How did you use media technologies in the construction and research, planning and evaluation stages?

The use of media technologies have been integral in creating my final product as the use of Adobe In design has allowed me to create the newspaper and my ancillery texts into what it is. For me to accomplish all I wanted to do with both front page of the newspaper I had to make a logo for the newspaper and also a banner advertisement.

•Throughout my project I used blogger.com to keep track of what I was doing on each specific date, I found this really helpful as it kept me organised, and I was also able to reflect on the work that I had been able to achieve.

•In terms of research I used survey monkey to post a questionnaire in which I received 35 results. This was largely helpful in my decision making as it helped me make key decisions regarding my target audience and there preferences.

Indesign CS5

I created my both pages of my website and both pages of my local newspaper in Adobe Indesign. In terms of the website I originally planned to use Dreamweaver but i found it too difficult to use especially with limited time available. I found out that Indesign does offer website features which was convenient in the task i was trying to do. I was able to add several hyperlinks on to the two pages so that they interlink with each other.

In terms of the local newspaper indesign helped me to apply some of the conventions of a newspaper to my own newspaper. Things such as splitting my articles into columns and the ability to embolden text where necessary. In addition i found it really helpful that indesign shows if text has been lined up with text that may be above it or below it which i felt was really helpful in trying to create a product that looks professional.
Photoshop CS5
I used Adobe Photoshop for editing my images and also to create my poster. Photoshop allowed me to create a product that looks professional and a product that links directly to my other media products. 

In order to remove the background i used a variety of tools in order to do this. To remove large chunks of the background i used the 'magic wand' tool on photoshop. When it came to removing the finer edges of the background , i used the polygonal lasso tool.

I implemented a black background as i felt that the text would stand out more and also the artist would stand out more.

I used this camera to take my pictures which i felt delivered good quality photos.

Laptop

I carried out most of my work on this laptop. I also used MACs at school during lesson time , but the majority was completed on my laptop. I used a USB device to carry work between school and home.


Blogger

I used a website by the name of blogger.com to keep track of the work that i have been doing and uploading various images and text. The blog helped me to keep track of the progress i have made from the start of the project.

Survey monkey

In order to carry out market research i created a questionnaire to find out the audiences views on what they would like to preferably see within the newspaper. To do this i used a website called survey monkey in which i posted the survey onto social networking site 'Facebook' to gather results. This audience research was invaluable to my research and planning.

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