Youth and Fashion

We met up after the first drafted layout, and changed certain things like used less images and used some as double page spreads, and generally swapped things around a little. This added a bit more variety and changed some pictures which didn’t fit with the rest.

After this we went away and edited the images again and re- did the layout. It was done on photoshop using the rulers to make sure images were central. It took quite a while getting things right, measuring everything up and resizing images, but with a bit of patience it was done.

We then met up a third time and edited the images again, before sending them to print.

i-D magazine was our inspiration for the layout. Our images wouldnt fit in a high-end fashion magazine so we were thinking of something in this area. 

basic layout. Clean and simple. Its pleasing to the eye and draws all attention on the actual images and not so much the layout.

Incorporating graphics?

Multiple images, scrapbook idea. Missmatched and busy. I think this could be good for our layout, i think it would help to create a narrative by packing it with lots of images - in an album style.

Adding slight patterns/ textures/ graphics over the images might make it stand out and look creative..

double page spreads look effective and draw you straight in. It might be good for a front page. Especially the images of the paint fight.

Large wording

We met up a couple of days after our shoot to go through our images and these are the ones we shortlisted for our editorial. These were all the images that we thought turned out best.

Some of them didn’t turn out how we wanted, and others were much better than we thought at the time. The next step is to narrow them down even further and choose a layout/ narrative for our magazine.

We had previously set up the basement the night before and tested out the lights and talked about what would look good and what we would have to be careful of.. etc,

Jess and Yasmin had hung up all the clothes and we’d bought some extra make up in vibrant colours which we thought would go well with the theme. On the day of the shoot the stylists got the models ready and did their make up too.

We also decided to get some food and drinks for the models while they were getting ready. This not only makes them feel that they’re being looked after, but also makes them more relaxed and helped to get them talking and generally more at ease. We tried to get them talking and comfortable, which resulted in some pretty natural looking images with a snapshot, almost documentary style, which is what we wanted.

We were a bit worried the models wouldn’t turn up, because we knew they’d been out the night before.. but luckily most of them did. We had an even mix with 3 girls and 4 lads.

The day went quite well, it seemed to take a long time, but it was worth it. Although the shots were improvised in some ways in order to get that snapshot feel, i think the images taken in the street could have been planned better. We wanted the models initially to stand out amongst the ‘normal’ people, which they did, but it was a bit difficult to capture, as it was busy and so many passers-by were just looking at the camera instead of the models. If we had organised more definitely certain places to go, it would have been better.

The most important thing we have agreed on, is that we want snapshot style images suitable for a magazine such as i-D. Something less mainstream and highly edited. This is because highly edited and perfect images won’t suit the style and atmosphere we are trying to create. We want vibrant, fun images hopefully with a bit of attitude added by the youths.

We decided on using the ring flash because hopefully it will create a shadowy halo around the subject and we feel its the best light source to use for this location - in comparison to something like studio lighting. We also have very restricted space to work within, so large lighting is not really an option. If the images go to plan, and we can get them jumping around and having fun, we need something that we can move around with us like a flash. Plus it will be safer around everyone too.

we wanted the shoot to have a documentary style about it and so we decided we wanted ‘normal’ everyday models for our shoot. The main reason for this was because we knew that a group of friends would be more comfortable around each other and more likely to joke around and have a laugh together which is exactly what we wanted. We knew if we asked a group of models who hadn’t met each other before, it would be extremely hard to capture natural images of them having a good time and connecting with each other! and it would have just been awkward between them. After putting a lot of thought into our location and clothing and what kind of image we wanted to give out, it would have been a big shame to end up with serious shots of teenagers looking serious and uncomfortable around each other.

So we first of all went down to the art building with the idea of asking a group of art students, however unfortunately we didn’t find anyone suitable!

However, a few days later we came across across a big group of youths in preston town centre. They are there almost every day, and were all joking around and having a laugh together so we plucked up the courage to ask them. They seemed like inetersting characters and we could tell they were defintely up for a laugh, so it was a natural choice.

This was the basement of Michelle’s house which we thought of using more or less from the beginning, but we wanted to keep our options open and look at other places as well. In the end however, it turned out it was our most preferred location after all and we all thought it fit our concept well.