Research And Planning: Music Magazine Analysis

Music Magazine Analysis

This is a pop magazine. I can tell because of the bright colours and the type of font that is being used. The pink and yellow are very typical of a magazine of this genre. There is also a lot of blue and white which makes it look more colourful and 'pop like'. The font that has been used is 'bubbly' and 'rounded' making it look girly which targets the audience of this magazine.

The target audience of this magazine is clearly young girls/ teenagers. One of the things that tells me this is for teenagers is the language that is being used such as 'OMG' 'Beach bods' and 'Go wild'. Also in the top right hand corner there is a fashion advertisement which shows a pink top and bright coloured pants which is typically what younger girls would wear and not adults. The name of the magazine also tells me that it is for younger girls. Top of the pops sounds quite child like rather than something for more older people.

The masthead is quite small and almost blends into the page. This makes the reader more focused on the pictures and cover lines rather than the name of the magazine. There is a small collage in the bottom left hand corner of other artists that feature in the magazine. This is a good way to get more people to buy it as one of their favourite artists might be featured on the front.

The main artists that are being used on the cover is popular boyband  Union J. Their facial expressions are fun and cute which relates to the pop genre as most people associate pop with fun. They are wearing bright coloured clothing to match the colours of the magazine and to make them look fun, cute and innocent. They are covered up as it is for a younger persons magazine. If it was for older teenagers or younger adults they would have been pictured maybe wearing less clothing and they wouldn't have been smiling. It is also a medium shot to show their clothing as well as their facial expressions and to get all 4 of them perfectly into the image.

Research And Planning: Pop Magazine Collage

This is my pop magazine collage. As you can see there are many different font styles and colours. I have also added some picutres of possible stars that I want to put in my magazine. There is also an example of a contents page on the top right corner.

My favourite font on the page is the one that says 'tulisa'. This is because it is layered and has a pink and blue behind it. This gives it a retro pop look. Another font which I like is the one that says 'FAME'. I like this font because although it isnt a typical looking 'pop' font you can still tell that it would be of that genre. I also like the fact that ot lookes like the 'A' has been coloured in. Another font which looks like this is the one that says 'amaze!'. The centre of the letters is coloured and stands out a lot more than other, more typical fonts.

I decided to add the small 'contents' page box because i like the way that it is set out. Normally the contents page would be down one side of the page but this is all compact into one box. This will make my contents page look tidier and I will be able to fit more pictures and other things like competitions and advirisements on the contents page.

There are many examples of banners on my collage like the '1D Poster Giveaway' and the one that simply says 'Union J' . I want to use a banner like one of those on my front cover as it helps advertise things like posters, competitions, quizes and extra cover lines. I think they are effective at making the reader look at them because although they are only small readers always tend to see them.

Research And Planning: Shot Types

I have drawn pictures of the main 8 shot types that are used in media. This is to give me a greater understanding of what each shot looks like.

Research And Planning: College Magazine Analysis

College Magazine Analysis

When I started planning and designing my magazine I had to decide what colour and fonts I was going to use. I wanted to choose colours that related to college and that weren't too bright. I also had to take into consideration that I wanted both boys and girls to read the magazine and enjoy it so I couldn't be using lots of bright pinks or blues as that might have put them off reading it. Sticking to the 3 colour rule, I decided to use purple, white and black. These are very simple colours as I wanted to stick to the college theme and I thought that purple appeals to both boys and girls. I wanted to keep it simple and sophisticated as the target audience is students and not children. I think that the colours were an appropriate choice but red or green may have been a better choice because they are brighter and more appealing than purple because some people may find it boring and too plain. Also a lot of people associate red with college/university.

I think I chose an appropriate font and size for the magazine as it stood out on the front and is easy to see and read. If the text would have been too small then people would have been struggling to read it. I chose to use that font because it looks sophisticated and is very clear. If I would have used a 'swirly' font then it would not have matched the college theme and would also be very hard to read. I kept the font the same on both my front cover and my contents page so that it is consistent and professional. The size of the masthead is clearly bigger than the cover lines so that the readers can tell that that is the title and they can differentiate the name of the magazine from the cover lines.

I chose to use a student as a model to make the college magazine more personal to the readers as some of them may know who it is. After taking many photographs I narrowed it down to about 6 appropriate possible photographs for the contents and cover. The reason I chose that particular photograph was because of the position and pose the model was in. I think that I could have edited the picture a lot better because the edges of the photo are very rough and bumpy. Also her hair is two different colours on the contents page and cover.

