Evaluation

Abby Downing

Sources of information To help me with my tasks I first asked the people around me (my peers) to have a read of my work

to see if it is good and if there is anything else worth adding. I gathered some feedback but mainly

from the production

For the obituary I got some feedback saying that I needed to add more information about Megan's

background, which helped me a lot because it was essential to do this for the task to be right.

Other comments I got were that I needed to research into what to write on my fanzine because it

wasn’t long enough.

My peers were very handy to have around when doing the production because this task was more

about the layout of the product they could visually see it and straight away think of improvements

that I had not thought of myself to make it better. This was very useful to get the most professional

product completed. Sources of information benefits my work a lot because it allows me to get

feedback of many people which makes my work better and gives me a chance to get a higher

grade.

It also helped because I did more then one product to compare and evaluate and also to see what

works best and what doesn’t, including layout, colours and images. Having more then one persons

feedback on this was handy and helped with decisions.

Press Release & Obituary The obituary took longer then the other areas of work because I had to research into what obituary’s were like and

look at examples of them. I then had to use my imagination of why she died and write about her life. This wasn’t to difficult because I already knew a lot of background on Megan Fox, although it took longer then the press release.

After I had finished my obituary I read back through and sent of my work, the feedback I got included stating I had written to much about the death itself then the tributes and background, after more research I realised that I had done more of a tabloid piece of work then obituary, I then cancelled out a lot of the death and simply stated how it happened and then wrote more about the background itself.

The work we produce in media is more usually revolved around production rather then writing, so this time it was a lot harder then usual as I am more creative technically then in writing, this was a challenge but I think I did it well. I wrote enough for each task as was said and got good feedback. I think the writing itself is professional, as for the look I didn’t create a productive layout for each task, only for the interview and tabloid.

The audience for my press release and obituary is very wide as fans of Megan Fox are around 15-30 it is mainly aimed at then but a lot of people read obituaries even if they aren’t a fan of the person mainly because of interest so in this section I had to be careful what I wrote about to make sure it was appropriate for all audiences which I believe it was. I think that the work is professional and sounds like a real press release would be and also obituary.

In the obituary I had to be creative because I had to make up a reason of why she had died and also write tributes and the life she had, the background of Megan was fairly simple to write because I had done a lot of research about her I had most of it in my head already. I think my creative ability In this particular task was good because it gave me a chance to really think about what to write. I could of researched a bit more into obituary’s but I am happy with my final draft.

The press release I wrote was about her new film which I think is good for a press release, it gave me a chance to write about her and her previous films and write about her relationship with Michael Bay with her career. It think I was creative in this task also because I had written just over 500 words of which were about her, the film and her career. I found the press release hard because I do not know a lot about them because I don’t usually read them and also I don’t know a lot about film. I am happy with the work I had submitted in this because I thought I was creative with the quotes that I had put in the release, I found some through research which was hard and also tricky.

Fanzine The fanzine I found very difficult because I had to write about me talking about Megan

from a fans point of view and I had run out of things to talk about. I could have been

more creative with this by getting real quotes and other things fans had said and

included it in the fanzine.

The subject I wrote about was Megan not appearing in the third transformers sequel.

Which narrowed it down to what I could take about and didn’t give me much variety.

When I produced my fanzine it wasn’t in the time schedule given to me, although I did

complete it in good time, which helped. Making sure you have contingency time is

good, it allows you to finish uncompleted tasks.

I haven’t seen a lot of fanzines before so it would be hard to say it’s professional,

however from my point of view I think I have wrote it as if I am talking to her fans very

well.

Tabloid I researched into existing tabloids and then came up with an existing story of Megan that I could

write about in a tabloid format. When I had done research into the video interviews of Megan I

noticed a lot with her and Shia of which there was a rumored fling about which made me want to

do a tabloid of this.

I managed to complete this work in this time I was given because it wasn’t that long a piece of

writing and I already knew a lot of information of both celebrities and the fling from when I was

doing research which helped a lot with the time scale.

The feedback I got from this was only a few simple adjustments and the overall work was good, by

reviewing my work it allows me to make my mark better, the impact this had on my work is that it

makes the grade for my overall project higher. Although, I could of done this better by making it as

good as it could possibly be.

I managed to make it professional by looking at a lot of existing stories to help me choose the

correct words and connotations to make it sound like a real piece that you would see in a tabloid.

