When looking back at my magazine cover I found it a little bit plain so I wanted to make it a little bit more unique and interesting.
I solved this problem by adding patterns around my model, this allowed the magazine to be eye catching and individual. I added and placed every single shape onto the cover to ensure that everything was equally spaced and wasn't too busy.
I used red for the pattern because it matches the colour of the guitar and allows the cover lines, masthead and other parts of the magazine to stand out. I left a space and moved the bar code so it was more discrete and could be used.
I have learnt new and various techniques by experimenting with Photoshop while designing my front cover.
I started off with my image which I proportioned and moved to a suitable and eye catching place, which I learnt to do when I had a tutorial of Photoshop. I then adjusted settings like the sharpness, brightness, contrast, hue and saturation to achieve a professional quality image.
This is my original image, there has been no editing to it or cropping.
This is my edited image. I have brightened the picture to make the picture to make it stand out more, I have increased the saturation so the colours are more definite and are more striking. I also increased the sharpness so my model would look more definite and separate from the white backdrop. I also adjusted the contrast and the brightness so then my picture would look more defined.
I then added my coverlines, mastheads and slugs, these were edited on by using cooltext.com and then copying and pasting into Microsoft Word, cropping off the pieces I didn't want and then copying them into Photoshop then arranging them according to my flat plan and what looks appealing to the eye.
I have added the cover lines in the house font style which is reversed out, I tilted the mast head to give the magazine a more relaxed tone. There is only one cover line as I feel that if I used too many cover lines then the whole magazine would be cluttered and look untidy. I also added a bar code by making the white transparent but I placed this out in the corner so it was on its own and not very noticeable.
I found that due to the lack of cover lines there was a huge white space to the right of the cover. Although this is the side of the magazine that wouldn't be seen when presented in a shop it still made the cover look empty. I resolved this by moving the image to the right.
I have moved the picture to the right, this has given me my completed magazine cover. I decided not to use a lot of grabbing techniques or cover lines as this clutters the cover page and I think that less is more and would appeal to the audience more. When I do my contents page I will include more information of what's in the magazine but I will obtain the 'less is more' tone.
Recently I have learned numerous techniques to do with the software Photoshop and how to edit photographs in numerous and different ways. One of the basic techniques I have picked up on is how to create a new document and how to size the desired picture I want without it being out of proportion.
This is my image in Photoshop which has been proportioned so it is an appropriate size so it keeps its sharpness.
Another skill I have picked up it how to change the hue and saturation of my picture, so I can change the colour and the lightness of the photo.
I have changed numerous properties to my picture. I have altered the hue which has caused the red in the picture to turn pink. I have also modified the saturation to allow the pink to be more striking. I adapted the lighting slightly so the image would become darker overall.
I have also picked up a skill which can allow me to distort photographs to make them look more fun and relaxed rather than them being more serious.
I have distorted my picture to make the body look really small compared to the guitar and the legs.
Another technique that I am now aware of is how to use the lasso tool.
I have used the lasso tool to remove the neck of my guitar but I dislike this process as it is very time consuming and fiddly. It also doesn't produce the best results.
I have gained how to use the quick selection tool.
I have used the quick selection tool to delete my models head. I preferred this to the lasso tool as it is quicker and much more precise. If I ever need to delete parts off photos then I will use this tool as I preferred it to using the lasso.
The last technique that I have learned is how to fill a section of a deleted part of the photo.
I have filled the head, which I deleted by using quick selection, with the paintbrush.
Above is the progression of learning how to upload documents to Scrid which is another piece of software that enhances my presentation of my work making it more interesting instead of reading a typical blog post. Scribd can also assist me by portraying my work whilst keeping a certain style, therefore making my work look presentable.
I have redone my survey to involve questions that involve the audience more so I can find out more of their habits and what they like, this will allow me to design and create a college magazine that appeals to my target audience. I have kept some questions from my previous questionnaire as I see them as important to include them as they are a key basic to a student magazine.
5.In preference order, your favourite being number one and least
favourite number four. What do you find the most appealing about magazines?
Images
Interviews
Adverts
Articles
6.What three genres of magazines are you interested in?
Woman’s
Interests
(e.g.
Cosmopolitan)
Men’s
(e.g.
GQ)
News
(e.g.
Time)
Teen
(e.g.
Mizz)
Fashion
(e.g.
Vogue)
Lifestyle/Fitness
(e.g.
Shape)
Home
and Gardening
(e.g
Home and Gardening)
Sport
(e.g.
Match)
Music/Entertainment
(e.g.
Q)
Gossip
(e.g.
Heat)
If other then please list
7.What would you find most useful in a student magazine? Pick your top
five and number them 1-5, 1 being favourite and 5 being least important to you
out of this selection.
Accommodation
Fitness
Beauty
Food
Budgeting
Health
Competitions
Jobs
Cooking
Money
CV
Revision
Discounts
Top
Tips
Experience
Travel
Fashion
8.If you were to pick up a college magazine, how often would you want a
new issue to be published?
Weekly Monthly
Termly
Yearly
9.What is the one thing that you feel should be included in a student
magazine?
10.Would you want the college magazine to be aimed at the whole student
community or would you rather have a magazine aimed at a specific group of
people (i.e photography students or business students)
Overall Student Community Specific group of students
A magazine is articles, pictures and graphics of a certain subject that are combined to create something that is aimed at a certain target audience, some are Niche markets and some are a wide range of audiences. Magazines are defined by a genre, this then leads to sub-genres and hybrids. Most magazines conform to their conventions but others don't making them more interesting as they are controversial.
