Media Evaluation- Question 7

Media Evaluation Question 7

‘Looking back at your preliminary task, what do you feel you have learn in the progression from it to the full product?’

At the start of this course, I knew how to use the basics on a computer and understood how to use programmes such as Word, Power Point, Excel and Publisher. I had no knowledge of working with Apple Macs at all so this was a new experience for me. This came at quite a struggle because the layout and format of programmes on a Mac is very different to a Windows computer. With the help of my tutor, I became aware of how to use a Mac and from then on it was a lot easier.

 I also learnt how to use complex programmes on the Macs such as InDesign and Photoshop. Some people in my class had already used Photoshop but I was completely new to it. I had previously used other photo editing programmes such as Picasa so I had some understanding of them, but Photoshop was a lot more technical and complicated. With help from my peers this time, I was able to successfully use Photoshop and create well-edited pictures. InDesign was a completely different story. We had to use this to create our whole magazine so it was extremely important that we learnt how to work it correctly. We spent about half a lesson being taught where the necessities for building our magazine could be found, but this still confused me and I found it hard to get to grips on using the software.

The student magazine I created was part of my preliminary task and was basically a trial run for my music magazine I would later create. This enabled me to explore InDesign and try out different techniques and skills within it. This was a great help to me and really improved my ability on InDesign and encouraged me to be more adventurous with what I was doing. You can see my progression from my student magazine to my finished music magazine because I have used many more technical elements in my music magazine. I found out how to create ‘bubble writing’ effects on my font and also how to shadow it. This made my final magazine look more professional and also allowed me to make it more attractive to my target audience. I don’t think that I thought enough about my target audience’s interests whilst making my student magazine, so I took this into account when creating my music magazine. The mistakes I made in my preliminary task helped to produce a well-thought-out music magazine that attracts a certain audience by the way it has been constructed. This was a big progression made by me and I felt more comfortable and knowledgeable about InDesign whilst creating my music magazine, and hoped this would show in my work.

Another aspect of this task that I was quite new to was photography. I had never taken pictures that had been planned (in a photo shoot) before and was worried that my pictures would look amateur. I have to admit that for my student magazine I didn’t give a lot of direction to my models and I basically just used friends who happened to be there when I had a camera. Not a lot of thought went into my photography work for my student magazine. You can see this because the position of my models doesn’t fit the preferred layout for a magazine. Some of the cover lines overlap onto one of my friends’ head because I forgot about leaving space at the left hand side (as you look at it) and at the top for the title. However, making more mistakes in my preliminary task stopped me from making them on my actual music magazine. I set up a photo shoot when taking pictures of my sister for my magazine and I instructed her on what to wear and also did her hair and make-up the way I wanted it. I also positioned her correctly and told her what poses to make to ensure that I was taking pictures that would reflect on my target audience.

I feel like I have progressed a lot from the start of this task and my preliminary stages to now, my finished magazine. I have learnt how to use more complex programmes and my knowledge of ICT has improved greatly. I am more aware of how to use Apple Macs and professional software now and this experience may lead to help me in the future.