Media Evaluation Question 7

By Ella Brown

7.Looking back at your preliminary task, what do you feel you have learnt in the progression from it to the full product? 

My Preliminary Task

ResearchI researched a lot in preparation for my preliminary task but this paid off as I had a better understanding of how that type of magazine was constructed - I spent a lot of time researching into the media industry especially in my genre which was a niche genre of acoustic guitar music.  This research can be found here. I learnt how research was essential in understanding the genre you are trying to convey and different aspects such as photography used, colour schemes and the different typography. I also had to carefully consider my photos. 

I feel that I have learnt more about photography  - for my preliminary task I took photos outside with the natural lighting so I knew I wanted to do that again as the photos came out the best when the lighting was best. I therefore had to plan when to take my photos to make sure there was enough natural light - I really have learnt the importance of lighting which can make a photo look very professional and look better than if the lighting was duller. 

LIAR• Language - During my research I read some magazines from my genre

and picked up on key words that were used and made sure my lexicon of words followed the conventions set by my genre. I also used musical terminology to emphasise the genre and make the magazine professional.

• Institution - I researched into some companies which distribute these magazines such as Acoustic and learnt about the different issues, how often they are published etc. This helped me gain an insight into the industry and how it operates.

• Audience - I did my target market research in the form of questionnaires and focus groups which made sure that my media product was suitable for those I was aiming it at and that different aspects suited the target audience - such as an emphasis on social media helped my magazine appeal to the younger target market.

• Representation - I carefully considered my representation of my artists and of my magazine. Through research I discovered the niche genre was not overly glamourised and therefore I made her my photos, layout, editing and overall media product conveyed a ‘laid back’ simple kind of representation. This was again to make sure that my product suited the target market correctly.

PlanningThe planning aspect of my media product was essential. I took a lot longer to plan my final product compared to my preliminary task - this was mostly due to the fact I could use the school environment to take my photos and there was no need to organise times, locations and outfits for my preliminary task. I had to carefully consider these aspects for my final task. I planned to take a lot of photographs so made sure I had the storage and technology to be able to accommodate this. I arranged three separate photoshoots as well as taking photos on a day out which required a lot more preparation for my models and my organisation. I also had to consider the conventions of my genre when planning - I had to ensure that every action I was taking in some completion of my media product was in the same conventions of my chosen genre.

My Contact Sheets

I took so many photos so I would not have to recognise

photoshoots with my models and so I could

make sure the photos I used for my final product were the best

ones available

In my planning process I had to consider aspects of my magazine such as the name. I chose ‘Melody’ as it fits the genre and connotes something flowing easily and is nice to listen to so has good thoughts conveyed with it. I had to study my research a lot throughout my planning process so I could carefully pick up on smaller details used in the magazines to make my final piece as professional and authentic as possible - for example I added a caption on certain photos and stated who took the photo which added a professional touch as well as making sure each page had page numbers and a smaller masthead at the bottom of the page to draw together the whole brand identity.

My Editing Skills• My editing skills have greatly improved since my

preliminary task. I learnt the ability to properly edit on Photoshop and on inDesign. In my sixth form magazine I struggled a lot with editing on InDesign as I kept everything as one layer - once I was more familiar with the technology I was able to add more layers and fully use the application properly. I managed to improve my editing skills as I successfully cut out one of the artists in Photoshop and was able to put that image back into inDesign. I also managed to erase a small portion of my masthead so that my front cover image fit nicely in front - this tied the whole piece together and gave it a more professional look. I learnt the importance of drop shadows and drop caps in large amounts of text which makes it easier for audiences to read and interpret the text that is displayed in the magazine articles. I added in some quotes on my double page spread copy to entice readers in and they were more eye-catching and were interesting which made readers want to read the article presented.

What would I have done differently?

• Overall, there is not that much I would have changed about my final media product. Looking back now I feel I would have chosen a more mainstream genre as it proved quite difficult to research into the niche genre of acoustic guitar music. I feel that it would have been easier to construct and would have also appealed to a wider target audience with a bigger variety of demographics and psychographics. I feel that I would have changed the layout of my contents page and made it into a double page as I could have laid it out differently and had more pictures and coverlines and I could have created a clearer brand identity and adhered to more stereotypes. I would have timed myself differently as well and spent longer on my contents page editing all the photos making sure they are exactly how I liked them and very professional looking for my magazine.

Preliminary vs Final