2. EQUIPMENT
During the production of my media product, I used a variety of technologies
including hardware and software. I have been able to learn much more about
these technologies due to using them often. The technologies that I used has
also helped me produce my final piece of work.
I was able to develop skills for certain technologies for example the SLR
Canon camera. In the past I have had experience of using it but this time I had
to think about more factors for example the lighting and the ideal background.
The SLR camera also gave me the opportunity to see the images instantly and I
could decide if the picture was perfect. I also had the ability of producing a
large amount of images due to the amount of space the memory card had. This
was beneficial as I had a lot of images to choose from to use in my media
product. The camera also was a high quality camera so the pictures I ended up
with was in great quality so there was no need to really edit them as much. I
ended up learning how to take the best picture by testing different angles and I
also learnt how to adjust features on the camera for example the focus button
allowed me to capture a better picture.

3. MACBOOK PRO
I have also learnt a lot about my laptop and the features available on it for
example when editing videos like my interview with the band, I was able
to use iMovie which made me learn and adapt new skills. It was easy to
get used to as it had a user friendly layout to it. My laptop has also
helped me convert files into the appropriate file to upload on my blog.
Additionally, I also had Photoshop on my laptop which yet again helped
me to do construct my magazine whenever I wanted to. The MacBook
also helped me save all my files as it has a lot of spare capacity
available on it. Software's like Microsoft Word enabled me to draft my
blog spots to see if I have made any errors before posting it onto my
blog. I also used Microsoft PowerPoint to present my research like
mood boards and I also used it to gather different fonts to use in my
media product.

4. SOFTWARE - ADOBE PHOTOSHOP
The main software I used to create my magazine was Adobe Photoshop. I decided to
create all three of my pages on the software. I had a go at Adobe InDesign which
was great for aligning columns especially on the double page spread but it did
not work out for me. I was not able to create my potential idea of double page
spread on Adobe InDesign as it did not let me move my image properly. That’s
why I decided to choose Adobe Photoshop and I had a lot of experience on the
software by creating my front cover and contents page on it. It allowed me to
edit and crop certain photos before hand unlike Adobe InDesign. Adobe
Photoshop is one of the useful technologies that had allowed me to edit my
magazine to make it look more professional. It holds creative features to edit and
adjust images and fonts. I have also gained more experience in using Adobe
Photoshop as I discovered to use features like the magnetic lasso tool more
confidently then before. I also used features like a drop-shadow to make my
magazine look more realistic. I have learnt what different features stand for by
testing them out and I have also learnt how to edit a page layout.

5. THE INTERNET! (SAFARI)
The internet was really beneficial because I was able to find my research from
online by different sources. Additionally, I had the ability to also look and compare
my magazine with different rock magazines online. This included looking at how certain
magazines used typical conventions and applying it to my magazine.
Additionally, there was a variety of websites I used when creating my magazine. First
of all,
I used Blogger for the first time to document the progress of creating my magazine. It
also
holds all my research on it. When creating my magazine, I used blogger to look back at
certain blog posts like “Reader Profile” and posts about the genre rock to inspire me.
By using blogger, I am used to all the features on it!

6. WEBSITES
When conducting my research, I had to present it in a fun way. I decided to use the online
programs like SlideShare, Flickr, and Prezi. I got used to each program easily as it was
very simple to use and it also made my research stand out as it was an effective way
to illustrate different research I had found. They were also very fun to use as they
included a lot features and I gained skills in which I could use in the future in different
projects.
To also edit my photo’s, I used a website called Befunky. They had a range of different
edits to choose from for example “Orton” to “Greyscale”. There was also the
opportunity to adjust the edits to make the photo’s look professional and not too
edited. Befunky has made my skills increase by testing out different photos which
made my magazine look effective as the pictures weren’t too dull or too bright.
Another important website I used was SurveyMonkey to create an online survey which
I asked my target audience to answer. SurveyMonkey helped me gather my market
research in which then I used to create my Reader Profile. The results on the
SurveyMonkey survey was vital as it was mainly from my target audience and their
opinion was valid. The website has helped me build my media product by following
some responses that were given.