Evaluation

In what ways does your media product use, develop or challenge forms and conventions of real media products?

When developing the ideas for my school magazine my inspiration came from a range of different conventions which had been used in existing school magazines such as Greenfields School , Hazeley’s Sixth Form and Roundhay Roundup. I studied them closely and came up with the following ideas. Firstly, I took my main front cover image with Hazeley’s Sixth Form in mind because the image means that the viewer’s focus is directly in the centre of the page, and not drifting off it. I also had my subject doing a similar pose: standing up, carrying books, and looking directly at the camera in a close-up mid-shot. However, I decided against having a plain background because I think it can look quite unprofessional, especially as I stuggle to cut images out well on Photoshop, but I think the background on my front cover works just as effectively. Secondly, the simple colour scheme used in Top Terrace appealed to me because I didn’t want the front page to be too bright, and everything needed to link together, so I took the idea of using black and white as the main font colour, but with the bright red, they have a completely different effect: it is much more eye-catching. I also managed to incorporate the red from the school logo which meant that everything linked together. Furthermore, I continued this black font (along with the blue background and the same font) into my contents page so that there was an element of consistency in my work. In many ways my contents page follows most of the conventions of a contents page because it is simple, including just two pictures, and short sentences with minor detail about what my magazine includes. My front cover, on the other hand, challenges the conventions of a school magazine because it is very simple, whereas front covers usually contain more colours so that it looks more welcoming. This wasn’t a conscious decision, and I will keep this in mind for when I move onto my main coursework task.

What have you learnt about technologies from the process of constructing this product?

I surprised myself with how much I learnt from using new technology in the past week. When using the cameras, I managed to use the focus and the zoom with ease, and took a few good close-ups, one of which I used on my front cover. Despite this, I need to learn how to know the difference between what is classed as a mid-shot, and what is classed as a medium long-shot and a close-up mid-shot because I think my main picture isn’t as close-up as it should have been. All of my photos were taking indoors – which is something I regret, and would change if I had the chance – so all the light was artificial, not including some of the sunlight through the windows. In a way, I think artificial light is easier to use because you can alter where it is and how much is used in order to get a better photo. At first I struggled to grasp the concept of layers on Photoshop, and in the end I didn’t need them much because I decided against cutting out the subject’s head to have it overlapping the name of my magazine. Although, I managed to adjust the hue and the lightness of the picture using Photoshop, and I experimented a lot with the lasso, magic wand, healing and shape tools and I think I will find them much easier to use in the future.