as media: foundation portfolio

The products i have made were made with the intention to be a front cover and content page for a college magazine more precisely for my college, farnham sixth form college, it was made for the perspective of those who attend/staff the college and are intrigued by up and current college news/gossip and also other information and events around the local area and relevant to the college itself, the topics are displayed on the front cover in the cover lines. 

 

The next topic i would like to talk about is the task requirements, these included photography for the front cover and layouts and text for a front cover and contents page. In the photography for my front cover i used a medium close up (as this is the standard shot for a college magazine), i took my shoot around the college, so students can relate to the locations. I ended up slightly changing the layout of my magazine by changing the location of the selling line/issue number/date, the selling line is now below the mast head and the issue number being the same and date and (added) price below the barcode, i did this as as i was laying out the magazine it looked more aesthetically pleasing to have these features this way. I used the college colour for all text as i believed this would help tailor the magazine specifically for farnham college and give the publication more identity. i used intriguing cover lines and selling line to keep my magazine relevant. For example, “Join our new LGBT Q-MMUNITY”, this not only directly addresses the audience but i am talking about a new society at college (which is personal as i am part of it) , the “LGBT Q-MMUNITY” this not only entices readers but also advertises for a new group for target audiences. the selling line “everything you need to know about college life”. this gives the impression the magazine is a well trusted and knowledgable publication. these are two reasons i believe my preliminary front cover was a success. I also made a contents page mock up this stayed the same as i had planned just more detail was added, to give a more organised look, all of these plus taking my target audiences needs to account is why my magazine reached success. My “target audience” was mainly the 16-19 year old age group as this is majority of the students at farnham colleges age group, the other smaller age group is the staff of the college. the target audience consists of both genders, and a variety of ethnicity and interests. Therefore my magazine had to be very simple and neutral so it would appeal to all groups, also using a variety of topics for the cover lines such as lgbt groups, student union, and coming back from half term. i used this so minority groups could relate and also the cover line about coming back from half term applies to every member (staff ad students) of the college therefore is very relatable. The basic-ness of the publication makes it easy to read and therefore most appealing, as it is easier to read, and not heavy text wise.

 

Finally i would like to talk about the technologies used in and around my preliminary task. Before this task, i had previous knowledge on using cameras and photoshop through my interest in photography as a hobby (therefore having my own camera) and also studying photography at a level, I also did photography at GCSE and therefore had knowledge on the basics and some harder photography and photoshop concepts such as selection tools, lasso, spot touch ups and adjustments like levels, black and white, hue and saturation also navigating layers in general, The fact of also studying photography at a level means i have mac knowledge, so this was handy. the most crucial part of this being my knowledge since this has majorly improved as through media being introduced to new skills and old skills which have developed, I have learned free transforms tools, cropping aspects, and whiter background layers and tools (even if not finally used in the final product during the process were learnt), these skills are going to continue to develop throughout the rest of the course and into the making of my final work to be able to produce my work to the best of my ability.