This is an updated and edited version of the original front cover that i designed. The text within the red bubble has been centered and changed to a white coloured font in order to stand out more and add to the professionalism. I also added a price above the barcode to assist the magazine in looking official.

FHM Front Cover

FHM Official Website

Creating the front cover for our magazines has assisted me in both granting me the ability to develop my new skills in Adobe Photoshop, whilst also presenting the complications that I still have with the software, and where I still need to improve before we target this in our coursework. Certain things have developed, such as the use of the polygonal lasso tool and implementing the overlapping and integration of layers to create interesting layered effects. I began the task with the intention of creating a ‘Sight & Sound’ front cover, but due to this causing much more havoc than it’s worth, I decided to change my intentions and create the front cover of an ‘FHM’ magazine, as my original task was possibly throwing myself in at the deep end due to my limited knowledge of how to use Adobe Photoshop. Specific difficulties that appeared where things such as attempting to find a suitable font to match the cover of the magazine that I was trying to imitate. The next time I attempt a task like this I think I will either research whether the magazine has a font which is available on Photoshop or whether the font they do use has a similar one that I could implement. I could also take the logo from an image found on the web and just drag and drop it straight into my cover to save time and add to the professional look that I would be aiming to obtain. Another difficulty for me was attempting to layer the certain elements of the page to make either text appear more extravagant or to overlap images with other things on the page to create a similar look to the specific covers that we had been given as influence. One thing that I enjoyed implementing and also found was one of the easier things to do within Photoshop was attaching certain text boxes to the front cover and advertising what would be within the fictional magazine we have created, whilst also making the headlines for the front cover look as professional as possible. Obviously, this links back to an earlier point about how the professionalism can only be obtained once certain fonts and positioning techniques can be used alongside it. These are the specific skills I aim to develop in the coming months, and will use this front cover of an ‘FHM’ magazine as a link to former work so I can analyse what I have improved when I am working on my coursework. One additional feature of Photoshop that I would need to learn to replace is that of 'Merging' layers. This is something that I have done with my original magazine cover and due to this I am unable to go back and edit the within Photoshop. Next time i create something like this I will have to be certain that I only link the layers together, otherwise I am stuck when a problem arises later on in production.

How has my creativity developed through using digital technology to complete my coursework productions?

Throughout the production of the coursework my creativity has benefited from the inclusion of such technologies as the editing software ‘Windows Movie Maker’, and the online video streaming website ‘YouTube’. ‘Windows Movie Maker’ was an easy introduction into video editing, and although it did not offer the range of possible editing techniques that have been promised for a future software, it was perfectly acceptable for the level of editing that was necessary at the point in time. ‘YouTube’ was pivotal in both the pre-production and post-production, as using the website for research materials when planning the basic ideas, plot and before filming to gain influential camerawork ideas from specific feature film scenes
Another key factor towards the pre-production of the coursework was the benefit of DVD’s that were essential in the research process and examples for how we would like to film specific segments, for example, the 2002 Danny Boyle directed horror film 28 Days Later, and the 2004 Zack Snyder remake of the classic horror film Dawn of the Dead, both included strong influences for what we hoped the antagonist of the production would share physical attributed with. Other films from the ‘slasher’ genre that we hoped to benefit from viewing were available to watch online from sites like YouTube and Metacafe, such as John Carpenter’s Halloween and Tobe Hooper’s Texas Chainsaw Massacre.