This is the mid-shot that we are going to use for our promotional magazine poster, as we felt that the facial expressions really intrigue the readers of the magazine. To ensure that we were correct, we did a tick sheet for our target audience where they chose which one they felt was best, resulting in the image on the left (this is currently present on me blog).

However, as you can see, this image requires a lot of editing in order for it to look and appeal to our target audience. As we would like to create something quite supernatural that will stand out in the double page spread and make the readers pause.

In order to intrigue the target audience, Rachel and I started to brainstorm ideas on things that would seem to encapsulate them and thought we could make the eyes red. When we considered this, we felt that continuous use of red from the lipstick to the writing wouldn’t be very effective, and thought that green would really stand out upon the page.

Here, you will notice the green eye from the previous slide that we had retrieved from the internet, we felt that it provided a super natural element that would automatically intrigue the readers as we were automatically intrigued to the image below. We had then placed this image into Photo shop and changed the opacity, making the image seem slightly translucent, so that the shape of my eye was clear and visible. We then deleted the surroundings of the image by using the manual eraser tool, that gave us the eye yet it still didn’t look right, so we blurred the white areas around the pupil, this made the eye look real and very effective. Although, to enhance this feature, we sharpened the pupils making them stand out on the screen, creating a form of depth on the image.

Lastly, we decided to make the eye more appealing, by creating a border with strong eye liner, this was achieved by using the brush tool. Although, this also looked quite fake, we then blurred it into the image, making it look real and this defined the florescent green of the pupils. As you can see, this was very effective when comparing this to the normal, non edited eye.

We then decided to edit the lips, to make them seem more defined and to allow them to stand out on the page, similar to the intense green eyes. In order to do this, we had used the brush tool, but we decided to change the brightness of the colour red, we then changed the opacity of the brush to make it look real and effective. We then shaded in a certain area of the lip, but not all of it, as the shade of red becomes uneven throughout, which looks like it has been clearly edited. After this, we then decided to use the clone tool as it would create an even layer throughout, by clicking on the alt button and selecting the area we wanted to copy, the brush then covered the rest of the lips, resulting in a brighter, more appealing red. But to make this colour stand out, we used the sharpen tool, that made the creases within the lips more noticeable, making the lips in general seem real along with the bright colour of the lipstick. Finally, we used the clone tool once again but it covered the skin, so we could erase any of the lipstick that was out side the lip line, and it also got rid of any laugh lines, making and enhancing this supernatural outlook. As you can see above this is the result.

However, we were not pleased by this effect when pondering over the image, this was the result of the intense green eyes in addition to this bright red that clashed with each other. We knew that we had to change one feature and make it less dramatic so that the image looked real and appealed to our target audience. We did this by making the lipstick darker, where the red turned plum, this looked much more gothic and when asking the essential target audience, they felt that this looked much more professional. In the end, we opted for this effect as it enhanced the green eyes as it then became the main feature that the readers were drawn to. As a final touch, we blurred the lips, instead of sharpening them as it made the lips look rough and dry, an effect that adds to this gothic, rebellious attitude prorated by the image. This effect is visible from the screen shot above.

Here, we have the necklace, that I wore that had a tooth on the end, we decided to use this as it would add to this anarchist perception belonging to the target audience. Nevertheless, this was not effective as you can see above, where the necklace is not in the centre, but is placed aside. As this would demonstrate a flaw, we decided to edit this out as it looks very unprofessional whilst contrasting with the over all perfect outlook that we would like to convey. In order to do this, I had mainly used the cloning tool, as I click on alt and selected the area of skin that I wanted to copy and clicked on the necklace, immediately the necklace was disappearing. However, this was very difficult due to the fact that the strands of hair were in the way, instead I ended up copying that. In order to get rid of this mistake i pressed, Ctrl Z, and continued copying the area of skin.

Eventually, I had managed to get rid of the entire necklace. Yet still, this was not finished as strands of hair were still present on the neck line, taking away the perfect ideology that we wanted. So we continued to use the clone tool until all of the hair looked neat. Yet still, as we had mentioned earlier, we wanted to make the artist seem unnatural by making her skin pale. In order to do this, I had used changed the colour on the palette to a pasty cream and clicked on the brush tool, I had then changed the opacity of the brush to around 27%, this allows all the features and effects to be seen through the paint. I had then used the brush over all of the areas with skin and skin only. The reason for this is, when going on areas such as the hair, the saturation depreciates, making the image look dull, instead of allowing it to stand out. Eventually, we resulted in the print screen above (left) that looks much more professional and adds to the perfect features that we have edited on the face (the plum lips and the green eyes).

