Category: Preliminary Print Tasks

The poster that I created is of a punk genre. We weren’t allowed to choose our genre in this task as it would prove that we can make any type of genre poster that may be out of our comfort zone. The things that we had to include in this poster were the name of the artist, what their tour is called, the dates and places of the tour, and some information about where tickets can be bought.

Once I finished creating the poster, I did a self assessment to see how successful I was in meeting the criteria of this task. I found that I met most of the criteria of the poster but missed a few things in the brief like price and the name of the tour. Things I did well were keeping to the theme of the genre of punk and using a colour scheme that suits it. I also tried to keep the poster simple with only the necessities, making sure I didn’t put too much writing on it which could make the audience lose interest or get distracted from the main point I’m trying to get across. I looked at other tour posters for the genre of punk and found that many of the fonts used are bold and thick for the name of the band/ artist and have handwritten fonts for smaller pieces of information so tried to match these styles.

Targets For Improvement

• Making sure to fulfil the brief, so add in the name of the tour and the places/ venues it will be at
• Get rid of the slight white glow around my main cover star where I haven’t completely gotten rid of the background
• Use slightly more bright and clearer colours for font as although they match the genre, being so dark they are hard for the audience to read

The professional magazine cover that I had to recreate was an NME magazine featuring The Vaccines. When I began creating my magazine cover, I first looked for the image used, but I was unable to find it so settled for a slightly different one. My initial challenge was to get the masthead behind the main cover stars. To do this I put the image of The Vaccines into Photoshop and cut them out so they didn’t have a background then put them into InDesign over the top of a grey background. This then allowed me to send the layer with NME written on it to the back and behind the heads of the main cover stars. A further problem I had was the fact that the original magazine uses white writing which wouldn’t show up on my magazine cover as the man on the right has a white shirt on. This meant that I had to give the writing on the bottom right a black outline and change the “here’s” to black instead of white.

By making this magazine I learnt how to use Photoshop to edit images and InDesign to make a poster. If I were to do this task again I would try to figure out how to put the main cover stars in black and white to make the image closer to the original and would use an image of a person who doesn’t have a white shirt so I could use white writing consistently throughout.

My Magazine Cover Copy

Professional Magazine Cover

YouTube video tutorials that helped me:

What I Did Well

• I was able to match the writing colour and font on my magazine cover closely to that of the professional cover
• Everything on my poster is in the same place as the professional cover
• Recreating the free posters reasonably accurately

What I Could Improve On

• Learn how to make and image black and white
• Use an image that doesn’t make the writing difficult to read
• Get rid of the gap beneath my bar code and the edge of the magazine

My Mood Board

The images that I ended up putting on my mood board are the ones that I feel convey a story the most strongly and make use of the camera techniques in the best way. My favourite is the top right image as it shows the vulnerability of the girl by using a high angle as the camera is in a more powerful and dominant position. Furthermore, her being blurred out in the background and the net being in focus means it is an important feature to the image and represents it trapping her.

The first hashtag on each image describes the technique I have used in that photograph. In the mood board I tried to include a variety of techniques so I will have experience in different ways to convey a story. The hashtags after that describe the mood and story that the image shows to an audience.

When I create my music magazine, I will use what I have learnt about camera techniques and mise-en-scene from completing this task to create a star image that corresponds to the genre I am using.

Contact Sheet

Our group used a DSLR camera to try to tell a story in the form of photographs. We learnt that to create a story we had to use mise-en-scene, camera angle, movement and position. We used techniques like high and low angles, close up and long shots, two shot, framing and depth of field. Learning about what makes an effective photo was good practice for when I make my magazine as now I know about the different camera techniques and how they can help encode a message for the audience to decode.

To begin with we tried to figure out how to use the camera and what settings would work best for the types of shots we wanted. However we learnt afterwards that we had our camera on a setting that made all the images turn out slightly blue so next time I do a shoot I’ll make sure to figure out how to stop that from happening.

 

Mood Board

My researched genre was punk and the star image for this is portrayed by brightly coloured hair and black or red leather clothing. The mise-en-scene conventions that are connected to this genre come in six different forms:

• Costume- Leather jackets with metal spikes. Ripped jeans. Studded combat boots.
• Lighting- Black and white or very bright.
• Acting and proxemics-Woman pulling their hair back with their hand. Not looking at the camera
• Makeup and hair- Dark makeup around the eyes and lips. Brightly coloured hair with predominantly mohican style.
• Props- Guitars
• Setting- At festivals or concerts

Draft Photo

As producers, when we dressed up our model, we had to encode him with features that would represent the genre of punk. Then the audience has to decode it and we will see if they can decode it in the way that we wanted. The things they said about him were that he was moody, mysterious, dramatic, rebellious and scary. These ideas represented our model in the way that we wanted him to be seen meaning the audience were able to decode our model effectively.

These next images are all the photos that we took in our shoot. They each show the different poses which we tried to take reference for from our mood board. Many of them we instructed him to be looking away from the camera as it gives off the vibe that he is careless or rebellious.

Final Image

I settled on this image to be my final image as you fully get our model in shot and it also shows off his bass guitar. Furthermore, the background in this picture is completely white meaning it will be easy to cut out.

We gave him dark makeup around his eyes which makes him give off a menacing vibe as it makes him look mysterious and unpredictable. Additionally, he is looking off to the side, making him seem careless and distant. The colour scheme of his clothing is red and black which convey the idea of fear and danger which make him look intimidating to an audience.

I think this image works better than the other ones because it has a fully white background and a clear shot of his body. Furthermore, although he is not looking at the camera, you can still easily see his face and the expression he is pulling.

Overall, mise-en-scene is very important to convey meaning and tell a story as each small piece that helps build it up creates an idea in the audiences mind. Making sure that each sub-category inside of mise-en-scene is addressed can completely change how successful the media you are creating may become.

Now I know that when I make my magazine I must make sure the front cover conveys the genre that I am choosing accurately. I’ll do this by making sure my model is dressed appropriately, has the correct facial expression, is in a fitting pose and has props that suits the topic (for example an electric guitar for rock).

Album Poster Analysis

When creating an album poster I’ve learnt that every feature, no matter how small, is important to the message the producer is trying to get across to the audience. The producer must encode the album poster with symbols with the use of colour, font, signs and images. These codes must convey a story which the audience should be able to decode and understand the concept the producer is trying to show. A denotation is her facial expression which is uncaring and looking down at the camera and directly into it, which connotes the idea that she deems herself above the audience and she is confident.. In the poster I analysed, the story that got across to me was a strong woman who won’t let any man control her. It also portrayed a sexual vibe.

The most important features I need to get right when I make my magazine are the colours, lighting, font and body language. How I will show each of these features will depend on what type of consume I am trying to appeal to. I should pay attention to the concept of mise en scene to help convey my brand. In this example there are no props or any complex background, suggesting that she is the most important thing about this poster.

Completing this task has shown me that when I make my own media, before starting it I must decide what type of media I am making and what audience it will be for. Additionally I’ve learnt that a poster needs to have a feature on it that catches your eye to make people look at it as to sell your item you need to catch people’s attention.