Question 6 – What have you learnt about technologies from the process of constructing

this product?

Preliminary taskWhen I constructed my preliminary magazine I used the software Photoshop. Previous to this task I had used Photoshop before but not in detail and there was still much of the program that I had never used or understood. By using Photoshop for this product it allowed me to progress with the tools and I learnt a lot more about it. I learnt where the most important tools are that I would be needing to use many times such as shape tools, text, and the crop tool. These helped to create my preliminary magazine as I used shapes like circles, rectangles and squares on my front cover and contents page, this was to make certain texts stand out and ad more colour to the magazine, which would appeal more to the audience of students. I also added writing by using the text tool to make it clear what the magazine was about and what was included, this also makes it look more like an actual magazine. I learnt how to edit images through ‘image’ then ‘adjustments’ then I selected how I would like to edit my images such as the ‘brightness/contrast’ which I used to make my image stand out more. Learning all these techniques would then allow me to construct my main magazine more professionally and in more depth.

crop text

shapes

Research For my research I used Google to find everything I needed about magazines, genres, colour schemes, layouts, audience ect. I found images of existing magazines and destructed them as part of my research to get a better understanding of the characteristics of successful magazines. I also found images of what I would like my magazine to contain and be styled around, in which I created a mood board of my ideas on PowerPoint. The PowerPoint I used is an up to date version on a Mac computer, using PowerPoint helped me to present my findings in an orderly controlled fashion. To make my work creative and stand out I have tried to use the tools provide by PowerPoint such as fonts, colours, pictures and shapes to create more interesting research work.

PlanningWhen planning my magazine I used my phone and Instagram for contacting my models and finding out my primary and secondary audiences interests and exactly what these specific people like and would expect to see in this kind of media product. I used my phone to contact models to discuss costume, make up, props, and hairstyles so that there was a better understanding of the teak before it was done. Before this I was already familiar with phones and Instagram however I used them in a different way to what I usually would, finding out new things about the.

Production I used my smart phone to take the photo shoot as smart phones should be fully capable for this type of work however if I were to do it again I would use a Canon ES 1200D DSLR camera for a more professional look. I places my model in front of a light, blank wall in a brightly lit room to get the brightness and contrast up. I had never taken a photo shoot before so I did research in advance to how to operate in that experience. I gained more skill by uploading these images taken onto the Mac’s and edited them on Photoshop. The images from my preliminary task task are very different even though I used my phone for both the preliminary task was more spontaneous rather than a planned photo shoot with props, makeup and chosen clothes. Both the preliminary task and the main music magazine task has helped me improve and gain knowledge of taking, uploading and editing images on new technologies.

Post-productionBy using Photoshop for my magazines I learned more and gained confidence in this software. I also learnt about other tools on there that would benefit my magazine greatly and make it look more professional. Tools such as the ‘spot healing tool’ which allowed me to cover up any unnecessary imperfections within the image. I used this on blemishes, creases in the clothes and to smooth over rough spots. I also used the ‘erase tool’ to get rid of any unnecessary marks that stood out and made my magazine look unprofessional to give it a more finished and clean look.

I used DaFont to add mote unique styles of writing to my magazine to fit the genre and target audience. I had never used DaFont before and had trouble downloading and uploading my chosen fonts to Photoshop, however I quickly learnt my mistake and managed to successfully add the fonts to Photoshop without anymore difficulty. These font styles help make my magazine more professional and relates to me genre more and gives it a more unique style.

Learning new skills through out my preliminary and main task has helped me gain a better understanding of the technologies I have been using and helped my magazine gain a better professional standard. All these skills together allowed me to create and accomplish my aim for a music magazine.

Evaluation For my evaluation I used a range of programmes which helped to present my information. I used Prezi, PowerPoint, Slide share and Bubbl. I learnt more about PowerPoint and slide share during the production of my magazine and decided to use them in my evaluation as my skill had progressed and I can use them well. I had never used Prezi before creating my music magazine and I used it in my evaluation as is it a completely new skill that I have used during the making of my magazines. The first time I had used Bubbl was for my evaluation and I wanted to use another software technology for the first time to show that I am able to quickly grasp new websites through the skills I have learned through these tasks. I also used Google for research and to search for images for the evaluation questions as well as other programmes like Photoshop and word, in which I uploaded all of my information to Blogger.