Lanhydrock Photo Shoot Planning (For the 4th of December)

Location - Grounds of Lanhydrock, particularly in front of the house and around the graveyard

Costume Ideas - Old fashioned Victorian style dresses (like the ones pictured below) 

Mise-en-scene/Props - Rabbit's head, playing cards, old mirror/frame

Shot list - Long and Medium long shots of the subject amongst the surroundings e.g. A long shot of Grace positioned in front of Lanhydrock house. The long shots are to establish that the environment can be captured effectively and in relation to my regional theme. The medium long shots would ensure that there is more of a focus on my subject, as well as focusing attention on the woodland around her.

Model, crew and equipment list - The model I will be using is Grace, whom I share a photography class with, therefore showing that she is familiar with posing for photo shoots. I will be accompanied by my media teacher and other students also wanting photographs for their coursework, and the equipment I will be taking will be a Canon 5d camera and a tripod (in order to get a range of different angles). The lighting used will be natural, in order to follow genre conventions of regional magazines.

Flat Plans

After considering comments regarding my midline in my double page spread, I recreated my DPS flat plan to adjust to this problem. 

Ruth Saberton article (2nd draft)

‘The Story Behind one of Cornwall’s Most Inspirational Authors’

Cornwall is known and adored for its fantastic food and stunning scenery, but what also makes this region of ours so great is the vast amount of settings and inspiration it offers to budding authors. Novels such as ‘Poldark’ and ‘Jamaica Inn’ have reminded us on why our county is so unique, and now we are proudly represented by another devoted author with a passion for Cornwall; and now the Duchy has a new budding star…

Ruth Saberton’s story is one that will inspire many, as her progression from being an English and Media teacher at a local comprehensive to becoming one of the most popular and well-loved Cornish writers of all time is a clear demonstration of her determination and dedication to her passion to follow her dreams.

From an early age Ruth had a devote interest in writing, and would send her stories to various magazines and newspapers, who foolishly rejected her over and over again. Despite this, she carried on writing in her spare time, whilst continuing with her teaching career. Despite working incredibly hard, Ruth did not develop her creative voice, much loved by fans today, until her perception of writing suddenly changed when she went to Lanhydrock and saw a male author selling his own books, who told her to; ‘Write about what you know.’ This advice inspired Ruth to write about a romantic comedy about an English teacher.

This lead to Ruth’s big break came with the release of Katy Carter in 2010, a novel that found fame after a copy was picked up by Richard Madeley (best known from the television duo Richard and Judy) and she became an overnight sensation, who even got a mention on popular TV Show, ‘Have I Got News for You.’ Since then Ruth has written numerous books that have delighted her fans; her latest book ‘The Letter’ is not an exception and seems set to become one of her best ever works.  She was inspired to write ‘The Letter’ after her mother stumbled across some old family photographs, and the faded pictures of her relatives and their past gave her inspiration for her characters. Her Great Aunt spent her whole life waiting for her fiancé to return from the war, and received no closure after she was told that he had gone missing. Her Great Aunt longed to be a writer and wrote endless letters to the Red Cross, but she never got to tell her own story. Ruth wanted to tell this story for her, and she says that she hopes she has managed to keep her great aunt’s story remembered.

When did you first decide you wanted to become a writer?

‘I’ve wanted to be a writer for as long as I can remember and as a child I filled endless notebooks with stories about ponies and forced my poor family to read them. A few years ago I decided that rather than just dreaming about being an author I was going to really go for it. I wrote my first novel in about five months and writing it was the easy bit. There then followed endless rejections from agents and publishers and it was soul destroying. I didn’t give up though and writing about what I knew proved to be the key and I started Katy Carter Wants a Hero, the very fictional tale (!) of a teacher who dreams of being a best-selling novelist.”

Is there something or someone in particular who first inspired you to start writing?

“As a child I read just about everything I could get my hands on. I loved the pony stories written by the Pullein Thompson sisters and I longed to live that life of hunting and hay bales (not easy to do in Uxbridge!) I think I wrote to escape a childhood of being indoors far too much and away from all the things I wanted, animals and countryside. In my imagination I could have those things.”

Which of your books are you proudest of and why?

“I’m proud of all my books, it’s like having children! How can I pick a favourite? I am very fond of “Katy Carter Wants a Hero” as it was the first one published and got me featured in the National Press. I also adore “Dead Romantic” as I wanted to write it for so long and the themes within it were very close to my heart. I’m very excited about my new series set in Cornwall, Polwenna Bay, and the sexy bonk buster that I’m about 100,000 words into. The Indie books have been a revelation too and I am beyond proud of how well they sell and the boost to my career that working with Michele Gorman and Talli Roland and Nick Spalding at Notting Hill Press has been amazing. THE LETTER though has a special magic…”

Ruth has also just written and just released a story for younger readers about her other passion, horses. Ruth’s novel Chances has also proved to be a massive hit with fans and Ruth thoughtfully donated the proceedings of one of her books to the British Horse Society charity. Her passion for Cornwall continues to grow and shine through in her work, hopefully for many years to come.

