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Welcome to my blog. Here you will find research and planning, construction evidence and evaluation for my AS Foundation Portfolio.

Friday, 30 March 2012

Evaluation Question 6

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

During the planning, production and evaluation process of my product I have used a wide range of different software and technologies which has helped me to gain new skills.



I used PhotoShop to construct my front cover for my magazine. This software allowed me to create different layers so if changes were needed to be made then it would be easy to move a section of my page rather than the whole page. I had previously used PhotoShop before during GCSE Art so I had a brief knowledge on how the software worked, however I also learnt new skills during this task. I learnt that you could use different effects on the text like the 'drop shadow' option to make the text stand out more. I also learnt how to make different layers higher than others by moving around the layers at the side bar. I also used PhotoShop to edit my photos which I took with the use of tools like altering the 'saturation' to make the photo's colours stand out more or less.


I used InDesign to construct my contents page and double page spread for my magazine. This software allowed me to create different columns so it gave me a guideline of the spaces to include my text on my article and columns for contents. This software was fairly similar to PhotoShop so it was quite easy to grasp what to do as I used PhotoShop first. Using InDesign, I learnt that you could use the 'free transform' tool to alter the size of the images as with the 'selection tool' it crops the image. I also learnt how to split the page into columns and give the page guidelines and then also view the page without the guidelines to see what it would look like properly. I then placed my front cover from PhotoShop into my InDesign document and exported the file to a JPEG and made it maximum quality ready to be printed.


I used Final Cut Express to create a video including music, text and images for my second evaluation question. This software allowed me to import different media into a timeline and change the length the piece of media would be displayed for. I had never used this software before so everything I did was new to me so therefore I learnt lots of new skills. Firstly, I learnt how to add text by typing the content which I wish to be included and then dragging the text along to the video timeline. I also learnt how to import images and music and then dragging the media onto my video timeline and altering the size of it according to the length of time I wish the media to be displayed for. Finally I learnt how to fade the music in and out as the song I was including was 3:45 minutes long and my video was only 1:05 minutes long so I need the song to fade out and the end rather than be cut off in the middle of a song. This video I created on Final Cut Express could not be uploaded to Blogger through the file format it was in so I had to convert the file to YouTube for it to be embedded on to my blog.


I used Windows Live Movie Maker to create a video including text, music and images for my seventh evaluation question. This software allowed me to import different media into a timeline and change the length the piece of media would be displayed for. I had never used this software before so everything I did was new to me so therefore I learnt lots of new skills. Firstly, I learnt how to add text by selecting the 'credits' option and typing in the content I wanted and changing the size of the font if it was too much to fit on the page. I also learnt how to change the length that the media would be displayed for and the speed the transition would last for when text was displayed. Finally I learnt how to make the text be displayed as a transition so the text came upwards. This video I created on Windows Live Movie Maker could not be uploaded to Blogger through the file format it was in so I had to convert the file to YouTube for it to be embedded on to my blog.




I used YouTube to upload the videos I made on Final Cut Express and Windows Live Media Maker so it was able to be embedded on to my blog. This software allowed me to upload an already existing video file on to the internet to be viewed by the population and can be shared and embedded. I already had a YouTube account and had previously uploaded videos before so it was straight forward on what I was doing so I didn't learn any new skills using this software this time.


I used Prezi in my planning to do textual analysis on professional magazines and in my evaluation for question one to compare and contrast my magazine to professional magazines. This software allowed me to insert text, images and graphics to create a cloud-based presentation. This was my first time in using this software so everything I did was new to me so I learnt lots of new skills. Firstly, I learnt how to insert the media I wanted and reduce the size of it easily. I also learnt how to create a path with all my media so when displayed as a slide show the arrangement of the path would be the order the presentation would be displayed in. I found this software quite easy to use and picked up how to use it quickly. I thought it was also quite convenient as it could be used at home or at college as it was used by the internet and the work auto saved so no work was lost if I forgot to save it. However, I found that this software sometimes has problems connecting to the internet in some places so was quite unreliable. 


I used a D-SLR camera in the photography studio to take the photos to me used in my magazine. This equipment allowed me to zoom in and out on the camera to get the shot distance and type which I desired and the photography studio with the three light system set up working together with the flash on the camera allowed me to create good images with the right light balance and no shadows. I own a D-SLR camera myself so I had knowledge on how to use it although it is fairly straight forward anyway. From my exam based unit on textual analysis of a TV drama, I had previously learnt about cinematography like camera angles, camera distance and composition so they helped me when taking my photography. However I learnt how to use the three light system set up during this coursework.


