AS Media Unit G321: Preliminary Task Evaluation

Lucy Hughes

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

1.Masthead

Main image

Banner and cover lines

Date Lines

Cover lines

Rule Of Thirds. Rule Of Thirds.

Differences with the front cover

I have one main image, they have two

Heat included more than one image on the front cover

I put a Flash on my front cover, heat didn’t.

Heat included a header and a footer, I only included a footer

Heat included a barcode where as I didn’t as my magazine was free.

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

Like heat magazine I have put the Masthead at the top of the page and made it very bold, also like heat it is more towards the left of the page. The Masthead is the largest piece of text as the readers are drawn towards that, so then straight away they know the magazine they’re reading. However, unlike heat magazine I only used one main image, whereas heat have used two images as their main image, although like heat I have used a medium close up shot. The main cover line anchors the text just like in heat- by putting in these cover lines it helps the reader to decide whether they what to read on or not. Like Heat magazine I put cover lines across the bottom, I also put a banner behind it to make them stand out more- the cover lines at the bottom are an overview of what the magazine is mainly about. I also used rule of thirds when designing my cover which is an effective magazine technique.

1.

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

Contents title

Consistent colours

Page numbers

Date

Selection of pictures

Rule Of Thirds. Rule Of Thirds.

1.

Differences with the contents page

Heat included advertisements on there contents page.

Heat only included one main image, I included three.

I included a note from the editor, heat haven’t.

Heat used different colour to differentiate from the page reference and information, something I didn’t do.

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

Like when I was designing the Front cover, I also used the rule of thirds when designing my contents page. I included the Contents title, date and again stuck to my colour scheme of Red, Green and Grey. I used three images which were appropriate for the contents of the magazine, I also labelled the images with page references, even though Heat magazine didn’t contain extra images they still had page references. Unlike heat magazine I put a message from the editor on my contents page just to inform the reader again on what the magazine is going to contain. Heat also put advertisements in the contents page something I didn’t do and maybe should have.

1.

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

During this process, I learnt how to use Photoshop to change and present images the way I want them to look. I created my front cover using photo shop and was able to use photo shop to manipulate images. By using Photoshop I also learned how to insert images and make them fit proportionally into a frame and resizing them without stretching them. I also learnt how the ‘layers’ system on Photoshop, this allowed me to focus on one specific layer without messing around with the whole magazine.

I learnt that you can create different shapes using this tool.

I learnt how to create outlines around letters and shapes using this tool.

Change the colour of text with this tool.

Add text with this tool.

Select different items with this tool.

2.

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

I learnt how to use Moodle properly and effectively so I could access resources which would enable me to get produce the highest quality magazine that I could.

I learnt how to use cameras effectively which would allow me to get the correct medium close up shot. Using a digital camera taught me how to create the different shot types (shot , angle and type of shot.)

I also learnt how to transfer images from a camera to a computer using the USB drive, and ensuring that when I took a photo it was an MCU shot.

When constructing my magazine I also learnt how to use In-design effectively. It enabled me to create my contents page and allowed me to create many different shapes and arrange them in the ways I wanted them. By using In-Design for my contents page I was able to change the shape of the boxes and put them on a slant to make the page more attractive for the reader instead of just having 3 squares. By using In-Design it showed to me the importance of the design/layout of a page.

I was able to place pictures with this tool.

This tool enabled me to use the same colour each time- eyedropper tool.

Add text with this tool.

Transform boxes into different shapes.

2.