Question 7

Question 7

• 1.
  Question 7 –Looking back at your preliminary task, what do you feel you lave learnt in the progression from it to the full product? Preliminary Main Task
• 2.
  A Starting Point Ithink that doing the preliminary task gave me a starting point as I had never designed a magazine before and didn’t have a clue where I would start. So I think that doing this task gave me an idea of what is needed to make a magazine and what sort of design techniques would be suitable to attract the appropriate audience. It also allowed me to look at existing magazines and allowed me to see what current 6th form magazines are in the public and see what type of magazines people like and allowed me to see which were successful.
• 3.
  Front Cover I believethat my front cover was successful and allowed me to learn many thing when it come to my main task. As you can see that many elements from my preliminary task also featured in my main task. For example,  Masthead top of page.  Left third.  Main headline in a box.  One main colour. Preliminary Task Main Task
• 4.
  Front Cover  Ithing that laying the masthead at the top of the page was a really good idea as it looks effective in the prelim task. However, I didn’t like how it took over the whole of the page. So I decided that I would research and look at other alternative ways to prevent this.  As you can see in my main task, that I have put the mast head at the top of the page but it doesn't take up the whole page. I think it looks more professional and effective to the audience. I that my typography skills have improved as the title in the prelim task does look effective but I think could have been better if I had more time.  So after school I went home and played around on Photoshop so that I would have been able to learn new techniques to create an effective masthead. One way I have been able to do this was by downloading and using new fonts and not just the preset fonts which you have in Photoshop already. This allowed me to create a more stylized masthead which was more suitable as I could pick from thousands of fonts where as when I designed my prelim front cover I was restricted to the 20 or so fonts which are free to use when you buy the software.
• 5.
  Front Cover  Idecided that I would include a left third like I did in the preliminary task as it is a main convention of any magazine also because of the positive feedback I received about my preliminary task. As the people I asked said that it was really convenient and didn’t draw attention from the main image.  Another element which featured in both was the use of the main headline being bold and outlined in a box. This draws attention to the main headline, from feedback I found that they didn’t want this so prominent on the cover. So I was able to learn from this and adapt it when I come to make my music magazine.  I think that another big thing I learnt from the feedback of my preliminary task was that people really liked that I had kept a constant colour scheme throughout the page and that it wasn’t too distracting from the other things on the page. I used this knowledge and adapted from what I had learned and decided that a main colour scheme through my work would make it look more professional.  I also learned that the main image on my prelim page, made it hard for my audience to read the text on the page. So when I designed my main task I decided that I would only use a background colour instead of using an image. This was better as you could read the text better and the main image was still the main focus on the page.
• 6.
  Contents Page I believethat my contents was successful and allowed me to learn many thing when it come to my main task. I was able to make choices as I had a chance to see what worked and what didn’t then I was able to learn from the mistakes I had made. For example,  Bit Plain  Images not edited  Font  Layout Preliminary Task Main Task
• 7.
   At thetime of designing the contents page for the preliminary task, I was really pleased with the way it had come out and the choices I had made. However, after further investigation and from the feedback I had gathered I was able to see that it really was plain. As all it contained was text and images. This isn't very effective and when I researched music magazines I could see that I needed to add more detail and information to the design.  I didn’t know much about image editing at this point in the course. So I never edited any of the images at all and just put them in the design as they came. This isn't really effective for a magazine as the images should grab the viewers attention and make them want to read the magazine. I think that was one of the biggest things I could have learned form the preliminary task and really helped me when designing my main task as I really want the images on my contents page and double page spread to stand out.  Much like the problems I encountered with the masthead, I found that for the prelim I never really knew how to install fonts or make them look professional/effective. So I decided that when I did my main task I would teach my self how to install new fonts so that my magazine text would stand out and look unique to other professional magazines.  I think that I learnt the most about how to layout a contents page as from feedback I have found that my preliminary task looked a bit childish and didn’t really look very effective. So when I designed my main task I learned from my mistakes and you can see from the amount of versions I uploaded to the blog this shows that I was still learning about the layout as every week I would come across something new which would give me inspiration. However, I think that the preliminary task was a great stepping stone to the main task. Contents Page
• 8.
   I wasfamiliar with Photoshop when I started the course andhowto do basic edits and how to use the basic tools, butnothing too exciting or extravagant.I know that I would need to know how to do quite advanced stuff when I got to the construction part of the project.  My biggest problem was the new Photoshop layout as I was normally used to using it on a windows computer so when I got into the class room I found it hard to use Photoshop on the Apple Macs.  However, I learnt how to use the new layout by watching YouTube videos and reading about it on forums and blogs online. I also used websites to teach my self small techniques to make my work look effective. I used a tutorial online to teach myself how to add the light beams into the photos then created my own designed using my new knowledge.  Most of the work on Photoshop was just playing around with the software will you were happy with the way it turned out. After school I sat on Photoshop playing round with different effects and filters and when I found something interesting then I would add this into my construction for both my prelim and my main task depending on which part I was on. Photoshop
• 9.
  New Software's  Throughoutthe project I have had to learn how to use new software's which I'm not normally used to. So when I came across a new piece of software I wasn’t sure how to use then all I had to do was Google my problems and I was sure to find a website telling me how to over come it.  One of the software I was unfamiliar with was Prezi. I have never used this before I started my media course so I had researched how to do it and asked my teacher and fellow students who already know how to use the software to give me a few tips to create a professional presentation. Then I further learned how to create a better presentation after I finished my one for the preliminary task. As I found that the software updated and had some new features to improve my presentations. This means that I would have to learn about the new features of the software so I could put the new features of use.  Another new software I have had to learn how to use is Bubble-us. This is a very temperamental software and doesn't always work. Well in the past I normally have problems saving the work so I have found that I have to write up the work and copy it into the software when I am happy and ready to upload it to the blog.  I have also had to learn about how to use the green screen technique with the new version of iMovie as with I have had problems. I researched on the internet to find the best ways to create a simple video and make them all work.
• 10.
  Photo Styles  WhenI was prepping myself for taking photos I needed to make sure that I know what and when I was taking photos. This means that I had to know about the different techniques for taking magazine photographs. That means that I would have to know the different photo types, for example close up, mid shot, long shot ect.  I did this by talking to my teacher and class mates about the different photos and which would have been suitable for my magazine. This wasn’t to hard to learn as I was able to use some of the knowledge I had learned for the exam we did in January, as some of the theory behind the photos were the same.  But I have learned lots of different things about photo types when I took the photos for the preliminary task. I found that I needed a range of shot type and plenty of different angles and lengthy as you never know when you need an extra photo. As I don’t think I has taken enough photos for my Prelim task and could have done with a few extra photos or even a better range of photos as looking back I feel that I was restricted with the amount of photos I had to work with.
• 11.
  Media Industry  Sincethe preliminary task I have learned a lot about the media industry, which has helped me to construct a professional magazine to the best of my abilities.  From the research into existing media publications and distribution companies, I was able to learn about the industry and find out where they had problems and make sure that I never had the same problems. For example with the research I had done into distribution companies I was able to distinguish which would be the best companies for me to go with.I have learned about the companies and what there looking for.  Before the preliminary task I don’t think I could have told you want a distribution companies even was let along give you a description along with a number of companies and there effects on the media industry.  Research into these media industries have also allowed me to learn about the layouts and the way the professionals constructa magazine. Something of which I could have done a lot more in my preliminary task as I feel that I had a lack of research and could have gone a bit more in-depth in certain areas I would need for the construction phase of the project.