Preliminary task

Introduction:

For my preliminary task of creating a magazine front cover and contents page for a school magazine, I used the software Adobe Photoshop to manipulate and transform the images I had taken to create a product of media text. My magazine had a genre based around sport at The Kings School, and the target audience was for the students (and parents), and teachers of the school to keep them updated on recent and upcoming events.

Front cover:

The mise-en-scene of the front cover largely consists of a main image of a female dancer performing a jump. I took this photo for the front cover using the burst shot application of the camera; the picture however, has come out slightly blurred around the edges. To improve in this I would use a quicker shutter speed on the camera to reduce the blurriness. Alongside this the photo is slightly too small for the mid-close up criteria, so if I were to take the photo again I would either zoom in through the lens or move closer to the object I am photographing. The background colour in my main image needs to be plainer and not have varying colours, as it distracts our attention away from the dancer.

The masthead of my magazine stands out and catches the eye of my audience as the black font of the title contrasts strongly against the pink background strip, and also informs the audience of the genre of the magazine. However to make the masthead look more professional I would lower the gradient of the pink to make it blend in more with the main image.

The puff shown on the front cover stands out to the audience as it does not follow the black and pink colour scheme, as it is yellow and in a blue font contains a buzz word “win!”. This will attract my audience to purchase the magazine in the hope they’ll be able to win a prize. The font describing what the winning prize is, could be changed to a font that easier for the audience to read.

I have included a cover line and sub-lines, but it is difficult to distinguish the difference from the main cover line. To make it clearer I could change the font and increase the size of the text and bold the letters out. I would also include a strap line for magazine if I did it again, to make a familiar motto that the readers would recognise in a shop, done by making a house style for my magazine.

If I were to redo this front cover I would also include an issue number for the magazine, a price and the date it was published. I have included a QR barcode which is accessible through a phone app, to scan and buy. This might increase the sale of my magazine as it simplifies the purchase.

Contents page:

My contents page contains a main image of two netball players, yet the picture has been distorted to make it fit along the length of the page. To overcome this I could rearrange the layout of the page and fit the photo somewhere else where it could remain in proportion.

The page has a clear title, making it recognisable as a contents page. I have also included page numbers for the page each story is on, so readers are easily guided to the article they want to read.

The page layout has the main image on the left of the page and the writing flowing down the right hand side of the page. This looks very boring to a reader as it has been laid out very simply. To make it more interesting to the readers I could include photos that are related to each sub-line, to invite people to read the articles.

I think I have done the mode of address well, as I have written in language that is familiar to school students, as it is simple yet still formal.

Conclusion:

In order to complete this preliminary task to a higher standard if I were to redo it, I would spend more time beforehand getting used to working on a MacBook, and would definitely spend several lessons just purely using Photoshop to learn the basics of manipulating photos. Then after that I would go on to start the task over again. Yet I’m still proud of what I have accomplished as this was the first time I had ever used Photoshop; and I now know what I can do to improve the standard of my work when using this software to produce a media text.

I can build on these new skills that I have learnt, by spending more time playing with the software in order to know how everything works and what my own preferences are. This will then allow me to create my main task, music magazine front cover, contents page and double page spread, to a higher standard and quality than of this preliminary task.