The student used a variety of media technologies during their course project. They used a Sony DV camera for filming but found it had inferior quality compared to newer cameras. They used Adobe Photoshop and InDesign to create packaging and print ads, which they had to learn as they were new programs. Blogger was the main program used to present work and findings online. Final Cut Express was used for editing, which provided challenges but worked well. Apple Macs made the work faster and easier compared to Windows. SlideRocket and Slideshare helped present PowerPoints online. YouTube provided inspiration and help with editing techniques. Dafont allowed browsing and downloading fonts for media products. The Blogger app enabled mobile access to

1. Question four – How did you use
media technologies in the
construction and research,
planning and evaluation stages?

2. Cameras
I used a wide variety of technology during this course, some
new to me and others that I was used to. The main piece of
equipment we used was our camera, a standard Sony DV. Now
as good as this was back in it’s prime with what would have
been amazing quality, it really doesn’t hold a candle to the many
other cameras that have such a better video, and sound quality.
As cameras were limited and we didn’t have the funds
personally to buy a new camera we stuck with it. At the end of
the day it wasn’t as bad as I was expecting it, we used the tripod
that came with it, which helped to do some scenes. Editing it
was difficult as we had to use a select cable that the college
had, and unfortunately we couldn't’t take it home, but if we had
a newer camera which took SD cards, we would have been able
to the card home to continue editing at home.

3. Photoshop and InDesign
I used Adobe Photoshop and InDesign to help me create my
Digipacks and print adverts. I had some difficulties with these
programs as I wasn’t used to them as I’ve done As and A2 side
by side. So while I didn't have the experience as everyone else I
did try hard to get to grips with the programs. After using them I
discovered their potential and was able to fully use my
capabilities to get as much as needed out of them. I feel that if I
had more time on the project I could of explored more effects
and tools which were available in the programs to make my final
products even better.

4. Blogger
The main program I used throughout this course was blogger.
This was an easy program or me to get used and be able to work
all the kinks in it. I found it easy embedding and putting, other
programs on it, like SlideRocket. I barely had any problems with
this, apart from trying to embed as the codes wouldn’t show. It’s
also was an easy and simple way of presenting our work and
findings.

5. Final Cut Express
We used Final Cut Express, as our editing program, as it s easier
to use then some others, and was more professional then others
too. Being new to the whole editing side and using Final Cut, it
provided some challenges for us to overcome. Using effects was
the most difficult one, trying to place them at the right time,
and making sure that it didn’t look awful. We only used the
effects when needed, but the most difficult one and also the
best effect we used, was at the end with the crash sequence,
and with the final version of our video came off looking
beautiful. In the end it was the best choice to go with, but no
program is without its fault, and it is tricky to get it to do what
you want, but the options it gives us in editing gave us a much
wider choice.

6. Apple Macs
Using the Apple Macs made life a lot easier. Being only used to
Windows then using a Mac, you could definitely see the
difference. The Macs worked so much faster and ran more
smoothly, and crashed barely ever. They also included all the
programs we needed like Photoshop and Final Cut, already
preloaded on them. The Macs were incredibly useful all the way
through, as it just didn’t take ages to load up programs and
pages.

7. Sliderocket and Slideshare
I used Slideshare and Sliderocket to my PowerPoint
presnetations on my blog. These were a God send that made life
a lot easier, and meant that I didn’t have to write posts which
don’t look as nice as PowerPoints. They were really
easy, straight forward programs to use, and just do what you
need.

8. YouTube
I used YouTube a lot throughout this course, referring back to
other music videos and other amateur music videos, taking
inspiration and ideas from them. Being a frequent user of
YouTube for many years, I was used to it and had no problems
using it in this course. We also used YouTube to help us with our
editing, as we weren’t sure how to speed things up on it, but we
were able to find a video that explained how to do it.
YouTube was such a big help in this, because of Web 2.0
allowing people to share their ideas and creations from all
around the world.

9. Dafont
I used dafont to browse a wide selection of Fonts that would be
appropriate for the use of my media products. There were
thousands to choose from, and it was difficult to pick one that
would suit, and go well with all the media products. The site was
easy to navigate through, and offered a lot of small thing that
would help pick e.g. able to see what your text would look like in
that font.

10. I was able to download the Blogger App on my phone, this
proved useful as I could access my blog anywhere as long as I
had a connection to the internet, and able to keep updated on
my blog.
During this course I could see a lot Technological determinism.
Most noticeable is YouTube and Blogger, and that they are
purely sociable, and with Web 2.0 they are successful. These
websites reflect us, and what we want. I feel as that they was
limits with the technology we used, either not being a state of
the art piece of equipment or something that I wasn’t used to.
Some aspects I was able to do exactly what I wanted. So I think I
was in between of letting technology having a say, and
myself, but I feel that the balance has been good, and I’ve been
able to achieve what my target has been.