Question 6What have you learnt aboutthe technologies from the

process of constructingthis product?

This project allowed me to develop my skills as a media practitioner on multiple programmes. The main programme that I used throughout this project and developed a high knowledge and understanding of was Adobe Photoshop. This is a complex programme that I had had little experience of using, as is clear from my preliminary task. It consists of multiple tools to edit photos and allowed me to create a professional looking magazine. The specific tools that I have learnt to use throughout this project are the Sharpen tools which sharpen the focus of the image to make stand out more against the white background. I used this tool on all the images that featured in my three pieces to make them more eye-catching. The clone tool and the gradient tool. The gradient tool created the background on my DPS and Contents Page. It created fading effect from pink to white. This made my pieces look more unique and vibrant and overall more effective. These are three tools that I used across my three pieces to make them look professional and effective. This project allowed me to develop my Photoshop skills to a high standard, which will allow me as a media practitioner to create professional pieces of media in the future.

I also used the websites Blogger and Slideshare. Blogger is a website used to create new online blogs that I used for the Research and Planning of this project. It involved embedding power points and videos onto the blog, inserting images and word documents and ensuring the presentation was appealing. When I first used blogger at the start of this project I had no idea how it worked. I struggled to embed different forms of research and couldn’t use a variety of formats. However, I know understand how to use blogger and how to add multiple formats of media and ensure my blog is presented in an appealing and interesting way. This project allowed me to gain new understanding of this website that I could use in the future as evidence for new projects. Slideshare is another website that is used to upload presentations that can be embedded onto the blog website. Slideshare was much easier to get the hang of than blogger but was still new to me. It allowed me to present my work on different formats in blogger as I could embed them from Slideshare.

I also used Youtube for the first time. I used it to upload my focus group videos and embed them onto the blog as visual evidence. This was another programme I had never used before, but now understand how it works. It, again, allowed me to vary the presentation of my research on my blog. This project allowed me to develop my skills and knowledge of multiple programmes and websites that will be useful for future projects.

Question 7Looking back at your preliminary

Task, what do you feel youHave learnt in the progression

From it to the full product?

PRELIMINARY TASK AND FINAL PIECES From looking back at my preliminary task and the overall

presentation of the piece, it is clear that throughout this product my skills as a media practitioner and grown massively. My preliminary task, was, what I thought at the time, an effective magazine front cover. However, by comparing it to my music magazine front cover, it is clear that my final piece looks much more effective and will be more likely to grab the audience’s attention.

One of the ways I have improved my skills is the use of image. On my preliminary task, the image takes up the majority of the frame and doesn’t leave much room for sell-lines. This led to my Preliminary piece looking overloaded with information and cramped. Whereas, on my final piece, the image is positioned mainly to the right hand side of the frame. This left room for the Feature Article Photographs and made the Front Cover simple, yet effective and easier for the audience to digest the information at first glance.

Preliminary Task Final Front Cover

Image takes up a lot of the page. Looks overloaded with information and there’s no extra images to attract the audience.

Image is positioned more to the left. Leaves room for FAPS and sell-lines. Less information makes it easier to read and digest.

PRELIMINARY TASK AND FINAL PIECES It is evident from looking at my two front covers that

throughout this project, my knowledge of layout of magazine front covers has improved. This is because in my Preliminary piece, the layout is very basic and overloads the frame with plain sell-lines. Whereas, my final front cover shows a more unique layout, with sell-lines and images featured around the image and a eye-catching puff in the bottom corner. My final piece looks more like a professional magazine front cover and is much more effective. My knowledge of choosing the correct colour scheme and fonts for a magazine front cover that will entice and draw in the audience has also improved throughout this project. From looking at my preliminary piece, the fonts are plain and boring. They don’t particularly stand out on the page and wouldn’t entice the audience to buy the magazine. The colour scheme is nice, but doesn’t work well enough and wouldn’t grab the audience’s attention. Whereas, the fonts used on my final piece are unique, bold and eye-catching. They stand out on the page to grab the audience’s attention but are also easy to read. The colour scheme on my final piece is much more bright and vibrant. It is much more likely to grab the audience’s attention that my preliminary task. This was pointed out in my focus group when Michaela and Ella stated how they preferred the bright and vibrant colour scheme as it catches their eye and would stand out on the shelf.

Preliminary Task Final Front Cover

Layout is much more basic but overloads the frame with sell-lines. Font’s are plain and don’t stand out on the page. The colour scheme is nice but not eye-catching.

Layout is more unique and eye-catching. Looks more like a modern magazine. Font’s are very unique, bold and eye-catching. Colour scheme brighter and attention grabbing.

WHAT I HAVE LEARNT FROM THIS PROJECT This project has allowed me to develop my Photoshop skills

to a high standard and has taught me how to create effective magazine pieces. My skills have improved extremely as is evident from just looking at my two front covers. It has also allowed me to develop my knowledge of all magazines and the features that Front Covers, Contents Pages and Double Page Spreads require to make them effective, attention-grabbing and eye-catching. It allowed me to develop my creative skills to create unique but effective pieces. I have also developed my knowledge of music magazines and the pop genre itself to a high standard that I know the required content, colour, scheme, layout and fonts that make a pop magazine effective and entice the target audience. For example, I have learnt that it is much more effective to use a simple layout rather than a congested one as it attracts the audience and is easier to digest. I have also learnt the importance of featuring the image on the right page of a double page spread as it will grab the audiences attention when their flicking through the magazine. This project has allowed me to develop my skills as a media practitioner to a higher standard that I can take with me into future projects.