Taylor's Media Studies Blog

 Developing My Critical Reflection So first before doing any rough drafts of the reflection I started with deciding if I would either do a video or a presentation with a voice over. After trial and error of trying to record a video, I realized that making a slideshow and having commentary on it would be much more comfortable with me and the best option. SO, after understanding the format in which I would have my critical reflection I started gathering ideas to form the answers to the four main questions. These questions were provided by Cambridge and would be the main portion of the reflection. Below are some examples on the drafts and the development of the slide show that I would voice over as my creative critical reflection.  Examples of the draft:  Examples of the second draft:  Examples of creating the slideshow for my CCR:

How Am I Planning to Prepare for My Critical Reflection?  Now my class is focusing on one of the last parts needed for component one which is the critical reflection. My teacher explained to the class that this will be the last blog post included in our blog and will consist of answering four main questions but in a unique creative way of either making it by video or text. I decided to make mine by video since I am experienced with being in front of a camera and it will give me an opportunity to add in a little of my personality. As for preparation I am working on writing out my responses and forming ideas that I could use and say while making the critical reflection video. I then started to brainstorm on how I would make this video creative and not just a boring reflection of me just answering questions. While brainstorming I came up with the idea to film my video inside of my kitchen while preparing to cook a meal or taking the camera with ...

  The Importance of Photo Planning When creating your magazine, it's really important to plan out your photos that you will be including in the spread. This is key because the photos you include have to go hand in hand with the article and the theme of your spread. When planning the photos for my magazine the process I took was first visualizing and plotting down and thoughts or ideas that came across my mind that could enhance the pictures I took. While also coming up with ideas I also had to figure out when and where I would be taking the photos with the addition of what I would use to take them. All of this preparation leading up to taking the pictures helped me a lot since it allowed for the photos to come out in great quality with also being in similarity to the theme of my article and spread.  Examples of me planning for my photos: 

  What was the impact from the lessons on depth of field on the preparation for my magazine? The lesson my teacher gave on the topics of depth of field and photography techniques helped me in many ways to get ready for the photos needed in my magazine. First, we learned what depth of field meant, depth of field is the distance between the nearest and furthest objects that allows for the image to be focused on camera. Also, when taking photos depth plays an important role in pictures by making two-dimensional subjects into three- dimensional causing for the photo to be more attractive towards the viewer. Then next in the lesson of depth of field the class was taught that the larger the number (such as f/8) is on the camera to focus it will bring all the foreground and background objects in focus. When going to lower numbers (such as f/1.4) this brings focus on the foreground objects blurring the background out. This helped me with my magazine since...

 Why is composition important when dealing with pictures?  Composition is important when dealing with pictures since it gives notice and emphasis to the main subject of a photo. It helps guide the viewer in where to look directing the persons eye to what you want them to look at and focus on while observing the photo.  Why us cropping important with pictures?   Cropping is important with pictures since it cancels out any unnecessary background objects that take away from the main subject. Cropping is needed since it can help draw more attention to the main subject just by cutting out parts of the picture that has no contribution to the storytelling of the photo.  Why is storage important when dealing with pictures?  Storage is important when taking pictures because when a photographer is taking shots of a live event or even just a moment, they are trying to capture what's going on which would take multiple shots to get the right one. So having enough storag...

Role of a Photograph in a Publication  Photos play a big role in publications because it is the first thing that the reader sees when opening a spread. Since photos play such a big role it's important that they are taken well with great quality while also being interesting to draw in the viewers' attention. If a reader opens the publication and sees photos that are greatly captured and have great moments of action being displayed this will result in the reader going onto the caption, heading and then copy. A photograph in a publication should tell a story by the actions being done in the picture or what the photographer is attempting to capture. If the pictures are bad with blurry quality and uninteresting subjects the reader won't find any interest and most likely wouldn't continue with reading the publication. My teacher gave us an assignment in class to make a PowerPoint about photography and one of the main points included in the textbook lesson was the purpose of a...