DIGITA

L TECHNOLO

GY

L UK

E B

L OW

During the term of my AS coursework I learned that digital technology can be utilized at all stages of creating a media product.

HARDWARE AND SOFTWARE

The most basic yet key piece of technology that I used was the computers in college. Each came with a hard drive that was large enough to store a vast amount of files and work - which was incredibly helpful the various different drafts completed and information needed for research.

As well as the large space on the hard drive of the computer, the large desktop space allowed me to really plan what we aimed to do, the extra screen that accompanies the majority of computers was also extremely beneficial as it allowed me to tend to more than one task at once with ease.

Without the computers, access to the aforementioned editing software, internet and social media would have been rather difficult and therefore, are products would have been much harder to create. 

RESEARCH

One way that I was able to use digital technology was in researching my target audience. Through the use of online questionnaire creator Survey Monkey, I was able to collect data on my target audience on what magazines they already liked and what features of them they enjoyed which was useful in deciding what I needed to implement into my own magazine, for example I learned that NME was a popular magazine and that the largest audience of rock music magazines was 16-25 year olds, therefore I created my product accordingly.

BLOG

Previous to my coursework I had never engaged in blogging which was something I learned a lot about. I used a simple website builder, Wix, which is freely accessible and gives various types of templates which are useful for blogs of any kind. I opted to use this as it was easy and practical to use for presenting my work, it also has great flexibility and allows an easy upload process so that I could add media content like videos, images and presentations. The dropdown box tool was very helpful in organising our work and showcasing it in a way that looked effective for the audience but also was easy to navigate.

Prezi was another useful website in presenting our blog. This website allows us to present our planning and research in a slide show format, allowing us to present the information in an organised and sophisticated way, while making it fun to view.  

WIX

PHOTOGRAPHY

Media technologies were also important in photography for the images I used throughout the magazine. The camera came with an adjustable lens so I could alter zoom and focus to add extra effects to the images. There was also a bright flash that when shooting outside and in poor lighting, was incredibly beneficial. As a result of the high quality cameras, images were also of a high quality with a high resolution that was essential in creating a digipak and poster that looked professional. The SD card that was provided with the camera had a large SD card which allowed me to take lots of high quality images.

After lots of trial and error I eventually got a hang of the camera and was then able to utilize the camera in a way that I could get clear images with balanced exposure levels.

EDITING

Before the creation of my magazine I did have some knowledge of using Photoshop but I wasn’t the most experienced editor. The programme I used was Adobe Photoshop CS6, a top of the range editing programme which I played with a lot.

Photoshop with its ‘layers’ also I allowed me to organise all my images and text with ease which allowed me to construct my magazine in a stylish format.

Through exploring on my own I learned a lot of functions of Photoshop from the Magic Wand tool for cutting out to the uses of different filters and altering of colour balance as shown next.

MAGIC WAND

The magic wand tool allows the user to easily cut out objects or people from images as shown below.

SMUDGE TOOL BEFORE & AFTER

Before smudging you can seeskin imperfections, I corrected thisusing the smudge tool.

FILTERS

Photoshop also has some set filters such as the black and white below, I learnt that you can also play with colour balances and more which I used to add a stylish red tint to my image.

AUDIENCE FEEDBACK

Social Media proved to be a great way for us to gather feedback on my magazine by simply posting it on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram I was able to get valuable feedback from my target audience- young people. By doing this I was able to gather valuable feedback from our target audience which could assist us in constructing products which would be successful. Social Media plays a major part in the world we live in nowadays and it proved its power as I was able to gain valuable feedback on how to improve our work.