How did you use media technologies in the

construction and research, planning and evaluation

stages?

Introduction

The group used:

The Internet:– Blogger– YouTube

Research Methods:– Uploading your film on YouTube/Blog/Website and getting audience feedback– Filming focus groups

Filming equipment :– A digital camera– Tripod

Editing Software:– iMovieHD – Photoshop– Paint Shop Pro

Photoshop

Original Picture Exposure: +0.58 Offset: -0.0131

Gamma: 0.91

Exposure: +0.58 Offset: -0.0916

Gamma: 0.91 Brightness: 16

Contrast: 100

Exposure: +0.58 Offset: -0.0183

Gamma: 0.91 Brightness: 92

Contrast: 80

I wanted to start experimenting with the editing in these shot as a start so that I would gain an experience editing natural surroundings. For example: a bright sky, trees and bushes. I will see what these images look like after I edit them as I haven't used pictures such as this with a bright sun and objects in the foreground.

Our group used Photoshop throughout the production stage of the ancillaries which include the album cover and magazine advertisement. It was the key programme that helped us finish both ancillaries as it helped us edit the photos that were being used in the final products.

Editing A Photo (I found this on the internet to experiment with)

This is the original photo that I would like to edit. I like how the rule of thirds is used in this photo as the Inca ruins are in the middle, surrounded by the Amazon rainforest, the pathway on the left hand side of the shot leads the viewers attraction from the main point of the picture, the ruins, so I think I will edit the photo so they are not seen as much.

I started off by editing the brightness and contrast.

Brightness: -23 Contrast: 100

After that I edited the exposure, offset and gamma.

Exposure: -0.73 Offset: -0.0288

Gamma: 1.02

After the exposure, offset and gamma, I edited the vibrance and saturation

Vibrance: +49 Saturation: +6

I removed the pathway as I thought it would attract the viewers attention and I think this has improved the image a lot as there is only one focus point.

Compare and contrast the original to finished edited.

I prefer the edited version as it looks more professional such as the way in which the colour is more vividly captured in comparison to the more grey scale like photo above (original edit). Along with the colour there is also greater detail portrayed and this aids towards acting as a focal point, further editing has also been done to draw attention towards the mountains themselves rather then surplus detail. This was done in the form of Photoshop manipulations such as cloning and blending tools, by removing this pathway I feel that the viewers attention is drawn more on the focal point than I wish

These four advertisements were basic drafts to experiment with manipulations and how to layout texts. As it was at the start and being a draft, a standard title of the artist and tour title were being used throughout as a template.

The same image was used all the way through the drafts after being edited so that it will look like a professional taken and edited photo, in certain advertisements it has been duplicated, mirrored or flipped to enhance the overall advertisement layout.

The reason behind these drafts was to experiment with layout and where the picture was going to go, the font size and colour.

1.

2.

3.

The three images used for the magazine advertisement.

For the initial ideas only one image was used but then other views were thrown around, and discussions to create a better looking finished products. One idea was to merge the pictures together and crop it so that bench looks like the original one but with three different versions of the model still on it, this came out first-rate so we stuck with this idea.

1. 2.

3. 4. Edits

Image 2, 3, 4 are different edits of the non edited version being Image 1. We tried different edits to experiment which we could go for the final advertisement. Image 2 has been finely edited using the Offset editing to create shadows under the bench and make the bushes darker so the lighter coloured artist in front stands out. Image 3 is a simple black and white version of Image 2 and Image 4 is a edited version of Image 2 but has been added with more vibrancy and saturation to make the whole picture brighter.

Initial Ideas

We went with the edited image of Image 2 to progress with. Here are six layouts using the same key information of the artist name, album name, album release date and reviews, the only difference is how all the separate parts of text are laid out, this help us judge which is the most professional looking and which one we can progress with.

Second draft Ideas

The overall decision was to use the album name in the centre of the page so that is the main piece of text the reader or viewer is attracted to and then sink to the positive reviews of album so that the audience aware of the album and that is a good purchase, which is the main reason of producing the magazine advertisement, to sell the record. The artist name is also important to show the reader so that is also shown in a big size font.

Third draft Ideas

Keeping to layout of the second draft, we have experimented with using different back drops to make certain text and information to stand out, this also helps the main text stop fighting of space with other text.

