AS Media: March 2014

7. Looking back at your preliminary task, what do you feel you have learnt in the progression from it to the full product?

Preliminary Task: College Magazine

As you can see from the table above in my preliminary task which was a college magazine I only included the basic conventions of a magazine. For example: a masthead, a main image, a bar code and a colour scheme. It helped to do the preliminary task therefore we could make mistakes on it so that we didn't repeat these negative things in our foundation portfolio products. I think it was very useful as when I look back now at my preliminary task and compare it to my foundation portfolio I can tell straight away which things stand out as been wrong or need to be changed on my preliminary task noticing ways I could now improve it. In my foundation portfolio I produced a pop music magazine which included many more conventions of a magazine. These extra conventions included: sky lines, cover lines, extra images, a date line and anchorage.

From the beginning of the year to now I feel I have learnt a lot of new skills but mainly understanding the conventions of a music magazine and been able to apply them to my work specifically the pop genre. I also learnt how to use new technologies in each different process including the research, planning, editing, producing and evaluation stages. I used Photoshop to manipulate my images and create my three final products increasing and enhancing the features throughout the pages making it look professional. I also discovered how to use programs for my research and planning for example: GoAnimate, Prezi and Slide Share. These programs allowed me to present data in different ways rather than just using text and images.

If I could change anything on my preliminary task I would change the image that i had taken and produce another image with a plain background focusing more on the artist and drawing attention to her rather than the background things which are irrelevant. I would use different fonts and a different colour scheme. I used black front which doesn't stand out at all and isn't noticed buy the audience because it blends into the background image. I would also make some of the text larger and add effects so that it became bold. I would use fonts that link in with the genre of the magazine rather than different fonts for every piece of text on the front cover.

Overall I feel I have learnt a lot throughout the processes from my preliminary product to my foundation portfolio products considering all stages including: research and planning, editing and producing my products and the evaluation stage. I think the main reasons for these changes are because of gaining experience with the program Photoshop and developing my skills to make my work better. I realized that in order for my pop music magazine to sell if it was placed on the market it would have to look professional and like existing products to encourage people to consume it.

6. What have you learnt about technologies from the process of constructing this product?

Computer

Tripod

Card Reader

Camera

Memory Card

Adobe Photoshop

I used Photoshop for the majority of the processes in producing my final products which are the front cover, contents page and double page spread of a music magazine and my chosen genre was pop. I learnt many qualities within the editing process on Photoshop including:

What is it?

The move tool allows you to move things around Photoshop including text and images.

What did you use it for?

I used the move tool to move objects around on my front cover, contents page and double page spread. I created my text and imported my images then used the move tool to position them where I wanted them to be. It made making changes to my products quick and easy.

What is it?

The crop tool allows you to crop images and text and get rid of the parts that you do not want as well as making things smaller.

What did you use it for?

I used the crop tool to get rid of parts of images that I used for my front cover and double page spread for my music magazine that I didn't want to include. I also cropped images such as the V Festival pictures on the contents page and removed the parts from the outside that I didn't want then altered the size of the images.

What is it?

The magnetic lasso tool allows you to select an area free hand that you want to highlight.

What did you use it for?

I used this tool to cut around images and text to place them my background images of the artist on my front cover. It makes it quick and easy to highlight an area that you want to edit and change without picking up anything else with it that you don’t want to move or change around.

What is it?

This magic wand tool allows you to select areas based on pixels and the area available for the tool to pick up on.

What did you use it for?

I used this on my front cover main image of my artist to cut around the image that I imported and wanted to put on top of another background image. It is a quick and easy way to pick up a certain section on Photoshop and move it around or delete it.

What is it?

The eraser tool allows you to get rid of anything that you don’t want to include in different ways including the background eraser, the magnetic eraser and the normal freehand eraser.

What did you use it for?

I used this tool to get rid of everything that I didn't want on my products. The eraser tool is a rubber that allowed me to change the size and opacity of it to leave or take away which ever bits I wanted too depending on what I was erasing.

What is it?

The eye dropper tool allows you to select a colour and copy it to get the exact same colour.

What did you use it for?

I used this in my work to relate the shades of red, green, black and white and get the same ones for each page sticking to a colour scheme that I have used throughout all of my pages. I also used this tool to make the text colours the same so that they are all relevant and recognizable to an audience.

What is it?

The paint bucket is a toll that allows shapes to be filed as well as gradients been added to a background.

What did you use it for?

I used the paint bucket tool on my contents page and double page spread to fill in the color of the large circles that I created. I used the same shade of red and green colour for my pages to create similarity for them to be noticed and connected with each other for the audience.

What is it?

The text tool allows text to be easily added to anything on Photoshop including on top of images and any other text in horizontal and vertical format.

What did you use it for?

I have used the text tool on my front cover, contents page and double page spread to add all of the writing that I have included. I created the text article on my double page spread through a different program and not Photoshop because it didn't include all of the features that I needed to use.

What is it?

The zoom tool allows you to zoom in and out on the Photoshop page to get a bigger view of the whole thing or a specific view of a certain detailed part on the page.

What did you use it for?

I used the tool to concentrate on editing specific parts of mainly my images when I cut things out to make sure I didn't leave anything or take anything away that I shouldn't of done. Been able to zoom in and out helped I too imagine what my products would look like on a large and small scale.

What is it?

The colour tool allows a whole variety of different colours that can be specifically chosen by you to be added to text and images.

What did you use it for?

I used the colour tool to create a colour scheme for all three of my finished products. I also used it to select the block colours and gradient colours that I used and the different shades of red and green for my text.

Microsoft Publisher is a desktop publishing application created by Microsoft. The emphasis of the program is based on layout and design to produce products. I used the program to finish off my double page spread product. I created the heading and sub heading on Adobe Photoshop as well as positioning my image and doing all of the editing and effects. I then saved the Photoshop file as an image and inserted the image as the background in Publisher. I had to use two different programs to create my double page spread because Photoshop on its own doesn't have all of the tools needed to include the codes and conventions of a music magazine double page spread. For example I wanted to include a drop cap at the beginning of my main article and a pull quote in the middle of my main article and both of these things couldn't be done on Photoshop but could be done on Publisher. I did all of my main article on Publisher including the colour, size and font design for the text included in the main article on this page. I found Publisher much easier and quicker to use to create these extra things rather than Photoshop and finally producing my finished product.

5. How did you attract and address your audience?

Audience Feedback

Above are the five questions that I asked my audience when my products were finished for their feedback. The questions that I produced are general about all three of my products: front cover, contents page and double page spread as well as some personal information about the person completing my audience feedback. I have created my feedback through the program called GoAnimate my audience didn't want to be filmed on camera.

Audience Feedback One by s0014859 on GoAnimate

Audience Feedback Two by s0014859 on GoAnimate

Audience Feedback Three by s0014859 on GoAnimate

Audience Feedback Four by s0014859 on GoAnimate

Questionnaire

1. Do you think my music magazine looks appealing to purchase and read?

2. Do you think you are drawn to my music magazine like you would be drawn to other pop music magazines?

3. Do you think the colours are effective in relation to attracting your attention?

4. Do you think the genre of my music magazine is reflected effectively?

5. Do you think my music magazine appeals to a younger audience mainly?

6. Do you think the images I have used link in well with my chosen genre?

Below are the results from the questionnaire that can be seen above that I created and emailed to twenty of my peers at college including six questions about my products. I used a pie chart and a bar chart to show the outcome of asking the questions to my audience which I created using Microsoft Excel. I received some useful information that enabled me to make slight changes to my three products for my foundation portfolio coursework project after the feedback and opinion of my peers.