Final Evaluation Question Six

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

During the production of my final product and the coursework I have learnt how to use and developed my skills of using many different technologies and software. These include online facilities such as DaFont, SlideShare and Scribd; Web 2.0 facilities such as Blogger; presentation facilities such as Glogster, Prezi, SlideRocket, Animoto and iMovie; Photoshop software and photography equipment. Throughout all of the coursework I used my MacBook Pro to do my work, this helped me to keep all my work organised and saved in one area rather than on both a Mac and PC; I also used my iPhone and iPad, as these allowed me to work on-the-go, using the Blogger, Prezi, Adobe Photoshop and YouTube apps, as well Safari.

Research and Planning

During the research and planning stage of the coursework I used many different technologies to help me. For example, when research existing products I used Google search engine to find images, which I then placed into word documents to annotate and analyse them, before uploading them onto Scribd, which allowed me to embed the documents onto my blog. Using Blogger in this way helped me to keep all my research in one place, making it easier for me to refer back to it when necessary. I also used Photoshop CS6 during the planning stage to create mock-ups of my ideas so that I had a visual idea on which I could make a decision and gain feedback. I also used Photoshop to edit test shot photographs, experiment and improve my skills. When taking the text shots I used a compact digital camera, which meant that these were not in great quality. I also used a website called ‘DaFont’, this allowed me to find different and interesting typography for my magazine, I collected several options from the website whilst in the planning stage.

Production

The production stage of my coursework mainly consisted of photography. For the first draft and test shot images I used a compact digital camera, and no lighting, to take my photographs, consequently, these were not of a high quality and became slightly blurry when placed into Photoshop for editing. For this reason, I reshot my photographs for my final product; this time I used a Digital SLR camera and lighting to generate better quality images. Once all my images were taken I uploaded them onto my blog, as this allowed me to gain feedback and keep them all in the same place, so that I could access them from anywhere.

Post-Production

During the post-production stage the main technology that I used was the Adobe Photoshop CS6 software; this program allowed me to edit my photographs and arrange the layout of all 3 elements of my media product. I developed a lot of Photoshop skills during the post-production stage and I used tutorial videos available on YouTube to do this. I also spent a lot of my own time practicing and refining my skills to make sure my photograph edits looked as realistic and professional as possible. During post-production I also used Blogger to regularly post updates on my work, changes, and added research, as well as extra feedback.

Evaluation

During the evaluation stage I have used many different technologies and platforms to present my ideas in different ways. For all of my evaluation answers I used word to write a draft, and Scribd to upload these to the Internet and embed them into my blog, this allowed me to keep them all in one area that I could access at any time from anywhere. For the final evaluation questions I used a different presentation method for each question; the first being a Prezi presentation. To make this presentation I used the online facility to paste my essay into a presentation format, I then also edited this on the go using my iPad and the ‘Prezi’ app. The second evaluation question I presented in the form of blog post, into which I embedded a relevant YouTube video, several images of examples of existing texts and a split screen image that I produced using Photoshop CS6. For the third question I used Scribd to embed my evaluation in word document form, including images and examples within the document. The fourth question I presented using SlideRocket, an online facility that allows you to create slide shows similar to those made on Microsoft PowerPoint; however, creating this on an online format allowed me to access and edit it from anywhere, including on my iPhone and iPad. This website also allowed me to embed it directly on to my blog, as opposed to a PowerPoint presentation where I would have to first upload it to SlideShare in order to embed the document. To present the fifth question I created a video using iMovie, in which I placed some text and images of my final product; I then uploaded this to YouTube and added annotations in speech bubbles before embedding it into my blog. For the sixth question I created another blog post, but also added in a video that I made on Animoto to go alongside the text. For the seventh, and final, question, I used Glogster to present my work and add annotations before embedding the pages into my blog.

Make your own slideshow at Animoto.