Question 6 of my AS media evaluation

1. Q6.What have you learnt about technologies from
the process of constructing this product
When creating my preliminary magazine, I used the
software Photoshop, prior to this task I had never used
Photoshop so in this task it allowed me to learn the
basics of Photoshop and get to grips with how things
work and how I can make my actual magazine as
professional as possible. When creating my
preliminary task I tried to stick to the basic tools as
much as possible, I tried not to overcomplicate things
and I wanted to keep my first task as simple as
possible to allow myself to get used to the software.

2. Research
To carry out my research I used search engines such as Safari and
Google, In my opinion these are the best two search engines
available so I decided to use them in order to quickly find
accurate sources of information for my work. I also used Google
and Safari to gather images of existing magazines such as
'Mixmag' and 'Elektro'. Once I had gathered my information and
images I stored them all into a Powerpoint document which was
another use of technology for my self during the task.

3. Planning
For my planning I used social media sites such as
Facebook, Twitter and Instagram to contact my
models and discuss factors such as costume,
location, props, hairstyles. This is quite different
to the way I usually use these sites as I do not
usually plan as thoroughly as I have done for this
task. I used Instagram to view my primary and
secondary audience’s interests in order to meet
their needs.

4. Production
To capture my images I used the camera on both an
iPhone 6 and an iPhone 5s, I used these cameras as
both cameras are high quality and can capture
professional standard images, which is what i
needed. When capturing my photos I placed my
model in front of a white wall as part of my
technique for editing the image, I used a white wall
as the flash from the camera would reflect off the
wall giving the model an outside glow when I edit
and crop the image which allows the model to stand
out.

5. Post-Production
To create both my magazines I used Photoshop. By
the time I had finished my magazines, i learnt a lot
of new things in which I previously had no idea
about, for example to inner & outer glow tool and
spot-healing tool to edit the image of my model to
create a much more professional look for my
magazine.
I also used the website DaFont to download all of
the fonts used in my magazines, I chose DaFont as it
provides the most unique range of fonts, which was
perfect for my magazine.

6. Evaluation
For my evaluation I used a range of sites which allowed me to gain
more skills. I used technology such as Prezi, PowerPoint, Word and
iMovie to construct each section of my evaluation. Prezi, Microsoft
Powerpoint and Word are all software I am familiar with therefore I
was able to quickly get on with my evaluation and design my
evaluation to the best of my ability as I already knew what I was doing.
iMovie however I had never used before, I struggled using this
software as is a complicated system and I struggled to create, edit and
save a movie for my evaluation – although this was a difficult process
the software enhanced my learning and I began to understand the
system.
I also used technology such as Safari and Google in order to research
and present my ideas, magazine and evaluations, I have had a lot of
experience on these programs so my knowledge and understanding
became better and better.