I think that I could have added another cover story as having only 3 on the front cover looks like there wont be much content inside the magazine. I could have added a competition or quiz cover line to attract people to it more. 

In conclusion I think that it is very clear that the contents page and the cover page are part of the same magazine. I used the same model, colours, fonts and style for both pages. If I could do this magazine again I would defiantly take all of my critical points into consideration to improve it.

Research And Planning: College Magazine

Research And Planning: Photos For College Magazine

 

These are most of the images that I took for my college magazine. As you can see I chose to make the model use a book and a pen as a prop so that it matched the college theme.

Research And Planning: Drawn Drafts Of Magazine

These are my drafts for my college magazine. I have labelled each part to give me a clear idea of what my magazine is going to look like. This helps me make my magazine quicker as I don't have to sit and think of how to design it because I already have this draft as an idea.

Research And Planning: Interview Videos

The questions that I asked were:
1. What would you like to read about in a college magazine?
2. What do you like to do outside of college?
3. How much would you be willing to pay?
4. What would attract you to buying a college magazine?
5. Do you have any suggestions for the name?

For question 1 all 3 students said they would like to read about activities that are happening in and around college. I think this is an important question to ask because I need to know what they want to read about so that they will buy the magazine. If my magazine has stories that students aren't interested in then it wont be very successful.

For question 2 I asked what the students liked to do outside of college. I asked this question so that I could advertise things to do with what they liked. For example one student said that they liked going out with friends so I could put offers and 'great places out' which would interest them in the magazine.

I think that question 3 was the most important because if the price was too high then non of the students would buy it. As all of the students said a similar price I decided to take that into consideration and price my magazine at 50p for the first issue.

On question 4 I wanted to know what type of things would attract the students to buying the magazine. All of them said that they wanted bright colours that stood out.

For question 5 I asked if the students had any suggestions for the name. One student said I should keep it simple and call it 'College' and the other two students didn't have any other suggestions.

Research And Planning: Props And Costumes

Props And Costumes

• Books
• Bag
• Pencils And Pens
• Casual Clothing such as Jeans, Jacket and Plain Top

I have chosen to use these props to make the student look like they are working/studying as it is for the college magazine. I have chosen to dress them in casual clothing as it isnt likely that they are going to come to college all dressed up. This makes the model on the magazine look more natural and not posed.

Research And Planning: Magazine Interview Questions

Interview Questions

1. What do you want to read about?

2. What do you like to do outside of college?

3. How much are you willing to pay?

4. What would attract you to buying a college magazine (e.g colours, font) ?

5. Do you have any suggestions for a name for the magazine?

Research And Planning: Semiotics And Font Activity

Research And Planning: Semiotics And Font Activity

I think the font is appropriate for the 'Pop World' masthead because it looks bubbly and it is in pink. Normally people associate pink and bubbly with Pop and most pop magazines would use a similar font and colour. It also looks fun and bright rather than boring and plain.


You can tell this is a death metal magazine because it is black and the font is very plain. You wouldn't find a death metal magazine with bright blue writing and a stand out font. This is because the audience of a Death Metal magazine would usually be men who like rock and death metal music.


The font for the 'Popcorn' magazine looks like a carnival which I think is very appropriate for this type of magazine because people associate popcorn with carnivals and cinemas. It is also a yellow/orange colour which is the colour of popcorn.

Research And Planning: InDesign Tutorial

Research And Planning: InDesign Tutorial

1. First I found a review of a film on the Internet and saved it into word. I also found a picture to match the text but saved it as a JPEG rather than putting it on my word document.

2. Then I opened up InDesign and created a new document. I made use that the document had 3 columns for my text to be placed onto.

3. After that I had to get my text onto my InDesign document. I did this by pressing File, Place and selecting my document. This added only a bit of the text in a small box. I then moved the box into the area i wanted it to be in but not all of my text was on the page. To get all of my text on the page I clicked the small red cross button. After I had done that I made another box inside the column which added some more of my text onto the page. I did this twice until all of my text filled the columns

4. I then needed to add a title so that the reader knew what the text was about. I did this by using the text tool and drawing a box where i wanted the title to be. I then changed the text to 'Film Review: The Lovely Bones'.

