Question seven!

Looking back at your preliminary task (the school magazine task), what do you feel you have learnt in the progression

from it to your final production?

Research & Planning!

During my progression through Media Studies for AS year, I think that my skills have developed in the area of knowledge about the codes and conventions of real media products, i.e. print magazines in particular, as for my final AS year products, I conducted further in-depth research into real media products like NME and Kerrang! Magazine so for my final products, I therefore knew more about what content to include to make mine look equally professional.

For example, on the right you can see where exactly I have improved contents-wise between my prelim and final products.

For my front cover, you can where my final product (right) has included the content included in my prelim product (left) which is a masthead, however I have found that most professional products have a much shorter magazine name and is placed on the left side (which I found during my textual analysis), sell-lines which I have placed more towards the edge of the page sides to use up more ‘white space’ and look more professionally placed, a smaller barcode placed on the right bottom hand side (also like most professional magazines – again found during my r&p stages), a main image which has this time been shot in a professional photographic studio who gives the magazine cover a better look and using a camera which is more clear and focused and a more interesting and clearer house-style which includes bolder colours, a better slogan and larger, more clear font styles, all of which was used on my final product so it would appeal to my target audience more.As for my contents pages, like my front cover, my knowledge has clearly developed from my

prelim (left) product to my final (right) one can be see as I have used a header which is more clear and stands out more, less white space has been used (as more white space means less professional), better placed and larger images so the content can be seen better by my readers and I have also included page numbers on my final products which wasn’t included on my prelim product but is obviously used on professional magazines. My final product also includes professional features on subscription information and multiple images.

As you can see, my skills and knowledge have clearly expanded through the use of research and has helped me create a product that contains all of the professional features seen on the likes of NME.

Research & Planning #2!I also feel that during my research and planning stages, it allowed me to plan out my final products much more, meaning more thought could allow me to create a much more professional-product. For example, for my prelim products I did not have the time available to do planning like my final products such as flat planning, magazine content planning etc. This I felt helped me create a better product for my target audience. Overall, I feel like I have learnt how to create a professional-looking magazine.

As you can see, I have learnt how to create a more professional-looking product from AS because on my final products you can see on top of the content included on my prelim products, I have included everything planned in my early stages of production (i.e.the layout of the flatplan contents page etc.)

Construction!Looking back at my preliminary AS year task of creating the front cover and contents page of college magazine, I definitely feel that my skills have progressed and developed and can be seen in my final A2 products. I mainly feel that my skills have expanded in the production stage of my products, where I had to use Photoshop and InDesign again for my final work, which I also think has helped me work look more professional and creative in comparison to my first magazine.

My skills have developed using software like Photoshop and InDesign and hardware like digital cameras and iMacs due to having more practice and experience with them towards the end of my AS project (bottom images). For example, you can see that my final product images are more clearer and professional in the costume and poses in comparison to the images used on my prelim magazine. The fonts and colours used are also more professional –looking and more unique than my prelim product where I did not have any confidence in using Photoshop and InDesign fonts to try and experiment like I did towards the end of the year. More images have been used meaning that the text to image ratio is much more balanced and more models have been used for my final products, which makes it more similar to professional magazines who have much more variation. As for the page layout and design, my final products have much better placement meaning that all of the content is easily viewable whilst leaving little white space that looks too obvious like my prelim products. As for the hardware that I used, I learnt much more about the iMacs after already building on the knowledge gained from the prelim stage where I could use software like PS and ID and their much more complicated features, such as image manipulation and page setup. This is evident in the use of the black and white images used and sectioning on my final contents pages and the equal width from the sides to text content on the final front cover. The content of the magazine is also much more in-depth and appropriate to the genre of my final product, aka Indie Rock music/culture than the general information included in my AS prelim products.