We had to introduce different logos such as a record company, distributing company and website/artist name to make the final piece professional looking.

We also changed the image of the artist, now the colours of his costume have changed, this helps brighten up the image overall and this also makes the advertisement less boring and repetitive as the three different poses are not all the same and use a different range of colours.

Shortlist of final Ideas

The main differences between the two short listed ideas is that the artist name text is bigger at the bottom of the page, the hedge has been ‘trimmed’ to make it neater, the use of the white box to separate parts of text. One factor that should have been in both is the logos, which could placed at the top or bottom.

Finished Piece

The finished piece has came out successful due to several factors such as; the editing procedure, changing the colours the costumes and merging the three images together, trimming the hedge and cutting down the bench. By adding professional looking logos to the top of the advertisement, it keeps to traditional stereotypes of existing media products. This is also enhanced by using reviews which current music magazines also include. Another good point is that the layout has been produced well through putting the text in varied places, using different colour back drops to split up texts and using a themed font and colours to match the layout.

Filming EquipmentThe two main pieces of filming equipment that we used was a handheld digital video camera recorder and a tripod.

The camera we used was a Sony Handycam which is what all groups used for shooting their films or music videos which were given out to the school.

The other piece of filming apparatus we used was a tripod, which keeps the camera straight when recording so that the footage will look professional and clean. We also used the tripod for the ancillary pieces when taking photos of the artist for the magazine advertisement and album cover.

Focus GroupsWe collected a group of people willing to be our focus to watch different clips and viewer our advertisements and CD covers, this way will gain feedback fro different people on already existing media and our own. Firstly we used the camcorder and tripod to record the evidence but then it ran out of battery, then we used an iPhone 4 to record the rest of the footage which was an undercover blessing due to we could easily upload these to youtube and then view the footage back from different places and locations without looking on the iPhone.

Online - Blogger

We used Blogger (www.blogger.com) to upload all our work on from the various parts of the project.

This is how all our worked will be assessed from our teachers and from the examiner giving us our final grade. Also this way the teachers can check our work to see if it is up to standard it needs to be at.

OnlineOn Blogger there also numerous interactive parts we have included to take part in. One of these ways is by using and inserting polls which we would like to get feedback on from viewers of the blog. On the left is a example of a poll which have used to gain public information from, this will benefit us as we can use this figures to enhance our work.

Another way we can get feedback from is that viewers of the blog can comment on any piece of work and can give back positive or constructive cricitsm so that we can progress our work to a better standard.

Online - YouTube

The group uploaded there finished work onto YouTube and other social networking sites such as Facebook and Twitter. This will help us gain feedback from a different range people that wouldn’t be found just at school. This was done during and after production; it was done during so that the advice we got from the spectators we could change or keep in which ways we wanted to without having to change everything else about the video.

Online - FacebookAnother way of getting feedback from a different and diverse set of people is using different social networking sites where people would willing to watch and give feedback on our work and this well help us and we can change and make our work up to the next level. Social networking sites like Facebook include teenagers and young adults who would be watching and paying attention to music videos so all the feedback is vital so that we can produce ours the already existing professional standards

Online - FacebookOn the right our

some comments from when the first verse and first chorus was uploaded. This shows we had comments from different people giving different points and dissimilar constructive points, we can involve these comments next time we edit the video

iMovieHD

Shots of iMovieHDWe used this program on the Apple Mac

Books to edit and finish our music video of our chosen song. As seen in the bottom shot, all the clips we filmed are on the right side so we can view them, and if they are the right clips they can be copied or dragged into the timeline at the bottom of the program. Apart from clips being on the right hand side, it can change to Themes, Media, Editing and Chapters. We used Editing to parts of our video which can be shown in the next couple of slides.

iMovieHDShots of Editing Options

iMovieHD

These four shots of show how we used a fade in our music video, it started off by a mistake as they was a second gap where no footage between two scenes so instead of changing the scenes around we decided to use a fade and this came out successfully and help split the two scenes apart.

iMovieHD

There is a shot of the female in the video throwing clothes on to the bed. When filmed the model had to get the clothes from a railing, turn around and throw the clothes on the bed and do it again for other clothes and when put in the music it was too long so a part of the editing we cut this clip down where the gaps between the clothes going on the bed are shortened so that it still looks like the female is putting the clothes on the bed faster but still looking natural and not fast forwarded.