When you create your flatplans / storyboards they should be very detailed, coloured sketches of what you intend yourproduct to look like. You should have your analysed magazines / film openings open when doing this.
Underneath each flatplan you should write a summary of the conventions you've used and why (ensuring that you relate back to your textual and audience research, discussing layout and design and the connotations of specific features you've included).
Below is an example from a previous student.
This is a flat plan of my front cover. I chose to use only one image, and have it as a close up of my model looking up and away. I think it will look good if I use heavy black eyeshadow which matches her black hair and will contrast from the light I will try to fill the rest of the image with. As in my research people said they would prefer to see photos taken on location, I will try and fill the space that looks empty with the sky. I'm not yet sure whether to keep the image grey scale or faintly coloured. I have used colours that can be seen in my mood board; pale greens and pinks. They aren't really visible on this image however, as the scanner didn't detect them as well as I would've liked. Pale pink is used in the masthead and article title, which soften the image and make it look feminine, which will reflect that the magazine is primarily targeted at females. I have used sell lines such as "indie's biggest new comer" and "Exclusive!" as they contain buzzwords and will make the magazine seem appealing. Also, all the text is written in capitals to make it seem bolder, and there are sell-lines along the bottom of the cover to show what other artists are included in the magazine, and make a reader want to buy it. "Heart & Soul" is my magazine title and the date is underneath. The font looks handwritten, giving it a rough and edgy image. In the bottom right hand corner is a bar code and price.
This is a flat plan of my contents page and I think I struggled to make one that I was pleased with. It has a white background and the same black, white, pale green and pale pink colour scheme from the front cover. I have separated the contents in to "features" and "regulars" with page numbers and headers in pale green and the other text and title in pale pink, which I think gives the idea of consistency. It also coheres with my audience's preference of a simple colour scheme. I have taken influence from "Clash" magazine's personalised titles and abbreviated my magazine name to "H&S" which I put above contents. There are two images on the right hand side of my models, who will be placed in square images on the page. In the top picture she is pictured smiling, looking away off the page, which gives her a friendly and safe image. She is dressed in jeans and a feminine floral top. I'm still not sure on the outfit she should be wearing, though. The image below will be edited to be in grey scale before being inserted into the contents page and will contain my two models who are "Robert's Roses", looking off the page and not at the camera. They will be dressed in indie clothes (shirts, polo shirts and jeans), and one will be wearing sunglasses as he leans against the railings whilst the other sits on them. As they won't be smiling, I think they will have quite a serious and tough image, which I hope will contribute to the edgy image of the band and magazine.
This is a flat plan of my double page spread. There is a main image of my artist in an overgrown field, which again complies with my audience's preference for images taken on location. She will look as though she is naturally walking through it. I hope this makes my artist look quite cool and indie artists are often pictured at run-down places, so this should fit in with that look. The image spans over two pages, with my artist reasonably small, which should hopefully make her look free. The title "Ruby Tuesday" (my artist's name) will be at the top in a pale pink, flowing and old-fashioned text, to make her look feminine. On the right page will be what looks like a ripped up piece of paper with my article written on in a type writer font. This fits in with the "rough and ready" image and some of the grass from the image could overlap this to make it look more overgrown and natural. There will be an introductory paragraph and 3 columns of text, with a quote in the middle. I took the idea of an enlarged quote and introductory paragraph from my textual analysis as I thought it looked really effective. The article will be in black text and the quote will be in the corresponding colours of pale pink and/or green.
For the VIDEO brief, here is an exemplar storyboard:
