Media Studies AS Level Coursework by Curtis Smith, Evaluation Question 6.

1. During the creation of my media product, a music magazine, I’ve learnt a great deal about technologies and they have vastly helped, and improved, my media product had I been without them. During the process of creating my product I regularly blogged about what I’d done and so in parts of my answer to this question I’ll reference these blog entries or make use of the screen prints featured in these blog entries.

2. To make my product I used a number of different technologies. Needless to say, I used a computer but below is a list of other technologies I made use of for the task; -Digital Camera -Digital Video Camera -Scanner -Adobe Photoshop -Quark Xpress -Internet Explorer (Blogger and numerous other websites) -Microsoft Word/Open Office Writer -Microsoft PowerPoint/Open Office Impress

3. Digital SLR Camera This was used for taking pictures for my magazine and proved extremely helpful. The fact that it was digital rather than a traditional camera meant that instantly I could see what I’d taken and had the option whether to keep it or not. Due to the large amount of space on the camera I was able to keep all of the pictures until I could see them on the larger computer screen. The fact that I could see what I’d taken however was very useful as I knew if I was along the right lines of what I’d envisioned or whether I needed to change the camera angle to achieve a different end photograph. With this camera I learnt a number of things, namely how to use it but also how to use the features of the camera to get different effects for my photographs.

4. Digital Video Camera A digital video camera was used during my evaluation (in the previous question to this) to help really evidence what my audience thought. It was a new piece of technology to me that I hadn't used but was effective as videoing people is the best way to evidence people's views. Not only that, it helps to make my evaluation more interesting and engaging because your hearing and seeing rather than simply reading text blankly off a screen.

5. Adobe Photoshop Photoshop is an image manipulation program that allows me to edit the photo's I'd taken, it was extremely useful in the development of my media product and made possible images which simply couldn't have happened previously. For example on my contents page where the same picture is used 8 times but in a different colour 6 times, photoshop made this possible as I was able to manipulate the image on the program. Not only that on the front cover of my magazine I cropped the model's head out and placed it so that the masthead could be seen but her head was over the top of it. This simply wouldn't have been possible without new technology.

6. Adobe Photoshop (2) 1- The original picture 2- Image manipulated using Photoshop to have the model cropped out so she is in colour yet the background becomes black and white 3- Further image manipulation the pictures to give them a different colour

7. QuarkXPress QuarkXPress is a desktop publishing program that enabled me to create my double page spread. Again this piece of technology was new to me but it allowed me to create a product I otherwise would have been unable to make. Specifically the writing over the image on the right side of my double page spread was an effect that I would have been unable to achieve without this piece of technology and that tied into the whole theme of the feature and was therefore extremely important to the whole magazine.

8. Internet Explorer The internet was immensely helpful to me during this project, not only during the research section of the project but also through the creation of the blog which allowed me to document the work that I'd done. During the research stage the internet was extremely useful as it allowed me to look into the forms and conventions of magazines and do some basic research about magazines before I went to look at three during my detailed research. Another aspect of the internet that was particularly important to me was the blog. On the blog I was able to document all of my research and show it in a clear and concise way that wouldn't have been achieved or supported by evidence such as pictures if it had been handwritten. The blog was also used to keep a track of the skills and experience I've gained through the production and post-production stages of making my magazine. This proved extremely helpful when coming to do the evaluation.

9. Scanner This piece of technology enabled me to scan in different magazines and my drafts and was therefore particularly helpful during my research and planning stages. It enabled me to highlight and evidence what I was discussing in the research and also prove that I had planned my pages before going into production and post-production of my magazine. An example of my scanned in work can be seen to the right.

10. Microsoft Word/ Open Office Writer This technology has allowed me to prepare the written feature for my double page spread and also to draft my blog posts to ensure they make sense.

11. Microsoft PowerPoint/ Open Office Impress These programs have proved extremely useful during my evaluation, as shown by the fact they're being used for this answer and one other. I've learnt these help to make the pages more interesting not only because more pictures can easily be included but also because people have to interact with the slide to read more and are therefore more engaged.

12. Overall technology has helped me with my task of creating a front cover, contents page and double-page spread in numerous ways and without it; the end product I created would be considerably less professional and of a lesser quality. It would have also resulted in me being less organised and showing less cohesive and clear research, planning, skills and evidencing.