Diary Entries:

FOUNDATION PORTFOLIO IN MEDIA
CANDIDATE NAME: AARON HUNTER
CANDIDATE NUMBER: 0942
WOKING COLLEGE: 64986

26/09/13:

I have completed my music magazine moodboards for my 'Research' page. This helped me a lot because having all of the images together meant that I was able to pick out some of the themes that are used consistently throughout the different genres. For example, 'Pop' mainly uses bright colours such as pink and yellow.

27/09/13:

Today I completed my 'What makes a level 4 course work portfolio' A4 sheet and have uploaded it to my blog. I have also taken my photos for my preliminary task during college, but I still need to upload them to my blog.

03/10/13:

During todays lesson I started my analysis of my two chosen music magazines. Earlier on in the day during my free periods, I also completed the drafts for my front cover and contents pages. Tomorrow, I hope to record my podcast and then upload it to my blog so that I am able to finish my analysis of the magazines.

04/10/13:

In today's lesson, I finished creating my 'SMART' targets so that during my free periods I can focus on finishing the analysis of my two chosen magazines. Once this is done, I hope to start my podcast this evening.

06/10/13:

Yesterday I wrote a script for my podcast, recorded it and then uploaded it to my blog. Today I have created my 'Go Animate' summarising some useful techniques in rock magazines, whilst also explaining why/how I can use them when I come to making my own.

 

07/10/13:

 

During my media lesson this morning, I made an account on 'Survey Monkey' and started to write out some questions that I could ask people through social networking sites, about the sort of things that they look for in magazines.

09/10/13:

In today's lesson we practised using Photoshop. I played around with some of the tools and also practiced adding images and text. I found it diffucult at first as I had never used the program before, however, as the lesson went on I started to get the hang of it. Next lesson I will start creating my 'Pulse' magazine front cover and contents page.

11/10/13:

I have almost finished my magazine front cover for the preliminary task. I need to add the main image and some remaining text and then I will be able to start my contents page later today during my free periods.

14/10/13:

Yesterday I uploaded the results from my survey, but I still need to write a couple of paragraphs summarising my findings. In the lesson today I uploaded my magazine front cover and started to finish my contents page.

16/10/13:

I have completed the contents page for my 'Pulse' magazine and am now starting to plan out some names that I could use for my own magazine. I have also collected a range of fonts using the website 'DaFont' and I have started to ask people which is their favourite by getting them to fill out a sheet.

17/10/13 - SMART Target Update:

So far, I have not met some of my SMART targets that I set during week one. I have fallen behind on work and am struggling to meet week four's deadline.  Every piece of work that I have submitted and intend to submit, however, has been to a high standard which was one of my aims when I first set my SMART targets. Although I have been starting work as soon as it has been set, I am finding it difficult to balance out the time to spend completing work for each subject.

To conquer this, I have highlighted areas on my timetable where I have free periods and have allocated certain subjects to them. This way, I will have plenty of time during college hours to complete work so that I can spend less hours doing it at home. The two subjects that I have allocated my free time to during college hours are Media and ICT. This is because for the most part of the coursework, these subjects (especially ICT) require specific programs on the computers that I do not have access to at home. Therefore spending time completing work for these subjects during college hours, will enable me to dedicate my time at home to English Language and Film Studies.

 

 

 18/10/13:

Yesterday I completed an update on my SMART targets that I set during week one of our coursework. Today I created a mindmap of name ideas for my rock magazine and decided which one I thought was best. The name that I have chosen for my magazine is 'Rock Radar' and I am now starting to draw drafts for the front cover, contents and double page spread. 

23/10/13

I have completed the drafts for my front cover, contents, and double page spread and I am aiming to upload them onto my blog tomorrow. In todays lesson, I started making my computer roughs of my front cover, contents and double page spread. The purpose of this is to show where I am going to place things on all of my pages in the next couple of weeks when I start making my magazine.

24/10/13:

Today I finished my computer roughs during lesson. I have now uploaded the results from my survey onto my blog and have began to write a paragraph for each question analysing the results. 

25/10/13:

During todays lesson I uploaded my 'computer roughs' for my front cover, contents and double page spread. The purpose of creating these was to give myself a rough idea as to how I want my pages to be layed out. However, these are only guidelines and so when I make my final magazine I may find a different layout that looks more appealing to my target audience. 

07/11/13:

Today I started to explain the choices I made for my third and final magazine drafts for my front cover, contents and double page spread. I talked about some of the conventions that I used and why I used them on my front cover.

08/11/13:

In the lesson today I finished talking about the choices for my third and final hand drawn drafts. Again, I talked about the conventions that I used and why I thought it was important to include them on my contents page and double page spread (and in the magazine overall).

11/11/13:

I did not have my photos for my double page spread today, therefore I spent the lesson making the appropriate changes to my Prezi and other work on my research page.

13/11/13:

Today I started my first draft for my real double page spread. I used my time much more effectively as I am more familiar with Photoshop, as I used it to create my 'Pulse' magazine in the preliminary task. Next lesson, I need to take appropriate screen shots to show evidence of the double page spread development.

14/11/13:

During todays lesson I continued making adjustments to my double page spread drafts. The picture above is the third screenshot of my double page spread, showing what it currently looks like. The article page looks very packed and does not have enough room for the strapline that I intend to include. Next lesson, I will continue to make the appropriate changes to my double page spread and address the issues with the content, whilst remembering to take screen shots to show evidence of my progress.

 

15/11/13:

 

 

In the lesson today I continued to develop my double page spread draft. Although it follows some conventions and looks fairly realistic, I think I will have to make a number of changes for my final product In order to make my double page spread look as professional as possible. For example, the background behind my article text (on the left side of the page) is too bright for a rock magazine, therefore it does not currently follow one of the typical conventions.

