Category: Preliminary Print Tasks

Here is my magazine front page swede compared to the original:

Reflection: In these two magazines I tried copying the original one using InDesign, the one I created is the top magazine. The reason I did this is to improve my editing skills to create a good quality magazine for myself. There were a few problems that I had encountered in InDesign which were, finding the correct font, getting the red background, finding the grey sticker and some other details. But other than that I’ve learnt a lot InDesign and it is a very efficient way to edit magazines. I’m looking to improve my editing skills with Adobe Photoshop. This will allow me to possibly solve the problems I encountered whilst using InDesign and is an extra editing software I can use.

This is a YouTube video that I have found which provides a free course for InDesign beginners. It is a great way to improve your editing skills using InDesign. I found it really helpful, which I strongly recommend if you are a beginner trying to learn different technicality’s of InDesign. I am going to use what I’ve learnt and use it in my own magazine in the future.

This is a front cover of a magazine that I’ve analyzed.

Reflection: In this task I have learnt that to make a good poster you have to think about your target audience in order for it to do well. For example a childish looking magazine would likely not be interesting to an adult, it’s human nature. This is because they weren’t  intentionally made for them but made for kids because kids like childish things.  This would mean that type of magazines target audience would be aimed at kids. I have also learnt that it has to be conventional so the audience know what to expect in the magazine. But if you make the magazine too conventional it will look like every other typical magazine which will make the magazine look boring, so you need to  make it unique so it can stand out from others. Finally I have learnt that in a magazine, you shouldn’t think about what you think looks good but rather what the audience will think is good. This is because if the audience does not like  what your ideas are then the magazine won’t be as popular as it could be. But if you give something that the audience will like, then it will provide much better results.

Here is my annotated magazine cover:

Link to full image: Full Image

Reflection: We analyzed this magazine with the technical conventions of a magazine, this is a list of the analysis techniques I used.

Masthead: The main title of the magazine.
Coverline: A headline on the front cover of a magazine advertising a story or feature inside.
Main cover line: The main title of the magazine that should stand out to all of the others captions and cover lines.
Main cover star: The main character/person of the magazine.
Captions: Describing the photograph or illustration.
Plug: Promoting something inside your magazine, but can be used for anything.
Pug: Should have a little sticker with some text inside e.g. “NOW 40% OFF”
Barcode: To be able to scan the item and see how much the person will be charged for it.
Price: To tell the buyer how much the item will cost.
Issue Date: Is the original document or instrument, security is produced.

Here are photographs of different camera shooting techniques:

Camera Techniques:

Canted: Slightly tilted.
Wide Shot: Usually horizontal and has a lot of the background the picture.
Extreme Close Shot: The picture is really zoomed up to the point where its not going to be visible if you continue to zooming in, Its not used very much.
Close shot: A little bit further away than an extreme long shot but is a lot more productive and visible.
Mid long shot: Should be about knee to head height for a person.
Mid shot: Should be roughly hip height on a person.
Mid close shot: Should be roughly a persons chest height.
Long shot: Should be the whole body of a person but a little bit of background.
Extreme long shot: Should make the person really far away but just about noticeable in the picture.
High angle shot: Should be looking down on a person/object.
Low angle shot: Should be looking up to a person/object.

What I have learnt is different camera techniques can communicate different meanings. For example a low angle shot on something can make it look really powerful because it is looking up to the person/object, but a high angle shot can make someone look weak, scared and vulnerable. Because it is looking down on the person/object. Also camera framing can communicate an image too. For example a Long shots can show the subject from a distance, emphasizing the place and location. Whilst Close shots reveal details of the subject and highlight emotions of a character.

Analyzed Tour Poster:

On this tour poster I have done some analysis known as “CLAMPS” which is name after six key words.

Costume- A set of clothes in a style.
Lighting- It’s main function to highlight the main object
Action- Is when the actor is doing something for the audience so they understand what’s going on.
Makeup- They use makeup as a way to improve, enhance, or alter the appearance of the actors.
Props- A prop is an object used on stage or screen by actors during a performance or screen production.
Setting- The setting of a narrative is the environment in which the narrative takes place.

One example of my analysis is that the font of “HELL OVER EUROPE” is in a devilish and hellish theme. We can assume this because the color is red and the text seems to look like it’s on fire along with the background. 

This analysis is really useful when I design my own magazine, because I will be able to understand the acronym mise-en-scene and use it to create a better looking magazine. I could also use some of these techniques such as ‘Lighting’ and chain it with color to give a psychological effect on my viewers. E.G. the color green represents good, happy, and reassuring. But for black it could be evil, mysterious, darkness and unreliable.

This is a mise-en-scene that I made on Padlet, they all contribute to the style of a rapper. I used the technique known as “CLAMPS” yet again and named them at the top of each column to distinguish them from each other.

This is our class posters on different characteristics of the media ecology. My task was to do one of those characteristics of the media ecology, mine turned out to be technology, the fifth page in the slideshow.

Reflection: What is media ecology? Media ecology theory is the study of media, technology, and communication and how they affect human environments. I asked questions which I wanted to be answered, but the main three were:

“Which devices have remote access to the media?”
“How does technology change social interaction?”
“How does technology affect the market?”