Monday 9 December 2013

Magazine-Contents page

In today's Media Studies lesson, I created the contents page for my magazine. I used Photoshop to create the contents page. To help me create my magazine contents page, I used the research that I collected in a previous lesson, this research gave me more of an idea of how my contents page needed to be set out and what I needed to include on my contents page.
My magazine contents page includes:
Banner at the top-The banner at the top of the page, is a simple way of informing the reading that this is a contents page. The colours represents the target audience and goes with the colours on the rest of the page, this makes the magazine look more consistent.
Copy of the cover-A copy of the front cover is situated at the top of the page; this shows the relation between the outside and the inside of the page. There are arrows pointing from this, this means if the reader was interested with something on the cover, they can find what page it is on.
Layout-For the target audience, the layout of the magazine is probably the most important part of this magazine contents page. It structures what is going on well and highlights the most important stories.
Date-The date is placed underneath the banner at the top of the page. Although the date doesn’t stand out compared to the rest of the page, it is still an important feature to the magazine and important that the reader knows.
Some other features of my magazine contents page, Include: Sub-headings, brief, Images
I chose these images, because they relate to some of the subheadings, for example, 'uniform' there is a picture of a student in her uniform.
Using, Photoshop, I had to edit my images, to make sure the lighting was correct and if I wanted to crop it I can crop it. I also added text and different shapes (arrow). Photoshop is a good way of changing the colours to match the rest of the magazine and contents page, this helps to keep the magazine consistent.

Contents Page-Research

Before, I started to create my magazine contents page, I did some research. The research will help me when I start to create my contents page because it will give me an idea of what needs to be included in my contents page. For example, what pieces of text need to be bigger than others, what images need to be included in my contents page.
You will find my research below:
 
 
 

Friday 29 November 2013

Magazine-Front Cover

In today's media studies lesson, I finished creating the front cover of my magazine. To create the front cover of my magazine, I used Photoshop.
 
I had to follow my first draft of the magazine to ensure that I included all of the different magazine features. This meant that I had to include:
 
-Masthead
-Headline
-Splash
-Main Cover lines
-Date line
-Main image was in the centre of the page
-Lure
-Main Cover lines
-Kicker & Explanatory Text
-Barcode
 
This first draft helped me when creating my magazine cover, because I was aware of where everything needed to be placed. I used many different on Photoshop techniques, For example, I used the quick selection tool, I used this to crop around my photos and get rid of anything I didn't want to include.
 
I had to ensure that all of the colours I used stood out from the background and that they were clear and easy to read.
 

Thursday 21 November 2013

Breaking Bad- 21/11/13

Breaking bad is an American crime drama television series.vIn the extract of breaking bad that we watched, there were two main characters, these were Walter (a chemistry teacher) and Jesse. Walter is  a chemistry teacher diagnosed with ling cancer who turns to making methto secure his family's finances. Jesse is walter's former student, Jesse, is a drug dealer who partners up with Walter and makes meth. You would not expect this of a teacher. This extract is set in a house and Jesse and Walter are trying to get rid of the two other drug dealers bodies before they get caught and Walter suggests that they should dissolve the body and they flip a coin, to decide who does each stage of getting rid of the bodies. Lots of loud and aggressive tone is used between Jesse and Walter in this extract.

In today's media studies lesson, we watched an extract from breaking bad. The extract was 6 minutes long and we watched it four times. Whilst watching the extract I had to take notes on the following techniques:

-camera angles
-mise en scene (costume, props and setting)
-sound
-editing

In the extract, it used many of these techniques to represent drug dealers. Each time we watched it I could focus on one of these techniques and make notes on them. After we watched the extract four times, we were given a question that we had to write an essay on, this question was:

"How are drug dealers represented on this extract of breaking bad?"

In the essay, I had to include everything that I had just wrote down, but explain why these represent drug dealers. For example, an extreme close up was used on the drug dealer, which shows he is worried about something and this subverts a sterotypical drug dealer because you would expect a drug dealer to be confident about everything they are doing. Whilst writing the essay, I had to make sure I referred back to the question on how each point represented drug dealers, instead of just stating what techniques were used. 


