1. LOOKING BACK AT YOUR
PRELIMINARY TASK,
WHAT DO YOU FEEL YOU
HAVE LEARNT IN THE
PROGRESSION FROM IT
TO THE FULL PRODUCT?
Q7 AS media Studies Evaluation Patrick
Wilson

2. During the Beginning
When we first started, I had no idea what Photoshop even
was. I had never heard of it and was not educated on how
to edit an image. So when we were given the task of
creating a college magazine for our college. I started with
the camera shots, even though I had no idea what to do. I
had not learnt about the camera quality tricks so the
images I snapped weren’t the greatest.
The pages I produced were of a low standard to be
honest, I had block colours for the eyes on my model,
which made the eyes look very bad. They were over-
edited badly and the text wasn’t set to a specific house
style. The contents page was no better as the colours I
used were not persistent through out (e.g. Yellow boxes).
What I learnt from this though was that I had to be more
selective with my editing as to not ruin the image. I also
learnt that I had to try and use images to make sure that
the contents has a feeling of synergy between it and the
front cover

3. Selection of my genre
Some
Conventions:
Masthead – ¼ of page
Colors –
black/blue/white/red
Limited online resources
Puff are rare
Banners are rare
Single model images
Genre reps are traditional
Studio, inside, buildings,
workshops, bars are some
locations
Formal Clothing
Both sexes to be
represented
After the preliminary task, we were
given the selection of the genre for
our main project. After we made this choice, we would
have to develop our skills during the project. I decided
to select Jazz as I was already aware of a few jazz
artists and I had covered the Jazz industry in the past
during another subject. I had to decide on which
conventions were priority and which of them weren’t.
In the end I decided to keep to the conventions to a
certain extent. I also had to compare the
conventions with those from the age group I
have specified to work on, which is 16-25.

4. Two categories I had to work on
were:
To fully complete my magazine to the
best of my ability, I had to:
- Make sure that I do not over-edit my images.
- Learn how to correctly use layers.
- Analyse existing magazine covers for
inspiration and ideas which have already been
successful.
- Use different cropping abilities and such to
give the ability of different backgrounds to the
images.
To insure I took the best photos, I had to:
- Be able to use lighting effects to improve the
light distribution on my models
- Use camera angles to give certain effects on
the image.
- Use different locations to add variety to the
images.
- Different costumes to portray different
characters in the images.
Photoshop skills: Camera ability:

5. Researching the T.A.
When I first started, I had no idea which ways I could learn about my T.A. So I
first tried to learn about my T.A. by giving them a list of potential mastheads and
fonts for the masthead. After so long, I found that I could use questionnaires to
list examples of features on my magazines to gain more feedback. The
feedback I got was very useful and helped me decide on a house style, colour
scheme, which photos should be used and other ways as well.
After researching my T.A. I decided to try and expand my T.A. by having my
content suitable for people aged 16-25 while not specifying on a certain group of
individuals in this age group. I tried to make my content as varied as possible
allowing the biggest possible T.A. for my magazine.

6. Research and How it Helped
To make sure that my magazine was the best it could
possibly be, I looked at existing magazines in my genre to
see what content I had to match. Although I am only brand
new to magazine making. I am still capable of allowing
myself to do the best I possibly can. I studied 4 front
covers, 3 contents pages and 3 double page spreads. This
gave me plenty of content to analyse to do the best of my
ability.
Out of these pages in which I analysed, I found out that there
are some content which doesn’t work and there are some
which does. It all depended on how it was displayed. I also
noticed that majority of the content was targeted at an older
audience. This allowed me to decide that although I had to
stick some conventions, I had to ‘break the mould’. This is
because my content would be for a younger audience, so
whereas most of the magazines used relaxed colours like dark
blue or green, I had to try and use light blue for example to
inject some energy into my magazine.

7. Digital technology learning
List of technology
used;
- Photoshop
- Prezi
- Slidely
- Flikr
- YouTube
- Blogger
- Screen
Recording
-More as well!
For every type of technology I have learnt to use, I have
opened up new possibilities. I found Photoshop to be quite
tough to use at first, but after a while, I got used to it am now
fairly capable on Photoshop.
Prezi is so useful as it is basically a buffed up version of
PowerPoint which is available online. This software is good
because it offers different takes on a Presentation, while still
being able to stick to basic features like having malable text
and images being able to be placed.
Flikr was also very useful as I was able to upload images in
which I had taken and people could
tell me which ones are the best ones
for me to use for my magazine and
which ones I shouldn’t.

8. Drafts and how I implemented
them
I decided to go and construct some drafts for my pages. I decided to do this
because it is easier to keep to a plan when you are designing something. It also
helps you see how the project has developed over time. In the end I found the
drafts to be very useful, not only that but the draft of the my DPS I kept to a
precise level. My front cover draft I kept to fairly well, with a few alterations here
and there. But the main draft in which was changed the most was my contents
page draft. This draft I kept to fairly well, and produced a double page contents
page. I then decided that I could put all the content onto a single page. After I
changed it, it looked a lot better, and I did keep some factors of the plan which
includes the Highlighting of a main feature.

9. Final Pages and how I achieved
them
My final pages were created through the
stages of my research of existing pages
and the target audience’s preference. I
chose this as the colours blue and grey
being included. This was collected by
my research on existing magazines. My
target audience preferences made me
include the colour green as green is a
colour which was recommended.
I decided to use the photos which are
displayed on the pages because they
were displayed on a questionnaire with
others and my target audience chose
these ones as the best ones.