As you can see, we have then edited around the image of the artist by using the eraser tools. The fact that we had a white screen in the back was very beneficial as it allowed me to edit the image easily by simply using the magic eraser tool where I just clicked on the background. Nevertheless, there were certain areas that weren’t erased including bits around the actual image of the artist. In order to delete them I used, the manual eraser tool where I had changed the brush to 19 as it makes sure that all of the sections that you select are deleted without any translucent pixels in the back. I changed the size of the brush to 5, as it is small, allowing me to reach every little pixel that is not necessary.

After editing the edges and background of the image, I selected the brush size and changed it to a size of 24 and selected the surroundings of the image, ensuring that all of the background is deleted, as you can see, this is the result.

As you can see, the image has improved drastically compared to the original, this demonstrates the effective use of editing.

As I have mentioned previously, we wanted the outlook of the image to be perfect to convey the fact that the artist is different in comparison to any other person, this will therefore, generate a strong form of dominance. You will notice from the original image above that the hair was slightly untidy due to constant movement. We knew that this was one aspect that we wanted to change in order to exhibit the perfect over view. In order to do this, we used the clone tool where I pressed alt and an area of hair. After this, I clicked on the messy region on the fringe resulting in a very neat hair do. Yet still, the image did look as though it had been editing.

To make the image look real and effective, I had then used the blur tool but changed the brush sixe to make it smaller, and selected the sections that looked like they had clearly been imitated. Finally, we were given the result above, that looks both professional and unique. Yet still, the image doesn’t look as though it has too much editing, making it seem realistic and serious, which is a good connotation to the depressing, realistic narrative from our music video.

It is clear in stating that the image has improved just

from this small change in the hair.

As you can see, Rachel and I were experimenting with many different ideas regarding the image, and whether we could add effects to make the image stand out even more. We had considered having the black and white effect on the image, whilst the main features (the eyes and the lips) remained in colour, making them stand out on the page. In order to do this, I first selected the eyes by using the wand tool, I then copied this on to another layer, I had then done the same with the lips, keeping them separate from the image. I then changed the saturation of the main image, until it became black and white, this gave us the effect that you can see from the print screen above. However, when we asked our target audience and peers, they felt that the image seemed dull as it would blend into the background, where as the original seems to be more gothic and more appealing. For this reason, I had decided to stick with the less edited version (top right). When pondering over this, we had realised that the target audience were correct as black and white usually represents the past, therefore, it may confuse the readers of the magazine.

We were now persuaded that our final design was effective as the overall colours create a gothic effect, whilst the contrasting green lures in the readers of the magazine.

Finally, after editing the main image, Rachel and I decided to make the hair darker as it looked quite shiny, as we wanted the image of the artist to show a rough edge along side the professional outlook. We achieved this by using the burn tool, which burns and makes the image seem darker then it originally is, we applied this effect all throughout the hair making it seem neat but rough and hard, conveying the themes presented within our music video. When using this effect, a lot of the shine from the hair disappeared, making the image look more gothic in general. This is the final effect as you can see above in the print screen.

This is the final edited image of the artist that looks very professional through our eyes. Yet still, we made sure that we asked our target audience to make sure that we were heading in the right direction when concerning our promotional poster. Overall, they felt that this image was successful in portraying their social tribes, yet they felt that the image alone would not determine whether the poster is successful…

Whilst I was editing the main image of the artist, Rachel decided to look at a range of different backgrounds as we wanted to complement the image. She managed to result in four main backgrounds as you see on the left. However, when thinking about which one to use, we decided to copy the image on top to see if the artist fit into the given background. When choosing the backgrounds, Rachel was aware that we had to include the house colours of red, black and white, and no other colours, as you can see all of the backgrounds consist of black and white only.

As we have a rose present on our CD cover, we considered adding this element on to our background as it will then carry the house style throughout the CD cover, music video and poster. Eventually, we found two suitable backgrounds as you can see at the top. As you will notice, the black background clashes with the image, so we decided to put a glow on it and yet it makes the image look like there is too much editing so we decided to terminate this background. However, we really liked the rose and we were confident that this presence would guarantee in a successful poster.

