How did you use media technologies in the construction and research, planning and evaluation stages?

EVALUATION - QUESTION FOUR:

CONSTRUCTION

• The construction process consisted of the creation and development period of the following: music video; poster advertisement and digipak. The technology we used to construct our products essentially had a colossal role in it’s successful production. The technology was a key aspect to the creation of our products; without the technology which we used, the production would not have been successful and it would not have reached it’s current standard.

• I used my camera (EOS 600 D) to capture the desired images for our initial photo shoots to convey genre and genre conventions, furthermore, to capture the narrative and performance footage for our music video. We were able to achieve a high quality picture for our music video with the camera which I used. The quality gathered from my Canon 600 D is substantially advanced than the other cameras we experimented with; the 600 D was capable of shooting in 1080p, the other cameras we experimented with (flip cameras, lower Canon generations) were not capable in capturing footage or images in 1080p. The performance of the music video heavily relies on the device being used to record and process it, the frame rate and other conceptions are affected by different technologies which can be used to capture images or footage. We managed to experiment with a variety of devices to record our music video and to capture our photographs. We made brilliant improvements by using more advanced pieces of technology to gather the resources required for our production.

• The clarity of the photographs and footage was quite unsatisfactory when using other cameras. My camera was able to capture the images and footage which we desired, therefore, affecting the performance of our music video production and initially drastically improved our product by using a more advanced camera. In addition, the camera was easy to manoeuvre for the hand held, tripod, moving the camera to different areas (in between ambience to gain a sense of surroundings). These are a few perspectives which allowed us to do by using the versatile piece of technology (EOS 600 D) Using an advanced camera like this allowed us to capture fast paced scenes in greater quality (running scenes). This is an example of how technology affected the performance of our product my experimenting with different cameras to gather a higher standard for our music video and photographs which we essential for the process of constructing our finalised product amongst the planning and development of our product.

• Another essential piece of technology which refers to the construction orientation was using the Mac computer, it’s integral graphical standard interface seemed to be far more advanced than using other PC models. The Mac essentially allowed us to use editing software’s to create, develop and edit to articulate the segments of the footage. We used editing programs like Photoshop to essentially initiate the creation of our digipak and poster which was required to form an established connection/relationship with our chosen genre. The products which I formed and developed by using Photoshop also correlate with music video. The poster and digipak share some of the characteristics and conventions of the digipak in relation to the dark colour scheme and other aspects.

• We used the Photoshop program to individually create a digipak, poster, font and logo. This is a technology source which I consider to be positive asset in order to form my products. To commence the construction of the listed ideologies; I articulated my digipak around a template which I used to initiate the production process for it. I managed to manipulate the conceptions which I previously mentioned by using the gradient and curve tool, as well as making change to brightness and contrast to form a dark colour scheme to make everything relate together. Unfortunately I did not use any of my initial photographs for my disc development, however, I heavily manipulated the images I used for my discs by completing drastic change and implementing the desired patterns I needed to relate it to my chosen genre.

• I embedded the colour scheme which I formed for my products and manipulated the images by creating different layers of colour and eventually manifesting each layer together to form one pattern. I managed to create an icy effect for my discs to make it more relevant to the name of our band (Cold Liberty).

• To commence the process of the music video, editing software was required so we could perform manipulation to the footage gathered by editing it and positioning it in chronological periods. We managed to integrate the narrative and performance pieces of footage together to successfully form our intended music video which followed the conceptions of having a narrative and performance which link to the typical conventions found in the alternative rock genre. After creating our first draft of our music video which did not meet our desired expectations; I managed to successfully plan to reshoot particular scenes of the music video (narrative and performance scenes) with my group.

• This gave us more footage to replace the unsatisfactory sectors of our music video, by reshooting, this helped us develop and cause improvements to our overall music video production process. We managed to include transitions to manipulate scenes in the music video. We added fade in and fade out effects (we used a fadeout which worked well with the ending of our music video) to combine scenes together by tying in narrative and performance based pieces of footage together, making it more conventional to music videos which I have researched which relate to our chosen genre. We used a program called Final Cut Pro to edit the footage for our music video.

