Media Evaluation Question 6 –

What have you learnt about technologies from the process of

constructing the product?

My Canon PowerShot A2500

At the start of the academic year I knew that I was going to be taking media and that purchasing a new camera would help me a lot. So I purchased a Canon PowerShot A2500 with a 16 mega pixel quality and 5x optical zoom. It is a really good camera that takes really good quality pictures and has a great battery life. This camera allowed me to take high quality pictures that would make my magazine look a lot sharper.When I first started using the camera ,during the first photo-shoot I did for the perfume advert, I found it hard to get the right camera angle and shot type. But as the course has progressed I have gradually found it easier this was also helped along by the fact that I am also studying AS Film and part of the 9 key frames is to vary the shot types.

PhotoshopBefore the music magazine task, we had a preliminary task of creating a front cover for a college magazine. This was created and edited using Photoshop, and I have to admit my Photoshop skills weren't great in this task. But I feel as though I have improved during the main task of creating the front cover, double page spread and contents page for my made up magazine. Spending more time on Photoshop and getting used to the iMacs really helped and there was a few tools on Photoshop that I got familiar with, like learning that I need new layers for every object that I create and learning how to use the magic want tool.

Photoshop – The spot healing tool

The spot healing tool was a tool that I hadn’t used before in the preliminary task and it was something that I had to learn how to use. I also learnt that this tool allows the user to get rid of any unwanted spots and blemishes on a face that they are editing and make the skin look flawless.

Before – there are a few spots on her forehead that need to be removed to make her skin look smoother.

After – the spot that was on her forehead has been removed using the spot healing tool, I’ve also got rid of the wrinkles on her nose.

Photoshop – The magic wand tool

The magic wand tool allows the user to remove the background of an image if the user wants to add their own background our cut the model out of the image. This came in rather helpful when cutting models out of an image, it is quicker than using the lasso tool and using the eraser to delete the background. But one thing I found out when wanting to delete the background of an image was that I needed to create a copy of the image so that there is then a background behind the image to delete.

The Image that needs cutting out

Copying the layer

Using the magic wand tool to highlight what wants removing

Deleting and removing the layer’s background

Photoshop – layers Layers in Photoshop are very important when creating a new project in Photoshop; they allow you to create new separate objects and it is also easier for the user to edit their project using layers.In Photoshop, new layers are created automatically when wanting to write text or are adding images to the project.The layers was something new that I had to get used to when creating the magazine and it did take some time getting used to creating a new layer every time I wanted to create a separate shape on my front cover and contents page.

Adding the layers. Obviously in my example I have already created the layers I am just making them viewable by clicking the box next to the layer. To create a new layer or copy an existing layer all you have to do is click (or drag the layer) into this box:

Blogger was the main online blog site that we used to publish and show progression of our work, from the preliminary task to the main music magazine task. Before we started using this in class, I had heard of the site but had never used it and was unsure whether I would adapt to the new programme or not.Once I understood the basics like creating a new post, editing and updating the post, designing what my blog should look like to viewers and embedding videos, prezis and go animates, I found that it was very easy to use. From this piece of technology I learnt that everyone who has access to the internet can view my posts and comment on them. Blogger is proof that the world has developed from standard internet website posting to internet users coming together, sharing what they feel the world should know.

A couple of posts from my blog showing that I have used the technology to embed a pdf document to Blogger and have used YouTube to show existing artists in the rock genre.

Prezi is an online presentation site that allows the users to create and share presentations and ideas using a virtual canvas . Prezi is a fun way to present work and is less boring than the standard power point . It was a new piece of technology that I have never even heard of yet alone use it, but once I had made a couple of presentations I found it easier to use.

GoAnimate is an online site that allows users to create and distribute animated videos. It is a website that you have to sign up to but the content is free and easy to use. Again this was another new piece of technology that I was introduced to at the start of the task. I found that it is simple and fun to use once you have got used to how you need to add characters, change how they move and adding dialogue. I used GoAnimate a few times when describing the conventions of a front cover, double page spread and contents page.

In conclusion I feel as though I have learnt quite a lot with new technologies and how to use them. It was frustrating at first when creating the college magazine preliminary task but once I spent time and effort on them it really paid off and help me create a better product in the end. I am still learning new stuff now about the new technologies and new websites that allow a more creative and fun experience.