Wednesday 20 November 2013

Creating My Magazine Front Cover-20/11/13

In today's Media Studies lesson, I started to create the front cover of my magazine.

Before the lesson, I had to ensure that I took all of the photos that I wanted to use on my main cover, this included the main image that will be in the centre of the page. To help me take these photos, I used my photoshoot plan that I created in the previous lesson.

I used the skills that I learnt at the beginning of the year on Photoshop to help me start to create my front cover. I also used my first inital design of the magazine, so that I knew what I had to include on the front cover of my magazine and how I wanted to lay out the front cover of the magazine. This included, a barcode, main image, headline, date line etc. I made sure that I made the main image stand out from the rest of the page and I ensured that it was in the centre of the page. On photoshop, I had to edit my image, to make sure the lighting was correct and if I wanted to crop it I can crop it.

I will complete the front cover of my magazine using Photoshop, in my next media studies lesson. During this lesson I will ensure that the front cover of the magazine, includes all of the features a magazine should have. 

Breaking Bad-18/11/13

In today's media studies lesson we watched the first episode of breaking bad and looked at how drug dealers are represented in the episode.

The episode conveyed three stereotypical drug dealers, however, there was also a chemistry teacher that was a drug dealer and this chemistry teacher doesn't represent a stereotypical drug dealer. The three younger drug dealers were represented in a way that you would expect a drug dealer to be like:

-They had a lack of education and were young
-They carried weapons and carried around a lot of money
-They wore baggy clothes, such as jumpers with hoods
-They drove around in a yellow lowered car, playing loud music

However, in this particular episode of breaking bad, the chemistry teacher got involved with one of the younger boys who he taught in his chemistry class. The chemistry teacher started drug dealing with the younger boy and they agreed that they would start making drugs together. This is not what you would expect of a teacher who was 50 years old. The chemistry teacher was smartly dressed with a family and drove around in a family car. When you looked at the teacher you wouldn't automatically think "drug dealer". This represents the difference between a stereotypical drug dealer and somebody who isn't presented in a way that they would look like a drug dealer. 

Watching this episode of breaking bad helped me to understand that someone can actually be part of something even if they don't look like they are presented as a stereotype. For example, the chemistry teacher didn't look like somebody who would be involved in drugs but he was, someone can be part of something without them looking and being presented in a way that they would be part of a situation. After we watched the episode of breaking bad, we discussed it as a class and discussed the difference between the way the younger drug dealers were presented and the ways in which the chemistry teacher was presented as a drug dealer. After we discussed it as a class and we had taken some notes down, we were given a question to write a paragraph on. In this paragraph I had to write about everything we had just discussed as a class in a paragraph and this was how are drug dealers represented in the first episode of breaking bad.

When answering this question I had to ensure that I wrote why the chemistry teacher wasn't conveyed as a stereotypical drug dealer, these reasons included:

-He drove around in a family car
-He dressed smartly
-He has a family, with a child
-He has lung cancer, you would expect him to enjoy his life, rather that wasting it making drugs
-He had two jobs, which should make him enough money, why would he need to out more work on himself to get more money

I had to ensure that I clearly showed the difference between a stereotypical drug dealer and the chemistry teacher, as this was very clear when watching the first episode of breaking bad. 

Monday 11 November 2013

Implementing Each Production Tip

I will be implementing each production tip.

Conception: I have chosen to use a picture of three students engaging in conversation outdoors as the main focal point because this image is related to the main story in the magazine and will catch the reader’s attention. I need to make sure I prepared before taking my image, this includes making  plan of how my images will be set out. I will implement this by ensuring that the images are appropriate for the product.

Before taking my images, I will plan them and produce a design of how my images will be placed on the page, this will help me to take the right shot when I am taking photos. Knowing roughly where the image is going helps a photographer with the instinct for the right shot.

Framing and Composition: I have chosen to use a picture of  picture of three students engaging in conversation outdoors as the main focal point because this image is related to the main story in the magazine and will catch the readers attention, I will take lots more images than what I need. I have chosen to use a mid show as my main camera angle. I will implement this by taking more images than I need. Framing can be adjusted at the design/editing stage, if my  framing is better then I will produce a better quality image. 

