Fake Band Assignment

The purpose of our assignment is to invent a fake band, we have to decide what genre the band will fall under as well as inverting band members and writing a biography for each individual member. I have choose to call my band 'The Scene' which consists of 4 band members: Steven Norman (Guitarist), Ryan Thorogood (Drummer), Jonathan Frost (Keys) & Kimberly Hendry (Vocals), which falls under the genre of R&B/Rock. The reason behind choosing R&B/Rock is because I enjoy listening to R&B music and wanted to create a band based around this however, I would like to research a different genre and combine the two types of music, which is why I have chosen to look at rock music.

Here is the biography of 'The Scene.'





Click Above To View Full Size Image

 

• I have chosen to create a magazine front cover which will advertise 'The Scene's' new album. I will be using Adobe InDesign to create this, because the software will enable me to insert columns and will allow me to use a gutter and a margin to make my newspaper front cover look as if it was created by a professional.
• I have also chosen to create a web banner which will be featured on different website around the Internet to advertise 'The Scene.' I have chosen to use Adobe Photoshop & ImageReady to create this web banner, because by using Photoshop it will allow me to place the images, text and effects that I want to use for my web banner, then by clicking on the ImageReady icon all of my resources will be transferred into ImageReady, ready for me to create my web banner.

The first step I took was to look at different music magazine which relate to the two genres R&B and rock. The three magazines that I have focused on are: Vibe, Rolling Stone & Billboard.

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The first step that I took to creating my magazine front cover was to create the margins and columns, which would help me keep the front page looking professional. As I am creating a magazine front cover I had to change the size of the margins to half the original size of the default setting, because a magazine generally has a much smaller margin then a newspapers. The way that I was able to do this was to: Go to Layout - Margins & Columns which will then bring up a box which will look something like this.

This screen capture shows the original size that the margins should be, so if you are planning to create a magazine front cover then change the four dimensions to half the size.

Once the margins and columns had been added in the correct place I was then ready to start adding my different layers. On the first layer that I created I haved inserted my boxes using the 'Rectangle Frame Tool,' which has allowed me to place them in the same position as I have planned on paper by hand.

Click Above For Larger Image

The screen capture above shows where I shall be placing my different objects for example: text,image etc, the reason for inserting the boxes will also help organise your magazine front page. The next step I took was to insert some of the text that I will be including on my front cover, I have had to type the text into a Microsoft Word Document which I then placed into Adobe InDesign however, the font type that I used was gathered from the website http://www.dafont.com/. If you choose to do this then, open up the font document that you download from 'dafont' before you open your Adobe InDesign file, so the software recognises the font style.

Click Above To Enlarge Image

Click Above To Enlarge Image

Once I had placed my text on to this layer, I then created a new layer were I placed the rest of the text that I would use as well as adding a banner of text at the bottom of the magazine, which included a different font style, which would stand out and advertise my fake band 'The Scene.'

Magic Wand Tool

Once I had placed all of my text into the correct place I had to select and find an image that I would gather from the Internet, which I would then open in Adobe Photoshop and make it into a silhouette, which would be placed into the centre of my magazine and there will be text placed over the top to make it readable. Once you open your image in Adobe Photoshop select the 'Magic Wand Tool' hold down 'Shift' and select as much of the image as you can before you start selecting more. 

Edit In Quick Mask Tool

Once you have selected parts of the image, click onto the 'Edit In Quick Mask Tool' which will then show you the parts that you have already selected clearer by giving the rest of the image a red background. Then by using the 'Brush Tool' you will be able to paint in the reminding parts that you want to be edited on a later date.

Click On Image To Enlarge





Click To Enlarge Image

Click To Enlarge Image

The next step that I took was to make the image into a silhouette, the way in which I went about doing this was: first to click on 'Image' which is located at the top in the toolbar, then scroll down to 'Adjustments' were you have the choice of different adjustments that can made to an image, then if you click on 'Brightness/Contrast' you are then able to adjust the images colour which has allowed me to create my silhouette.

The last step I took was to place the silhouette on to my magazine front cover which would then complete my magazine. The reason for creating the silhouette was to show the different members that make up my fake band. Because I created the members using my imagination I didn't have and images of a band to add to my magazine front cover, so by creating a silhouette the readers and insinuate that they are meant to be my fake band 'The Scene.'

This is my completed magazine front cover advertising 'The Scene.'

