AICE Media Studies Project

  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x3xUFQ3ehts&feature=youtu.be

    This is the entirety of my magazine for AICE Media Studies AS Level. The title is Weather or Not, as it's an informational magazine about the weather.

 

      The title of the Space Weather article, though the entirety of the design is a 2-page spread, is going to attempt to make a page its 'own' while not taking up too much space for the article or too little space to seem significant. It will probably be in a muted yellow/gold font, maybe with a cool-temperature green for the subtitle, and the rest of the text may vary in color (from black to white on a possible grayscale) because of the difference in lighting in the background. The background is a modified image of the sun taken in a mirror to make it appear as it if were in space.     There will not be any additional/secondary images, as ones I have don't pertain to the article. Regarding the appeal to a target audience, this article has the job of setting a light-hearted yet professional tone. My writing can be irreverent and attempt to be comedic at points, so using that while transitioning to informational segments may or may not be a challenge for this t...

     For the story on Typhoon Tip and Hurricane Patricia, the spread lacks a dominant or secondary photos, since I couldn't take a picture of a hurricane or hurricane-related conditions while planning the magazine. The headline is meant to be part of the article, possibly indicated by the addition of a comma to help the audience comprehend this while still keeping it at a larger font on a distinct colored background for it. The byline of articles in the magazine would indicate the sources as well as the writer, as these are informational articles, and would be placed at the end of each article. Rather than one 'feature story' (due to my varied interests and the wide variety of meteorological events that can occur in Spring in the U.S., there are planned to be two; this one, and one on Space Weather. Secondary content might include definitions and long-term forecasts. The Space Weather article will have a sub-section of information, as will the Tip v. Patricia article. ...

     The central image is the background of each page, which may or may not challenge the idea of having them in the foreground vs background, and mastheads are less cohesive than they could be due to the wide variety of topics portrayable in meteorology. There is no puff or puffery of any kind, as the scientific nature of the information in Weather or Not is meant to be factual and disregard opinion to be as factual as possible. Pugs and ads are exempted because this magazine is not meant to be promotional; rather informational with a professional facade that makes it distinctly different from other magazines. Conventions are mostly challenged by the color and lack of clutter in this magazine's design that most magazines don't have, most evident in the cover and the visibility of the vivid background imagery. One social issues are challenged in this magazine, as no other humans than myself worked on it, and the information, while being from a scientific area, only refere...

     The product has limited engagement with audiences, as it is a magazine article rather than an interactive medium, but the tone of the writing in the two articles it has is meant to make scientific information comprehensible while still true, appealing to weather geeks and everyone else that hopefully would have a greater interest in weather by reading this. Regionally, this is limited to English-speaking countries, but could have altered versions per language, and is far more accessible in other nations than I thought it would initially be due to non-U.S.-based content. The forecasts would be difficult to implement without forging that barrier, but it is possible that different regions could have different forecasts if marketing for Weather or Not would be that ambitious. Per the technological usage of today, the magazine would likely be electronically copied for online reading, and might stay that way for saving resources. A new magazine would come out every month o...

     My production skills likely mostly developed in creating something visual that balanced creativity and color with appeal, lack of clutter, legibility, and relevance to the topic, the latter of which is still difficult without the necessary images for that depiction. Regarding writing, my efforts in the first article were rather confused and lackluster, as I was attempting to write in a way I hadn't in a while while attempting to stay professional and comprehensible (which I had never done before simultaneously). Editing the first one helped me understand what I wanted these articles to look like, but I'm not sure if that directly helped the quality of my second article's quick creation (it didn't hurt it, but I don't think it influenced it due to the time difference between making them). Making the second article quickly (but not rushing it) proved better than taking a rather long time (multiple days) to piece together the cyclonic article, as my thoughts were ...

     I used Blogger for logging my progress and keeping ideas for continuous revision, and then changed each version until I had what I wanted for the project. The images were taken with a generic phone camera, which used videos and slow motion for attempting to capture more dynamic images, as well as panoramas and lighting adjustments for certain illusions and capturing larger-scale things (such as clouds or the sun), with the graphic for the Space Weather Article made in Scratch, the cover designed in Scratch add made in Pages, and the rest of the magazine made in Pages. I had to use Lunapic to make the Scratch graphic transparent, which was a flaw in the plan, but the design was relatively easy to create in Scratch rather than it might be by another method.

     While I didn't change the Space Weather draft due to more active editing and time constraints, I made several changes to the Tip V.S. Patricia article, mostly for conciseness and coherence. Many sentences had grammatical errors, disrupted the flow of the article, could be combined, and/or didn't say anything useful.      The project was rather fun to create. I had the most fun attempting to take pictures and subsequently figuring out what my articles would be about, and I was nearly able to write about tornadic activity due to a tornadic thunderstorm that passed a few miles northeast of where I was in early April. I thought the designs for the articles and cover was gradually improving over time when I returned to edit, and I think the best artistic work I did was for the cover.      I'm least happy with the article designs, especially the one about Tip and Patricia, since it lacks a table and was heavily restricted due to available foot...

     Weather or Not you think this sounds a tad...non-existent..., that’s what it is and that’s what it’s called.        (It’s also what this article is about.)      Space Weather is quite different from Earth-based meteorology; it’s the study of events beyond our atmosphere that, ironically, are monitored in case they do happen to have an effect within the realm of our atmosphere. Focuses vary from asteroids/meteors to solar flares, sunspots, geomagnetic storms, and radiation. It’s incredibly rare that anything considered Space Weather would be dangerous to us, since the sun’s behavior at about 93 million miles away isn’t often strong enough to even cause minor radio blackouts, and asteroids less likely become meteors that aren’t that common (in our area) and, much more often, are small to begin with.       Although Space Weather events often lack a threat to us, which we owe greatly to the protection of the E...

