What have you learnt about technologies from the process of constructing this product?

1. What have you learnt about
technologies from the process of
constructing this product?
Evaluation Question 6

2. COMPUTERS AND LAPTOPS
∗ During our lessons at college and at home, in order to be able to create
and access my blog, I used computers and laptops. I also used them
in order to be able to research, into the pop genre, create and edit
my music magazine, and up load my work onto my blog and use
several technologies such as Prezi and survey monkey.
∗ I found the computers that I used reliable and trust worthy, as I did not
loose any of my work that I had saved and they didn’t freeze or
break down while I was using them.
∗ I am use-to using computers and laptops, so I was able to use them
easily and effectively in order to be able to complete my coursework.
For example I know the short cuts on a computer such as ‘control –
c’ for copy and ‘control – v’ for paste. This helped me to complete
my work quickly.
∗

3. CAMERA NUMBER 1
∗ In order to be able to complete my music magazine I needed to plan and take my
own images. So that I could do this I used a Canon SLR camera which I borrowed
form the media department at college, to take my fist set of images. I found this
camera easy to use and operate. I found it simple to change the zoom and other
features such as flash on the camera.
∗ This camera gave me very good results as the resolution of the final image was very
clear and crisp, this helped to make my magazines images look very professional.
∗ The zoom setting on the camera allowed me to quickly and effectively zoom in and
out on the model during the photo-shoot, to be able to get the camera angle
and photo shot that I wanted, whether it was a mid or long shot.
∗ The flash setting allowed me to get a brighter picture of the model, this was very
useful as it gave me a brighter and clearer picture of the model as the setting of
the image was quite dull. With a white background. This feature allowed me to
take and capture better and higher quality images.

4. CAMERA NUMBER 2
∗ For my second set of images I used the camera that I own at home which is a
Sony - Cyber-shot – Exmore R. This camera was also very easy and simple
to use, changing the resolution of the picture, flash on/off and the zoom.
∗ The flash on the camera was not as efficient as the SLR I used for the first set
of images, as the flash was too bright and made the model look pale and
washed out, the flash also took a long time to go off and the photo taking
process because of this took longer, this was therefore not a feature that
I used for the second set of images.
∗ The zoom however was quick and efficient as this allowed me to get the shot
type of the model that I wanted for my magazines images.
∗ The resolution changer was easy and efficient to use as this allowed me to
take higher quality images for my magazine, the overall image was not as
higher quality as the SLR but the images still looked professional.
∗ Overall , out of the two cameras I would choose the SLR camera, as the flash
is a better quality and the over all efficiency of the camera is quicker.

5. PHOTOSHOP
∗ When I first got told that I was to be using Photoshop to create and design
my music magazine I was not so confident and very unsure of the idea.
∗ At first I found the software very confusing and complicated to use, as I did
not know how to navigate around the page and what any of the symbols
for the editing tools stood for.
∗ However over the past couple of months I have learnt how to effectively
crop and cut images, replace backgrounds, add text, add shapes such as
squares and rectangles to the layout, edit images to make them brighter,
alter the contrast, colour items of clothing, how to liquefy images so that
the edges of example the hair of the model does not look square or oddly
shaped and air brush a models skin so it looks flawless, attractive and
appealing to the target audience of my music magazine. I also learnt how
to soften or harden the outline of an image or shape.
∗ Photoshop took a lot of experimenting to be able to get to grips with the
software, what tools stand for and how to crop and edit an image
effectively so that they end product looks professional. But overall I
managed to get a professional looking product by using it.

6. SURVEY MONKEY
∗ For one of the research tasks, I needed to create and get people to fill
out a questionnaire on music magazines. So that I did not have to
print out lots of questionnaires and ask people personally to fill out
the questionnaire, I created a questionnaire on Survey Monkey. This
website allowed me to create a simple and efficient questionnaire
on music magazines, which I could then share electronically via
Facebook and Twitter.
∗ I found this website very easy and quick to use. It allowed me to
create open and closed questions for my questionnaire.
∗ It then gathered and displayed all of the answers for you, onto graphs
to make it easier for you to read and understand.
∗ For me Survey Monkey worked really well and gave me the outcome
that I needed for research into music magazines.

7. PREZI
∗ When I first logged into Prezi and began to experiment with the
website, I thought that it was a very complex and complicated
website to use. But after about 20 minutes of experimenting with
it, I found out that it was really simple and easy to use!
∗ Prezi is a really good and useful website as it has loads of different
templates for you to use and customise to make your own. Adding
text, extra frames and images is all very easy, most of the time it’s
a click and drag process.
∗ I also found the website very reliable and trustworthy as you can save
your work online and go back and edit it at any time you wish as
long as you log into your personal account. Prezi also gives you the
option to keep your Prezi private or share your Prezi using a URL
code linked to your Prezi, this is useful when you want to share and
embed your Prezi for example on your blog!
∗ I have used Prezi for several different tasks in my course work as I
feel it is an exciting and interesting way to present your work .

8. POWERPOINT
∗ PowerPoint is a very similar software to Prezi except it is not online. I
have been using PowerPoint all through my previous school years,
so therefore I knew how to quickly and effectively produce my
work using it.
∗ PowerPoint has some different features to Prezi for example each
new page is known as a slide instead of a frame on Prezi. On power
point you can add animations to your slides, text and images.
∗ Similar to Prezi you can also change the colour, font, text size and
image size. This is all very simple and easy.
∗ For different task through out my blog I have used PowerPoint as I
feel that it is an exciting and unique was to present your work,
especially when you upload it onto your blog using slide share.
∗

9. GO ANIMATE!
∗ Go animate is an online technology that you sign up to, which allows you to create your own
animations. It allows you to add backgrounds, characters, voices and text. This technology
allows you to present your work in an exciting and interesting way.
∗ I used go animate for a few of tasks in my course work, this allowed me to work and
demonstrate that I can work with different technologies.
∗ I found go animate easy to use first time round, as all of the features are basic and simple to use
but allows you to produce amazing results as a final product.
∗ Adding the conversation of the characters was very simple and easy but also frustrating as you
could only have a maximum of 140 characters per scene of the animation, this meant that if
you had a character talking a lot in your animation you had to split the text over several
scenes.
∗ Another problem I found with go animate was that unless you wanted to go premium with the
website and pay to be a member, you could not create animations longer that 2 minutes,
meaning that for one of my evaluation questions I have three parts, as my overall animation
lasted longer than 2 minutes.
∗ Overall I found go animate useful to use and I found it fun and interesting to create my own
animations. However they can get very annoying to play and listen to as the accents of the
characters are very robotic. But as a technology that I used I found that it was mediocre.

10. BLOGGER
∗ Blogger is a website which is part of Google. This is the website
I used to create my own media course work blog which I have
been able to successfully upload all of my course work onto. I
have found this very easy to use such as adding pages, diary
entries, google docs, embedding Prezi’s, videos, go animates,
links and images onto.
∗ This has been a very useful piece of technology for me as this is
the base to all of my coursework for my music magazine.
∗ I have had no trouble with blogger at all and I feel that it is a
very reliable and trust worthy piece of technology.