Category: Preliminary Print Tasks

My Tour Poster

This is my Tour Poster inspired by the genre of Rap:

Reflection

During the research process for my tour poster, I found that majority of rap tour posters used quite dark and simplistic colours like black, white and the occasional red or yellow. They were rather minimalistic with not much writing and a bold main image of the artist. My inspiration for my tour poster was Drake’s ‘Summer Sixteen’ tour. His poster was very monotone and oversimplified.

In order to begin creating my tour poster, I placed my original Mes-En-Scene image into Adobe Photoshop to allow me to eliminate the background and have a cut out of the model. I did this by using the Quick Selection Tool and Magic Wand Tool. However, due to my model having hair visible, I found it easier to ‘select and mask’ my image and press define hair to get an accurate outline of the model. I decided to remove the colour from the image to give a sense of edginess. Once I was happy with the outline of my model, I loaded the saved image onto Adobe Indesign to begin editing and creating my tour poster. Throughout the poster, I used 2 different fonts so that it didn’t become overwhelming for the audience. With the Masthead, I made use of my skills on the software and added a shadowed effect to compliment the artists’ name. I also added a dark shadow on the hexagon shape to add definition. I used basic colours, black and white, to make my poster look serious, uncomplicated and fit the theme of rap. I made sure to include all the conventional features of a tour poster such as the Name of the Artist and Tour, Dates and Venues, Where the album can be streamed/downloaded and Ticket Price/Availability.

Here is My Tour Poster Self-Assessment:

Focus Forward

I’ve learnt that it is very crucial to do background research in preparation for a project as it gives you ideas and a clear understanding of what works well in order to achieve a successful end product. I found it very helpful researching rap tour posters because it gave me a comprehensible idea of designs that would be suitable for my poster and that I can use to make mine fit the genre of rap well. What I would do differently next time is I’d keep the bandana’s original colour on the image as I feel a pop of colour, especially red, would make it more visually appealing as I feel my tour poster lacks colour and may become quite boring due to the theme of monotone throughout it. Furthermore, I am happy with the final outcome and feel that I have clearly conveyed the genre of rap in print.

My Magazine Front Page Swede

Here is my version of a Billboard Magazine Front Cover featuring Beyonce:

Here is the original Billboard Magazine Front Cover featuring Beyonce:

Reflection

InDesign has given me a clear understanding of all the different features needed for me to include in my magazine in order for my front cover to be visually appealing towards a certain audience. The software, InDesign, helped me successfully replicate the original Billboard Magazine front cover. Since it was my first time working with InDesign, I was able to discover multiple ways of editing with different components and it assisted me massively whilst identifying the key conventions of the magazine front cover in order to make my copy of the Magazine cover look identical to the original.

Compare & Contrast

With the Magazine front cover that I chose, InDesign allowed me to be very specific when attempting to replicate it because it held a wide variety of different fonts, texts and styling options which were very helpful when adding in the minor details like the Cover Lines. I struggled a lot with re-creating the Masthead as it meant I needed to add in the colours within the spaces of the letters, however with the use of the eclipse shaping tool and the colour pipette I was able to sufficiently fill in the gaps with the correct shaping and colours. To make sure there were no small gaps around the edges in the letters, I made sure to send the shapes to the back of the Masthead so that the text was in front and all potential gaps would be filled. Because I had so many separate things on my page, it meant that if I moved one then everything would be out of place so I found it easier to group them all together so that if it moved, it would move together as one. Unfortunately the Main Cover Star Image was not the right size for it to be in the correct positioning, it was too zoomed in so it appears bigger. However, I tried my best to make it work but it was impossible to get it exactly the same. Once I got it imported and placed in the right position, I locked it so that it wouldn’t move if I was to jiggle around words. I found this very effective and useful when designing.

Strengths

• I was able to match the majority of the different fonts used throughout the front cover, I’d have the original Billboard front cover open next to my InDesign document and repeatedly keep comparing the fonts until I was certain that I had found the closest match. The InDesign software had a vast range of font types and so it made it harder to find the right one because there were so many, however it enabled you to filter in whether it was a Serif or Sans-Serif font which did narrow down the options. It was important to make sure I had found a font close to the original one used as it would of looked odd and not been a fair representation of the original.
• I was able to add in the small unreadable details like the Price, Website Link and Date. For the things I couldn’t read on the original front cover, even if I zoomed in, I used a helpful tool called Placeholder Text which would fill in a text box with random latin/greek. This gave me a clear idea of what it would look like on the magazine and made it more similar to the original.
• I made use of the text tools, for example with the “Beyonce” along the bottom. I tried to get the word touching like the original without making the letters look too narrow and with some of the Cover Lines, some of the spacing between them were quite compacted and I feel like I achieved the correct spacing. I also made my Cover Lines align with the beginning of the Masthead so that it looked neat and professional.