The Tabloid was my favourite part to write about and it let me be really creative because the fling

with Megan and Shia was a secret and only Shia admitted to it, this was based back in 2007 so I

had to write it as if it was in that time, I enjoyed this because I got to research and watch the old

videos of them to having interviews back when the transformers film came out.

The work was aimed at the audiences of mainly transformers the film as it was aimed at both co

stars which was 15-30. although I made sure my writing was appropriate for all ages. I believe my

writing is at a standard that these ages would find interesting, especially females who are more

interested in the gossip and love side then the males who are interested in the action.

Interview The first draft of my interview was about Megan, her career and motherhood, I had done this

interview wrong because it wasn’t factual writing but it was fictional, although it did give me a

chance to be really creative, because I already read a lot of cosmopolitan magazines I found it

interesting to write one of my own, most of the writing was factual and true but I had made it up

from her point of view. It was enjoyable to write it and I believe I did it In the style of Cosmopolitan

because they usually do a big introduction about where they’re having the interview and talking

about how the celebrity getting interview looks which Is what I wrote.

The second interview was factual writing and it is what Fans wrote in a questionnaire. I found this

more difficult because I wasn’t very creative, mostly what I had to write was their answers which

was not my own writing. I think I could have been more creative with this by writing my own

responses back to those that the fans had written and add more into the interview.

The interview was the most straight forward writing I did because a lot of it was answers from what

other people had said, the job I had to do was put it into an interview format, I reviewed this work

by making sure that the answers were what they had written and made the bit of writing I added

work well.

Time management The time I was given was enough for me to complete all work assigned for. Some elements

took longer then others for example the Fanzine took longer then the press release, because the press release was only 500 words and I knew what I wanted to write about and the fanzine was double this of which I was unsure for a while on what to talk about. It really depends on how many words you are willing to write and whether you have a story in mind you want to talk about.

The time I spent on some things was a lot longer then others, in the future it would be easier to create a time scale in which to do projects in and if not completed go back to them later in extra time. This way everything will be done and on my blog in time so that it can be marked. In previous projects I have done this, for example in recipe cards, I made sure everything was done in order and on time and by doing this I created a time sheet, which worked sufficiently well.

I spent a lot of time on research especially at the beginning of the project, by watching videos and looking at biography it gave me more of an inside on my celebrity. Which made it easier when it came to completing my tabloid, fanzine and press release. The tabloid as about the fling between Megan and Shia which was set back around 2007 when the transformers film came about, I know now that the fling was not huge because she is now married but because I watched a lot of videos about Megan and Shia it was easy to make a story about it to put in a tabloid, which made the timing good.

The obituary took longer then the rest because I had to research into what obituary’s were like and look at examples of them. I then had to use my imagination of why she died and write about her life. This wasn’t to difficult because I already knew a lot of background on Megan Fox, although it took longer then the press release.

Technical Competencies In this project I used ‘in design’ a program that helped me set a layout in professional standards

with grids and guidelines to help me, I used this program when it came to doing the production

because this was the main element in the project that needed to be at a professional standard and

made to look like existing work. In this software their were tools that I had never used before like

the pen tool and the gap tool which I learnt as I was going along, they came in handy to make my

work look good. The character and paragraph tools were exceptionally useful when it came to the

text part of the production because they allowed me to place and have text exactly the way I

wanted it. I find in design very useful when text is involved, in magazine layouts and tabloids I think

in design is the best program to use. The gridlines are there if you need them also to make

everything fit into place properly to look professional. In my work I used them to make sure

everything was need and to the standard I wanted it to look.

As you can see in the image below the blue gridlines split the page into sections and all of my work

fits in the sections nicely and looks professional and neat. The magazine I wanted my work to

appear in was cosmopolitan, I had to research what the layouts looked like to make sure my work looks like the existing thing,

which I think it does because the layout is similar and

professional and the font is similar to ones that are in

the magazine. The main headline Cosmopolitan is the

real font.

