Contents Page

For my contents page I chose a very simple design. I did not use any other contents page for ideas as I wanted my one to be original and different. I chose a black background as I find this more elegant and less boring than white, and loaded the brushes Photoshop. I thought that it would be interesting to have just one shape in the middle of the page. The shape I chose creates a slightly mystical feel, which to makes it even more appealing. I felt that purple looked good on the black background, and I also chose it because it is one of the theme colours of my magazine. I used the other theme colours blue and yellow for my text. I highlighted the cover stories in blue because I saw other magazines do it and thought it made it easier for the reader to find their desired story. I chose those particular fonts for the title and subtitles because they looked slightly sci-fi and so matched the general feel of the page.

Front Cover

This is the finished front cover for my school magazine. I think that it is quite successful as it is colourful and looks quite professional. I used Adobe Photoshop to create it as it had so many tools and effects I could use to make the front cover look as professional as possible. For example, it let me clone out some unwanted cables in the background to make the main image look better.
I chose this font for the masthead as it looked original and was therefore a unique typeface to distinguish my magazine from others. I chose the name 'fly' because it can imply aspirations and aiming high, the ideals of the student core buyer.
I only used 3 different colours on my front cover, excluding black, to not make it too busy and to create 'theme colours' which will be the base colour running throughout my whole magazine.
I positioned the cover lines on the sides of the page as best as I could so as to not completely cover my model.

School Magazine Cover Photoshoot

I had to plan and carry out a photoshoot for the front cover of my school magazine. This is the plan I made for the photo.



I chose to take it in front of the school entrance with the ‘NATIONAL SCHOOLS’ sign visible because the setting is relevant and on the front cover it will make it clear that the magazine is a school magazine. I wanted the model to be female because the school the magazine is for is a girl’s school so it makes the magazine specific to the school. This is also why I wanted the model to wear the school uniform. The model was to have her arms crossed to show the seriousness of school and education, and to either look upwards or into the distance to show aspiration- the theme of my magazine ‘fly’, which is about aiming high.

I only took 2 photos because I thought they were good enough for my magazine cover. Out of the two I chose n.1 because the other one was slightly wonkier. Although I mostly got what I wanted in my photo, I didn’t manage to make the school logo visible because I didn’t notice the my model Lucy’s hair was in the way. I also changed my mind about being the model for my own photoshoot because I thought that it would be harder to get my desired result if someone else tried to interpret my plan. The setting for the photo wasn’t ideal because there were a lot of cables and some obstruction from an outdoor office, but I later managed to get rid of the cables by cloning them out.

n.1


n.2

Adding text / picture to an image

Air Brushing / Photo Touch-Up

Air brushing is a technique used to 'touchup' people's faces and hair to make them look better. This can mean removing skin imperfections or adding/ improving make-up. It is often used by advertisers to make their models look as attractive as possible. It is also useful when trying to alter certain features, such as hair colour.
Firstly, you duplicate the layer.
You then use the cloning tool to remove any skin imperfections such as spots.
Then you can use the 'Gaussian Blur' tool under Filter---Blur and put it to around 2.6, but before the image becomes too blurred.
You then use the eraser tool to remove the blur on the duplicated layer on features that may look too blurred such as the eyes, lips and jewellery.
You then change the opacity to 60-70.

Changing Eye Colour
To change a person's eye colour you select the brush tool and make the size match the size of the eyes as closely as possible. Then select the desired eye colour.
Click once over the eyes, then change the colour effects to either 'soft light', 'hue' or 'overlay'- whichever works best.
Afterwards you can use the eraser tool to tidy up any smudges. You can change the opacity to make the colour look as realistic as possible.
This technique can also be used to change hair colour on a new layer.

Black and White Areas on Image

With Photoshop you can also edit an image so that only part of it appears in black and white, while the rest is still in colour. This is useful for advertising campaigns, as it can be used to highlight a certain part of the picture to make the advert more powerful.

To do this you first have to create a ‘Hue/ Saturation’ adjustment layer.

You then bring the saturation down to -100 and make the Hue/Saturation layer invisible.

The Colour Replacement Tool is then selected and the colour is set to black. Then the selected areas can be filled in.





This photo was taken for an article for a school prospectus on falling standards of British schools. We decided to focus on theft. I made all of the image black and white except the hand which is stealing the phone to put the main focus on the theft. I then added text to fit the picture.

