Final: Evaluation Question 4, How did you use media technologies in the construction and research, planning and evaluation stages?

Question 4.        How did you use media technologies in the construction and research, planning and evaluation stages?

The research was a vital component in order to create my ancillary texts and my music video. Using as wide variety of media technologies this researched help me quickly establish my target market and different options I could take for appealing to them as successfully as possible.

Youtube

Youtube was extremely helpful to both my music and ancillary texts. I first used Youtube to research the current videos that suited my genre and fitted into my target market. I was able to use the embed code from these and insert them into my blog posts so I could refer back to them later. I found this useful during the planning process of my storyboard so I could refer quickly back to videos that I liked and take inspiration from them. From this I was able to capture screen shots from the platform to pick out key shots that I thought would later be useful for my own product. It enabled me to also view the editing processes that were adopted by real media products and see if I could recreate these myself. 

I used Youtube also during the research and planning stages of my digipak and album advert. For example, I was able to quickly type in a function that I could not perform on Adobe Photoshop CS5 and find tutorials that other users had created. This was relevant as I found a tutorial on how to make text on Photoshop position in a circular form. Therefore from Youtube I was able to learn new skills on Photoshop that I did not previously know and advance the look of my own digipak. 

I also used Youtube to present the draft version of my music video. This helped me further in other stages such as feedback as it meant it was easily accessible by my peers and also allowed me to see how my video would look completed. During the final construction stages I used Youtube as the platform to present my final video. Alongside Adobe Premiere Elements 8.0 I was able to connect to my account and upload it directly. This saved me time as well as ensured that the quality of my video was not compromised or that I had to compress the file size. 

Google Chrome & Internet Explorer 

By using the search engine Google I was able to compile a range of images that fitted into the pin-up/1950s inspired look that I decided upon. This helped me quickly find new ideas and inspiration that I did not think of, such as key conventions within these images such as heavy make-up and props that I could include within my music video. I used Google Chrome mainly when undertaking research at home, whereas Internet Explorer was the default web browser at college so I continually switched between the two. I find that Google Chrome is faster and has a basic layout which allowed me to search for ideas and images quickly without being delayed. The features of Google Chrome, such as most visited, allowed me to go back to pages that I had no finished researching, such as my previously researched font site, without having to write it down manually. 

Lexmark Scanner

Lexmark scanner was vital in the construction in my music video and my digipak and album advert. For my music video, I had created the storyboard using post-it notes which I was able to scan directly in Photoshop and later construct using iMovie. This aided the planning of my music video significantly as I was able to show my post-it notes online rather than just physically. I also used the scanner to scan my hand-drawn illustrations for my digipak and album advert. This was a really useful technology that aided in my construction stages as I could edit the images digitally later in Photoshop to make it appear digitally drawn. 

Animoto

Animoto was a really easy platform used to present my ideas visually which gave me and my peers a better indication as to what route I was taking. I especially found useful how I was also able to add in images and text alongside my the song that I decided to base my music video upon. This helped me reaffirm my idea that the song would work alongside the visual concept of 50s inspired I was going for. By presenting my idea in a creative and visual way I was able to transfer my ideas easily to my audience and receive feedback quickly. I enjoyed using this technology as it helped in the planning stages as I referred back to it when choosing my props and mise-en-scene such as a 50s style inspired garment which I had included in the animoto.

I used Animoto again to present visually the media technologies I had used throughout both my media products. I could easily insert images and update it when necessary later when I needed to. I find Animoto a much quicker format to produce videos than creating from scratch from other popular platforms such as Windows Movie Maker. 

Microsoft Word 2007

Microsoft Word is a common platform to present texts which I have previous experience in using. Therefore it was an easy choice to use this when presenting texts that I have analysed. For example, I used it during the research process of other texts of music videos. I decided to analyse Lana Del Rey's 'National Anthem' video which I presented using Microsoft Word. I was able to present several questions and analyse the conventions of the video easily as I watched it. I could then come back to it if I needed to, to add more detail and edit previous mistakes. During lessons I could also make quick notes about ideas in my media products and work from them using other platforms at a later date.

Glogster

I really like Glogster as I think it is a really innovative way to present ideas in detail with text and images as you would on physical paper. It provides a wide variety of themes as well as images to suit the purpose of your document to make it interesting and eye-catching. I used this during the research stage of my ancillary texts as I placed an album advert into the document and was able to analyse it. This was useful as I could place arrows to the areas I was discussing making it easy to communicate. I could also separate this into separate paragraphs with headers to make navigation between my analysis easy. I was able to save the document and edit it later when I needed to. I then used the embed code from my document and insert it into Blogger's HTML. Making it immediately accessible to my peers. 

