5-31-11 Intro to Shattered Glass

For reading time:

1. Go to Media Center webpage
2. Click MasterFILE Premier
3. Click Advanced Search
4. Type in Stephen Glass, change Select a Field to AU Author, and click Search

Read "Hack Heaven" and any other articles you'd like. This is an anticipatory set for the movie you'll watch called Shattered Glass.

5-25-11 Create a Newspaper Page Using Photoshop

Today, you will create newspaper pages based on the stories you've written in Photoshop. You don't need to follow these directions completely, they are just a guide. When you have finished your pages, save them as a .jpg and post them to your blog.

This tutorial will show you how to create an image that will look like a scanned newspaper page.

Step 1. Create a new document, size 630x900 and fill it with it a light, warm gray (color code #e4e4e4).

Step 2. To make the final result make more realistic, it’s necessary to mimic the way you can see the writing on the back page on a real newspaper.

To achieve this effect, open an image of a newspaper page you can find on the Internet (I chose this one), go to Image-Rotate Canvas - Flip Canvas Horizontal and then copy/paste it over the new document you just created. Set its opacity to 5%, so that the writing is only a bit visible.

Step 3. Newspaper articles often contain pictures, so I opened this one and resized it to 35%, and I placed it on the left.

Step 4. To convert the image to black and white, the best method is to go to Image - Adjustments - Channel Mixer… tick Monochrome and leave all the other settings as default.

Step 5. In order to create the headlines, I used Century Old Style Std, Italic, size 40pt and 24pt respectively. You may use any other font that is very legible and simple.

Step 6. To create the subtitles, I used Century Old Style Std, Bold, size 18pt. I left some space between them and the picture, and the headlines, in order to achieve an elegant, uncluttered look.

Don’t worry if the text you’ve done until now is not properly aligned. You can easily fix that later.

Step 7. Now it’s time to create the content of the news article. You need to create a text box: using the Type Tool, click on the desired starting point of the text box and drag down to create a rectangle.

Though it’s not visible in the screenshot above, the text box doesn’t go all the way to the bottom of the page. I’ve left a blank edge on the bottom of the page, because we’re later going to add the date and day of the week there, just like on genuine newspapers.

Step 8. Paste some text of your choice into the text box you’ve created (my source was Wikipedia). The font I used is Century Old Style Std, Regular, 14pt.

Notice that I’ve used a Sans Serif font. Because of their high legibility, most magazines and newspaper articles use Sans Serif fonts for the main body of text.

Step 9. Create a second text box as shown at step 7 and paste some text, using the font at step 8.

Step 10. The final step is to create a text box and add some text in the lower part of the page. I used the font Century Old Style Std, Regular, 12pt.

In order to verify and align the way the text and pictures fit on the page, go to View -Show - Grid. To change the position of a certain element, use the left and right arrow keys, or the Move Tool.

5-24-11 Photoshop Ads

Today you will present your Photoshop Ads to the class.

5-23-11 Photoshop Ads

You will have one more day to work on your Photoshop ads today.

When you are finished, save your project as a .jpg and post it to your blog.

You will present your ads to the class tomorrow.

5-18-11 Photoshop Day 2

We will continue learning Photoshop today. We will start on our advertisements on Thursday.

5/17/11 Advertising/Photoshop

Today we will learn the basics of Photoshop.

Photoshop Day 1

1. Create new project (size and resolution).
2. Interface overview. Drop down menus and shortcuts. File, Edit, Image, Layer, Select, Filter, View, Windows.
3. Tool bar window (hidden tabs).
4. Basic Painting and Erasing, Pencil, Eyedropper, Fill Bucket.
5. Open image, Copy and Paste (multiple images). Introduction to layers.
6. Selection. Area, Lasso, Magic Wand.
7. Zoom and Pan.



CREATE AN ADVERTISEMENT ASSIGNMENT

Assignment: Come up with the concept for a product you think the world needs. It can be as logical as a new cereal with banana flakes in it or as far-fetched as golf balls that glow in the dark. Then do the following:

1. Design a logo for the company that will sell this product. If you aren’t a natural artist, you will be better off designing something that is easily reproduced — something with simple circles or lines.

2. Create an advertisement for the print media (either newspaper or magazine) as follows:

Create a color magazine ad of an appropriate size (11"h x 8"w). Indicate where and when the ad will run. The ad must include a product illustration, a benefit headline, text and where it can be purchased.

You will post these ads to your blogs and present them to the rest of the class next week.

5-17-11 Advertising

Your opinion/editorial is due at the beginning of the hour today.

Media Quiz
http://www.pbs.org/teachers/digital-media-literacy/quiz-yourself/

Watch Super Bowl Ads
http://superbowlads.fanhouse.com/

Top 10 Ads of All Time
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/28780693/

Mobile Ads
http://industry.bnet.com/advertising/100077/are-teens-really-receptive-to-mobile-advertising/