EVALUATION QUESTION 7 by Sophie Gordon

sophieas — 2014-04-30 20:54:32 UTC

sophieas — 2014-04-30 20:55:36 UTC

sophieas — 2014-04-30 20:56:04 UTC

sophieas — 2014-04-30 20:57:01 UTC

sophieas — 2014-04-30 20:57:17 UTC

PRELIMINARY TASK:

sophieas — 2014-04-30 23:21:22 UTC

My media products I produced whilst carrying out my prelim, these include a front cover to a school magazine and a contents page.

This are my final media product:

sophieas — 2014-04-30 23:22:48 UTC

This is a music magazine called 'Fusion' and I have constructed a front cover, a contents page and a double page spread.

To construct these I have used various programmes and websites through the progress of my product. These include:

Fireworks
'Dafont' - onine font website
Photoshop
Picnic - online photo editor
Power point to help me create a layout plan

PROGRESS OVERALL

sophieas — 2014-05-02 00:46:25 UTC

I feel I have progressed massively from the first to the final task. My media products in my preliminary task look 'OK' and average but they do not look like professional and realistic media products even though they do carry many of the conventions. I knew the basics of conventions and tools to carry out and construct a magazine but I needed to develop them further by carrying out research into existing media products. I have done this in the final task which I think, shows in my finished media product. They look more realistic just like something you would see in a store next to existing media products, music magazines, such as Q & Billboard.

Double Page Spread - Skills

sophieas — 2014-05-10 18:28:10 UTC

I had not produced a double page spread during my preliminary task so therefore I have learnt brand new skills as it is very different to construct compared with the front cover/contents page. I have learnt how to use columns effectively to help me layout the structure of my page. The use of guttering has helped me in the sense that all my text and images on the page are not to close and all have a measured distance between one another. The use of rules and guides has helped me to make sure my DPS has a good visual syntax which will benefit the reader.

Progression from Preliminary to Final Front Cover:

sophieas — 2014-05-10 18:32:05 UTC

There are many differences between both my first and final attempt at a front cover. In the prelim I have a very basic masthead which I have created only using Fireworks. Whereas for my Fusion masthead I created using both Fireworks and an on-line font website called 'Dafont'. This helped me to produce a professional and bold striking masthead which would help make my media product successful by attracting in a wide audience.

I also feel that the visual syntax created on my Fusion magazine is much strong than for my PBM magazine. I think this is because I have learnt that having strong cover lines are a key and important convention especially as they frame the main image which draws the reader in. Where as in PBM there are only a few cover lines on the left which are in very large font and are probably too spaced apart which make it look more basic especially as there are no effect such as drop shadows or transparent white boxes behind the text.

The headline for my final product looks a lot more eye catching than the one from my preliminary front cover due to the position, font size and font style. It is much clearer due to the background behind mostly skin colour from the main image.

I think that my standard of photography has improved a lot as the lighting and composition is much stronger for my final media product as I had researched into photography methods such as 'Rule of Thirds' which enabled me to capture professional and high quality images for my music magazine. The photograph of Elijah has much better light as his face looks more illuminated and also has a white background which looks modern. Whereas the photograph from front cover in the preliminary isn't as well positioned and the light is slightly dull which draws the focus away from the models face.

Progression from Preliminary to Final Contents Page:

sophieas — 2014-05-11 23:08:00 UTC

The layout between both contents pages has similarities such as the bold black title of 'contents' and also the use of columns of text. However, with my preliminary I have used two smaller images which have not been edited which therefore look quite unprofessional where as my final music magazine has one large image which is edited and cut out and takes up the majority of the page, I think this looks much more professional.

With the final contents page I have made my page numbers stand out by using black boxes behind them which I think makes it look more superior to PBM contents. Also I believe that the visual syntax of Fusion magazine flows better due to the position of the text compared with PBM contents. I have made sure I have included all the main key conventions in both but I think I have constructed and finished Fusion contents page to a higher standard due to the skills that I have learnt throughout the process.

By adding pull quotes to the final contents page on the image makes it look very professional and like a real music magazine which I think would have improved PBM contents page to show which article relates to which image. I feel I have learnt the importance of a strong but simple house brand as it is what connects the reader with the media product and makes it easily recognisable to an audience.