P5, D1: Production Techniques and Creating Meaning

              P5: Post-production Techniques

This is the original unedited photo that I edited to use for my Sheldon Cooper magazine front cover.

      I chose to edit all my photos in Adobe Lightroom because the main purpose of the software is to edit photos to make them look great for photography. The first thing I did was edit the levels of the photo. This will make the photo look better.

Next, I decided to remove any blemishes from my model's face, I have seen professionals do this for their magazines so I decided to follow. I did this by using the spot healing tool and the healing brush. I also removed eye bags.

  Here you can see I have brightened my model's eyes using the spot healing brush and the options.

            Here you can see I have exported my photo so I can place in Photoshop.

Here I have used Adobe Photoshop to create my Sheldon Cooper magazine front cover background. I removed the white edges from each comic book page photo I took. I did this by using the Rectangular Marquee Tool around the comic book page I wanted to keep, I then right clicked select inverse and I deleted the white borders. I did this for all of my comic book page photos. I used the transform tool to scale how big I wanted each comic book page to fit the photoshop document and I used the move tool to move each page. I chose to keep each page on seperate layers so they are easy to move and transform.

 

This is me placing my photo into Adobe Photoshop. I have used the text tool to create text in the Badaboom font, you can see the process in later screenshots.

In these screenshots, you can see how I have changed the leading (the space between the lines of text) for my masthead. I then file, exported this as a TIFF file. I will be placing the masthead in the top left of my TV magazine because this is where you are conventionally placed.

These are the fonts I have used for my Sheldon Cooper magazine: Badaboom, Bebas Neue and Din Alternate Bold. I also used the Impact font.

In these screenshots, you can see I have used the text tool to write my text, drop shadow tool to make the text stand out against the background and the Faux Italic tool to create the italics.

To create the comic book styled puff, I used the pen tool. I used the paint bucket tool to get a red shape fill and I removed the stroke. I then duplicated this by copying and pasting this shape on the layer below and I make this shape black to use as a drop shadow for the puff. I grouped the two layers and then decided to merge group them so they both move together, this made it easier to move the puff if needed. I placed the puff on the right of the magazine front cover because that's the convention of magazines. I made the puff stand out since this will encourage people to buy the magazine.

I also used the rectangle tool, placed this over my background and changed the transparency to make the background darker and create a nice contrast between the content and the background. There are better ways I could have done this but this is what I did.

Here you can see I added "Learn About Sheldon's Backstory" text and I used the line tool and coloured this yellow to add some detail. I also used the ellipse tool and the text tool again to add another puff in the bottom left corner.

                     This is my completed It's All About Sheldon Cooper TV magazine front cover.

Back in Adobe Lightroom, you can see I have used the different options again such as the highlights, shadows, whites and blacks tools to edit my photo and make it look better. Once again, I have used the spot healing blush to get rid of spots and blemishes. This photo is for my contents page.

I took my edited photo into Adobe Photoshop and used the quick selection tool to select my model. I then clicked select inverse and deleted the background.

I used file, place embedded to place my front cover background into this Photoshop document. I placed this layer below the model layer, used the rubber tool to remove what was left over from the background and any white around the model. Next I used the drop shadow tool to create a drop shadow around my Sheldon Cooper model to finish this contents page image.

I started my contents page in Adobe Indesign: I used the rectangle frame tool to create the frame for where my contents page image would go. I used the type tool to wite my text, I used the fill tool to change the numbers to red and I used the eyedropper tool to take the red colour from my TV Fanatics masthead. I placed my masthead in by placing a rectangle frame then file, place to put my masthead in the frame. I changed my fonts using the font chracter tool and I also changed the size of the text using the font size tool.

I went into Adobe Illustrator and used a Flash logo image for reference to create my own Flash logo using the pen tool, ellipse tool, fill and stroke tools, eyedropper tool, the layers and the select tool. As you can see, I changed the layout of my contents page to match how a real magazine contents page would look like. I used the ellipse frame tool and placed my Flash logo from Adobe Illustrator. I placed in my contents page image that I did in Photoshop. I wrote the rest of my text in and I used the baseline shift tool (to make sure each secttion was in line with the other column) and the text wrap tool to wrap the text around The Flash logo I made.