5. Once I had added the title I needed to add a picture. I did this by using the same method as I did for putting my text on. I pressed File, Place and selected my picture. I then placed the picture where I needed it to be.

6. Finally I needed to change the colour of the background. I did this by using the rectangle tool. I drew a rectangle around my whole document and changed the colour. Because i had drew a rectangle around my whole document it made the text go behind the rectangle. To change this I pressed Object, Arrange and send to back. This my my text and photo 'reappear'.

Research And Planning: College Magazine Analysis

How do you know its a college magazine?
There are many things about this design that imply that this is a college magazine. The main point that stands out is the fact that the magazine is called College. Another thing that makes it a college magazine is that there is a picture of a young male on the cover. This suggests that he maybe a college student. The magazine has also been designed to target college students. The font and layout is very simple.

The cover stories also tell me that it is a college magazine because you probably wouldn't find "Not exactly extra credit: I slept with my professor" in a music, gaming or celebrity magazine. The magazine has also been designed to target college students. The font and layout is very simple.

Research And Planning: What Is A Medium Close Up?

These are examples of medium close ups. They are taken from the chest up. I will have to use a medium close up in my magazine.

Research And Planning: Movie Poster Activity

Film Poster

1. First I had to select a picture of a movie poster from google images to add my face to. I then dragged my chosen image onto the desktop and opened it up in photoshop.

2. Second I took a photo of myself using photo booth pulling a similar expression to the person I was putting my face on. This made the poster seem more realistic.

3. Once I had taken my picture I opened it up in photoshop. I then used the magnetic lasso tool. This tool allows me to select my face without having to draw around it. It makes it neater as it automatically selects points on my face.

4. Then I grabbed the cut out using the move tool and placed it on my picture.

5. Finally i changed the shape and size till my face fit perfectly onto the image. I used the brightness/contrast tool to make my face the same colour as the neck. Then i changed the colour balance to give my face the same tint as the poster. To give my poster a more realistic look I added a shadow to my face using the paint brush tool. I changed the opacity of the brush so that it was more of a shadow than a thick line.

Research And Planning: Skin Tutorial

Skin Tutorial

1. First I opened up the picture into photoshop and selected the brush tool so that i could change her hair colour.

2. Then I used the blemish tool to get rid of her spots and blemishes. This made her face look like she had makeup on.

3. I then changed the colour and opacity of the brush so that the colour wasn't too thick and dark. This makes the colour look more natural as some of the hair can still be seen through the colour.

4. Again using the paint brush tool I added some blush and eye shadow to her face. To make the blush look natural I had to lower the opacity to one of the lowest points so that it blended in with her skin but not too low so that you couldn't see it. To do the eye shadow I made the opacity a little higher so that it could be see more clearly. Finally for the lipstick I used the paintbrush tool and changed the colour.

Research And Planning: CD Cover Tutorial

CD Cover Tutorial

1. First I had to cut the CD out using the 'lasso tool'. This made a perfect circle so that I could cut the CD out perfectly.

2. I then placed the cut out CD onto the CD cover where I wanted it. I also rotated it and changed the colour using the colours at the side.

3. Then I had to cut out the trumpet but this time it was a lot harder because it wasn't all one shape so instead of using the lasso tool I used the magic wand tool. I then selected the trumpet but not all of it was highlighted so I pressed 'shift' and selected the rest of the trumpet.

4. After I had selected the trumpet I placed it onto my CD cover and rotated it so that it looked like the musical notes from the background looked like they were coming out of the trumpet.

5. Once I had done this I changed the background image so that it was embossed. I did this by clicking Image, Adjustments and Emboss.

6. Finally I added my name using the text tool. I then dragged it where i wanted it and changed the colour.

Research And Planning: Photoshop Challenge

Research And Planning: Photoshop Challenge

1. I started by opening up a new document in photoshop and changing the size to A4.

2. Next I added a piece of text and named it AS Media Studies. I then had to change the text size to 24, the font to Century Gothic and the colour to Red.

3. Then I changed the colour of the background to blue.

4. I added a photo from the Internet and changed the colour of her hair. I did this by selecting the brush tool and changing the colour to the one I wanted. I had to change the opacity of the brush so that the colour looked more natural and not as strong. I also changed the opacity so that some of the hair could still be seen making the image look more natural.

5. Finally I drew a border around the image using the paint brush tool. This time I put the opacity on full so that the boarder can be seen clearly.