Looking back at your preliminary task, what do you feel you have learnt in the progression from it to the full product?
Since creating my preliminary task I have improved skills I already had and gained a lot of new ones when using different websites, software and technology in the process of creating my final music magazine.
Researching into already existing magazines:
One of the key things that made my final product a lot better than my preliminary task was the research and planning I did before I started creating my product. The reason this helped me was because it allowed me to see what my audience would like and what they wouldn’t like and also what they thought was good ideas and what they thought was a bad idea. When creating my preliminary task I had done no research and planning and therefore I had no idea whether the audience of my magazine would like it or not.
When researching and planning for my music magazine I completed an extreme amount of research into already existing music magazines so that I knew what the typical forms and conventions of music magazines of the rock genre contain and are.
I chose my genre as being rock music and therefore I looked into already existing magazines such as Kerrang! because they had a similar target audience to what my own product was going to have and they included similar things to what I had in mind. I then analysed different front cover, contents pages and double page spreads to see what their layout was like and what features and conventions they included in their magazines.
I also looked into the other aspects of a magazine. For example Kerrang! who also have a website, twitter page, Facebook account, Kerrang! awards etc. Therefore I decided to create my own aspects like this for my Vexed! magazine. I created a Twitter, Facebook, Ingram and YouTube accounts. Additionally, I added Vexed! sessions, Vexed! online and Vexed! awards as well. This was something I hadn’t thought of or considered when creating my preliminary task and only thought of this when creating my final product because I had researched into the product beforehand.
After researching into these different parts of already existing magazines I was then able to make my magazine look professional because they followed many of the different conventions and features that magazines such as Kerrang! include as well.
Researching into target audience:
When I as making my preliminary task I never really thought about who I was making the magazine for. Whereas with my final music magazine product I did consider the target audience because I had done previous research into the target audience. I found that doing this was very useful because it enabled me to ensure that my magazine appealed to them all and had content that they wanted to read and see. I involved my target audience when completing the research and planning by completing questionnaires and focus groups. Additionally I used them throughout the production stage by asking for feedback on social networking sites too. Everything they asked me to change or add I did because I wanted my magazine to appeal to them and cater for their needs and wants.
Researching into the images used in magazines:
My preliminary task only used one image and it’s not as good as it could have been. This is because I didn’t really think or consider this when completing my school magazine. However after looking at already existing magazines I was able to see what type of images they used and included. This meant I was able to consider, the audience, costumes, props, facial expressions and body language, mise-en-scene, and also the representations of the models as well.
Additionally, I learnt that the more photographs you take the better because you are able to choose the best ones and eliminate the rubbish ones. When I started editing the photographs for the front cover I was able to see which ones look better.
Overall, I have learnt that it is vitally important to research and plan before you create a final product. This is because it enables you to look into different aspects of the magazine before you start. I was then able to develop and gain a greater understanding of different technologies and skills and I now understand the process of making a music magazine a lot more than I did when I created my preliminary task.
Creating Drafts & Receiving Feedback:
As part of the production process for my magazine I created drafts.
First, they were just drafts of my initial ideas on layout and colour etc. I then formed a focus group with these drafts and received feedback on what members of my target audience liked and what they thought could be improved. Once I had this feedback I then began creating my actual magazine. Throughout the entire process I was constantly receiving feedback from members of my target audience as well as other people including teachers. This allowed me to gain an understanding of what people liked and what they thought could be altered to make it look more professional and I did this several times before reaching my final product. I used social networking such as Facebook to receive feedback as well as verbal feedback as well. This is something I didn’t think of doing previous to creating my preliminary task but was very helpful in understanding what my target audience wanted.
Devloping My Skills:
When creating my final magazine I spent a lot of time manipulating and editing my photographs ready for their use in my magazine. I edited the brightness and contrast as well as cropping the photo down as well. I also used several different tools on Adobe Photoshop to remove the background of my photographs as well. I didn’t do this to as high of standard when creating my preliminary task and therefore this made my final product look more professional.
Additionally, I also used external websites to create different font styles to use within my final product. I did this to make my magazine look more professional because many already exisitng magazines do this as well. Also, it allowed me to link my magazine in with the genre too, because the cracked distorted font was connoting the rock genre. This is not something I did on my preliminary task and therefore it was a lot more basic and not as eye-catching.
emilyyharrison 