Photo edits for double page spread.

I chose a live photo of each member of Fox & The Hound, and edited them in iPhoto. I selected the ones I thought were most appropriate and gave a clear view of the musician's faces whilst they were playing. They are going to be fairly small when I insert them into the double page spread, as they are to be positioned around the edges of a larger, colour photo of the whole band together. I chose to have them in black and white so that they would stand out more.

I firstly 'enhanced' each of these photos so that they were brighter and clearer, then moved on to edit out any blemishes. I then 'boosted' the colour of each photo, as this gave the images a deeper colour. I adjusted the levels, heightening the 'exposure', which made the photo lighter, and the 'contrast', which juxtaposes the lighter and darker colours by intensifying them both. This makes the photos more striking, and gives them a very subtle animation look.

With the photos of Corey and Jordan, I enhanced the definition so that the highlights in their hair came out clearer.

Matt, Drums.

Corey, Rhythm Guitar.

Sean, Bass Guitar.

Reece, Lead Guitar.

Jordan, Vocals.

Blog Update

Today I continued with my contents page which is almost complete. I took inspiration from my music magazine 'MOJO'.

Contents Design Video

This is a short screen video clip of the process of editing the title 'KANSAS' for my contents page.

Front Cover Edit

I took multiple photos of Fox & The Hound in various settings and different lightings in order to have a wide range of images to choose from. I selected a fairly simple photo of the band at the top of a hill with the sun behind them and edited it accordingly.

This was what the image looked like before it was edited. First I cropped the image, so that it was portrait rather than landscape, as this is the layout of a magazine front cover. I used 'lighten' to make the picture brighter so that their faces were more clear. I also boosted the colours to make them clearer and more vibrant. I like how the blue of the sky gets lighter and more yellow around their figures, because it makes them stand out, creating more of an impact to draw the reader in. I lowered the contrast and added saturation bringing out the colours further, but avoided saturating skin colour to avoid them looking animated. I boosted the definition and highlights to make their faces clearer and add depth to the colour in the image making it further stand out.

Fox & The Hound Live Photos - Location

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I took the photos of Fox & The Hound when they were rehearsing at Mushroom Studios in Rayleigh.

Live Photos - Fox & The Hound (Unedited)

Fox & The Hound Posed Photos - Location

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I took my posed photos of Fox & The Hound on Lubbard's Farm in Rayleigh. I chose this location as it had a wide range of locations for photo opportunities. The band were standing at the top of a hill and I took the photo from the bottom for my front cover image. The lighting worked very well for the photos of the band on the top of the hill because  the sun gave me clear images of their faces. I was also able to take photos from different angles, and experimented having the sun in different positions, however decided that having the sun behind them was the best choice for the front cover. I also took took less serious photos of the band 0n top of haystacks, which I purposefully asked them not to pose for so that we can see the energy and friendship within the band.

Posed Photos - Fox & The Hound (Unedited)

Questionnaire for my focus group.

My Questionnaire 

Live Band Photos - Boy Cries Wolf

Boy Cries Wolf Live Photos - Location

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I took my live photos of Boy Cries Wolf playing a gig in Southend-on-sea at The Railway Hotel. I particularly liked the lighting on the stage and the atmosphere of the audience, which helped add energy to the photos.

My Progress

In today's lesson I completed my Reader Profile, and continued with my questionnaire, which is almost complete.

Target: Finish questionnaire and give to focus group.

Reader Profile

Target Groups

Name: Poppy

Age: 17

Interests: Horse riding, playing guitar.

Favourite music genre: Indie/reggae.

Name: Josh

Age: 18

Interests: Playing drums, socialising.

Favourite music genre: Metal/rock.

Name: Nancy

Age: 14

Interests: Singing, acting, listening to music.

Favourite music genre: Rock/pop

Name: Iain

Age: 19

Interests: Geology, socialising.

Favourite music genre: Classical/Rock.

Name: Evie

Age: 21

Interests: Singing, performing, socialising.

Favourite music genre: Opera/classical/folk.

