2. Front Cover-Conventions
As you can see my front cover is
much more high quality and it
makes good use of conventions
such as the black colors etc. and
it suits the target audience. My
preliminary cover has little use of
conventions or any indication of
this as I had no research into any
conventions and didn’t know how
to use them in a magazine cover
at the time.
My preliminary task could be considered conventional as its colors and imagery have
aspects of tranquility and peace. However because the cover is of such a low quality it
doesn’t look like any conventions have taken place and my final product has had many
conventions considered especially when it comes to costume and layout. It is clear that my
final product has had much research into conventions and this also shows the importance
of conventions making my magazine cover look more professional and better for the type
of magazine it is.
3. Photography and mise-enscene
The photography in my final
product is of a high standard
and I considered many aspects
in my photography and this is
shown through the quality of
images. Compared to the
photography of my school
magazine it is far better the
quality of image is poor in my
school magazine and it looks
like the image has been
stretched. The overall shot type
itself is fairly good for the type of
magazine but has not had as
much time and thought put into
like my real front cover. Overall
my photography skills have
improved because I have learnt
more about the images needed
to be conventional and also the
most suitable shots for different
cases.
4. Image Editing
My image editing used in my
school magazine was little to
none as I made it on word and
didn’t change the image in any
way. My editing skills have come
along way through production
and I have learnt how to use
Photoshop to enhance photos
and also how to generally build a
good magazine. Previously I
knew little about Photoshop but
after watching tutorials I got the
hang of it and I learnt how to use
it to craft my cover. If I had used
Photoshop in my school
magazine the outcome would've
been a lot better as Photoshop
creates images at a higher
resolution and is more affective
for editing.
5. Layout
The layout in my school
magazine had little thought
and I had no idea of what
conventional layouts was for
this type of magazine.
Whereas when making my
actual magazine I knew the
best way to make a
conventional layout and use
the layout to make the
magazine more appealing. I
didn’t know where to put any
cover stories on my page until
analyzing real magazine
covers which really improved
my grasp on layout and
helped me to produce a good
cover. I learnt that a more
cluttered magazine was
conventional for the rock
genre so in production I made
sure my magazine had a lot of
content whereas in my school
magazine the content is
minimal.
6. Fonts
My use of font in the
preliminary task was poor
as I used the same font for
both the masthead and
main cover story. In my
real cover I used similar
fonts but not the exact
same and used a variety of
different font styles but
kept to the conventional
san-serif fonts styles
conventional for the rock
genre. I learnt how to use
different fonts for certain
parts of the magazine
which helped me to make
a better magazine. Also in
my school magazine there
is a lot of contrasting fonts
with the white of the boys
shirt. In my real cover I
made sure this didn’t
happen by using stronger
font colors over the
images.
7. Colours
In my preliminary task I used
mainly green as I thought this
would suit the school
magazine theme. In some
ways the colour does work but
especially the green of the
masthead is poor and brings
down the overall quality. I
learnt how to use Colours to
create conventions and suit
the genre. For example I used
a lot of red and black as these
Colours connote violence and
aggression. I also used colour
that would make a good
contrasting affect and not a
bad one like on my school
magazine cover.
8. Mode of Address
The mode of address created by
my final magazine tries be a
social magazine that connects
with the audience and reader. I
done this through use of
language and conventions
whereas in my school magazine
there is no mode of address
created as it features little use of
language to suggest any mode
of address and doesn’t use
affective imagery. My skills in
creating a mode of address
have improved as I have better
knowledge of what a good mode
of address is and what appeals
to specific target audiences
more.
9. Contents page conventions
My finished product uses a lot of conventions in terms of colour, layout, images and fonts. My contents page is
conventional for the genre and through researched I was able to use conventions to my advantage whereas in
my draft contents layout there is a clear lack of knowledge on conventional layouts. There is little thought to
where parts like the images and articles will go and what will make a conventional contents page.
10. Photography and mise-en-scene
My photography cannot be judged from my contents page but where my images would've been may not of been
affective for my magazine and when creating this draft I had little knowledge to where my images would've been
and what kind of mise-en-scene I would've included. Whereas in my finished product I had a clear knowledge of
what type of content to use and I used my photography well to take conventional and suitable images for the
genre.
11. Layout
My layout has clearly improved through my final product and I used a very conventional and affective
layout for my contents page. I knew the best way to layout the images I had and how to create an
affective contents page through the use of an ordered contents page. My preliminary contents page
draft had little use of conventional layout and I did not really consider the best way to layout my
contents page. I had done no research into layout in my contents page so had little knowledge of
what to do with the layout and where to position my content.
12. Fonts
I did not really consider fonts in my preliminary task at all as I had no knowledge of what kind of fonts to
use that would be conventional and affective. My use of fonts has definitely improved throughout
production and as you can see in my final product The fonts are suitable for the genre and also sized
correctly for the magazine. I also learnt how to use different types of fonts to appeal to different
audiences for example using bolder and sans-serif fonts appeals to a more masculine audience.
13. Mode of Address
I couldn’t create a mode of address in a draft piece of work but when creating the draft my knowledge of
what kind of mode of address to create was little to none. My contents page draft looks very basic and if I
put that layout into production it would've been ineffective in creating a good mode of address. Where as you
can see throughout production I learnt how to create a mode of address for a specific audience using
different elements such as language and imagery.
