Q4: How did you use Media technologies in the construction, research, planning and evaluation stages?

To complete my music video and ancillary task to a high standard I used different methods of technology, for example: Google, Youtube, IMac, PowerPoint, Photoshop, Final Cut, Blogger and many others.

Planning and Research

When I first started planning and researching my music video and ancillary task, I used Google all the time, as I was able to access different information about the artists I was going to compare my artist too. It was very useful as the information is fairly fresh which meant I would have up to date information, it was a quick and easy way to find images of artist and images of CD covers to which I was able to use to help me to start my ancillary task.

Youtube was a massive part of our planning and research as we were able to locate pop music videos which helped us create our music video. We was able to be inspired when getting ideas and analysing various videos. We was able to import music videos on to our blogs as part of the research to show what we was interested in but also the videos we liked and inspired us through the various techniques they used.

Microsoft Word (part of Microsoft Office) is a very popular and familiar programme to use. We used this when creating our questionnaire’s as its easier to input text using different font styles which makes it look more interesting. We also knew how to use this software which meant we was able get started with whatever needed doing without asking or using help.

Along with using Microsoft Word, we used Microsoft Excel (also part of Microsoft Office). This programme was very useful and helpful as when we got our questionnaire data back, we was able to create graphs and pie charts which made the information easier to read but also a easier way of displaying the information.

Another programme from Microsoft Office which we used was Microsoft PowerPoint, this was very useful through planning and researching as Microsoft PowerPoint allows you to add new slides, pictures, texts, various colours to make it more information. It’s a very easy and organised programme to use. We used PowerPoint’s to explain the different theories and ideas we had which was easy and made our work organised.

To upload PowerPoint’s on to our blog, we converted them via slideshare this was a very easy and quick method to do. It was easy and straight forward which was very beneficial to us as we hadn’t used slideshare for some time but we soon got used to it again which was an advantage.

Blogger is a useful, free blog site where you create your own blog so you can present your work. We used blogger not only in our planning and research but all throughout our project. Through using blogger we were able to show our other members of our class our work which was easy when we need their opinion on something. It is very professional and also very easy to get to grips with as it’s a year ago since I last used blogger but we soon got back to normal with using it.

Imac was one of the most important resources when creating our products, as it has a numerous amount of software’s on which we needed to use when creating our music video and ancillary task. Imac is a very quick and easy piece of equipment to use.

I used this camera throughout my planning and researching and the rest of my music video. It was very efficient as we were able to take a numerous amount of pictures of our actress. They pictures were very clear and could take fast shots quickly, to which they would be displayed on the screen at the back so we was able to view them there and then, and take more if needed. This was very easy piece of equipment to use, as we use camera’s in the modern day a lot more which meant we was able to get started straight away with the picture taking.

After taking our pictures, we used this ‘fire-wire’ to import the pictures on the Imac, so we were able to publish them on to our blog once edited. Quick and easy just required us plugging it in and pressing select ´ and after a few seconds all the pictures will be there for us.

Once researched what we needed to, through the planning stage we used this video camera, to get used to recording images. We did a test run with the college video camera to make sure we was fully trained up in order to start filming our music video. The video camera was very easy to use, and had different settings on in order to produce better quality filming. The more you filmed the more you got used to the different settings within the camera.

We used this tripod with the video camera throughout our planning stage but also through producing our music video. This was much easier and quicker to use as the camera was still which meant better quality of picture, and you can also edit the height and the angle you want the camera to be at. We used this throughout our music video as it made it easier for us but also beneficial as we was able to direct as well as film

When planning our music video, we spent half a lesson in the studio so that we could get trained up with all the equipment and become familiar to using it. We practiced filming in the studio as we had the option to use the studio or location when filming our actual video. Practising in the studio meant we got to try the different effects the green screen can provide. This was very helpful as we opted to do our music video in the studio.

Producing

When it came round to actually producing our music video, we used different methods of technology which we hadn’t used in the planning and research stage or before. This programmes where very important when it came down to editing our music video.

