Evaluation 5

Looking back at your preliminary task, what do you

feel that you have learnt in the progression from it to the

final product?

School Base Magazine

Music Magazine

Contents Page

Double Page Spread

Comparing my two products?

• By comparing my two products, I can see a vast amount of improvements but at the same time similarities. The are common conventions such as the masthead, cover lines and a consistent house style. The skills that I learnt from my school magazine were transferred onto my actual magazine. However there is significant factor that make my overall magazine look better. This is because throughout my production I became more confident, therefore this made me experiment more which I thought made my magazine so unique from others.

• Overall I think the biggest change was that I was able to understand the importance of codes and conventions of a real industry magazine.

Planning • More preparation and planning was dedicated to my actual magazine. This was because of

the equipment I used, and the gigs I visited and the article I wrote. Whereas on my preliminary task I took less time to prepare for my photographs. This was because my school magazine was used as a outline/base for my actual music magazine and was actually done to help to me complete my final product.

• A lot of my planning also went to writing the article, from my previous research I learnt that language is a key role in targeting your audience. If you use difficult language that isn't suited to your audience then you magazine will not be read. Therefore I had to ensure the language was suitable for my demographic.

• Preparations went into doing a survey and gathering my target audiences’ opinion on my magazine, I didn’t do this for my school magazine because I felt the target audience had been effectively targeted through the name “6th form at TSS”. Whereas on my music magazine I had to make sure that I was uses the right house style and images to attract my audience.

• I discovered that by not isolating a specific gender for my target audience allowed me to create a unique product. This is because I didn’t use sexist colours and cover lines, therefore I left it up to “real music lovers” to see if they liked my magazine. Having NME as my inspiration was good because my questionnaire results suggested that this was a popular magazine read by both gender. By gathering results from surveys this proved successful and allowed my magazine to be targeted at a wider potential audience.

Skills

• Throughout my production work I became more confident with using Photoshop, therefore this made me experiment more which I thought made my magazine so unique from others.

• During the process of my school magazine I wasn’t familiar with different effects which made my overall preliminary task limited.

Colour themes

• Colour themes was vital role in attracting my target audience. This is because if I have used the correct colours it would look more attractive enticing my target audience to purchase my magazine. I put a lot more thought into various house styles for my music magazine, the house style of my front cover was improved due to various opinions of my target audience. This allowed me to follow the theme throughout my entire magazine.

Photographs• Previously I did some research into body language and realised the important role

posture plays in sending the correct connotations for you magazine. I had to ensure that I picked a live gig photo that I took which would be relevant to magazine. (I chose an image of Brian O’Reilly holding a microphone). I pre planned going to the gig whereas during my preliminary task they were not prepared and done pretty much on the spot. This is seen prominently from my two product because I think the image adds to the overall quality of you magazine.

• The media shot on both my magazine allows the reader to feel an intimate connection with the people feature. This created a unique selling point.

• The photo that I have used for my music magazine are live images of people playing gut airs this sends the connotation that the magazine may be a indie magazine. This is because this is what you would expect a indie/rock magazine to convey as opposed to a pop magazine. Also this suggests that my magazine will consist of live content.

•

Composition and Layout• The positioning of coverline and the image were vital because they

made the layout of my magazine more professional. I learnt how to leave open space where needed in my magazine, I also learned that by making it too cluttered make unproffesional. I tried to get a right image to text ratio, especially on my cover as that is what attracts the audience. Therefore it has to be readable.

• I didn’t include more than one image on my front cover because I wanted the main image to be the focul point in my magazine. The variety of cover lines adds an interesting, and mirrors the coventions of typical magazines. This makes the overall vibe of my magazine look more realistic.

• I think that by having bold and clear font is much more attractive than fancier font, especially because my magazine is an indie/rock genre. This makes my magazine looks sophisicated and people will not be put off by the “showy” nature that fancy fonts have. In this case i think simplicity in the key in making a realistic music magazine.

• I have included more cover lines on my music magazine as opposed to my school magazine. This shows how I have effectively taken up space where needed. It suggests that I have improved by organising my spacing and design of my front cover.

• My music magazine follows the rule of thirds and so does my school magazine . This shows how I have transferred my skills from my preliminary task onto my main task and how I am able to stick to a design and follow it through.

Mis-en-scene• The mis-en-scene of my school magazine cover shows a female student

playing a piano. The theme of knowledge here is addressed as often the stereotype of people learning instruments such as the piano are seen as more knowledgeable than people who learn to play the guitar. This is because the guitar is learnt by the vast majority in contrast to the piano. Also the theme of music is addressed similar to the theme of my music magazine. However both magazine covers portray a different genre of music. The school base magazine tends to portray more of a contemporary vibe.

• The surroundings of the female of the piano is of school display work, from this people can connote that it is a school working environment. Whereas on my magazine all the focus is on the artist and the singer which portrays the dominance of music in my magazine.