The photographer is in control of what the viewer sees: the angle, the subject of the picture, will it be a close up or further away? I will compose my shot like an artist would compose a painting. This will help me to decide what angle I should take my image at, I need to make sure that it is suitable for the viewer to see.

Shot distant: I have chosen to use a picture of  picture of three students engaging in conversation outdoors , I need to make sure that I am taking the image from the right distant as I will not be able to change this in the editing stage, I can ensure that I take it from the right distant by using the zoom function. 

There is not much I can do to alter this in editing, so this needs to be exactly how I want it. The zoom function will allow you a variety of different distances from your subject. I will mostly be using medium close up shots.

Mise en Scene: This means ‘putting into scene’. For still images, this is constructed through the photography and editing stage. I need to make clear decisions about lighting, costume, appearance, props for the shot, background imagery and colour. 

Therefore, if there is books, pens and tables in the shot, I will need to decide these before I take my photo. I need to make sure that everything I have planned to be in the picture, is in the picture. I need to ensure that I make clear decisions when taking my pictures. 

Colour and resolution: I have to make sure I test print my images to make sure they come out the way that I want them to before I print my actual images. How the image looks on the camera, will not look the same way when it prints.

 The computer you use for downloading and editing will have an impact on the quality of your resolution and colour. You should do a trial run to see what your image will actually look like when you print it. 




Sunday 10 November 2013

First Draft Feedback

In today's media studies lesson, I had to peer assess Beth's first draft of her magazine cover. Beth had to peer assess my first draft. She gave me feedback on what I  did well on my magazine cover draft. She filled in a word document of questions and assessed how well I done each section.

Below, you will find the feedback that Beth gave me on my magazine cover draft:



After I got feedback from my first draft, I started to plan my photo shoot. The photo shoot plan had 3 different pictures that i can take. This meant that if the first one didn't go to plan, i could rely on the second picture. This also means that when I come to take my pictures, I will have a range of picture ideas and i can include one of these as the main image on my magazine cover. 
Below you will find my photo shoot plan: 

Thursday 7 November 2013

More Editing Techniques- 7/11/13

In today's media studie's lesson, we were working on more editing techniques. Before we started learning about more editing techniques, my teacher gave us a list of keywords that we will be using throughout the course, these will help me when I have to analyse any extracts that we watch. We started the lesson by watching clips related to some of these keywords. The key words we watched clips on were related to the 'editing' section of the keywords list. We watched videos on:

-Bullet time: To show something that is impossible, in super slow motion. 
-Fast motion: This shows something that would normally be slow in a fast way. For example, it would show the passing of time to miss the boring bits out. 
-Slow motion: This can show the importance of a character, everything slows down for these characters.
-Split screen: Contrast to show a link happening simultaneously.
-Wipe: Creates an out of this universe effect.

Whilst watching these video clips, we were filling in our key word sheet. After we had finished filling in our keyword sheets, we started to learn more about editing. We watched a clip from the 'paradise', whilst watching a short clip from this, we had to take into consideration four techniques and how these techniques from the extract represent social class. Whilst watching the clip, we had to take notes on, the different camera angles used, editing, sound and mise-en-scene, used in the extract. We watched the extract four times, this meant that each time I could focus on one technique. From watching the extract, I found out the different techniques used and how these represent social class. The different techniques used are:

-Camera angles: close up, wide shot, medium shot, two shot, extreme close up and long shot.
-Editing: Slow motion, bullet time, match cut, wipe and fading.
-Sound: The music speeds up to emphasise the happiness of middle class work, as people like this do not normallly get to attend the music hall. The theme tune is old fashioned. The workers have Newcastle accents, which shows they are of lower class, whereas the higher classes have posher accents.
-Mise-en-scene: {setting} department store, street, office and kitchen.
-Mise-en-scene: {costume} the workers are dressed the same, they are in uniform. The upper classes are in dresses and suits, this shows they are more important. 
-Mise-en-scene: {props} hats, dolls, jewellery, chairs, tables, plates, knives and forks.

