Research and Planning: Shot type analysis

I have drawn a series of images to show a variety of types of camera-shots. This has been done in order to help me understand conventions of camera angles and shots when analyzing TV drama at a later date. I drew an establishing, close up, medium close up, over the shoulder, two shot, aerial shot and point of view shots in order to show that I understand what each of these are and what they will look like.

Research and Planning: Preliminary Task evaluation

I have designed the front cover and contents page of a new college magazine. I have named it Hyde life because it is for Hyde Clarendon college and is aimed at students who are spending some of their life at the college.
I designed the front cover on photoshop. I used the already existing house style of the college using the logo and looking at the website, seeing that green, blue, pink and green were often displayed on a black background. I recreated this effect within both my cover and contents page. Using semiotics this shows that it is directly linked to Hyde Clarendon college.
The image I chose to use on my front cover is one of myself which I cut out and reduced the opacity of. I think this effect worked well as it is still central on the cover, though not demanding attention like the stories are with their brighter colours. I don't think that the image was a very good one as it is quite plain.
The main story has a strongly contrasting style to the other ones, being in a different coloured box and text, though still using the colours that are linked with the college. I think this was successfully done.
The masthead is bold and strong to grab attention, the blue banner with green text which has a small, yet noticable, drop shadow is good at getting attention.
All of the text on the front cover is in front of a box to make it easier to read, and for it to jump out. I think there may have been a few too many different colours on there though.

On my contents page I repeated the logo right at the top. With the page masthead below this. The first thing on the page is a welcome note. These are arranged in this order because they are in the order that I want them to be read, with the welcome first, then a logo, then the "contents" text. This works quite well but if it was listed int the centre one on top pof the other this would have worked better. I don't think that would have looked as effective though.
The text on the page is aligned in columns, with a pink text for the story and a blue description in a slightly smaller font with the page number of the story listed next to it. This is done so that the story grabs attention and then the description is there to be read to find out a little more. This effect works very well as it makes the text clear and distinct, as well as causing it to stand out.
The image at the bottom is used to show a student working. This is easy for the target audience to relate to because they will be doing a lot of work at college.

What I Like about the college Magazine:
I like the variety of colours used within the magazine as they reflect the colours of Hyde Clarendon college. they are the same as on the logo and the ones used on the colleges website.
The stories are displayed within different coloured shapes, allowing them to stand out and create an effect within people, making them want to read it.
The image of myself has lowered opacity and lowers focus on it, highlighting the stories that the college magazine has to offer.
The contrasting colours used in every piece of text make every word very bold and clear, which is helpful for a product which needs to be read.

Dislikes about the college magazine:
The magazine looks very basic. There is very little involved in the making of it, which makes it look plain and dull, so it will not stand out from its competitors.
There are a lot of colours. Most magazines stick to a basic few colours, usually no more than three, though this has more than that. It could be quite confusing and difficult to follow as the structure is a bit more complex.
There is very little information involved. This gives people very little to think about it, and less chance of persuading them to read on and find out more.

Improvements:
More features and effects could be added to the magazine, For example there could be more images that have effects added to them, like liquifying.
There could be less colours involved within the magazine, and an easier structure. For example it could have pink and white text boxes or blue and green, rather than having both.
More stories and information could be included within the magazine in order to gain more interest and cause people to read more, persuading them to get the magazine.

Feedback:
Good use of information is included.
Small font is used which is quite hard to read.
Few images are used, there could be a lot more.
Little colour is included on the front cover and contents page, more colours would make it look more attractive.

Research and Planning: Design for college Magazine

Here is my draft for a design of a college magazine.

Research and Planning: Research into imaginary mastheads

I have created a few mastheads which i think would suit the style of magazines with the titles they have.

Death Metal: I practiced using a bold font that contrasted significantly from the background and stood out a lot. It has blocked capitals to stand out. Using semiotics it can be figured out that these link it to rock music.

Popworld: I gave this a bright background and a colour that contrasted well to make it look quite uplifting. The font is also not very strong to view which fits in with the stereotype of pop music. I gave it a drop shadow as well, as the extra effect links it to fit a stereotype of pop. 

Popcorn: I made this similar to the Popworld masthead. This is because they are both related to pop. The colours I chose play on the name as the colour yellow represents corn which would be in a green field. Like with the Popworld masthead I used an effect. this time I made it glow. This was done for the same reason as before.