We then looked at the white rose background which contrasts well with the image of the artist, but it looked as though the picture didn’t belong there, for this reason, we didn’t use it. We then proceeded onwards with the third background of the wind effect that we thought would stand out in the magazine. Although, Rachel felt that the effect was overpowering, and the fact that we were going to have text on top of the background wasn’t good, as we were fearful that the writing wasn’t going to be eligible. Finally, we looked at the black and white swirly background that really appealed to us as we incorporated swirls within our CD cover, therefore, this effect would carry the house style. As a result we decided to use this background as the image fit in well against the white area.

As you can see on the right, this is the original background that we are going to use, and we felt that it would be very effective as it incorporates both black and white to reflect the different perceptions and ideologies associated with the artist. The fact that the artist will be placed in the white area, suggests her true angelic nature as the white contrasts well with the black outfit worn by her.

As you can see above, we have decided to incorporate the same swirly designs as the CD cover. In order to do this, I selected black on the colour palette so that the swirls that I make will stand out on the white area. I had then selected the custom shape tool, where I had found and used the same flowery designs and swirls, eventually, after arranging them in different ways, I had managed to get a border like effect as you can see above.

In order for the background in general to stand out, we created an inner glow, making the poster seem 3D, creating a form of depth. To create a similar effect on the image of the artist, we created a soft shadow with an opacity of 32% as we didn’t want it too dark so that it would blend into the dark, black hair. Yet this was successful as you can see from the print screen on the right.

After this, I had then added the main mast head of the name of the artist, ‘Evanescence’, that we did in white to stay in touch with the house colours. We made sure that the font style was Edwardian Script as it is a strong connotation of love, whilst keeping the house style constant as this font was used in both the music video (on the love letter) and on the CD cover (masthead). We then did the same with the name of the single, ‘My Immortal’, however, this was written in red, yet another house colour.

Nevertheless, we wanted the name of the artist to be slightly larger and above the name of the song as it is much more significant. This was realised during my analysis of posters (look at the page called Research and Analysis). As you can see the basis of our promotional magazine poster is starting to build up, as both the mastheads and the centre image are of the up most importance. However, the CD cover itself is very important as it represents the song that needs advertising, therefore, this will be a key, essential image that will be placed below the mastheads. As you can see above, this is our final CD cover that will be present within the promotional magazine poster.

As you have noticed I have included the CD cover. The way in which I had done this was by clicking on File, Place and selecting the image, placing it as a different layer on photo shop. After this, I had placed it next to the image, as the target audience will then see the CD cover. However, to make it more noticeable, I decided to create border around the cover using red (a house colour) swirls. First of all, I had to click on the custom shape tool once again, and clicked on a spiral design and made the shape upon another layer. I had then copied this numerous times to create a straight line or else, each swirl that I make will be a different shape, whilst I wanted everything to be perfect as though it is a continuous pattern. I then highlighted all of the layers with the swirls and copied them three times. I then put each line around each side of the CD cover, creating the very effect above. This made not only the CD cover stand out but the entire poster.

As you can see on the right I had then added in a puff to engage the target audience, as it exaggerates the intense horror experienced via the gothic music video. The fact that it questions the target audience whether they are brave enough, encourages them to watch it as the target audience are associated as being anarchists and rebellions. The use of ellipsis also encourages them as it acts as yet another connotation of the music video. This is written in the same font as some of the text on the CD back, which is ‘Brush Script’ which is easier to read in comparison to ,’Edwardian Script’, which is why we decided to use it.

This is what it looks like on the poster.

Finally, as a last touch, I had then included the page numbers. Although, I did not want to waste the work that I had done during my AS, therefore, I decided to use the skull that reflected my house style through out my magazine. I then used this as the page number again as it added to the overall hardness of the poster, that reiterates the message within our music video. This was also popular among the target audience previously, whom were also goths, rockers and emos so we have decided to manipulate this once more. (To find out the construction of this Skull, look at this blog address ‘www.amarpreet-media.blogspot.com’) If you look closely, I have added a shadow to the skull, making it look three dimensional upon the page, this contrasted well with the red page numbers.

Lastly, I had added the website which is classified as a can, a form of interaction with the target audience as it allows them to access the media that we are trying to promote. We decided to put this in red, as a lot of the poster is occupied by mainly black and white, making this website stand out really well. I considered putting this at the bottom of the page, however, this isn’t eligible due to the busy back ground, so I decided to put it against the plain white area, making it look more domineering on the promotional magazine poster.

This is the can.