From the Preliminary task, I have learnt how to use professional technologies like Photoshop and InDesign to create professional media products. I have also learnt that the audience is the main propeller when designing/creating a magazine- everything depends on the audience and the genre of the magazine. For the Preliminary task, I did not carry out as much research as I did for the main task. For instance, I analysed magazines such as Kerrang MAGAZINE and NME to scrutinise their use of conventions for their specified genre.

media magazine cwrk\Textual analysis-

I planned out the layout, structure and images of my final magazine because I wanted to achieve a higher grade that I did in the Preliminary task. I practised with layouts and titles for the front page so when I was ready to create them finally on Photoshop, I at least had a plan and the knowledge of how my final page was going to look. My further research consisted of me evaluating other magazines, taking notice of their use of; fonts, house-style, colour scheme, image sizes… The research was extremely helpful as I was able to refer to other magazines for ideas on subject choices, images and colour scheme. I also noticed a clear disparity between my Preliminary magazine and my Music magazine- none of the images utilised in my Preliminary magazine were edited in any way, except for the one used

for the front cover which was only cropped and converted to emphasise some colour, whereas all the images in my Music magazine were manipulated i.e. embossed, lighting effects…Although I felt I had made quite a large improvement from the Preliminary task, I also feel that I could have improved some aspects of my real Music magazine. For instance, I feel I could have included more on the front page e.g. promotions… However, I believe the overall product was quite successful when relating to the genre and target audience.

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Clearly displayed above are images of my preliminary task (school magazine) and my actual music magazine. Just by looking at the two images you can see the development that has taken place in between the two finished products. Over that time period I have learned new skills on the software Photoshop in which has enabled the quality of my final music magazine to surpass my preliminary. Comparing the two most people would clearly recognize the music magazine as a genuine magazine, whereas the school magazine does not look like a conventional front cover. I believe the colour scheme used in the music magazine is one of several aspects, which enables it to look more realistic. By sticking with the colours of black, red and white helps the cover look more stylistic. It also helps that these colours actually feature on Isabella’s clothing. The preliminary task however does not stick to a constant colour scheme, using many colours.

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As you can see, there is a massive difference between the quality of my preliminary contents page and my main contents page. The school content looks very plain and bare, whilst the music contents contains many more elements/layers.
The photo on the school contents is not edited at all. It is very minuscule and doesn’t leave any lasting impression on the viewer. there are very few cover lines which look as if they have been chucked on at random. The background is a blank colour which dominates the page, which it should not.
The progression from prelim to the actual task for my contents page is huge. There is little left over space and a lot more text to show what is in the magazine. The image has been made much bigger with the text worked around her to give the overall page a more appreciated quality.

WHAT I HAVE LEARN'T!!!

By learning these skills I have been able to create the 3 asked criteria's of my music magazine to quite a high standard. The skills I have learn't on photoshop has enabled me to adapt the quality of my finished products (comparing the preliminary and final task), giving my music magazine a more professional finish, worthy of submission for my A- level coursework.