Evaluation Activity 7 Draft

Evaluation Activity 7: Looking back at your preliminary task (the school magazine task), what do you feel you have learnt in the progression from it to full product?

Looking back at my preliminary task, I think that I have improved a great amount for my final product. My photography skills have clearly got a lot better; I been using far more experimental and professional camera shots and use of mise en scene and this has allowed me to achieve work of a much higher standard. I have thought about styling my models in much more detail and have actually thought about selecting their whole outfit, hairstyle and props so fit in with my genre and the whole look i was going for. This will enable me to attract my target audience and should really appeal to them. My camera skills during shooting for my preliminary were not too great and i was more focused on how clear the image was rather than how well everything in the image looked, such as the model and props. With the preliminary, i used whatever clothes my model was wearing that day as costume and i just made her pose with some books to look like a school magazine. With my final piece, i thought about every pose and what i thought the reader would think when looking at them. With the preliminary i took a couple of shots and went with the most focused one, whereas with my final piece, i took hundreds of photos and did a couple of different shoots to get a range of lighting and also a couple of different backgrounds. When i made my preliminary cover and contents page i knew next to nothing about Photoshop or how to use it and so my editing was very simple with one big image, a masthead in the middle at the top and a couple of taglines here and there to fill any empty spaces on my cover. When i did my final pages i had much more knowledge on how to use Photoshop and how to create a somewhat professional looking magazine.

Looking back at my preliminary now, there are many things i would've change. Firstly, i would have made my masthead much bigger and much bolder. the font i chose was definitely not suitable for a title. I would also lay out my text using the rulers so that they are all uneven like they are and also would have chosen a stronger image as there isn't much else going on. I found lots of errors during the making of my final product, all of which i found quite simple to fix with my new-found Photoshop knowledge. Most of these problems were to do with text aligning and fitting everything on the page (especially the size of all of the borders and boxes). Also, with the size of the font and making it appear as though it was a real magazine. With weeks spent editing these things i was able to overcome them and through doing this, my knowledge on the software has become even greater. As well as this, i believe i have also been able to develop an understanding of how long the process of making a magazine is and how many problems can come up too. With the research i have carried out for my final magazine i have been able to understand what works and what doesn't and what you need to appeal to your target audience with your genre. The preliminary task was very helpful however, with doing this and the draft, i was able to receive constructive criticism from my teachers and classmates and they helped guide me to creating a much more appropriate to my genre and professional magazine.

I think the most obvious thing i have improved on, for my final pages, is my photography. I attempted on being quite daring and experimental with this, especially for the double page spread. My first improvement was upgrading my equipment. I used an actual camera, whereas for my preliminary, i used my smartphone. The difference between the quality of photos from these two tools is rather drastic and it was necessary for me to make this change to have an at least somewhat decent front cover. My preliminary task was also done over a much shorter period of time and consisted of very limited planning going into it - in fact, none planning went into it. That is the main difference between my preliminary and final pieces. A lot of thought and planning went into my final piece of work and that paid off; there is a massive difference between the two and my finished magazine resulted in looking far more professional and was much more appropriate.