7) LOOKING BACK AT YOUR PRELIMINARY TASK, WHAT DO YOU FEEL YOU HAVE LEARNT IN THE PROGRESSION FROM IT TO THE FULL PRODUCT?

PRELIMINARY TASK

With my preliminary task, I hadn’t ever used any of the software before and had never tried to create a magazine. I had to do a lot of research into the layout, text and images of a magazine before even attempting to create my own. I experimented with many things on this magazine like: rotating the title vertically, changing around the gradient of the background, photoshopping images etc..

Although it wasn’t a good attempt at a magazine, I feel like it helped me in my actual main task, I knew what would work and what wouldn’t.

THINGS THAT DIDN’T WORK IN MY PRELIMINARY TASK I felt the background on the contents page didn’t work

at all for me. I preferred the plain white background on the front cover. I know most magazines do have a background colour, but every time I tried to add in one, it just didn’t look quite right and felt too fussy.

Although I liked the title placed vertically when I was creating the preliminary task, I think it is just too difficult to read. I did however, keep the idea of the title being on an angle.

I put many pictures into my preliminary task, this worked for that because it is a sixth form magazine and so every big event is photographed, it didn’t necessarily work on the music magazine. I felt if I put too many pictures on the cover, it would be stepping into gossip magazine territory.

CONTINUED… I felt that the font on my preliminary task was really

hard to read and many people found it difficult. The sharp line between the title and picture looked

very amateur and so I softened it down in my main task.

The use of the same pictures just look as if they were they to fill up space on the contents page. For my main task, I made sure that I used all different images for each page and that they were relevant to the article.

Instead of having a realistic background, I changed it to white as this is more in keeping with a real magazine.

I changed the central image from a long shot to and mid-shot.

THINGS THAT I INCLUDED IN MY MAIN TASK

The statement font of the title, was carried over into my main task. Although I didn’t like the font of my preliminary task title, I liked the boldness and the fact it stood out.

I put the title on an angle because it looks different and unique.

I included the black font colour with red outline as I think this looks good and stayed in keeping with my colour scheme.

The barcode and price were included in both. The gradient tool, I used in both as I liked in in

my preliminary task but not on the pictures that much and so added it in under the title.

HOW I HAVE IMPROVED

Firstly, the pictures that I used were not set up at all in my preliminary task. For my main task, I set up each and every shot and told both Zoe Louise and Holly Lewis exactly what I wanted to do. It may have felt harsh at first, telling them they weren’t doing what I wanted but in the long run, it helped me get the pictures that I used on my front cover, contents page and double-page spread. I had to learn that it’s okay to say if someone is doing something wrong if my coursework is at stake. I think the pictures are a lot better in my main task than my preliminary task.

TIME ISSUES

For my preliminary task, I found it incredibly difficult to keep up with the time limits. I found myself behind constantly. For my main task I decided that to get the best mark I could, I should organise my time better. Therefore, I set myself goals every lesson to get as much done as possible as well as doing extra work in my free time and lunch breaks.