2. Evaluation Overview
This evaluation form is designed to assist you in the evaluation of your projects.
When using this form it is good practice to:
• Use appropriate terminology.
• Stay concise and focus on key points.
• Evaluate and analyse your statements.
• Focus on judgements about work rather than telling a story of how it was made.
Please find the grading matrix here to help you assess you are working at the right level.
Level 3 Extended Diploma Grading Matrix - https://bit.ly/2Jnqj3v
3. Project Overview
In this section you will outline the aim of the project/task and give an
overview of the activates you undertook to complete it.
4. What was the theme of your project and
what attracted you to it?
The theme for my fanzine was Drum and Bass music, I chose to do this
genre of music as this is what I listen to the most and attend raves in
my spare time for my enjoyment. I also wanted to do a fanzine on this
topic as it would be nice for other people to listen and try and enjoy
the music I appreciate and value. I have also been to quite a few venues
known for this type of music and managed to get some photographs
that would fit perfectly into my fanzine.
5. What research did you undertake and how
did it help develop your project?
I researched into multiple things for my fanzine topic such as existing
fanzines made to get an idea on how they look and are set up, this included
different topics of fanzines, not just music ones. I also researched into the
specific topic I was making my fanzine on (Drum and Bass) so I explored top
songs of the year, top albums and top artists. I also researched into different
types of fonts for my fanzine, and I found that Drum and Bass has that
electric font vibe so I found one that would match my project very well. The
research that I concluded helped my project was looking at existing ones as if
I didn’t research them, I wouldn’t know where to start as I've never made a
fanzine before. I found that making the front cover was the easiest part as it
is very similar to making a magazine cover, which I've made multiple in the
past before.
6. How did you develop and improve your ideas
throughout the project?
• Throughout my project I improved my ideas by asking people around
me, either my friends or family for feedback on fanzine for every page
I did. This helped me develop my fanzine more as if they thought
there was a space on a page that looked too blank id find something
that I could fill it out with, this also includes other things such as
pictures, colour themes and font sizes etc. I also pushed my
knowledge on my project as when I've researched more into the
topic, I have found stuff that I didn’t know before so this will develop
my fanzine even more.
7. What was the outcome of the project/task?
• The outcome of my project was to make a fanzine for people who
enjoy listening to Drum and Bass music. I wanted to include different
pictures from raves I've attended which I managed to do so I am
happy about that, and I am happy with how they turned out and it is
what I expected when I was planning the project. I got enough
information and pictures for the audience to keep them intrigued and
learn about the music but not too much to the point where they
would be bored reading it.
8. Personal Response
This section will explore your thoughts and feelings about the
experience. This will help gain a understand of how your personal
feelings may have impacted the final outcome.
9. How did you feel about the project before
you started?
• Before I started the project, I was both excited and nervous as I felt
like I had so many ideas, but I didn’t know how to project them into
an actual fanzine. I felt excited as it was a topic that I enjoy, and I had
full control of how I could piece it together and what goes in it. From
previous projects I've enjoyed making magazine covers and this is
similar but just more detail and more pages. I felt nervous as I have
never made a fanzine before, and I was nervous I would make it
wrong.
10. Did you collaborate on your project or engage
contributors, etc?
• For my project I didn’t collaborate, but I did engage contributors. This
included models for my project such as Jamie for my front cover and
Dan for my page who I interviewed. Jamie modeled for me in the
Studio at college and I used a Led light to get the lighting and illusion I
needed for the picture. I took the picture of Dan in a place called
Pirate Studios where they have professional DJ decks for him to
practice on. This made my picture look a lot better as he was the DJ, I
was interviewing so with decks being in the picture it gave the
audience more of a feeling that he is a DJ.
11. How did you feel when the project was
completed and why?
• When the project was completed, I felt happy that I had made
something that is my biggest interest in made it into a fanzine for
people to read who also enjoy this genre of music or people who
don’t know much about it and are willing to read on this topic. I also
felt relief when I completed it as I was worried, I wasn’t going to get it
in, in time but I did.
12. Evaluating the project
In the previous sections, you have been commenting upon the project development. The
evaluation may include some similar information but it will also include critical comment.
An evaluation must include information about the good and bad points of the project and it
is important to be honest. Finally, you should make a judgment about the effectiveness of
the success of the project
13. What were the good points about the project/task and what did you
learn from them? [try and think of at least 3, more if possible]
• For my project there was many good points when I was doing my project. For example, one of
them was I got to improve on my photography skills. I challenged myself by taking pictures in
many different surroundings with varied lighting which made me learn how to adapt and use a
camera to make the photo look as good as possible in lighting that wouldn’t usually make a photo
look the best it can be.
• Another good point about my project was that as I was researching about the topic I chose, I
managed to knowledge myself further on the music genre which then made me able to add more
detail into my fanzine for others to learn about and educate them a little about it.
• Finally, the last thing I have to make about the good points of my project was that I got
to go to raves to see my favourite artists so that I could photograph the event and get the
pictures I needed, this meant I could go for my enjoyment but also be able to complete part of my
project at the same time and learn more on the music.
14. What challenges did you face and how did you
respond to them? Try and think of at least 3...
• One of the challenges I faced when I was making my fanzine was
when I was taking pictures at the events I attended, the location was
very crowded, and the lighting wasn’t the best, so I had to adjust
settings and hope that the pictures turned out ok.
• I planned to make my own font for the fanzine but when I uploaded
the picture to the website I needed, it wouldn’t let me do it so I had
to quickly find a new font that would fit the aesthetic of my fanzine.
• Another challenge I faced was when undertaking my interview was
the fact my participant was away on a DJ trip in the time frame I was
meant to speak to him, this means that it messed up all my schedule
and threw me off track.
