How did you use media technologies in the construction

research planning and evaluation stages?

Throughout the process of construction, research, planning and evaluation I have used various media technologies to help me present

each of these areas.

Making the movie and ancillary task

• In preparation towards making our music video and ancillary tasks, we used a Canon Lumix SLR Camera FZ48. We did have the option to use the school camera which was a Canon Fs406, however we decided not to use it as our filming/photography timetable may clash with other girls who may want to film at the same time as us, and so it was more appropriate to us a Lumix, and also because a member of our group owned the camera therefore it was convenient. Using this camera allowed us to capture a better quality of picture and we were able to use the zoom control to capture certain shots, as well as adjust certain things like the exposure of the camera, for example, in one of our scenes we wanted the shot to appear as if it was later in the day, and so we reduced the exposure. We also used a tripod to help us keep the camera on a steady balance to ensure that the videos were not shaky.

Research

• A website that was constantly used throughout my time of research was YouTube, and this was because it enabled me to look at various music videos, allowing me to have a broader range of research to find which may be suitable for my video in particular. I not only used YouTube for research, but also for uploading videos onto my account to upload onto my blog to use as evidence, however the only problem that was very time consuming was that our school computers don’t allow us to access YouTube, and so I was only able to access it from home

Another website I used a lot for my research is Google, as this allowed me to research into various types of digi-packs and music posters to help me narrow down what kind of research I wanted to use as a guideline to make my own products. Not only did I use Google for research on digi-packs and music posters, but also for different types of camera angles to improve our music video to make it more unique, and also for research on things like what costumes we wanted the actress to wear within our music video, and so I was able to do this by researching this on Google images

• Another source of research was visiting the stores like HMV, Asda and Sainsburys to look at various digi-packs that they were selling, and what the design and layout of them were, so we could consider it and translate it into our own media products

Editing the film

• To edit our film we used the programme MOVIE SERIF. This enabled us to add effects to clips, cut them, de-link sounds from clips, import files and so on. This made our music video look professional. I have previously edited videos using this programme before, and so I used this to my advantage as I was able to start editing straight away without being held back. However, we did experience problems using this programme as we discovered that when exporting the video, it look a lot of space up which we did not have on our user at school, and so this wasted time. We overcame this by our technicians increasing the space on our users to create more space to save the file

Coursework

• Throughout the process of making my music video, as well as creating ancillary tasks, I blogged the whole process from start to finish using a website called ‘Blogger’. As I had already used blogger before for my AS media coursework, I was already familiar with how to operate the website, and so this gave me an advantage. However, I did encounter a few problems whilst using blogger, for example when I wanted to embed some videos or animations onto the blog, sometimes it wouldn’t appear which was quite frustrating, but nevertheless, overall using blogger was successful and easy to manage.

I also used a programme called ‘picasion’ where I then uploaded it onto my blog. I thought that this programme was handy to use as it prevented you from uploading several pictures, and instead allowed you to make one picture where the pictures would flick through continuously . As well it shows that you can use various types of media and upload it to your blog with ease

• I also used word documents and paint to create small posters where I could add text boxes and arrows to point out what I was trying to explain or show the relation between my research and production. This was useful as it enabled me to make quick posters instead of uploading lots of text and pictures

• I used another programme called Popplet, which allowed me and my team to be connected onto one page that was visible to us all, and allowed us to each contribute a making a mind map of ideas that we could all see. At first I found this programme confusing to use as I had never used it before, however once I figured out how to operate the programme I found it quite easy

Ancillary

• To edit our ancillary tasks we used a programme called ‘Photoshop’ which was very useful to use as it allowed us to edit our pictures, for example, taking away any blemishes within the picture, dark circles etc. Not only did this programme allow us to edit the picture itself, but also place other photos onto it such as barcodes, it also allowed us to creates texts and place it onto the picture. This programme was easy to operate as we had also used this for our coursework at AS, but of course we encountered problems with it as photoshop is a long and stressful process, which can cause people to make mistakes when editing, so that the picture does not meet your standards. However, as a team we overcame the problems by helping each other

Feedback

• To receive feedback for our media products, we published our product onto two social networks so that a large audience were able to watch it and give us their feedback. One being YouTube, where we received positive comments from an audience

And the other being twitter where was also received several positive comments. We decided that publishing it onto social networks was an easy way to receive feedback as people tend to use social networks a lot, and so this way they can preview our product and be able to commentate it in their free time and in the comfort of their own home or on the go

Evauluation

• To answer my evaluation questions I used many media technologies. One of them being slideshare, which allowed you to upload PowerPoint's onto the programme and transform it into a slideshare, and then upload it to your blog which was appropriate as it was quick and easy to use on blogger. I encountered no problems using this programme, however I was only able to access it from home and the site was blocked from our school computers

To answer evaluation question number 2, I used a programme called ‘Voki’. This programme is useful as it is straight forward to use, broadens your use of technology and allows a animation to say your evaluation answers aloud

To answer evaluation question number 3, I used my phone to video my target audiences giving me feedback on my products, telling me what they thought was good and what needs to be improved. I then uploaded it onto YouTube, where I could then easily upload it onto my blog . I found this easy to do as I use YouTube regularly, and so I know how to operate the programme

To answer an evaluation question I used the website ‘Prezi’ which allowed you to make an interactive presentation which you could add other files to such as YouTube clips or pictures. I think this programme was very creative. I had used this website before for AS and so I found it quite easy to operate

• To answer an evaluation question I used the website ‘Glogster’ which allowed you to make an interactive poster which you could add files to, for example pictures. In my opinion, this programme is useful and imaginative. However, I had never used this website before, and so I found it quite hard to operate at first