EVALUATION

How did you use media technologies in the construction and research, planning and evaluation stages?

PHOTOSHOP

• Using Photoshop I found it was easier for me to blend images together, put in different filters and warp the images at my will. This is because I am familiar with the programme and was able to create different styles and techniques in accordance to what I knew. I was also able to learn new things about the software using YouTube, such as rasterizing which allows me to take an image and change it into pixels and dots, and saving images as a PNG file that allows me to place it in other documents without pixilation. The pixilation was a major issue for me as I wasn’t able to bring my images into InDesign with good quality, this was frustrating but when I asked for advice I found a better way of inputting my images. I used this in the construction stage of my work to help me to alter the images I needed to complete my product.

INDESIGN

• Using InDesign was a more complicated experience for me as I had never used the software before, however after learning how to use it and exploring the software a bit more, I was able to create my magazine with almost complete ease. The only problem I had was pixilation of pictures and resizing them so that they fit my page. This however, I learnt to rectify and was able to then create a range of pages for my magazine. I learnt how to warm my text, and images so that they had more effect on the page, I also learnt that you can create a template for your page using lines and squares to separate where you want each item to go and place them within these limitations. I used this in the construction stage of my work in order to create the body of my magazine.

CANON CAMERA

• Using the Canon Camera was a simple task for me. As a previous photography student I found using the camera an easy task. I was able to navigate the different systems in the camera. This allowed me to take pictures using different lighting and shutter techniques so that I could get the best angles and shadows for my models. I also learnt how to create effects with the natural light so that my models came out in a certain way on camera but were still recognisable. All of this allowed me to take suitable images for my magazine. The only issue I had with the camera was the focus. This was because every time the camera moved the focus had to be reset and as it was a handheld shoot, it took up more time when taking photos. I used this in the construction and research part of my product in order to take images that would help me in my work.

EDIROL AND ADOBE PREMIER

• Using the Edirol Recorder and Adobe Premier Elements, I was able to create my ancillary task, which was a radio advert for my magazine. This meant that I could have a high quality recording and edit it in any way I wanted. Being familiar with Adobe Premier Elements meant that it was easier for me to use but I still had issues with using the software because I haven’t used it in a while, I however got over these issues and was able to create my task involving music in the background to appeal to my target audience. The Edirol was a new device for me, but seeing it being used before I was able to navigate it with ease. I did have problems uploading my files but I overcame them after asking for help and was able to upload them much faster afterwards. Using this in the creation of my task was helpful for editing purposes. I also used this in the evaluation of my product so that I could record my findings.

MICROSOFT WORD AND POWERPOINT• Microsoft Word and Microsoft PowerPoint are software I am majorly

familiar with. This helped me to plan and design both my coursework and my ancillary task, but it also helped me with the research in terms of my coursework. I had a few problems with my work because the software kept crashing which meant I had to keep rewriting my coursework, so I instead learnt how to create an automatic save within the documents so that I could keep my coursework even if it failed. I was able to add hyperlinks and pictures so that my presentation was interesting and needed, and use word to enlarge my text and change my font so that I could understand the different conventions of typography in my research

Slide share

• Slideshare was something I found easy to use, but I changed my mind after because of some issues. Slideshare helped me to easily upload powerpoint or pdf documents and embed them within my blogging website. However any internal hyperlinks I added were not working, and when I tried to correct this I could not edit my work. I then decided to find an alternate way of uploading presentation documents.

Prezi

• This particular software was easier to use because I was familiar with it. However the problem with using prezi is that the documents you upload, however you’ve written them or placed images does not come out particularly how you want it too, so you have to spend time editing and re editing these images and texts to fit the document.

Google docs

• When adding a presentation to my evaluation, I found this particular wesbsite easy to use. Being linked to google mail means that the website already has a similarity to blogger that helped me to understand it better and I did not have to login or sign up to anything, always a bonus. When I came across the same problem I had with the slideshare documents I found a quick way of fixing it, this was because I was able to edit my document within the file.

blogger

• I used this particular website to upload all of my work. Being quite handy I was able to access particular pieces of work through other websites and softwares. However I do not like this website as I found it at first confusing and hard to use, I was easily frustrated and it resulted in me not uploading any work until I had finished it all and had worked out how to use blogger itself.

scribd

• This website helped me to upload documents safely onto my blogger and access them quickly after if wanted to change or alter them. It was rather easy to use and if I wanted to get rid of it all I had to do was press the delete button

edexcel

• I used this document to upload the information from my initial research and summarise the data so that I could assess what my audience wanted. Being familiar with this already I found it easy to use, I decided a basic style would work better for me so that I did not confuse my findings.

Microsoft outlook and onedrive

• This helped me to save and download work so that I could access it in any place. This was easy to use because it is an every day type of file that I am used to using.