Paint

I used paint on several occassions to assemble images together quickly rather than having to load up Photoshop which requires longer processes. I used this during my research stages, for example I compiled several CD spines together adjacent to eachother and could crop them quickly. I chose to use this for more simple JPEGs that I needed to insert into Blogger. I could then save the images and insert them into Blogger where I could easily discuss my findings. I also used it during the construction stages of  my digipak, as I was able to print screen the processes I took to create stages of my digipak such as my illustrations. I like the basic tools that Paint includes which can create JPEGs in seconds, I could easily crop inserted images to the specific area I required.

iMovie

iMovie, compatible on Apple Macs, was used for the planning process of our music video. This was used when inserting the individual post-it notes of the shots type we had decided upon for our music video. This was a quick video making format that did not require previous knowledge of the software to get the grips with. It was able to then create our finished storyboard plan into a MPEG4 which we could then insert into Blogger to present again.  


Scribd

I used Scribd in the research process to mainly present my ideas from documents I had formed in Microsoft Word 2007. I prefer Scribd to host my documents as it presents them clearly and can be zoomed in and out. I uploaded my Microsoft Word 2007 document of my textual analysis of Lana Del Rey's 'National Anthem' into my Scribd account, using the embed code to then insert it into Blogger. I found this was a nice medium to host my research rather for a change as it can also be read by other Scribd users.

Prezi

Prezi is a fun and creative way to present my ideas. I used it during the research stages of my digipak and album advert to compile pictures into a mood board to demonstrate the inspiration for the products. This helped me identify features such as colour scheme and even techniques to create my digipak. I was able to compile these images together, rotating them and sizing them together to make it appear aesthetically pleasing. 

Twitter

We used twitter to promote my artist. Twitter is becoming one of the most popular social networking sites that is used by music artists of all genres to promote their new releases and gain fans. Therefore it was an important platform in imitating this process otherwise my artist would have lacked the marketing strategy to be successful. I tried out this technology a couple of times and it was easy to provide my audience quick information about the new album and music video which I could also provide links to. 

SD 16GB memory card

The SD memory card was a crucial component in the construction of my music video as it stored the video captures that were taken during filming. This was useful as it was able to store large amounts of HD video which I could then remove directly from the camera and insert it into my SD card port in my laptop. I used two SD memory cards, one 8GB and 16GB, which I stored each shot of filming onto. This was really useful as it meant that the video quality of my final music video was not compromised as it could store large amount of memory for my video clips. 

Panosonic HD camera

For the construction process of producing my music video I used a Panosonic HD video camera to capture the footage. The camera functions were relatively straight forward to use so the raw footage I caught was filmed with ease. The camera provided the best possible available format of 1080p HD to be then inserted into the editing processes. This helped me achieve a professional look that are similar to the high-technology video capture footage used in real media products. I was able to select footage and play it back on set, and delete unnecessary footage that did not go according to plan and save more memory space for other shots. Subsidiary equipment such as a camera tripod was also used when using this media technology to give me a level 180 degree shot that would look consistent through the changing sequences. I think without the quality of footage this camera provided my music video would not have consequently looked as effective, the high quality resolution gives detail and does not distract my audience from any off-looking shots. 

It also helped me during my research stages, as I had produced a test music video of 'The Kills - No Wow' which gave me an insight into the director roles and the tools of the video camera itself. 

Adobe Premiere Elements 8.0

Adobe Premiere Elements 8.0 was the central platform in the construction of my music video which allowed me to edit the raw footage I had previously captured and form them together to my final product. The large HD footage I had captured took up a large amount of memory space which was only capable on this software. I had previous knowledge of this software, since I had produced a test music video of 'The Kills - No Wow'. I had knowledge also of the conventional editing components found in Windows Movie Maker so it was easy to transfer my skills in this area and adapt to the new software. Elements gave me a wide range of options to explore when editing my video. I could insert all my raw footage to the media area on the right hand side of the program which allowed me to preview clips I had shot before I inserted them into the video timeline. This sped up the process dramatically   allowing me time them to quickly edit the footage. I used the timeline zooming in and slow motion viewing mode to ensure that items such as the lip syncing of the video was precise to the lip movements. This ensured then that I avoided any mistakes later on in the editing process which may have effected consequently imported footage into the timeline.

