Category: Preliminary Print Tasks

For this task I had to research my genre and find the conventional features and designs of folk tour poster and try and create my own. Here is the result of this task!

This is my analysis of conventional folk tour posters^

I have found that a very common style is hand drawn but also black and white (or a fairly old looking colour pallet) is also common. The posters are fairly to the point and don’t seem to involve excessive amounts of information. Through my research I have found that some things I should include where: Black and white colour scheme, Fairly brief writing ( not too much information), Big masthead and also to mention folk somewhere on the poster as actually not many of there posters I saw really suggest that they are folk based.

For my next task I had to create my own poster. I had to come up with a name for myself and also the tour. I had to think of places to use as tour destinations and also include other information on the poster.

This is the final product of my tour poster!^

I think that my poster came out pretty well overall and I think that it conveys the right ideas. I think the font is good and it looks tidy and clean and I think the colour scheme works really well. I used gradients in the text so that the text is more eye catching and I made the whole poster black and white so that it suits the conventional themes of folk magazines. I think the background, which is just a sunflower field, conveys the folk theme more. I think by having my cover star looking at the text it helps draw the consumers attention to the text more. I think my poster is interesting and appealing and I think that its unique and breaks conventions whilst also using common conventions.

I think my poster follows AIDA well and it does everything it needs to.

Overall I really like my colour scheme and pose but I think I could have maybe added a bit more folk influence in the overall design and feel and maybe add in colour on some of the image such as on the sunflowers or on the scarf but really I’m quite happy with how the poster came out.

For this task we had to recreate a music magazine poster and I think that mine came out quite well.

Here is my recreation of a NME magazine front cover.^

Here is the original^

I think that this was a really useful task as I learned to use indesign and expand my knowledge and techniques on photoshop and finding the correct things in order to make the poster work.This also helped me identify how magazines are designed with conventional features, especially with things such as the masthead, captions, cover lines and the main cover star.

By learning to do this I have expanded my own knowledge which will help me when creating my own magazine front cover.

Overall I think I did quite well as my mock up looks the same and is laid out the same and you can tell that its the same thing. Some of the things I did well where:

•  I think my choice of font was good and looked very similar, I think it is spaced correctly and it looks authentic.
• The layout is very accurate and it is true to the original.
• I think I was efficient at finding different ways to make things work such as using line tools and other things.

What would I do next time?

• I would try and get the white outline around the inset images to be perfectly white and not with black outlines inside the lines.
• I would also try and centre the image better as I managed to misplace it halfway through and couldn’t get it back to its original place.
• I think there are areas where I could make things bigger so I would do that next time.

Overall I think I need to improve on borders and main cover star size and placement as my main objectives, I think I could also try to be a bit quicker and time efficient but I think that I worked at a fair pace.

Hopefully by doing this I can improve my own work and understand why things work and don’t. If I can make use of indesign effectively I will have a very useful skill which I can apply in many places. My targets for next time would be;

• Time management
• Image placement
• Borders
• Adding shadows to font in certain areas

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A-6-okH0v8c

We where given the task to take some photos around school with the DSLR cameras in order to learn how camera communicates meaning in many ways and this post is about the results of our photoshoot!

These are the photos we took on the DSLR^

 

We found the DSLR confusing at first, however, after messing around and trying different things I think we managed to get some nice shots.We tried to experiment with close ups, extreme close ups, high angles, long shots and mid shots.We also tried changing the exposure and shutter speed and tried fiddling with depth of field but we couldn’t quite work depth of field out properly in the time we had.

We tried to make our images convey stories and have connotations and I think we succeeded.The shot of the eye close up has many connotations and the shot of the model with his head in his knees can be interpreted in many ways.By doing this I have seen first hand how important things such as distance, angles and framing can be when trying to convey a story. Just by using some of these techniques you can completely change the context and connotations of an image.

This is my moodboard!

I think these shots came out very well and They all tell a story.I like the extreme close up of the eye as the depth of field is good and the eye looks focused and well done.

I think that these nine photos and hashtags where the best shots we got and I think that they are easily understood and their connotations are quite subtle but interesting.I think we managed to use a variety of shots well so all the images are different and the different exposures help to give the images deeper connotations and denotations.

I think that this will really help me with my own magazine as by doing this I have gained further insight on the techniques and tricks which can be used to convey narrative and I now have actual experience with a DSLR and have taken photos using the techniques I have learned.

Our project.

In a group we where allocated a random genre.We got folk as our genre of research and we made this mood board in order for us to learn and highlight the uses of mise-en-scene in the folk genre.

From our research we found that the key connotations of the folk genre are quite bright shots which imply a more jolly and happy nature, Fairly laid back and casual poses which further implies that the people posing are chilled out and friendly ,Instruments as props in photos which helps give context to the images,Hair and makeup are not used often so we can’t infer much from that but the settings tend to be quite traditional and are a lot of fields and old looking places which implies the tradition of folk and the simple nature.The costumes are fairly unspecific and generally tend to be shirts and jeans with variations here and there such as hats or scarves, the fairly simple outfits further implies the casual and friendly connotations of the genre.

 

Post-it photo.

 

It is difficult to see what the post-its say but they say ‘Reserved,Authentic,Talented,Friendly,Casual and innocent’

I think ,by the comments we got, people understood the genre that we where trying to go for and they all said folk.The adjectives they used to describe our outfit choice do actually reflect the folk genre so I think we made the right decisions using Mise-en-scene.I think by using a guitar prop it sold the folk side but also the casual wear, jeans,shoes, shirt and scarf also sold the look.

Photoshoot.

We tried a multitude of poses as you can see in the photos above.At this time we couldn’t get a field for the setting of our background but in the future to really sell the look I would choose to shoot in a field of some description.Lighting also wasn’t really too changeable under our circumstances however I think the lighting works fine here. I think these poses look friendly and casual as opposed to being overly aggressive or intimidating looking.

 

Final photo.

I have chosen this image as the final image because I think it conveys the Mise-en-scene the best and it represents the genre the best.The guitar, scarf and hat helps to sell the costume aspect and helps to convey the folk theme.The pose looks friendly and calm and implies a sense of kindness.The lighting is decent and is bright enough to seem happy and bright.The background doesn’t really hint at folk but it works.The overall casual look creates a convincing folk outfit which was adequate for our photoshoot.

I think the overall pose and smile are what makes this photo better.The smile and back against the wall seems friendly and kind and it definitely conveys the message that we where trying to send.

 

Overall I think that this was really useful and learning to use MES to plan out photos is very helpful as a skill.Learning to research the themes and study how MES is used in other peoples work helps me to plan for my own.By doing this I have broadened my knowledge of magazine production and techniques and I have learned some transferrable skills which I can use elsewhere.

This is my analysis of a tour poster.^

By doing this I have learned more about how things are made with connotations and denotations and how these things can effect a piece of media.I have also learned that every detail has significance and by finding these details and looking more in depth I can infer and deduce what message and image the band is trying to convey.

Hopefully by doing this I can further improve my own creative skills and learn ways to make my music magazine more interesting and thoughtful.This should help me to create my own media with more thought but to also be more aware of other media and how they use connotations and denotations to suggest more without directly saying it.