Question 7

Question 7- Looking back at your preliminary task, what do you feel you have learnt in the

progression from it to the full product?

Before After

From my preliminary task (which was produced before my music magazine) I have learnt many new skills in the progression of my new magazine on the Front Cover.

•In the preliminary task, I never cropped the picture out as I took the picture with the background already present. I used saturation, contrast and brightness to make the picture stand out more. I never used a gradient tool for the background.• For this to match a school magazine, I think I used too many bright colours and didn’t make it look professional.• I used many conventions of a magazine such as; Sell lines, Barcode, price and freebies.• The masthead is in bright red and I decided to do that to make it stand out however it looks quite boring and simple as I never added any effects or borders to it.•The image shows that the girl is somewhat related to school as she has a notebook out however it doesn't look very ‘school-like’.

• On the other hand, From my music magazine my Photoshop skills have improved and Here I have used a gradient in the background. This makes things look more professional as I have used colours which indicate the genre by keeping things natural.• For the music magazine, I stuck to 3 colours to show typical conventions of a magazine. This made things not look too bright. • There are more conventions used in my magazine. For example, I have used more freebies, website address, sell lines, main sell line, a slogan, and the price.• Here the masthead is been created in a way which would stand out however I used many effects on the masthead to make it look 3D.• The image shows unity and here I have developed Photoshop skills to crop the image out properly. The image also shows that they look like a band and are somewhat related to music.

• I edited the picture a lot more in my music magazine as I developed skills on how to use tools like ; Magnetic Lasso tool, magic wand, brush, eraser and many more.

• On the music magazine the sell lines are placed in an organised manner which makes it easier to read and also looks more professional.

• I used different sizes of the same typography on the music magazine. This was to catch the readers attention on specific sell lines or freebies.

• For the sell lines in the music magazine I used Maroon and White however I made it look professional by adding subheadings.

• I thought about my target audience for this magazine therefore is the reason why I added 2 freebies and not 1. I also targeted my image which teenagers can relate to whereas in the preliminary task I only used one image which many people cannot relate to.

• I looked at other magazines such as ‘NME’ and ‘Kerrang’ which relate to my genre. This helped me deciding what I was going to put on my front cover.

• The image shows direct address which can draw the audience into the magazine and they can feel more involved.

• My image was not edited as I lacked many Photoshop skills and didn't know how to use the programme properly. • On the school magazine the sell lines are everywhere and are placed in different angles. This made it look unprofessional and wasn't very interesting to look at. • I used the same typography throughout my preliminary task.

• For the sell lines I only used Red and White.

•I never thought about my target audience when I produced this therefore this can be the reason why I never thought about my sell lines properly.

• I never looked at any other real magazines to get any ideas about what to put onto my front page.

•The image shows non direct address and this can draw the audience away from the magazine

Simple masthead, no effects added.

Main sell line does not stand out and not very eye-catching.

Non direct Address.

Sell lines not organised properly.

Barcode

Improvements to my main focus point of the magazine.

The one above is very boring and simple and does not stand out. however the main focus point on my music magazine is placed in large font and is on top of the image which can be eye-catching. I used one colour for the preliminary task whereas In my music magazine I used two colours which compliment each other and also stand out due to the effects added to the ‘ULTRAVIOLET’

Before After

• Simple black background used.

• The contents page looks very empty and not enough information present. •Only one image is used in the preliminary task which can be seen as boring because many teenagers tend to like visual things that textual.

• Page numbers are not organised properly.

• No editorial present.

• Grey background used; Indicates genre of the music.• The contents page has alot of information present. •There is a range of images used including one large image which draws the audiences attention. • Music magazine has a very structured layout, looks very packed with information and actually looks like a contents page. There are headings for each information and these are in different colours which makes it easier to identify.• The page numbers are organised in a organised way and are placed in the same colour next to the information. • The colour scheme is kept the same throughout which looks more organised. • An editors note is included in the music magazine which can be seen as a convention in a contents page therefore this is why I included it.

Simple heading

Only image used in the whole contents page; shows I lacked knowledge.

Information in the contents page- very limited amount.

Page numbers placed on top of the image; Not professional. If placed it should have been in the corner.

Double Page SpreadIn our preliminary task we didn't have toproduce a double page spread. This wassomething new I had to produce therefore therewas many changed made to come to a finalproduct of this. The colour scheme has mostly stayed the samehowever I thought for this the background colourshould be different. I used many different types of questions to allow my band to develop their answers. I have used many conventions of a double page spread;- The floating quote stands out as it is placed on top of

the image. - I have used more than one image present which can

interest the audience into reading more of this article.

- The colours used relate to the Indie genre as they are medium/dark colours.

- I have used bold writing in the heading with Photoshop effects added to make it stand out.

I have used different poses which makes the images look more appealing. The main image is taken from a low angle shot which can show status and their success. The costumes of all the pictures show the genre of the music they specialise in.

ConclusionFrom my preliminary task Ibelieve I have improved in my Photoshopskills. I have targeted my audience betterwith my music magazine as I have includedmany more conventions. By improving on my Photoshop skills, I haveachieved a good product with all thenecessary information needed.I have looked at other magazines which Inever did for my preliminary to help meproduce my music magazine. I also

developed many other language devices which helped me target my specific

audience of VINYL.