Looking back at the preliminary task I think I have improved my music magazine a lot. When we began media it was the first time I had ever used a Mac computer and the software on it, including Photoshop and InDesign.
For the preliminary task we only used Photoshop, when creating my front cover we had to take our own images and I realised I hadn’t had enough time otherwise I could have got a lot better photographs, when taking my photographs for the final product, our music magazine I made sure that I had a lot of time to take photographs and worked out how, where and who I was going to use. I set up a photography plan so I knew everything I was going to do so I could manage my time better. I didn’t really edit my photographs in Photoshop for the preliminary task as I did not have a lot of time, whereas my music magazine photographs I did edit and they looked a lot better.
I think my skills in Photoshop have improved a lot as at the beginning of the course I had never used it, but now I have used it and understand most of the tools included. I also brought the Photoshop programme for my own computer at home so I could carry out things that I didn’t have time to do in class. Also having this programme at home allowed me to have a play with it and understand things more then what I did in my lessons during college.
For our final product we had to use another programme like Photoshop but it is called InDesign. It was also the first time I had used this as we didn’t create a double page spread in the preliminary task. InDesign was quite confusing as I didn’t know what it was like or how it worked but after using it once I got my head around it. Also this came on the same disk as Photoshop as they are similar products so I could also explore with this at home.
I think by looking at my college magazine- preliminary task and looking at my music magazine – full product that I have improved in using the software, as I edited photographs for my full product unlike the preliminary task. I realised that I had to add more to my front cover and especially my contents page improved as my full product is a lot more busy then my preliminary task, I prefer my music contents page as there is no white on it and carries on with the colour scheme from the front cover. 
Creating a double page spread was also a lot different than creating just a front cover and contents page but I think it did pretty well for it being the first time I had used the software and the first time I had created it. For the double page spread you had to think of a story or interview and the artist’s response that you had done on the front cover. This was time consuming so I planned out what I was going to write on it at home so I didn’t waste time on the Macs at college.
Using the college Macs was quite a risk and when creating this music magazine you have to use a Mac as we began creating them on it. When you work on a Mac your documents were only on Mac systems in college and that was difficult as there are only a few around college, but we had them in our lesson so you had to use your time wisely when in our lesson. Also having our things on the college server was a risk as some of the time it crashed, so you had to make sure that you saved everything as you went along. Some of the times the programs mucked up as well so I just had to put up with it but it was a threat to my work as I could not continue with it. One time I also thought I had lost my work and thought I would have had to do my whole double page spread again but luckily it was on my memory stick, so using one of them helped me a lot.
Overall I think I have improved a lot since creating the preliminary task, using different software, creating new things and just using a different computer. My music magazine – full product is definitely a lot better than my college magazine as I have become more familiar with the software and how to use the Macs. I am pleased with my final outcome and definitely think I have learnt a lot from media, as I have done lots of things I have never before. My music magazine is definitely more thought out, making it look a lot better. Editing the photographs on photoshop as well helped me learn how to do that and also made the final result a lot better. I am pleased with my outcome and I have learnt alot.
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