Name: Reece

Age: 16

Interests: Playing drums/guitar, socialising, going to gigs.

Favourite music genre: Metal/rock/folk.

History of Music Journalism

Music Magazine Research

Generic Research of Music Magazines on Prezi

The Common Room Magazine - Contents Page

The Common Room Magazine - Front Cover

The Common Room - Contents Page Flatplan.

The word 'contents' on this page will be in big bold letters so it is eye-catching for a reader who is flicking through the magazine. It will be in the same font as the word 'common' on the front page in order to carry on the laid-back theme throughout the magazine.

In the 'review' section of the magazine, there will be items such as iPads being reviewed by various students, and referring to how useful they are for school/research, etc. Music albums and iPods will also be reviewed in order to keep the magazine up to date and interesting for the reader. There will be two images. One will be another picture of the student being interviewed, and one will be of one of the items being reviewed. The 'featured' section will involve the main articles of the magazine and which will have the page number next to them. Underneath 'Autumn Term 2011' there will be updated news in each issue about interesting things going on around the school in the upcoming term, and opportunities to get involved with events.

The Common Room - Front Cover Flatplan.

I chose to call my magazine ‘The Common Room,’ as commons rooms are associated with sixth form students, and the common room is a place students go to relax and do work. It has a laid back atmosphere, which is what I wanted the feel of my magazine to have.

The magazine has a weekly article called “On the sofa with…” which interviews a different student every week who has a success story in one of their subjects. I thought of the name “On the sofa with…” because common rooms often have comfortable chairs or sofas, and the name is suggesting that the student was interviewed on the sofa of the common room. This also has connotations of a talk show, which the target audience might relate to.

The centre photo would be a close-up image of the student who is featured in the ‘On the sofa’ interview. They would be smiling looking into the camera to capture the audience’s attention, and possibly be holding or wearing something to do with their success subject, so that the reader has a preconception of what the interview will be about. This may influence them to want to read on into the story.

Another of my weekly articles would be called “Top tips for _____ students!”, and each week there would be a different subject. The article would consist of quotes from teachers and the exam board, and tips and comments from ex-students who went on to take the subject. 

Mastheads.

I chose this font as it is messy and looks handwritten. It follows the laid back, colloquial feel of my magazine, as it seems as though it could have been quickly scribbled, making it feel more personal and on a level with the students.

I liked this font because it is scribbled and messy, which also follows the colloquial feel of the first font. It is a round, modern font which would appeal to the young, target audience.

I like how the letters are at different angles in this font, and how it is clear and bold, as it makes the words more eye catching. The tilted letters also give the magazine a more fun, energetic feel, making the magazine more exciting and inviting.


I could also combine two or more different fonts to get my desired effect, which is a laid-back, personal approach. I would like the word 'common' to be in a different font so that it stands out as looking particularly modern and relaxed.

Student Magazine Analysis

Media Language

Form & Style


 The form of a media text is its shape and structure. It also involves 'micro' elements such as dialogue, sound effects, editing and, in the case of radio drama, ambience. The form of a text is almost always instantly recognisable to an audience, for example soap opera or historical drama. The style of a text is the way the text uses this form.


Convention

 Conventions are the 'ingredients' of a particular form or genre, therefore they are what an audience expect to see. There are specific conventions in each industry. For example, period drama is a sub-genre with a range of necessary ingredients which are expected by the audience, e.g. old fashioned costumes, making conventions 'contractual' in nature.






Signification

 Signification is the study of signs. Everything we see is a sign and carries a meaning. The basic meaning of the sign is that most people can recognise and agree on is known as the signifier. The more complex individual meaning that people give to signs are known as the signified.
 Often signs and objects carry connotations, for example the skull and crossbones. It is a simple image, but has connotations of pirates, danger, poison, etc. Connotations however depend on the audience and how they are perceived. A young child might see this sign and immediately think of pirates although an adult's first perception of this image might be of danger. People construct their own meaning, which is a matter of taste. In media, meaning is polysemic, which means every signifier has the potential to be given meaning differently by every person who hears or sees it.


