# data[].attributes.body
Throughout the process of my coursework, I used a wide range of different technologies when constructing my coursework. Each technology was very important in their own ways. For example, I was very reliant on Google and YouTube when carrying out my research and planning for my products. I used these sites to find information about music videos, digipaks and posters and how to  make my final products look as realistic and professional as possible. By using Adobe premiere pro and Photoshop, I was able to produce high quality products that looked legitimate to my target audience. I used many different softwares to present my work and my progress throughout the year. I will be discussing each media technology that I have used in my coursework over this past year and explain their benefits as well as any difficulties i may have come across when using them

# data[].attributes.body
I used blogger to document the entire process of my coursework. This site enabled me to keep an online journal and track my progress when creating my media products. By using this, I was able to show the development of my progress over time and how my ideas have changed and developed since the beginning of the project. I was given a lot of freedom when constructing my blog through the tools and was able to personalise my blog to my taste, while it remains looking professional. To organise my work, I was able to add different labels such as Research, Planning, Footage, Construction, Final Products and Evaluation that are shown in a drop down box at the top of the page. This made it easy to refer back to specific posts and was helpful when checking whether I was up to date on tasks.

Blogger allowed me to upload a range of different files and documents onto the site and also me to embed codes from other websites such as YouTube or Slideshare. This was very helpful when constructing my blog as I was able to share the work I had created using PowerPoint presentations as well as other presentation softwares. Doing this made my blog more interactive and kept everything in one place rather than having to click on a web link to view some of my work. A further benefit of using blogger was the ability to manipulate the text. For example, I was able to change the size, positioning and colour of the text and also add bullet points, make it bold, italics or underlined. This gave me the opportunity to personalise my posts and arrange them how I liked the most.

I found Blogger very easy and straightforward to use due to my previous experience using it during my AS coursework. This meant I was able to save time as I didn't have to figure out how to use it and I knew what I was able to do when using it. I believe Blogger was a good choice of website to use to present the journey of my coursework as it is has a straightforward design that is easy to navigate.

# data[].attributes.body
I used many online softwares during all stages of my coursework. I did this to present my ideas in different ways to be more engaging. I used a wide range of softwares to do this. The main presentation softwares I used were Prezi, Slideshare, Emaze, Google Slides and Padlet. Out of all of these softwares, my favourite was Slideshare as it was very straight forward to use and allowed me to upload existing PowerPoint presentations as well as being able to start from scratch on the site. It was also simple and easy to embed them onto Blogger and still looked professional. The only disadvantage of using this software was that I wasn't able to insert videos onto the PowerPoint and would have had to include it outside of the document. I liked using the other softwares as they all had different styles and layouts which enabled my blog to have a range of visuals and interactive presentations.

# data[].attributes.body
I used social media to communicate with members of my target audience. I mainly used Snapchat and WhatsApp to do this due to the popularity and range of users on these sites. It was important for me to gain feedback from my target audience as it enabled me to see their points of view regarding my products and be able to adapt them based on what they'd like to see. This would allow me to effectively target my desired demographic and make my products as appealing to them as possible. Using social media was a very fast and effective way of reaching out to my audience and collecting their feedback as my target audience are usually in contact over their mobile phones or computers, meaning they were easy to communicate with. The use of social media allowed me to make important decisions regarding my products as I knew that the feedback I was given would make my work more appealing to my audience.

# data[].attributes.body
I used Adobe Photoshop to create and manipulate my digipak, poster and logos. I was comfortable with using the basic features of this software, however to make my work look as realistic as possible, I felt I had to learn more about how to use it before I started. I watched tutorials on YouTube to find out more about the features that required more skill and searched for videos explaining how to do the more specific things I wanted to achieve within my products. This software is used by professional publishing companies which meant my products would have a good chance of having a high quality and resemblance to real life media texts. I used this software to write text on my products and change the size, font and colours of it, manipulate my own images, include pictures and add shapes which resulted in my products looking professional and realistic. Overall, I was comfortable when using this software as I was able to learn how to use certain tools and how to achieve certain techniques quite easily and didn't experience any major problems.

