1. SKILLS LEARNT DURING PRODUCTION
By Amy Turner

2. MY PHOTOGRAPHY SKILLS HAVE
IMPROVED
Throughout the production of my pop genre magazine my
photography skills have thoroughly improved, as I have
had the time to experiment with the different varieties of
angles used within media to help signify different meanings
to the audience. I have also learnt how to control the
lighting when in photography, to also show different
meanings towards the audience and also to allow the
images to stand out – the skills I have learnt have made
my magazine successful.

3. EXPERIMENTS WITH PHOTOGRAPHY
When in the process of my production I varied my photography shots which
would help meet the specific conventions which are expected and usually applied
in the pop genre. The use of the close ups are conventional to my magazine
genre. It is clear that this shot is a close up as by the focus on the individual’s
faces – which is one of the first skills improved. I experimented with the angle of
the individual which would show more variety within my images and make it
appealing to the audience, but also helps towards showing them in different ways
and help relate to the coverlines or main headline effectively. By the use of these
experiments it gave me a good option/choice of which images would be suitable
and conventional to the genre. In the end, selecting the most conventional and
most popular images to use within my production of my magazine.

4. EXPERIMENTS WITH PHOTOGRAPHY
I have used long shots within my magazine – this is another skill I have
developed since the start of my production as I am able to help represent the
conventional ‘dominance’ of the figures within the magazine. I have represented
dominance I have positioned the shot as where you are able to see a large
section of the individuals body, but still has a focus on their face. This would
show the individual to be quite tall/high up. It also shows how the individuals
want to stand out and be the centre of attention. So I feel this skill has been
achieved as these images are the main images.

5. MY PHOTO EDITING SKILLS HAVE
IMPROVED
In my production I have improved my editing skills as by I now know how
to remove backgrounds from certain images which allowed me to insert
them anywhere on the page as it had a transparent colour.
I have also learnt how to adjust the lighting within my images to make
them stand out above the background which would make my magazine
conventional as the white background is typical for my genre.
I also have learnt how to crop ad resize the images of my magazine to
make them fit to where I want them to be.
I have also learnt how to save my images as a JPEG to then allow me to
easily insert the image on my production work.

6. PROGRAMS USED TO CONSTRUCT MY
MAGAZINE
I used Microsoft Word as the basis for my front cover, contents page and
double page spread to use a variety of software. It was an easy and simple
tool and helped me to create effective magazine pages. It contained useful
tools such as shape drawing tools, text boxes, photo editing and a variety of
fonts with suited my magazine genre . In particular, I learnt from this topic
how to edit images. I edited the Claire – as editor picture and summer
stunner image by cropping it into a circle. I also cropped the majority of my
photos into a square shaped image which helped fit into the left third, plus
this and more box which allowed my magazine to look orderly and
professional. This helped my magazine look conventional and appealing to
the target audience.
On Microsoft word I also was able to remove backgrounds from my images
so I could therefore insert it onto my white coloured background – when I
have removed the background it would be set to be transparent.
I also learnt how to adjust the lighting of my images to high key lighting to
match the conventions of my magazine.

7. SPECIFIC EXAMPLES OF TECHNOLOGY USED
IN PRODUCTION IN WORD
With certain images that I took for my production, I found it easier to use Microsoft
Word in means of removing the background – as I already had a fairly white
background colour but had some shadowing. Microsoft Word provided the tool
‘remove background’ from which I was able to select certain areas I would like to
keep and remove. I opted for the whole background which provided me a complete
neutral background, which made it easier for me to insert the image onto my
magazine pages. As the image was cropped the edges were fairly uneven, making
my images look unnatural and not professional. To resolve this I used the
‘corrections’ tool which allowed me to soften the image, which fixed the image’s
edges to make it look more realistic and fit nicely onto my magazine pages. I used
this several times on smaller images as it was quicker and easier and once for my
main images, as the rest needed to be done on Photoshop as it didn’t feel
necessary.

8. CONVENTIONS
In my production work I have learnt what type of fonts that are suited to
certain types of genres – including pop genre, as being serif font.
I have also learnt about the incorporation of a house style to make my
magazine pages link together, therefore, making it appealing for the
audience. I have also learnt the conventional layout of a magazine, this
allowed me to set out my magazine in a particular way to make my
magazine appealing towards the audience – as it provides them with clear
navigation around the pages which is helpful and conventional to them.
Use of serif font to
appeal to the target
audience of girls
Use of colours to represent target audience
and to create a house style