Weaknesses

• Next time, I would look deeper into finding a font which is more identical to the original Masthead. The original one is rounder, closer together, stretched and bigger whereas the one I used is bolder, shorter and more spaced out. It is more noticeable on the “B” and “i”. The “B” is wider on the original and the boldness isn’t as thick as mine, the “i” has a different dot and is meant to be shorter than the “B”. Additionally, the placing of the Masthead isn’t exactly correct as I could of placed it closer down to her eyebrows. However as I was only copying it, it was never going to be exact and perfect.
• To improve on my version of the magazine cover, I will use a colour pipette to make sure I have used the same shade and colour when making the coloured circles for in between the holes of the letters as I feel as the green I used in the “d” is much darker than the original.
• Since the Main Cover Star Image isn’t the same sizing as the original, it made it difficult to adjust the wording accordingly. For example, as a way of making the front cover better I could move the “Beyonce” down by her hand as I feel like it is too close to her chin but due to the image proportion majority of her hand is cut out, making this a lot harder to achieve.

Focus Forward

After exploring the different aspects of InDesign, I feel more confident with the software and how everything works together to produce a high level outcome (i.e. a Magazine). It has helped me understand and realise what special tools and features I will need to use when creating my own Magazine in order for it to come out successful. Nevertheless, next time I would challenge myself a little more and choose a Magazine front cover that not only would I not tend to pick but something that has more key conventions of a magazine like Pugs, Plugs and A barcode so that I can identify what tools I’d need to use in order to represent them onto a front cover accurately.

The Camera Talks

This is my moodboard of different angles and framing:

Reflection

By doing this task within my group, I have learnt that different angles, distances, and frames work collectively to help convey Mise-En-Scene in an image.

Low angles are effective in representing the subject in an image as powerful and superior, whereas high angles represent the subject as powerless and vulnerable.

When taking those photos, we attempted to position our models at the points of interest using gridlines as a way of them being the first thing an audience is attracted to. By using a variety of different angles, shots, and compositions can add deeper meaning to an image or film to help portray a different story. For example, the image where we used a canted angle gives a sense of disorientation, fun, and confusion.

 

My Image that uses Mise-En-Scene to Communicate Meaning

Here is our Padlet research into the RAP Genre:

Reflection

Within our mood board, we used Mise-En-Scene to separate our different ideas into Costume, Lighting/Colour, Action, Makeup & Hair, Props, and Setting. Upon collecting photos of inspiration, we concluded that rappers tend to wear baggy clothing, big sunglasses, and lots of chains. Their actions are quite aggressive-looking and the body language is very forward. Along with the Rap genre, a mix of red and blue lighting creates a very adrenaline-rushing atmosphere.

Here is our Rap God with the class’ star image adjectives:

We described him as EDGY, SERIOUS, REBELLIOUS, AGGRESSIVE, URBAN, GANGSTA, and FLASHY.

Here is a final image of our Dressed-up Rap God from the Photoshoot:

I chose these as my final images because I feel like they are a perfect representative of our genre, Rap. The rapper is portrayed as edgy, serious, and flashy. This is emphasized by the excessive accessories such as the chain, bandana, and big sunglasses, the stern facial expression, and the confident body language is excellent as it conveys that sense of aggression and urban gangsta. These images came out better than the others due to them being taken at a low angle and using a medium long shot.

Overall I have found Mes-En-Scene very useful whilst producing these images as it really helped with the development of the character and communicating our genre of Rap to an audience.

A Textual Analysis of a Tour Poster

This is my textual analysis on Harry Styles’ LOVE ON TOUR poster:

Reflection

When analyzing and decoding the different features of a media text, I learnt that it is crucial to utilize Mise-En-Scene to help communicate an idea to an audience.

Mise-En-Scene includes C.L.A.M.P.S.

Costume, Lighting, Acting and Proxemics, Makeup and Hair, Props, Setting

Denotations are the things whereas Connotations are the ideas, when put together equal the Narrative.