LOOKING BACK AT YOUR PRELIMINARY TASK, WHAT DO YOU FEEL YOU HAVE LEARNT IN THE PROGRESSION FROM

IT TO THE FULL PRODUCT?

Sophie Moody

From my preliminary task I was able to develop my understanding of Photoshop so that when it came to constructing my actual media product I knew how to work different tools and use that to my ability. When comparing both my full product and my preliminary task it is evident that improvement has been made in terms of how I used different forms and conventions and how that allowed me to gain a professional look in my full product than my preliminary task.

When constructing my preliminary task which was to create a magazine of our choice, prior research was required so that I knew how to set up my product and gain some knowledge on how magazines work. I believe that this alone helped me in regards to my full product as I had widened my understanding of what kind of conventions work well with certain magazines and was able to look at pictures as well as actual magazines to get a personal view on ideas.

By researching magazines for my preliminary task I know how to set up my full product in terms of how each component reflects a certain genre.

Photoshop One advantage I found stood out in my production was the fact

that I knew how to use Photoshop to make a double page spread. As this was not included in the preliminary task I felt as though the fact that I was able to create a cover page and contents page before hand gave me knowledge of how to change images and set out pictures in a way it would make follow the conventions of a music magazine.

At the very start of my production I had not known how to work with this software as it was the first time using it. By having a preliminary task I was able to adjust myself to the variety of tools such as the pen so that when it came to my full product it would make the process a lot quicker, and my understanding of how to use things would be much greater than if I were to just start on my full product itself. Ways of finding out how to use photoshop came from asking my peers, teacher and sometimes youtube if I couldn’t find out any explanations.

Cover pagesIn my preliminary task the mast head is simple and does not exaggerate the magazine. As my understanding of Photoshop developed through my preliminary task I found that I could create a shadow effect which defined my mast head and brings attention to

the magazine itself.As it was my first time working on magazines I found that in my preliminary task I had left a lot of space which could have been filled with more sub-titles. Baring this in mind, after further research into pop magazine conventions it showed over crowding of texts which is why I decided on developing my full product to make it look fuller and more realistic.

In my preliminary task most of the pages lacked colour. Because of this in my later production I decided to improve this and edit my texts so that it looked more like the genre it represented (by using a colour scheme)

Contents PagesThe mast head in my full product has vastly developed when looking back at my preliminary task. This is because my knowledge of different tools has increases, therefore I was able to use the pen to cut out parts of my writing in order for it to appear behind my artist. The lack of knowledge earlier on in my production meant that I could only produce basic texts which would not be successful if it were to be distributed to an audience.

The quality of the images are also poor as I had no idea how to manipulate them in such ways where it would improve the look of them. As I felt more comfortable with using Photoshop the productions I had come out with started to look more professional. This is because I could change and layer my pictures to create a background in which I could write the page numbers on (as seen in my full product.) This was difficult to do in my preliminary task as I did not know how layers worked.

There is still a lot of space to be used which changed when it came to doing my full product, as in real magazines they are generally covering the whole page.

Double page spreadOne advantage I found stood out in my production was the fact that I knew how to use Photoshop to make a double page spread. As this was not included in the preliminary task I felt as though the fact that I was able to create a cover page and contents page before hand gave me knowledge of how to change images and set out pictures in a way it would follow the conventions of a music magazine.

I was able to include multiple pictures on my page as well as quite a bit of text. This was measured using a guide which allowed me to create a margin within the double page spread. This enabled the turning of the page if it were to become an actual magazine and helped me keep in line all the texts. I feel as though if I had not used Photoshop before, I would not have been able to work the margins and use it to create a music magazine.

Evidently there is more colour used in my full product which further supports my genre as there was a scheme I had formed and followed. I did not do this in my preliminary task because I did not know how colour schemes could play a huge role in enticing a specific target audience and representing a genre until I had carried out further research into specific magazines, for example pop. Here I was also able to crop my pictures so that they could fit the double page and support the article written.

Conclusion

In conclusion, I believe that if I had not done the preliminary task, I would not have the knowledge I have now in regards to using difficult software's such as Photoshop to create my media product. It allowed me to understand many of the tools such as the pen, so that I could manipulate my images so that they are of a high standard. Furthermore by using my preliminary tasks I could use them as comparisons to see where I had gone wrong, which would help me to improve my final product. For example the lack of colour in my first tasks showed me how important it is when it comes to selling magazines, hence why I had adjusted this element in my full product.

In addition to this I believe that when first working with Photoshop, I was eager to learn how to use almost everything, which slowed down my production time and would have also ruined the look of my magazine. Thus also helped me to understand that I only needed to use key tools in my production in order to make it look professional and realistic.

When looking at my full product I feel as though I was able to follow all the appropriate conventions of a music magazine as well as being able to challenge them using Photoshop. The different edits and manipulations of images helped me to achieve the right look which will enable me to appeal to my specific target audience.