4. Progression
From my preliminary task, I believe I improved in
many areas, in particular how to use a camera
properly to get high quality pictures and my editing
skills in Photoshop. I used tutorials and advice from
my peer group to overcome parts of my work I was
unsure on. When taking photos for my preliminary
task, I didn’t change any of the settings such as the
aperture or ISO as I was clueless on them. However
over time as I produced my final production, I used
YouTube tutorials to learn how to effectively change
these settings. I then used tutorials to learn how to
edit my images to get the perfection I wanted.
A lot of thought and planning went into the mise en scene for my final product compared
to how much went into my preliminary. When taking photos for my preliminary, I randomly
chose an alley round the corner from school and my model was wearing his school
uniform. However for my main production, I carefully chose locations and backgrounds for
the final images. This shows a clear improvement from my preliminary task as my final
piece has much higher production values and a lot more planning and attention to detail
was put in place.
5. Research
I did a lot more research into my final piece compared to my
preliminary task, this allowed me to understand and fulfil the
cognitive and integrative needs of my target audience. This research
allowed me to view codes and conventions of existing media, which
make my final production look a lot more professional and realistic.
I also researched a lot into theories, such as the uses and
gratifications theory and reception theory. This allowed me to cater a
lot for my target audience therefor having a large influence on my
final product. It made it more targeted and specific for my target
audience needs.
Conducted research posted on my blog:
Research – Magazine Name
Research – Secondary Research
Research – Target Audience
Camera Research
6. Masthead
From my preliminary task, I feel I dramatically improved my masthead. My
masthead on my preliminary was a standard Photoshop font and didn’t
stand out at all, infact it just blended in with the rest of the text on the
page. It didn’t look like a title at all. However for my final production I
downloaded a san serif font off dafont.com which made the magazine look
much more realistic and gave it a professional look. It is large but doesn’t
take away the attention of the model on the front, which infact overlaps
the text; showing how important he is. However there is much less text on
the page now and the masthead stands out much more. I believe now my
masthead is easily recognizable which creates brand awareness.
Standard
Photoshop font
Champagne &
Limousines
downloaded from
dafont.com
7. Fonts
For my preliminary I used fonts which were already on Photoshop,
but as I developed my final production I discovered dafont.com which
had a huge variety of fonts which then enabled me to easily fulfil my
target audiences needs and also my focus groups thoughts. I found
that not many fonts on Photoshop were appropriate for a Hip
Hop/Rap magazine however there were many basic sans serif fonts
which made my production look much more like a real magazine and
were appropriate for the genre. San serif fonts were a very common
convention in other magazines in my chosen genre which I had
researched. The main fonts I used were
8. Layout
I feel that I have significantly improved the layout from my preliminary task,
especially on my contents page. By researching existing media and
communicating with my focus group, I was able to produce a contents page
that suited my target audiences needs. On my preliminary I didn’t include
columns and headings, which I later changed on my final production which
allowed my audience to navigate their way around the magazine easily;
fulfilling their cognitive and informative needs. I added more images and put
each page into specific sections, including a social media column. This was
done because of the age group of my target audience, who stereotypically
prefer more images and less text and also would enjoy being able to connect
with the magazine over social media and keep updated in-between issues.
9. Following the skills onto my
Double Page Spread
I was also able to apply my new knowledge from creating my preliminary task,
watching tutorials and research existing media into my double page spread. I
learnt many more skills from my preliminary task to my final production, which
I applied to get the best possible outcome. They helped my double page
spread look much more professional, and also allowed me to fulfil the needs of
my target audience.
10. To Conclude
Overall, the quality of my final production was greatly improved
due to the techniques and theories I learnt along the way.
Properly learning how to use the Nikon D3100 and Photoshop
allowed me to enhance my images which made a great impact
in the difference between my preliminary task and my final
production. If I didn’t learn about these, my magazine would
not like anywhere near how professional it does now. Also my
research into codes and conventions allowed me to see what
other popular magazines do, which heavily impacted the
quality of my final production. Without this research, I
wouldn't’t have been able to fulfil my target audience and focus
groups wants and needs.
