Evaluation Question 7

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

Preliminary Research• With my preliminary task, I was a member of

the target audience of the magazine that we had to create (students). This made it easy for me to think about what the target audience wanted when I was creating the magazine, so I had to conduct no research at all when making the magazine.

Preliminary drafts• I did one plan for the front page and the contents and

didn’t put too much effort into my drafts or the whole creation of my magazine. I only did one plan because I thought that because the magazine was aimed at such a wide, general audience that it didn’t need much thought.

The first drafts for my preliminary task.

Magazine Research• With my music magazine, in comparison to my preliminary task

I spent extensive time researching the target audience. I conducted surveys using SurveyMonkey, and analysed other existing music magazines by looking at the techniques they use to attract and address their audience, the ways in which they communicate with the audience online, who the typical readers of the magazine are, which popular Hip-Hop artists would feature in my magazine and so on. This gave me a better understanding of the audience, so that when it came to making my magazine, I would be aiming for the best grade possible.

The SurveysTo make sure that the target audience were answering the surveys, I shared links on my Facebook and Twitter accounts because I knew the young female audience I’m targeting spend a lot of time on social networks. Below are examples of the types of questions I asked them when researching my music magazine. I didn’t feel the need to do this for my preliminary task because I felt as if I didn’t need to research that much into such a brief, large audience.

Magazine Drafts• When doing the plans for my magazine, I made four sets. One

was along with an image of an existing Hip-Hop magazine, the second and third became more detailed, and the fourth a computer draft. I spent a lot of time planning my magazine because I wanted it to get the highest grade possible, and I wanted the magazine to use techniques that could make it appear as if it could really be sold. In comparison to my preliminary task I did a lot more planning for my magazine as the magazine is aimed towards a niche audience who need specific techniques used in the magazine to make them want to buy it and to keep them interested.

These are the 4 drafts I completed for my music magazine. The first draft was a side by side comparison with my first, rough draft with the actual front page of a magazine. I did this to point out which techniques I would use from other magazines to make sure my magazine appealed to the target audience and to make the magazine successful. The other hand drawn drafts changed over time whilst I was adding more information and detail, and the last draft was a computer draft I completed before starting the creation of my magazine on Photoshop. I did a draft for each page for my magazine in this format.

The drafts for my front cover

The drafts for my contents page

Research & Drafts Conclusion• In conclusion, I spent a lot more time and effort in the

research and drafts for my music magazine than my preliminary task. The time limit I had for the preliminary task meant that I could only produce brief drafts and no research, whereas for my music magazine I had a lot more time to produce detailed, developed research and notes, which enabled me to create a more professional looking magazine.

Preliminary Images – Front Cover• Even though I didn’t do much planning for the

images for my preliminary magazine, I still wanted to make sure they were good quality, so I took them on a digital SLR camera. I didn’t actually plan the images themselves, but I knew that I wanted to make sure they looked like they were taken in an education setting, so I went to the library with my friend and took some photos of her smiling in front of a book case.

• I didn’t think about the clothing or the make up, hair etc that my model was wearing because I knew the magazine wasn’t aimed towards a niche audience and that she could be wearing normal clothes and still appear suitable. I only took around four photos for the front cover.

The front cover image for my preliminary task.

Preliminary Images – Contents Page

• For the other images in my magazine, I didn’t think too much about the mise-en-scene, I didn’t mind what the models were wearing as long as they looked like students, and I didn’t care about their make up, hair style etc. One image I used I had already taken, and the others were of the same model but doing different things, for example dancing and using the college’s new macs. I didn’t care much about the shot type for the images and I didn’t take that many images, however this changed for my actual magazine.

Magazine Images – Front Cover• With the first images I took, I still used a slr camera

but a camera I was unfamiliar with. Before even taking the photos I made a collage of poses and clothing that I wanted my model to wear, which prepared the model and me for what sort of look she was going for. I also planned to leave a space above the artist to fit the masthead and the rest of the information that should be on my front cover. For the first time taking the images, I took them in a inappropriate location, as it was a busy area, so the photos I took were rushed. I knew I wanted to take the image against a white background to make the artist stand out. Even with all the planning I did for the images which also included location planning, because I wasn’t familiar with the camera and with the inconvenient location, my photos didn’t look professional.