When producing our music video, final cut was the most important software we used, as we was able to upload our video on to final cut and once was we rendered it all we was able to get the razor tool and cut down parts of the video we didn’t want or need and then render again. We were also able to edit the video to produce a high standard and successful video and then upload it to our blog. This took some training as we hadn’t used this software before, but within a lesson we was able to use it without the manual and we came

more to grips with it as we used it all throughout our music video, a very good programme.

Once edited our music video, we was able to colour grade over our footage.This was very useful as we was able to make some of our video lighter or darker depending on the shot and the colour it is ordinarily, we went for bright colours which the colour grade which made it very useful for us as we was able to make colours brighter. Quite difficult to start of with as it requires getting the colouring right but after a few attempts pretty straight forward and easy to use.

Also in final cut, you can add and delete layers. This was useful as we was able to add layers on top of one another to add different image on top of one another. Also you can lock images or tracks on final cut which means if you happened to delete the wrong thing and it’s locked it won’t delete so its protected if you lock part of the layers.

InDesign was also a massive part of our ancillary task. I had used it before which meant I know what I was doing but I still looked over instructions to make sure I was doing it right. InDesign gives the professional touch to products, and has many helpful tools to make your product unique and to have the right effect that you want, we was also able to make our images bright to match our brand image of bright colours. Very easy programme to use as I had used before which meant I knew what I was doing but checked over with the instructions just to make sure. My skills have developed within this programme as I have used it to edit my footage which now means I am more trained up within the programme.

On the right hand side of InDesign it has a colour swatches, which means you can add different colours but also create different effects through it. Having a numerous amount of colours meant we could experiment with different colours to bright out our brand image but also make our products stand out and interesting. As well as colour swatches it has a layer tab, which meant you can add images on to different layers to create a more dramatic effect; these can also be locked to protect them from being deleted.

Through using InDesign I was able to put the colour swatches to good use, as we added five different colours together to create a bright, colourful and attractive inserts. I found it was challenging at first to get the colours right to make them stand out and match in with our music video, once we found the colour scheme we wanted it was pretty easy to do. We wanted our inserts to match our brand image of being ‘young, girly and colourful’ and once we knew what we wanted, we was able to match our brand image which we was very pleased about. We was also able to make the images larger or smaller which helped us to make sure it would fit inside the paper size.

Photoshop was also a massive help to us when producing our ancillary tasks. I had used the programme before but couldn’t remember exactly what to do, so to start of with was difficult but as soon as I read over the instructions and tried it, I soon got to grips with how to use it. Once I got used to it, I got to know each of the tools which would be useful to me: size tool, colour tool, gradient tool and height tool and the crop tool to crop down my pictures to fit the required frame, I also used the sharper tool to sharpen the image to make it stand out and have a better effect.

Photoshop was very useful when I wanted to add more of a colour contrast on to my images, to make them brighter and stand out also with adding a bright colour contrast I could have added a darker contrast but wasn’t needed as it didn’t match my brand image.

To answer question three of my evaluation I used prezi, which was a very different way of presenting it but also very interesting to watch once finished. I’d never heard or used prezi before so it was quite a bit of a challenge for me but once I’d read the instructions and started I soon got the hang of what to do and found it a good programme to use. You can also create paths which links different sections of your work together, these paths can be linked anywhere to give it a more dramatic effect when you press next

Overall, once finished my music video and ancillary products I think we have been very successful and produced a very good piece of work. I enjoyed filming the music video as its something I had never had the chance to do before so I got to feel what it was like to be a director and a producer. I liked putting the video on the IMac and watching the footage which we recorded but I also enjoyed editing the video as we could make it our own and up to a high standard. We kept to the brand image throughout our tasks which we wanted to do and was very happy as we kept to planning. All of our ancillaries was produced to a high standard and I enjoyed thinking how we could create them, and keeping to the brand image which we created throughout. Once produced both the music video and ancillary products we created another questionnaire to which we asked the class to go on camera and give us thei feedback, we receive positive feedback and it was also good as everyone knew what brand image and genre we fitted which is something we feel happy about as that’s what we wanted to achieve. Me and my partner both brought different skills and knowledge to the coursework, and we worked as a team

and although we had our occasional bicker we got on really well and both put the same amount of effort in to the work share. Overall I am very happy with my finish products and I think the planning, researching, filming, editing, producing all paid off and created us a high standard piece.