3. Technology/Software used in research
-The internet played a vital part throughout our coursework however it was Argubly most useful when researching our artist
and band. Specifically we used Google to search for information on the band and the indie genre itself and found a lot of
information, some of it useful some of it not so. One of the main websites we used for researching our artist was
Wikipedia. While not always being reliable we were only looking for a brief overview of The Zutons and some background
information which we found extremely useful as it helped us to build up a picture of what the Zutons were like and how to
relate that to our video. Similarly Google was extremely helpful when researching conventions of the indie genre as
without having an idea of the conventions we wouldn’t have had much of an idea about what to include in our video.
-PowerPoint and Prezi where useful tools when posting our research on our blog. In terms of media technologies and
combining them we used hyperlinks and the embedding of youtube videos much more on our Prezi’s as it was easier
software to embed such items on. Also the actual subject of the Prezi’s was more accessible to combining technologies.
For example on our conventions of music videos we were able to embed YouTube videos in order to show examples of the
conventions.
-We recorded our focus group research with a digital camcorder against a black screen. The use of the black screen was
done in order to make the video look more professional in as much that we didn’t want a background of a desk or
something that would detract from the video and so that we could demonstrate our knowledge of three point lighting. We
then edited this footage on Imovie to cut out bits we didn’t want and to make the video more accessible to use for research
purposes.
-Our research and planning has been presented in a variety of ways on our blogs. We have used several different
methods of posting in order to be creative and in order to make our blogs more interesting to look at. Methods of posting
we have used include videos and interviews, PowerPoint's, Prezi’s and text posts. I think the main positive of this media
technology is simply the sheer variety of technology we have used to post on the blog. One slightly negative aspect is
perhaps that on the research PowerPoint’s we have done for the video and ancillary tasks we could perhaps have
cmbined more technology by embedding videos and inserting hyperlinks.
5. Technology/Software used in planning
-The use of new technologies in planning the construction of our video was extremely important and helpful especially with
our Animatic storyboard that we created. The Animatic was filmed with a digital camcorder and then the song was snapped
to the footage in Imovie. This helped with the planning in as much that we could play with different shots in different orders
and change the length of different shots without having to re-film any footage. This was extremely useful in the end as we
actually changed the length of some shots to fit better with the lyrics of the song.
-Similarly the planning of our DVD cover and Advert on fireworks was useful for the same reason that we could experiment
with different aspects and designs and with the click of a button undo something or return to a previous design. Fireworks
in particular was helpful as can be seen with our post on the different special effects we used on the images of the band. If
we had used Publisher to make our advert and digipak cover we would never have discovered or used the special effects
available in Fireworks that have ultimately made our ancillary tasks look much better than when the pictures were unedited
and ‘plain’.
-When planning our advert we used technologies including the internet and PowerPoint. We used the internet in order to
research the different music magazines primarily to find our what sort of music genres and bands were in each magazine
and therefore to find a magazine suitable for The Zutons and the Indie genre. We displayed our research findings on
PowerPoint and also did a magazine analysis to gain some insight into what Indie music video adverts contained and to
get initial ideas for our own advert, this was again done on PowerPoint as it is simple software to use and is good for
displaying research on.
7. Technology/Software used in
construction
-We had a good knowledge of how to use the digital camcorders from our previous years coursework and thus we feel
that we have used the camcorder in a positive manner. We had two camcorders for filming primarily for the band scenes
as we set one camcorder up to film a medium shot of the band and used the other camcorder to film close ups of the
guitarists and lead singer which we then intercut with one another in the editing process. We also used the camcorders
zoom function to gain a variety of long shots, medium shots and close ups for our video.
-Again we had previous experience of Imovie so we were able to edit effectively and make use of Imovie’s tools. To put
the soundtrack on the video we simply transferred the track from Itunes to Imovie. The lip syncing and everything else
was done around the soundtrack rather than the other way around. Transitions and special effects is one area of Imovie
that we felt we used well in the video as we used a range of them. In terms of special effects we used them as a tool to
help with the Lip Syncing as well as to provide an effect. A good example of this is when our lead singer is in the shop
and turns around, we used a slow motion effect here initially to put the lip syncing in time however we also felt that if fitted
well with the pace of the music at that particular part of the song. Another special effect we have used is to adjust the
colours on ‘Valerie’ with the use of the ‘romantic’ effect. We have done this to emphasise that the lead singer is imagining
her presence rather than actually seeing her.
-As mentioned previously Fireworks was an important tool when making our advert and DVD cover. In order to create
synergy between the 3 tasks we decided to use the different colour ‘Valerie’s’ present in one of the band scenes as a
border for the advert and digipak and also to use pictures of the band themselves so that the audience would be able to
easily associate all of the products with one another. We used fireworks to manipulate the images in as much that we
rubbed out the background of the pictures and used the ‘contrast’ special effect on the pictures in order to produce a
more convincing and realistic advert and digipak cover.
9. Technology/Software used in
evaluation
-For us producing four creative evaluation questions was important as our last years coursework fell down at this stage.
Therefore we have tried to use different technologies and combine technologies to produce a creative evaluation that is
interesting to watch and read. All of our evaluation is electronically based, two of the questions are videos which feature us
talking about aspects of the coursework. One of these videos features a twist in as much that we used an Ipad to show our
magazine advert, digipak and parts of our video while we were talking about them. We feel this adds an extra dimension to
our evaluation and is something other groups might not necessarily have. The other two questions are in the form of a Prezi
and a PowerPoint which is this question.
-The Prezi is again where we have hyperlinked and embedded youtube videos. In terms of what was hyperlinked we have
linked our questionnaire and the results of that questionnaire which we did in the form of graphs. We linked these items
especially as we felt that having what was being described in the text accessible to the user would make understanding what
was being described and the points made easier. The same points go for the youtube videos we have embedded on the
Prezi. Again they back up what the points being made are and increase how accessible they are to the audience.
-The combination of still images with text comes in the form of this PowerPoint where we have added a mini collage to each
of the four sections. We did this to primarily break up the chunks of text for this question and also to tell the user what
technology we used in each section at a glance. This in turn would give the user an idea of what was going to bed discussed
on the following page.