In terms of editing features I applied a consistent edit theme to all shots. I could edit the properties of each individual shot, which were typically -8.0 brightness, 140+ contrast and -95 saturation. By decreasing properties such as the saturation this allowed me to gain a more professional look to my video by avoiding relying on the lighting on set. This allows me to enhance the star image of my artist by making her appear more vivid to the audience. 

Adobe Photoshop CS5
Adobe Photoshop is the most accessible and widely used platform to create graphic designs from amateurs to industry standards, so I undoubtedly chose this in the construction process of my ancillary texts. I used Photoshop for all stages, research and planning, construction and evaluation stages.

I had in depth knowledge of the software from previous years so I found it easy to begin a new document and create my digipak and album advert professionally, using advanced techniques for the construction process.

Photoshop also allowed me to use a variety of tools to achieve the conventions in both the album advert and digipak in my research stages. For example, I was able to create an effective logo using the properties tool and add effects such as the 'outer glow' and 'drop shadow' to make it stand out from the flat background.

I could also achieve a more accurate colour scheme using the colour palette which I could save into my own favourite palettes and quickly adopt later without having to copy and paste the colour code. In the following research stages, I also used this large colour palette to compare which colours would work well with each other by creating colour blocks next to each other. This allowed me to experiment in the research and planning stages as well, as I could produce a variety of different typography and compare them to each other side by side and see which worked best. Therefore I could choose from a wide variety of different type styles as well as download some into Photoshop from ones I preferred online, which ended up being my final choice. Photoshop also aided in the research and analysis of album adverts before I made my draft version. I was able to copy and paste album adverts I thought were relevant into one JPEG document and scale them down to the same size. Allowing me to see the differences in the rule of thirds and positioning of images and which was most effective; consequently adopting these conventions for my final product.

During the construction stages of my digipak and album advert the tools in Photoshop allowed me to create a unique design specific to my artist. Firstly, I was able to insert a digipak template and create a new file in which to begin the process of creating my digipak. From my previous research, I had developed a concept in my head that I was able to quickly transfer into my draft version. For example, I was able to connect my Lexmark Scanner with the software to insert the sketches I had drawn for both ancillary texts. This enabled me to experiment with different layering effects, such as 'darken' or 'soft light' and see which would look the most professional to those I had seen in my research stages. I could also edit the darkness of the image to make the outline of the sketches appear more solidified and increase the contrast to help remove any issues of appearance on the raw image. The same construction process applied to the record label logos, which I 'placed' into the document to ensure the highest resolution quality, where I applied the 'darken' effect again so that the white background of the logo was removed and I was left with the solid logo. This prevented any edges appearing rigid or white pixels appearing outside of the logo if I were to have erased it used the selection tool.

Photoshop gave me the opportunity to also further edit my sketches. For example, I was able to use the bucket fill tool to insert my key colour into the lips to make it appear as if it were lipstick. This was a better option than hand colouring it as it gave it a professional look where I could also use the same solid colour throughout to give a continuous house style. I also developed some new skills during the process as I also used Youtube tutorials to help me improve the final look of my ancillary texts. This was evident when I was able to finally produce text going around a circle shape without having the manually edit the text itself. The same construction process of my digipak was similar to that of my album advert as I was able to create a new A4 document and copy and paste layers, such as the artist logo, into my album advert document without having to create it again. It also allowed me to use the select colour tool and use the same colours, for example in the background, from my digipak to my album advert. This was a quick and easy way for me to achieve the house style and have a harmonious image for both ancillary texts that my audience can easily identify as being related to one another.

Portable Hard Drive 

I used the portable hard drive to transfer the large HD raw footage to the computers at school also. I could also store footage on here for later, rather than keeping it on my laptop; this ensured that the footage was safe if anything happened to my laptop and also kept it running faster during the editing stages. 

DVD-ROM Disk

The DVD disk was a crucial technology in both the planning and construction processes used for my music video. Firstly, I used it as the platform to download my draft version of my music video onto for submission. This technology was pretty basic and I could quickly link my CD/DVD drive to the construction platform of Adobe Premiere Elements 8.0 in order to present the draft version of my music video for feedback. This could then be viewed by my peers whenever they preferred. I also used it to submit my final version of my music video to my teachers who could then view the final version of my music video to their discretion. 

It especially came in handy during the draft version as I was encountering problems with uploading the draft to YouTube to embed onto Blogger because the file was so large due the the MB of the HD video. The large memory of the disk allowed me to quickly transfer my video onto disk to still be viewed. However, I did eventually overcome the problem for my final version but still used it for the submission.