1. HOW DID YOU USE MEDIA TECHNOLOGIES
IN THE CONSTRUCTION AND RESEARCH,
PLANNING AND EVALUATION STAGES?
Megan Sheraton
2. Nikon D5600
DSLR Camera
◦ When taking photos for AS I mostly took outdoor
shoots which looked good due to my genre. Using this
equipment made my images look much more detailed
and clear which I really like the outcome of. The
equipment was unlike any technology I have ever used
for instance when you release the capture button on the
camera, all of the lights flash simultaneously and then
the picture appears on the camera screen. Surprisingly I
found this equipment really easy to use however still
struggle with positioning at first such as where my
model/models should stand. Thanks to my research
however I managed to find out how majority of the
models stand throughout sporting magazines.
3. Mac Computer
I used my Mac throughout the entire process of my coursework
including research, planning, construction and evaluation. Using
the Mac gave me access to the internet so that I could access
blogger in order to post all my work as well as use numerous
online software sites such as Prezi and Emaze. I also used the Mac
during production to access the software Photoshop which
greatly aided my editing and creating. I feel the graphics on a
Mac are of extremely high equality and therefore allowed me to
make the most professional product possible. As I used the Mac
last year, I feel I have become more experienced with it during A2
as I have learnt a lot of the keyboard commands which made
each stage of my coursework much faster and more efficient. I
also have access to a Mac both at college and at home which
made it easy to open my work from iCloud for instance if I had
forgotten to take my SD card.
4. iPhone 6s
I used my Phone during the research and planning
stages to take my audience interview video as well as to
take pictures of work or feedback I received in class. This
hardware allowed me to immediately transfer work onto
my Mac and therefore was very efficient. I also used my
phone to create social media accounts for my magazine
which I posted links for surveys for instance to get
further feedback from my audience on multiple
platforms. This year I downloaded the blogger app on
my phone as well as software apps like Prezi. This made
it a lot easier for me to check my progress and see what
things I needed to still do.
5. SD Card
When transferring my work from home
computers to college computers I used an SD
card. This was the same card I used in the
studio and with my camera at home therefore I
thought it would be most efficient to keep all
my work in one place. By doing this, I also
ensured that I didn’t lose any of my work and
therefore they added an extra element of
security in case my blogger or Mac crashed.
6. Blogger
Blogger is Google’s free tool for creating blogs and is what I used to organize, record and
plan my entire production process. Blogger allows you to embed or publish any type of file
document or even create your own HTMLs which meant I could effectively make my work
media rich. I have consistently uploaded blog posts every single lesson and multiple times a
week to mark what I aimed to achieve in the lesson and then a reflection of how I have
progressed. I have also been able to document all my research and planning into one place
so that it can be easily accessed and viewed. The journey I have taken through Blogger has
allowed me to evaluate how I have progressed and allowed me to watch my skills advancing.
Blogger allows you to create different pages which greatly helped to organize my work into
categories for easy reading. The time management section dates back to the beginning of
my course date and therefore provides evidence of my work. I also uploaded feedback I
received on blogger which enabled me to improve my work and express my creativity even
further. As I had already used blogger in AS, I had much more confidence with it this year
which saved a lot of time and confusion. This year I have improved my blogger skills by
learning more about coding and therefore instead of just inserting the web address link of
some work, I now can embed more advanced pieces.
7. Photoshop
This was the main piece of software that I used to produce my magazine products,
advert and billboard. It is probably the most popular editing software and is always
used by professionals in the media industry. It allows you to add layers of shapes, texts
and images to a single document in order to gradually build them together and create
a product. This way of layering is very effective as it makes the work well structured
and easy to navigate. It also allows you to blend or overlap the images so that they
merge into one product and not just separate factions. By using it in my own
production it therefore allowed me to create industry feel products due to the
extensive features and tools that are available. Prior to by AS production, I had never
used Photoshop before so was at a very low beginner level which was extremely time
consuming as I had to research what each tool did and meant. After that year of
experience however, I feel I have drastically improved my Photoshop skills and I am
much more confident in the process of editing and usually digital features. I have also
noticed that I've worked at a much faster pace which allowed me to fit more features
and more editing techniques in. For instance, in AS I only edited one image for my
double page spread whereas this year I was able to produce an advert. I also feel I
used a lot more of the tools in Photoshop this year and also learnt a few keyboard
shortcuts which greatly helped with my time management.
