Media coursework

1. EVALUATION 6
‘WHAT HAVE YOU LEARNT ABOUT TECHNOLOGIES FROM THE PROCESS OF
CONSTRUCTING THIS PRODUCT?’

2. TECHNOLOGY I HAVE USED…
During the making and production of my magazine, I used
several technologies for research , planning and evaluating.
Including:
• Microsoft PowerPoint,
• Lighting equipment,
• Cannon 600d camera,
• Photoshop and
• YouTube.

3. USING THE INTERNET
I USED THE INTERNET FOR A SUBSTANTIAL AMOUNT OF
THE WORK FOR MY PRODUCTION, PARTICULARLY IN THE
RESEARCH STAGES; INCLUDING THOSE IN EXISTING
MEDIA, CODES & CONVENTIONS AS WELL AS TUTORIALS
LEARNING HOW TO USE THE PHOTOSHOP SOFTWARE. I
ALSO USED BLOGGER TO KEEP MY WORK UP-TO-DATE
AND TURNED OUT TO BE VERY HELPFUL AND EFFICIENT
WHEN I HAD TO EDIT OR CHANGE A PIECE OF WORK.
SLIDESHARE AND POWERPOINT I FOUND TO BE THE BEST
METHODS OF PRESENTING THE MAJORITY OF MY WORK
E.G: CODES & CONVENTIONS. I FOUND OUT HOW TO
EMBED THE PRESENTATIONS THROUGH YOUTUBE
TUTORIALS BUT ALSO USED IT TO FIND TUTORIALS AND
METHOD USING PHOTOSHOP. THIS MADE THE FINAL
OUTCOME MUCH MORE REALISTIC IN THE SENSE IT
COULD BE COMPARED AGAINST SIMILAR MAGAZINES.

4. MICROSOFT POWERPOINT
I found, when I started dong my work which would need
presenting, PowerPoint would be the best option to use as
before this project, I had used it several times before, and
so didn’t need te help of tutorials to assist me. I found this
tool good to use for my evaluation because of the
organised feel of the programme but the fact it is clear
and simple to use.

5. LIGHTING
I used a few different methods of lighting to
achieve the right effect on each individual
image, and so used a soft box and a browline
light at several angles. I found trying out these
new lighting angles helped me in order to
achieve the correct lighting that I wanted. Not
only did it make my pictures look professional,
but it made me realise that natural lighting as
well as using the lights was an extremely good
method when trying to recreate the effects I
wanted.

6. CANON 600D CAMERA
I had zero experience with a camera before this project, other than
that of taking pictures on my smartphone. To overcome this, I
experimented with the camera and the settings that it offered,
including ISO, F-Stop, aperture and shutter speed.
I was heavily reliant on the camera during my final piece as I needed
many images in order to fill the spaces on my contents page and
double page spread. Using this camera allowed me to quickly and
efficiently obtain images for my production, with the camera
containing a playback feature, it allowed me to see what changes
needed to be made to photos in order to get the best outcome.
One thing I didn’t understand very well was how the depth of field
worked on the camera, I used YouTube tutorials and websites in
order to understand how to make the images more effective.
Therefore after the research I did, I became more aware of how the
feature worked, as well as other features that the Canon 600D camera
had.

7. PHOTOSHOP
BEFORE TACKLING THIS TASK, I HAD
NEVER USED PHOTOSHOP BEFORE, SO
EVEN BASIC ELEMENTS OF THE SOFTWARE
WERE UNKNOWN TO ME. TO OVERCOME
THIS, I WATCHED MANY YOUTUBE
TUTORIALS ON HOW TO ACHIEVE CERTAIN
EFFECTS FOR MY FINAL AND MOCK UP
PRODUCTIONS. THE VIDEOS INCLUDED
‘HOW TO MAKE TEXT APPEAR BEHIND AN
IMAGE’ AND ‘HOW TO MAKE TEXT SEE-
THROUGH AGAINST A BACKGROUND.’
BELOW IS A COMPARISON OF HOW MY
FINAL PRODUCTION FRONT COVER
LOOKED BEFORE I HAD PLACED MY
PHOTOGRAPH OF MY MODEL IN FRONT
OF MY MASTHEAD.

8. IN CONCLUSION
Overall, technology has played an extremely
vital role in completing my main task. This is
down to me using it virtually in every aspect of
my work. This can clearly be seen in the
presentation (without technology, my project
would have looked a lot less professional, and
not have to as high a standard.) Furthermore,
other factors would’ve been just as affected, for
example, the basic of me learning to use
Photoshop was predominately down to
technology. I was able to show the skills I have
learnt due to the use of technology, resulting in
a much better outcome than what would’ve
been achievable without it.