The student learned many new skills from their preliminary task to the final product. Their photography, photo editing, and design skills improved through using better cameras and learning Photoshop tools. The placement of images and text also improved by following magazine design conventions. Researching similar rap magazines helped them apply an appropriate house style of greyscale and red colors that reinforce the genre's stereotypes. Overall, the student gained valuable experience making a professional-looking media product tailored to their target audience.

1. LOOKING BACK AT YOUR PRELIMINARY
TASK, WHAT DO YOU FEEL YOU HAVE
LEARNT IN THE PROGRESSION FROM IT
TO THE FULL PRODUCT?

2. Front Cover - CVI
The first point of progression between my preliminary and
end product is the picture quality, editing and placement of
my CVI.
In the preliminary we used a standard digital camera with
the basic picture mode, not knowing any other function.
But as you can see on my final piece the picture quality is
greatly improved as we used an SLR camera with auto
mode on so it focussed automatically and used flash to
overall get a much better image.
The placing of the image has also improved, on my final
piece the positioning is more central so it becomes more
dominant on the page and that is what I wanted to achieve,
to tie in with the genre conventions of masculinity,
dominance and aggression.
My Photoshop proficiency greatly improved from my
preliminary to my final product therefore I was able to use
the tools available to my advantage when editing the photo
on my final piece.The tools I used were ‘filters’, ‘curves’ and
‘sharpness’ , this improved the quality and professionalism
of the final image, leading to an increase in production
values.

3. Front Cover – Cover Lines and Masthead
The positioning of the other conventions like the cover lines
are also better, on my preliminary they are all over the place
whereas on my final piece due to learning about similar
products and typical magazine conventions they are neatly
placed in the left third so readers can easily identify what the
magazine contains.
The masthead also has been massively improved. On my
preliminary it doesn’t seem to fit the box I placed it in properly
and looks very boring and doesn’t stand out a lot. However
after learning that the masthead is one of the key conventions,
the one on my final has been smartly placed behind the centre
of visual interest but still looks bold and draws attention to the
magazine well.
The editing of both the cover lines has also improved, the text
on the preliminary does not stand out very much at all,
however due to my proficiency on Photoshop improving I
learnt to apply the ‘stroke’ tool to give the text a black outline
thus making it stand out more.

4. Front Cover – House Style
The house style has greatly improved form my
preliminary to final piece, the first thing is the colour
scheme of my preliminary is also not very good as the
blues overpower the page making it hard to look at,
however at the time I felt this colour scheme was
appropriate because it was the colour scheme of the
school.Whereas my final piece has a good colour
scheme with greyscale, which is a typical colour for
rap magazines and the bold red but which I believe is
not overpowering on the page and only the most
important parts are in red, red could be seen as a
colour of aggression which is a stereotype associated
with the genre.These changes were sue to my
learning about similar products and how the colours
used on the magazine promote masculinity and
dominance within rap.

5. Contents Page - CVI
There has also been many changes from the preliminary
contents page to my final piece contents page in terms of
quality, editing and placement.
The editing of the image has improved a vast amount from the
preliminary to the final piece.The refinement along the edges
of the image in the preliminary is jagged and not very well
edited, if you zoom in close pieces of the background can be
found around the image whereas on my final piece the edges
has been feathered, smoothed out and a drop shadow has
been added giving the image a 3D effect and more prominent.
The general quality of the image on my final piece is also
better as the same SLR used for the front cover was used.
The placement of the image is also a lot better, on the
contents the image is stuffed in the corner of the page and
looks out of place whereas the placement is better on my final
piece due to the fact it conforms with the stereotypes of the
genre being dominant

6. Contents Page – Feature Line andTitle
The placement and editing of the feature lines have greatly improved
from my preliminary. In my preliminary, although the feature lines
are around the image, a feature I adopted on my final piece, the text
on the preliminary against the white background looks boring and
not very engaging.The feature lines on the final piece however
conform with the house style and engage the reader more, I also
used ‘stroke’ tool on the text to make it stand out, a tool I learned
during the creation process. I also used different colours for the text
to further engage the reader and make the page look more
interesting.
The contents title also has greatly improved from my preliminary
piece. Although the placement in the preliminary isn’t too bad, its
very dull and unengaging for the reader, due to the majority of it
being in a black and white contrast with the background making it
very monotone.The title however on the final piece draws much
more attention as it contrast with the background nicely with the
darker shape being behind it.The red ‘drop shadow’ effect was a tool
I learnt about when improving my photoshop proficiency, therefore I
have applied it here to conform with the house style and to make it
dominant on the page, again reinforcing the protruding nature rap
seems to have on other genres

7. Contents Page – House Style
The house style of the final piece has also progressed
since my preliminary.The house style on preliminary
was consistent from the front cover like my final
piece, however it lacks in convention and meaning, it
only serves the purpose of being the same colour
scheme as BrookeWeston.
The house style on my final piece however conforms
to conventions of similar products within the genre by
being greyscale, with hints of a bold red colour.
Though this bold colour is not always the choice on
similar products, the learning process of genre
stereotypes and connotations led me to the decision
of red as it connotes anger and aggression, also it is
the colour of blood with is associated with crime,
another connection that can be made with the rap
genre and finally I feel it contrasts the background
very well also.The use of the ‘stroke’ tool on the text
is also is used here to make the text stand out,
maintaining consistency from my front cover

8. Summary
Overall from my preliminary to my final piece, I learnt what makes a successful media
product through researching similar products, analysing our target market, and how to
connect with our audience.This has enabled me to incorporate all these factors into my
final pieces, and made what I believe to be successful final pieces. Learning from the
success of similar products has also given me the ability to find what I have to do to tailor
conventions on my magazine to be relevant to our genre and following. I also learnt the
importance of technologies such as Photoshop when constructing my final pieces and
have gained a lot of editing skills. Finally I believed we created a product suitable for the
real world market.