3. Planning and preparation.
I found I improved instantly in my main task by taking care to plan and
prepare everything I was going to do, something I failed to do so when
creating my preliminary task.
I found that using blogger was a brilliant way to
keep up to date with my work and see what had been
completed and what was still outstanding.
The only preparation I did for my preliminary task was research in to
existing student magazines, looking back now if I were to complete
the task again I would spend more time researching the target
audience as I found that was incredibly helpful and a brilliant
starting base for my main task.

4. Time Organisation.
I found that I didn’t organise my time well enough
during my preliminary task as I spent to much time
on my cover and not enough on my contents.
I knew that because I had more to complete in my main task I’d
have to organise my time more successfully and using TimeToast
was a brilliant way to do so. I was able to set achievable
deadlines in a easy to understand format. I found that doing so
helped my improve the quality of my work as I was able to check
what had been done and what needed to be improved with ease.
I know that my lack of organisation was a huge downfall through out the
creation of my preliminary task as I hadn’t realised it would be as time
consuming as I thought. This has definitely helped me to create a much
better magazine cover, contents and a new double page spread as I was aware
of exactly how long each page would and should take.

5. Photography Skills.
The requirement for the preliminary task was
to use a medium close up shot. I found taking
photographs easy as I study photography and I
am familiar with various shot types and
angles. I also found Photoshop easy to use
again due to being familiar with the
programme. I used Photoshop to boost the
lighting, whiten the teeth and blur the skin
slightly to give the photograph the cover girl
feel.
I chose a female as the magazine is aimed at a
female audience, I chose a white jumper as it
stands out against the pink gradient
background.

6. Photography Skills.
I used a long shot for my cover as I felt that
it is more of a convention in the genre of
music I wanted to use. I feel it also helps
the cover look more interesting and reflects
the genre more. I wanted to take the
stereotypical idea that newspapers and that
pose are deemed to suit the ‘indie’ genre and
use it to suit the R&B/Rap/Hip Hop genre
instead. I chose newspapers as they connote
the idea of mainstream and being up to date.
I also chose to use a higher angle to show the
pose more and how laid back the model is, the
angle is normally used to make a person look
small/isolated however I wanted the angle to
emphasise just how laid back the model is and
to show a feeling of cockiness. I used a lamp
to illuminate the photograph more and create a
brighter setting.

7. Photography Skills.
I used a medium close up of the model from
behind to challenge the convention that all
woman are just there to be looked at, admired
and seen as a sex object. Having my model face
away from the camera suggests otherwise.
I chose leopard print clothing as they connote
fashion and the idea of a leopard is quite high
status.
The smaller photos I used for the bottom of my
contents were taken at eye level so the
audience can react to them easier. I again
positioned the female looking down, away from
the camera with out seeing her body to create a
more emerged idea of females.

8. Photography Skills.
I used a medium close up photo taken at eye
level as the idea behind this photograph was
to show the models softer side away from the
cockiness seen on camera. I chose the tiger
onesie as it suits the theme of showing off
your stripes and introducing yourself to the
genre. I used standard house lights as I
didn’t want the photograph to have a
‘professional’ feel as that would ruin the
feel of taking down his guard and letting
the world in to his more personal life.

9. Conventions.
- Masthead – ‘Identity’
- Issue Number
- Main Sell – ‘Stay Calm like the
professionals’
- Cover Lines – ‘Miss Saigon’
- Strap Lines ‘Auditions now in
progress’, ’Find out how, inside’ and
‘Previous student shares secrets and
tips on how to survive the fame!’
- Bar Code
- Cover Photo – Medium Close Up
- Reversed Out Cover Line – ‘Exclusive
Secrets’
- Price
- Puff – ‘Act, Dance, Sing?’
- Serif Font – ‘Identity’

10. Conventions.
- Masthead – ‘CA$H & MUS!C’
- Barcode
- Reversed out cover line – ‘YOUNG
RUSH’
- Main Sell – ‘No One Would Sleep With
Me At High School’
- Strap Lines – ‘Now not even Rihanna
can say no’
- -Cover Lines – ‘Plus’ ‘20 Songs Of
2012’
- Date – ‘December 2012’
- Price – ‘£2.49’
- Issue Number – ‘Issue No. 15’
- ‘Cover Photo’ – Long Shot
- Sans Serif Font – ‘CA$H & MUSIC’

11. Post Production Skills
I feel I have improved my Photoshop skills as I learnt how to whiten
teeth and eyes which is something I wasn’t sure how to do before I
started production. I also improved my airbrushing skills and how to
cover up blemishes. I watched various YouTube Videos on how to do these
and I am pleased with the result.
InDesign was the programme I knew I would struggle with as I
have never used the programme before and wasn’t familiar with
how to do even the basic tasks. I struggled when it came to my
preliminary task as I was unsure what I was doing.
I used various YouTube videos to teach myself how to use tools
such as text warp, cutting out and placing text.
I feel that I have definitely improve my skills whilst using
a desktop publishing programme such as InDesign and I feel a
lot more comfortable using the software.

12. Target Audience
For my prelResearching iminary task I didn’t research the target audience
at all, I used my own knowledge of what friends and myself were in to
and went from there. That was mildly successful however I found that
when I researched in to my target audience for my main task and placed
my research on to blogger I was able to succeed more as I had the
information in front of me.
I feel that researching your audience definitely
helps as you can see what exactly people are
listening to it, wearing, eating and doing. It’s
much easier if you have the information in front of
you when it comes to production as you can choose
themes that will interest them more.

13. What Have I learnt?
- I learnt how to use the text wrap tool on InDesign which before the production
side I had no clue how to achieve this.
- My photoshop skills have gone from basic to a more advanced level, I can now
use the airbrushing tool, whiten teeth and eyes and warp images to make you
look thinner.
- I have learnt the conventions of a music magazine focusing especially on
rap/hiphop and R&B.
- I have been able to experiment with new programmes such as InDesign.
- I have more experience using my slr and trying different aperture settings.
- I’ve had more practice with using the cut out tool on photoshop.

14. How Have I improved?
This is a print screen from my blog, they are the targets
I set myself when I completed my preliminary task..

15. How Have I improved?
I personally think that I have met all three targets, I ensured deadlines and stuck
to them using timetoast, when I couldn’t meet these deadlines I made a blog post
with a realistic deadline.
Setting deadlines helped me keep my work in order, I was able to see what was
done and what was outstanding. It was important to set realistic deadlines in
order to keep on top of everything.

16. How Have I improved?
I used various tools whilst using photoshop that were more advanced than I was
used to, this included airbrushing, whitening teeth and using the warp tool to
make the models in the photographs appear skinnier/bigger when ‘necessary’.
I also spent a long time doing my target audience research and
created various prezzi’s and blog posts. I found researching the
audience helped me dramatically as I knew exactly what they liked
and were in to.