Evaluation Question 6 - Final

Evaluation Question 6 - Final

• 1.
  6. What haveyou learnt about technologies from the process of constructing this product? I used a variety of resources to complete my coursework with, both software and hardware which enabled me to complete the final media product. Camera and Lighting: The camera I used for all the images on my magazine was the Nikon D2300, I reason behind this is that I think Nikon is a reliable camera for what I needed it for. It can take professional images which would suite my target audience and look well on my magazine. To add a steady feel to the pictures I also used a standard tripod which is could balance the camera on to get a central frame when taking the images. This camera was useful as it was located at the college site meaning I could go back and take more pictures in the studio if needed without having to set a specific date for when I could use my own. This allowed me to no waste time while in the design process of my magazine. I did use a smartphone camera for the draft images however I didn’t think that they would work in comparison with a traditional camera as the quality did differ in one way or another. I used the camera in a well-lit area which was the studio alongside high quality, artificial soft boxes. These lights meant that no shadows were showing on my photos allowing them to look even more professional. I moved the lights around to achieve a different point of focus throughput the images so I could then pick the appropriate one to fit with all the other elements on my magazine. As I was following conventions most Hip-Hop artists where photographed in a studio with where it was well lit and I though it would take inspiration and do the same to comply with these conventions in relation to my own magazine. Overall I feel like I learnt a lot during the using this camera which allowed me to enhance my photography skills and work with the lightning around me to achieve a well-lit sophisticated image.
• 2.
  6. What haveyou learnt about technologies from the process of constructing this product? Adobe Photoshop CS6: This is the image editing software which I used to create my preliminary magazine, draft and final cover, contents and double page spread. Although I had to learn some new Photoshop/editing skills during this coursework I had independently used this programme before as well as using it throughout GCSE Media Studies. In this piece of coursework, I had to be more careful and go more in-depth of the use of layers and positioning of everything as I had so many liking with each other than moving around. The also become more advanced with the cropping tool as it I had to crop around my model and make sure it fits with the magazine conventions which I was following. Some elements which were new to me was the use of marks and changing colour accuracy alongside contrast and brightness editing of images to make sure they look professionally made. I also had to edit background images so the colour behind the images look like it flows across each magazine and cropping each image test how it would look was challenging however I managed to achieve it and select a few images for my final magazine. I also learnt how advanced the software can be with the amount the of layers that were involved in the creation and how the title may well be more than one layer to align everything correctly for on the font used. I think that Photoshop was one of the most curtail technologies involved in the creation of my magazine because it’s what allowed me to bring everything together into 3 different images. Apple iMac: This was the school’s computer which allowed to create my final magazine and being able to install custom fonts easily made it easier to try out different designs and combinations. This was a learning curve for me as I was used to Photoshop on windows computers but using OSX on an iMac enhanced and expanded my skills into using technology I hadn’t used before. After time, I got used to Photoshop and the way everything was setup which then allowed me to become more consistent using it to create my final magazine. I feel now that I am even more experienced having created everything on that machine provide by the school.
• 3.
  6. What haveyou learnt about technologies from the process of constructing this product? Blogger: This was the blogging service provided by Google which I used to post all my coursework on. This allowed for everything to be in one place and the ability of everything to be easily located using a search bar. For my magazine, I saved slides as JPEGS then uploaded to my blog as an image this saved time as everything was already setup and I had to do was drag the image to my blog for future reference. Google: I used Google mainly for my research and planning by looking at existing magazines and how I could take inspiration from them to design my own version. I also used Google to complete more target audience research about my research and Google Forms to carry out my questionnaire for people relevant to my magazine. This allowed me to make charts and analyse what pricing my magazine should be, name and design including colours scheme. I also used Google to I stall potential fonts for my magazine and analyse how they would fit the gene didn’t learn much from this however it did enhance my research skills overall. Microsoft Office 2016: This piece of software was used to format all my work in the first place which then allowed me to upload them on sites such as side hare and scrbd for me to embed them onto my blog. Most time I spent using word for srcbd then PowerPoint to export as JPEG or if it was more than one slide upload to Slideshare for example this would have been for my audience research. Slideshare, Scribd and other presentation platforms: These sites/platforms helped me lay out my research and planning as well as my evaluation. These different types of formats show a variety of different skills which I leant to use throughout my media coursework. It also makes my blog a little more interesting o look at rather than just looking at the same type of format for each post. Overall I think that I have learnt a to more about technologies than I expected this could be during my use of photoshop or in terms of initial research for my magazine for me to construct the final product.