1. QUESTION
FOURHOW DID YOU USE MEDIA TECHNOLOGIES IN THE
CONSTRUCTION AND RESEARCH, PLANNING AND
EVALUATION STAGES?
2. RESEARCH
YOUTUBE
I used YouTube in order to find videos which I could potentially gain influence from for
my own music video. I searched for a range of videos, all of which fell under either the
‘indie’, ‘rock’ or ‘indie-rock’ genre category. The use of YouTube was very helpful in
terms of researching videos due to the extent of published music videos which can be
found on the website; these ranging from official videos to fan-made videos. I feel out
of all the music video websites, YouTube is the most helpful due to being the most
easy to access and having no limitations or time restrictions. The inclusion of public
feedback on videos was also helpful as it helped me to decide which videos people
generally enjoyed most and I was therefore able to use some of the feedback to
create my own work.
GOOGLE IMAGES
I found that when trying to gather a handful of images quickly, Google Images was
most useful as it held a variety of images which were situated around the same topic.
For example, there were multiple shots of one magazine cover which I was able to
pick from meaning it was easier for me to analyse layouts. A limitation of this search
engine is the lack of modern magazine adverts which could be found. The majority of
results were from 2012 and before and this made it difficult, since I was aiming to
analyse more modern and relevant images in order to please the majority audience.
SOCIAL MEDIA
Social media was successful as it is is somewhere where all people are able to freely
express opinions and feelings towards topics of their choice. On platforms such as
twitter and instagram, the use of hashtagging makes it easier to find a specific topic
which people are talking about, meaning I was able to easily find things based on
Catfish and the Bottlemen by searching ‘#catfishandthebottlemen’.
3. RESEARCH
RADIO 1 TOP 40
Radio 1 Top 40 is the national radio website
which produces a weekly ranking of the UK’s top
40 singles. There are a range of charts, all for
different genres and the songs which are in the
charts are all high profile songs which are
kept/added to the running by the public
downloads and purchases. I felt that this was a
helpful website when researching potential
songs, as it helped me to see which bands were
most popular and whether or not they were
rising or falling in the charts.
GIGS AND TOURS WEBSITE
The Gigs and Tours website was helpful in the
research process as it allowed us to see which
bands were currently or preparing to tour in the
UK. With knowing this, we were then able to
contact potential bands and ask for permission
of entry so we were able to film live performance
footage for our video incase we wanted to create
a performance based video. This was also
helpful as it gave us lots of information
surrounding different venues and events.
4. RECORD
CANON 1100D
We used the Canon 1100D to film the majority of our video as it held high quality and adjustable
settings meaning it was easy to use. I think this camera was successful in terms of filming in high
quality but was of limited help when we needed to film clips in slow motion. This is because the
Canon only has 30fps and slowing any filmed clips down would make the quality less defined and
make the shots seem jumpy and unclear.
iPHONE 5S
Due to the limitation of no slow motion filming on the Canon, we decided to use our phones
(iPhone 5S) to film any slow motion clips due to the iPhone having 120fps as an option. This
enabled us to film slow motion clips without the unwanted, jumpy effect that the Canon gave us.
NIKON CAMERA
We hired out the Nikon from college and used this camera alongside our iPhones and the Canon in
order to film the same shots simultaneously whilst being able to experiment with different angles. I
feel that this worked well and helped us when editing our video together because we had a variety
of shots to chose from. A limitation of using 2 different cameras in one video is the fact that we
were unable to resize the footage from the Nikon camera as it only filmed enough to fit the Premier
Pro screen, whereas the Canon footage filled the screen and more meaning we were able to move
the clip until it was sized perfectly. This meant when we added the crop effect to the clips later on,
we lost areas of footage due to not being able to resize what we had previously filmed. In addition
to this, the quality of the cameras were different meaning the quality continuity failed in certain
areas.
5. EDIT
PREMIER PRO/AFTER EFFECTS
We used these 2 programs in order to create a professional
looking video. Premier Pro was effective for adding basic
effects and transitions onto our clips, such as exponential
fade and dip to black. Premier Pro was an easier software to
use in comparison to others such as ‘iMovie’ and ‘Final Cut
Pro’. After effects was used for more advanced editing
techniques, such as: warp stabilizer, lighting effects,
ghosting and echoing. These techniques all aid in making a
more professional looking video. I feel that overall, these
softwares were successful as they helped us to create our
finished product. In saying this, we came across a few
problems with things such as rendering. Due to us getting
carried away during the editing process, we forgot to render
parts of the video, meaning we ended up waiting up to an
hour whilst our video rendered.
AUDITION
Audition was used to try and remove the ambience which can be heard in the opening clip
where Phoebe speaks in French. Despite our efforts, audition was unsuccessful in removing
the ambience and we still have some of the background noise in the clip. We also tried to
remove the ambience using another software called ‘Audacity’ which similarly to ‘Audition’ is a
audio editing software, but this was even less successful than our initial attempt using
‘Audition’.
6. DISTRIBUTION
YOUTUBE
YouTube was a platform which helped us greatly when trying to distribute our video. This could be
for a number of reasons, such as there being thousands of daily viewers which could easily
stumble across our video and comment on it. Another reason it was helpful was because the
website searches by association, meaning if an individual was to type in ‘A2 Draft Edit’, all videos
which have been tagged to be associated with any of the 3 words will come up as a search
response. Another successful point which stems from YouTube is the option to share your video to
social media websites such as Facebook, Instagram, Twitter and Tumblr. This means that anyone
who follows me on any of the social media platforms would be able to see what I have created due
to me having posted it as a hyperlink directly from YouTube.
SOCIAL MEDIA
Social media was helpful when trying to distribute our video as there is the option to ‘direct
message’ people the link to our video. This can range from friends and family to artists and bands,
meaning that there is no limit to who could potentially see our video. This is helpful as it means that
the video could become widespread and therefore get a wider range of feedback which could be
used to improve what we had created.
7. ANCILLARIES
PHOTOSHOP
I used Photoshop when creating both of my ancillaries in order to produce professional looking
projects. Photoshop was more successful than other softwares such as ‘Lightroom’, as I found it
easier to manipulate images and put together my pieces. Photoshop also allowed me to create my
layout designs for both ancillaries. I originally considered using an amateur software like ‘Paint’ in
order to create my layout designs, but I soon discovered that Photoshop was more precise in terms
of positioning and adding detail.
DAFONT
Due to wanting to use a font which was similar to the Catfish and
the Bottlemen’s font, I used the website DaFont to download an
array of fonts which I could potentially use on my ancillaries.
I change a range of both serif and sans serif fonts and then
compared what I had downloaded to the band’s real font. I then
decided to use the font shown at the top and bottom of the image.
I chose this because it was so similar to the original font and felt
that both positioning's worked well and could be used on both of
my ancillaries. This font also helps to highlight the convention of
simplicity in the indie genre.