7

1. Evaluation Question 7
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?
At the start of the course I lackedTechnical knowledge,the abilitytoaccessthe software and
knowingthe keyfeaturesandfundamentalsof makingamagazine.Myfirstattemptof producinga
magazine outcome wasa school magazine.Atthistime Iwasinexperiencedwithphotoshopand
evenusingacamera. Thiswas an alienexperience whichIverymuchneededtoworkon. For the
task I hadto produce a magazine.
What workswell?
The magazine followssimpleconventionsof amagazine suchas havinga masthead,mainimage and
straplines.Althoughthere isworktobe done itfollowsaprofessional layout.In addition, the colours
workwell asthe redcomplementsthe modelsclothing.
The contentpage hasa colourscheme andinformation.
What can be improved?
AfterplanningandresearchanddevelopingmyproductIcan suggestmanythingswhichneed
improving.The Straplinesare inThinfontnotbold,thismeansthat theydon’tstandout andare
hardlyvisible. Asthisfactoris usedtoentice people toreadthe magazine thisisa keyaspectthe
colouris missing.
The contentpage doesn’tworkwell asthe page numbersaren’tclearandthe lightblue ishardly
readable,the lackof backgroundmakesitlookemptyandunprofessional.

2. Research and planning
Researchintocurrentprofessionalmagazinesandlookingindepthintotextual analyse, masterhead
research, mise-enscene andaudienceresearchhasbenefitedmywork,Thisisbecause ithelpsmake
decisionsmore accurate andpleasingtowhothe productis intended forthismeansasImake my
ownproduct I knowwhatreadersandpublishersare lookingforandwhothatcreatesan
outstandingmagazine.
WhenproducingmyMusic magazine Ihad researchedintoanaudience throughsecondaryand
primaryresearch.Thismeant as I made decisionsIcouldbase themonwhat wouldappeal tomy
intendedaudience whereas withmy Prelimmymainunderstandingwasschool studentswouldread
it.That meansthere wasbroad target audience therefore Icannotmake accurate decisionswhich
wouldmake the magazine more appealingforthe readersandwouldmeanthe endproductisnot as
effectiveasitcouldbe once I haddone researchintoaudience,genre andthe production.
Secondlylearningthe conventionsof magazinesmeantthatIcouldproduce an outcome whichfit
more to the professional standards.Asthese are universalsIcouldlookmore indepthatwhat music
magazinesof mygenre use.Thishelpedme withmy decision-makingskillssothatI could critique my
ownmagazine andimprove it.Anexample of thisiswhendesigningmyfrontcover.Inthe Flatplan
it wasa simple layoutanddidn’thave muchtoit,But because Ihad done researchintomagazinesof
the same genre I made the decisiontochange It. Addingcolourmore imagesandmakingithave
more depthsubsequentlythismade itlookmore professional andmore like aPoppunkmagazine as
it nowhad brightcoloursandmore aspectstoit.
I alsolearntfromwhat I didn’tlike inthe prelimandmistakesImade.One of these wasthatI didn’t
balance mytime equal betweenthe coverandthe content.I foundthatI spentlesstime onthe
contentand itwas a worst quality, thiswasbecause IstruggledwithmakingthemasI wasn’taware
of whatto include andthe conventions.Inthe endIwas leftwitha contentpage whichIdidn’t like,
lackedconventionsanddidn’tlookprofessional.Afterresearchandbalancingmytime Ihave an
equallypleasingoutcome whichisfinishedforeachpage.
Researchintootheraspectslike Masterheadsmeant I couldmake the one for mymagazine
meaningful.The prelim masterhead wasa boldfontwhichI foundon Photoshop inredwhere asmy
title forthe musicmagazine wentthrougha lotof editing.Icarefullypickedaname whichhad
relevance tothe genre whichisreflectedinthe connotationof the wordsinmytitle.
Rock Replay
Hard Listen
Sturdy Do againand again
Rough Popular
Edgy Music
The title I pickedwasdone purposelyasthe wordshave the connotationsof the musicgenre and
popularitywhichiswhatthe magazine shouldrepresent.Imade thisdecisionthoughlookinginto
the meaningof othermagazines suchas Kerrangwhichisthe onomatopoeicwordthatcomesfrom
the soundmade whena powerchord isplayedonan electricguitar.