# data[].attributes.body
To construct and edit my music video, I used Adobe Premiere Pro CS4. I decided to use this software as I would have been able to access it from school and at home and was familiar with Adobe Photoshop meaning I would be working with a similar layout and format. I had no previous experience using this software meaning I was unsure about my ability to be able to use it at first. I was able to overcome this worry by watching YouTube tutorials which taught me how to use the software and taught me how different effects worked. This software gave me access to a highly professional reservoir of editing effects and methods that I could apply to my footage to achieve the best outcome possible. I became comfortable using basic editing techniques such as cropping a clip and adding effects such as tinting footage and speeding it up. Once I was used to how the program worked, I was able to then learn how to use the more complicated editing such as putting the opacity on a timer and overlaying the footage effectively. These effects made my video look more visually engaging, upbeat and exciting. There were multiple difficulties when using this version of the software such as my footage not being compatible with it meaning I had to convert them resulting in the quality being dramatically reduced, using multiple effects on one clip and it failing to render fully. To overcome these problems, I purchased a yearly subscription to the most updated version of the software (cc2018) and was able to upload my progress without having to start again from scratch. I was able to use the majority of my original clips at their highest quality and any other issue I faced was no longer a problem.

I also used Premiere Pro to collect and present my footage after each time I filmed in a different location and labelled them as usable/unusable footage. This was very straight forward as I only had to import the clips I was going to show, add text and use the 'dip to white' transition effect between each clip to demonstrate the difference between the end of one clip and the beginning of the next.

# data[].attributes.body
I used YouTube very frequently throughout the process of constructing my coursework. Many bands and artists use this site to upload their music videos so it was important for me to watch examples of videos to pin point the common conventions used, specifically within the alternative rock genre as that is the genre of my chosen song. By doing this, I could analyse the videos and gain inspiration for the creation of my own one. I used YouTube to carry out research into Premiere Pro and Photoshop to find out about the more complicated and professional techniques to use within my own products. I found many tutorial videos about how to use different effects in Premiere Pro and alternative methods of how to achieve a similar effect. An example related to the construction of my record label was a tutorial on how to crop an image into a certain shape. I used this video to learn how to do it and it was very helpful and saved time. These tutorials were extremely useful to me as I had never used Premiere Pro before and had a limited knowledge of Photoshop, meaning I was able to expand my knowledge and apply it to my products.

I also used YouTube to upload my drafts and finished music video. This made it easy to send a link to members of my target audience to gain their feedback. Without YouTube, I would not have been able to share each draft of my video to my target audience and would have subsequently have to have shown my video to people individually through my laptop which would take a lot more time and restrict the feedback to just one accessible group of people.

# data[].attributes.body
Throughout the research stages of my coursework, I constantly used Google to find information and images to apply to my blog. Google allowed me to source visual information for the the research of all three media products; music video, digipak and poster. It was particularly useful when creating my moodboards as well as finding out the common conventions used within these products. I could look at existing products and draw inspiration from them to then come up with my own ideas. Before constructing my products, I took time to do thorough research into the different conventions and elements that are used in professional media products to help me make mine look as realistic and professional as possible. Without access to Google, I would have lacked the relevant knowledge on how to make my products successful and wouldn't be able to use websites such as DaFont to find the font I used on my products.

# data[].attributes.body
My phone was very beneficial to me throughout the process of my coursework. I used my smartphone to communicate with my actors and focus groups via text message, Snapchat and WhatsApp so that I could gain feedback on my products and ideas and to arrange plans with my actors for the filming of my video. This was a vital item of technology as without it I would not have been able to communicate with my actors or target audience. When filming my video, I used my phone to take behind the scenes photos to show the filming, setting and location as well as the different methods I was using to film at that time.

My phone is always accessible to me and is very lightweight and portable meaning it is no hindrance to take with me anywhere. It has a high quality camera which allowed these photos to look professional and didn't take up extra memory on my camera. I was able send messages regarding my products to a large variety of people without having to see them and I could screenshot the feedback I received to then analyse it. My phone has a large memory space meaning I was able to take as many photos and screenshots as I needed and could refer back to them whenever I liked.

# data[].attributes.body
Using my laptop and school computer was very important in being able to complete my work. Without these technologies I would not have been able to complete any of my products or been able to digitally document my progress on Blogger. I found using my laptop was very helpful as I could keep everything in one place and could take it wherever I wanted to continue with my coursework. I used the computers at school to carry out research in lessons but for the majority of the year I used my laptop to create my blog, music video and ancillary tasks. Through using the OneDrive, I was able to access all my files on both my laptop and school computer without having to continuously transfer them between each device. This was extremely helpful as i was able to work on my project at school and be able to continue the same thing at home.