Representation


 Representation is how a media text is displaying its own interpretation of something, for example, how the text presents 'reality' is always a 're'construction  of a mediated world. It is important to deconstruct representations at the 'macro' level of a text. Soap operas, for example, are representations of real life, however, as they are for entertainment purposes they are often exaggerated and contain caricature style characters, situations and story lines which are extremely unlikely to happen on a day to day basis to people in reality.


Audiences


 It is always important to consider 'target audiences' when analysing a media text or product. Many texts appeal to a range of secondary audiences and the way that different people respond to texts often challenges expectations. Target audiences of a magazine, for example, would be people who are subscribed the magazine or buy each issue every week/month, whereas secondary audiences are people who might buy the magazine occasionally because their attention is caught by the front cover if they see and story which interests them, or the magazine is featuring a band they like, etc.


Narrative & Genre


 Certain genres and television programmes such as the news, are presented through a particular narrative structure. Fictional TV and film tends to operate on a simple structure of balance, conflict and attempts at resolution. Narrative describes the process of balancing what we actually see or hear and what we assume in addition. When a range of media texts share form and conventions and the audience for this type of text develop certain expectation, this is referred to as genre. Within a genre things tend to be more interesting. Genres shift over time, producers and audiences subvert and parody the conventions and hybrid fusions of genres develop.


Creativity


 Creativity is a key 'performance descriptor' for media students. It is operated on two levels; the first, the ability to use digital technologies to make meaning so that the audience can respond easily to the text and second, the ability to engage and interest the audience. It is creative to imitate the conventions of a media form in a new configuration and this is a form of parody. Media products emerge as a result of hundreds of creative decisions.


Connecting the Micro to the Macro


 The words 'micro' and 'macro' appear frequently in relation to textual analysis. The micro elements of a text are the technical and symbolic features which you will need to identify, recognise and describe the function of. Lighting, for example, has one range of meaning and editing has another, or speech in radio as separate to sound mixing. When these elements combine they add up to an overall representational 'world' that makes sense and is believable. This plausible macro sum of the micro parts is called 'verisimilitude.'


Multimodal Literacy


 Media literacy is changing in the context of web 2.0 technologies. As the technology allows us to read and write and create in new ways, so the theories we need to understand these communication processes also have to adapt. We have to be careful about theorising simple producer - audience relations and creator - consumer patterns of behaviour, because it is possible that HTML, web navigation, 'wilkinomics' (Tapscott and Williams 2007) and the general 'wall-less' nature of the internet are actually changing the way we 'read' texts altogether.

Photo Edit 2.

 In this photograph, I used the effects boost, fade and antique. I liked how the boost added more colour and vibrancy to the image, before adding the antique look. Antique aged the image and gave it a vintage style by adding a brown tint, however, I thought the tint was a bit too strong and took too much of the green colour out of the leaves of the tree, so I selected the effect fade to counterbalance this making the antique effect look softer. I also liked how this effect made the sunlight filtering through the branches more prominent making the photo more magical.

Photo Edit 1.

 I edited this picture using the effects fade, boost & black and white, after removing blemishes using retouch. I used boost so that the clearness of the different colours were not lost in the black and white effect. Black and white makes the colours more poignant. I also added contrast, so that the colours became more clear. I liked how it made the black darker, particularly on the eyelashes. The effect 'fade' gave the picture more of an antique feel.

Rule of Thirds

Here is a link for the photography rule of thirds.

How to take a good photograph.

Composition

• What is included in the frame
• Rule of thirds
• Colour (blend, balance, depth of colour)
• Subject (Object person or scene)
• Spatial arrangement (positioning of the subject and key points in the image)
• Light and shadow (where the light falls on the picture and where the dark areas are)
• Perspective (the angle of view)

Focus

• Using the correct depth of field (link)

Lighting

• The direction of the sun

Camera Angle

• Experiment with different shots.

About Me - Jennie.