ASMEDIACOURSEWORK

1. WHAT HAVE YOU LEARNT
ABOUT TECHNOLOGIES FROM
THE PROCESS OF
CONSTRUCTING THIS PRODUCT?
JOE
HARDY

2. PHOTOSHOP
What I have leant from Photoshop;
Photoshop has a variety of tools to create and edit a realistic magazine. All
techniques are easily explained on google or the adobe website which meant I
was able to produce loads of effects using Photoshop. The tool I used most
often was the “magic wand” or “quick selection” tools, this was used for tasks
like removing the background from the image or selecting certain areas to be
copied or removed, this tool is very beneficial to the magazine as it allows it
be to more professional as areas that aren't needed can be removed or added
to. Another tool I used a lot was the “blending options” where I was able to
change; The opacity, shadow effects, glow effects and other lighting and
blending effects. These were beneficial as it allowed me to change the visual
effect on the images and text in order to produce a more realistic magazine. I
used the text tool often as it provided a wide range of text which varies in
size with a variety of fonts, this text could be edited with the other tools to
create effect, this tool was important to the process as it meant I could add
the typical conventions such as cover lines.

3. PHOTOSHOP-2
When using Photoshop I used a range of tools to benefit my magazine;
First of all I have used stroke effects on many places on the magazine such
as the masthead and cover lines, this makes the text more similar to real
products and it makes them appear to stand out more on the page.
Furthermore I used a gradient overlay for the masthead which is a useful
technique to apply a slow color change (red to white) which makes the
masthead less plain.
Also I used digital editing for the images, an example is on the contents
page. To improve this image I firstly used a black and white overlay to the
image which helped it blend more with the background. In addition I have
included a stroke to the outer surface of the image which is (red and blue)
and to make two separate colors I had to duplicate the image which was
possible with the use of Photoshop.
Furthermore I was able to use text spacing for the sentences which increases
or decreases how close the individual letters or words were together, this
made the connotation fit more aligned on the page making it appear more
professional, also for this pull out quote I was able to use two separate

4. PHOTOSHOP-3
When using Photoshop I used a range of tools to benefit my magazine;
I used the drop shadow tool for the image on the DPS this was possible
by using image options and adding a drop shadow, when selecting this
option the opacity of the shadow could be reduced and the angle and
range of the shadow could be changed. This allowed me to create the
effect of the subject walking in front of a wall.
Also I was able to reduce the opacity of the whole image using the
image options tool this meant that it could be blended in front or behind
other conventions. I also changed the blending options for the image for
example for this image I changed it to “linear light” which increased the
brightness of the image making it blend better behind text.
Finally I was able to use a drop shadow effect for the text, as it was
possible to change the color of the shadow it allowed me to create a 3D
effect on the text as I could reduce the opacity of the shadow so it
wasn’t to dominant.

5. BLOGGER
What have I learnt from blogger;
Blogger was the social media platform I used in order to show
my progress in all areas of creating the media product.
Blogger allows videos and images to be uploaded and
presentations from other sites to be embedded onto the blog,
the blog can be viewed from another computer and accessed
from different technology. Blogger has tools to organise the
posts such as the ability to add “labels” on posts to help
divide the posts to the different sections. Also blogger is
able to edit text and images and all posts can be updated,
published and reverted to draft. Due to these reasons blogger
was the most efficient way of presenting the timeline of the
production and research to the product.

6. EMAZE, PREZI AND SLIDE SHARE
What I have learnt from Emaze, prezi and slide share;
All of these platforms are used in order to present the work I have
created and are all able to be embedded into the blog.
Emaze- This site was helpful as it abled me to present my work
more creatively. Emaze has lots of themes to be chosen from to
make work more unique, Also I found that PowerPoint presentations
could be directly uploaded and then embedded onto blogger.
Prezi- This site allowed me to produce an interactive presentations
and add them to my blog. This site can be accessed from a range of
devices making it very useful. I found that when using prezi text
and image sizing was easily done and all could be put to the
intended scale and a range of templates to chose from which helps
break down information more specifically.
Slide share- This site allowed me to upload my pre formed
presentations onto the site “LinkedIn” where it could be accessed to
other users and be embedded onto my blog, this platform was the
easiest and quickest to use and tags could be added to the
presentation to make it more easily discovered.

7. SURVEY MONKEY
What have I learnt from survey monkey;
I used survey monkey to distribute a live survey to fellow
peers. The survey is able when the host sends a link. We used
the survey to choose the name of the masthead. Survey
monkey was useful as all the participants of the survey only
got one vote once clicking on the link and all of the choices
could be viewed and once the survey was finished all the
results were recorded. I learnt the usefulness of using online
surveys instead of hand out surveys in order to collect
information.

8. CANNON DIGITAL SLR CAMERA
What I have learnt from using SLR Camera;
We used these cameras in order to capture professional images
to use for the media products. The camera has different modes
to set it on in order to change the amount of light and other
factors in an image. The speed of the shutter can be changed to
create effect on the photo. Also the quality of the image can be
changed when changing the resolution of the image. The depth
and focus can be manually changed but to be sure that the
quality remains high I left the camera on “auto” which
automatically focused and zooms to camera.

9. WINDOWS MOVIE MAKER
What I have learnt from windows movie maker;
Windows movie maker allowed me to produce a clip to be
uploaded to my blog. This editing software meant I could add
sound files that were pre-recorded, I was also able to add
images on top of the sound files in the form of JPG- all these
components could be edited too, transitions could be added and
the duration of how long they were on screen could be shortened
and extended. Also this software allows actual video footage to
be edited but this was not necessary as I only used images.

10. BUBBL.US
What I have learnt from Bubbl.US;
This site allowed me to condense my initial ideas for my product
in the form of a mind map. This software allowed text to be
edited and links could be added between the individual bubbles.
Also the colours of the bubbles could changed to make a more
creative mind map.

11. MICROSOFT OFFICE ; WORD/POWER
POINT
What I learnt from Microsoft office;
From the different software's a lot can be achieved.
When writing up ideas and text for the production or
research I used these software's as there are easy to
use. The font sizes can be changed and effects on text
can be done. I used PowerPoint the most as It was most
efficient when logging what I have done in the
production stage.