Qu 7

Prelim Task

Final Cover

Here are my two covers. Overall I believe that from my prelim task I have improved massively. I have put my covers side by side to clearly show the differences of them. I feel that during the course I have learnt a lot about the forms and conventions of magazines and my final cover helps to show this. I am quite proud with my final documents and also am proud with all the techniques I learnt during this course. This mindmap is going to show all the different aspects I have learnt about and improved upon since carrying out my prelim task.

I believe that since doing my prelim task my skills have improved massively. During the course I have been able to learn lots of new techniques on photoshop. This helped me to improve my final products as I learnt how to use all the features I needed. With my prelim task, I had only just started using photoshop, so only knew how to use all the basic features. This impacted my covers as you can tell by looking at them, that my prelim is incredibly simple and my final documents are slightly more complex becuase of the use of new skills I learnt on photoshop.

In my prelim cover, I only used a total of about 3 different fonts. However, in my final cover, I have used about 7 different fonts. I learnt that by having a mixture of different fonts, it helps the page to look more interesting and eye catching. Also, because my final product is a pop magazine, the variation of all the bold, fun fonts helps it to attract to my target audience. Because in my prelim task, I only used a little mixture of fonts it makes the page look a little boring and people wouldn't be attracted to it. Also, all my cover lines are in red, and again I have learnt to have a mixture of different colours too. It helps to make the page look more interesting and helps it to be a lot more eye catching to viewers.

Comparisons

Photoshop Skills

Use of fonts

I think that in both my prelim and final cover I used a suitable choice of model. You can clearly tell that my model in my prelim task is representing a stressed teenager, and that the model in my final cover is representing a happy, laid back pop artist. In my final cover, I have used more than one model, by having little images in the 'hot posters' section. I think this looks good and helps to make the page look more varied and interesting. I think that the clothing of both models in both covers is suitable for the style of magazine.

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

Use of models

Mise-en-scene

The mise-en-scene of my prelim image is in the school library, there are books stacked up infront of the model, showing all the work sixth formers have to do. I think that this is a suitable mise-en-scene and think that it does connote sixth form well. The mise-en-scene of my final cover image is on white walls. I think that the white background of my final document looks more sucessful than the other. By looking back at my prelim task, I believe that I should have cut around the model and books and had them on a white background instead. I think this because it would've made the cover lines clearer and easier to read and it would also make everything on the page stand out a lot more.

Photography

Composition

Page Layout

Contents

Colour Scheme

I think that I have also learnt a lot about how to take successful front cover photos. I think that the image on my final cover is much more eye catching than the image on my prelim cover. I like how in my final product, the image is situated directly in the middle with cover lines either side. However, in my prelim task, the image is on the right with cover lines on the left and by looking back and comparing these products I believe that because of the positioning of the images in both, my final cover stands out more and looks more professional. As well as the positioning of the images, the image on my final document is a lot more brighter than the one on my prelim cover. The image on my prelim looks quite dull and looking back on my product, I now believe that I should've brightened up the image more to make it more interesting and eye catching. In both covers my models have direct eye contact which is very important, as it helps to draw viewers in a lot more.

The page layout of both my covers is rather quite different. In my final cover, I learnt about some forms and conventions of existing magazines, I have used the rule of thirds successfully, and have an organised, well-balanced and what I believe to be a fairly laid out page. In contrast, my prelim task doesn't really have the same layout. I would say that it isn't exactly very well balanced and there is no rule of thirds going on. In the progression from my prelim to my final product, I did lots of research on existing covers and decided that my favourites were those of which had a symetrical laid out page, and I personaly feel that this works a lot better.

In my prelim cover, I only have a total of two cover lines and one 'win' lure. In my final cover there is about eight cover lines and one 'win' lure. I think that this helps to show that I learnt a lot about the forms and conventions of magazines. My prelim had hardly any content and it would be very unsuccesful in selling because of this. Due to the fact that I looked at existing covers, the content of my final cover is a lot better. It shows viewers that the magazine is filled with lots of information, whereas my prelim cover doesn't exactly do this. All the cover lines in both my prelim and final cover do link to the style of the magazine though, which shows that there isn't just random stuff going on to the cover and it is all suitable and relevant.

My prelim task doesn't really have a main colour scheme to it. I would say the main colours are red, blue, white and brown. I don't think the colour scheme is very appealing and it doesn't really come across as being particulary interesting. The colour scheme of my final product is pink, blue, white, black and yellow. I think these colours work well together and stand out a lot more. They help to connote pop and hopefully attract to the target audience better. I think that the main thing that makes my final cover more appealing is the backgrounds used. For my final cover, I have a white background, however, for my prelim I have the library in the background, of browns and whites. This makes the image and cover lines stand out a lot less. I have learnt that by using a suitable colour scheme it could have the affect of being able to sucessfully attract the audience, and the wrong colour scheme could deter them away from it.