Ryan Proctor: April 2016

Friday, 29 April 2016

Note to Moderator

Dear Moderator,

My brief for my AS Media was to create a Front Cover, Contents Page and Double Page Spread for a new music magazine. I chose to do my music magazine in an indie based genre, as i believe this is the most accessible market for my magazine to target, due to its size and variances in age, ethnicity and gender. I wanted to give my preferred audience of 15-30 year old's a new, stylish magazine that can attracted my target audience and one that they can find relatable. I have used labels on my blog to make it easier to navigate throughout, in order to find the different stages of my magazine construction and development.

Yours sincerely,

Ryan Proctor, Edgbarrow School.
Candidate Number: 0210
Centre Number: 51111

Thursday, 28 April 2016

Evaluation question 7

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

Construction: Using serif, i think the work from the prelim task has allowed me to develop my skills using the software. The prelim task allowed me to see what ideas i liked and whether i would be able to translate them onto my magazine using serif, it also allowed me to experiment as to weather my ideas would work for the target market of the audience i was aiming for in the future. Throughout the construction phase, the difference between my actual magazine and the prelim task is clear. My prelim task didn't use any specialist IT skills in its construction and this showed in the lack of continuity throughout. However, i think that my prelim task overall gave me a good idea as to the style of magazine i wanted, and allowed me to develop ideas using the technology available. I think what i learned from the task is evident in my final draft, how i was able to create more interesting features of a magazine.

Design Skills: The development in my design skills has mostly been about ensuring that every detail is relevant to my target audience, whether it be pictures, layout, texts or structure. Ensuring the magazine was relatable to my target audience was vital as this is one of the key factors in the criteria. One example of simple design skill would be the colour of the magazine, i had to ensure that the continuity of the magazine flowed throughout, and this was achieved by using the colour bar, and selecting the yellow colour for the sections i wanted it to. I learned this skill from the prelim task, and using the prelim helped me to be comfortable with the simple skills that i needed to create a magazine. One skill which was more challenging was editing pictures. This was something that i did not do in my prelim task, and so ensuring that my pictures were edited in the correct way to suit my ideas for them was something i learnt after the prelim task.

Student: As a media student, i believe that i have learnt about a wide ranges of things from the work on my magazine, and i have improved on others as well. The magazine construction has helped me learn more about the codes and conventions of a magazine, and how they are consistent throughout all styles of magazines and the effect they actually have, such as direct address. I feel like as a student, the coursework has also helped me to learn about different technologies available to use, and just how many are needed in order to create an effective product. The coursework has also made me be more responsible with my timekeeping, due to the use of deadlines. Overall,i feel like the magazine has challenged me to work at the best of my ability, and has demonstrated how much i have learned about the industry and media itself.