Magazine Task 8: Step by Step and Evaluation

By Harry Jenner

Programs:To recreate the Total Film magazine I used the following Adobe programs: Photoshop (for editing images/ photos), Illustrator (to create logos e.g. Total film masthead) and InDesign (to import everything together, add text, resize images and text and create basic shapes).

Step By Step

Step 1: Creating the mastheadI used Illustrator and used the “Line Segment” tool to make the basic outline for the logo. I used the “Rectangle” tool to make the “I”. Making sure all the lines where connected, I then selected everything on the page with the “Selection” tool. After I used the “Live Paint Bucket” tool. I then went over to the right of the page and chose a colour I wanted. With it selected I then clicked on the parts of the logo I needed to fill (The object is highlighted red when the mouse is hovered over it). In this case I needed to fill the masthead white and leave the background blank.To export my masthead, I firstly clicked “file” at the top left of the page. Then went down, to export, typed in the name, selected the location I wanted to save it and finally clicked “Save”.

Step 2: Inserting and using InDesignI opened InDesign. I then clicked “File”, “Place”. Searching for my file, then clicking it and selecting “Open”. After this I then need to click on the screen to place the file. To move the image I used the selection tool and to scale and transform, I went “Object”, “Transform” and “Scale”. Then type in the percentage I want to scale it by.

Step 3: Background (a)To make my background I found a picture of the houses of parliament from internet explorer. I then saved it and copied it into Photoshop. I started by unlocking my layer and cropping it to the size in the original magazine. I then used the texturiser tool in the filter column to find a style most similar to the original. To make my background fit an A4 page I opened a new document (an A4 international paper)

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Step 3: Background (b)I then dragged my image onto the new document and unlocked it. Then using the “selection” tool and holding shift I dragged the image to fit at the bottom of the page. I then pressed enter and grabbed the “eye dropper” tool and selected the sky colour. I then used the paint bucket tool to fill the rest of the sky. Finally I tweaked with the texturizer, colour balance and hue/saturation until I was happy. I also created a light source just above the buildings to give the impression of a rising sun.

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Using Photoshop toolsI used a variety of tools in Photoshop:• Selection tool ( to select and move images)• Magic wand tool ( to select part of an image, a certain colour)• Crop tool ( to choose the size of the image )• Eye dropper tool ( to select a colour used and use it gain)• Healing brush tool ( to fix textures, I used it to blend the sky, making it the same

brightness)• Eraser tool ( to remove colour)• Paint bucket tool ( to fill an area with a colour)• Blur tool ( to smudge and distort parts of an image)

Image AdjustmentsI used the:• Brightness and Contrast

• Hue/ Saturation

• Colour Balance

• Lighting Effects

Step 4: Importing and picture taking.Follow step 2 and place the background into InDesign. Move the background so that it covers the whole page and right click, arrange, send to back. Next I needed to take pictures of someone in the same position as the original. When I took the picture I made sure that he was in the right position and that the camera was in focus.

Step 5: Creating Sherlock (a)In Photoshop I started by unlocking my image and cropping it as small as I could but with Anthony’s (the person playing as Sherlock) whole body still in. I then started removing spots with the spot healing brush. After this I used the quick selection tool to select Anthony and then right clicked on it and clicked select inverse. I then pressed the delete button to remove the background before using the eraser tool to remove any last fragments of the background.

Step 5: Creating Sherlock (b)In order for Anthony to look more like Sherlock I edited the clothes by using the healing brush tool to remove the school badge on the blazer. I then used the magic quick select tool to select the tie and used the hue/ saturation tool and brought the saturation down to -100.After this I increased the brightness and contrast of the face (used the quick select tool to select face) to make it seem warm. Finally I used the colour balance on the whole image to make it cold.

Step 6: Importing SherlockFollow step 2 and place the Sherlock image into InDesign. I then used the scale tool again and moved it into the right position. To find the right text I searched for the right font and a font creator. I then saved it and imported into InDesign. I found the rest of similar text already on InDesign so I just used the textbox tool and put the text into place. I found a bar code off the internet and the future publishing logo on their website which I placed in and moved them to their place.

Step 7: FinishingTo finish I found pictures from Google images of Iron man, the mad hatter and fantastic Mr fox. Which I imported into InDesign, moved and scaled them to the right size.

Evaluation

Strengths: Weaknesses: Solutions:

The contrast on the face to the blue background

When I opened files in InDesign they became pixelated

Use a different program then InDesign/ import pictures differently e.g. as a different file

I managed to find similar fonts The clothes weren't the same as in the original magazine

Find similar clothes from home or drama

The background looks the same as the original

I couldn’t read on the original what the text on the left below the masthead said

Find a better quality image of the magazine or buy it

The masthead looks like the original Total Film logo

Anthony doesn’t look like Sherlock Find an actor who looks more like Sherlock

I found the images from the internet for the top right films

The filter of the background should be darker at the top

Redo the lighting effects for the background

I am happy with my magazine. I think I have done a realistic recreation of the

original magazine.