Evaluation question 4
- 1. Evaluation Question 4 How did you use media technologies in the construction and research, planning and evaluation stages?
- 2. iMovie One technology I used during the production of my music video was iMovie on an Apple Macbook. I was new to this technology at first and found it quite difficult due to my lack of skills and knowledge but after experimenting a numerous of times due to re-filming and editing I started to familiarise myself with the features and functions available and therefore found this technology easy to use over time. We had trouble at first with importing our video clips due to the media files being in an incorrect format but after re-converting them we were then able to edit. The first time we edited our video we began by editing one single clip to see what tools were available and learn how to simply cut the clip and change the timings. This was relatively easy although the more clips we began to add the harder it become because we had to position the clips in the correct order so they would come exactly on time. Also it was tricky with getting the lip synching accurate due to the amount of clips we had to use but in order for our music video to be at its better we had to put a lot of time into editing so the lip synching could be perfect. This technology helped us enormously throughout the construction of our music video. Even though there are other technologies available such as Adobe Premiere Elements, using iMovie allowed us to edit our video in our own time due to the Macbook being my partner’s, Liv Wood. This particular technology allowed us to crop clips, edit the brightness and contrast, alter timings and add clips onto a time line which allowed us to follow our storyboard and edit clips individually.
- 3. SD Video Camera During the production of our music video we used and SD video camera to film each shot which was borrowed from one of our teachers. We used this technology throughout the construction of our music video and made the process easier for us as we could film each shot in order and because we planned the shots in advance, we could get straight on with filming by simply working through the storyboard. We found this technology relatively easy to use and we found that this enabled our shots to be at the best of quality. However we found that some of the shots were not as clear and also looked darker than others but this could be due to the outside lighting rather than the camera. I had no previous experience working with this technology and therefore had to think about the variety of shots to include and how I was going to achieve them with this camera. The functions of the camera allowed us to zoom in and out, take photos and watch clips back. Zooming in and out was very useful during the filming process as we could vary the types of shots we used which would encourage the audience to continue watching as the video would look more interesting. Watching the video clips back allowed us to see if they were successful or not which then helped us to decide whether or not the particular shots needed to be improved.
- 4. Adobe Photoshop Elements 5.0 Another technology that I used during the construction and research and planning of my media products was Adobe Photoshop. I found this technology quite easy to use due to my past experience and knowledge after using it for my AS coursework. However due to the program being updated there was multiple features and tools that I wasn’t aware of and therefore had to familiarise myself to the new features in my own time. Before going straight into constructing my ancillary texts, I played around with these new tools on the software to see what effects and mock up products I could achieve. This way I was able to come up with more ideas on the conventions I may choose to use before putting together the final magazine advert and digipack. Overall I feel that my skills with Photoshop have improved dramatically since last year which has helped me think more creatively for my ancillary texts this year. Last year I had very basic skills and only used basic conventions whereas this year I developed ideas from current albums and magazine adverts so I could adapt my ideas further. This technology enhanced my work as it allowed me to edit photos to increase the quality, I could use templates, add text and images, I could use formatting tools and also add layers to make the ancillary texts look more realistic and professional.
- 5. Panasonic digital camera In order for my ancillary texts to have good quality photographs I used a Panasonic digital camera. I decided to use this camera because I had previous experience with using it for my AS coursework. This technology was used for research and planning and also the production of the media products. The digital camera made the production process of my ancillary texts a lot easier as the photos were a good quality which allowed me to edit them so that they looked professional. I could upload the photos immediately and experiment with the editing tools to see what they looked like on my computer. My skills in this particular technology have not necessarily developed however by using it I was able to be more creative as I was able to think more in depth of what types of shots to take. Furthermore, because I had previous experience with this technology it gave me more time to plan ahead rather than just take the pictures on the day and hope they would turn out fine. Planning ahead meant I knew exactly what would work well and what wouldn’t on my ancillary texts.
- 6. Blogger The technology I used throughout the construction, research and planning and evaluation stages of my coursework was Blogger. This allowed me to document all my ideas, thoughts, work and progress of my coursework from the beginning to the end. This was very useful as working with another person meant we had to both keep track of what had been achieved and what needed completing. This technology was useful for the research and planning part of our coursework as we could present our ideas in many formats such as basic posts, presentations, animoto, prezi, word documents etc. Not only did Blogger allow us to label our posts which made it a lot easier for us to refer back to our ideas in our researching and planning but it also encouraged us to be more organised with our work.
- 7. Internet Explorer I used Internet Explorer throughout the whole of my researching and planning stage of my coursework. Without this source I wouldn’t have been able to develop my ideas and get any inspiration from other media texts such as the artists name, costumes, song choice, conventions of a digipak and magazine and other information. The use of Internet Explorer encouraged me to develop my creative skills as I was able to take elements from other media texts and develop the idea’s further to make them my own. Without this technology I wouldn’t have been able to make the research of music videos and ancillary texts which would have had a massive impact on my work as my media products wouldn’t have looked professional and realistic. The internet made research and planning much easier for me because once I came across an idea I could then go and research more into it by using the internet.
- 8. Other Technologies Twitter Twitter is a social networking site we used for our artist. Twitter allowed us to make our artist look realistic by following other artists and bands and tweeting things very similar. This helped us throughout the research and planning stage as we could get regular feedback from friends and fans and we could let them know what progress we were making on the coursework products. Animoto Animoto was a useful piece of technology for our research and planning stage of our coursework. It allowed us to present our work such as a mood board in a very visual way to attract an audience. My skills have developed by creating more Animoto videos since last year because I have realised that the combination of text and images work well together. I like that the technology only allows you add brief notes because this way the audience doesn't get bored of reading text and the notes work well by then adding an image.