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Duplicated Layers

The Scene Web Banner

The first step that I took to creating my web banner which would advertise 'The Scene,' was to find an existing web banner which I would copy onto my clipboard, which I then opened up in Adobe Photoshop which gave me the correct dimensions of a web banner. 

Then I took a look at http://www.dafont.com/ where I selected the font 'Madison Ave' which I used to create the background text. This layer of text I have duplicated 30 times which has made up the background for my web banner.

Next I took my silhouette and used the 'Rectangle Marquee Tool' to make each individual person separate so that when I come to creating my animation using Image Ready each band member can fade in separately.



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Duplicate Current Frame Tool



Then I was ready to create my animation, because I had a large number of layers it took along time to create also, I managed to confuse myself with what layers were visible what layers needed to be visible. To capture the visible layers and start creating an animation you have to click on the 'Duplicate Current Frame' which will capture all of the layers that are visible.

Every time you use click this tool you will be able to see that the frame has been duplicated on the timeline, as you can see in my example:

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Once I had added all of my frames and checked that I had used the correct layers I was then ready to export my web banner as a 'GIF' and a 'Flash' file, the reason for exporting my animation as a 'GIF' and 'Flash' is so that the animation is a moving image and not a static image.

This screen capture shows my animation being previewed in Internet Explorer, as well as showing the details of my web banner.

Click Above To Enlarge Image

Here is my final web banner advertising my fake band 'The Scene.'



Click Above To View Animation



Lesson 4 - Creating A Web Banner Using Adobe Photoshop

In today's lesson we had to create a web banner for the original website www.postsecret.com, but we had to take the idea from the postcards that we made during induction week.

As you can see the title of my postcard is 'Every penny is beautiful,' which I had taken from a newspaper, so this is what I tried to get across in my web banner. The reason for the content that I have used on my postcard was based around this newspaper cutting. The reason for using these bright colours and an image of Cheryl Cole was to depict the meaning of the word 'beautiful.'

Onto designing the actual web banner, first we had to do some research to find out the different sizes of web banners and were they were used on a web page. I took an example from www.nme.com, there was an advertisement banners at the top of the web page that was 728 pixels wide by 90 pixels high, I then used these dimensions to create my own web banner.

Once I had done my research I was then able to start creating my web banner using Adobe Photoshop. When I first opened up photoshop I had to create a new document but, first I needed to copy the NME banner onto my clipboard so I had the correct dimensions to create mine correctly. Photoshop then gave me my document that was 728x90, which looks something like this:

 This was the first layer of my banner which was called 'Background,' which was just a solid  block colour of white. Now that I've finished with that layer I then had to create 12 new layers, each of these layers consisted of 1 letter and 1 shape and would end up spelling out the phrase 'Every penny is,'

After I had created all of my layers I then had to open up my banner in 'Image Ready,' which would then allow me to create my animation, you are able to do this my clciking on a symbol that looks like this: 

 This is a simple process, all you have to do is select the layers that you wish to be used on the selected frame, then just add a new frame and again select the layers that you wish to use, and repeat this process until you have finished your animation. In 'Image Ready' the animation bar should look something like this:

This screen capture shows what my banner looked like without any animation when I previewed it through 'Internet Explorer.'

After a 3 hour lesson this is my completed animation:



Click Above To View Animation

Different File Formats

Portable Document Format (PDF) File:

PDF files are viewable and printable on any platform and look like original documents which preserve source file information for example: text, drawings, multimedia, video, 3D, maps, full-color graphics, photos. If created using Acrobat you can digitally sign or password-protect PDF documents.

Bitmap, Joint Photographic Experts Group (JPEG) & The Graphics Interchange Format (GIF) Files:

In a bitmap image, the image file has to define the exact color of every pixel in the image, however in a GIF image, the number of colors is reduced to 256 and then 'runs' of same-color pixels are encoded in a color as well as the 'number of pixels' format. An animated GIF is a sequence of GIF files all bonded together and displayed one after the other. However, a JPEG file uses a much more complex process to compress images for example: photographs, where the color of every pixel is different.

 

Lesson 3 - Creating A Newspaper Front Cover

Our brief was to create an effective newspaper front cover, but first we had to do some research to find out about the different aspects of a newspapers front cover. After looking at several different newspapers: First News, The Guardian & The Independent, I choose to design my front cover upon how 'The Sun' has arranged there's.