Research and Planning: Semiotics research

Semiotics is the study of anything that can be interpreted as a sign. It is used to show the meaning behind a sign. These signs can be anything at all. For example there is text, images, colour and a series of pages in a magazine. Each of these are signs and semiotics can be used to discover their meanings. These signs can define items. They can be used to make clearer target audiences, genres, and they can give meaning to a body of text or an image. Semiotics is used in many forms of media. For example, rock music tends to have a unique, dark coloured look to a lot of its images. An example is below.

Semiotics here shows that the dark image is of a musician involved in the rock genre of music. It fits in with the rest of the scene. The bold fonts which strongly contrast to the other the image behind them, making them stand out link to show that they are all linked to the rock scene. The fonts are large and very upfront which is a continuous feature with rock music. The other images have lots of the colour black on them which yet again links itself to fit in with the stereotype of rock music. Semiotics here uses the characteristics of rock music and shows that the way it is portrayed throughout the magazine relates it to rock music.

Target Audience of my college magazine

The target audience for my college magazine is:

• Sixteen to nineteen year old students who have finished their GCSEs and have now gone into a sixth form college because they are the ones who will be at college.
• Gender: male or female as there will be stories that cater for both sexes as they will both be interested in some of the content.
• Interests: College life, socializing, extra activities, what college is like for others. These interests are things that both the male and female students at college will be interested in and be able to relate to.
• Education: The majority will have came from school after getting their GCSE results. However, some will have tried taking other courses elsewhere and been unsuccessful and wanted to do something different or try again.
• Class: The magazine will be aimed at working class people as these are the class of the students at the college. This is so that readers can also relate much more easily.

 

Research and Planning: Examples of medium close-ups

These are a few examples of medium close-ups, which show the face and shoulders of the person in them. They are the same kind of picture as the one I will have to use for my college magazine.

Research and Planning: Analysis of college magazine

This is a college magazine that I will now analyze.

The masthead in this college magazine is in the middle of the page. It is not at the top because it is not the first thing that is intended to be looked at.

The question at the top of the page is there to instantly get the reader thinking about what they could do now, and as they think, the rest is there to influence the decision made.

The slogan is to get the reader thinking and keep there hopes up. It is making them think that they can still do something, which interests them and keeps their hopes up.

The main picture is of someone holding their results in the air, which will give the reader even more hope, seeing the success of others and they will begin to believe that they can do the same.

There is very little information or stories on the page but what is there is there for the reader to read every word, no information has not been added for a reason. Each piece is to keep the reader thinking.

The magazine has only two main colours: red and white. The red background makes the white font stand out, making it very easy to read. 

The information is well suited to its target audience because they will be looking to be at college and this is exactly the opportunity is shows them they still have.

Research and Planning: Indesign Tuotrial

 I made myself a film review using the program Adobe Indesign. This is the first time I have ever used the program and my skills aren't very good so far.

I created guides to make the text appear in columns and posted a film review within them. I put an image using the place tool, in the corner as well as a small bit of text as a page number which I gave a green border, which matched the text.

I attempted to give the image a small drop shadow but this didn't work as it just kept making everything on the page look darker. The same thing happened when I tried to add a gradient effect to the background in which there should have been a colour gradually changing across the page, yet it just turned everything dark again.

Next time I will make sure I manage my layers properly to make sure that none override each other and this doesn't happen again.

Reasearch and Planning: Introduction to Photoshop (CD cover)

 I started my Media course using photoshop and designed this CD cover using a variety of tools like colour change and other methods of editing. I've used photoshop before but I am still improving my skills.

Other tools I have used on Photoshop are the liquify, filter, colour balance, cut and paste and the colour style tools.

Research and Planning: Introduction to Photoshop (Skin Correction tutorial)

I also used a photoshop skin tutorial, in which I edited a picture of a girl using a variety of methods including spot treatment and brushes. I also used the opacity settings to create a better effect.

Research and Planning: Introduction to Photoshop (Creating a Document)

I used a photoshop tutorial to help remind me of some techniques such as text placing, text sizing, text and image moving, as well as background changing.

Welcome to Media

Here is an image of a Kerrang! magazine with the Blackout on the front cover.