Question 7 - Looking back at your preliminary task, what do you feel you have learnt in the progression from it to the main task?

Prelim - Front cover and Contents page

My final product The Beat music magazine

Its easy to see I have developed my skills since making my prelim magazine. When making my final product I learnt to do things differently from when I created my prelim magazine.

Research and planning

•  When completing research for my prelim magazine all I did was take two real front covers and contents pages and said what I liked about them. I then went on to create a flat plan for my product. Not having done that much research this could have affected the quality of my product particularly when it came to creating the magazine there was lots of blank spaces.

• For my final product I did a lot more research and planning. I began by making a Prezi and researching into similar products and analysing real magazine front covers, contents pages and double page spreads. This research took a while to complete because of the depth of analysis but was really useful when it came to creating my magazine. It helped my to find out more about different genres and what the audience like to see from a pop magazine. It also helped my to create my flat plans and final product.

• I then did some secondary research where I looked at the reader profiles of Billboard and mix mag magazine this was to find out what appeals to the audience that read pop magazines. I then decided to do my own audience research and interviewed some of my target audience to see what they liked about Billboard and We Love Pop magazine pages. This was helpful when it came to making decisions for my own magazine.

After this I then went onto  create flat plans, photography research and test shots.

• I think doing research and planning has helped to make my product look better and more professional than my first prelim. Doing research and planning has also helped me to keep organised in order to meet deadlines it also made it easier to make my final product. I even changed my front cover but because of planning I did before hand meant I could do this.  

Construction

Image composition

• When I did my photography for my prelim everything was kept very simple. I only used one model the costume, makeup and poses were very basic. I also didn't take a lot of photos which meant I was limited for choice when it came to creating the prelim magazine.                                                                        
• This compares to my final product I took all of my photos in the studio I made sure I had a lot of variety and poses to choose from. I also used four models to make sure there was a range of images all with interesting makeup, costumes and poses. This made a lot of difference when making my first draft there was a lot more choice of images. I also made sure all my models fitted the genre and represented pop. Also when creating my magazine compared to my prelim I organised my costumes, hair, makeup and props before the photo shoot to make sure I prepared my time well.

Page Layout

• On my prelim the layout was very spacious with lots of blank spaces and large sell lines to fill the page. This meant my product wasn't very professional there also wasn't a lot of sell lines. The font and the size of the font didn't match up to the magazine and the colours were to bright. I also didn't include any banners or shapes which could have improved my product.  It was the same for my contents page it looks boring and the font is to big for the page and the page isn't set out very well. But with creating my prelim this meant I knew exactly what I needed to do to make my final product better and more professional.                                                                                                                                                                                                          
•  On my final product the front cover has lots of sell lines and I have tried to make the page look full and interesting which is what I have learnt from making my prelim. I used suitable fonts and font sizes to match the magazine. I also used banners and a house style of 3 colours carried out throughout the magazine. I took everything I learnt from making my prelim into consideration to make sure my final product was a big improvement. For my contents page I tried to make it totally different from my prelim. I used a a totally different layout including headings , columns and lots of images. I also included a The Charts column to make it different and standout, I also added information on subscription to make it professional. I also made sure I had a lot of pages to my magazine by choosing page numbers carefully. for my prelim task I didn't create a double page spread which means no improvements can be made. But I made sure my double page spread looks professional and to the same standard as my other pages by using the techniques I have learnt. I made sure I used the correct ratio of images to text.

In conclusion I am happy with my final product and feel I have improved since making my prelim. I have learnt new skills from making my prelim to the final product. I have learnt how to use different software's such as Photoshop and InDesign and different websites such as Prezi. Another thing I have learnt is how to use an Apple Imac computer. By completing my magazines I have learnt a lot about real media products.