Magazine Images – Front Cover• After receiving feedback from my target

audience and teacher, I decided to retake my photos for the front cover. This time I took some of my own clothes and jewellery such as chains to make sure the model represented the genre I was trying to represent. I also made sure that we found a quieter location where we wouldn’t be disturbed, but still with a white background. Also, after taking each photo I would consolidate her with the collage of poses so that the posing also reflected the genre we were trying to represent. I also used the same camera this time as the camera I used to take my preliminary photos with, because I knew this camera was reliable and that the quality of the images would be good.

Magazine Images - Article• When taking the images for my article, I asked

my model to send me photos of what she was wearing and her make up before we met to make sure she looked good. She wore large, gold chains and made sure to wear fashionable shoes that were popular with the target audience (Jordan’s). We found a spot when looking for locations that was surrounded my graffiti, which I thought was a suitable place to take the photos as graffiti is a conventional aspect of Hip-Hop culture. I made sure she looked at the pose collage I already made so she could think of a facial expressional, her body language etc. which made her seem threatening, which is the representation of the artist I wanted put across.

Magazine Images – Contents Page• For the contents page, I had to follow an unconventional

format as the format that is conventionally used by Hip-Hop magazines was too basic for me to follow. I decided to have a large, main image and several others. Because I took so many photos when taking the article photo (about 200 photos) I decided to use one of these, but where she’s wearing a baseball cap backwards and in a different pose and location, so the image in the article doesn’t look identical to the image in the contents page. Other images that I decided to include on my contents page was a photo I took using an SLR at a concert, a photo I took of another model at a skate park, where I also asked her to wear stereotypical ‘urban’ clothing and show the photos at an angel where she looked strong and powerful, and also a photo of the chain that my model wore on the front cover as a giveaway for the audience to win.

Images Conclusion• In conclusion, there is a huge difference in how I took the images for

my preliminary task and for my magazine. With my preliminary, I didn’t plan the images or think about the images too much, I only took a few images and if they were bad I wouldn’t bother retaking them. However for my actual magazine I thought for a long time about what I wanted my artist to wear, what her make up and hair should be like, what sort of poses she should do, I also thought about the location of where the images will be taken and which camera should be used. Another way in which I took a long time planning and taking my magazine photos was when I was unhappy with the original images I had taken and I decided to retake all of them to improve the quality of my images and to make the magazine look more professional.

Photoshop - Preliminary• My preliminary task was the first time I had

ever used Photoshop. I grasped the basics fairly quickly, such as putting in images and text on the document and arranging them, however one this I struggled with was deleting the white background from text, I spent a long time using a tool that didn’t leave the text with a good finish. I also didn’t use that many techniques such as using effects and adjustments on the image, and also I didn’t edit out imperfections from my models skin and hair etc., one reason for this was because I didn’t know how to, and I thought that if I were to learn during the creation of my music magazine it would show how much I progressed.

The text I was unhappy with

I didn’t use anyeffects such as making the skin tone even and getting rid of spots etc.

Photoshop - Magazine• With my magazine I already had some

experience in using Photoshop with my preliminary task. I used a lot more different effects when editing the images and the text, for example I learnt how to put text behind an image, how to remove the white background of an image (using the magnetic lasso tool) and text quickly (by using the magic wand tool), how to edit the brightness, contrast and exposure of images by using adjustments, how to remove spots and other impurities from my models face using the clone stamp tool and also removing loose threads on her clothing with the clone stamp tool.

Photoshop - Conclusion

• In conclusion, I learnt a great deal of skills using Photoshop throughout this process and although these skills weren’t applied in my preliminary task, I’m happy I was able to use these skills on my task. Now I am not a lot more confident in using Photoshop for future tasks.