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

I feel as if my Photoshop skills have improved from making my preliminary task to the full product, as I simply enhanced the brightness and levels of the

image and the only image I had to cut round was the stationary on the contents page, whereas the other pictures of the students I used the

background as it was in a school environment therefore adhered to the codes and conventions of the magazine. However, when I created my music

magazine I had to think more about colour and what colours I was enhancing or dimming depending on the social representation, for example the image of

‘Little Mix’ I enhanced the colours especially of the lipstick to fit the lively pop music representation, whereas the ‘Young Diamonds’ image I added a

black filter to drain the colour and adhere to the indie rock music representation (usually shown through black, white and dark colours for

example dark purple).

I also had to cut round the images as the backgrounds did not always fit the magazine as they were shot in school or in my home (except for the image double page spread image as I wanted this in a natural setting as if the girls are messing around at home,

this makes the audience feel they are getting an inside look into their lives and this is a personal setting). Most of my cut images did not then go on a background, but straight

on the magazine to make it look more professional and realistic. However, on the secondary image on my double page spread I added a red carpet backdrop to create

anchorage between the writing “Little Magic at a fancy dress VIP event at the beginning of this month”, adding this background to the image made it look more

realistic as if the girls were actually at a VIP event.

I also did a lot more research into my full product, meaning that I created a product that fit both existing products as well as my audience’s needs. For my preliminary task I just looked at existing products and the codes and conventions they contained, as well as the ideologies of school, however, for my full product I analysed existing magazines, looking at codes and conventions as well as the social group representations, this is where I found out that existing magazines usually use bright colours to represent the upbeat, lively style of pop music, whereas other genres for example indie rock and rock usually use dark colours as well as black and white to represent the more serious topics and nature of their music.

I also researched into the target audience and demographic of these magazines and how these magazine appeal to these audiences. Most of the magazines I looked at appeal to teens and young adults so this is the type of audience I aimed for with my magazine, whereas for my preliminary task I just aimed for secondary school students regardless of what target audience was more popular within the school magazine industry. From this I also researched into the institutions which distribute these magazines for example the BBC and looked into other magazines or media platforms they distribute and how they aim to appeal to the right audience, this helped me have an idea of what my audience would want.

From this I could create a draft magazine, which I did not create for my preliminary task that I believed would begin to fit my target audience. I then showed this draft to my audience along with a questionnaire, this allowed me to get feedback straight from my audience on what they wanted and whether this is the type of magazine they were expecting/wanting. For this I did a focus group to get further feedback directly from members of my focus group, allowing them to express themselves fully. Throughout the process of making my full product I used social media (Instagram) to gain feedback from my audience on the improvements I used making and how they wanted me to improve further, this meant I was becoming even further towards creating a product my audience wanted.

This whole process allowed me to develop my understanding of representations; there was limited representation on the school magazine, as this allowed the codes and conventions of this genre of magazine. However, the representations created where based upon the smartness of the uniform and environment around them. The environment on the school magazine was clean and computers in the background, gives the school environment a modern, up-to-date representation and the smart uniform the girls are wearing not only show this girl are role models for the school, but they are represented as nice, friendly and well-behaved students.

Although on my magazine there are arguably more representations for there are not only the representations of genres like I have mentioned above, but of gender. In the pop industry women are becoming more equal to men in terms of fame and quality of music as there are now more all-girl bands than there ever has been, with artists like ‘Little Mix’, ‘Girls Aloud’ and ‘Spice Girls’. I tried to represent this by having an all-girl band as my main story on my front cover as well as on my double page spread. As well as this I included a lot of solo girl pop artists for example the two girls on the contents page and one of the girls on the ‘Friends and Arguments’ story, this represents how female solo artists are also becoming more popular in the pop music industry for example: ‘Ella Hunderson’, ‘Ellie Golding’, ‘Cheryl Cole’, ‘Taylor Swift’ and ‘Demi Lovato’.

However, females in other industries for example rock and indie rock are not as heavily represented, with most artists being male soloists, all-male bands or mostly male bands with a few female artists. This is why I made my indie rock band ‘Young Diamonds’ all-male, however to subvert this stereotype I did include a rock female artist on the ‘Friends and Arguments’ story.

Overall, I think my learnt lot from the progression of my preliminary task to my full product. I think that not only does my product fit my target audience better due to the research into existing products, as well as the research into the institutions that distribute them, but my Photoshop, communication and presenting skills have improved. I feel as if my Photoshop skills have developed as I have been more able to create a professional looking, realistic full product than what my preliminary task was. As well as this I have communicated more with my audience while creating my full product, through a questionnaire, focus groups and social media, meaning that I can be sure my product fits their needs. Finally, I have learnt to use other methods of presenting (Prezi, Slideshare and Youtube) to allow my presentation to be more interactive and engaging.