The document provides an example of a student's preliminary task evaluation for their college magazine media product. It includes an analysis of how the student's product compares to real magazine conventions in its front cover and contents page design. The student also discusses what they learned about technologies like digital cameras, Photoshop, and InDesign from constructing the magazine. Feedback on the magazine praised the clear fonts, colors, and use of design principles, while also offering suggestions to improve areas like reducing dead space and adding more cover lines.

1. AS MEDIA UNIT G321
PRELIMINARY TASK-
COVER AND CONTENTS
OF A COLLEGE
MAGAZINE
PRELIMINARY TASK
EVALUATION EXAMPLE
1. In what ways does your media product use, develop or challenge forms
and conventions of real media products?
2. What have you learnt about the technologies from the process
of constructing this product

2. In what ways does your media product use, develop or challenge forms and conventions of
real media products?
The Front Cover – Similarities
Masthead
Cover lines
Rule of
thirds
House style

3. Differences with front cover
Different cover lines.
My cover lines are
about college and this
magazine is about
fashion.
My main image is
related to college as I
have used a student
and this magazine has
used a fashion icon.
Use of colour
schemes, bold and
bright colours to
attract my audience
of both genders and
the use of the college
colours – purple.
I have used a medium close up shot of
a male. His smile and eye contact make
it look and feel friendly. Fashion
magazine is associated with looks so
Mary-Kate has a lot of make up on and
her hair done to make her look more
fashionable.

4. In what ways does your media product use, develop or challenge forms and
conventions of real media products? Similarities - Contents page
Initial of
magazine
masthead
Highlights front
cover features.
Uses sub
headings to help
reader’
Layout out of
columns for
features within
the magazine and
categorised.
Images are used

5. DIFFERENCES WITH CONTENTS PAGE
The choice of
contents within the
magazine, adding a
wider range.
Using more then 1
image- my images aren’t
very good but relate to
my target audience as
they go to the college.
Vibe’s 1 main image looks
professional and the
image used is a well
known celebrity. It also
looks more sophisticated
with the subtle use of
colour and block
lettering. The use of black
and white looks elegant.

6. What have you learnt about the technologies from the process of constructing this
product?
I used Moodle to get
Using a camera is one of the
many resources for my
main technologies need to
magazine. These involved
make a magazine. You cannot
examples of other
have a magazine without any
students magazine to get
images. I used a digital camera
any ideas if I was stuck on
to get my front cover and
something. Moodle is a
contents images in different
great way to check if you
shots e.g. Medium close up.
are heading in the right
direction of the course.
I made my double page spread in Using photo shop was a
Adobe Design. It made laying out big part of making my
the magazine much easier and magazine as it wouldn’t
clearer to view and analyse to look right without it. As I
check if there was any changes am just a student I
need to be made. couldn’t take the best
photos of student as they
are not ‘models’. Using
Photoshop let me create
the illusion hat the
students were models. I
manipulated images to
make them stand out and
look more appealing.

7. Using the digital camera, I could ensure that My image was an MCU
which dominated the frame as this type of image is mostly used on front
covers of magazines. I made sure my model for the image stood to the
right as I observed the rule of thirds, this left room for my masthead.
In Photoshop I added effect to my front cover to make it more
realistic as a magazine cover. For example on the left you can
see my cover with no effects on the title ‘Exam help!’
On the right you can see the effect I have added onto
‘Exam Help!’ I have put a drop shadow onto making the
cover line stand out more.
On the left is the original front cover image and on the right tis
my edited front cover image.
I used Photo shop to manipulate and transform images. I have
flipped the image so my masthead can go on the left as it fits in
with the rule of thirds.
I changed the levels of the colours, to add more emphasis on
the student. Originally she had red eye which I corrected with
the red eye tool. I made sure everything looked perfect.

8. Using In-design For my Contents page
I placed my college logo into my contents page from my front cover so
everything was the same colour so it matched the house style.
I firstly didn’t have a background colour so it was just white but then I felt
like the contents page would get lost and looked boring and wouldn’t
stand out so I added a light transparent yellow to it as I felt this went well
with the purple ands green texts.
I used more then one picture as if it s a college magazine students don’t
want to be reading more texts that they don’t need to as they read a lot
ion lessons anyway.
The images used are images the readers can relate to as it is the student
council and about the canteen something that the readers will have used
at one point.
I have put the page numbers and features in a column down the side as
most magazine contents uses this layout and I wanted mine to be like a
real magazine for college.
I put an ‘editors message’ so the readers can connect to the people who
work for the magazine and help put it together.

9. Feedback on my magazine
Positive:
• Good Image
• Clear fonts
• Clear colours
• Rule of thirds
• Professional
Disadvantages:
• Dead Space
• No clear header
• More coverlines

10. Feedback on my magazine
Positive:
• Good information
• Stick to colour scheme
• Good images
• Happy
Negative:
• Different fonts
• Add more colours
• More features