I managed to use good quality images by using the

Google search tool and choosing large images, I then

edited them in Photoshop to the standard I wanted them

before placing them in in design. The picture of Megan

fox originally had a yellow background which I removed

with the polygon lasso tool and also the magic wand. I

then created a drop shadow on her to make it look like

she was on a white background and look more apart of

Technical Competencies

I originally created a 3 page spread for the article with 1 fill page devoted to a full length photograph of Megan, which I like to see in a magazine because to an audience it stands out and also doesn’t make it look like there is to much writing to read which is good for a young audience because a lot of writing looks boring. The double page spread as you can see on the right is at a professional standard and looks like cosmopolitan magazine. What I like about it is the quote in the middle of the writing, it is easy to read and also catches your eye. I like how the page contains red and blue, which is the colours on her dress so it looks like it works well. The page doesn’t look to plain this way but doesn’t look to busy either. The colour balance is exact.

I decided to do another layout of the same page and colours but a different style, this time I combined all 3 pages into 1 double page spread, this way it fits on 1 spread and doesn’t over hang. I like this one because the text wraps around the picture and it still looks professional, on the other hand I do prefer the first layout because It is not as busy and I think it looks more appealing with it on 3 pages, and I like that there is more then one image on the first layout.

The third page is also in a neat layout which I did with the gridlines. The quote fills up the first column along with the image. The image I edited in Photoshop, I removed the background from this image as well and placed a drop shadow on it. Both images work well with the layout and make it look like Cosmo magazine. The 3 page definitely looks better and more professional and appealing. I like creating more then one layout because it gives me chance to evaluate both and see which works best with the look I am going for. Which you can’t choose with 1 layout. It makes me realise what is wrong and right. I think having an over crowded page is wrong, the page still looks good but not as appealing as the first original layout.

I tried out a 4 page spread to see what this turned out like, but I filled 2 pages with images that I let

the same this time, I didn’t do much editing to these ones because

They’re exactly how I wanted them to look. I thought

I would change the layout and the colour scheme to

compare which ones I liked the most. I haven’t

finished this layout yet as you can see but it is the

layout I want which you can see. I changed the

colour scheme to blue which makes it look like a

whole different story I think, it gives you a different

vibe and make it look more cold and sad. The layout

I like on this one and I still believe it is professional

and still looks like Cosmo magazine. I think both are

very different and I like them both equally. The first

layout was more tricky and hard to make look good

then the second, this is due to the images, I worked

a lot harder on the first because I found it more hard

and tricky, but I liked the challenge.

I managed to achieve what I set out to do because

my intension was to create a few different layouts

and designs to compare them, I did this actually

better then I thought because I didn’t think it would

look as real and professional as it does.

I was given enough time to produce the amount of layouts and products that I

wanted to. The one that took the most time was the first layout wit the title ‘10

days into filming I became pregnant’ because the photographs needed a lot of

work doing, the layout is also more complicated then the rest of them, although I

already knew what I wanted the page to look like, which helped because once it

was all done I it didn’t take me long to arrange it the way I wanted. The tabloid

was hard to produce because I do not read them myself so first I had to research a

lot into what they looked like before I could continue/. After I had done this I knew

exactly what I wanted it to look like, but I had enough time. The third layout was

tricky because I had to come up with a whole new layout but with the same kind of

look. Once I had an idea it didn’t take me long to choose the colour and

photographs. The second interview was shorter so I had to fill up more space with

photographs which still looks professional because this is often done in

magazines. With both layouts it gave me a chance to be very creative because I

only was going to produce them both in a simple layout and there is only so much

placement and colour I can use with a simple layout. I wanted them both to be very different from each other

but still look apart of the same magazine and simple, I

think I achieved this by using different colours, fonts,

positioning, photographs and titles. I like them both in

different ways because they look a lot different. I like the

colour of the first layout I did and the fact that I had to edit

the photographs to remove the background but I also like

the black and white photographs and the background that

I have kept on, because it fits with the magazine.

There are some elements of the work I do not like, which

is mainly the titles, I think I should of done them so the

wording is closer together on both products, because this

is usually what they’re like in existing magazines. The

white space around it isn’t a huge problem because there

often is a lot of space on magazines around the title., but

this little part could make it look a bit better. Another thing

is the image on the first layout doesn’t look that good high

quality in ‘in design’ which could be altered in Photoshop.

I created 2 double page spreads for my second interview draft (the interview between fans) I wanted the look and layout to be the same so it still

fit in with cosmopolitan look. My intentions for this one also worked out well. And it is to a professional standard. I like how the text is spread out

so the text to picture ratio looks good and it also doesn’t look to crowded. The first layout I did was quite colourful so I wanted to see what a more

black and white based page looked like because cosmopolitan also produces some like this as well.

