The document discusses the various media technologies used to create and publish blog posts and products for a media studies portfolio. These included Blogger for documenting work, Flipsnack to present research digitally, YouTube for researching conventions and finding audio, Prezi and Scribd for displaying analysis, SlideShare for publishing presentations, iPhoto for importing photos, and Photoshop and iMovie for constructing ancillary products and a film trailer through editing photos, video and adding effects. Prior knowledge was applied and expanded through tutorials to create high quality final products.

2. Throughout the construction and research, planning
and evaluation stages, I knew that it was important to use
a wide range of media technologies in order to create and
publish my products to my blog. Therefore, I used a
range of technologies in order to achieve a high standard
with my final result. Fortunately, I had learnt about many
of the media technologies that I used during the
construction and research, planning and evaluation
stages of my foundation portfolio. Thus, I was able to
apply the knowledge that I already had, and make my
production as effective as possible.

3. BLOGGER
Blogger obviously played a crucial part in the
presentation and documentation of my work, in all of its
stages. I feel that Blogger is the most appropriate media
technology to use for this course and therefore,
appreciate that I was able to develop my skills and
knowledge of Blogger, from AS to A2 Level. Additionally, I
was able to download the Blogger app to my phone,
which made it easy to upload photographs of
storyboards and mind-maps in my planning and research
stages.

4. FLIPSNACK
The first media technology I used in my research stage was
Flipsnack. I used Flipsnack regularly in order to present my
research onto my AS blog and thus, I felt that I was equipped
with the tools that I needed in order to present my research to
my A2 blog. I feel that the digital magazine or book presentation
gives the research a more professional look than if the
information was simply written onto the blog. It also makes the
process of reading the information more interactive for the
audience, which I feel, is always important on a blog in order to
keep it interesting. The leather cover look used on my ‘History
of Horror’ post, is aesthetically pleasing and adds to the
professionalism that I sought to achieve with my product as a
brand, including the blog. Therefore, I also feel that it was
suitable to present a large amount of my research, including my
textual analysis, as well as my response to the first question of
my evaluation stage.

5. YOUTUBE
YouTube was a crucial media technology that I used in my
research, planning and construction stages. I used it for my
research to view existing trailers in order to identify the generic
conventions of Horror films, which allowed me to identify the
conventions I wished to use, develop and challenge in my own
product. Additionally, I used YouTube during my planning stage
in order to explore which music I would like to use for my trailer.
Furthermore, I used YouTube throughout my construction stage
in order to find sound effects that I was not able to find in the
iMovie sound library. I then copied the link into a YouTube to
mp3 converter and then dragged from my desktop into my
project. An example of this was downloading Mama Cass –
Dream a little dream and placing it into my project as the main
music.

6. PREZI
I used Prezi for my response to the second question of
the evaluation, as I wanted to make it clear that I was
capable of using a variety of media technologies
effectively. Admittedly, I used Prezi more so in my
foundation portfolio as I feel that the advanced portfolio
required more explicit detail, which I do not feel can be
expressed as clearly through Prezi. However, I used it for
one of the evaluation questions to demonstrate the
diversity of skills that I have developed and learnt during
A Level Media Studies.

7. SCRIBD
I used Scribd for the textual analysis of the
‘Insidious’ film poster, in my research stage, as I felt
that it was an adequate way of displaying my
research onto my blog. I created the analysis in a
Word document, which I then saved as a PDF and
uploaded onto Scribd. Next, I copied the embed
code and pasted it onto the appropriate post on my
blog. I learnt about Scribd during my foundation
portfolio research stage and I was fortunately able
to use it again for my advanced portfolio.

8. SLIDESHARE
From my foundation portfolio work, I was aware that
SlideShare was an extremely effective way of publishing
work to a blog. Therefore, I used it in all of the stages of
my production. Although I had hoped to vary the use with
SlideRocket, I learnt that SlideRocket is soon to close
down and thus if my work was published using that
technology, that it would no longer be available after a
certain time. As a result, I used SlideShare greatly
throughout my advanced portfolio as it is easy to
transform PowerPoint presentations and it is also easy
for people to view.

9. IPHOTO
I used iPhoto in my planning and construction stages in order
to import the photographs that I had taken during filming to use
for my ancillary products. I was able to compare the
photographs in iPhoto so that I could identify which photos I
wished to use. Furthermore, iPhoto also allowed me to edit the
photos with effects such as ‘Fade’, which I used predominantly
on the main image for my film poster. Fortunately, using iPhoto
to import my photographs for my foundation portfolio meant
that I had the knowledge and skills that were required for the
importing of my ancillary product photographs. Therefore, I did
not have to spend time watching tutorials, as I did with some of
the other media technologies that I used during my
construction stage.

10. PHOTOSHOP
After using iPhoto to select the photographs, which I planned to
use for my ancillary products, I opened them into Photoshop
during my construction stage. I used this particular media
technology to add text to, and further edit the photographs.
Photoshop therefore played a large role in my construction
stage as both of my ancillary products were created using this
media technology. I decided to use Photoshop for my ancillary
product construction as I felt that it was the most advanced
technology that I was able to access, which thus made my
ancillary products aesthetically pleasing and realistic.

11. PHOTOSHOP
Additionally, my prior knowledge of Photoshop from my AS
production meant that I already had the skills that I needed to
create my ancillary products to a high standard by using tools
on the text such as ‘Drop Shadow’ and ‘Dissolve’ and the
‘Lasso’ tool which allowed me to remove the background from
the main image. Although, there were some tools which I had
not used in my AS production, such as the ‘Burn’ tool, I quickly
learnt how to use it effectively through a YouTube tutorial and
thus was able to use it to accentuate the shadows on both the
magazine cover and the film poster. This therefore enhanced
the images and made them seem more appropriate for the
Horror genre. I also used Photoshop in order to create my
horror mood board during my research stage.

12. IMOVIE
The brief that I selected for my production piece was ‘A
promotion package for a new film including a two minute
trailer, alongside a film magazine front cover which features
the film and a poster for the film’. From this brief, I realised
that the two minute trailer was to be my priority and
therefore, I had to use the best media technology that was
available to me in order to create the best trailer.
Subsequently, I decided to use iMovie, which I have used
briefly before at AS Level. Therefore, I already had the basic
knowledge that I needed to create a trailer. However, I felt
that my knowledge would need to be developed to ensure
that my trailer was as realistic and professional as possible.
Thus, I watched tutorials on YouTube to learn how to use
effects such as ‘Cutaways’.

13. IMOVIE
A valuable lesson that I learnt through these tutorials was
selecting ‘Advanced Features’ as this enabled me to
make far more changes to my footage, such as clip
trimming. I also found that trial and error played a large
part in developing my knowledge in iMovie as it helped
me to learn throughout the construction of my trailer as
my skills developed to a higher standard. I used iMovie to
import and edit my footage, as well as adding transitions
between clips and sounds to enhance the authenticity of
my product. There were aspects of iMovie, which I found
difficult at first but after some YouTube tutorials, I was
able to learn and develop with the construction of my
trailer.