Ron's AS Media Blog: April 2016

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

For my preliminary task, I had to create a school magazine front cover page and contents page. During this process I never really knew what I was doing. I didn't really have a plan. I guess I was just doing random things and trying to create something, bearing in mind I didn't have any skills in creating a magazine. I only had simple skills and simple knowledge of how to use simple programs such as PowerPoint. I knew how to add shapes, insert photos

and add text etc. I only knew the basics. Thinking back I notice that things were done so unprofessionally. For example, I took the pictures that I used with a bad quality camera and the images were not edited at all and they looked very dull. I also used very cringy shapes such as stars and do not know how, at the time, I allowed myself to go with such a childish look to a magazine. My colour scheme was very dull and boring and it doesn't appeal to me at all when I look back at it. The front cover and contents page showed no similarities and looked like two completely different magazines. I definitely did not have a target audience planned or researched which is why everything was just done so randomly. Without a target audience in media everything can go wrong as it is one of the main things to think about especially when making a magazine.

My coverlines were very boring. I obviously rushed it and did not even take time to think of coverlines which would actually appeal to an audience. For example, one of my coverlines were 'THE CONSTRUCTION SITE'. This didn't appeal to the audiences' age as it is something which is not exciting or appealing to younger people. I don't know what crossed my mind to use that as a coverline. A coverline should draw a reader in, and that certainly would not do the job as it is such a boring topic. I did not even include a barcode which is one of the key magazine conventions. Adding to that, I also did not add an issue number which is another key magazine convention.

Looking back at my title, which is 'HAMPSTEAD', makes me feel ashamed of myself as there is no creativity in it whatsoever. It definitely wouldn't catch someone's eye or attention if they walked into store. The title is very plain and didn't have anything to it, it was just the name of the school.

For my contents page, I can also say that everything is very boring. My layout was very simple and I used PowerPoint effects on the photos. These were very amateur and simple effects, but also very childish. My contents page was nothing to get excited about as there wasn't much going on. I only added about 4 features which weren't interesting at all.

Overall, my preliminary task, was just childish and boring with no thought and plan put to it. I have definitely learnt a lot now and this is clearly seen when looking back at my work now. I have shown all my skills in my final product.

For my final product, I have definitely done everything that I did not even think about doing in my preliminary task. This includes actually sitting down and coming up with an audience who I wanted to target with my music magazine. I have put a lot of time, effort and thought into my final product and it has definitely paid off compared to my preliminary task. My music magazine was based on the UK grime genre. I chose this because I am part of that audience and know what a typical fan of that specific genre would want in a Grime magazine. I was at an advantage already because I already had knowledge of the genre and I knew what design and types of things I would include in my magazine. I did a bit of research such as what age groups my audience would be in. This was easy as people my own age are a huge part of the grime genre audience together with young adults up to around 26, maybe even older. I had a long thought of my magazine title and came up with 'SECTION'. I thought this would work out perfectly as it links to grime. For example, if someone saw my magazine, they would most probably think of the very well known, grime group called 'Section Boyz' which have invaded the Grime scene recently.

During the process of my production, I definitely moved on from PowerPoint and went on to use Photoshop to design my music magazine. By now, I had developed a lot of skills in Photoshop which helped me make my magazine look a thousand times better than my school magazine and definitely more professional this time. For example, just the difference in the layout of the front cover between my music magazine and my school magazine was huge and such an improvement. The school magazine just looked so flat and almost dead, whereas, my music magazine front cover looked alive and actually looked like a professional magazine. For my final product, I also had to think about the type of language I would be using. In this case I used a few slang terms to connect with my audience. Colloquial language was important to think about in my music magazine as it would relate back to the audience and the audience is the key factor of making a magazine.

Finally, after finishing my final product I have come to conclusion that the most important thing for making a magazine is being thoughtful every step of the way. I noticed that taking time and actually doing research will help you understand fully the genre that you are working with. Rushing does not get you anywhere, as I learnt in my preliminary task and doing things slowly but effectively is important. Going back through what I done made me notice errors which I corrected and improved. Also, detail is a major key when it comes to making a magazine, I am very happy with my final product and the experience was great as I now have an idea of how it is to work in the magazine industry.