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Looking back at my preliminary what do I think that I have learnt?Question 7: evaluation

Since my preliminary I think that I have learnt a lot about the media in general and especially about the media form of the magazine also. I have learnt about what makes a good magazine and a magazine in general. I have been taught about the specific conventions for a magazine too.I have gotten to know different technoloies and mediums of production and presentation.I have been introduced to new software programs that I can now use.Developed certain creative skills.I've gotten to know how magazine institutions workI also now know about different social groups, audiences and people's likes/dislikes.

The prelimary task was something to set us off on and try our best at whilst we got used to many new technologies. Since then we were given different tasks to create a front cover, contents page and double page spread. Over time I have been able to understand how Fireworks functions, how to make things look more professional rather than amateurish. I have been able to develop more maturer looking media texts rather than something anyone could have put together. So I have learnt new skills in how to create something professional which is good for the future. I know how to insert images, layers, change fonts, change size, alter the spacing through kerning, transform images, erase parts I do not like, lock images down, add grids and guidlines, manipulate photos and create a canvas incorporating all of this. There is a big difference between my products now and my products then.

When looking back at my preliminary task and my set task, there is a huge difference between them. The convetions were not always stuck to nor were they even correct or present. Whereas in my final products, the conventions were always stuck to and there was a clear house style. Effort comes into this just as much as knowledge does. Whilst completing the first task of the preliminary, there was very little knowledge about Fireworks and it was mostly independent work and figuring out how to use some features by ourselves so that we can discover new things and create the best that we can. For example, in my contents preliminary the column is too large and the image placement is wrong. Basically the layout looks horrendous and the sizing of things is higgedly.As I learnt more about the conventions I developed my ideas further and created better looking media products. As I was just getting to grips at first with the preliminary task, they were not looking that wonderful.

I have learned that whilst making my final music magazine I learnt about the concept of media, media institutions, media language and how to use it. I have also learned about layout and composition, how to write for my particular audience, whether it be niche or not. I have learned about how connotation and denotation really matters and how certain things and people are represented in the media through many different ways. I have learned that impressions are important and the general outlook on a media form has to be of good quality or else there shall be no audience. I now know that there is not a magazine for everything nor is there an institution for everything either. There are big and there are smaller businesses that publish different things according to the audience. The popularity is determined by how well the publishers/institutions do by advertising it and making the magazine successful or not.

The reason I have learnt so muchIt isn't how the course was structured, it was not of what was included nor was it the tasks. It was because I was grateful to hae had a very enthusiastic and helpful teacher who guided me through the course and helped me whenever I needed it. I am grateful to have had such a teacher and for the support that I had during this academic year. This is why I have been able to learn and take-in so much from this side of the course and why I am able to produce good quality products.