Evaluation question 4

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

2. Research and Planning Stages.
During the research and planning stages, I used a vast amount of different
technologies for my aid. Some of the tools that I used included, YouTube,
Blogger, Prezi and search engines such as google in order to gain as much
information as possible into my project research.
Blogger was a huge help in my research and
planning as it allowed me to look at existing products,
and gain an understanding of what and what not to
do. It also enabled me to upload my work and track
the progress made during my planning stages. All in
all it was a very important part of research and
planning stages.
Google was also extremely helpful as
being a gateway to finding any
relevant information that I needed. It
gave me access to websites of bands
from my chosen genre and allowed
me to see how they advertise
themselves, this was particularly
helpful in the design of my ancillary
tasks, in the design of adverts and
digipaks.
Through the use of YouTube, I was
able to look at music videos from
artists in my chosen genre and further
gather information. It also allowed
me to look at audience data, and
gather information on demographics.

3. RESEARCH AND PLANNING STAGES.
Here are some examples of other tools that helped me in my work.
The website infogr.am was very useful for me gathering secondary
target audience data, giving me excellent demographic
information. The benefit of this helped me to be able to tailor my
music video to the audience most likely to be interested in my
work, therefore gaining maximum coverage and success.
Further helping with the target audience
research was the use of the camera in
target audience interviews. Using the
interviews of members from my primary
demographic, I was able to ask my own
questions of my audience and learn fro
my self just they were interested. This
combined with the secondary research
really was a basis for production. I also
gained a further insight into what the
fans of the alternative rock genre
wanted to see in a music video, which
really pushed me to use a mixture of
narrative and performance concepts.

4. RESEARCH AND PLANNING STAGES
Prezi too was a very important piece
of software that I used in not just
research and planning but also
throughout my whole production. The
cloud based presentation software
was very useful in displaying my work,
particularly any research that I
needed to later upload to my blog.

5. CONSTRUCTION STAGES
Like the Research and Planning Stages, the construction stages of my production required
me to use a whole range of different media technologies in order to accomplish the best
possible result in my work. Some of the technologies I was already familiar with from the use
of them in AS, but there was also some new technologies I had to become familiar with
during my A2 work. The first piece of technology that I was immediately familiar with was
the HD camera, as it was the same model used last year during the AS project. Other
pieces of technology I was familiar with included digital cameras, used during my ancillary
tasks to create my magazine advert and album cover.
Obviously one piece of technology used was the camera and tripod. Having used them
previously in AS I was already familiar with their use, and this helped me to gain a better
understanding of the variety of shots to use in my music video.

6. CONSTRUCTION STAGES
Movie studio platinum 12 was used as a tool for my editing process
and also during videos made in my target audience work. I had
used it before during the AS course but for my music video, it was
used at a much higher level. During the editing stages I explored
new effects for my video including changes in opacity levels as seen
in the image on the left, and filters which can be seen in the bottom
picture. These tools helped to add a professional look in my work and
create the best possible video.

7. CONSTRUCTION STAGES
Adobe Photoshop was a particular important tool during my
ancillary task digipak design. Once I had captured the photo
designs I needed for my advert and album covers, I was able
to further edit the photos thanks to this piece of software.
Things like brightness and contrast levels were changed too
with the aid of this media technology to help give my work a
professional look. However it was not the easiest software to
function and some parts of using it required trial and error,
but in the end was very important to my work.

8. CONSTRUCTION STAGES
During filming I also used a strobe and spotlight
as my sources of lighting during the performance
pieces of the video. The spotlight focused on the
singer and faded out when the instruments all
came together. At the same time as this, the
strobe came on and gave a really authentic feel
to the footage as the band all played together.
After on movie studio platinum, I placed a black
and white filter over the strobe light which only
improved the effect and authenticity.

9. EVALUATION STAGES
This stage was extremely similar to the research and planning stage of my
work, with a lot of the same technologies used. This part of the course is very
similar as a lot of the work was written, and presentation based, so the
combination of Prezi and Blogger was often common, with Blogger acting
as a stage for my work. The website and cloud based storage software
SlideShare was also used as a means to upload PowerPoints and Word
Documents, again being very helpful. Also human recourses was used in the
form of feedback for things such as my ancillary tasks, with opinions given
by my peers on my advert designs. This proved just as useful as the use of
technology, however over all throughout the three stages technology
proved hugely helpful.