1. 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?

2. 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.

3. 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.)

4. 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.