HOW DID YOU USE MEDIA TECHNOLOGIES IN THE CONSTRUCTION AND RESEARCH, PLANNING AND EVALUATION STAGES?Deborah Akintoye

RESEARCH & PLANNING From the start of my project, I made use of different technologies for the

construction and research, planning and evaluation stages.  The first platform that we consistently used throughout the course of our project was blogger

This was used to collate all our research and record all the steps and research taken before getting to our final product.

We were able to download Blogger unto our smartphones and other gadgets for instant blogging and recording of progress during filming and after. This also allowed us to easily go back and check over all the creative decisions made by showing our developments throughout.

Because Blogger can be used anywhere, as long as there is internet connection, it allowed us to effectively manage our time to keep up to date with our progress and potential new ideas.

This is a screenshot of my blogger which I

used to record all the information

about the progression of the

project.

RESEARCH & PLANNING Before beginning to film our project, we did some genre research into our chosen

genre. This was once again recorded on my blog. We made use of platforms such as YouTube to look into already existing music videos within the Indie genre, as well as outside the genre. This was created using a label on my blog titled ‘Genre Research’. I researched into record labels which distribute Indie music, previous albums released by our chosen artist ‘Sia’ and interviews made with the artist.

I used slideshare to research into the conventions of different genres such as Hip-Hop and Pop. This allowed us to see what makes these music videos different to that of the Indie genre and how we could possibly adapt these conventions to our product to make it unique.

RESEARCH & PLANNING Using YouTube to view already existing videos gave us a lot of inspiration for the

making of our music video. We looked at music videos such as: Taylor Swift – Style This music videos style of editing influenced our decision to overlap images together to create a double exposed image which makes it visually interesting

Panic At The Disco – This is GospelThe narrative and incredible use of camera angles inspired us to experiment and play with the movement of the camera when filming our music video, as well as explore the theme of someone who is trying to free themselves.

YouTube is easily accessible and free, which made it easier for us to easily refer back to the videos when we needed inspiration or ideas. We also used YouTube to listen to a range of Indie songs at the start of our project to later find the song we wanted to use.

RESEARCH & PLANNING – AUDIENCE RESEARCH In order to get feedback from our target audience, I asked several possible

consumers of our product to answer a few questions by sending in an audio recording of their answers. I received answers from people between the ages of 15-25 years.  This would be around our target group and audience. 

This was created by using a messaging app such as ‘Whatsapp’, and later editing the audio together using Imovie. I used Whatsapp because it is instant and allows an

immediate response. It also allows audio recording and instant playback.

Overall, these are the results I received:1. 15-25 - CLOSED2. 3 Males, 5 Females - CLOSED3. Hip Hop, Pop, Indie - CLOSED4. This was an OPEN question which provided a range of results and opinions. 5. YES: 6     NO: 2 (CLOSED)

CONSTRUCTION Throughout the course of filming our music video, we made use of our mobile phones

for instant playback of the song while shooting. We used an app called Spotify which allowed us to play the song repeatedly. We also used our phones to take location shots and film group vlogs as evidence to put on our blogs.

Spotify allows instant playback and is easily portable as it can be used on any device such as mobile phones and ipads. We created a playlist which consisted of the song we used (Free The Animal). This made it easier to go back and film to when filming, therefore saving us time.

Once again, Whatsapp was used to communicate with one another before filming, during and after. This allowed us to manage our time wisely and distribute work amongst ourselves.

FILMING To film our music video, we used a Nikon D3100 camera.

This camera was very straight forward to film with and produced great quality videos and images. It allowed instant playback, in order to see whether the video was in focus and whether we need to re-film while still on location. It also allows you to adjust the exposure in order to create a dark or light images. We were able to play around with a range of camera shots and angles and movements. For example, when filming the hospital scene, we were able to hold it by hand by simply putting the strap around our neck and holding it as it has a good grip.

EDITING Throughout the course of editing, we used Imovie to create different

effects which helped our music video look visually appealing and unique.Firstly, we were able to import our clips into Imovie easily by going to ‘File’ then ‘Import’ and then choosing the file needed. Or using the camera icon on Imovie to import videos from a camera.This was not overly complex and saved us a lot of time.

Using Imovie allowed us to experiment with the saturation of our clips, as inspired by Calving Harris’ – How Deep Is Your Love music video. We then used the fast forward tool to make the clip faster, to go with the beat of the song. We were then able to play around with the effects of the clips by overlapping two clips on top of one another, and making one less opaque so there are both visible. This once again was done in Imovie. We were able to fade out our track at the end so we could cut it down as it was too long. Imovie was easily accessible and allowed us to place several clips next to one another to create a range of clips, making a music video.

EVALUATION To answer my evaluation questions I used Prezi, Quicktime player, Slideshare, YouTube and

Imovie.

SlideshareSlideshare was used for question 4. This was by creating a powerpoint presentation and uploading it to the website. Video CameraI recorded question 3 of my evaluation and used a Nikon D3100 camera to record myself talking to the camera. I then edited the footage using Imovie and used the ‘picture in picture’ tool to add photos and videos on top of the clips.

PreziPrezi is a presentation tool which makes use of one large canvas which allows you to pan and zoom to different areas of the canvas. This was used to answer Question 1 and 2 of my evaluation. This allowed me to experiment with a different platform other than the traditional powerpoint. After creating the presentation, I then recorded a voice over on top of the presentation by recording the screen using Quick Time player. This allows me to follow the presentation while reading and talking about the information. I then uploaded the video to YouTube.

CONCLUSIONUsing various technologies in the production of my work, I have been able to

become a consumer that can only make higher quality products, but edit it and distribute it to a wider audience. It has also improved my time management and

organisation skills. It helped us to plan ahead of our shoots as research was completed beforehand. Digital technologies helped us create products of a

higher quality. Without it, we wouldn’t be able to reach our target audience pre and post production.