      This table of contents occupies two pages as one continuous design to allow the complimentary image behind the text to support the theme established by the cover's background by similarity. A shade is added to prevent a lack of visibility of the text, which is divided into three groups; the light green title with an opacity fade effect to maintain continuity and create interest, the strong golden-rod titles of featured articles that contrast the typical ellipses leading to complimenting page numbers, and the additional pages for helpful information included in the magazine that, as indicated by a differently colored shade to encourage readers to continue, begins on the next page. I might change design slightly, font immensely, page numbers once I know what they are, and possibly remove the highlighted letters in the lower-left spelling 'weather' once unscrambled, although that could possibly be an interesting thing to include for observant readers.

    For this prototype cover of the magazine, I used a title I thought of at the time since I didn't remember if I had created one earlier; it's subject to change. I chose a minimal design, with just the title, motto, kind of issue, and themed background picture with a red frame to increase professional expectations that might be associated with a scientific magazine. I added shadows behind colored text themed for spring to emphasize the text and increase its visibility, putting the motto at the bottom  to balance the text on the top and give the image space to be observed. I'm concerned about fonts, font color, and a lack of enough information about what's in the magazine existing on the cover, which I may or may not change as this magazine is created.  

    This image will be used for the Space Weather 'feature article' due to its size and evident theming. The sun depicted on the right appears to eject large amounts of matter into the dark ether that is presumably space due to the sun's existence and emphasis. The setting could serve as a background for its eponymous article, as space weather additionally focuses on solar activity regarding flares and disruption on Earth caused by the ejection of the sun's matter. Editing may be necessary to reduce the brightness of the sun for the sake of the article's legibility and to reduce the distortion of the image's previous colorization editing. Only one photo is needed due to its size and theme-supporting simplicity.

     This photo would be a fitting cover for this magazine, although more will be taken in the future that could prove better for this role. The clouds, sky, and sun infer the meteorological theme of the entire issue, with additional symbolism for the transition from winter to spring made by the cloud-obscured sun. The sun serves as the focus, and its effect on the clouds makes the image suitably striking for a cover, intended to additionally benefit in appeal by its lack of clutter and simple composition. The tree on the right was intentionally recorded with the image to provide depth and a reference point other than the focus to add interest and allude to an otherwise absent frame. Colorization editing is likely to curb its naturally dreary/bland appearance.

While it is likely that some of these photos will not be used in this magazine, some are definitely going to be. Most, if not all, of these are background material. 1. This picture (below) is from the unedited perspective of a car to attempt to photograph a position of isolation. This could pair well with an article describing COVID’s effect on the weather by relating the isolation experienced then and (and possibly evoked here) to the actual material. This was taken at an intersection to obtain the lack of other vehicles, but no technique was used to obtain a clearer view of the skies. 2. However, this, like a few others, are visually more relevant to the topic of daily weather. This image was taken from a perspective facing upwards to avoid conflicting subjects and emphasize the beauty of an early morning sky. 3. This image was taken at a slight angle to show distance, with a denser focus in the foreground giving way to another appealing scene of clouds in the background, also contri...

     Super Typhoon Tip (or Warling) and Major Hurricane Patricia are two of the most insane storms to ever spin on the open seas (and both relatively recently, as well). Patricia's 215 mph and Tip's 190 mph winds make them beasts of even their intimidating nomenclature's kind, putting them well over the top of the Saffir-Simpson Wind Scale and (, in Tip's case,) the JMA scale. However, while tempestuous Tip and powerful Patricia brought winds that blow a breezy day away, a given storm's formal strength is also evaluated by another measurement.     Though  slower-moving and far more predictable than tornadoes, and therefore usually far safer to observe, o ne probably shouldn't try to venture into the eyewall of hurricanes -  unless you're a Hurricane Hunter, that is. Military reconnaissance flights are flown to measure weather conditions from numerous parts of cyclones, including the most intense portion closest to their center (- the eyewall).  ...

    This sidebar/section of a possible article about space weather was created to compliment darker and unearthly abnormal background colors while depicting a technological theme for the contrast of natural space and to compliment how we observe it now and in a futuristic era. To stand out while blending with the background art, as auras of stars and planets are depicted, the increasingly transparent purple shade contains the information, with a higher density of this text located where the purple is nearly opaque. It is intended to border the lower-right side of a page, and preferably a page on the right, with a purple-gradient bar bordering the right and lower side of the sidebar to reflect focus back onto the article above and to its left, and confidently establish a limit to the extent of information provided.      The sidebar contains definitions that might not be fully, further, or similarly explained in its article, divided into four sections by progressi...

1. This magazine is not only intended for environmental enthusiasts, including professional and hobbyist/enthusiast meteorologists, climate scientists, environmentalists, etc., but also has some features understandable by someone not as typically interested in atmospheric behavior, such as long-term forecasts, and major news accounts, therefore being appealing to those who want to learn. 2. The news articles would be interesting and obscure enough to teach nearly everyone reading it something new, but also written to be accessible and interesting for someone uninformed on the topics without it being painful to read through if one has that knowledge. All articles will encourage learning due to their high amounts of informational content, and need to be ambitious enough to ensure that information is worth interest and time despite the intended audience. 3. Given the diverse specific fields and interests of this magazine's projected audience, it's hard to say which one will be the...