AS Media Coursework

1. Looking back at your preliminary task (the continuity editing task),
what do you feel you have learnt in the progression from it to full
product?
Looking back at my preliminary task, the progression I have made in
comparison with my final magazine is huge. Firstly one reason for my
progression was the vast amount of research and development I partook
in. During the preliminary task I did minimal amounts of research, and
my magazine was expectedly inferior to my final product. Whereas,
during the making of my full product I researched a number of different
aspects of existing magazines. For example I researched and analysed
three front covers, three contents pages and three double page spreads,
this was hugely beneficially as it indicated to me the conventions and
content of existing magazines similar to the genre of my magazine
(NME, Q, Notion, and Esquire).
Also I have learnt a lot about research and planning, through analysing
colour pallets and fonts used by existing magazines. I did this in order to
gain an insight of how to attract and appeal to my target audience
successfully. I also created a target audience profile, where I had to
identify the hobbies, interests and characteristics of an individual that
would be interested and would read my magazine. Also another aspect
of research and planning that bettered my knowledge from the
preliminary task was when I researched the social group that I wanted
my magazine to appeal to. This enabled me to specifically identify my
target market in relation to the genre and style of my magazine. I did
drastically more research and planning during my final product task than
my preliminary task and this is evident in the difference in quality of my
final magazine and the preliminary exemplar. I also leant how to
research fashion styles that I liked using websites such as ‘UK tribes’;
this enabled me to dress my models in relative fashion that would appeal
to my target audience.
Another reason for my progression was because I learnt how to use
new technology and software more efficiently and increased my
understanding of them. For example my Photoshop skills were hugely
improved from my preliminary task for a number of reasons; I
experimented and read the ‘How to use Photoshop’ manual at first. I
then become more skilled with layering different elements of my
magazine and this enabled me to place photo’s, text and numbers on
different layers, which gave my final product a more professional look
than my preliminary where I didn’t use layering. Also I learnt how to use

2. certain tools such as; the magnetic loose tool and the magic wand.
Learning how to use these tools allowed me to cut out precisely around
photos and enhance the aesthetics of the photos on my magazine by
reducing the blemishes and touching up my models. Learning how to
use Photoshop massively helped during the making of my magazine and
is evident when compared with my prelim one (when I had poor
Photoshop skills), this enabled me to create a professional looking
magazine on the program.
Also I learnt how to present my blog post work through programs such
as Scribd, Animoto and Slideshare. This enabled me to present my work
on blogger more professionally and in a more interesting way than using
a standard Microsoft Word document. This was useful during the
Evaluation of my product as I presented each question on a different
word publishing program. Also my improved knowledge of the music
magazine industry helped me to create of better and more professional
full product. During my coursework process I read music magazines
such as NME, Q and fantastic man. This gave me greater knowledge of
existing magazine conventions that I could eventually use for inspiration
for my final product. Overall I feel like I have learnt a massive amount in
progression from my preliminary task to my full product.