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

During my preliminary task I was able to learn techniques and skills which helped me to produce my main media product which included; planning, organisation of time, photography skills, magazine conventions, post-production methods and a deeper consideration of target audience.

One of my main issues with completing work is planning and time keeping; by using these in my preliminary task I was able to set myself up for the main piece by allowing myself enough time for ideas (setting personal deadlines etc...) so that my work was to the best of my ability.

When using the DSLR cameras for my preliminary magazine front cover I found that I could experiment with ideas and methods of photography; thus setting myself up for the main task where I used the skills I had learnt and been taught previously - lighting in particular was an interest to me as well as costume and background, so I was able to experiment with the mise-en-scene.

Previously we had explored and researched current music magazines which allowed us to understand the different formats and target audiences - I think this was probably the most important factor of research; given that if we had never seen a music magazine we most likely would have ended up with something that was not in any way acceptable.

Amongst the many elements I discovered during my preliminary task the second most important was definitely post-production; here we learnt about Photoshop, Quark Express and publishing skills in general. From looking at other magazines for inspiration (and our own ideas) we considered target audiences in a much more detailed way; we didn't just go: "17, indie" it was more complicated than that (as I hope my target audience research shows).

Looking back on my work, I believe that the biggest factor I learnt about was probably photography skills; which I imagine is because it is something I have a further interest in as well as being a practical learning skill - I hope these skills shall help me with other projects, whether they be for photography or film.