How did you use media technologies in the construction,

research, planning and evaluation stages?

I used the HP Deskjet F2180 All-in-One Printer/Scanner/Copier Colour Inkjet Printer to transfer my paper spider diagrams to digital formats for consideration. It also allowed me to analyse magazine texts in detail digitally. The scanner on this technology enabled me to transfer my pencil drawings on paper that I created to digital versions that could then be digitally edited for my ancillary tasks.

The use of the Nikon CoolPix S3000 Camera gave me the ability to take images of ‘Alfie’ for my ancillary texts, as well as providing a way of recording developments in the making of our media texts.

The use of a Video Recorder allowed me and my group to film ‘Alfie and the Snake’ for our main media task. We used this device with the Cobra CT-240 Tripod to ensure that the footage we captured was the best quality possible.

I used the MacBook Pro in my research and development stages of the construction of my ancillary tasks. The MacBook Pro, along with software, allowed me to edit images, write text, and create my media texts, this coupled with the ease of blogging it provided made it a good choice.

Adobe Photoshop CS4 was one of the pieces of software I used on the MacBook Pro, it allowed me to edit images ready for use in my ancillary texts. Adobe Illustrator CS4 software was my chosen software to create and edit my ancillary texts. The specific ways in which I used specific functions of Adobe Photoshop CS4 and Adobe Illustrator CS4 are detailed in depth in several of my blog posts.

Alongside the MacBook Pro I also used the DELL Optiplex 740 PC in my research stages of my ancillary projects. I used the PC to research things such as Stop Motion and Film Posters on the internet, I then used the PC to process and view my research before posting it to blog.

I used Paint software on the DELL Optiplex 740 PC to construct some of my research layouts that I blogged to visually show my research and to look closely at the layout of real media texts.

With regards to media technologies that involve the internet I used a lot in my construction, research, planning and evaluation stages. Firstly the website I chose to blog from was www.tumblr.com as I had previously used the website top blog for my personal use.

Tumblr allows me to share information quickly with ‘Followers’ and anyone in the world as well as allowing me to display my developments easily.

I used the website www.dafont.com in the construction and planning stages of my ancillary tasks when using the MacBook Pro, this site is host to thousand of copyright free typography for public use, I selected fonts ’28 Days Later’ and ‘Steel Tongs’ to use in my construction stage.

I used the website www.dropbox.com to help me to upload large files to the internet. Dropbox allows me to create a quick and simple link from Tumblr (who have a limit on how much one user can upload currently) to the actual file displayed in a webpage, so everyone on the internet can see it.

I accessed videos for my research and development stages of my media portfolio on the website www.youtube.com. This site allowed me to watch examples of Stop Motion such as the short film ‘Deadline’.

After viewing many videos

YouTube enabled me to have a better idea of the Stop Motion technique when my group went into the filming stages of ‘Alfie and the Snake’. Youtube is also the site that my group have used to allow our film ‘Alfie and the Snake’ to be viewed on the internet.

Other websites I used in my research and development stages were:

• www.mediaweek.co.uk which gave some me information on my target audience.

• www.bbcmagazine.co.uk which gave my information on the real media texts I was looking at such as the ‘Doctor Who Adventures’ magazine.

• www.empiremovies.com which provided me with images of children’s film posters.