Using the notes we had just made from watching the extract, our task was to now write an essay and say how these represent the different social classes shown in the extract. I will be able to use the techniques I learnt in today's lesson when analysing different extracts and it will help me add more detail to my notes and essay writing. 

Magazine Front Cover-First Draft

In today's media studies lesson, we were creating a draft for the front cover of our magazines. This draft shows where I am going to place everything on my magazine. Before I started my draft, I had to research different front covers of magazines, this gave me an idea of how a magazine cover should be presented. Once I had researched and I had an idea of how my magazine cover should be set out, I could start creating a draft. This research helped me to decide where I am going to position each different magazine convention on the magazine cover. When designing this draft, I had to think about the different conventions of a magazine cover.

The conventions I included on the cover of my magazine included:

Banner: Front page headline which goes across the full width of the page.
Splash: Main story of the front page accompanied with the headline and a photograph.
Masthead: The title of the magazine at the top of the page, it will be big and bold.
Kicker: This is a story designed to stand out from the rest of the page by the use of a different font and layout.
Lure: A small section of the story is printed on the front page of the magazine and the full story is inside the magazine.
Headline: The main heading and the biggest font and related to the main story in the magazine
Date Line: Shows the date the magazine has been available from/ issue number
Cover Lines: summaries of the most enticing features and articles which are inside the magazine
Barcode: Shows the price of the magazine underneath.

I first started with the banner, as this is allocated at the top of the magazine cover. Underneath the banner I placed the masthead of the magazine. This shows the titles of the magazine and has to stand out to catch the readers eye. In the centre of the page, I placed the main image, this image has to relate to the main story and must stand out from everything else on the page, it had to be bold and interesting. Now I had positioned the main compositions of the magazine cover on the page, I could work around these and place my lure, barcode, kicker, cover lines and date line.

Today's lesson will help me and save a lot of time when I start to create my actual magazine cover as I know where I will have to place everything on the cover of the magazine.

Below, you will find the first draft I made in today's lesson:

                                      

Tuesday 5 November 2013

TV Dramas

I learnt about TV dramas and the different features of a TV drama. 

A TV Drama is High Profile, it is trailed on TV and the radio and newspaper articles (especially on soap storylines). TV Dramas are also High budget (special effects ,costume and sets, stars, lengthy production time, often put on DVD to buy and have large production teams).

TV dramas can be categorised by:

-Form
-Style
-Sub genre
-Audience

I also learnt what different 'forms' of TV dramas there are:

-Mini series: 3 or four episodes
-Series: Self contained episodes, often in blocks of 6 or 13 episodes
-Serial: dramas with ongoing, continuous storylines over several episodes
-Docudrama-actors performing dramatic reconstruction of real life events

The different types of TV dramas include:

-Police/crime drama: The Bill
-Hospital drama: Casualty
-School-based: Waterloo Road
-Historical or costume: Oliver Twist
-Soap operas: Eastenders

The audience of TV dramas depends on the schedule. 

I also learnt about editing. There are different ways in which you can edit a TV drama to create an effect. These include, cross cutting, cut away, jump cut, matchcut, montage, split screen. There are also 'flashes', these include wipe (gradually spatial transition from one image to another) and stop motion (stop-action or frame by frame).

Tuesday 22 October 2013

Mood Board

In today's Media Studies lesson, I had to create a mood board. This mood board had to include, images, pictures, writing styles. The idea of this task was that we got an idea of what we wanted to include on our own magazines.
  • Was there a certain text styles
  • Was there a certain colour we liked
I had to cut out any colours, logos, images, text styles I liked and I had to stick them on my mood board. This mood board was also effective in showing me what colours stand out the most on a magazine cover: 
  • Bold text is more effective and stands out more, this will catch the readers eye
  • It is better to put darker coloured text against a lighter coloured background e.g. yellow background, navy blue text
  • White text is also good to use on a magazine cover
  • A magazine colour should include different features such as, a heading, sub-heading, strap line, mast head etc.
  •  
  • I can use this mood board to help me choose text styles and colours when coming to make my magazine cover.
 Below, you will find the mood board that I made in today's lesson:


 

Monday 21 October 2013

Presentation-Camera Angles

In today's Media studies lesson, we had to present a presentation. For my homework I had to create a presentation and collage using Photoshop. For this presentation I had to choose a particular topic of my choice.
 
