Explain the process I went through and reflect upon all of the pros and cons of all of the technology I have used throughout my creation of my Hip-Hop music magazine.

Camera and Tripod Throughout my production of creating my music magazine, I decided that it was appropriate that I took all my photo’s are professional as I possible could. Therefore, for that specific reason I used my own camera, which is directly the same my school’s collection, and I brought that in from home. On the other hand, I did not have a tripod at home which I could bring in and use and for that reason, I took out the tripod from school for the day. I decided to use a camera rather than phone or iPod because I felt like, the accurate and clear image on a camera, will be exceptionally different from a indistinct and unclear image, which will appear on a phone. The camera allowed me to take photos with a effect upon the untaken image. The camera at the time was used effectively thought-out my photo shoot because originally I wanted all of my photos to appear in black and white, however when I came to look at my Front Cover, Contents Page and Double Page Spread photos, some of the images in which I wanted to change the edit of, I couldn’t because of the effect already applied. This wasn’t the camera’s fault however I would definitely keep all my images in its natural form. If I could change my camera, I would have liked a bigger and more effective camera, in which I can clearly see if the image has turned out the way I wanted it to, before applying the image onto the computer and identifying whether or not the image has turned out right. Likewise, I did use a tripod however there was certain cons, in which it didn’t turn out correctly. I wanted to use a tripod because I thought it would make the image very clear and I would not have the fear of my shaky hands, however when I came to use the tripod, it was too small and was ideal for floor photo image, rather than an upright position image- this did challenge me, however I managed to over come this issue because I took the photo with the camera in my hand, which didn’t really make as much difference as I thought it may do to my image, and overall I think the images turned out perfectly with the camera and the attempt of using the tripod.

Memory Stick I ensured that all of the draft, questionnaires, images, research prelim takes and tasks set throughout the coursework was safely recorded upon my memory stick, as well as my computer. I wanted to make sure that if I ever lost a pieces of work, for instance it may not have saved probably, I would always have a back-up of all my work. I evidently did not lose any of my work through the production of creating my Hip-Hop magazine, which is really good and a advantage to timekeeping. In addition, not only does a memory stick ensure all my work is safe, but it also acts as a record of all of my work, which I like to have because, once I have created a piece of work, I like to have a copy for my own comfort. I didn’t have a lot of problems with my memory stick, however when I use the Macs at school, sometimes the Mac, doesn’t read the USB all of the time and therefore I did need to undergo a routine with the Mac, where I have to turn the Mac of for 15 seconds before putting it back on and sometimes the Mac still wouldn’t ick up the USB and therefore I would have to move to another Mac, to make sure I was able to use the work I have saved.

Pixlr Pixlr is a free online editing software, in which I used effectively to edit all of my photos which I wanted to use for my Front Cover, Contents Page and Double Page Spread. I got along very well with Pixlr and I only found minimal issues with the software. Pixlr allows you to edit photos to an extreme of your choice. I managed to add text, colour, images, effects, overlays, airbrushing, cropping, resizing on Pixlr, which was the same for my of my drafts. Pixlr is a very good website and because it is free, it also makes it even better. It allowed me to apply everything i possibly needed in order to create my Hip-Hop music magazine. There was certain issues I found with Pixlr, like for example the undo button sometimes made what you have created blurry and unclear, which makes me feel like I have to start again from a fresh image and repeat everything again. I didn’t really like this and therefore it made me feel really unsure about the software, however once I got used to Pixlr, by all of the drafts I completed, I got to grips more which the online editing and in the end, I managed to create three professional looking magazine pages which look evidently like most other Hip-Hop genre magazines. If I was to complete this work again, I would definitely use Pixlr again. I feel it allows you to create something different and unique with there free effect and tools they allow you to use, which many other editing software's don’t, without signing up or paying a certain amount of money.

Youtube I only started to use YouTube at the end of my coursework because I felt that was when it was most appropriate. I videoed a girl who would be my standard Hip-Hop audience from my school and handed her all three pages of my Front Cover, Contents Page and Double Page Spread and asked her questions about my pages and she answered them to the camera, I thought it was important to show what my target audience stereotypically looks like. Using YouTube was easier than I thought because I did feel worried when I was thinking about using YouTube because I always thought it was really hard when really I worried to much because all I had to do was press download and wait until it was published upon my channel on YouTube. From there then went onto blogger and press the little film symbol at the top of the page and click on the link which states ‘Upload from your YouTube’ it then comes up with all of my YouTube video and I then click on the one I wanted to download and it is done, it was really easy and I am very impressed, I would definitely use YouTube again in a piece of media coursework.

Macs I used the Macs most of the time throughout my creation and production of my Hip- Hop music magazine, I found it a lot easier than a normal laptop. When I was at school and I was on the laptop, I found them incredibly slow and it made everything move at a slower level. Were as, the Macs are really quick and simple in no time wasting, waiting for the internet. Likewise, the Macs also included a number of applications which I didn’t use but may uses in the future with my A2 media studies. I use the Macs all of the time because I feel they show demonstration of trying something new and experimenting with something I have never used before. This was a con, because I have not used the Macs before now, it found it difficult to get my head across the applications and general working of them, however because I have spent all my free time coming in school as well as school time, it has given me an advantage on developing my experience on the Mac, which I feel is a really achievement and something I am extremely pleased with.

Overall opinion on the technology I have used. My overall opinion on the technology I have used is a very positive opinion. I believe that I have shown confident and positive demonstration of using of these ways of technologies extremely well, with some tiny issues. In which I overcame and accepted the challenge and defeated it, by experimenting and making sure I made myself use these technologies as sophisticated as I possibly could as well as learning myself new pieces of technology like the Macs for example, something which I have never used before.