Here I am editing my double page spread photo by using the healing brush tool to remove spots, eyebags and blemishes. I also used the whites tool to brighten the photo.

 

 

I started creating my double page spread. First I used the rectangle frame tool and took up the whole page on the right to follow magazine conventions and there I placed my DPS image of Sheldon standing in front of the train. I then used the type tool and drew a text box in the columns, I started to copy my article text over. I also used the type tool to write my Sheldon Cooper title in the Badaboom font and the lead in.

 

 

To capture the attention of the readers, I have used the fill tool to use the same yellow colour as I did for the front cover; this adds consistancy across my magazine pages. I then used the drop shadow tool to add a drop shadow to the title.

In these screenshots I am again keeping consistancy by using the same blue as my front cover text.

 Here I created my speech bubbles in Adobe Illustrator so I can place my Sheldon Cooper quotes inside. I used the pen tool, stroke and fill tools. I duplicated the cloud and filled this black to create a drop shadow.

I highlighted the S and used the drop cap number of lines tool to create a dropcap and draw the readers to the article (convention of magazine articles). I changed the font and colour to make the drop cap more interesting. I finally got all the text in for my article, I placed my comic book speech bubbles in the rectangle frames and I wrote my quotes in the speech bubbles in the Badaboom font.

 I created another vector graphic using the pen, fill and stroke tools a well as the layers in Adobe Illustrator. This is a design on one of Sheldon's iconic t-shirts from the series; this could be an easter egg at the bottom of the pge for the readers, there are t-shirt designs hidden in the magazine pages.

                             

Here I placed in the t-shirt design vector graphic and my page number. I finally completed all of my magazine pages.

 

Strengths and weaknesses of my Sheldon Cooper TV magazine

Now that you can see the steps and tools I used to create my It's All About Sheldon Cooper TV magazine, I can now evaluate the strengths and weaknesses of it The client brief asked me to create four pages of a  magazine of my choice of genre (music, gaming, movie or TV). The client brief asks me to create a magazine front cover, contents page and double page spread. Therefore, I have followed the client brief by creating a Sheldon Cooper TV magazine that has a front cover, contents page and double page spread.

 Here are the strengths of my magazine. I have followed the codes, conventions and genre rules of a magazine. The layout of my pages fit the layout of other magazine pages out there. I have inlcluded content and the same layouts as TV magazines. Another strength is my content relates to TBBT TV show and Sheldon Cooper, it is focused around being a TV magazine, my photos, images and graphics fit with my TV theme as well. The bright colours I have used will attract my audience and stand out from other magazines that are more plain and use more muted and less vibrant colours. The content also

Although my Sheldon Cooper TV magazine has lots of strengths, there are some areas I think I could improve on. I think I could have took more photos of my model to make sure my photos are not pixellated or fzzy, I could have taken more photos of my model in different poses so I would have a wider variety of photos to choose from. I would also have tried to find an outfit Sheldon wold wear to try and bring the character to life more through my model.

       

D1: How I Have Created Meaning In My          Magazine

Here you can see I have followed the client brief by creating a front cover page, contents page and double page spread for a TV magazine (I could choose between the genres of music, gaming, TV or movie for my magazine). I chose to create a magazine based around the character of Sheldon Cooper from The Big Bang Theory TV show because it is a popular sitcom that I love and the character has a lot of depth. You can see my process of creating my Sheldon Cooper magazine in the P5 report above. However I will summarise this. To create my magazine front cover, contents page and DPS, I used the professional industry programs Adobe Photoshop, Adobe Illustrator and Adobe InDesign. I used Photoshop to create my front cover and to put my contents page photo and the comic book background together before placing the image into InDesign. I created graphics such as the Flash logo for the contents page and the t-shirt design in Illustrator. The bright, comic book colours is the USP of my TV magazine. The colours are fun and they would attract my target audience of 20-50 year old men and women. I chose that target audience for my magazine because The Big Bang Theory's viewership is this audience so this would appeal to them. The puff on the front cover of my magazine would interest fans of the character Sheldon Cooper. The front cover has Sheldon Cooper looking at the audience. This is a convention of magazines and it draws the attention of audiences. The contents page has a simplistic yet sleek design with different fonts and also colours for the numbers. The contents listed are funny and informational about their favourite character, Sheldon. Sheldon Cooper and TBBT fans would know that Sheldon's favourite superhero is The Flash so this is an inside joke in a way. The DPS has a red drop cap which is a convention of magazines. However, this also persuades the audience to read the article. I have wrote about Sheldon's quirks, quotes, funny moments and relationships with the other characters. TBBT fans will laugh and reminisce about those moments in the show. The evolution graphic at the bottom of the DPS is something that super fans of the TV show would recognise. One of Sheldon's favourite and most famous t-shirts has this graphic on it. You can see the different graphics I have created above in my P5 post.