20/11/13:

Today I started the construction of my contents page. I added borders, some text and also page numbers so that I now have a rough layout of my page ready for next lesson. When adding all of these things to my contents page I made sure that I stuck with the house colours that I used in my double page spread in order to have consistency throughout my product. During tomorrow's lesson I will start to add my images and play around with the layout some more.

25/11/13:

During todays lesson I started the construction of my front cover. I managed to complete the layout of the cover using cover lines, banners and pugs. Tomorrow I will begin to add both images and text.

28/11/13:

In today's lesson I continued to develop my front cover. I changed some of the layout of the cover lines and pug so that it looks more presentable. Next lesson I aim to insert my main image onto my cover and start to edit it.

04/12/13:

Today I could not continue to develop my front cover as I left my document at home and forgot to put it on my USB. Instead, I wrote paragraphs underneath the existing screenshots that I already had on my blog, explaining what I had done on photo shop to produce the image.


05/12/13:

Question 1: Who would be the target audience of your media product?
Identify the target audience in as much detail as possible.
Include secondary audience's too.
Consider their likes/dislikes e.g. fashion (mood board).
Remember to use media terminology e.g. Niche etc.
Use different technology such as podcasts, videos and prezi's.

11/12/13:

In todays lesson I started the first question for my evaluation of my magazine. I decided that I would complete the question using 'Prezi' as I thought this would be the best way to tackle the question. I aim to complete this question during tomorrows lesson so that I can then begin question 2, remembering to use a different technology for each.

12/12/13:

During todays lesson I finished question 1 of my evaluation using 'Prezi'. Throughout the presentation I talk about not only the primary audience of my magazine but also the secondary audience. I hope to embed my Prezi onto my blog tonight so I can then begin answering question 2.

16/12/13:

Today I continued to develop my contents page. I had been experiencing difficulties opening the previous document and so unfortunately I have had to start again. I am aiming to complete my contents page by the end of the week because I do not have Photoshop at home. This will allow me to focus purely on my evaluation over the Christmas holidays.

19/12/13:

During the lesson today I worked on my construction page. I wrote descriptions underneath my screen shots of my magazine's construction in order to explain what was going on in the picture.

22/12/13:

I spent today and yesterday making final changes to my front cover, contents page and double page spread. I am happy with the final outcomes of all my pages, having made a fairly professional looking final product. During the Christmas holidays I will aim to complete most, if not all of my evaluation questions.

27/12/13:

Today I completed evaluation question 2 using slide share. I chose to present my ideas through slide share as I had to write a large amount of information and also I need to try and use as many different technologies to answer each one.

31/12/13:

Today I completed evaluation question 3, 4 and 5 using a ranch of different technologies such as Microsoft Word and Podcast via Archive.org. I used word to write evaluation question 3 and 5, and recorded my voice to answer evaluation question 4.

5/01/14:

Throughout the course of today I finished my evaluation questions using Slideshare and Microsoft Expression. I created a PowerPoint and uploaded it via Slideshare to answer question six as I thought this was the best way to tackle the question. For my last question I recorded my screen with my voice over the top to compare my preliminary task to my final product.

9/01/14:

Today I finished my construction page by writing about each of my magazine pages under each image. As I am approaching the final deadline I need to upload my final images to my 'final construction' page.

23/01/14:

Today I uploaded my final construction images to my 'final construction page as both PDFs and JPEGS. The images are viewable by clicking on the link, taking you to my Google docs page with my final front cover, contents and double page spread.

My Biggest Weakness:

My biggest weakness is my priorities. Most of the time, I tend to put my hobbies and the things that I enjoy outside of college first. Instead of completing work as soon as it is set, I leave it until nearer the deadline and then find myself rushing work and failing to complete it to a high standard. To overcome this weakness, I will complete all of my work when it is set and also try and get most of the work out of the way during college hours, so that I don't have a huge pile up of work to complete in such little time. I think I can do well in the coursework and overcome this weakness as long as I keep myself disciplined and motivated to achieve the best I can!

Specific: As soon as I am set work, I need to complete it as soon as possible so that it does not build up. In order to do this, I can make use of my free periods during college hours and complete any outstanding work. This way, I will not have as much work to do during my free time and will therefore not get distracted.

Measurable: Whenever I am set a piece of work, I need to make sure that I complete it to the highest standard possible, and also as soon as possible. Once this is done, I can mark this piece of work off and move onto the next task.

Attainable: I think that I am more than capable of completing all of my work to a high standard and I can achieve this by devoting a large part of my free time to completing any work as soon as it is set.

Relevant: I believe that everything I have included in my SMART targets so far is relevant to helping me achieve the best I can. All of my targets are realistic and I am fully capable of sticking to them and getting a high grade.

Time-bound: Throughout my time completing work for my blog, I need to make sure that I meet all of the weekly deadlines and of course the final deadline on the 15th January 2014. By meeting all of the deadlines running up to January, I will be able to stay on top of my work and not fall behind. 

What makes a level 4 coursework portfolio?

For this task I created a mind map explaining what I thought would make a level 4 coursework portfolio. The mind map has six branches coming off of it, and each of these branches have a sub heading. Every heading included in the mind map is one of the tabs that is included on my blog. In each section, I talk about what I think will help me achieve high marks for that area of the coursework. Although the 'Preliminary Task' section does not offer marks, I thought it would be appropriate to include it in the mind map to get me thinking about what I need to include in it. Apart from the requirements I have already mentioned, I also need to make sure that all of my work is completed to the highest standard possible and meet all deadlines.