This is an image of the new James Bond that is going to be released. It has the title of the film, which is ‘Quantum of Solace’ and features the main character, Daniel Craig, starring as James Bond. Also the trademark Aston Martin is featured in the background. The mise en scene is denoting the back streets, with a Mediterranean feel. There is an Aston Martin in the background with a dead body in front of the car; James Bond is the main character of the image holding a gun. The connotations of the image are Bond, holding a gun, which gives the audience the impression, “Bond is back with a vengeance”. The photo seems to be taken in a Mediterranean city, as the narrow streets are very symbolic of cities in Italy, France, and Spain etc. This photo is a long-shot taken at eye level; this shot makes the body in the background look insignificant. The title ‘Quantum of Solace’ is not a revealing title; ‘quantum’ is a fictional terrorist organisation, while ‘solace’ means comforting soothing. Relating the two meanings is not very clear, and how the two definitions can be linked.
Colour Filtering/Colour Popping:
Colour filtering is when a certain colour is made to stand out against the others. We learnt how to use this technique in the second lesson. This is useful for example when you design posters and want to contrast multiple things. This makes the audience looking at the magazine it makes them concentrate on a particular thing in the image. To do this, we opened Adobe Photoshop and changed the hue/saturation down to -60. Then I selected the brush tool, and then the colour correction tool. Then I’d go over part of the photo that I wanted to be in colour. The image would then result a certain part of the image stands out from the rest. The Barack Obama photo shows Obama’s face in colour with the rest of photo unsaturated. This helps make his face stand out from the rest of the photo.
Fonts:
In our third lesson we talked about fonts and their importance. We discussed about serif fonts and sans fonts. Sans fonts are better for titles as they are more legible. They are more eye-catching. However sans is not appropriate for longer texts as it is not as clear to read. Serif fonts are not good for posters or titles, but are better for long texts as they are easier to read.
We downloaded our fonts from the website called http://www.1001freefonts.com/.
This photo of Barack Obama uses a variety of Photoshop techniques, such as blurring the background so he is the centre of attention in the photo. Also the font emphasises his patriotism, the font is very simple and straight to the point which is suggesting that Obama is a strong presidential character. The colour of the text is also important, the colours in the image are red, white and blue which symbolises America.
Skins Advert - Colouring Effects:
In our next lesson we learnt about colouring effects. We opened the photo we wanted on Photoshop and selected the “soft light” effect. Then I selected the brush tool and went over the photo with different colours. The soft light made the colours in the image less strong and more faded. Then we added Gaussian blur to -60 which made the different blend in with each other more.
Airbrushing:
In the next lesson we learnt how to do air-brushing. I wanted to change the eye and hair colour using this technique. We first open up Adobe Photoshop and duplicated the image and then applied Gaussian blur of -15. Adding this blur removes any skin blemishes and makes the skin look smoother. For the hair I then selected the brush tool and used the soft light effect and hue. I coloured over her hair with red and the colour of her hair then changed to red.
Cloning:
In this lesson we learnt how to clone part of an image. To do this technique, I simply selected the clone stamp tool and then held “alt”. Then I released the “alt” button and went over part of the photo with the brush of where I wanted the image to be cloned.
Signs and Semiotics:
In our next lesson we learnt about signs and semiotics. There are 3 kinds of semiotics:
· Icon – Look like what they represent
· Symbol – Need to be culturally learned. They do not look like what they represent
· Indexical – Suggestive and connected to what they represent
A no smoking sign would count as an icon as it looks like what it represents.
A Nike tick would be symbolic, as you would need to be taught as to what it means.
The photo of the smoke is indexical, as it shows that smoke represents fire.
Logo and Banners:
In our next lesson we learnt about logos and banners and created our own. We opened up Photoshop and used the A3 preset. I then used all my skills I have acquired from my previous lessons and designed my media blog cover. I used different brushes; I downloaded some brushes from http://www.brusheezy.com/.
School Magazine Cover Analysis:
In this lesson we had to design our own school magazine cover. It required me to use all my skills design this cover. I used effects such as Gaussian blur, soft light, brightness, hue, outer glow and etc. I used different fonts and layout techniques to make the magazine cover effective.
Table of Contents Analysis:
Here we were set a task to design our table of contents for our magazine. The main features and effects of our magazine just layout, fonts and photos. The table of contents didn’t need any extra effects as I wanted to have a simple but effective design.
School Magazine Analysis:
The way we analysed the school magazine is we looked at the advantages and disadvantages to the layout and the design. We used the magazine to inspire us and help us create our own school magazine cover.
The magazine has good and well laid out cover lines. However using too many cover lines will make the magazine cover look overcrowded. Also the image background has blurred out the background and made the book the centre of attention which is a technique that I have learnt how to do as well. Also the magazine has a colorful theme which is another positive aspect of the magazine.
Evaluation:
The magazine and table of contents have turned out positive, and comply with a variety of codes and conventions. However, there are areas in which I could improve both the magazine cover and the table of contents, such as the layout of the cover lines.
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