8. Emaze
Emaze is an online presentation platform built on html 5
technology which allows users to create, manage and share
presentations through a cloud based system. It offers a variety of
presentation templates including formats using 3d animation and
video backgrounds which really help to make online
presentations stand out. I used Emaze last year and feel it is a
really nice alternative to PowerPoint due to the creative and artsy
way you can present information. The results from Emaze look
very professional and interactive and allowed me to easily embed
them on my blog so that they could be played directly. I like how
the templates on Emaze can be made relevant to your research
for instance I used Mac screens to present the deconstructions of
my websites which looked really effective. I also used Emaze in a
new way by creating an Emaze site which is an online website
template. This allowed me to set out my work in a unique way
I've never tried before and looked effective when embedded on
my blog.
9. Safari
Safari is a web browser developed by Apple and the default
programme installed on my Mac PC. It is one of the most reliable
and quickest browsers available and therefore saved a lot of time
in allowing me to create and navigate sites quickly and easily. The
programme played a big role in my coursework as it allowed me
to access other forms of software to present my research,
planning and evaluations. It allowed me to access blogger which
was essential as my home publishing to present all of my work
and allow it to be easily accessed from multiple locations by both
me and my lecturer. It also allowed me to use a number of other
online resources such as Prezi, SlideShare, Emaze. Safari also
played a significant role in the production stages of my ancillary
task for instance, the programme played host to Wix which is the
site that I used to create my website product. Without Safari, I
wouldn't have been able to access the majority of software
programmes that I used and therefore my blog wouldn't be as
media rich.
10. Microsoft Word
Microsoft Word is a word processing software that
allows users to create and edit text documents. You can
use a range of different fonts, pre-configured templates,
colour schemes and layouts. Even though Word isn't one
of the mot advanced forms of presentation software, I
used it for certain documents that were pre-downloaded
from my college Moodle such as the past student work
review or Photoshoot planning document. This helped
to make my research and planning contain more contain
which I otherwise would not have thought of including. I
do however think that other software materials are a lot
more advanced and visually appealing therefore my use
of Word was limited as I chose to opt for more
professional and modern presentation techniques.
11. Facebook
Facebook is an extremely popular free social networking website that allows
registered users to create profiles, upload photos and videos, send messages
and keep in touch with friends or family. During my research and planning, I
created a unique profile page for my magazine and consequently was added
as a friend by many people in the local area. I made sure that my page was
open so that anyone in the region could see it and therefore this opened
more opportunity for a wider audience to notice my brand. Specifically,
Facebook contributed to my audience research the most as it was a great
way to get feedback. For instance, I posted links to surveys, type forms and
asked opinions of my audience. I feel using this software was successful as it
allowed me to get the opinion of people I wouldn't necessarily ask in person
and therefore I wasn't just limited to my peers views. Facebook is also one of
the main forms of modern day communication therefore it was important to
promote my brand on a platform that is developing in the real media world
as therefore it is more likely to be noticed by the right people. I also used
Facebook to message my models and get their email addresses through a
private chat.