 For the collage I had to take pictures of my dog, using different camera angles. Once I had taken the pictures at different angles, I had to use Photoshop to edit these photos, and add different effects to them. This meant I had to change the lighting of an image, change the effect of the image from colour to black and white. When taking these photos, I had to consider different camera angles, these included:
 
Wide shot-Shows the entire person or area. They establish the scene.
  • Medium shot-Frame the subject
  • Medium close up-Shots show the subject in more detail
  • Close up-Show a particular part of your subject
  • Extreme close up-Much tighter, close up shots
  • High angle shots-The shot is higher than the subject of the picture
  • Flat angle shots-The camera is on the same level as the subject of the picture
  • Low angle shots-Camera is lower than the subject of the picture
  • Long shot-Subject of the picture is surrounded by other material
  •  
    My presentation had to explain all of the different camera angles that I used and why I used them. My presentation also introduced my theme and the camera angles that I used. There is a different slide for each camera angle and an example image of this camera angle.
     
    My presentation on camera angles:
     
     

    Sunday 20 October 2013

    Friday 18th October 2013

    In today's Media Studies lesson, we started learning about our preliminary task and what we need to include in this task. 

    We started off the lesson by going through a PowerPoint about what the coursework will involve. Once we had done this, we were given a task by our teacher. He handed us out the front cover of a magazine, in pairs. Using this front cover of the magazine we had to identify the different features of this magazine. These could include:

    -Heading
    -mast head
    -cover line
    -pug
    -strap line
    -main image
    -barcode

    After we had done this, we went onto the main task of today's lesson. This was choosing colours and fonts we would use on the front cover of our magazines. At first we had to choose 3 fonts and 3 colours. After we had identified 3 for each, we had to choose the one in which we would be most likely to use. This research was very effective, as I know it will help me when I come to choosing fonts and colours for my actual magazine cover. As well as identifying the colours and fonts, I had to say why I chose them.

    Below, you will find my colours and fonts research from today's lesson and why I chose these.


     

    Tuesday 15 October 2013

    Monday 14th October 2013

    In today's media studies lesson we were working on the different types of TV dramas. The class was split up into six groups and each group was given a different type of TV drama to research up on. My group was allocated 'teen TV drama' this meant that this is what we had to go and research. Our research had to be presented in PowerPoint or poster format.

    There were many things that we had to consider when researching teen drama,these were:

    -what is a teen drama
    -the history of the TV drama
    -storylines
    -examples
    -how often are they played

    From doing this research, I learnt that a teen drama is a type of drama series with a major focus on teenage characters. The genre was relatively non-existent for the first 45 years of television. There would be a few main characters and there would then be a few one off characters depending on the storyline of tthe story. Most of the storylines would be based on teenage situations so that it appeals to the target audience and the audience will also be able to relate to the storyline, which gives them a better understanding of what is going on. Some examples of teen dramas are:

    -Waterloo road
    -Skins
    -Eastenders

    Once, we had finished researching and had completed our PowerPoint everyone had to present what they had just researched to the class. When others were presenting there research, it was important that I took notes on what they were saying so that I have some information about all of the other types of TV dramas and not just the one that I had to research.

    Today's lesson was very effective because if we had to research every TV drama on our own we wouldn't have got as much detail as we needed, due to the fact that there wouldn't have been enough time. Therefore, doing it this way meant that we had researched all of the information that we needed for our notes.

