LOOKING BACK AT YOUR PRELIMINARY TASK, WHAT DO YOU FEEL YOU HAVE LEARNT IN THE PROGRESSION FROM IT TO THE FULL PRODUCT?

Comparing my preliminary task to my final media product – Front Cover

Preliminary Task Final media product

Comparing my preliminary task to my final media product – Contents page

Preliminary Task Final media product

In-depth comparison

MastheadAs we can see on the right, I present the two mastheads which I have produced for the prelim and the main task. At the first glance we can clearly see the difference in quality. The preliminary task masthead has a very cheap look to it which can be caused by the very simple font which I have used.

The logo itself is not very attractive and the use of colours is very poor as it does not clearly state an idea of what the magazine may represent. However, moving onto the main task we can see my improvement in the use of font, colour and style to represent the genre. The masthead speaks for itself as I have used appropriate fonts to convey the right image. The positioning of both of the mastheads is in the upper part of the magazine, however in my main task we can see the improvement of allocating the masthead in with the codes & conventions of Hip Hop magazines as of the model covering the masthead. During the creation of my music magazine I have completed additional research which informed be about the correct font which I had to use for my masthead. I have acknowledged this information, however I chose to provide the masthead with a style to represent both the hip hop and pop genre.

In-depth comparison

Front cover imageDue to both, my prelim and main task magazines being of a different genre I cannot directly compare them however I believe that the main task product looks much better. In the prelim task, my magazine (on the left) has received a medium close-up of a individual which then has been placed against a dark background.This looks really dull and boring.On the other hand in my main taskI have paid a lot of attention toto the codes & conventions of the specific genre and chose to place a

image with the right mise-en-scéne features as well as it being captured in the right shot. I taken into account the right clothing as well as the right posture the model had. From a close look we can additionally tell that I have improved my editing skills as in my main task product (right) the model has her hat cut out neatly, compared to the cut out in the Preliminary task which is very sharp edged.

In-depth comparison

Contents page layoutFrom the first glance at the contents pages of my magazines, I can tell that the main task product has been made with more effort. This is because the layout has specific features such as a large, medium shot of the model on the side of the page with the feature table on the other, which reflect the Hip Hop genre.In comparison to my prelim task Magazine where the image and theLayout do not interlink.The contents page of my main tasks is well structured due to the lines and shapes which I have used.

My prelim task contents page is very simple in structure and form therefore it is not as professional. During the main tasks magazine production I have decided to look more into the codes & conventions such as the image positioning and text style which definitely has affected the quality of the product.

In-depth comparison

ProcessesDuring the construction process of my preliminary task I have only based it around InDesign. InDesign is a software which is quite limited therefore I have not developed many skills in terms of creating graphical content. This contrasts with my main task as in this task I have used a variety of processes to create my magazine. One of the many processes which I have used in my main task was text manipulation. I have played around with options such as stroke, drop shadow or even embossing the text however this overcomplicated the text. This was a very useful process, however from my research I have acknowledged that the text was mainly kept simple therefore I have chosen to only manipulate the font colour. Another process which I have used in my main task which I haven't used in my preliminary task was to use online-based software to edit my images. During the creation of “UrbanFlow” I have used websites such as Ipiccy or Pixlr to apply various effects onto the images as well as perform corrections such as removing skin imperfections. The uses of effects have really upgraded my images as by the use of them I have made the images more attractive to the eye, as well as make them resemble the hip hop genre better and target it better at my chosen audience. I haven’t done this in my preliminary task which in fact made it less attractive.

Conclusion

As we can see from the comparison of the pages from my preliminary task to the magazine which I have produced for my main task, I can clearly tell that there has been a vast improvement. Both of the magazines represent a different topic genre, however from the first glance we can tell which one has been well thought out and up to a higher standard. I believe that in my main task I have been very successful all around; this means that I have been keeping up a consistently good level of work in both my research and production stages. I am very satisfied with how the final product looks like and looking back at my journey I can clearly see the effect the additional changes and the research have had on my final piece of work. The creation of the UrbanFlow magazine was a great experience. I have increased my observation skills as well as practical skills while making the product which will definitely benefit me in the near future. On the other hand, If I was to do this task again I would only consider improving my time management and uploading the content more often which in fact would show my journey better.

I have tried my best to make the UrbanFlow magazine as professional as possible, therefore I am very proud of how it looks. I would really like to experience this journey again.