I used Blogger to record all my planning and evaluation and my final products and stages of production. This software allowed me to insert text and images into a blog post and also embed media from other sites into the post. The post is then displayed on my blog which is available on the internet for the population to view. I can also edit posts later on if changes need to be made or if I want to carry on work on a post later on and the current information will be saved so I find it quite convenient to use as it can be accessed both at home and at college. This was my first time using this software, however it is fairly easy to use anyway so new skills are not really made. Although, I learnt how to embed media from other sites on to my blog by copy and pasting the embed code into the 'Edit HTML' section when editing posts and I learnt how to alter the time and date of the posts in post options to alter where the post will be displayed on my blog.


I used an Apple Mac computer whilst I was at college to use the PhotoShop, InDesign and Final Cut Express software. This type of computer is different to use than other computers so I found it more confusing but picked up some new skills. As you could freely right click on the mouse, most of the time you have to use the options bar at the top to perform different options so I learnt to always do that. It was mainly skills I learnt using the software on the Mac rather than the Mac itself so overall the Mac was quite straight forward to use when I got the hang of it.


I used Wordle to create a word cloud for my second evaluation question. This software allowed me to type out all the words I wanted to be included in my word cloud and the software would automatically create a word cloud for me using different sizes, colours and compositions for each word. I had never used this software before however it was very straight forward to use so I didn't really learn any new skills apart from how to create a word cloud. Although I did not really learn any new skills, using this software was an advantage as it was easy and simple to use.


I used Glogster to create mood boards for my planning, where I created a mood board of inspirational images, and evaluation, where I created a mood board of things relating to my target audience for evaluation question four, of my product. This software allowed me to insert images and text and move around and change the size of these to have them in the place and size I desired. This was the first time I used Glogster before but it was fairly straight forward to use. However I learnt how to alter the size of the images and how to type the text and alter the text's colours, font and background design etc. 


I used Microsoft PowerPoint to create presentations for my planning, where I created a power point on research into institutions that distribute similar products, and for my evaluation, where I created a power point on distribution of my media product for evaluation question three. This software allowed me to insert text and images on different slides and place the text and images where I wanted them to be. The presentation can also be viewed using this software by using the presentation viewer and flicking through the slides. I had previously used Microsoft PowerPoint before so I knew how to use it and didn't really gain that many new skills. However I learnt that you could move around images which you insert anywhere on the slide page and resize this rather than the image just taking up the whole given text box space. The presentations I created on Microsoft PowerPoint could not be uploaded to Blogger through the file format it was in so I had to covert the file to SlideShare for it to be embedded on to my blog.


I used SlideShare to upload my presentation I made on Microsoft PowerPoint so it was able to be embedded on to my blog. This software allowed me to upload an already existing presentation file on to the internet to be viewd by the population and can be shared and embedded. This was the first time I used SlideShare but it is similar to YouTube and I had already used that before so it was fairly straight forward to use so I didn't really learn any new skills apart from how to upload the presentation to the internet.
  

I used Facebook to get final audience feedback on my product for evaluation question five. This software allowed me to upload my final product to Facebook as an image so my Facebook friends could comment on the images giving feedback. I already had a Facebook account so I knew how to upload images so I didn't learn any new skills from using this software but it was an easy way to get feedback on my product so it was convenient. 


I used GoAnimate to create an online animated video for evaluation question five to sum up all my audience feedback I gathered from Facebook comments. This software allowed me to choose the setting, characters, characters' voices and the words that would be spoken from them. This would then be created into a video animation from all the settings I chose. This was the first time I had used GoAnimate before so I learnt new skills. It was fairly straight forward how to use it by following the stages, however at first it was confusing what to do. I learnt how to create a video animation like this quickly and easily which was a benefit. However there was a disadvantage as only ten character lines were able to be created at once so I had to split my animation into several different parts.


I used Pixton to create a comic strip for my evaluation question three. This software allowed me to create different sections of a comic strip, create a character, create the setting, add text and change the position and expressions of the character. This was the first time I'd used Pixton so everything was new to me and I learnt lots of new skills. I learnt how to change the positions of the character by rotating different joints depending on the position I want the character to be in. I also learnt how to create an online comic strip by choosing the layout of how many strips I want. I have found this is a quicker and easier way to create a comic strip rather than doing it by hand, however it could be quite difficult to get the character in the position you wanted them in.

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