    Monday 14 October 2013

    Friday 11th October 2013

     In today's Media Studies lesson, we started of the lesson by watching our one minute TV dramas that we had filmed for homework. Whilst watching these we were looking at the different camera angles, setting and props used in each TV drama. We had to come up with a storyline and work in groups of four to film these. Below you can see my groups school TV drama:
     
     
    After we had watched these, we watched a scene of waterloo road. Whilst watching this we were split into four groups where we were each given a topic to write about. There was a choice of:
     
    -Camera Angles
    -Costume/Props
    -Setting
    -Sound
     
    I had to write about costume. Therefore whilst watching the episode I had to write about what costume was used and why these were used. For example, a teacher was wearing a suit, he was wearing a suit to represent the fact he was a teacher and to make him look smart and stand out from the pupils and it is what you would expect from a teacher. Once we watched this a few times and got all of our notes, we got into groups and shared what we had found. I joined people who took notes on camera angles, setting  and sound. After we had finished writing our notes we had to put this into an essay. In our essay we had to write about all of the media techniques used in this episode and why they were used, is it to interest the audience etc?
     
    Once we had completed the essay, we watched a one minute clip on the TV drama Downton Abbey and our homework was to write about the contrast in the TV drama.
     

    Wednesday 9 October 2013

    Monday 7th October 2013

    Cameras and Compositions

    In today's Media Studies lesson we were learning about cameras and compositions. We started of the lesson by going through a powerpoint and learning about different camera types and compositions.

    Firstly, I learnt about 'getting a good picture'. There are many different things you need to avoid when trying to get a good picture (composition). These include- Avoiding distractions, eye placement and the rule of thirds.

      Avoiding distractions: Keep the photo as basic as possible! Are there distraction lines, lights, objects? Be aware of lightpoles, phone lines etc.
      Eye placement: should be in the top third of the screen

      Rule of thirds: relies on the photographer imagining the frame slit up by a line into thirds, both vertically and horizontally. Placing objects and people along these lines will create a composition that is more interesting and engaging
       
    After I learnt about compositions, I then learnt about different camera angles. This part of the lesson really helped me as I will be able to apply what i learnt in that lesson, to my coursework when I have to make my magazine cover. This lesson helped me develop my skills as I didn't know about many of these camera angles before today's lesson. Some of the camera angles i learnt about were:

    • Wide shot-Shows the entire person or area. They establish the scene.
    • Medium shot-Frame the subject
    • Medium close up-Shots show the subject in more detail
    • Close up-Show a particular part of your subject
    • Extreme close up-Much tighter, close up shots
    • High angle shots-The shot is higher than the subject of the picture
    • Flat angle shots-The camera is on the same level as the subject of the picture
    • Low angle shots-Camera is lower than the subject of the picture
    • Long shot-Subject of the picture is surrounded by other material
    •  
    
    Once we had gone through all of the different angles and compositions we were set a task. Our task was to go around the school and develop on the pictures that we had taken from the last lesson (4th). This time when taking our pictures we had to use all of the different camera angles that we had just learnt in the lesson. We had to take 10 pictures, below, you will find the best three pictures that I took:


     
    This photo is a close up photo. The subject is the only material in the picture.
     

     
    This photo is a wide shot. This image is a wide shot because it shows the entire area and establishes the scene.

     
    This picture is a low angle shot. This image is a low angle shot because the camera is lower than the subject of the picture.

    Friday 4th October 2013

    In today's media studies lesson we were learning about different cameras and the different fatures of these cameras. To start of the lesson my teacher went through a powerpoint with us showing us all of the different types of cameras. For example, we were showed what a point and shoot camera was. A shoot and point camera is a lightweight photographic camera with an autofocus. A point and shoot camera wouldn't be suitable for someone like a photographer as the megapixels on the camera aren't good enough, therefore if the photographer wanted to take an image from far away, when they zoom in the photo would be blurry. We also learnt about DSLR camera's. A DSLR camera is a 'Digital Single-Lens Reflex' camera. A DSLR camera produces better quality pictures compared to a point and shoot camera, therefore this camera would be suitable for a photographer.
     
