What have you learnt about technologies from the process of constructing this product?

1. Q6.What have you learnt about
technologies from the process
of constructing this product?

2. Blog:
To present my media course work I decided to create a blog which I was able to use to put all of my course
work onto this. The blog platform that I had decided to use was blogger, I had no prior experience in using
this type of plate form before and I had limited experience with blogging. As I had not previously used this
software I at first found it difficult and had to research specific techniques on google. From example how to
upload my work onto blogger and embed it as well as embedding images
Throughout my time using blogger I have decided
that this is the most suitable way for myself to
upload and show all of my media work in one place.
As I have now learnt how to use blogger I will be
able to continue to use this as part of my future
coursework.

3. Pre Production: Research
In order or me to carry out audience research I decided to create a survey using survey monkey.
Although I had not previously used survey monkey I was easily able to use it as it was simple and
easy to follow. Survey monkey was particularly useful as you are able to distribute the survey onto
different social media platforms such as Facebook, twitter and by email. For my survey I decided to
post it on to my Facebook account which I was able to get the majority of my results from.
The survey results allowed me to create a reader profile,
which is my ideal reader for my magazine. I was also able to
find out information on what my audience would expect to
see from in each issue of my magazine.
Survey Monkey was useful it saved me time as it designed the layout
of the questions and everything was able to be done on a computer
saving me time as well as money on the printing costs as well as
distributing them.

4. Pre Production: Planning
I used PowerPoint as part of my coursework as I thought this would be the most suitable way to present my work. I had
previously used PowerPoint before I started this coursework so I was able to use it easily and quickly. PowerPoint was used
through both the planning stages as well as now the evaluation stages, proving useful in both. During the planning stages I used
PowerPoint to analyse other magazine designs and layouts. I found this useful as I was able to have the image in the middle and
have my analysis in the middle.
After completing my PowerPoint I was then able to use slide share to then
upload it to my blog. Using PowerPoints and word documents on my blog makes
it more interesting and has shown a wider range of skills rather then writing
straight on to my blog.

5. Slide share
I used slide share as part of my course work as I needed a way to upload
my PowerPoint presentations onto my blog. When the presentations
where uploaded to slide share I then used the embed code and pasted it
onto the HTLM section on my blog. This created a presentation that can
be seen and used on my blog.
Slide Share helped me make my blog more interesting and has allowed
me to used different technologies to present my work rather them
writing straight onto my blog.

6. DSLR Camera
In order to capture the images for my magazine I needed to use a DSLR Canon
600D Camera. Before starting my media coursework I already had some
experience using a camera like this and had a basic understanding on how to set
up the studio space and how to use the lights to make the image look good
before editing.
If I had not has access in using this camera I would not have been able to create
an professional looking image that looks as if it is meant to be in a magazine.
Alongside this I used a tripod as well as basic studio equipment including a white
backdrop and lights

7. Production: Photoshop
Before stating my magazine I had not had much experience using photo shop software. This made it harder
to do creative things to add to my front cover, contents and double page spread. However I soon learnt how
to improve the image that I wanted to use so that it would professional and like it should be on a magazine.
From using photo shop I have learnt how to improve an image by changing the levels
and how brightness of an image which improves the quality. If I was not able to use
photo shop for this project I would not have been able to improve the quality to get a
high enough standard for a magazine.
This is an example of how I
have used Photoshop to
improve the image on the
front cover. As shown I have
cropped the image to make
it a more usable size, as well
as adjusting the levels and
brightness and I used the
spot heal tool to neaten up
sections of the image.

8. Production: InDesign
Before I started my magazine I had never used InDesign software before and had to learn how to in order to create my double
page spread.
However as I learnt to use InDesign I found out that InDesign and Photo shop work well together. For example you can have an
image placed in InDesign and able to edit it in photo shop and it will automatically change in InDesign. This will save time as well
as making it easier to edit images while I was working on my double page spread.
If I did not have access to this software I would not have been able to design my double page spread to a high quality. This is
because InDesign has the correct size that I need to use as well as including the columns which I use to design the layout of the
page, as well as features such as drop caps which are a convention for a double page spread.