Main Brief

To design a front cover, contents and double page spread of a new music magazine. All images and text used must be original, a minimum of four images must be used.

My Final Magazine Cover

 

This is my final magazine cover, and I am relatively happy with the way that it has turned out. I like the colour schemes and the way that the main story definitely stands out. I also like the way that the picture is of good quality and is classed as a close up, as well as the picture fitting with the scheme of college magazine; the model is situated in the library. I also like the text I have used for my masthead as it stands out and is bold and big, as well as the skyline being a catchy yet simple slogan.

Evaluation

1. What have you learnt from completing this task?
From completing this task, I have learnt a lot of new skills, especially considering I have never done Media Studies before. I have learnt new terms and editing skills, and also how to properly use Photoshop when it comes to layers/shapes etc. I can now do more complex things with Photoshop than I was able to back at High School. The main thing that I have learnt from this task is how to create an attractive magazine cover that fits the purpose, in this case it being a college magazine cover. I know now to stick to 3 colours when it comes to colour schemes, and also if the writing is not visible once the background picture has been put into place to use a shape filled in with white, for example, and to then adjust the opacity so that both the writing and the background is visible. This then looks more professional that either having a box in the middle of the page and being able to see the writing and not having a box in the middle of the page and not being able to see the writing; it looks more attractive and professional that way. I have also learnt how to use many of the tools in photoshop that I never even knew existed before, for example the lassoo tool and also the text tool; I didn't know how quickly text could be entered before.

2. How have you used technology?
In creating my magazine cover, the main form of technology I have used has been the Apple Macs and computers in Oak 55. The main program I have used on these is Photoshop, and I decided to use this instead of Publisher, for example, because I think that it gives more professional looking results, as well as more attractive results. I have also used a Panasonic camera to take my front cover photos, as well as my Samsung Galaxy S3 phone to take the test photos, for example extreme close up/medium close up etc. I decided that I liked the Panasonic camera better for taking photos as it had a higher mega pixel rating, and also looked better in daylight than my phone did; in some pictures, my phone's camera looks quite pixilated which differs from my camera, which doesn't look as grainy and has slightly better quality. I was surprised at how similar the 2 were, however when I looked closely, I could see that there was a slight difference between the 2. I found that using the Macs was harder than using the normal computers purely because I had never used one for doing that sort of complex work before, however I got used to it relatively quickly and found that it could do more complex things than a normal computer.

3. What conventions have you used and why?
I did research to find out what was generally in a typical magazine, and found that the typical conventions in a magazine are things like the plug, masthead etc. The conventions that I have used includes a masthead placed in the centre top of the magazine as this is typically where they are placed. Above that, I placed a skyline with a slogan on, and typical magazines have a skyline with either a slogan or more information about the magazine itself. As well as that, I used a plug with the text; 'WIN! 2 tickets to the college Halloween party!', as plugs on magazines usually have some sort of WIN written on them, or discounts etc. I also used a barcode, as every magazine has a barcode with a price on to scan along with a price, as well as a large picture that fills up almost the whole of the front cover. I decided to have my model in the library as it looks very academic. The footer bar on my magazine is also in the typical place as it would be in a normal magazine, and it includes a discount section, as in my research most magazines had this. Finally, I used stories that were spread about across the whole of the cover, however not covering the models face, as that it was what shown in my research, as well as the fact that if they were covering the models face then it would not look professional or attractive.

4. What would you change if you were to do this task again?
All in all I am happy with the way my magazine has turned out, as it has all the typical magazine conventions and also a good colour scheme and it looks attractive. If I were to do this task again, I would probably experiment with different colour schemes, as I think that the sorts of blues and whites that I have used are quite plain. I would maybe use some brighter colours, for example reds or oranges etc to make it even more eye catching. As well as that, I would also change the layout of my masthead, as my masthead is in quite a typical place; I could change it to be on the left or the right instead of just in the centre. Also, I would maybe edit the picture of my model or even change it completely, for example, instead of my model being sat down, I would take a photo of them standing up, and then edit the background out so that I could put them on a plainer background that would match my colour scheme, for example a plain or baby blue. I would then finally change the text type, as I believe that this is also a bit plain; I would prefer for it to be again a bit more eyecatching and more vibrant.

Digital Contents Page Draft

Here is my contents page draft. I tried to include what would be on the pages as well as the page numbers and keep everything in order so that it looked as professional and as attractive as possible. I used the same name as in my front cover and I will use the same colour scheme when it comes to actually producing it.

Test Photos for Front Cover

These are some of the test photos that I decided not to use for many different reasons. One of these reasons is because some of them were blurry, which doesn't look professional or attractive, hence why I didn't use them. This photo is an example of one of the blurry photos that I took. As you can see, it is blurry towards the left hand corner.

Another reason I didn't use some of my photos is because the quality wasn't good. This would again look unprofessional and would not attract the reader to it.  I have noticed that the photos that have the bad quality are also blurry, meaning that there is a link between the two. 

Another reason why I didn't use some of the photos was because the people in them were sometimes blinking or weren't ready for the photo to be taken, like in this photo. The person in this photo doesn't look very happy, and I would not want to put that on my cover as it would give the wrong impression. 

