies which I decided to explore were The Cornish Print Company, Mid Cornwall Printing and BJ Press. The quotes which I received from these companies ranged from £350-£650 for 50 and around the £1200-£1700 mark for 400 billboards. 

Synopsis & Treatment

Initial ideas and research have lead me to understand the basic ideas surrounding the identity of a traditional regional magazine's target audience. I now know that my target audience are aged roughly 30+, in social bracket A-C1, and all white British, with a 50/50 split between male and females. Regional magazines such a Cornwall Today and Cornwall life seem to represent a demographic that's made up more of holidaymakers than it is people local to the area. By exploring current magazine, I can see that there is a massive gap in the market for younger readers of regional magazine, however, I am going to stick to traditional themes and represent and shape my magazine's content towards an older audience

Treatment/Synopsis 

Cornwall Bys Vyken, a new Cornish regional magazine, which will present traditional ideas concerning travel, food, places to visit, current local issues, local events and local interests, fills a gap in the market for a new Cornish regional magazine. Presenting a traditional audience age group, with a balanced sex range, Cornwall Bys Vyken will focus on representing social grades A-C1. Due to this publication being on sale only in Cornwall, it will make it a niche magazine, focusing on Cornish residents and tourists to Cornwall. 

With regards to layout and styling, my magazine will represent similar themes to that of Cornish magazines such as Cornwall Today and Cornwall Life. To do this, I am going to represent Cornwall through use of it's beautiful scenery - much like that shown through a current media producer, Wild Cornwall. I will also fulfil themes concerning design and layout, as this will allow me to present my demographic clearly and coherently.

Cornwall Bys Vyken will present and show content specifically tailored to my audience's needs and desires, focusing on target audience feedback. My magazine will be sectioned into relevant groups, as presented by the contents page's ideas. The following headings will be used in my magazine - 'Regulars', 'Town Life', 'Music', 'Food and Drink' and 'Summer Life Style' (the season will change relevant to the time of year. Cornwall Bys Vyken, a monthly issue magazine, will cost £3.99, a similar price to that of its competitors. This price range will keep my product competitive while also bringing in gross profit. An independent publisher (Out of Hand LTD) will be required as this will ensure that start up costs are kept to a minimum. This choice of publisher presents and reflects my magazine, due to it appealing to a niche audience and it not being a nationally available magazine.

I feel that there is a gap in the marker place for my media product due to the relatively small selection of regional magazines in Cornwall. Furthermore, if my magazine incorporated a small section of content which will represent a younger audience, I will find a gap in the market there. With regards to a new magazine in Cornwall who tailors their content, styling and marketing directly towards their target audience, asking what they would like to see from a regional magazine, Cornwall Bys Vyken will be a first in this market place. I have decided that concerning the print and digital mediums which my precepts can be viewed in, my media product will be sold in all major supermarket chains in Cornwall, including newsagents, and corner shops. Furthermore, my magazine will also be available for direct subscription online and it will also be available to view online, through use of the website. The print issue will mainly appeal to my older audience as well as tourists to the county. 

Genre Research

As stated by Andre Basin, "Genre makes product making more efficient and more marketable". This tells me that by representing the genre, I'm also representing my audience as well as the purpose of my magazine. A regional magazine must fit a set of codes and conventions in order for it to be successful. There is a stereotypical age range surrounding regional magazines and for a magazine to be successful, it usually fits this. By undertaking a range of research surrounding current media products, including Cornwall Today, Devon Life and Wild Cornwall, I have been able to pick up a selection of common genre conventions and code which I can take forward into my own product. 

At the start of my genre research and analysis I decided to explore Cornwall Today, as this is the largest regional magazine in my chosen region. I decided to explore content, layout, lexis, typography, colour, styling, graphics and imagery to ensure I covered all areas of regional magazine genre codes. Regarding basic stereotypes, all of the content on the page is based around the image. The layout is structured so that the subject of the image is at the fore front of the cover. Furthermore, the colour palate of Cornwall Today is fairly relaxed and uses two or three darker colours to contrast the image behind. 

Another regional magazine, Devon Life, explores similar ideas, that the text is set around the sides of the image, meaning the eye is drawn into the location of the image and the scenery. Furthermore, regarding colour palate and masthead, both fit convention and seem to work naturally. The colour palate explore a lighter shade of pink which contrasts from the greens and greys behind.

In conclusion, concerning genre research and conventions surrounding regional magazine layout design, all current products seem to use a large masthead at the top of the page which takes up roughly 1/8th of the page. The masthead is usually in the colour of white which allows it to stand out from the background. Furthermore, the content and stories on the page will all be set round the main subject of the cover image. This allows you r eye to catch the beautiful scenery, and be persuaded to buy the magazine. Moreover, the colours on regional magazines are usually reasonably bland, as they try not to detract from the image behind. Finally, the cover image will be of a natural location and will be attractive in its nature.