Research and Planning: Shot Types

These are different types of shots I have researched. This will help me throughout planning my music magazine what type of shots to use for the photographs being used.

Research and Planning: Preliminary Task- College magazine.

I began working on my college magazine two weeks ago; I have now completed a front cover and a contents page. Firstly I used paint shop-pro to design my front cover using conventions of;

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  A masthead
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  A slug line
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  Two attention-grabbing stories
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  The price
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  A bar code
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  Website address
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  An issue number
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  The release date of the magazine
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  A medium shot photograph
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  Other information

I used a very simple and clear font for my masthead, the colours I chose were black with an outer glow of light blue as I knew these two colours would blend well together and become very noticeable. The size of the font of the masthead is extremely important as it's the first convention my target audience will come across and also it has to sell itself to the buyer,  therefore I decided to keep it large and bold with a darker drop shadow around the glow. Then decided to name my magazine 'Hyde Clarendon Stars' to show the readers it's a student magazine aged 16-19 years old.

My slug line associates to the masthead e.g. 'Hyde Clarendon Stars' meaning  Hyde College students, telling them that 'it’s your future' to become successful in the future and shine. I have used a slightly different font which is more italic and slanted, I did this to show that the statement being made was not too serious and may come across to seem laid back, and it’s also a smaller size and is black so it does not clash against the masthead.

The two stories’ I chose to use on my cover are interesting, I decided to use certain words to draw my target audience in, I chose a story talking about the new young talent on television and trips. I knew to do this because when I researched other college magazine’s I noticed the editor had used very clever use of language and sentence structure. For the font I used a dim burgundy colour to match the book that was took in the photograph, this was to even the colour around the cover. In the first story at the top of the page I used three different types of fonts, the reason being i named two films which i used the font from, helping it look professional. 


For my bar code I used the Internet to upload an image onto my cover, I decided to place it at the bottom of the page as most magazine use this layout. For my web address I placed it on the left hand side of the cover besides the photograph the font is small, black and not placed overlapping anything. My price and issue number is placed above the bar code this convention is usually shown on a magazine. I then added an extra piece of information stating '52 pages extra' this was done to grab the audience’s attention, the colour blue helps it to stand out on the white plain background too.

Lastly for my photograph, I used a digital camera and take a medium close up, using a green board as the background to helped me cut around the body shape easier on Photoshop, the colour of the students top helped me choose the colour scheme as i based it around the colour. By looking at the photo you can tell that the magazine is based for students as she is holding a text book, wearing a student id card. I used drop shadow and changed eye colour of the student whiles editing the photo.

By analysing my magazine cover I thought that I could have added more information on the stories as they seem unexciting and lacking in detail, Also if I was to have more time I would have thought more professional and added a lot more detail and effort into the text and photograph. However I like how I've used 3 colours throughout the cover and they seem to blend very well together giving the page a warm and happy feeling.

Next for my contents page;

This section I spent less time on so I didn’t produce it as well as I could have. At the end of finishing this page I decided to print a copy off, this is when I realised that the font was too large, this can be a positive thing as when it comes to plan and design my music magazine it will then make me realize to check font size when printing. On my contents page I have two main sections with headings; Features and Monthly basically explaining what you can find in the magazine, i have split them into two sections because the Monthly section means these topics include in the magazine every month whereas the features may not. On the right hand side of the page I added four photographs that I took around the college; library, student area, outside area, buttylicious area these photographs are part of the college and showing the reader what target audience the magazine is aimed at.

I liked how I carried the colour scheme across from the front cover onto the contents page, which most magazine's do so this helped it to look professional, I also like how the photo's link to the stories on the right hand side so the reader can have more of an idea what there about to read. Lastly how I’ve not overlapped any text and look’s neat. However I dislike how large I made the font on the headings and information and how on each photograph I didn’t place a number of a page on them. I also could have created the lay out more interesting rather than too simple.

Research & Planning: First Draft, College Magazine.

 

First draft of my College Magazine.

Research & Planning: Practice Fonts.

These are my practice font's I styled on Photoshop:

• My first font is 'death metal', this is dark colour font and has a very cold approach to the reader of the magazine, the font style is quite complicated and appears sharp, this may represent a particular audience. 
• Secondly I have designed a pop magazine font, this is very bold and simple, the colour is pink that is  bright and is warm, maybe attracting a younger target audience.
• Lastly I designed a film magazine masthead, I decided to use two bright and noticeable colours to catch attention, it's also on a slant showing the magazine is quite laid back.

Research & Planning: Semiotics Research

Semiotics means the sign, symbols and design of a visual piece of work to categorize it into it's genre e.g a black theme would represent Gothic. This will be used when I start my college magazine as every sign and symbols it will help my magazine fall into a certain genre.  

The semiotics on this magazine would be ;

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  This is a gothic magazine.

