By Katie White

1. QUESTION 4: HOW DID YOU USE
MEDIA TECHNOLOGIES IN THE
CONSTRUCTION, RESEARCH,
PLANNING AND EVALUATION
STAGES?
By Katie White

2. IMPORTANCE OF TECHNOLOGIES
• Digital technologies are essential in the production of professional
media products such as film, T.V. texts and music videos because they
ensure a swift creation of content that can be built on and altered. They
have been important in all aspects of my media coursework, form
research and planning, to production and evaluation stages.
• I have been able to use digital technologies I otherwise would have not
had knowledge over to create professional looking media products, as
wells as, efficiently organise my content throughout the course.
• Although, the media technologies have been extremely helpful in all
parts of the media course, I have also encountered some difficulties in
using certain hardware and software.

3. TUMBLR
• Tumblr was a very important in the research, production
and evaluation stages as it was the dominant media
technology I used to keep myself organised and up to
date in the creation throughout to the reflection of my
music video. Throughout the duration of the course I have
posted daily on Tumblr documenting each stage of the
process. As Tumblr, can store multiple formats from Prezi
to slide share to YouTube videos, when it came to
production and planning I was able to design the content
on a certain media platform and easily post it on to the
blog with little confusion. An extremely helpful part of
Tumblr was the tool bar at the top, which contained links
to the format you wanted to post the content. During the
planning stage, Tumblr allowed me to view my progress
by simply scrolling through my blog, this has helped me
to produce better work as I could keep on top of
everything. I could easily change the design of how I laid
out each blog post by merely changing the style of the
post via rich text (which allowed me to add photos, videos
links etc within texts) and HTML, (which allowed me to
efficiently create paragraphs). The only difficulty with
Tumblr was that if I wanted to load PNG files, the load bar
would consistentlly load and it was very time consuming.

4. PREZI
• Prezi enabled me to display my information in
an organised and compact manner as it is
operated by clicking through an interactive
presentation. Prezi was important in all the
research and evaluation stages like research
into the music video industry as it allowed me
to systematically layout the information, as
well as, add YouTube videos, links and
pictures to compliment what I was explaining.
The easy creation of content enhanced my
producing skills as a student as I was able to
easily build on what I had to say by adding
sections to create a mind-map-like
presentation. Without the holistic content
Prezi provides, I would have not been able to
display information as creatively and
openly. The only downfall of Prezi I
discovered was when copying and pasting
from a Microsoft document, Prezi would not
allow the content to be pated on to the
softwares format.

5. SLIDE SHARE
• I have used slide share throughout the stages in developing, planning and evaluating my
music video. This software is one I found very helpful as it has permitted me to display
documents I have created on Microsoft word and power point in one area. The simple
fragments of slide share - like the easy uploading via simply clicking the document I wanted
and waiting for it to transform into the slide share format, to the easy embedment on to the
blog - have meant I have been able to produce work efficiently and methodically. However,
a difficulty encountered in using slide share was that if I wanted to present a slide show with
,links, the links would be eradicated when putting the document on the slide share format.
Due to the simpler format of slide share compared to Prezi, it has helped me as a student

6. PREMIER PRO
• Premier Pro was the key software during the post-
production stage. Having used the software in AS
during the production of the opening sequence, I was
fairly knowledgeable on how to navigate Premier Pro.
This gave me an advantage at A2, as I could edit my
music video during post-production with ease and
experiment with advanced effect controls that I
hadn’t previously used. For instance, formerly in AS I
was not experienced in adding a colour filter over a
clip to create a certain mood. However, in A2 I could
experiment with the different video effects to find a
control that fitted to the mood I was aiming for in the
music video. By adjusting the colour balance to
shadow red: -26, shadow green: -21, shadow blue:11
and mid tone blue 20. Additionally, correcting
brightness 50 and contrast 10, I was able to transform
clips into a whole new improved, cinematic scene. In
have also used Premier Pro during the research
stages, helping me to further understand the controls
within the software. Using the software on Premier
pro has allowed me to design professional-looking
content that has meaning and generic
conventions. A difficulty I encountered with Premier
pro was sometimes the software would glitch and
freeze, therefore it sometimes made it difficult to
operate the system methodically.