Ruth Saberton DPS article (unfinished)

'The story behind one of Cornwall's most inspirational authors'

Cornwall is known and adored for its fantastic food and stunning scenery, but what also makes this region of ours so great is the vast amount of settings and opportunities it offers to budding authors. Novels such as 'Poldark' and 'Jamaica Inn' have reminded us on why our county is so unique, and now we are proudly represented by another devoted author with a passion for Cornwall.

Ruth Saberton's story is one that will inspire many, as her progression from being an English and Media teacher at a local comprehensive to becoming one of the most popular and well loved Cornish writers of all time is a clear demonstration of her determination and dedication to her passion.

From an early age Ruth had a devote interest in writing, and would send her stories to various magazines and newspapers, who foolishly rejected her over and over again. Despite this, she carried on writing in her spare time, whilst continuing with her teaching career.

Her perception of writing suddenly changed when she went to Lanhydrock and saw a man selling books, who told her to 'write about what you know'. Since then, her recurring themes of horses, teaching and Cornwall have engaged audiences far and wide. Still remaining humble, Ruth says that she has Richard Madeley to thank (who is best known from the television duo Richard and Judy), who fell in love with her book after stumbling upon it in a local bookshop. It was then published and became hugely successful, thus ensuring that Ruth was on her way to becoming a prosperous writer.
She has also thoughtfully donated the proceedings of one of her books to charity.

Ruth has since given up teaching 2 years ago to write full time and has now wrote over 30 books based off her teaching experiences and interests. Her passion for Cornwall continues to grow and shine through in her work, hopefully for many years to come.

Ruth Saberton notes (Year 8 assembly)

After I finished editing my preferred Lanhydrock image, I was planning to use it for my double page spread, with an article alongside it featuring a story relating to the hauntings allegedly spotted at Lanhydrock. However, I felt like this image would have worked more effectively as a cover image, as it is successfully representing my Halloween theme whilst showing that the magazine is remaining regional. As a result I began to work on my front cover, but I was still unsure on what to feature in my double spread. I attended a careers assembly held for the Year 8's where Ruth Saberton, the famous author living in Cornwall, was giving an inspirational speech on her career journey. This remains relevant to my regional magazine because she is based in Cornwall and used to be an English and Media teacher at Bodmin College, but she now dedicates herself to writing fiction novels set in Cornwall.




Ruth Saberton notes:

- Worked at the school/Bodmin College as an English teacher, but wanted to be an author




- Continuously wrote stories and sent them to newspapers, but they always got sent back




- Carried on writing in her spare time and getting rejected


- Went to Lanhydrock and saw a man selling books, who said 'write about what you know'


- Wrote a book about an English teacher wanting to be an author, living in Cornwall


- Picked up by Richard (from Richard and Judy) who read it and liked it


- It was then published and became successful


- She has now written around 30 books


- Wrote whilst teaching abroad (in the Caribbean)


- Gave up teaching 2 years ago to write full time


- Usually involves horses, teaching, Cornwall


- Wrote a book, published it and donated the money to charity


- Uses teaching experiences (and war poetry) in her work

Mood Board

In order to demonstrate the type of house style I am aiming for in my magazine, I created a mood board representing the style and format I want to apply to my own regional magazine. Whilst none of these magazine covers in my mood board have the seasonal theme I am wanting to create in my own work, they give me a good expectation of certain conventions such as positioning of images and cover lines.

Pumpkin Photo Shoot

When considering whether to give my regional magazine a seasonal theme, such as Halloween or Christmas, I was advised to carry out a photo shoot featuring a pumpkin to give me a clearer idea on the theme I could present throughout my regional magazine. The outcome of this photo shoot was very positive, and it gave me a better understanding on what kind of regional magazine I could create.
However, one problem that did occur was the eventual rotting of the pumpkin, which made it difficult for me to take further photographs as effectively as beforehand, as evidenced below. This was not a significant problem to me however, as I was pleased with the success of my first indoor photo shoot with the pumpkin. The success of this pumpkin photo shoot offers a positive contribution to my work,  as it shows that I could use the best image/images in my regional magazine.

Possible masthead fonts

When analysing my survey results I discovered that the most popular masthead title amongst my respondents was 'Cornish Life', so I therefore decided upon this title for my regional magazine. I used various font websites to give me a better understanding on the types of font styles available, keeping in mind genre conventions and audience appeal. Whilst all of the mastheads I have included have been ones that I admire and believe would work effectively in my magazine, the ones I favour would be the mastheads with lower case lettering (such as 'dulcelin' and 'good vibes') as they offer a more informal tone and appearance, therefore possibly following genre conventions more carefully, whilst appealing to the audience more.