There are other photos that I didn't use for the same reasons, for example because they were blurred or because someones head was chopped off etc. 

Photoshop Test

Introduction to Photoshop

In this lesson, we had an introduction to Photoshop. We learnt the basics of Photoshop and how to use it. For example, we found out what each part of Photoshop was and what they did.

This is the tool bar, much like there is one in Microsoft Word. In it, there are tools such as a lasso tool, cropping tool, text tool etc.













We also learnt how to screenshot the full screen and also sections of the screen. To do this, what we had to do was press Ctrl+Shift+4 to take a screenshot of the whole Mac screen, for example some work on Photoshop, and then to take a screenshot of a section of the screen, press Ctrl+Shift+3. (much like I have done with the toolbar)

We learnt how to insert images and remove them from their background before adding them to the original photo, like I have done here with the Eiffel Tower, and also with the astronaut and the bear that I will also upload.

To add the original background photo, known as layer 1, all that needs to be done is to simply save the image, and then drag it from the file to the blank Photoshop program. Then to add the picture, do the same, then remove the image from the background using the magnetic lassoo tool, and then ad it to the first layer. This will then become layer two.

This can then be done with any other images, for example the astronaut. This would be harder to remove from its background using the magnetic lassoo tool, as it doesn't have straight edges, so to do this, the normal lassoo tool would have to be used.

This will then create something that looks like this;

This will then be the same for the final image, a bear, however much more care should be taken when lassooing around the edges as the bear would have fur and that quality would have wanted to be kept.

Once the bear has been added, it will look something like this.

Taking Test Photos

In this lesson, we learnt how to take photos that would fit with the college magazine, and also learn different types of angles and what different photos mean. We learnt the basic shots that can be done with a typical camera. These were:

An extreme close up, like this. This can be a feature of the face, for example eyes or lips etc.

A close up, which is usually taken of a certain feature, for example a head etc.

A medium close up, which is usually taken from someone's waist upwards.

A long shot, which is the entire object or human in the shot, including background and floor.

A low shot, which is when the camera is situated on the floor of the subject looking up at it.

A high angle, which is when the camera is situated above the subject, much like a birds eye view.

Two shot, which is when there are two subjects included in the picture.

Image framed to the left is when the subject is to the left of the shot.

Image framed to the right is when the subject is situated to the right of the camera.

And finally, a central image is when the subject is in the centre of the lense.

Analyzing a Pirates of the Caribbean DVD Cover

In this lesson, we analyzed a Pirates of the Caribbean DVD cover, as well as learning the key terms in media studies. The key terms we looked at were;

A text: In Media Studies any mass media product is described as a text. This might be a book, however it can also be a film/TV program/a radio program/ a magazine or a newspaper. Every text has been deliberately constructed, every choice of image, colour and layout has been thought about in detail as to how it will appeal to its target audience.

Deconstruction: This is the practice of taking apart any media text and detailing what elements construct the finished text.

Signs and Signifiers: These are features we 'read' and are seen as 'clues' to the meaning of texts. We have learnt the meaning of them through constant exposure to them. This is culturally determined.

Denotation: This is what you see in front of you, what is shown on the page or the screen.

Connotation: This is the meaning(s) we infer from what we see in front of us. The 'hidden' meaning.

Conventions: Expected and predictable signs that we read and that create expectations in the audience, i.e. the gun fight at the end of a Western.

Code(s): A system in which signs are organised. They create meaning on agreed social and cultural experience of the audience and producer. There are technical codes and symbolic codes.

When I first looked at this, I automatically assumed that it is a DVD cover, however it could also be a poster/advertisement. The biggest face on the cover is Jack Sparrow, which shows that he is one of the main characters - others include Orlando Bloom, Keira Knightley etc. Quite dark and mysterious colours have been used, which shows that it is an adventure film. The mist/fog that is rising up from the sea again suggests mystery and adventure, and almost as if there is a secret, which makes people want to know what that could possibly be. The sea and the ship suggests that it is mainly filmed near the sea/on a ship, however it looks like there is an island in the background - again shows a sense of mystery. The brightness of the characters faces contrast with the colouring of the background. This, again, shows that they are the main characters, but it also makes them stand out; it makes them sure that they are seen. Finally, the order of the characters differs from the order of the faces. This is to make sure that the most important people are in the most important order. This is the same with the faces; the face in the middle would be looked at first, hence why the biggest character has been put there. 

Mood Board of Ideas

Mood Board
Here I created a mood board of possible ideas and themes that I could have on and in my magazine, for example colour schemes, possible articles and layouts etc. For each section, I did more than one idea so that I had a range to choose from when it came to choosing my actual layout/colour scheme/magazine name. I researched about existing magazine cover and logos, as well as looking at what colour schemes people used when creating a magazine. Most publishers used a scheme of 3 colours so that the high amount of colours weren't overpowering. They also used bright, bold text for their mastheads and main stories, so that it would attract people's attention.

Analyzing Magazine Covers #3

Analyzing Magazine Covers #2

Analyzing Magazine Covers #1