Main Task: Evaluation question 7: Looking back what have you learnt since the college magazine task?

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My preliminary Task was to firstly create a college magazine front cover and contents page. For this preliminary task I had to firstly research on what different college magazine front covers look like and the convention they employ to attract there individual target audience. I found this part of the task not at all difficult because I already from gcse media had substantial knowledge about certain conventions newspapers and magazine use to attract there respective target audience. With that finished I learnt how to use blogger to publish work via the internet. Since the preliminary task, my blogger skills have improved, I have learnt how to embed YouTube videos on to my blogger and how insert pictures on to each respective blog.

Fig 1 the research part of my preliminary task.

Fig 2 the front cover picture used in my college magazine

With photos done I began to use adobe Photoshop to edit my photos and make my front cover and contents page. I found this task to be very daunting because it was my first time using such an advanced editing software. However none the less I still was able to produce a magazine front cover and contents page.

Fig 3 my college magazine front cover.

With this part of my task finished I began to take photos using a Canon EOS 400D that was going to be on my college magazine front cover and contents page. I found this task to be difficult because of the quality of the camera. It’s a camera used by many professional photographers, so I had a lot to learn about how to obtain the best photos. A skill I learnt later on and mastered was pointing a red beam from the camera itself onto the models eye to frame a nice picture.

Since the start of my coursework task, I feel that my organization skills have greatly improved. I was able to complete all my planning and research tasks a week before my deadline. However I just missed my deadline with my college magazine front cover and contents page. Since that error, I made sure that with my main task I met all my deadlines and bulked up my planning and research.

At the start of my main task I once again research on different music magazine front covers and analysed them. This task was much easier than the preliminary one because this time I combined knowledge that I had from gcse with knowledge I learnt from my teacher in class. Thus this task met the respective deadline with no real challenge. Because I was not really happy with my Photoshop skills, I went on the internet and researched on the best ways to make a music magazine via YouTube. I then placed a couple videos on to my blogger to show as evidence that I was trying to improve the quality of my magazine making skills.

Fig 4 my music magazine front cover analysis

With most of my planning and research finished, I began to start drafting out how my front cover would look like, using my sketch skills. This also was not really a significant challenge. However my next task was. My next task was to develop my photographic skills by using the same canon camera but this time using a Bowens Gemini flash; a piece of equipment that synchronizes with the camera to achieve greater flash which leads to greater lighting effects. Also because this photo shoot was done in a studio I also used a 60cm soft box so that it could add a soft tone to the lighting of the photos and make sure they don’t appear to dark on the screen. Finally in the photo shoot someone from my class held up a Photographic Light Reflector Disc, so that it could reflect light on to the main object at any angle so that it could connote a hidden message from the object or the photographer themselves. For example low lighting reflected on to the model may very convey that the model has a sinister side to them. Ultimately this task was very difficult because this time taking my photos was very difficult. However the quality of my photos has greatly improved since the start of the preliminary task.

Fig 5 Evidence my photograph skills have improved.

With my photos taken I began to use adobe Photoshop to construct my music magazine front cover, contents page and double page spread. This time I edited my photos so that I would make my magazine look more realistic. Also I learnt how to use tools such as the spot healing brush to get rid of blemishes on the model’s face. I also learnt how to use horizontal boxes to create columns on my contents page and double page spread to make my magazine look much more realistic.

From my previous research, I used the same colour scheme throughout my magazine product to attract my target audience. The colour blue and white go well with each other and are very youthful colours.

The strengths of my coursework were that I was able to meet deadlines and the improvements made in my coursework showed immensely. I put my magazine front cover onto face book and many people said that they liked my magazine and gave me constructive feedback on ways to improve my magazine

The weakness of my coursework was that compared to others in my class, my Photoshop skills were below par. Although this was my first time using such an advanced editing software I feel that in the future I will be able to produce a much better coursework piece.