Absence

:(

Unfortunately, this week has been a complete painful nightmare and I spent alot of time going in and out of Doctors surgeries and hospitals. By Doctor's orders I have been summoned to stay home from school until the following week, so my blog may become a little back dated, however, on my return to school, I will be ensuring that I catch up on 0f all the work I have missed and will update my blog with the relevant information as soon as possible!

C1 Music Genres

Music Genres

In todays lesson we began to look at what we know about the different genres of music, in preperation for our main task. We brainstormed in small groups our ideas forming around the music genres, POP, HIP HOP/RnB, ROCK and DANCE. This is important because we will not be able to create a successful music magazine if we do not understand the music itself.

We considered factors such as the target audience, age and gender. Colours, clothing, language, lyrics, tone, volume and popularity. We even identified bands and solo artists who perfom in each genre.

Overall I think that reflecting on the different types of music has helped me to understand the differences that I will need to consider when selecting certain factors of my magazine. For example, which bands can be featured together, what colours should I use and what age am I targeting.

Here are some other music magazines that each follow a different genre...

B3 Preliminary Task/Final product

This is the front page of the school magazine I created using photoshop and my own photography for my preliminary task.

The preliminary task has really helped me to understand the full extent of the task ahead, including matters such as time and organisation. It also allowed me to experiment further with photoshop and I now feel comfortable in using it.

I decided to use WOB, white on black to create a sophisticated effect and used the feather option on my images to create faded and soft edges so that the collage of images did not look odd and make the readers feel uncomfortable. I also made the school logo look edgy and modern by creating a broken block effect, I did this to attract the younger age of my target audience.

My text is also in comic sans as this has been voted the text font which is most easy to read. However, I do not like the way in which my main title looks and this would be the first thing I would change if I was to repeat the task again.

Overall I think that the task was successful and I am proud of the final product I was able to produce. This preliminary task really has given me an opportunity to experiment and learn how to work to the best of my ability. I am thankful for the insight it has given me and I cannot wait to get started on preparing for the real thing!

B2 Preliminary task - photography

Preliminary Task

In today's lesson, we were given digital cameras to take the appropriate images for our preliminary task of making a school magazine. We had limited time as we had to make sure the photos were uploaded before the end of the lesson. After a few technical difficulties, I took the images and was happy with the ideas I had come up with. It has also inspired me to think about the types of images I would like to capture for my real task. The lesson really helped me to come to terms with the planning and accuracy that is needed to take the right photos for the right purpose. However I enjoyed the task, and think that it is giving me an incite to what is expected of me and how strict organisation will play a key part to being successful. For example, I had not arranged for anyone in particular to be in my photos but had only simply thought of the layout. I now understand that for my final task I will, and already have, organised the people who have agreed to take part in my shots. I have also began organsiing things such as location and props. I think that I will be much more organised when I get to take pictures again next time around.

B1 Preperation of Preliminary Task

Preparation of preliminary task

After a struggle this morning of attempting to dig my car out of ice, then missed my bus, then spent half an hour sitting in stand still traffic and then finally deciding to walk the rest of the journey, I made it to the majority of my media lesson. ( It is amazing how a little snow can cause so much disruption). In this lesson, I began to plan out the front cover design of my preliminary task of creating a school magazine. I took into consideration the imagery, positions, text and fonts, logos and general content.
In doing this, I am prepared for the task ahead. I know what to do and will be able to start work without hesitation. I am looking forward to trying to meet my plan and see the end result. However this is the preliminary task which means problems will more than likely occur, although this will provide me with the experiance to be able to produce a good final outcome.

A5 Photoshop

Photoshop

Unfortuantely, I was absent for various lessons in the previous week, however, after reading up on my classmates notes I gained full understandment of todays lesson.
Today we had our first real practise of using computer software, photoshop. This programme is designed to allow us to cut, shape and edit imagery in various forms to suit the piece we are making. In todays scenario, we had to make a front page for a magazine labelled, 'Nature'. I borrowed photographs from my classmates who took them first hand last lesson. I then created a background and began learning ways in which I could edit it. I used techniques such as resizing, changing the contrast and sharpness, fading colours and backgrounds, blurring as well as pasting new layers to create a collage effect.
This lesson helped me to begin to understand the concepts of using photoshop, although I did find it particulary difficult to get used to. However I am looking into downloading the software at home so that I am able to get more practice at using such advanced tools. I think this will benefit me wnen I begin my main task of creating a music magazine.