The author learned a great deal from their preliminary school magazine task to their full music magazine product. For the preliminary task, they conducted little research and planning, used a low quality phone camera for images, and had basic Photoshop skills. For the full product, the author researched music magazines, used a higher quality camera, took more thoughtful photos, and improved Photoshop skills to produce higher quality, more professional images and design.

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

2. I have learnt so much in the progression from my preliminary task to my full product.
When completing my preliminary task I had carried out no real research into how a
school magazine should look and what it should contain. Little planning went into
producing both the front cover and contents page. The images that I used were taken
quickly and with no real thought going into certain vital aspects such as costume and
location. At the time I didn't realise just how important it was to have good, strong
images for my magazine. To take many of the photos I had used my 5 mega pixels camera
on my phone, which is why the images were so poor in comparison to the images I used
for my full product. The main image on the front cover of my school magazine is
especially poor, the image is blurry and the model looks distracted. I can see now that is
not at all suitable as the main cover image. For my full product (music magazine) I put a
huge amount of thought into how and where the photos should be taken. I had done my
research and after analysing several other music magazines, I could make informed
decisions on what sort of images would best appeal to my target audience. I also used a
professional camera that was double the mega pixels of my phone camera, so that my
images would come out much clearer and look more professional. I took a wide variety of
images to make sure that I had lots to choose from when it came to picking the best ones
to use for my magazine. I took very few for the preliminary task and so limited the
amount of choice I had.

3. My Photoshop skills have also improved dramatically. My school magazine cover and
contents (preliminary task) look very cheap and amateur. I had used the magnetic
lasso tool to cut out my main cover model, which I found extremely difficult. The
edges around her head look rough and the image stands out like a sore thumb - not at
all as it should. At the time my Photoshop skills were very basic and looking back now
I should have at least tried to soften the edges using the eraser tool. The cover's blue
background looks very basic and the shade of blue I have used clashes badly with the
bright red. The contents page looks slightly better in comparison to the cover,
however it is still very basic. All in all I have learnt a great deal in the progression to
my full product. During production my Photoshop skills improved very quickly,
enabling me to produce a much more professional looking magazine that would be
better suited to the audience I was aiming it at.