Examples of genres for magazines:
Music
Fashion
Film
Lifestyle
Indie/Culture
Travel
Sports
Well known magazines that conform to certain genres are:
Company mainly deal with fashion issues such as covering the latest trends and fashion events (The Clothes Show Live) but they also diversify into music and other trends within celebrities and culture. Such as the next upcoming artist or a chic restaurant that would suit the target audience.
Q Magazine deal with just music, such as interviewing big artists and covering events that are music, such as festivals. It has reviews of albums and music, this magazine tends to just cover music and not to diversify but it does rate small music venues and larger gigs, to help the audience decide what to invest in.
The Guardian created the advert ‘Three Little Pigs’ to increase the sales of their newspaper and uses of its other platforms. The Guardian are first referenced as a newspaper but throughout the advert different ways of accessing their information is shown, for example someone accesses the information on an iPad. The Guardian uses the folktale that is famous throughout Western society to portray how they would cover the story. Simulations and questions are shown that would arise if such a story occurred convey the detail and precise information that would be covered, persuading the audience that The Guardian is a reliable and trustworthy company that you should invest in. The advert contains very mild violence and no upsetting scenes allowing it to be shown before and after the watershed to ensure that the maximum number of people view the advert. In the weeks coming up to the advert little teasers were shown to increase the intrigue among the viewers and on Channel 4 the advert was premiered with a special introduction by the channel to attract any of the audiences intrigue that was built up from the teasers.
Different techniques are used to capture the audiences attention and to make every single point that The Guardian have known. There are wide range of representations throughout, such as the use of comments in foreign languages convey that The Guardian don’t just include national readers but go further by including international audiences, this informs the viewers that opinions from anyone is welcome, therefore including the majority of the audience. The extras within the advert go within the concept of verisimilitude, this allows the audience to feel like they can get involved with The Guardian and that it’s not for people who have university degrees, who live in larger houses with a larger amount of income, a same effect is achieved by having different pictures of different people with mis-en-scene similar to a range of peoples personalities, thus portraying that you can be from any background and, due to the wide range of opinions aired during the advert, have to agree on one opinion to read The Guardian. The audience is restricted in a way that any young audience is rejected due to complicated jargon such as “mortgage repayments” this would be completely alien to anyone of this age therefore not understanding the advert. The storyline is around a children’s folktale ‘Three Little Pigs’ which is famous among the Western society this would be recognised by the whole audience but The Guardian has added a dramatic adult spin on the storyline,therefore narrowing the audience, this adds humour, the humour is increased by having famous lines from the folktale said by numerous characters such as a policeman. A policeman has connotations of tough and hard whereas the lines from the folktale are light and sweet, these opposing ideas heighten impact to the audience.
The mixed use of non-diegetic and diegetic sound is important in tampering with the audiences emotions throughout the advert and can be used to convey The Guardian’s many facilities. For example there is a transition of non-diegetic to diegetic sound when the news reporter speaks over the ongoing scenes of the last pigs arrest, this transition immediately informs the audience that The Guardian have video reports so you can hear and see the information rather than read it. Another way The Guardian have achieved this effect is by having lots of people talk at the same time, this is non-diegetic, but conveys that this product has accurate information that is provided from reliable sources as connotations from this effect is that the people talking are experts due to the technical jargon they are quoting. Throughout the advert there is a large amount of diegetic sound effects such as glass smashing which sparks fear among the audience therefore isolating as a significant moment within the advert. Diegetic sounds are also used to set the scene for the audience, for example, telephones ring and typical office noises connotes an office setting, even though the audience don’t actually witness an office itself. A similar technique is used only with non-diegetic sound, at the beginning of the advert there is a high pitched music which has connotations of fairytales and magic which sets the scene as the story of the Three Little Pigs. Both non-diegetic music and sound effects are used to play with the audiences emotions so they react more to the advert, by doing this the advert moves more fluently and smoothly.
Visual effects are used just as much as sound, idents are used constantly throughout the advert to portray personal views, which makes the audience feel more involved if they share the same opinion to the situation on the screen and that the people airing these opinions are infact just like themselves. The idents also convey the format and the hard hitting questions The Guardian investigate without prolonging the advert which would cause the advert to lose valuable attention from the audience and costing The Guardian more to air and to pay the advertising company to produce. By using idents the advert gets the audience actively involved by making them read the text, by getting the audience actively involved it keeps the audiences attention hooked rather than drifting off to another subject. Camera angles are effective as by using sharp and fluent pans and shots it feels like there is more action going on, therefore increasing and attaining the interest from the audience.
The use of a dramatic storyline attracts more of an audience which increases the amount affected by the advert, therefore increasing sales and uses of The Guardian‘s platforms. Theories such as Todorov's narrative and Propp’s character theory are used yet some are not as clear as others. Although there is no equilibrium there is still a disruption and reinstatement of the equilibrium. The Propp’s theory is not quite so obvious as throughout the advert there are only two main characters, the three pigs who act as false hero's and the wolf who is perceived to be the villain but is then revealed to be the hero. There are no damsels or princess but The Guardian acts like the donor or the helper by the way it gives information to the public who voice their opinions to come to the conclusion that the three pigs were freuds.
If you weren’t familiar with the Western society then the advert wouldn’t make much sense as there are numerous habits and references that are well known throughout our society. The plotline would confuse, as the story of the Three Little Pigs isn’t known extremely well outside our society, the use of social networking media such as Facebook, YouTube and Twitter could also confuse the audience. Without the basic knowledge that is known throughout Western society the advert would cease to make sense and come across as pointless.
Above are the skills I have learnt from using Blogger so now I can present my work in different ways. This photo collage conveys me learning a range of techniques such as how to change colours and look at HTML's, all of these skills will be vital throughout the production of my coursework.
