Image Manipulation!

Dear class,

Thanks for your concentration during what was quite an active lesson. Please complete the following tasks before next lesson.

1. Provide an overview of the Photoshop Techniques that you learned this lesson.

2. Provide some BEFORE and AFTER shots of your work (use the Megan Fox picture). You can easily do this by taking a 'print scrn' of your work, and pasting it into word (or even paint!) ready to upload on your blog.

3. Have a go at using these techniques on your own photos and upload some examples on to your blogs!

Good luck. Any questions, come and find me :)

Mr Williams.

Work for today! Firstly, finish off the work from last lesson and get it posted.

Secondly, as well as doing the 'box mock-ups' for your two magazine covers, write an analysis of each of them commenting on the composition of the covers. Take this Q Magazine cover featuring Lady Gaga as an example.

The image of the artist actually partly covers the name/logo of the magazine. This suggests that the magazine is instantly recognisable by its house style, and does not need for its name to be fully in view. It also suggests that Gaga herself is a more important feature than the magazine logo, so she is given preference in terms of coverage.

Gaga's image takes up over 50% of the entire cover. What does this suggest about what editors find important in terms of their cover make-up?

How have pugs/banners/puffs etc been used to help sell the magazine?

Look at the use of Semiotics. Which colours and signs have been used, and what do they suggest? How do they help to sell the magazine?

Can you apply any of the theories you have learned (such as feminism/male gaze) to this cover? If so, comment on it.


At least 2/3 paragraphs per cover please.

All done for Tuesday :)

Thanks to those of you who got you homework done in time! Though hilarious, real time blog-based apologies will not suffice as a replacement for specific homeworks. An honourable mention goes to Tom who did the homework despite not even being there when it was set.

Tasks for today:

1. What would you expect a school/college magazine to be like in terms of semiotics/language and layout?

2. Analyse our school newsletter. Annotate pages of the magazine commenting on semiotics/language and layout.

3. Find a front cover of two music magazines online. Create box mock-ups/maps of the covers. Annotate them to comment on their structure.

Mr Williams.

Year 12 blogs!

Good to see that (nearly) all of you have got your blogs up and running! Remember that your first homework from me was to put a post about Semiotic theory on your blog. Not everyone appears to have done this yet, which makes me a saaaaad panda. Make sure it is done for tomorrow please. Stay tuned to this blog, and I will keep you totally up to date with what should be on your blog. I will also try and give you advanced notice of what we will be studying on Tuesday afternoons too in case you feel like doing a bit of advanced reading.

See you tomorrow,

Mr Williams