Evaluation Question 7

Looking back at your preliminary task, what do you feel you have learnt in the progression?

In this part of the evaluation I will be referring to the weaknesses made in the preliminary task and the Improvements that could have been made. I will be contrasting them to the strengths of the real magazine so that I can see how I have progressed throughout the production process. The preliminary task was only to make a front cover and contents page, so I will only be referring to both front covers and contents pages. I have attached jpeg images of both the preliminary and the real magazines, so that I can make comparisons.

• Name- the magazine name 'Jmag' was very boring and uninteresting, compared to 'Acapella', which is music sung without instrumental accompaniment. It is an irregular and slightly unfamiliar variation of pop music, often referred to in the film 'pitch perfect' (watched mainly by my target audience). The name has obvious connotations ton music, and strong connotations to pop music, known to those who are fans of the genre.
• Photograph quality- this is something I have improved off in my real magazine. I used a good quality camera which enabled me to have clear, focussed photographs. I also learnt from my mistake in the preliminary task of standing below the subject, so for the real magazine I stood at the correct angle.
• Absent information- as far as I can see, I have included all relevant and important information in my real magazine
• The contents page is full of photographs and doesn't waste any space. It is also more colourful and fun compared to the bleak, plain preliminary one.

There is a clear comparison between the real front cover and the preliminary one. Firstly, slogan is boring and dull, compared to the pun in the real magazine, which adds comedy and humour. Secondly, the main image of the prelim has such a low opacity that it looks more like a background than a main image. It doesn't address the audience effectively- the two girls aren't making eye contact, and the image is too busy, compared to the real magazine, where the main image is minimal and focused. It is also a medium shot rather than a close up which is less intense. A magazine front cover usually focuses on one person only, because it is more effective. The layers of the prelim front over are also ineffective; the Christmas tree is the top layer which doesn't make sense because it is the least relevant thing on the page. The real magazine sticks to a consistent colour scheme of black, red, pink and white, compared to the prelim front cover which uses random colours. This is much harder for the reader to follow, ad if they are not drawn in by the front cover they will not buy/read the rest of the magazine. Furthermore, the real magazine uses a transparent barcode. When I made the prelim, I was not aware of how too use the magic wand tool, which would have made the barcode transparent. The fact that the white still surrounds it makes it too emphasised and noticeable. Lastly, the prelim front cover has too much wasted space, compared to the real front cover which is full up with features.

Again, a clear comparison can be distinguished between both front covers, real and preliminary. Firstly, the white background of the prelim is bleak, plain and dull, compared to the pink of the real magazine. Secondly, I didn't use any of my own images, so I had to find one from the internet which wasn't very good quality. The features are too big, making them seem childlike and unsophisticated, which means they are targeting the wrong audience because the magazine was supposed to appeal to high school students. In the prelim contents page, the text is not aligned correctly, because where it says 'what it's like to be part of the autism...' the 'a' and the 'u' of 'autism' are not next to each other and they should be. There also isn't a page number, which would make it hard for the reader to locate their way around the magazine. A page number would help make the magazine accessible.

Conclusion

Generally, I have made big improvements, and l have definitely learnt from my mistakes in the preliminary task. However, doing the preliminary task gave me good practice using Photoshop, editing and taking photographs. If it hadn't been done, I would have been a bit confused as to how I should lay out my work and what information I should include.

Evaluation Question 6

This question looked at my technological skills which I have learnt and applied throughout the process. The question was not easy for me, because I am a big consumer of technology anyway, which means I already knew a lot of the skills I put in practice when making my magazine. I think this is because I am young, and young people are the biggest consumers of technology today- they are constantly aware of technological advances, which is partially because of the impact social media has on day to day life. I had used Photoshop before while doing a similar task, but this time I used it in more depth and learnt how to use specific functions such as the magic wand tool. However, using a mac was something I had done many times before, so I cannot say that my skills have massively improved with this. Because I am not familiar with complex photography, using a proper camera and learning about lighting was of great interest to me. I learnt the effect shadows and different lighting has on pictures, and how a camera has different settings and adjustments.

Evaluation- Question 5

For question 5 I used Piktochart because it is a clear, visual way of showing my ideas and evaluating my magazine. This question was hard, because I had to look at my magazine from an analytical perspective, similarly to the way I had looked at real products in my earlier research. In conclusion to this task, I have realised that some of the ways I attracted and addressed the audience were done subconsciously, which were harder for me to pick up while doing this question, because I hadn't noticed them during production. For example, the cover lines and features I had chosen were chosen to intentionally attract the audience, whereas the writing style and specific words were subconscious choices I made while writing the article. I think I did attract and address the audience effectively, through different ways such as photographs, writing style and mise-en-scene. I had a particular vision of what I wanted the audience to feel whilst reading my magazine, which I think was achieved with my end product.

Evaluation Question 4

This task was pretty challenging, because I wanted my magazine to be as neutral as possible, in terms of race and ethnicity. Looking back on it, I definitely should have used models from both races, to try and appeal to an even more mass market. In terms of gender, my magazine was targeted primarily at females, because they were my target audience. Age was the easiest category to decide- I wanted my magazine to appeal to a young audience who are interested in mature topics.

Evaluation- Question 3

Audio recording software >>

The website I decided to use for question 3 was Vocarooo. This was not easy, because I had t pre pan what I was going to say and write notes, which took a long time. I also had to have separate tabs open on my laptop, which I could refer back to. This was time consuming. In this question I had to consider what kind of media institution might distribute my media product and why. I chose a large media company. This question involved me having to research different media companies, both large and small, and compare them. I also had to consider the way people now view media- both electronically and print, as well as where I would want it to be stored.

Evaluation Question 2

For question 2 I used Canva to present my work, which, retrospectively I regret. this is because Canva does not allow you to embed or download work, unless it is paid for. This means that I had to take screenshots of my work, which was time consuming and fiddly. I would say that this is the question where I had to be the most honest about the choices I had made, in terms of social groups and diversity. In conclusion, I would definitely say that race is not represented equally enough, and age was not very broad- my magazine is clearly targeted at a specific age group, which, in a way is positive because my target audience is clear. Social class is clear here, some models seemed stereotypically upper class, and others were of a less obvious class. However, this is objective and down to personal opinion. Neither upper/lower class were presented in a positive or a negative way.

Evaluation- Question 1

This question was the most time consuming. I formatted this question on Prezi, because it allowed me to separate each section, and easily move on to the next section. It also allows the viewer to zoom in and out, and is aesthetically pleasing. It's neat and orderly. To answer the question, I had to refer to 'real media products', meaning that I had to give visual examples. I copied and pasted magazine front covers, contents pages and double page spreads from the internet, which enabled me to make comparisons. I was able to visually show where my inspiration had come from, and how a specific convention has an effect on the audience. I was able to separate each part of the magazine and analyse how it has followed forms and conventions of similar magazines. It also showed me whether I had missed anything out, and what other magazines included/left out and vise versa. It allowed me to visually compare colour, text and photography with real media products. Lastly, I was able to look at house style, which is when a magazine uses a similar layout and structure.