Q7. LOOKING BACK AT YOUR PRELIMINARY TASK, WHAT DO YOU FEEL YOU HAVE LEARNT IN THE PROGRESSION FROM IT TO THE FULL PRODUCT?

For my prel iminary pr int task, I researched a var iety of magazines, however, I fai led to analyse any school or col lege magazines. Due to this, I was unable to identi fy my target audience throughout the planning and construct ion of my magazine. Therefore I don’t think my magazine would have attracted my target audience successful ly nor convey the typical codes and conventions for a school -l ike magazine.

Because of this, I now knew that i t was vital for me to look at magazines that ref lected the same target audience that I intended for my main pr int.

So I explored and analysed many exist ing magazines which were the same genre as my magazine, for example I looked closely at NME and Q so I could understand the forms and conventions to a great extent, this wi l l addit ionally attract my target audience effect ively. Also, the content of my f inal magazine was greatly inf luenced by the research of these popular magazines.

RESEARCH& PLANNING

Addit ional ly, I used a var iety of onl ine tools such as Voki, Prezi and

MindMeister, which helped me to summarise the feedback I received

from my target audience, which would help me to improve my work.

Also, I chronologically ordered my posts onto my blog so that i t is

manageable. Also, I made sure that al l of my posts were tagged and

categorised, so that i t would be easier for me to refer back to my work

and previous research.

RESEARCH& PLANNING

During my prel iminary task, I gave myself very l i t t le t ime to plan, research and construct my magazine, because I desperately wanted to meet my deadline. I feel that because I rushed i t so much, this effected the qual i ty of my prel iminary magazine, as well as the depth of my planning.

But this t ime, I have managed my t ime more effect ively so that I meet my deadlines either ear ly or on t ime. I went about this by using a checkl ist which I could refer back to, which had an organised l ist of al l the pieces of research and extra work that I wanted to complete by a part icular date. I have definitely found this beneficial, because I have been able to plan eff iciently without fal l ing behind.

Addit ional ly, I had more t ime to gather audience feedback, which has helped me to make improvements to my magazine so that i t reaches i ts ful l potent ial.

TIME MANAGEMENT

Ini t ial ly, I had very l i t t le knowledge and experience with using a variety of software and hardware, such as Adobe Photoshop, so I used onl ine tutorials to help change this. However, I decided to use Adobe Photoshop because of the mult i tude of tools I can use to edit my pictures wi l l help to enhance the qual i ty of the pictures. I feel that my pictures now look more in l ine with professional pract ice, because I learned how to alter the contrast and saturat ion of my picture through this software and the new ski l ls I have developed.

Addit ional ly, I have been able to develop my photography ski l ls and understanding of camera shots. Throughout this task I have learned about the composit ion of a shot, as wel l as other elements such as mise-en-scene. This is evident through the pictures I took, because there is a variety of camera distances and angles.

I have also developed ski l ls from the blog i tself . Before this course, I had never used a blogging website l ike WordPress, and now I can create posts with embedded images, YouTube videos and other l inks from Prezi , Vokiand Sl ideShare.

SKILLS DEVELOPMENT

CONSTRUCTION OF PRELIMINARY

& MAIN TASK

Preliminary Main

As you can see, there is a signif icant difference between my

prel iminary and main task, and without a doubt my main magazine is

the stronger product. I feel that the qual i ty of my magazine looks very

professional and the appearance and content of my magazine appeals

to my target audience. This is down to the increased amount of

research and planning I have conducted throughout the task, which has

helped me to real ly understand the forms and conventions of a music

magazine.

Furthermore, I have gained and developed a new array of ski l ls, which

has definitely improved the professional ism of my magazine and the

qual i ty of my pictures.

CONSTRUCTION