7. Looking back at your preliminary task, what have you learnt in the progression from it to the full product?
When i first began this AS Media coursework, i had never used any of the programmes before. Our first task was to create a front cover and contents page for a school magazine. The preliminary task was really when i explored the softwares, slowly becoming more confident in using them. My front cover for my school magazine does not seem to have the same quality as my music magazine, which i did more research for. It follows a very basic structure, mostly sticking to the rule of thirds. It is clear to see that i didn't experiment much with my school magazine front cover as the colour, and size of the font is mostly the same throughout the entire page. I didn't edit the image much at all, only brightening it a little. The only thing that i experimented with a lot on my first task was the font for the school magazine title, "The Taversham Titbit". I used a drop shadow, and tampered with different colours and effects until i was pleased with the end result. The logo has been edited using the "Clipping Tool", but as i was not used to the programme, i was not aware that the tolerance of this tool could be tampered with, so that the little white edges remaining would disappear. Due to my lack of understanding where Photoshop and InDesign were concerned, i could not do much to my photographs as i did not fully understand the software, and so i was not confident with using it. When looking at my music magazine front cover in comparison to my school magazine front cover, it is clear that i was a lot more confident using the software, and not afraid to experiment more with different tools and features that i had not used before, like the paintbrush and the ink dropper tools, which i used to edit the edge of the ukelele, which was lost because of the lighting. I used more colours and different font sizes, adding more features to my magazine, like the barcode and price. I also feel as though the photograph, although not great, has increased in quality in comparison. My music magazine also seems to follow my research a considerable amount more than my school magazine does.
The contents page of my preliminary task is of a better quality than my school front cover, in my opinion, as i used more colour, pulling it from the image. The structure of the overall page is a lot more obvious than my front cover, and it looks more professional in comparison. I feel that the coloured lines add a needed break from the text, and that the use of different font sizes and colours for the titles and subheadings is a good feature. The photograph that i have used does not show a great difference in terms of quality, to my front cover image. In contrast, the contents page for my music magazine differs from my school one considerably. When taking my photographs for my music magazine, i had access to lighting equipment, and so i could control the lighting more than i could for my school photographs, which were taken outside. The structure of both contents pages are roughly the same, but because of the different tasks, each layout has many major differences. The music magazine allowed me to experiment more with colour and different fonts, which i couldn't do with my school magazine. By the time i was making my music magazine contents page, i was able to crop images in different shapes, rotate images and text, and change the display performance of my photographs. I also knew how to use tools like, "Clipping Path", "Dodge Tool" and "Magic Wand", which helped to increase the quality of my work considerably. I was able to make my magazine for my target audience with more ease because of this. I did not do nearly as much research for my school magazine as i did for my music magazine, which helped me to refine my magazine so that it would appeal to my target audience more. Furthermore, i do not think that i was as focused for my school magazine like i was for my music magazine, which can be seen in the difference in quality of both.
Overall, looking back at my preliminary task in comparison to my music magazine, i can say that i feel i have progressed in not only my organisational skills, which have been improved by the use of this blog, but that i have gained many skills, such as the ability to use software such as Photoshop and InDesign. I understand much more about technology, and different items that can help me improve my research and final products, such as microphones, and Windows Movie Maker. I have realised what is needed to make a good quality magazine that will be successful with sales, and how to target it at a certain social group to ensure that they will like the content. When i started my preliminary task, i was not aware of all the different parts that were needed to make a successful magazine, or how to use that information. Furthermore, when i first began the course i was not as experimentive as i am now, and that can be seen in my initial products, as it was very much trial and error due to my lack of knowledge on the software i was using.
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