7. PHOTOSHOP
• Photoshop was the software dominantly used to edit both m y digipak and advert. As I had previously used
Photoshop in AS to design the production logo, I had basic knowledge of certain tools to use such as the text tool
and brightness/contrast tool. however, due to the detail I wanted to provide in both the digipak and advert, I had to
teach myself how to use the more advanced tools such as the quick selection tool, which enabled me to cut the
black background from a white virgin records logo, as I liked how the white logo stood out on my digipak. I further
used the erase tool in when constructing the digipak advert, this was to give logos like ‘Spotify’ a curve effect
around the ages to create consistency in the ways the other logos were designed. Although, the difficult parts of
using Photoshop was familiarising myself with how to navigate the more advanced controls, I found I adapted to
using the software very quickly. Photoshop has helped me produce better work as a student because of the
professional, real-life-like results the finish results produced.

8. YOUTUBE AND GOOGLE
• The foremost internet site Google has been essential in
the research stages, planning and evaluation. Google has
enabled me to search for content like conventions of the
music video, genre conventions and methods on how to
navigate software like Photoshop. Without the infinite
space and knowledge google provides I would not have
been able to produce as advanced media product as I
have. The software including, Prezi and slide share have
been accessed via google, consequently google has been
the foundation to retrieving other content and
knowledge. The only difficulty of using google is because
there is infinite knowledge it can provide it can be
problematic to find a reliable source of information.
However, I overcame this via researching in various sites
for each phase I sought to understand, to build up my
knowledge and its reliability.
• YouTube has been extremely helpful in sharing video
content I have created on the research, planning,
production and evaluation stages. It has permitted me
to upload video content to plan my music video in
terms of visualising how it may look- I did this by the
loading of the animatic storyboard. As well as, load
numerous focus groups to research into audience
behaviours and evaluate my finished product. In terms
of the main task, my group were straightforwardly able
to upload the video to YouTube and have it in one
public area. An exceptionally good thing about
YouTube it’s public median, so we could get feedback
from the target audience quickly and in one place.
Although, the only negative about YouTube was the
video took a very long time to upload, which was very
time consuming.

9. DIGITAL CAMERA
• The digital camera used to film the music video in production was the Samsung NX1000. I chose this camera as it provided the natural/
authentic filter my group were looking for, because the different settings from- morning, dawn, dusk etc. emphasises the picture to fit
the time of day. For this, the camera worked well with the typical indie genre conventions. I especially found the camera complimented
the outside locations featured in the music video, as when it came to editing I did not have to filter it further. One of the best factors
about the camera was its 50mm lens, which allowed me to gain intricate detailed close-ups. Due to many of the shots centring around
close-ups/mid-shots to provoke the intimacy and emotion of the scene. However, the down side of the Samsung was it wasn’t the best
camera at detailing, clear long distance shots, this made it difficult during production as before I could film long distance shots I had to
ensure the camera was blurry, but I resolved this issue by testing the length to which the camera can still pick up details during
production- although this was slightly time consuming. Furthermore, the Samsung camera was very practical to use due to its small size
and weight, making it extremely portable. The nx1000, overall was a very handy and specialised technology, that added to the
professional finish of my music video via producing detailed, naturally filtered shots. I have also used the DLSR3000 to film my focus
groups in research/planning and evaluation. The DLSR is equally as crisp as the Samsung, enabling my focus group to look proficient in
the YouTube format. The DLSR is also very easy to operate as many of the controls needed are labelled on the camera, this has helped
me produce better work as I am now increasingly aware on how to operate advanced hardware technologies- a skill I can take on in the
future.
•

10. ADDITIONAL HARDWARE
• My IPhone was handy in all areas of production,
planning, research and evaluation. As it is a piece of
hardware I am extremely familiar with as a digital
native, I knew exactly how to use my phone efficiently
to gather and use information. I was could download
the Tumblr app on my phone, so I could check up on
daily posts and if I was on the go, add posts to my
blog. This helped me produce better work due to the
fast accessibility and admission of Wi-Fi/3G if I was on
sight during production. I have also been able to store
all photos taken during progress of production on my
phone, helping me remain organized and up to date.
The only difficulty in using the iPhone for aspects was I
couldn't’t use advanced software like Prezi and slide
share on the go, due to the phone not having extra
material.