EVALUATION QUESTION 7

How have my skills improved from my preliminary task to my

final product

RESEARCH AND PLANNING OF PRELIMINARY TASK

In my preliminary task I did very little research as

we were given the task (to create a college magazine

front cover) but I created this by using my own

thoughts and ideas. This meant that the preliminary

product was not of a very good standard, and the

techniques I used to create it were also very basic.

RESEARCH AND PLANNING OF MAIN PRODUCT

For my main product, I took a lot more time to research similar

products and their conventions, for example, from the two music

magazines I evaluated critically, I found that artists appearance

was an important factor and their clothes/costumes had to be

selected according to what music genre they represented.

I also tried to create my own product in line with other

professional pieces as I knew this would appeal to a wider

audience if they felt my magazine had a certain ‘glossy’ feel.

PHOTOGRAPHY OF PRELIMINARY PRODUCT

In my preliminary product, I did not take notice of

how to construct engaging images such as those set

out in professional magazines, for example here, my

model is looking away from the camera whereas in a

professional shoot, the model usually always makes

eye contact with the reader, creating a close

relationship and letting the audience gage emotions.

PHOTOGRAPHY OF MAIN PRODUCT

For my main product I used a variety of shots and poses in

different settings, for example I used the photography studio

to take images for my contents page, and my DPS and cover

images were from a live music event which reflected the genre

of my magazine well. By using the hardware of the

professional camera and lighting studio, I had much better

shots and depth

CONSTRUCTION OF PRELIMINARY PRODUCT

In my preliminary task, I was not completely used to

Photoshop and how to access all of its features,

therefore I used fonts already included in the

software which were not very interesting or

professional looking, and I did not know how to

adapt text for example the leading between lines.

CONSTRUCTION OF MAIN PRODUCT

During the construction process of my main product I chose a

wide variety of fonts and colours which reflected the genre of my

music magazine well, and learned how to change these fonts

using the software Photoshop and InDesign. This meant that my

magazine looked much more professional than my preliminary

task, and I also knew that I had to fill in most gaps and spaces to

avoid it looking bare and shabby. I also tried to keep a high

image to text ratio throughout my product as from my audience

feedback I discovered that young people preferred that type of

magazine

CONTENT OF MY MAIN PRODUCT

My main product had much more depth than my

preliminary task, as I included more detail about the

content of my magazine as this was a convention set

out by other professional products to try and sell

more copies. I also used a wider range of models

spanning different genders and races to appeal to a

wider audience which is something I had noticed in

professional products.

CONCLUSION

Overall, I felt I have learnt a lot from my preliminary

task to my final products, I have improved on my

ability to use different software's and hardware's to

my advantage. Although I do feel like there are more

details I could learn about to make my product look

as professional as possible, I am pleased overall with

how my project went.