The document discusses the progression from the author's preliminary task to their final magazine production. Some key lessons learned were improving the use of lighting, photo editing techniques like adjusting brightness and contrast, experimenting with different fonts and colors, and ensuring outcomes showed variation in skills. The author also learned to use Photoshop's layers more effectively to create a structured layout, learned magazine design conventions, and researched codes for an appealing masthead. These skills allowed the author to create a more professional final product with higher quality images and an improved overall design.

1. Looking back at your
preliminary task, what do you
feel you have learnt in the
progression from it to the full
product?
Billy Ingram
Question 7

2. PRELIMINARY FINAL PRODUCTION

3. PRELIMINARY FINAL PRODUCTION

4. Progression
 I was able to make the improvements I wanted to make during progression from the
preliminary task to the final production, those improvements were;
In my preliminary task there was very little use of lighting which shows a lack of professionalism so
this was something I wanted to change, also the use of photoshop to adjust the brightness and
contrast to improve the quality of the image would have been done better. I’m not a big fan of the
font I used and the use of the colours but this was something that was easily changed and
experimented with during my final production. The house style was kept the same over both pieces
but it would have been better to have outcomes that weren’t so similar and that show a variation of
skills that were learnt.
It is clear in my final production that I was
able to use lighting to improve the
professionalism of the images by creating
shadows and also the use of photoshop to
adjust the brightness and contrast was done
better. I prefer the range of fonts used over
both pieces because it gives it more of a
professional look and the house style uses
more common colours.

5. Learning
There are other factors I feel I have learnt during the course of creating my
preliminary task and final production, one being photoshop. I used almost
every part of photoshop and became familiar with it, even more familiar with
how to enhance text and make it stand out by using a drop shadow and an
outer glow. An example is on my double page spread:
I figured that by using this technique it give
the text a more 3-Dimensional effect so it
doesn’t look so flat against the image, it
makes the contents more appealing and
eye catching for the reader.
I learnt how to change the angle
of the drop shadow and how far
and the direction it would fade.
Also I learnt how to change the
colour of the outer glow and
change the opacity too.

6. My layout has changed quite drastically as well, I learnt how to
add new layers and how to move and edit them. Prior to this I had
very limited knowledge of how to do so which resulted in me
using few layers in my preliminary task but in my final production I
used many more layers to give more of a structured layout of
different layers. Also the complexity has increased because I have
learnt some common conventions of this genre of magazine like
the use of quotes and the use of rectangular bars to separate
pieces of text.
By going with own advice following my preliminary task into my
final production I was able to stick to a structured layout when I
was creating my piece, always referring back to my research.

7.  I also learnt about the importance of the masthead in a magazine. In my
preliminary task the masthead was fairly small and only covered a fraction
of the space at the top of the image whereas in my final production the
masthead is larger, bolder and covers the width of the page at the top. The
font and the colour of my preliminary task wasn’t very appealing to the
younger audience, realising this I researched into common codes and
conventions of mastheads in magazines and found that colours should be
brighter and contrasting to each other so the use of red and black was more
prominent than just a darker shade of green.

8. All of the skills that I have learnt during the production on both my
front cover and contents page I was able to use and include in the
construction of my double page spread.

9. With the use of images I was able to create a more professional and eye-catching front
cover, contents and double page spread. I learnt how to position the model using the
rule of thirds which contributed to the images looking more professional. The use of
direct mode of address on my front cover and contents help to create and establish
relationships with the reader(uses and grats) and although it was used in my preliminary
task it wasn’t used over both images so it doesn’t create as much of an effect on the
reader. On my preliminary task I hadn’t really edited and adjusted my images so much
which meant there was a lack of a professional look, I used tutorials so I was able to
enhance the images for my final production to obtain an image of very good quality and
not dull as an outcome compared to my preliminary task.
Before
After

10. In conclusion my final product shows a mass of progression and a
huge increase in quality compared to my preliminary task. This is
greatly because of the skills I have learnt and acquired during the
process of construction, assisted by techniques such as the use of
a drop shadow to give the 3D effect. Another example would be
the use of lighting and the manual setting on the digital camera to
help to have a good quality image as an outcome. There were
other factors that helped me with the progression like the
research into the codes and conventions, the variety of fonts and
also the use of tutorials to aid the quality of the piece. The main
factor being how to use photoshop and all of its features because
without photoshop I would have been much more difficult to have
this final production.