  The pale face with black hair, which is a stereo-type goth.
• Big bold font witch has a vampire style, it's also a red colour representing blood.
• The background is very low light, almost night looking.
• The main photo placed centre frame, her facial expression is acting rather seductive, also beneath the main photograph a small photo of a heart shaped tin of some sort. 
• The story on the bottom of the magazine are photo's of six Gothic looking people showing the buyer that it's including photographs inside the magazine of goths.

Research and planning: Target Audience: College Magazine.

Target Audience: College Magazine.The target audience for my college magazine will be ages 16-20 years both female and male, studying part time or full time enrolled on A levels or BTEC'S. My audience is aimed at students who take interest in sporting, music, using the latest technology, performing arts, hair and beauty. As I'm targeting my audience on the students at my college 'Hyde Clarendon sixth form college' it will primarily be middle class.

Research and planning: examples of medium close ups

I decided to search the Internet for are a few examples of medium close up photographs, as I've decided this is the shot typeI will be using in my college magazine.

Research and planning: Analysis of college magazine.

Analysis of a college magazine.

The connotations that show that this magazine is for college students there is;

• The masthead at the top f the cover is very simple bold font which is a brightly coloured and says 'College' showing the readers it's for college students.
• The picture is placed in the middle of the cover so draw attention to the magazine, there is a casual looking boy dressed quiet informal, however carrying books showing that he learns in college.
• There is a bar code and issue number and price on the right hand side of the cover.
• The story's used within the cover link to the age of target audience reading, by using story's such as technology,making money etc.
• The font within the magazine cover stays the same but in different size. Its very bold and simple and is easy to read also it's not in too much detail, the words used are very grabbing to the audience reading for example; bright future, spring break escape. make money!

Research and planning: Introduction to photoshop (Skin correction tutorial)

Before.

After.

This is my third skin tutorial piece I have edited on Photoshop Pro, first of all I started off by;

• I used the 'Plaster tool' which is located on the left side bar of the page, this was a simple task to remove and spots or blemishes, I enlarged the photo zooming right into the skin where I wanted to remove any unwanted spots etc.
• Secondly I used the face smoother, this helped to smooth the skin, create an airbrushed affect and non-greasy look, most likely to be used on photo's in magazines or posters. I did this by clicking on 'layers' so that I could then create a duplicate layer, then I highlighted the duplicate layer and clicked on filter -blur to blur smart, which then did the effect I used. However it came our rather plastic looking so then I took the opacity down, creating a more natural image.
• Then I moved on with changing the eye colour, this again was a simple task to complete, I used a paint brush and changed the shape and size of the brush to fit the eye, I then chose a colour that I changed it to. I then used the paint brush again but this time used a very small lined brush and choose black as the colour, I then went around the eye to create an eye liner effect and also used the same brush to add extra eyelashes, creating her eyes to stand out more.
• Afterwards I then changed the colour of her lips, I used a rounded paint brush and choose a plum red colour, However I took the opacity down as I wanted it to look fair.
• To change her hair colour, firstly I choose light brown colour, a little darker than her usually colour, I used the paint brush once again but changed the size to a large size so it made it quicker to complete her whole hair. However I had to change the opacity fairly low to 35-50% so it kept the outline of the hair strands and to keep it looking natural.
• Last of all I changed the background, I started by highlighting the background layer, then clicked on images - adjustments and colour balance which then allowed me to pick a colour to change the background.

Research and planning: Introduction to photoshop (Creating a document)

Creating  a document

• First of all I opened an A4 document on Paint-Shop pro to begin creating my document.
• Then I added 'As Media Studies' in century Gothic size 24 font, I did this by using the T text tool on the right hand side.
• I then changed the colour of the text by highlighting the writing and using the colour chart.
• I then changed the colour of the background using the colour chart selecting blue and filled the background using the paint bucket.
• Then i double clicked the text, clicked layer style and added a drop shadow and changed the strengthens of it.
• After I'd done that I then opened i photo of the girl, used the magic wand and selected around the girl and dragged in onto my document and moved it beneath the text.

Research and planning: Introduction to photoshop (CD cover)

This is my completed music CD cover.

• Firstly I added The CD,horn and music symbols onto the musical background, I did this by using using the magic tool to select the image i wanted to transfer onto the music sheet. 
• Then I was set a task to change the colour,size of the CD, I did this by using the paint bucket to change parts of the CD and clicked on image-change size to change the size and I also rotated it too by clicking on edit and transform then rotate.
• Once I did that I did the same to the horn and music symbols.
• Then I added text to the cover, by clicking the T on the left hand side toolbar and changed the size and colour using the toolbar, I then used layer style to add a drop shadow to my text, helping it to stand out.
• To blend the CD into the background I changed the opacity.
• I added a filter to the background to make it darker and more noticeable.

Hi welcome to my media blogger here is where I'm going to research and complete all my planning over the next couple of months.