Q6) what have you learnt about technologies from the process of

constructing this product?

Hasan Ahmed

• Whilst planning, researching and constructing my front cover, contents page, and double page spread I utilised various forms of technologies that I was previously not aware of. These were vital in the final production of my product. The technologies that I used are listed in the forthcoming slides.

Research• To carry out my research I used search engines such as Safari and

Google, In my opinion these are the best two search engines available so I decided to use them in order to quickly find accurate sources of information for my work. I also used Google and Safari to gather images of existing magazines such as ‘XXL’ and ‘Vibes'. Once I had gathered my information and images I stored them all into a Power point document which was another use of technology for my self during the task.

• For my planning I used social media sites such as Facebook, Twitter and Instagram to contact my models and discuss factors such as costume, location, props, hairstyles. This is quite different to the way I usually use these sites as I do not usually plan as thoroughly as I have done for this task. I used Instagram to view my primary and secondary audience’s interests in order to meet their needs.

• Blogger is a website that I had never used before. It’s associated with Google and allows people to publish blog posts on their own personal profile. Blogger is hugely important regarding my media studies work as it contains my whole foundation portfolio. Every piece of work I completed would be uploaded in chronological order publicly for anyone to see. It is extremely useful and I have learnt the ability of using embed codes to stream technological advanced pieces of work e.g. from YouTube or Prezi and the ability to use Blogger in general. I would most certainly use Blogger again.

• Prezi, a presentation software on the internet is a brand new technological feature I have learnt whilst completing my AS project. I could make presentations for my task on Prezi and use the embed code to upload each one onto my blog. It is extremely useful and interactive to interest any viewers so I will definitely use it again in the future. Slide Share is a presentational software that I have never used before. It enables you to upload PowerPoint presentations and then transform them into a smaller window to share on websites like Blogger by copying and pasting the embed code. This is a very useful way to make simple presentations yet to have the ability to share them online.

• YouTube is a website particularly for streaming videos. Before the project I was familiar with YouTube, however I had no idea of how to upload and stream my own videos. I used YouTube to finalise my iMovie videos to put on my blog, this is a new skill I have gained in the process as I was able to share my videos by simply copying the embed code. I will be using YouTube a lot more now I can do this.

Photoplus• I used Photoplus for all three of my pages for my

magazine and I used it for my preliminary task. Photoplus was the best program I used in this project as I was able to design, layout and edit my photos, text and magazine. I used tools such as Contrast and Brightness to alter my images to give them more vibrancy, I also used the magic wand tool, quick selection tool, magnetic lasso and the eraser to cut round my images of ‘Stormzy’ so she could appear in front a pure white background. For my double page spread I highlighted one of ‘Stormzy’s’ quotes, “Hard work, reslillience” and to go alone side this I decided to place this quote in a shout out box to make it stand out.

• A major piece of technology that I learned a lot about was Photoshop. I used many features such as how to add a gradient effect, using the lasso and clone tool, manipulating my images by cropping out and adding in backgrounds, changing the colour of certain objects as part of the mis-en-scene of the picture. For example, I learned how to add a solid gradient for the background of my front cover that would be represented throughout the magazine as a house style, this was because after looking at a range of real life products that didn’t have a mix of colours for the background, I tried to emulate them and therefore I chose this particular effect. The impact that this decision had was that it makes the bright red masthead stand out from the black colour and the models stand out from the white gradient.

Photoshop

• Polygon lasso- I also learned how to use the polygon lasso which really helped me to neaten and tidy up my images and to make them look more professional. For example, one of the models hair was sticking out so I used this particular tool to outline that piece of hair and using the magic eraser tool I rubbed it out. This feature was useful as I used it for many other images to polish them up.

• Also, I learned how to add in and cut backgrounds out on my contents page. This impacted my magazine as I had a variety of images that were individual, unique and different from each other E.g. I learned how to completely crop the background off a picture.

• • Manipulating my images was difficult for me at first as I was not sure on what to change. Although, after experimenting with different features and educating myself on how they work, what they are used for and how they could be applied to my images to change them. For example, I learned how to change the colour of certain objects (the mis-en-scene) of particular items ie: on the front cover I darkened the models eyes to create a more intense and dramatic effect that would make them stand out and link to my genre.

Some Tools

Conclusion

To conclude, I think that the software I have used throughout the whole of this process has worked well in creating the best possible magazine. Definitely Photoplus & Photoshop, they have helped me amazingly to create a stylistic, sleek and genre/target audience attracting magazine. Finally, presenting my work has been enjoyable and successful due to blogger and the other software formats you can use to make your work look even better in technology and style forms. Most predominantly Prezi, this software can make presenting work very interesting and appealing to present.