What have you learnt about different technologies from the process of constructing your media product?
- 1. What have you learnt about technologies from the process of constructing this product? During the process of constructing my music magazine, I heave learnt a great deal about different technologies, and they have aided me in creating a final product which may have been of a much lower standard without them. To help create my product, I used a range of technologies; this included InDesign, Abode Photoshop, Internet, Picmonkey (a photograph editing site), DSLR camera, Microsoft Word and Blogger. I used a DSLR camera when taking the photographs for my magazine. This proved extremely helpful and successful, due to the fact that is was a digital camera rather than a traditional camera. Therefore, I was able to see what photographs I had captured decide whether to keep or delete them and also take many more if necessary as the space available on the camera was vast. Seeing the photographs whilst in the shooting process also meant I could see if anything needed changing i.e. the camera angle, the models pose- even whether the whole shoot was going along the right lines of what I had envisioned. This feature meant I could work more efficiently, as I could refine and change things as I was going along, rather than at the end when I had limited time. Abode Photoshop is a photograph manipulation programme which I used to edit the photograph’s which feature in my magazine. Without this software, I know I wouldn’t have been able to create the same quality of photographs I was able to produce therefore it was not only useful, but essential. For example, in my photo shoots I used a white sheet in the background, though once I uploaded the images from the camera to the computer, I realised that this white sheet looked grey due to poor lighting, and it was also evidently creased. With Photoshop, I was able to manipulate the photographs to extent where the creases were no longer evident and the background was visibly white. Picmonkey is another internet site which I used to edit my photographs. Though Photoshop is extremely useful, there were some valuable features which Picmonkey had that weren’t available on Photoshop. On the website, there are a vast number of ‘Effects’ that you can choose from to place on your photograph, enhancing its attractiveness. I utilised this in the editing process of the photographed I used for my contents page and was very happy with the end product. The internet was probably the most vital technology I utilised throughout the development of my product. Most, if not all, of my research was completed through the use of the internet; for example, finding magazines I could analyse to form a basis of my own product. Plus, without the internet I wouldn’t have been able to produce a blog where I uploaded all of my work throughout the process of creating my product. Lastly, the internet proved very useful when it came to producing these evaluations, as I was able to use different websites to present my evaluations in different media’s i.e. Voki, Prezi etc. I used Microsoft Word when creating my mood boards, writing/drafting captions for posts which I uploaded onto my blog in order to make sure they made sense and to check for correct spelling, to illustrate comparisons with my work and real life magazines to show where I had received inspiration from, drafting of my article for the double page spread and finally when initially typing up my evaluations.
- 2. InDesign is the software I used to piece together all the different aspects of my designs (front page, contents page and double page spread) in order to create their final cuts. Images I had previously edited on different software were able to be placed on the program, to fit into the corresponding magazine format, for example. This is the program I ultimately finished the construction of all three aspects of my magazine, therefore holds a key importance in the constructing of my product. All in all, these technologies have aided me greatly in the constructing of my front page, contents page and double page spread. Without them I can confidently say my end product would have been at a much lower, less professional standard and the standard of my evidence proving how I constructed them wouldn’t be at all cohesive.