• Photoshop was an important aspect to successfully create my products on and proved to be an asset for the production and construction process overall. This program was a useful technology to essentially create the finalised digipak and poster; in addition, it was also important to develop other ideologies like patterns, colour schemes and fonts. Photoshop was an important asset for the technological construction of my items.

When using Final Cut Pro; we used a variety of tools to essentially alter/tamper with the footage we put together on the software. I used tools to practically cut pieces of footage in smaller segments to create faster paced scenes which corresponds with the genre and music being played alongside the footage. An alternative rock song requires fast paced editing to relate to the genre codes convention; typically, music videos with the same genre contains fast paced editing to relate more with the music beat. If scenes are not cut into time with the melody, beat of the music than it would not convey relevance to the genre. I combined the two elements together (narrative and performance based footage) by integrating the two elements together; I positioned each piece of footage in key areas to allow the consistent switch between narrative and performance; making it more conventional for the genre. We had to consider the pace and placements of certain footage to combine with the music which played along with the footage; we had to ensure putting a piece of footage which would be synchronous to the display of performance. For example, lip synching of the vocalist and other aspects like, close ups of the instruments when they’re emphasised and clearly heard through the song.

Overall, technology was an important asset to the creation of my products, without the technology which I managed to use; the products would not be as successful as they are and would be less developed.

I incorporated colour change to the music video to make it respond more with the genre by adding in a darker theme – I took away the naturalistic colour and replaced it with a black and white effect. This made the music video more suitable for our genre.

RESEARCH• I used a variety of methods to research into conceptions which were required throughout the

production of our music video and the ancillary texts which also relate to it. Methods of research was especially helpful for the beginning of the production when planning for the genre conventions which would essentially be incorporated to our own music video and ancillary texts which we individually formed. We used two surveys as a source of research to gather information from other people to vote for the band name and song which we should use for our music video. The band name with the most votes was ‘Cold Liberty’ and song choice ‘The Pretender – Foo Fighters’. Surveys helped us with the research stage by gathering information from other people to consider for our further production. Other aspects like YouTube were essential when researching into the main ideologies which were required for our production: various bands; codes and conventions of the genre; styles of posters and digipaks; text formatting; song choices which related to our chosen genre (to place into surveys as well as gaining insight on music); music video structure and aspect ratio (narrative and performance ratio).

PLANNING

• The planning speculation was essential to our production; we used the technologies (Photoshop, Final Cut Pro) which we used for developing our music videos, digipaks and posters. We also used them for our planning stage; we designed an animatic which shares aspects as a storyboard. The animatic blueprints, displays how our music video will appear. The animatic is played alongside the song which we chose and the drawings we incorporated as well as the detail given (camera angles - cinematography, mise en scene, ambience, scenery, sound, footage length and more). We used Final Cut Pro to manipulate the speed of each page displayed on the screen. Making it relevant with the beat of the music. We had to create presentations and incorporate the production planning, construction of products and other key aspects as well as the animatic/storyboard. We used various technologies to present to our class. Presentation programs were found online and on the computers we used. The pitch we delivered to our class was formulated on software called ‘prezi’. We also used other presentational software’s like Emaze and PowerPoint.

EVALUATION

• Media technologies were essential and played an important role in the evaluation sector. I used a variety of formats to display the questions along with my answers. The following are examples of media technology which I have used for my production and evaluation section: presentational services (PowerPoint, Emaze, Prezi and a green screen analysis which associated with analysing digipaks and posters, this links to the research and construction degree). To keep my work tidy and safely kept I used a blog to archive my entire production line for the course. Technologies associated with media have been incredibly essential in the areas of: construction, research, planning and evaluation standards. The technologies proved to be an important asset by allowing us to reach success in our production.