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We were given the task to recreate a magazine front cover on InDesign, this was to help us understand and get used to indesign so that when we come to making our own magazines we know how to use it and get used to it. From this I have learnt how to create a magazine front cover I have also learnt how magazines have conventional features.

The conventional features of a magazine I have learnt –

• Plugs
• Masthead
• Title
• Cover lines
• Main cover line
• main cover star
• Barcode
• Price
• Pug
• Insets
• Captions

3 strengths of my magazine-

• I think the placing of the different features of my magazine with the original one is quite accurate.
• The colours in mine are very similar to the professional one.
• The size of the font looks the same.

3 weaknesses of my magazine –

• I couldn’t achieve the right thickness of my fonts.
• I couldn’t find the same image for my magazine.
• Some of the fonts are slightly different to the magazine ones.

I found that most of it was fairly easy I got used to it quickly, I struggled with getting the correct width and weight of my writing so I will need to improve this. This will help me when we come to making our magazine as it has given me a clear insight of how to lay it out and use all the different tools on Indesign.

We were put into groups and then given the task to go around the school and take photos of each other at high angles, low angles, mid shot, close up, long shot etc. We had to create some sort or story or meaning to the image. After we collected the photos we chose nine photos and used Canva to create a collage of these nine photos; on each image we had to include three hashtags, so one with the technical term (#longshot, #highangle), then the denotation (#personlookingintothedistance) and the connotation (#lonely, #happy). I now know that I can use the angle of the shot, distance and even the features of mise en scene to convey a narrative.

How we constructed this image:

• The model stood at the top of the stairs whilst we took the photo at the bottom, this photo was taken at a low angle, giving his a sense of dominance and strength, making him seem intimidating.
• This photo is a midshot, with the focal point centred in the middle, this composition helps to convey his emotion of calmness.

When making our magazines this will help me to consider how I take my photos and the meanings I want it to portray, I will make sure that I use the right angles and the right kind of body language.

The mise-en-scene used in this is his hair style, colour and body language, all of these together symbolise peace. The colour used in the poster reflects happiness and calmness, the denotation of this is yellow.

This is a tour poster analysis, we chose a poster which we thought was a good one to deconstruct, I chose the Weeknd tour poster as I felt there was a lot to write about on this one, we then had to annotate the tour poster. I wrote about how the different colours portrayed and signified different emotions, so for example black can signify grief but also confidence which are too very contrasting emotions, the black that was in the poster suggested the emotion of confidence rather than grief due to the other factors, such as it being a tour poster so the main purpose of it is to attract people and the body language in the poster suggested confidence.

what have I learned?

• I have learned every small detail has a meaning and is trying to convey something, for example it could be something as small as his hair style, so in the poster above he has dreads signifying that he is chill.
• I have learned that body language can have a big impact on the way people can see you and how it should be presented when advertising, so for example the person in the magazine portrays confident body language which is appropriate to the media he’s being presented on, but if he was slouched and looking down it could connote that he is shy and perhaps not motivated, which would create the wrong message towards their audience.
• The style of font is important when advertising too, certain fonts are used for certain themes, for examples if your were writing a letter you would tend to use a more fancy, handwriting font that flows well as its more traditional.
• Colour has an impact also on how you observe and take in things. Every colour has a meaning or represents an emotion, so if you are creating a poster you want colours that signify positivity on it, to attract your audience, colours such as orange which has happy connotations and signifies enthusiasm and red which implies the feeling of love and passion should be conveyed. I think that the colours should also depend on the type of music, if its very calm music then a colour such as blue should represent that calm feeling. The denotation of colour is a property possessed by an object of producing different sensations on the eye as a result of the way it reflects or emits light.

What I have learned will impact my own magazine as it will allow me to consider the colours that will signify different emotions carefully, to make sure that it can portray the correct emotions for my audience. I will also make sure that the body language creates the correct message, I want it to get across. I will also look closely into the fonts, images, language and costumes shown as these can also have a lot of impact on how people observe the poster. My analysis of the tour poster aided me in decoding all the different aspects of it, therefore helping me when we develop our magazines.