Brief

Main Task: the front page, contents and double page spread of a new magazine. All images and text used must be original, produced by you - minimum of four images.

Photoshop Finale (Finished Product)

Photoshop Finale Screenshots 

Photographs for Front Cover

Screenshots From The Photoshop Practise

Digital Drafts - Double Page Spread

Basics of photoshop

Digital Drafts - Contents Page

Digital Drafts - Front Cover

Camera Framings

I have demonstrated my knowledge of camera angles by taking many photos at different angles to illustrate the frames. 

Extreme close up
This shot is to show detail to a specific area, for example someone's eyes.

Close up
This is a shot that you would usually take of a persons face, to show detail on facial features.

Medium close up 
A shot taken from the waist upwards. It shows the general facial expression of a person, and also see the upper body structure of the person. This shot is used a lot on magazine covers and on adverts.

Long shot
Typically used to show the entire person or object. This shot might be used in a clothing advertisement, so that the audience can see their whole outfit.

High angle
The camera angle is located above the eye-line and  the camera is looking down at the subject. The angle is often used to make the person look smaller, or portray emotion to the shot.

Low angle
The camera angle is located below the eye-line and the camera is looking up at the subject. This makes the person look larger and could be used to show power or confidence in a person.

Two shot 
This is simply a shot with two people in it.

Image framed to the right 
This is where the subject in the shot is positioned to the right of the frame.

.

Image framed to the left
When the subject in the shot is positioned to the left of the frame.

Central shot
When the subject is positioned in the centre of the frame, this shows the subject as a important figure.

Name Ideas

Colour Schemes Ideas:

• Purple 
• Black
• Green

• Red
• Black
• White

• Orange
• Blue
• White

• Green
• Black
• White

• Blue
• Black
• White

I will be using red, white and black because I think that they would suit a college magazine quite well as they are quite basic colours which will go together quite well and appeal to the audience. 

Feature Story Ideas

• The principle, Jay Trivedy does the ALS Ice Bucket Challenge (pictures)
• Tickets on sale for the Freshers Party
• NUS cards available, get huge discounts!
• Sports trails in session!
• Careers advisers happy to help 

These stories will appeal to the target audience because they relate to what they are interested in and the attitudes that a college student might hold. 

Plug Ideas 

• NUS cards
• Win a new iPad competition

NUS can save students a lot of money, on clothes, in restaurants and even in the cinema. This is ideal for a student as they can get discounts at many stores.
The competition to win an iPad is ideal because a student would find it very helpful in their studies and it is a new piece of technology that all students would be happy to get their hands on.

Mise-en-scene and Location Ideas 

• Wyke Sixth Form College
• The front cover will be of a student at the college in a classroom or in a hallway. 
• All of the photos for the cover will be taken in the college.
• The colour scheme that I have chosen will be used on the cover of the magazine.
• Natural or artificial light as it will depend on the weather conditions when the photos are taken and either lightning portrays the college environment equally well.
• The cover has got to be eye catching so that it grabs the audiences attention, to do this I will have to relate to the attitudes of the typical college student when thinking about what I want the cover to look like. 

The models that will be used for the photos will be of college students. They will be wearing casual informal clothing that a student might wear on a day-to-day basis. I will make sure to take into consideration the facial expressions of the student(s), and try to achieve a natural happiness in their face and could use direct mode of address in the main cover photo as this gives a good connection with the model and the audience. The student(s) could look as though to be doing some work in the photo, such as reading a book or researching on a computer. Props that I may use in the photos might include a backpack, notebook, reading book or ring binders.

Conventions Analysis

When researching the conventions of magazine covers and more specifically college magazine covers, I think this particular one is not as effective as others that I have seen. 

There are too many different colours on this magazine cover, making it less visually attractive and therefore much less appealing to the audience. This is because it doesn't follow a specific colour scheme like most magazine covers. For example, the main image is of a man who is dressed in a smart shirt and trousers and is all in white. It looks extremely bright and I don't think that it is the type of clothes that I would expect a college student to wear. The sell lines on the cover also do not follow any particular colour scheme, instead they seem to be quite random colours and they're all in different styles of font. 

The representation of the model in the main image does isn't very effective because he isn't displaying similar attitudes and beliefs as the target audience, his facial expressions are very serious and very posy, not a more natural smile that you might expect of a college magazine. 

  

However there are some good points about the magazine cover, for example the plugs are very relevant to a college student. The iPad is a new technology that a college student would use for when studying or just socialising with friends, and the glasses are a fashion accessory that a student might be interested in purchasing during the summer. The skyline on the magazine cover is also very effective, it has an effective brief explanation of the magazine that contains alliteration that makes it sound more appealing, and also contains the date which of course is necessary for all magazine covers.