I decided to work with these photographs because they were high quality and looked professional, they aren’t much to do with the text that is

actually involved in the interview but in cosmopolitan magazine they often use high quality photoshoot photographs rather then any actually to do

with the interview like a film she has been in for example, I think this way it looks more interesting and professional. Megan fox is also put across

as a sex symbol and role model, in these photographs you can clearly see that so in a sense it brings out her personality and life.

I didn’t come across many problems when working with these photographs because they were already high quality and I used the backgrounds

they were placed on. The smaller image on the fourth place was removed from it’s background and again had a drop shadow. This was more

simple then previous ones which was good. I like working with black and white photography because they always work with colour schemes and

look good together.

The style that these layouts come across are simple but professional, I like magazines that look like this because they look genuine and don’t

look to overcrowded and busy, there's nothing worse then opening a magazine and seeing a lot of writing and colours from my point of view, and

as I am part of the target audience I think this is the best look.

Through previous projects I have worked with ‘in design’ and ‘Photoshop’ which has given me some good skills and I already know all the basics

about both programs. , working with them both together is good but also allows me to learn more about each program, so I know which program

is better for certain types of things, Photoshop is much better for photographs and ‘in design’ is better at putting work together in a magazine

format. ‘in design’ is good for placing everything in the right place which I have learnt, I have also learnt about the gridlines which are a good tool

to make sure everything is spaced out neat and professional. The paragraph and character tools are a good way of making sure the text is

exactly how you want it to be, with the exact size and spacing. Photoshop is good for editing the photographs in the project and also changing

them to the correct size by firstly making sure the canvas size is the size you want and then resizing the picture and doing a few other

adjustments. I already knew a fair amount of knowledge on both software's but mainly Photoshop. I know a lot about Rota scoping on

Photoshop but not a lot about actually editing and resizing existing photographs, I can now do this exceptionally well from practice in this project.

I have only previously dealt with small amounts of work on ‘in design’ with this project I have now practiced and learnt a lot with layouts and

where things should be placed to look the best in this project. It has helped me learn about white space and placement. Another thing it has been

good for is learning the tolls involved for future use. I believe that I can place text and images on a page and make sure they’re in the right/best

place for the layout.

I created a tabloid as well as the magazine because I

thought it would be a lot trickier and I wanted to see how it

turned out. It was a lot harder to make this production

look real then the first, this is due to the fact I read more

magazines then newspapers. Although overall I think it

looks real and worked well. I managed to use a good

quality image and one that worked well with the story as

you can see from the headline. The image on the front is

usually caught be paparazzi and is not posed, which I

used. And there is usually text over the image. On

Photoshop I blurred the side of the image with black so I

could fit another story on the side, the story I found from

Google and added it on, it is not my own written words.

The adds at the top of the page are fake which were

made in Photoshop, these are essential for tabloids

because there are adds all over the page. Daily star was

the newspaper I chose because I believe it worked better

with the story about a fling, because the fling included

celebrities and this newspaper is evolved around them.

Not all over the tabloid text is on the page because it

always is in the actual newspaper only a segment is

shown to endure readers to look and then usually follows

with ‘full story page 3-5’ for example.

My intensions were to create a a couple of pages for

cosmopolitan magazine in the exact style so it looks like it is

real, I think I reached my intensions because comparing my

work with real examples I think it fits with the overall look of

the magazine and looks professional. I wanted my image to

be large and look of high quality and look apart of the page,

this took time because it used to have a background which I

had to remove. Another aspect of the work I wanted to look

good was the title, Cosmo titles are usually well thought

about and sometimes are quotes or simply their name, I had

to think of something true and interesting to be the title to

hook the reader. I believe I also did this well because as I

am part of my target audience I would ready the interview

after seeing the headline.

The main audience for this interview is female 15-23

because these are usually the people who are interested in

this celebrity and also the magazine. Although when writing

about this audience I also kept other audiences in mind that

also read the magazine so I was careful about what I wrote

and made sure that I didn’t write anything that could offend

any audience. For the tabloid (newspaper) front cover I

made sure that I kept in mind all audiences because it is

more likely a wider audience will read it, especially because

it is a front cover. The daily star is more aimed at women

who are interested in gossip and that sort of news but

baring in mind that a lot of men read tabloids also.