Colour Filtering

Colour filtering is when you give a certain colour/ colours to an image. This gives it a special effect and makes it interesting to look at. It is good for advertising because you can give the image the company’s colours.
My task was to add a colour filter and text to this photo and turn it into an advert for a TV programme.

To add a colour filter, first you have to duplicate the background layer.

Then you add a hue and saturation layer and bring the Hue/Saturation and Lightness down to around -70.

Then you create a new layer and change the style to ‘soft light’ ('soft light' is an example of a colouring effect. There are many more to choose from on Photoshop) using the drop down list just above the new layer icon.

Using a normal, solid, big sized brush (around 200px), colour over the background in the style and colour you want.


Finally, you need to add a Gaussian Blur to make the colours fade into the picture more. To do this you go to the drop down list Filter--Blur-- Gaussian Blur. Bring this to around 80-90 pixels.

Font Styles

(Used for fun texts and cards as it doesn’t look serious and is bold and different)

(This is used for large blocks of text as it is easy to read quickly and is very neutral in style)

(This is used for headlines as it is the clearest font type and easy to read even from afar)

(This font type can look elegant and demonstrate class)

It is important to choose carefully what type of font you use in media texts, especially on front covers. This is because the front cover will be the first impression a person gets of the magazine. The masthead must use a clear, bold font (sans-serif) and the text must be easy to read (either serif or sans-serif). For large blocks of text, serif is the best font because it is the easiest to read quickly and easily. The style is neutral so is suitable for almost any text.
The decorative font often resembles things or objects, and so is not neutral. It looks informal and bold so is used for fun things such as birthday cards.
The script-style font looks elegant and handwritten, demonstrating class. It is used for formal texts which require style, such as wedding invitations.
When searching for original fonts to use in my work, like for my front page, I download them from the Internet on sites such as www.1001freefonts.com and save them into the Local Disk (C:/drive).

Cloning

Cloning is when you erase things in a picture you do not want by taking similar looking sections and laying them on top of the area you do not want. It is useful when removing unwanted objects when publishing pictures and you can remove copyright things such as logos which would not be allowed.

Firstly, the 'clone stamp tool' is selected.


Then, holding down the ALT button, the point which will be used in the cloning is selected. The area is then covered up with the mouse button.


It is useful to use the ‘blur’ tool afterwards to help the cloned area blend in more.

BEFORE
I need to remove brand names because they would not be allowed in a professional picture and unwanted people so as to not divert the attention from the main image which needs to focus on students because the photos is for the school prospectus.


AFTER
By using the clone stamp tool on Adobe Photoshop Elements 4.0 I managed to remove the person standing on the stairs and the brand names ‘Zara’, ‘Just do it’ and ‘Dior’ on three bags.

Mise-en-scène

The mise-en-scène of an image is everything shown in it- costumes, props, lighting, actors/models, special effects and anything else which is "put into the frame". The mise en scène in this advert is two actors hugging, text, a title and a ship. Light hits only half of the ship, so half of it is in darkness. Special effects were used to make the two people appear faded into the sky.

Image Connotation and Denotation

In our lesson we learnt about denotation and connotation. Denotation is simply what is shown in an image, while connotation is the meaning behind the image. The advert denotes a man hugging a woman. The man is dressed simply while the woman is dressed in elegant, expensive clothes and has a diamond earring. Both their faces are sombre and the woman is looking downwards. You can also see the front of a ship taken from a low angle with water splashing at its sides. The title Titanic is written in big capital letters in front of the ship, while all the other text is written in much smaller letters. The heading at the top of the advert says ‘Nothing on earth could come between them’.
The connotation of the two people hugging is that they are in a loving relationship together. The words ‘Nothing on earth could come between them’ also suggest that the two people are deeply in love. This phrase could also mean that since nothing on earth can come between them, but the Titanic is on the sea, it will be the sea that comes between them. The man is dressed simply, which could mean that he’s quite poor, while the classily dressed woman looks a lot richer. The fact that this is quite obvious could mean that their wealth could be an important factor in this film. The diamond earring stands out, also suggesting that some kind of diamond plays a part in the story. The ship in the foreground shows that the ship is central in this story. This is also clear by the fact that the film is named after it, and it could suggest that the setting of the film is on the Titanic.

Intro

This blog is backdated with information and examples on what I have studied in my AS Media Studies course so far.