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

My preliminary task in comparison to my final piece is completely different. With limited knowledge on magazines and how they are constructed my preliminary task was the first media product I have ever attempted to produce therefore it was poorly produced. Within the time span between my preliminary task and my final piece I have learnt how to use the software sufficiently to create a magazine which is a lot better than before.

My preliminary task was obviously my first experience in creating a media product, it was done with Microsoft Word rather than the better programmes such as Corel Draw which I decided upon later on. I did not have any knowledge of these programmes and would not of been able to construct a magazine with my little knowledge of them and what kind of audience I was trying to aim them at. The construction of my school magazine front cover and contents page was extremely clumpy and the images and writing were not anchored together nor in a place which looked nice. The magazine for my preliminary task was of little quality and unfortunately did not look very good.

By my main task I had gathered knowledge of how to construct a magazine and how to make it look put together well. For my main task I did lots of research which I had not really done before which allowed me to have a wider knowledge of my audience and what they like. I also had a better knowledge of the software I was using and the software was a lot more efficient than Microsoft word. The final three pieces were of higher quality that the previous task which highlights my development in constructing magazines. I believe the fact my work got better is down to the research I did throughout and the better understanding of the programmes I was using helped make it a lot better.

Once I had finished and began comparing the two attempts of creating the magazines I understood that throughout this time my skills in constructing a magazine have developed as I have gained more knowledge. I feel that my previous attempt was extremely clumpy and looked nothing like a professional magazine, this was largely down to my lack of knowledge about how to construct a magazine, anchorage and my lack of research. However after ensuring I completed all these tasks before starting work on my final piece the magazine comes across a lot more professional and is put together better than before.