    Once my teacher had gone through the powerpoint, we had to do research on three cameras. However, when doing this research we were givern three budgets on how much the cameras we were researching could be. These budgets were:
     
    -£170
    -£700
    -£2000
     
    I had to take these budgets into consideration whilst doing my research. Whilst doing my research I had to take note of the three cameras within these three budgets and the main features of the cameras. I also had to say who I thought these cameras would be suitble for. Below, you will find my three chosen cameras within the budget provided for us:
     
    £700 budget (Nikon D5200)

    £2000 budget
    £170 budget

    (who each camera would be suitable for)
     
     
    After I had finished researching I had to get a partner and collect a 'point and shoot' camera from my teacher. We were set a task called 'Catholic life through a lens'. We had to go around the school and take pictures of anything related to catholic life. We had to take into account everything we had just learnt in the lesson and use this when taking our pictures.


    Monday 7 October 2013

    Thursday 3rd October 2013

    In today's Media Studies lesson we were learning about camera angles and what different camera angles there are. We started off the lesson by watching a video made by the exam board that talks about all of the different camera angles that there is. We watched this video a few times and took notes down about the different angles used. After we had watched the video about 3 times, we talked as a class about why these camera angles might be used. Are they used to interest the audience? Are they used because they want to focus on that one character? What do these camera angles represent about each character?

    Some of the different angles I learnt from watching the video were:

    -Extreme longshot. An extreme longshot is usually an exterior shot which establishes the time and location of the shot.

    -Longshot. A long shot enables the audience to see the character from head to toe. This shot allows the audience to understand the relationship between the audience and the character.

    -Twoshot. A two shot is a shot with two characters in the frame. It expresses their relationship with eachother and the actions they find themselves in.

    -Close up shot. A close up shot  is the use of the characters head and shoulder. The focus is upon the character.

    After we had discussed this, we watched the introduction to the episodes of the TV school drama 'waterloo road'. Whilst watching the introduction, I had to write down all of the different camera angles that were used and the dialogue, props, costume and setting that were also used in this introduction. The opening of the programme started with a longshot of the school, this was to set the scene of the TV drama. Other angle shots used were midshot, close up, extreme close up and extreme long shot. The extreme close up was used when the new teacher was setting up her science lab. There was an extreme close up on her setting up the test tubes, this was to show she was focused and excited about what she was doing. The dialogue used from the pupils towards the teachers was rude and aggressive and  it showed the students were frustrated. One example is that the school breakfast club isn't on as they can't afford to fund it and one of the pupils replies "what are we suppossed to go hungry?" which is aggressive and dramatic because they will get lunch. Some of the props used were whiteboard, pens, books, watch, suitcase, shelves, PH scale etc. There is a school uniform, however every pupil does not wear it the same, this represents the different social classes within the school and displays and represents the character that they are.

    Today's media lesson showed me how much detail I need to go into when writing about TV dramas and the different camera angles, props and costume used throughout the programme.

    Wednesday 2 October 2013

    Wednesday 2nd October 2013

    In today's Media Studies lesson I was working on Photoshop. My task was to create the front cover of a magazine or a poster using photoshop. Before starting my teacher showed us some skills we can use when making our magazine covers or posters. These skills included, filling the text with a certain picture. You do this my inserting the text, then going to the magic wand tool and clicking on the letter you want to fill. Once you have clicked on the letter you want to fill and the little white lines are around it you can go to the internet and copy the image you want to add into the letter. Once you have found the image you want and copied it, you have to go back onto Photoshop and go to edit (on the toolbar at the top of the screen) and click 'paste copy' and the image will be inside the letter. I had to be careful when choosing what text to used as some of the fonts were not wide enough to fit the images in.

    My poster had to be based on 'e safety'. I filled each letter of the title with an image. I did this by using the skills we learnt at the beginning of the lesson. For example, I filled the first letter 'e' with the internet explorer logo, I then filled all of the other letters with different logos from social networking sites. Once I had inserted the title, I could now design my poster around this. I based the information on my poster on how to stay safe on the internet, the information included things such as "not talking to strangers" and "not posting personal information online. I also had to include images on my poster. 

    I found today's lesson very useful as I learnt many new skills on Photoshop that I didn't know about before the lesson. Now that I know these skills it means that I can use them when I start making my magazine. 

     

    Monday 30 September 2013

    Monday 30th September

    Today's Media Studies lesson was a theory lesson. In today's lesson we were talking about television dramas. To start the lesson of, we had to brainstorm what we would expect to see in a television school drama of this label, this would include things such as teachers, students, school setting, exaggerated story line etc.

