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

Photo-shootIn the progression from the preliminary task to the full product that is ‘IND’ magazine I developed the ability to organize a photoshoot. For the preliminary task, no real preparation was done, and the pictures I took were very vague in order to be able to adapt my magazine easily. However, for my main task I realized it was necessary to organize a photo shoot, and did so through Facebook. I asked my models (Isaac and Kieran) if they were free and if they were willing to participate in a day of photoshoots [1]. As we are all media students we decided to take all of our pictures on the same day, in order to save time organizing other days. In the lead up to this day I bought all the products needed in order to create the mise-en-scene of my photoshoot. The photoshoot for my main task was much more organized and preplanned than my preliminary photoshoot. In my preliminary photo shoot my models wore what they happened to be wearing on that day and we shot in very limited locations that were convenient [2]. In my Main task my models wore costumes I had thought about, with props and in locations that were not convenient and involved creative thinking (painting an old door I found in my garden to have the slaves logo on, making it look like blood) [3].

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Photoshop skillsFrom my preliminary task to my main task I learnt a few new things about Photoshop and therefore developed my Photoshop skills. The biggest difference between my preliminary task and main task is the ability to make a convincing, professional looking magazine. My preliminary task is very unprofessional, and not carefully edited and designed like my main task is. My Photoshop skills are much more advanced in my main task. An example of this would be the use of the pen tool and the black and white overlay, with some parts of the black and white rubbed out in the double page spread [1]. My double page spread’s design is original and intricately done, in contrast to the very formulaic pages of the preliminary task which are very uninspired and simple [2]. I developed using the rubber tool in my main task, as opposed to having every image shot on location in my preliminary task [3].

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FontFrom starting my preliminary task to the main task I became more informed on my font choice and picked ones that were more suited to my target audience. In the preliminary task I used default Photoshop fonts, chosen on the principal that they were easy to read and formal [1]. In my main task I chose the fonts that suited my magazines aesthetic as well as being clear and easy to read. I chose the font ‘Wet Dreamz’ off dafont.com for my mast head of my magazine, as it was clear and easy to read, whilst remaining rather similar to existing alternative music magazine mastheads like ‘DIY’ and ‘NME’. However I did not want to completely copy these existing magazines and so picked this font because it contained both ‘repetition and difference’ (Neale) [2]. I chose the font ‘Trash Hand’ for the messy cursive font that reads “uncover their top ten albums of all time” [3] because it has connotations of the type of music that ‘Slaves’ produce, as well as being similar to their logo. Also, ‘NME’ used a font like this in the past, meaning that fans of ‘NME’ would recognize it and be interested in reading ‘IND’ as they may believe it is similar to ‘NME’ as a whole. My font choice therefore became more informed and suited to my target audience from my preliminary task to the main task, as a lot more thought was put into the connotations of the fonts within my main task than that of the fonts in my preliminary task.

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Audience specific conventionsBetween the completion of my preliminary task and main task I began to include more relevant audience specific conventions. In my preliminary task I included a competition which would be accessed through the scanning of a QR code [1]. This was done because my magazine was aimed at young people, who are likely to be drawn to magazines with convergence of technologies on a magazine like this. I also included both a Facebook and Twitter page in order to appeal to young people in the same way [2]. Although I included audience specific conventions in my preliminary task they did not go into much depth and in my main task I managed to attract a very specific audience with these conventions. In my main task I included Facebook and Tumblr links, as they would attract a more alternative younger audience than, for example, twitter would (this has been explained in previous parts of my evaluation so I will not go in-depth) [3]. There was also ‘star appeal’ of slaves and many other artists, which I did not include in my preliminary task [4]. Puff promotion was another audience specific convention that I included in my main task [5]. The downloadable mix tape and competition to win tickets were methods I learnt from existing magazines in my research. Even though I did include some audience specific conventions in my preliminary task, they were more in depth in my main task because of what I learnt during my research of music magazines.

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Front cover comparison

‘IND’ magazine has more cover lines than ‘the college knowledge’, meaning it is likely going to attract more readers.

‘IND’ has a much more visible masthead that is eye-catching and synonymous to its magazine genre, whilst ‘The College Knowledge’ has a very basic masthead with no specific font to match it’s genre.

‘IND’ has a clearer puff promotion and two different methods instead of just the one found in ‘The College Knowledge’.

‘IND’ is much more aesthetically pleasing, the colours are more vivid and the colours of the text and image compliment the front cover nicely. ‘The college knowledge’, while still having a clear colour scheme is boring to look at and is not eye catching

‘IND’ has a much clearer, eye-catching main headline which utilizes ‘Star appeal’ (Dyer). ‘The College Knowledge’ has a main headline that almost blends in with the cover lines and is not eye-catching at all.

Contents page comparison

‘IND’ has more images which correspond to the stories covered in the contents page. ‘The college knowledge’ only has one image, showing less detail in the magazine.

‘IND’ has sections to separate the stories, as opposed to ‘The college knowledge’, which does not have sub headings for the stories, making it less accessible for readers. Also, every story in ‘IND’ has a short description underneath it to explain the article, whereas ‘The college knowledge does not. ‘IND’ also has many more stories.

‘IND’ has more detail within its editorial, although both have pictures of the editor accompanied by contact information and signatures.

‘IND’ has more specific details within its subscription box, as well as a small print, which ‘The college knowledge’ lacks.

‘The college knowledge’ has a very bland colour scheme, with only one image and and unprofessional looking layout. On the other hand, ‘IND’ has a very vivid colour scheme with many images and a professional finish to it that was accomplished through a lot of attention to detail.