1. A2 Media Studies
Evaluation
Samena Khan 5255

2. How did you use media technologies in the construction,
research, planning and evaluation stages?
A variety of media technologies were used in all stages of my coursework.
For my research I mainly used the internet. One site which was in use was YouTube
which enabled to look at existing documentaries and conduct textual analysis on
these documentaries Conducting textual analysis on these documentaries helped
me to understand what the codes and conventions of documentaries are and
helped me to decide on the content and gave me inspiration for my own
documentary. My final product was also uploaded onto YouTube. Other sites which
helped me conduct my textual analysis' were channel four on demand and five on
demand.

3. • For my construction I used Final Cut
Express to edit and compile my
documentary. Final cut allowed me to cut
my footage, add titles and adjust colours of
some shots where I didn't like the colour.
For my AS work I used iMovie and did not
want to use this for my A2 as I felt the
editing options on this programme were
very simplistic and there was a limit to the
amount of things you can do. I was able to
experiment with a range of different tools
and try out different techniques e.g. I
played around with the idea of whether the
facts in my documentary should be on
black or on an actual shot but decided on
putting the text on black as it would have
distracted the audience from the shot.
Finally I personally wanted to adapt and
learn new skills rather then rely on
previous skills. Through the use of YouTube
tutorials I was able to be independent and
teach myself how to use final cut.

4. Fruity Loops Studios were used in
order to make the music for my
documentary. I felt that this
programme was easy to use and
also helped us to make the music
suited to our tastes. Initially I tried
to make the music on Garage band
but I found the programme hard to
use and when I did learn how to
produce music on Garage band
through YouTube tutorials I was
not happy with the quality of the
music. The music created in
Garage band did not seem suited
to our documentary whereas the
music I created on FL studies
reflected our genre better.

5. • For the construction of my newspaper advert and
the editing of the image on the double page
ancillary I used the programme Photoshop CS6 to
edit my pictures. Photoshop has a variety of
techniques and in order to choose the techniques
I wanted to use I watched YouTube tutorials on
how to conduct certain effects. By watching these
videos I was able to try out these techniques and
decide if they were right for my media texts.
Watching YouTube tutorials also helped me when I
had some difficulty in using Photoshop. Through
the use of YouTube tutorial we were able to try out
certain techniques such as the Sketch Effect
Technique and the Colour Splash technique.

6. • For the production of my double page I used the
programme In Design as I felt that it was easy to
layout text in this programme compared
to Photoshop which was more suited for editing
photos. Although I had not used In
Design previously from the use of YouTube
tutorials I was able to pick up the skills needed to
make my ancillary double page.
• The fact that In Design also has layers helped me
to understand the use of the programme better as
I was able to apply my understanding of my use of
Photoshop from previously. The fact that
Photoshop also has layers helped me to use these
skills in understanding and self learning the use of
in design.

7. • Finally through the use of my blog on
BlogSpot I was able to keep track of my
progress with my coursework as well as record
every aspect of the three tasks. Information
could also be easily transferred regardless of
where I was working. Finally through the use of
the blog other members of the group could also
easily access content readily and it is easily
available to one another.

8. I used a Mac in order to upload and edit my
footage on final cut. This was easy to use and
very efficient. Time was not lost from turning on
or off the computer.
A HD digital camera was used in order to film our
footage of my documentary. This was a great
advantage as it took high quality footage giving
my product a professional feel. We were also
able to watch back our footage there and then
due to the use of an SD card which helped to cut
down editing time and preventing us from
reshooting scenes as we knew that they were
good shots. We also used this HD digital camera
to take our pictures for our main task and
ancillaries. Because we had already made use of
it in our main task we were familiar with how to
use it preventing any time from being wasted in
trying to figure out how to take images.