MEDIA STUDIES: PRELIM TASK.

Evaluation of TaskBy Adam Bath

My Prelim Task is to create a school magazine. This will include a front cover, as well as a contents page.

PRELIM TASK

Here are some examples of school magazines that should be able to help me in the creation of my prelim task. This could include what font styles have been used; style of pictures that have been used and what features have been included in the magazine

EXAMPLES OF SCHOOL MAGAZINES

I used a detailed flat plan to lay out my ideas for my product. In the flat plan, I organised where the text, pictures and graphics would be placed on the main page as well as the contents page. I decided to lay out my pages in this way, as this style is a conventional style for a magazine that is available to buy, and therefore I have adopted this style for my magazine.

EVALUATION OF PRODUCT AND PROCESS: FLAT PLANS

My Front Cover Flat Plan

My Contents PageFlat Plan

I used a style sheet to see which styles of text would work in my magazine as well as which colour schemes would work best as well. I also used a selection of pictures to see which would be suitable for my magazine. This enabled me to see if the photos I had took would be suitable for my magazine.

EVALUATION OF PRODUCT AND PROCESS: STYLE SHEET

This shows my Style Sheet. In this style sheet, I have used a sample of the photos that I am planning to use in my magazine; a sample of potential fonts that I could be using in the magazine and a sample of the colour schemes that I could use in my magazine. This will help me when it comes to the task of creating my prelim task.

My Front Cover

My Contents Page

• I decided to use these colours for my prelim task because they fir the colour scheme of the St. Thomas More Sixth Form College badge. Therefore, the magazine would look more official if I used these colours and would also be identifiable easily to the people that would purchase the magazine.

• Also, the colours are bright and stand out easily. The advantage of this is that they would be spot easily by people trying to find the magazine.

THE COLOURS USED

• I decided to use that font style for my text. It is clear, basic and therefore is easy for the person purchasing the magazine to read. If they find the magazine hard to read, then they are less likely to read the rest of the magazine or purchase the magazine in the future.

• The style of text doesn’t portray the magazine to be cheap in any way either. If a well known “office” font was used such as Times New Roman or Comic Sans, then people would realise that the magazine could have been created using Publisher, which may portray to some people that the magazine is poorly made.

THE STYLE OF TEXT USED

I decided to use Adobe Photoshop for my prelim task. I have used a variety of features of the software to help me make my magazine look as professional as possible. This can include: adding blending options such as glows to my text; adding brightness and other picture editing tools to my pictures.

USING ADOBE PHOTOSHOP CS5

ADOBE PHOTOSHOP CS5: TRANSFORMING MY FRONT COVER

Here is my original picture. This is before any of the photo effects have been added

I have added exposure to my photo. This has now added a brighter atmosphere to the photo and therefore makes it look suitable for a magazine.

I have also used the spot healing brush tool on my photo. This makes the person look better and also makes the magazine look professional.

ADOBE PHOTOSHOP CS5: TRANSFORMING MY CONTENTS PAGE

This is my banner before any work has been done to it in Adobe Photoshop. At the moment, in my opinion the colour is a bit bland the school badge does not stand out. Therefore, on Photoshop I could use an exposure tool which would make every part of the animated banner brighter and as a result more likely to stand out

This is my banner after the exposure tools have been added in Adobe Photoshop. This makes the banner look eye catching to the person reading the magazine as the text has a bright glow surrounding it and the logo is three dimensional, has a glow and as a result is also standing out on the page. The text colour have also been brightened with the exposure tool. This allows the reader to see the text more clearly and identify straightaway the main facts from the banner

ADOBE PHOTOSHOP CS5: EXAMPLE OF PHOTOS USED

This is the photo that I have used for the front cover of my Prelim task. This photo used is a medium close-up. A medium close-up photo is usually a photo of the person capture from head to usually their waist. This photo fits well for a magazine front cover, because it captures a clear view of the subject of the shot and as a result the reader is focused on them as they are the main attraction. If another shot was used for the front cover of the magazine, then the viewer could be drawn elsewhere in the shot. Also, as the magazine is a college magazine, it would be deemed relevant to have a photo of either the Sixth Form itself or a person inside the Sixth Form. As the person in this shot is inside the Sixth Form, this fits this purpose as well as fitting into the brief of the Prelim Task .

Medium Close-Up Shot

To assist me with my evaluation I asked five random people what they thought of my college magazine prelim task.

OPINION OF MY PRELIM TASK

Person 1:I thought the photos used for the magazine worked brilliantly as well as the tools used on Photoshop to make them look more professional. I could even see this magazine design being used in real life.

Person 2:The magazine style followed what other magazines in shops use, which makes the product look more professional. The use of Photoshop truly makes the magazine design look so much more enhanced.

Person 3:I think the front cover is superb as it includes feature used in real magazines including the layout. I think the contents page could include better styles of shots to add a more overall professional look to the magazine. However the majority of the magazine is good.

Person 4:I think the layout of the front cover of the magazine is brilliant. The text is placed in similar ways to magazines you can buy in the shops. This makes the magazine look really realistic. The contents page is also looks similar to magazines you find the shops. I think the magazine has been well thought through and looks superb.

Person 5:Personally, I think the magazine colour scheme is really good as it fits the colour scheme of the STM badge and this adds a more realistic approach to the magazine. With the combination of photos, bright text and banners this magazine looks really professional.

• For my main task, I could more professional shots that would suit the brief, which in this case, a music magazine. This could include: Rule of Thirds; Close-Up Shots; Reaction shot or a low angle/high angle shot.

• Use more of the capabilities of Adobe Photoshop. If I used more of the features, available, I could make my magazine look more professional.

• Add more depth to my contents page. Most of the contents page is writing in my prelim task. Therefore this should make my main task look more enticing to the reader.

WHAT CAN I DO DIFFERENTLY FOR MY MAIN TASK?