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

BY OLIWIA KAJZER

NEW MEDIA TECHNOLOGIES; DEFINED Wikipedia definition

‘new media’ Most technologies described as new media are digital, often having characteristics of being manipulated, networkable, dense, compressible, and interactive. Some examples may be the Internet, websites, computer multimedia, video games, augmented reality, CD-ROMS, and DVDs. In that sense, the term "new media" refers to on-demand access to content anytime, anywhere, on any digital device, as well as interactive user feedback, and creative participation”

WEB 2.0

Web 2.0 “ is the term given to describe a second generation of the World Wide Web that is focused on the ability for people to collaborate and share information online”

As part of our research we used new technology softwares such as Facebook, Twitter, Blogger , Youtube, Vevo, The Guardian site, Pitch fork, Google images and Timeline

As part of our Hardware research we used a digital camera, an iPhone and a laptop

Social Media

Facebook

We used Facebook (a social media site used to share information/photos/videos/ interests/ conversations etc) to find out more about our target audience. As visible on our main blog, the print screens are evidence of the conversation we had with one indie music fan. This was highly beneficial and a contribution to our research as it was a fast and an easy way to gain information without the need to meet up with the interviewee in person.

Soundcloud

I have used Souncloud to record some interviews; this was essential in gaining necessary feedback on our final products and see how they were read. This new media technology made it easy to record the feedback and place it on the blog- this gave us an easy way of reaching the data but also an alternative to the written and visual evidence of research.

Video related sites

Youtube

With this particular (very popular) video sharing site, the statistics given (with the amount of views and likes/dislikes) and the comments left from users from all over the world, YouTube not only becomes a huge collaborating field but also a perfect source of secondary data. From YouTube (as previously mentioned) I have gained knowledge about certain criteria indie videos are expected to meet. From the comments as well as the likes I realised how divided the audiences can be on either indie conventional or unconventional rules that are used.

Software print

The Guardian

This site was originally inspired by the newspaper, which after the formation of the Web was transported to software form. We used this site for our Magazine/magazine advert research. Here we found information as well as the advertisement of Saint Raymond’s (the original artist of the song we have used) album alongside Lana del Rey's. With this research we were able to find a suitable magazine that would feature our album advertisement as well as the information about the artist.

Collecting and Presenting

Timeline

Having done previous research, timeline has helped us to use our analysis of videos of the past and see how the original idea of a music video stemmed and branched to be what it is today. This has helped us organise our research and put it in the correct order- this was useful when considering planning as it gave us easy access to old conventions but also gave basis to our ideas.

Hardware

Digital Camera- used to record the interviews of audiences in central London- varied age and gender- a visual perspective

iPhone- used to record voice notes when it came to audience feedback, that were later uploaded on Soundcloud- verbal feedback on indie conventions. In Addition my iPhone was used to

Laptop- used for all the research done above; to search all the images, to gather all the data as well as create this final evaluation.

PLANNINGMedia used: Prezi, blogger, Photoshop, PowerPoint, Youtube, final cut pro

Hardware; digital camera, computer

Presentation Planning

Prezi

This is yet another presenting site. It helped us with planning as it was easy to use and at the same time kept things nicely organised. The site allowed us to use photographs as well as videos from YouTube- which supported our notes visually. There was also an opportunity to pick out themes, in terms of colour and the layout of your Prezi presentation. This online planner also has an inbuilt transition for each slide, making the presentation more ‘fancy’

We also used Prezi to create an overall plan/ pitch to gather our ideas. By this not only did we present our idea to the rest of the class but we also gave and understood the direction of our music video. With Prezi we were able to divide each step of our planning of the construction of the video- that came in handy when we were recording our music video.

Blogger

Blogger was the site everything was put on hence it was also instantly used for planning; any ideas we had or any meetings that took place were recorded on Blogger hence it was useful for planning and storing all our ideas- from research to formation of our ideas to the actual construction.

Timeline

With this online technology, I was able to use the song structure (the timing/lyric structure) and plan what shot- according to our ideas- would go to what lyric. This once again was beneficial as it was easy to access and look at whilst having our video constructed. The benefits of this were that although it was time consuming,, the so called script was easy to access, hard to lose and was always neat unlike a physical printed copy.

Editing/ Planning

Photoshop

We used Photoshop to plan our ideas for the digipak and mag ad; we had a few practise runs as to how our product would look like. With this we were able to come up with many drafts that later contributed to our construction of the digipak

Hardware

Digital Camera-

Preliminary- as part of planning we did a preliminary piece which allowed us to experiment with lip-syncing as well play around with different angles. This allowed us to gain a brief idea about the construction of a music video. This allowed us to see what kind of things we were fond of and the things that needed enhancement which allowed us to plan our main video.

Computer- used to gather all the information/ type out notes/ upload notes/ note any meetings.

CONSTRUCTION

Software

Photoshop

We used this programme to construct the digipak as well as the magazine cover. It required us to be aware of simple tools such as the brush tool, the crop tool, the dodge and burn tool etc. This programme allowed us to combine many pictures as well as text on one page and gave it that ‘finishing touch’. The reason behind our choice of this programme was because we are briefly aware of how to go about using it (experience from photography). Furthermore this programme is much more sophisticated than paint- which next to it seems very outdated.

Editing

As part of editing we used Final Cut Pro, we have briefly mastered this programme before during our AS level; producing a film opening sequence. This time we were able to experiment more with filters as well as the tempo of the piece. This programme allowed us to chop and change around footage to wherever we wanted- pretty much giving us a free hand to create our music videos. Effect wise we had more freedom to add slow motion or play around with saturation this time which was much appropriate then with the opening sequence. The use of Final Cut Pro this year definitely allowed us to be more creative and posed a challenge when trying to sync the mouthing with the actual soundtrack.

Hardware

For our construction we used a digital camera to record our piece- this was made up of different shots and different angles. We also used portable speakers to help our artist lipsync to the music- this would be later beneficial when syncing the video footage to the music. More or less, the speakers were used to make the artist feel at ease when lipsyncing- the result of the music being played loud enough.

EVALUATION

Visual Tech used in Evaluation

Youtube/TubeChop-

Extracts used from YouTube to support and portray my points- this allowed me to reduce the amount of words used and incooperate short snippets of our video for visual support/ demonstration.

Presentation Styles used

Visme

This was a new presenting site that I found whilst thinking about the way my evaluation will be presented. It was very much like PowerPoint however the possibilities and experimentation was more extensive.

Prezi

I used Prezi again as it is easy to use and I know my way around it; it gave me easy access to organising my information and putting together an answer to my question.

Blogger

I used blogger as part of my evaluation especially for question one as I could include written feedback and photographs as well as TubeChop extracts, an opportunity that other presentation sites didn’t give me.