    After we had brainstormed we watched 15 minutes of TV school drama 'Waterloo Road'. Whilst watching the school drama, I had to look out for the following things:

    -Themes
    -Characters
    -Plot
    -Iconography (setting, costume, props)

    Some of the themes in the episode of Waterloo road that we watched was the death of a character that had died in a previous series of the programme. I also took a note of the characters, these included teachers, students, head teacher, this linked into the brainstorm as it is what you expect to see in a school television drama. The television drama also took place in a school setting (chairs, tables, staff room). The props also linked into the brainstorm as all of the teachers used white boards and diarys. The students at the school also wear school uniform, but in this specific episode there was two new pupils and they didn't wear the school uniform, this was to make them look different, and make the target audience interested in the storyline. 

    Today's lesson was very useful as it helped me identify what you should expect from a TV drama and why these things should occur in the drama. It also helped me to understand how much detail has to be included when actually writing about TV dramas. 

    Monday 23 September 2013

    Monday 23rd September 2013

    In today's Media Studies lesson we were working on our photoshop skills. The lesson consisted of us watching videos about Photoshop and following the instructions the video was presenting to us and using them on a particular image on Photoshop (adjusting the lighting of a picture, changing the effects on a picture etc). The purpose of these videos was to help us develop our photoshop skills so we could then use these skills throughout the course. 

    I had to complete tasks 1-7 and along with each task there would be a an image and a video, as the tasks went on the more skills you developed from the videos (task 1 was a basic skill) whereas in task 7 I had to follow many different steps to get the image that I wanted. 

    Before starting the tasks, we completed a practise task and I had to fill a plain image with colour. I had to fill a tennis ball green and fill a beach in. This was a basic skill on Photoshop and I did this using the 'fill' bucket tool. There was one problem when doing this, which was that when filling the beach, the spade hadn't been drawn to the end, which meant every time I tried to fill it, it wouldn't. I overcame this problem by using the drawing tool and filling up the gap in this spade, I was then able to fill the spade any colour. 

    Once I had completed the practise task, I could now move on to starting the actual task. In task one I had to follow the steps in the video and change the lighting of an image.  I did this by enhancing photographic exposure. To do this I had to add a curves adjustment layer and lighten the darker side of the image. After I had completed this, I had to lighten the girls face on the 'snow girl' image. I done this by adding a layer and lightening the whole image, then reduced the layer capacity to 50% and inverted layer mask.  To finish the image by lightning the girls face I had to use a round brush with white as the colour and fill in her her face. Following the instructions of the video I also changed an image from colour to black and white and made an image brighter. 

    The next task was a retouching and repair task. To do this, I added a new layer to draw on and used the clone source palet to let us define multiple sources with the healing brush to repair an old image and heal the child's arms and face. I then moved on to the bag task. I had to make a bag stand out against it's background. This was the 'making and refining sections' task. I used the 'Quick Selection Tool' and pressing the 'W' key and I clicked and dragged around the bag, to make sure I selected the whole image I had to zoom in and also select that area of the bag. Then I had to hold down the 'alt' key and click into an area I didn't want selected (the background). This made me possible to change the background and lighting of the bag to see which background the bag looked best against. 

    After this, I had to do the 'applying filters' task. This allowed me to complete multiple filters to the image which you can change and make the image stand out against the filter in the background.  The final task I had to complete was on a bunch of roses. I had to make the image black and white but use a brush to fill in the flowers and make these the only colour part of the image by making these red again and keeping the rest of the image black and white.

    I found today's lesson very useful as I will be able to recap on these skills throughout the course and apply them to any images I have to create. 

    Wednesday 18 September 2013

    About Me

    My name is Lucy Morrissey and I am currently studying AS Media Studies. This is my foundation portfolio blog. I will use this blog to record information about what I have learnt throughout the Media Studies AS course. I will also be uploading work that I have completed such as drafts and research throughout the course.

    I will update my blog every time I have a Media Studies lesson with work that I have been doing.