To create my poster and magazine cover, I used the software ‘Adobe Photoshop’. This is an editing software that is industrially used to manipulate and edit photos. I am familiar with this software as I also used it to create my products during the AS course. This made using Photoshop successful as I knew how to use the tools provided in an effective way, and I was confident in using it to create high quality products.
To capture the images, I used for the poster and film cover I used a DSLR Cannon camera. This was to ensure that they were high quality and appeared crisp and eye-catching. I used a 55mm lens on the DSLR camera, again to create a high quality finish with the images. I am used to using this type of camera, as I study A2 photography, meaning that I use this camera on a regular basis and know how to use the tools provided. I also recorded the shots for the trailer using a DSLR camera, again to make sure the clips where clear, and up to the standard they had to be in order for the trailer to be successful.
An SD card was then used to transport the magazine and poster images, as well as the trailer footage on to the computer in a quick and efficient way.
In order to use the correct software to edit the trailer, the footage had to be uploaded to an Apple Mac, as these computers are able to use more professional software than others, such as Dell computers. Using the Mac computer was hard at first, as I am not familiar with apple computers and was not sure how to use them. However, there was an advantage of using the Apple Macs at the college, as they already had many software programmes installed on them.
The software that was used to create the trailer was called ‘Premier Pro’. This was the chosen editing software for our trailer, as like Photoshop, it is often used by legitimate companies, meaning that it is well known for its editing properties. It is also good for editing a trailer, as it allows different cut types, and editing options to be used. However, I found it difficult to use Premier Pro, as I had not used it prior to the A2 course and had only been introduced to Photoshop, and as a result of this found it extremely complicated to use. Consequently, editing the trailer for me was difficult, and it took a longer amount of time than it would have if I was more familiar with the programmes tools. A member of my group was more experienced in using Premier Pro from studying Film Studies, and therefore the trailer was finished in an adequate amount of time.
Google and YouTube was incredibly helpful whilst researching existing media texts and trailers before creating my own products. They are websites that I use on a daily basis so I could easily find the information and results that I wanted.
To create my media blog I used the website Blogger.com which is a website that I am incredibly used to using as I have used it throughout the entire course an also gained experience by creating a blog for my AS English Language course. This is good as it allowed me to effortlessly hand in my work as I completed it, which was convenient for me as I mostly completed my coursework at home.
As most of my work was written on Powerpoint and Word documents, I converted them in to PDF files and used websites such as Issu and Flipsnack to convert them to presentations that could them be embebed on to my blog. This was good because it meant my blog looked more aesthetically pleasing. I also used Prezi, which I found extremily useful, and had already gained experience in working with during the AS course.