Katie McLaughlin

I have learnt a lot of new technologies since the beginning of year 12. I now feel I have a much wider range of terminology that helps me in media studies. My terminology has progressed most when analysing video clips.

I think my use of software as a whole has improve from the start of the year because I feel confident when I use software such as photoshop. This has helped me a lot through making my magazine as I do not feel as though I was limiting myself when using the software to make my product.

My Photoshop skills have improved a lot throughout my year 12 I used this programme to manipulate photographs for example cutting out the green screen on my background. I learnt new techniques of adding effects to my images. Without this programme I know that I would have struggled to make my magazine. Even though I had used this programme previously in GCSE I still learnt a lot of new skills from it like adding effects to my images. However I feel as though I could improve my skills of using Photoshop as I am not 100% confident with using it.

A new skill that I have learnt since making my magazine is using blogger. I set up a blogat the beginning of the year so I could record all of my actions and show the progression of my magazine for the examiner to mark. Without blogger I would not have been able to record all of my work so this programme was very useful to me.

I used PowerPoint to do my market research, I took pictures from the internet and analysed them using this programme however I often use PowerPoint so I was already very familiar with it therefore I do not feel as though I have developed my skills in using PowerPoint as I already had a good idea of how to use it before.

I did not use this in year 12.

I used ‘word’ to make my questionnaire to give out to my target audience. This helped meFind out what my audience actually wanted in my magazine therefor it was a crucialPart of the production of my magazine.I do not feel as though I have improved my skills of using the programme word as I only used it for this one task and I already knew how to use word before.

I did not use this.

At the end of the production of my magazine I did an evaluation, this took longer than I Had originally thought however I did manage to finish before the deadline. I used two ways To present my evaluation, one way was through PowerPoint and the other way on a Programme called ‘Prezi.’ I presented my evaluation in these two ways to show my Wide range of skills.

I tried to generate ideas by using my target audience for example I did a questionnaire Asking my audience what they wanted to see in my magazine. This helped me generate ideas as I then knew what my audience wanted to see in the magazines. It wasImportant that I used my audience to help me generate ideas as I wanted my magazineto be exactly how my audience wanted it

During the construction of my magazine I also widened my skills on using my camera as I learnt how to use different settings to improve my pictures and get the right shot that I wanted. This was new to me as I had never previously needed to change the setting on my camera because my images where not needed for any of my work.

I did not use this.

I feel as though my note taking has improved a lot throughout AS I have become a lot quicker at taking notes and picking out important information that I actually need and writing it down.

I did not use this

I did find mysef getting slightly behind when making my magazine for example I tookMe a long time to find the right model for my images and I was therefor late gettingthem done. However I learnt from my mistakes and made sure my evaluation was Done before the deadline.

I think the most important thing to do next year is too keep everything up to date and On time so that I do not find myself getting behind and struggling to get work finished.