3. Notonlywas the name thoughtout butthe colourssize andfont.Inmy prelimIpickedsomething
whichstoodout andmatchedthe clothingchoices.InmyProductI choose Colourswith
connotationswhichreflectthe genre andthe factit was a Halloweenissue.
Furthermore researchprovidedme withfoundationsonwhatwouldattract mytarget audience and
whatit was.My prelimincludedA white female teenagegirl althoughthisrepresentasocial groupI
didn’tconsiderthiswhentakingthe image,if IhadI mighthave changedthe model andhada model
withdark hairbecause Blonde’sre stereotypedtobe Dumband it’san educational magazine Imay
have alsoaddedfactorswhichpeople associatedwithsmartslikeglasses.AfterresearchIcan make
these connectionshoweverbeforeitwasn’tsomethingItookinto consideration. ButwithmycoverI
usedstereotypesof Rock/punkteenagerslikefashionschoicesof rippedclothesanddarkcolours.
Thisis showninthe imagesIhave used.
Learningaboutdifferentfactorswhichwouldhave alarge impacton mymagazine,ithelpedme
understandthe thoughtprocessandthingswhichmustbe done to create a magazine.Including
target audience research, Cameraangles,lighting,contextresearchandlookingintoaspectssuch
as clothes,colours, themesandfonts.These are consciousdecisionswhichmustbe made tocreate
an effectiveoutcome afterresearchandplanningIknew thiscomparedtobefore.Notonlydidi gain
newskillsthrough researchbutIgaineda lotthroughthe constructionof the magazine.
Construction
The makingof eachmagazine wasdone similarly, IusedPhotoshoptoconstructbothof my
magazinesHowevermuchof itwasdifferentbecauseof whatIlearnt. At the beginningIhadlittle to
non-experience withthe hardware andsoftware whichwasneeded.
I tookall the imagesforboththe magazines, whendoingmyprelimIgatheredsome peopleworking
inthe studyarea.The image isn’tbadhoweverthe modelsaren’tcentredandthe male model iscut
out.His facial expressiondoesn’tcaptivate the audience andhe looksuninterested. Istill usedthe
image.HowevernowIknowthatwas a bad decisionasthiswouldputof the readersas if the model
whois representingthe magazine isn’thappywhatgoodcouldthe magazine be.Ialsopurelyrelied
on that photo.Whereaswithmymusicmagazine Itookmany shotsand selectedacouple.Ilooked
betweentwophotoswhichIliked. Ialsoknew whichkindsof shotswhere usedonmagazine covers
and usedthisto improve the qualityof mycoverasI had plannedtotake a mediumlongshotto
include aspectsof the modelsimage likeclothingwhichmade the coversvisual representation
better.
Prelimphotos

4. Music magazine photos
The photo I decidedtouse formy coverwas Centredandhad
meaningbehindit( this isthe same withthe otherimagesI
consideredusing). eye contactwasn’tmade butthiswasa
decisionImade accordingto the theme of the article.The stance
and lackof eye contactwas meantto conveymysterytoentice the
audience. Manipulatingastudiosettingandlearningtoproperly
use the camera was a keyinstigatorinthe developmentof my
Photographyskills.Ilearnthow touse the hardware suchas the
lights.Iwas able tochange the intensityandcolourtemperature,
thiswas to ensure thatmy photosdidn’thave toomuch lightor
not enough. Andcouldgetthe darkercoloursI wantedforthe
photo. Thisis evidentinmyfinal productincomparisontomy
prelim.
I alsoimprovedwithmyuse of the software.WhenmakingmyPrelimIstruggledwiththe simple
tasksand usedthe basicsto construct my magazine cover.Ididn’teditthe image, usedsimple
writinganddidn’taddmuch to it.As thispointIdidn’tevenknow whatlayerswhere anditwasa
mess. Thismade workslowand difficultasI was confusedonwhatI was doingandstruggledwith
accessingthings.Nowall mylayersare organised infolderscorrespondingtowhataspector
conventionof the magazine theyare part,thismakesworkquickerandeasyto understand.Now I
understandthe fundamentalsof Photoshop andcaneasilyuse them. Myskill developmentisclearly
showninthe improvementof mymagazine especiallymycontentpage.

5. I addedontomy simple skillsbutIalsoadvancedwithwhatI could,forexample myprelimisan
image I simplyplaced,where asinmy magazine Irotatedimages,editedthe saturationand
brightnessof myimages,croppedandduplicatedthemtogainwhatIwanted.Thisdevelopmentin
skill withthe software meantIdidn’thave tosettle tothe basicsandI couldexperiment with
conceptsand images. Inmycontentpage I testedmanyeffectswithmyimage tofindwhatI would
use.My newskill developmentmeantIcouldnow getan improvedoutcome.
My skill developmentcanalsobe shownthroughmyabilityto critique myownworkto improve it.
Thisis shownthroughthe manychangesand draftsI have made of the magazine andhow I have
documentedchanges.Thisrangersfromminorcolourchangestochangingthe whole layoutof my
Article.Throughtrial anderror andthe developmentof more advancedskillsonPhotoshopIwas
able to change manyparts of mymagazine.Thisisclearlyshowninthe stripsof developmentIhave
of mypagesand incomparisonto myprelimwhichwhere single draftswhichIpracticallyeditedall
at once. The timeline of mydraftsshowdevelopmentandimprovementthroughoutthisisavisual
representationof whatskillsIgainedandhow Ilearntto workon my productand getthe outcome I
wanted.

6. Anotheraspectwhichhasimprovedismychoice makingof textsandfonts.Thiscan clearlybe
shownwithmycontentpage of myprelimandmy final product.Notonlyjustthere buton the
cover.My coverhas straplinespositionsto extenuate the mainimage andnothide it.The straplines
alsohave relevantcontexttothe genre andthe time. The Redcolourwas pickedtomatch the
masterheadand the Halloweenthemewhereasthe white wasusedasemphasisandcontrastthe
darkercoloursof the magazine topresentthe keywordsinan eye catchingway.I usedmy
knowledge of photoshoptopositionandchange the fontstoworkwell.Incompassiontomyprelim
where Iuseda plainfontwhichwaslostwithinthe imagesof the coverand didn’twork well itshows
a clear improvement.
Constructionandplanningof myproducthelpedme improve myskillstogeta professionallooking
out come,incomparisontomy prelimyoucan clearlysee improvementwithmanydifferentaspects,
photography, colourschemes,textandmore.It isobviousmydecisionandtime managementskill
were developedthroughthe processof producingafinal outcome.