Wednesday 21 November 2012

Photoshop Skills Development 1 - Jarvis Cocker Task


In this task i have taken an image from the internet and have engineered it in photoshop to be representative of a magazine cover. I have changed a fair amount of things from the original image to make it suitable for a magazine cover.
To start i firstly changed the background colour i firstly did this by selecting all of the background that was originally there and deleted it by removing it from a duplicated layer, leaving a blank canvas. Choosing the background colour was difficult i had to pick something that complimented the image and was easy to pick other colours for sell lines that would be complimentary both of the background and the image. White seemed a good choice as a neutral background and has the most choice of complimentary colours.
Once i have selected the colour of the background i then had to decide on a good font, good size and a good colour. I've chose to go with a neutral black to stand out from the white, an obvious colour opposite, i used the text preferences tool to edit the stretch and width of the text to give an extended look to it. I then had to put the masthead behind the image. Doing this was difficult i chose to do it differently instead of layering it. I chose instead to use the brush removal effect where i would duplicate an image and add a layer mask, i would then select the brush tool and paint over it in a black colouring and it would remove the selected piece of the text giving it the look of it being behind the image.
I then felt that he needed a change up on his look. His bland facial skin colour and his expression didn't really blend well with the rest of the magazines tone. So i decided first to sharpen the edges, i then turned up the contrast and mixed about with the hue to give him a darker look and a more refined look to match with the magazines tone. Finally i Put on the sell lines and made the "Skate" have a popping effect by putting a drop shadow on it, messing around with the depth etc. 

Thursday 8 November 2012

AS Coursework Proposal Table

AS Coursework Proposal Table

Type of Magazine (fashion, music, etc)



Music
Name of Magazine



Sample – I have used this headline as a kind of a generic feel, it also has a slight connotation of giving an electro feel. Looking at it, straight away you would know the style and type of the magazine, its also not a complicated name to remember it’s also a word people see every day making them remember our magazine even more.
Audience (male/female)



Unisex – constricting the audience to just one sex will be a massive loss in money profit, and since music is unisex and it unites people It only seems natural to appeal to all.
Audience (attitudes and interests)



Dubstep/House/Drum and bass music. They would have to have a genuine interest in the topic which they would get form the main image, they would have to want to know, upcoming gig dates and festivals or maybe they just want a certain opinion from a fully established D’n’B artist.
Outlet (where it can be bought from?)



All newsagents and major book stores. Mainly News stands. This would make it very easy and accessible to everyone, Just walking down the street you would see our magazine and that straight away would leave a lasting impression on the audience. I’d also put it in all major bookstores, WH Smith for example, this would widen the audience even more and possibly bring in a hint of sophistication and professionalism to the magazine causing people to subscribe to annual copies.
Necessary Information



Issue number, Date of publication, Bar code, E-mail. Its pretty generic its just to tell people what issue it is too see if they would like to read earlier or later copies and make sure they’re up to date by checking our website. Obviously the barcode for purchasing.
Selling Point



Headlining act of a concert. This is going to be the main ‘thing’ or theme. Its going to draw people in by giving them the option of wining tickets to a massive gig that everyone is talking about and that YOU specifically you have a chance to win. This creates an emotional relationship with the audience by the use of the personal pronoun. With people drawn in by the chance to win they would then be drawn to our main image which will link heavily with the main sell line. This will stand out and create a huge enigma. Finally bringing the audience in
Theme (article)



Drum and bass with a minor section on dubstep and house. Ive chosen this theme because well its huge at the moment it will have a big audience and of course bring in a heavy profit. Obviously the theme will follow the pattern of the main cover which will be of electro/drum and bass which is very fast paced, flashy with big drops (News headliners). This will of course make the audience appreciate the magazine, keeping to a genre and sticking with its connotations.
Images Front Cover



Photo of main singer in a band or solo dubstep artist. This will of course link heavily in with the main sell line. It will be big, bold and definitely make an impression. It will be colourful and vibrant following the theme of the magazine its going to explore the unexplored. Many connotations will be able to be drawn from our picture as its going to be vague but very mysterious.
Images Inside



Varied between house, electro dance, dubstep and drum and bass, with images of bands around the region that are up and coming. This again will be linked with the Main image, they will follow the pattern of dubstep ect. They will be very vibrant showing off flashy images which of course will make the audience want to read what goes with the amazing image.

Wednesday 7 November 2012

Contents deconstruction.

