In order to create a successful tour poster I made a mood board of country and western posters that could inspire me. This was helpful because it gave me a good idea what tones, fonts, and themes I would need to include in my own tour poster. Through creating this moodboard you can see how I replicated certain design features that were common in country tour posters, for example, the old western style typeface demonstrated on many of these posters can also be represented on mine where the masthead reads ‘Henry Grey’  . Another way, my brief conveys the themes represented in my moodboard is through the colour scheme I used.  My moodbaord portrays a dusty brown, maroon and autumnal colour scheme, which can be seen through my tour poster based on the clothes that the model is wearing. You can also see dusty brown colours through the background image of some planks of wood which I chose to use because I thought it would express the rustic and natural patterns that can be seen in country. However, I made sure not to completely copy the examples of tour posters on my moodboard, otherwise I wouldn’t stand out to my target audience and the goal of my product is to be conventional but unique.

Focusing forward, this task has taught me the importance of incorporating design conventions which are connected to the genre, in order to attract the target audience and give anyone who is interested in attending the event a sneak peak of what will be given to them. It has also helped me to gain a better understanding of using indesign and photoshop, to portray a certain connotation to a desired audience. I have learnt how to download fonts from the internet and use them in indesign, which will be helpful in creating my music magazine because I now have a better variety of fonts, which will make it easier for me to convey accurate and specific connotations to my demographic.

When creating a magazine cover it is important to consider the layout, proportions, colours, fonts and typefaces. I found that using Indesign to replicate the front cover of NME helped me understand the significance of placing an image and sizing of an image. In order to recreate the layout I had to recap the main conventional design features of a magazine cover.

While replicating this front cover I have learnt how to use Indesign and how magazine covers have main conventional design features, such as, the masthead, cover lines, main cover star, pug and the plug.

Reflecting on how I found this:

My 3 strengths-

• One of my strengths was being able to pick up how to use Indesign fairly quickly. I learnt the ropes of this app after one lesson and quickly discovered how to replicate the exact fonts and sizes used.
• The layout and proportions I copied were placed accurately
• I used capital and lowercase letters in the same places that were on the original magazine cover

My 3 weaknesses-

• My coverlines were too close together
• The barcode I replicated was slightly cut off
• The imaging sizing is slightly off in some areas

To improve on these things in future I will watch these helpful YouTube videos:

Focusing forward, this task will help me to create my own music magazine as I am now familiar with how to use InDesign. This will help me because now I feel more confident that I have the skills required to use InDesign effectively.

My mood board represents that every image in media has connotations, which are significant because they each tell a story. This mood board expresses my ability to use mise-en-scene to communicate a message. In media, how the camera is positioned is very important in order to convey the desired message to the audience. In order to create more meaningful connotations to your denotations you have to consider camera angles, framing, the distance between the camera and what you are shooting, and then combine these elements with mes-en-scene, in order to create a powerful story telling partnership. If you do all of these things you can create the perfect image which can express an idea from a single image, this is called an image and an idea.

For example, our group used a two shot image, where Evie and I are facing each other in the centre of the frame, however Evie is slightly covering her face. We thought it’d be a good idea for her to hide her face to convey that Evie is sharing secretive information with me, who is not covering my face, to communicate my feelings of being shocked.

For our mid-shot, we decided to sit Cerys by herself in a large, empty area. We chose to do this to convey her feelings of loneliness and being isolated. The fact the picture was shot from quite far away connotes that she is isolated from everyone and everything.

Focusing forward, creating this will help me to compose images for my music magazine because I am now aware of the different angles I will need to shoot from in order to add connotations to my denotations. This is significant because it is going to help me deliver a clearer message to my audience.

In small groups we were allocated a genre to research; in my particular group we had to research country and western music. When researching this we found that country music was inspired by cowboy and western themes. Creating this moodboard helped us to understand how Mise en scene is used through costumes, colours and lighting.

The theme colours of this moodboard are very autumnal and it includes colours such as brown, orange, yellow and white. Through this moodboard it is clear that cowboy hats and leather boots are a big part of country culture. We’ve represented that the cowboys ride horses and use acoustic guitars to perform their music. We also discovered that country and western music is soft, natural, acoustic and melancholy.

After creating our moodboard we took some pictures of our model wearing clothes inspired by the western lifestyle:

We chose for our model to wear flanneled and layered clothing and for our prop we decided to use a piece of straw that he could chew on so it would draw in the western themes. In the first image, we used a background with a brown, wooden door behind him to express old fashioned and authentic vibes. In the second image we chose a backdrop with a plain white wall behind so we could have bright lighting because we can associate country and western music with being outside.  The photos are taken at a mid shot angle so we can clearly see that he is chewing on a straw. We chose to have him look off to the side during the shoots to communicate the idea that country is dreamy and nostalgic.

Focusing forward this will help me to use mise-en-scene in my music magazine because it has reinforced the importance of conveying a narrative to the audience. It will also help me to plan my music magazine because I will now research the conventions of my genre and use images, texts and colour in order to clearly present to the audience what type of music it is.

Whilst decoding this I learnt that every denotation in media has a connotation and print media conveys this through using different fonts, images and colours. I also discovered that the small details on this poster are used on purpose in order to convey a specific message to the audience. This can be shown through the poster of Harry Styles where he is expressing himself, yet behind this self-expression their is meaning, which the producer has incorporated into the design in order to attract the target audience.

Analysing this poster has helped me to see that the costume worn, hairstyle, makeup, posture, lighting used and facial expression are all used for a specific reason which in this case, is to attract young girls and teenagers. The use of all these things is also known as Mise en Scene.

Focusing forward this poster will help me to construct a good music magazine because it will help me to decode all of the elements I will need to think about. I’ve learnt the importance of connotations which will help me to ensure that behind everything I put in my music magazine there is a purpose.