Final Product and Preliminary ComparisonBy Ross Glover

Front Cover-Conventions

As you can see my front cover is much more high quality and it makes good use of conventions such as the black colors etc. and it suits the target audience. My preliminary cover has little use of conventions or any indication of this as I had no research into any conventions and didn’t know how to use them in a magazine cover at the time.

My preliminary task could be considered conventional as its colors and imagery have aspects of tranquility and peace. However because the cover is of such a low quality it doesn’t look like any conventions have taken place and my final product has had many conventions considered especially when it comes to costume and layout. It is clear that my final product has had much research into conventions and this also shows the importance of conventions making my magazine cover look more professional and better for the type of magazine it is.

Photography and mise-en-scene

The photography in my final product is of a high standard and I considered many aspects in my photography and this is shown through the quality of images. Compared to the photography of my school magazine it is far better the quality of image is poor in my school magazine and it looks like the image has been stretched. The overall shot type itself is fairly good for the type of magazine but has not had as much time and thought put into like my real front cover. Overall my photography skills have improved because I have learnt more about the images needed to be conventional and also the most suitable shots for different cases.

Image Editing

My image editing used in my school magazine was little to none as I made it on word and didn’t change the image in any way. My editing skills have come along way through production and I have learnt how to use Photoshop to enhance photos and also how to generally build a good magazine. Previously I knew little about Photoshop but after watching tutorials I got the hang of it and I learnt how to use it to craft my cover. If I had used Photoshop in my school magazine the outcome would've been a lot better as Photoshop creates images at a higher resolution and is more affective for editing.

LayoutThe layout in my school magazine had little thought and I had no idea of what conventional layouts was for this type of magazine. Whereas when making my actual magazine I knew the best way to make a conventional layout and use the layout to make the magazine more appealing. I didn’t know where to put any cover stories on my page until analyzing real magazine covers which really improved my grasp on layout and helped me to produce a good cover. I learnt that a more cluttered magazine was conventional for the rock genre so in production I made sure my magazine had a lot of content whereas in my school magazine the content is minimal.

FontsMy use of font in the preliminary task was poor as I used the same font for both the masthead and main cover story. In my real cover I used similar fonts but not the exact same and used a variety of different font styles but kept to the conventional san-serif fonts styles conventional for the rock genre. I learnt how to use different fonts for certain parts of the magazine which helped me to make a better magazine. Also in my school magazine there is a lot of contrasting fonts with the white of the boys shirt. In my real cover I made sure this didn’t happen by using stronger font colors over the images.

ColoursIn my preliminary task I used mainly green as I thought this would suit the school magazine theme. In some ways the colour does work but especially the green of the masthead is poor and brings down the overall quality. I learnt how to use Colours to create conventions and suit the genre. For example I used a lot of red and black as these Colours connote violence and aggression. I also used colour that would make a good contrasting affect and not a bad one like on my school magazine cover.

Mode of Address

The mode of address created by my final magazine tries be a social magazine that connects with the audience and reader. I done this through use of language and conventions whereas in my school magazine there is no mode of address created as it features little use of language to suggest any mode of address and doesn’t use affective imagery. My skills in creating a mode of address have improved as I have better knowledge of what a good mode of address is and what appeals to specific target audiences more.

Contents page conventions

My finished product uses a lot of conventions in terms of colour, layout, images and fonts. My contents page is conventional for the genre and through researched I was able to use conventions to my advantage whereas in my draft contents layout there is a clear lack of knowledge on conventional layouts. There is little thought to where parts like the images and articles will go and what will make a conventional contents page.

Photography and mise-en-scene

My photography cannot be judged from my contents page but where my images would've been may not of been affective for my magazine and when creating this draft I had little knowledge to where my images would've been and what kind of mise-en-scene I would've included. Whereas in my finished product I had a clear knowledge of what type of content to use and I used my photography well to take conventional and suitable images for the genre.

LayoutMy layout has clearly improved through my final product and I used a very conventional and affective layout for my contents page. I knew the best way to layout the images I had and how to create an affective contents page through the use of an ordered contents page. My preliminary contents page draft had little use of conventional layout and I did not really consider the best way to layout my contents page. I had done no research into layout in my contents page so had little knowledge of what to do with the layout and where to position my content.

FontsI did not really consider fonts in my preliminary task at all as I had no knowledge of what kind of fonts to use that would be conventional and affective. My use of fonts has definitely improved throughout production and as you can see in my final product The fonts are suitable for the genre and also sized correctly for the magazine. I also learnt how to use different types of fonts to appeal to different audiences for example using bolder and sans-serif fonts appeals to a more masculine audience.

Mode of Address

I couldn’t create a mode of address in a draft piece of work but when creating the draft my knowledge of what kind of mode of address to create was little to none. My contents page draft looks very basic and if I put that layout into production it would've been ineffective in creating a good mode of address. Where as you can see throughout production I learnt how to create a mode of address for a specific audience using different elements such as language and imagery.