12. Twitter
Twitter is an online news and social networking service where users post and
interact with messages. The messages are known as tweets and can be liked
and shared by anyone. Similar to Facebook, I made my own twitter profile for
my magazine with a profile picture, header and bio. I tweeted a few times
with general facts about my magazine to give a bit of a background story
and therefore generated a following from regional people interested in the
magazine. I then used Twitter in parallel to Facebook, posting the same
survey links, type form links and questions. This again helped to branch out
to a much wider potential audience and get the opinions of more than just
my peers. Ultimately, this helped to make my audience feedback results
100% honest and reliable and therefore I felt more confident basing my
magazine on my findings. Both my Facebook and Twitter profiles looked very
professional when I created them and therefore I feel this advertised my
magazine in a good light. I also made numerous references to the software
pieces in my production products for example their logos are on my
billboard, website and double page spread. This shows how my magazine
was highly influenced by modern trends and therefore I used these software
networks to my own advantage.
13. SurveyMonkey
SurveyMonkey is an online survey software that helps you to create and run
professional online surveys. It is very powerful and a well known online application. I
decided to create surveys on this software for my research and planning audience
feedback as surveys are important to collect opinions, criticism and suggestions from
potential magazine readers. In the past, surveys were normally printed and passed on
to people to complete. With the introduction of online surveys, collecting feedback is
a lot easier and the manual element of the collation process has almost been
eliminated. Filling out a survey online is a lot less time consuming and easier to
access. It meant that I could branch out to a much wider group of potentials rather
than just giving surveys to my peers. I posted the link for my surveys on Facebook
and Twitter which also helped to get a wider range of feedback. There are a number
of competitors in the online survey space however I found SurveyMonkey to be one
of the best know and most widely used. The software is on par with the industry
standards but adds a lot of other features that makes collection and analysis of data
extremely simple. The site was extremely easy to use and then all of the results were
collected in one place which made it easy to analysis. The site also allows you to put
your findings into graphs and therefore gives visual representations of the findings
which helped me to make my result presentation. I feel this was a much more
professional and appealing way to create a survey rather than using Microsoft Word.
14. Padlet
Padlet is a software people use to make and share content online which can also be embedded on
secondary websites such as blogger. It lies between a document software and website builder and
therefore users can create unique content in their own style whether that be like a bulletin board,
blog or portfolio. I chose to use this software to present multiple pieces of work including my
deconstructions and other planning. The site is very easy and intuitive to use which I really like. It
allows you to add any type of file such as documents, images, videos and text and therefore you
can be very creative in presenting a diverse range of things. The design features of the site are
much more professional than that of PowerPoint as there are many options that allowed me to
make my presentations unique but also following professional design schemes. The site allowed
me to use a freeform design and therefore I could add my information in a very creative way.
Most importantly, the site is portable and has a downloadable app which I have on my
iPhone This meant I could access and edit my work from anywhere at any time. I embedded my
Padlets onto my blogger and they can be immediately accessed without needing a secondary
hosting site.
15. Sunderland
College Moodle
A website that I used frequently throughout my research
and planning stages was my college Moodle site. A Moodle
is an open-source virtual learning environment designed to
provide educators, administrators and learners with a single
robust, secure and integrated system to create personalised
learning experiences. On my Moodle homepage, I have my
media course folder which contains different documents and
briefs which helped me to complete multiple research and
planning tasks. For instance, I downloaded the Recce
questionnaire from the Moodle site which allowed me to
deeply explore the different factors that would contribute to
the success of my Photoshoot. I feel that without access to
this software, my research and planning wouldn't have been
as content rich and therefore I wouldn't have been as
organised for the production stages as I was.
16. Wix
One software that was vital throughout my website production was the
website building platform Wix. Wix uses HTML5 Coding to provide tools
and features to make a very successful and professional looking website. It
has drag and drop tools which were quite easy to use and therefore I
avoided wasting any time. I used Wix mainly to develop my own magazine
website, I was able to choose from over 500 pre-designed templates which
helped to ensure that my product would resemble real media conventions.
The site also allowed me to be creative by using a range of images,
moving galleries, audio and navigation features to enhance the audience
interactivity. The addition of these features meant I was able to personalise
my website to represent my brand identity but also appeal to my target
audience, without these features I would have struggled to produce my
website and it would have been more time consuming that it originally
was.