Masthead
Same text and colour used on the cover to keep up the consistency, In big bold font with the name of the magazine being highlighted in a bright red to make a memorable impact on the reader so they will always remember the name of the magazine.
Necessary Information.
This magazine seems to lack alot of the "necessary information", it only seems to house the date of the publication. However it states next to the masthead "This Week" giving it a slight hint of an exclusive and rare magazine that readers will do well to cherish and endulge themselves in.
Text
There seems to be alot of text on this contents page, enough to put some people off, however it has counter-acted this by putting in a slight sneak peak at its main article "Everybody got on board Africa Exprez" drawing people in to read the magazine, The image does well to split up the plethora of text with the long red list of bands to the right and the general contents that viewers need to navigate the magazine. NME has used a flashy arrow shape to signify its importance and give a sense of haste to the reader that you MUST! turn over the page to read this. Its backed up by putting in the "UK's No.1" Making people want to obtain this 'once in a lifetime' information. Underneath the 'Mini-Article' Is what the magazine makers want the most. Subscribers. They have cleverly place this under the main article to give this sense of if you want to read more stuff like this you can subscribe for "Just £5.57", Just being used selectively to make it feel like youre missing out on a lifetime offer! Its been highlighted in a bright yellow front on a black background to make sure that it is not missed and is standing out for all of the readers too see!
Font
The font seems to all follow the same style only the size really varies to create emphasis on certain part. Colours of fonts tent to switch between black, white, yellow and red. Obviously black and white are just your standard information colours highlighting page information and page names. Red seems to be to highlight key information, stuff like the masthead, page numbers and band names. Yellow has been used to really make things stand out and for this reason has onl;y been used once for the information. It gives the sense of force feeding the readers this information to make sure that you do it! It makes sure that its the most memorable piece of information on the contents page. Boldness is only really used for the obvious masthead to create emphasis and the subheadings again to create emphasis.
Image
There is only one key image on this contents page that is linked with the main article 'sneak peak'. It seems to be anchored at normally however it is split up to show two different band instruments and members, two on the guitars and the other on the synth and trumpet. Its rather big to really draw attention to the image giving it a sense of importance!
Composition
It seems to be mostly text led with there only being one main image and the rest layered with text. The framing tends to be structured in a way that the reader can easily navigate and pick out information they only want to. The main 'mini-article' has key relation to the image used and advertising there music style by showing their instruments, immediately creating a fan base just by the recognisation of their instruments.
Linguistic features
The main feature i can pick out is one in the main article, They have cleverly used "The moment everyone got on the Africa Exprez" suggesting they were going on a train ride, however the last word changes the whole context of the sentence with the name of the band instead of express. Underneath the sub-headings there is use of enigma, making people want to read on and understand the Enigma.


Masthead
They dont have a masthead placed, there is no image of distinctive sign of the magazine in the cover. It only seems to have "Inside this week" all in capitals to create an apperance and it has the same font as the cover, i can only assume to keep up consistency.
Necessary Information
Again it seems to lack information, only housing the date of the publication, making it seem like the celebrity status of the magazine is enough to not include necessary information and they assume that people will just instantly know its popularity and other things.
Text
The main or largest image is followed or captionated by a quote that is in italics, usually used to create a contrast, in this case between normality and the feeling the person saying it has. It makes people relate and in some case disagree, both are major things that can make people read on in the magazine. The other texts seem to be varied and quite unstructured giving it a sense of hecticness, which very much fits the connotation of the magazine.
Font
The font is for one of a better word, hectic! Its constantly changing with each new page of contents. It makes you think that with every new topic they cannot have the same font as it would just be generic and boring, this style really adds a 'hipster' feel to it, changing the way or breaking the mould of the other music magazines.
Image
There is alot of images all spread out around the magazine Varying in size and position, It would seem to me as they change the size of the image to indicate the importance of the topic or what the magazine deems that way, they are almost force feeding you what you have to read! the images themselves all seem to have different connotations surrounding them, some very vibrant emo/punk rocker, others very hipster/dark and others just pure simple rock.
Compostion
This magazine is mostly image led followed by annotations and captions to go along with them, Images seem to be almost framed and have they own sort of section with the middle image being the most important, all of the images seem to be anchored around the main image also.
Linguistic features
The main one i can see is, "i want to be like a boot stamping on a human face forever", an obvious use of a similie, making people want to understand it. Its also scattered with enigmas under all of the pictures.



Masthead
The initial image of 'Q' itself seems to be rather small and insignificant compared to the rest of the contents page. It doesnt really stand out and is in the background.
Necessary Information
The magazine includes the date and issue number, issue number to really emphasise the amount of time that this magazine has been going on! it also houses the website to make sure that people know that this is a well established magazine.
Text
Text is very sophisticated and sleek, its structured and has a sense of exclusivity! Its made quite small so that they can fit all of the necessary information of the magazine on, so when the readers look, it looks like the magazine is packed with information and gets their moneys worth. Its mostly black on a grey and white background not really standing out or making anything massively important. Its highlighted page numbers seem to follow the colour pattern of red.
Font
All of the font seems to follow a generic, but sophisticated style, nothing hectic or off putting, its seems to be more for the classy and sleek looking readers rather than it being cluttered and rebelious to the generic magazine style.
Image
Main image seems to be of adele and it is linked with the biggest font of the contents page signifying its importance and making sure that the fans know that this is not too miss, its also highly linked with the main cover as its highlighting its main article in the contents page, keeping up the consistency. The other minor image suggests that it is not as big a story as adele and is almost insuperior to the main image.
Compostion
Seems to be mostly text based with the text being anchored around the main image, it gives it a very classy and structured look to the magazine, making readers know its proffesional attitude and can expect only the highest standard from the magazine. The biggest contents that stands on, whilst covering adele seems to represent its importance and they have cleverly placed this not too cover the image only it seems to enhance it.
Linguistic features
It doesnt seem to have alot linguistic features other than it being scattered with enigmas, its seems to rely on its proffessional look and sleek attitude to entise its readers.

Double Page Spread Deconstructions


Double page spread from GetCritOn

This is my Double page spread deconstruction, ive clearly identified key features on 3 double page spreads. The final magazine ive deconstructed is a gaming pc magazine to show a little contrast between the double page spreads.


Inspirational Videos


These are examples of the type of music that will share the same genre of the magazine. They are Dubstep/Hardstyle/Drum+bass. Just some types of electronic music, the artists are, Skrillex, Breenan Heart and Netsky. all big names in the electronic scene!