Evaluation 7

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

Here are my two mastheads. As you can see the preliminary masthead follows the generic conventions of a typical magazine. It spreads across the whole of the top of the magazine and stands out. But, my music magazine’s masthead challenges the conventions of a typical magazine masthead, it is only in the top left hand corner of the magazine and is more of a logo, underneath it shows what the letters ‘VM’ actually mean and the white text against the green background stand out and draws the readers attention.

Masthead

I think this shows how I have progressed as a media student, I feel more confident that I am able to challenge the conventions of magazines to suit the needs of the product. The positioning and size of the masthead also are very different; as you can see in the pre-lim task the masthead is very large compared to the main task and takes up a large proportion of the page, so there isn’t much space for any text or a larger picture. On balance my main product has a smaller masthead but doesn’t fade into the background, it stands out and there is enough room on the page for enough text to attract the audience. 

Masthead

Both my front covers use a lot of the same conventions but the execution of them is very different. As you can see the cover lines on my pre-lim task are very large and take up most of the blank space and also cover some of the cover image. The text size is too large to only be able to fit three cover lines on the page. On the other hand when you look at my music front cover you can see there are a lot more cover lines on the page. The font used for the cover lines are very different, whilst my during my preliminary task I used the exact same font as I did for my masthead whereas I used a variety of fonts on my front cover, this is a regular convention of most magazines as they want to draw the readers attention to different things, this show how I have learnt to use style models to compare with my work and develop my ideas to the conventions of real magazines. 

Front Cover

I have also used banners on my final front cover, this is to make the main cover line stand out and draw the readers attention immediately to it, on the other hand, looking back at my pre-lim front cover you can see I haven’t used banners and all the text sits on the same level, comparing this to my music cover you can see different text attract your eye at different levels creating a more interesting cover. Looking back at my pre-lim task I have improved my ability to be able to do something for a specific reason, for instance changing the banner to red, so it is the first thing the readers see, when I was creating my pre-lim front cover I did something to the front cover because I liked it and not for a certain reason. The main image on my front covers is very different.

Front Cover

On my preliminary cover the model looks closed off and has very locked out body language, almost like he’s closed off to the reader. Comparing this image to my music front cover you can see the model is directly addressing the reader, by looking right into the camera this shows he’s open to the reader and more inviting. Also the image is a lot larger and takes up a good proportion of the page. 

Front Cover

Looking a both of these images I have learnt a

lot throughout the process, for example I have developed my ability to use a camera and how to direct a photo-shoot to get the right image for the front cover. I have also improved my skills in editing. As you can see I have blurred out the edges of my full media product to make the edges less harsh and also I have used Photoshop to change the contrast of the image to make it brighter and more appealing to the reader. 

Front Cover

Throughout the creation of my contents page I have

developed my understanding of the conventions of a contents page. I researched and presented my findings of what you generally see on a contents page on a presentation and posted it on my blog. 

This also helped me develop my understanding of why magazines do certain things, to make sure the reader notices it. For example most, if not all, magazines include the page numbers on their contents page, next to a headline of the article and a brief article.

Contents Page and Double Page Spread

I also did this on my contents page as the headline

gives a bold clear statement of the article, if the user doesn’t want to read that much into it. As I have never created a double page spread before I had to do a lot of research into what music magazine double page spreads look like, for example I also did a presentation into the conventions of a double page spread and look at style models to see the kinds of articles and images that you see on a double page spread. From the pre-lim task to the full creation of my contents page and double page spread I have learnt a lot about the font size of text and the layout of the pages. 

Contents Page and Double Page Spread

For example on my pre-lim task I have put the page numbers

and headlines all on one line, spreading out over the whole of the page. In comparison to my main task, you can see that my articles are set out down one side of the page and are smaller in size. Also looking at the pre-lim task you can see that I have used the masthead again on the contents page and a smaller contents under it. As you can see I have developed my knowledge of what a magazine looks like, as most magazines don’t feature the masthead on the contents page. Here, on my main task, you can see that I have used the logo of the magazine on a banner con the top of the page and the word contents in bolder, larger letters, similar to magazines such as Kerrang!

Contents Page and Double Page Spread