Conventions Analysis

Header - used to explain very briefly what the magazine is about, this header says that it is an 'exclusive guide', meaning that you can not get such anywhere else. The header also says 'hip, hop and happening', using alliteration for excellent effectiveness, making the magazine sound more appealing the audience, using representation to construct versions of people in word format. The last thing included in the header is the date, which simply timestamps the magazine, showing what time it was published.

Mast Head - used to attract the audience and give them a sense of what the magazine is about, in this case the magazine is about college life and the mast head is 'college' which is very simple, yet it does still do what it is meant to. The audience of the magazine would be college students, so this would attract the target audience and hopefully make them want to buy the magazine. It is in a large, bold font so it is easily recognisable and will appeal to the audience.

Main Image - it is centered on the magazine cover so that it is the main focus and therefore directly attracts the audience, and he is looking at the audience through direct mode of address. The person in the image is obviously a student, just like the target audience of the magazine. You can tell by the age and how he is dressed, as well as the fact that he is carrying some books, showing that he is a student at the college and looks well educated values his studies. He facial expression shows that he is displaying a general positive attitude. The clothes that he is wearing are the sort of clothes that you would expect a teen to wear in college, a smart but casual look so that he doesn't look messy, yet he isn't dressed up. The person in the main image will have similar values and attitudes as the target audience, and he is represented just like the target audience.

Plug - used to advertise something that is related to the audience, in this case it is a plug for a paint-balling event. Students are the sort of people you would expect to see going paint-balling so the plug is very effective in that they relate to the audience and what they could be interested in. The plug itself is printed on a splat of a paint-ball which grabs attention and someone may want to purchase the magazine so that they can learn more about the event. 

Feature Stories - these are used as examples of the type of information that is included in the magazine. If a student was to see the cover of the magazine then they may be interested in what could be included inside, so they'll hopefully purchase the magazine and then read more. All of the feature stories are put in a bold font which makes them stand out and appeal to the audience.

Main Feature - this is the main subject/article in the magazine. Similarly to the feature stores, if someone sees the front cover of the magazine and is interested in reading more about the story then they would purchase the magazine. The main feature in any magazine will be directed at its audience. In this case the main feature talks about 'Dancehall's Bright Future', the sort of language that you would expect to see in a college magazine, talking about the future and achieving. The text is in a large and clear font, which is easy to read, like all the of text in the cover, and it all follows the colour scheme of black, green, grey and white, which is highly effective.

Barcode/price - simply used to tell the audience the price of the magazine and a barcode that is used to scan the product at a store when it is sold. You would expect to this all magazines, just like you would expect to see it on everything, as it is a necessity for it to be bought and sold. 

MOOD BOARD

Semiotics and LIIAR Analysis

Semiotics and LIIAR Analysis

Language - Codes and conventions used within different media to convey messages to the audience. Including the content, theme and purpose of a print base text. Media language helps the audience understand the layout, instructions, etc.

Institution - Any of the organisations responsible for the production marketing, distribution or regulation of media texts. Institutions regulate and structure media attitudes.

Ideology - A set of attitudes, beliefs and values held in common by a group of people. Ideology allows society to understand messages and meanings of messages.

Audience - Groups or individuals targeted by procedures for the intended audience that will consume the text. Marketing certain choices to satisfy and please the intended audience.

Representation - The process whereby the media construct versions of people places and events in images, words or sound for transmission through media texts to an audience.

Denotation and Connotation - The denotation is what you see in front of you, what is actually shown on the page or the screen. The connotation is the meaning(s) we infer from the object that we see in front of us, the hidden meaning behind the object itself. In the image to the right you can see that the denotation is the white rose. The connotations of the rose may be of purity and innocence, as well as life and light.

To start of with commenting on the language of the advert and how that is used to interest the target audience. The language used in the advert is language that you would expect in any perfume advert. Some of the conventions included in the advert are the model, who is centered and looking directly at the audience through direct mode of address, which attracts the audience because it makes it seem that she is looking at her audience and therefore it draws them in.  The advert also has the name of the institution, which is also centered and displayed in large and bold font. The colours used in the advert are colours that you could expect in such advert, they are bright and very effective in portraying the model in an angelic form, especially with the shining white light coming from the window behind her. All the flowers behind her are all of these colours. The white and light pink colours have connotations of purity and innocence, which sets a set of values, beliefs and attitudes which are held in common with the target audience. The bottle of perfume that she is actually holding is very large, not the actual size of a bottle of perfume. This is done to make the model look smaller and thinner in comparison, which is how a lot of woman would want to see themselves.

The audience of this advert would probably be women aged between 16 and 25. The advert would attract them because the model used in the advert is a woman of  that age and she is looking elegant and angelic like, and the target audience would want to feel like that so they may buy the product for this reason.

Preliminary Task 

Brief - To design a college magazine front cover and mock up contents page. Images used on the front cover must be original (taken by you).