                                                     Front cover page

I have researched the codes and conventions of magazines and created a report on this. I have also used examples to help me learn the codes and conventions of magazines. Here is the front cover example I used of a TV guide magazine (this also helped me learn the conventions of a TV genre magazine). I want my magazine to entertain the audience.

 

 

 By following an example of a TV magazine, I have learnt the following things:

• My photo should be a medium close up and my Sheldon Cooper model should be looking at the audience. This is a convention of magazine front covers.
  
• I learnt how real magazines applied the codes and conventions and I learnt how to do this for my own magazine.
• TV genre specific, I learnt that the masthead should be in the top left corner and I have learnt about what TV magazines usually write for their taglines, cover lines and puffs. I chose to create a static TV design to show the genre of the magazine and the colours also relate to the colours of the t-shirts Sheldon Cooper wears.
  
• There should be a variation of fonts to make the magazine look interesting. The important words also should be in a bold or different colour such as red and italics can be used. This helps to entertain the audiences. 
  

                                                   

                                                       Contents page

 I have also used a film magazine to follow as example for my contents page. The purpose of a contents page is to show what articles there are in the magazine.

 

 

By creating my own contents page, I think this is the hardest page to create in a magazine. I have learnt:

• Codes and conventions of a contents page. For my contents page, I decided I wanted to make my articles look alligned as they are in two different columns.
• The numbers are in a different colour so they stand out and make the content page look less bland. I have also used four different fonts for the content page to draw the attention of the readers and to make the design look cool.
  
• To begin with, I wasn't sure where to place my contents page image, but after looking at this example I understand where it is best to place my image.
• I created a Flash logo vector illustration to place where Moana is in this example. This is entertaining because TBBT fans know Sheldon Cooper loves The Flash superhero.
   

 

                                      Double page spread

 

 

   Here is the my example that I drew inspiration from for my Sheldon Cooper magazine double page spread. I used this music DPS as an example of how my DPS should be arranged.

By creating my double page spread I learnt:

• Drop caps are very important, they draw attention to the article and I didn't think they were necessary before.
  
• How to present a DPS, I wasn't sure how to before but following my example DPS and now I know the codes and conventions of a DPS.
• How the text hierarchy is on a DPS. The title being the biggest, then the lead in....
• How to write a magazine article, I had never written a magazine article for an actual magazine product before so I had to learn how to address the audience, how to start the article and how to end it. I based my magazine article around Sheldon Cooper's quirks, quotes and funny moments.
  
• To get the photos not just for the magazine DPS but also for the contents page and front cover, I have had to use photography equipment and cameras. I used Adobe Lightroom to edit my images so I have to learn a software I had never used before.
  

                                       D1 Feedback

I requested feedback from two of my classmates through email. You can see what they think is positive about my work and what could be improved. Both of them believe that the overall design of my magazine is effective. They both noted that I followed TV magazine conventions very well and I have incorporated TBBT brand into my design. 

On the other hand, both of them believed that the poses and photos I took of my Sheldon Cooper model were boring and basic. This means that my photos might be too uninteresting for my target audience of 20-50 year olds. Liam also aknowledged that the article that I have written may be too boring for my target audience.

 If I make a magazine in the future, there are a few areas I would like to improve on. I would like to focus on my cinematography skills by choosing different, interesting poses for my subject. I would experiment more with camera shots and angles while also using lighting to my advantage. I also would like to learn more editing skills in Adobe Photoshop, Illustrator and Lightroom so I can create more unique looking graphics for future magazines.