This is the front cover that I have choose to base my front cover around:

Next I planed out my newspapers front page, and how it would be arranged on a A4 piece of paper. I took the idea for my plan from 'The Sun' newspaper so that I could try and replicate the design that they had used, however, the stories that my front page will include will be different because, I want my newspaper to appeal to a different audience. The way I went about designing my front page was by using a pen and paper and divided the page up into 7 rows and 5 columns, the reason for doing this is, when I create my front cover using 'Adobe InDesign CS3' I will insert my rows and columns by going to: Menu > Layout > Create Guides, and by doing this I will know exactly were to place the correct images and stories.

Here is my plan for my front cover that I have scaned into the computer:

The next stage was to produce my plan on 'Adobe InDesign CS3' the way I went about doing this was:

First - Creating a new document and checking that the page setup was correct.

Secondly - Adding my guidelines, columns and rows so they fit my hand drawn plan. I did this by selecting 'Layout' on the tool bar at the top of the screen, scrolling down the drop down menu and chosing 'Create Guides' and 'Margins & Columns,' and created the correct amount of columns and rows that I needed.

Next -  By clicking on the 'Rectangle Frame Tool,' on the left hand side,this allowed me to create boxes and arrange them in the same place as I have done on my hand drawn plan.

These are the two screen captures that I have taken to show my plan that I created by using 'Adobe InDesign CS3.'

After I had created my plans, I was then able to start placing the text and images that I had already gathered and wrote into the correct places. When I was sure I had placed all of my boxes in the correct place, I changed my view, so that I could see what my front page was looking like as it would when it was printed. However, I had to create different layers to help make my front cover look as professional as it possibly could, by the time I have finished my front page I had 4 different layers for: Guides, Images, Texts & Plan Boxes.

Here is my final newspaper front cover:

The main article that I wrote for the newspaper was, to do with the animal face that we created in our first lesson, we took a photo off someone from the class, then we took an image of an animal from the Internet and by using 'Adobe Photoshop CS3,' I was able to create this image.

The first stage of creating this image was by adjusting the colour of the photo that I took of someone from the class, to make the image match the same tones of the animal that I chose, so when I combine the two images it would look surreal.

1. I had to use the 'Clone Tool' to take away the animals eyes and mouth, so that when I added the persons face I didn't just layer the features on top. 

2. I also had to use the 'Lasso Tool' to cut the persons feature out, so that I could drag them onto the image of the animal successfully.

3. Once I had used these tools and dragged the features across, I then used the 'Eraser Tool' to make the edges of the features softer, and to blend in with the animal.

Lesson 2 - Buster Keaton

The second lesson of digital graphics we had a tutorial on how to use Adobe InDesign CS3, with the files we got given we had to make a magazine page all about 'The King of Silence Buster Keaton,' after a three hour lesson this is what I managed to create.

This magazine page may look quite simple to create however, there is a lot of different tools and skills you need to produce a page like this.

First you need to know the different areas of the page, for example: Bleed Area, Trim Line, Margin Area, Gutter & Columns.

Bleed Area: Is a area which will be outlined in red, any text or images that touches the crop mark has to reach the bleed area.

Trim Line: This is the area where the guillotine will trim the page when it goes through the priniting process.

Margin Area: This is the area which is a certain size around the page which everything that you insert e.g. text and images must be inside, to make sure it won't be cropped off.

Gutter: This is the area that seperates the columns and rows.

Columns: These can be inserted to position your content.

Now you know what each of these area do, then you are ready to learn about the tools needed to create a magazine page.

The main tools you are going to have to know how to use are: Selection Tool, Pen Tool & Free Transform Tool.

Selection Tool: This tool allows you to select: a guide, image or piece of text and edit or move the item how you wish.

Pen Tool: This tools allows you to draw onto the document, the most useful thing this tool can help you do is , to draw on top of an image to get the outline,which you can then delete the background image and add text inside or add a heavier boader to make the outline standout.

Free Transform Tool: This tools allows you to select mulitiply items e.g. if you have and outline and you have inserted a image inside, then this tool allows you to select them both and move or edit them how you wish.

Now you have mastered how to use these tools, all you need to do is remember that you are working in layers, and you should be able to produce a magazine page just like this or better.

Here is a screen capture showing my documents in 'Details' view:

As you can see I have many different file formats for different documents, the reason for this being is, different file formats contain different qualities and some are designed to do jobs better then others, for example: I have exported my Buster Keaton magazine as a 'PDF File,' becasue the quality of the file will be higher then if I exported it as a 'JPEG File.

Also by viewing my documents in 'Details view' I am able to see the size of the file which I have created, what file format I have saved it as, as well as the date and time of which it was modified.