15. What were the negative points about the
experience, and what could you have done to
improve them?
• One of the negative points about the project was that I didn’t manage my time
very good as towards the end I had to rush my fanzine and that effected my
production. To avoid this in the future I can improve my timing and make sure I
hand everything in on time and if its not finished I will work on my days off.
• Another negative point about my experience was the interview, this is because I
wanted to do both a written and a video interview, but I only managed to get a
written one as the person I needed to interview was on a trip to france. I could
have fixed this problem by making time before he went on the trip so that I could
have done the video interview as well as the written one.
• The last negative issue I had with my project was that I wanted to make my own
font for my fanzine, but I didn’t manage to get it done as when I went to go
upload it the sight wasn’t wotking so I thought it would have been quicker to use
a font that already existed. Again, this links to time and I could have improved this
by getting the font ready before I started production.
16. How would you rate the final piece? [think along the lines of
poor, satisfactory, good or excellent...justify your rating]
• For my fanzine I am personally very satisfied with the outcome as I
put a lot of time and effort into the project and went to different
places to get pictures and read more into the topic about Drum and
Bass so I could extend my knowledge of the music which I included
into the fanzine. The cover of my fanzine looks professional, and I
think that if you was to base the fanzine off the cover, as it is the first
thing you see that people would pick it up and want to look inside
and read about it.
17. What is your opinion of your final piece? What
elements do you think are successful and why?
• I am proud of the final copy of the fanzine. I think the successful
elements of project is the photographs I took that are included inside,
this is because the lighting is exactly how I wanted it to be and
imagined it and they are also the perfect pictures to include for a
Drum and Bass fanzine. I am also happy with the text font and colour
scheme as I didn’t over do it with the colours and I chose ones that fit
well together and don’t clash too much. I kept the font choices
limited which include a bold writing for the key parts to stand out to
the audience and a classic font for the paragraphs speaking on the
subject.
18. How well did your project apply the characteristics
and conventions of the medium you worked in?
• The medium I worked in was print based as I made a fanzine and I
think I applied
19. How did you design appeal to your target
audience?
• When designing my product, I made sure to use a selection of bright
colours as raves and this genre of music is known for the led lights
and the electric colours so this was one of the ways that I targeted my
audience by putting a bright colour on my front cover. I also know the
certain artists that get played at these events, so I made sure to
feature them into my fanzine to attract the people that love this
genre of music.
20. Analysis
In this section, you will focus on the details of the project and make
sense of what happened in the project. You should demonstrate how
your decisions informed the project development and the success of the
outcome.
21. How did your skills develop during the portfolio? [remember,
skills aren't just technical, remember things like organisation,
time management, communication, etc as well]
• During the time of creating my fanzine my development of
communication skills furthered as I needed the models to be in a
certain place at a certain time so I could plan how where I was going
to put the locations of the pictures in the fanzine, this means that I
had to tell them when I needed them and where I needed them to be
so I could take the pictures. My photography skills also improved
throughout the process as I was challenged to take pictures in difficult
locations such as the raves I attended where the place is very
crowded, and I had to adjust the camera lighting on my phone so I
could get the pictures how I wanted them to look.
22. What meaning and messages did you want to
convey and were you successful?
• The meaning behind my fanzine was for people who either don’t
know anything about drum and bass or for people who enjoy that
music and wanted to extend their knowledge on the topic. I think I
was successful as I enjoy listening to that music, going to events that
play that type of music and my knowledge on the topic improved
when I researched deeper into the topic so other people like me who
have a high interest in drum and bass should also learn more about it.
• I also think that the pictures I included of raves I attended will interest
people who havent been to an event like that before might intruige
them and decide that they want to go to one after looking at
the pictures.
23. What feedback did you get from your peers
and viewings?
• From my feedback I have collected, there has been similar responses
which include my fanzine looks professional and something that they
would pick up and read. The majority of the people I asked either
listen to this kind of music or have a slight interest when it comes to
the drum and bass culture, this could affect my feedback responses as
this is something of interest to them. However, there was one person
I showed my fanzine to who doesn’t like the music and has been to a
rave and doesn’t like the atmosphere and they said they enjoyed
learning more about the subject and said that I have made it to look
like what the intended purpose is for.
24. What would you do differently in the future
and why?
• In the future I would include more pictures into my fanzine as I only have
about 3 pictures on their own from past raves I have atteneded and I think
by adding more pictures it would make people lose less interest when
reading. However, I would also make my pages that I have wrote about
Drum and Bass a double spread each and include more information about
the topic, so it is even throughout.
• For my interview page, it is just writing so In the future I would make a
video/audio copy so instead of just being able to read about it you can also
listen to it, I think giving your audience the choice of either reading or
listening will benefit the creator of the fanzine so that they don’t just skip
the page altogether. I would also include links to the top DnB songs and
also the mix that the DJ I interviewed for people to listen to.
25. Action Plan
This section will identify what you would do differently in the future and
identify ways you could develop.
26. How could you develop your skills for future projects? Please
identify the appropriate resources and courses. For example,
webpages, tutorials, books, short courses and qualifications.
• For future projects I can develop my skills on photoshop by watching
more complex editing tutorials so that my work doesn’t look basic
and average. By watching these vidoes I will gain more experience on
the app and my projects will get better over time and will have more
of an advantage when it comes to applying these things ive learnt for
jobs in the future.
27. What personal attributes could you develop to
ensure you are working at a professional level?
• To ensure I am working at a professional level I can develop my time
management and responsibility skills further by ensuring that I am
completing the tasks in the correct time frame and not dragging them
on further than they need to be. I can also show that I am ready to
work hard and not give up when something goes wrong or not how I
expected it to go when working on future projects.
