Preliminary Task

Prior to starting the production of my magazine I had to complete a preliminary task. The images show in this post are images of the magazine that I completed as part of my preliminary task. I took all of the images myself although none of them have been edited due to a lack of time and a lack of knowledge and understanding of programmes such as Photoshop. My overall grade for this magazine was a ‘C’ as stated on my feedback form. We were allocated two hours to take photos and put together the front cover and contents page of a college magazine. I was disappointed with the grade I received for this piece as I feel I have the potential to complete the work to a higher standard. I hope to receive a higher grade for my final magazine as by the time I have completed that I will have been able to practice my editing skills and will have had more time to complete the task.

This task gave me a good understanding of how a magazine has to look and the different techniques needed to produce a professional looking magazine. I completed the task on PowerPoint as this was the programme that I felt most comfortable on. I found PowerPoint to be a good programme to complete this task on as it had all the tools necessary. It was quick and easy to put my magazine together. However, for my final product I will be using Photoshop as it is a more advanced programme which includes all of the necessary tools that are essential in the production of my magazine. I feel that Photoshop will give a the product a more professional look.

The main difficulty that I encountered when making this magazine was a lack of time. I did finish the product in the two hours that we were allocated but it was a massive rush. I think that I spent too much time taking images and not enough time putting my magazine together. I spent about 45 minutes taking pictures which left me with one hour and fifteen minutes to produce the magazine. I found deciding the design of my magazine the most challenging as creativity is an area that I have always found to be difficult. In the whole magazine process I found writing the text to be the easiest but I think this is due to an A-Level in English Literature.

I chose the images that I did because they were all appropriate for the story lines that I have stated on my contents pages. All of the images have good lighting and backgrounds which come together to make the images look professional. The eye-line match on the front cover will draw the reader to the magazine and entice them to read it. I tried to include a variety of images which are each unique and individual so that they all interest a different reader. I have also decided to include some of the photos that I did not include in my magazine and the reasons why I thought they were inappropriate.

 I did not use this image because it is slightly blurry as it was an 'action shot.' I had wanted to include it in the contents page of my magazine as it links to the image that I used on the front cover. I also thought that the background of the image was slightly too 'busy' and there was too many potential distractions for the reader which would prevent them from reading all the text.

 I was put of from using this image as again I think that the background it too 'busy' and there is too many distractions for the reader. I could not find a suitable place to use this image as it was not related to any of the story lines that I included on my contents page. Finally I did not like the lighting in this shot as I feel the light is very evidently unnatural and looks quite unprofessional.

 I quite like this image because I think it is unique and individual compared to the other images that we had taken for the preliminary task. I think that the lighting is good as it is natural which makes the image look more professional. I had originally wanted to include the image on the contents page of my magazine but however I could not find an appropriate place for it as it did not fit with any of my story lines.

When taking this image I had planned for it to be my main front cover image. I think that the lighting and background are perfect for a front cover as the background is plain and I could easily layer things over this and the lighting is bright. However when constructing my product I decided against using this image because there was no eye-line match from the model and an eye-line match is important from the front cover as it draws the reader to a magazine.