Programs and software used
- 3. What the software does: This software is a computer program for graphics creating and editing. It has many tools and functions that allow you to do a variety of things. Photos and images can be uploaded and modified by increasing brightness, contrast, hue or saturation. There is a paintbrush tool that allows you to create your own graphics and a number of cropping and selection tools for editing images. Text and shapes can be added as well as a number of effects filters that change the image in a variety of ways, such as sharpening the object or adding a blur. How did I use it in my project: I regularly used photoshop throughout my production stages of the digipack and website. I solely designed my digipack on photoshop as it already had all the features I needed to use and felt a suitable program with which I am experienced. All photos that were taken in the filming and photo shoot stages I uploaded to photoshop to improve the quality of each one by increasing brightness, contrast and saturation. Some images I added the black and white feature to whilst others may have been cropped in some way from their original image and re-saved. This allowed me to change and modify these images to how I wanted them to be on the digipack and website, as well as improving the quality of the image overall by removing blur and sharpening the image, as well as removing red eye and blemishes using the red eye and healing tools. The original photos I had taken were also very large in size so when resaving the modified images I reduced the size of some so they would be small enough to upload to my website. When images were finished being edited I could then upload them to my website or paste them into my digipack design. Any skills I learned: Regular use of photoshop over this year has broadened my knowledge of the program, what features it offers and how to use them. I discovered new tools I hadn’t used often before - such as the red eye removing tool and the healing tools – we very useful to this type of course and came in handy when improving the quality of images so they looked professional. Problems I came across: I found it difficult to use the accurate paintbrush tools as it required very artistic skill to modify images by hand, for example the colour wouldn’t match the skin tone when painting over a large area in the case of blemish and imperfection removals and was often inaccurate and noticeable. I found solutions to this however in the healing tools and various filters that can be used instead, these automatically modify the image to your settings making modifications much simpler and more accurate, bringing better picture quality.
- 4. Premiere pro video editing software.
- 5. What the software does: This software is a computer program for video editing. It has many tools that allow you to capture video from external devices and save them as a video file onto your hard drive. You can also position these video clips onto a time line where they can be edited and arranged to create a new movie file . There are a number of video editing tools and effects that can be added. You can modify the length and speed of the video clip by trimming or using the speed settings, and audio can be separated or cut from the video clip for modification or to add a new audio into the video timeline. There are also a number of transitions and video effects that can be added to clips by accessing the library in the top left window. How did I use it in my project: Premiere pro is the program I used through the editing stages of my music video. When I had finished filming all necessary shots I uploaded them to my computer by connecting the camcorder and capturing each shot using the capture feature in premiere pro. This would separate each shot and save it as a video file. After all the shots had been captured and saved I then began placing the necessary shots onto the timeline one by one. I edited and trimmed each necessary clip and then arranged it on the timeline. When all the shots had been edited and were correctly arrange I could then add a range of effects and transitions to each clip from the library in the top left corner. Some effects you could simply click and drag onto the timeline whilst others required you to add settings first. This allowed me to make my shots much more interesting and create certain illusions using basic CGI effects such as making people fade from the frame like a ghost, making scenes appear in the past by adding a sepia tone to them, and giving the appearance of certain shots being flashbacks by adding a white flash transition before and after each scene. When all my editing stages to the video had been completed I saved it as an AVI. File so it could be written to disk and uploaded to my blog portfolio. Any skills I learned: I had no previous experience of using premiere pro before starting this project but I learned fast. I used many features to create accurate and interesting video clips, such as the trimming tools and dragging images across the timeline to accurately position them. I also used some basic transition effects and added a sepia tone to some shots to give them the impression of being in a past tense scene. At the end of the project I felt experienced in using the program to a high standard. Problems I came across: I found it difficult trying to sync the music’s lyrics with the video of the characters singing. To do this it required viewing the video track often and trying to drag the video clip to the correct position by estimating the length of distance between both audio and video. Enlarging the timeline so the video lengths were measured in much smaller amounts made this much easier as it enabled me to be more accurate.
- 6. Publisher – publishing application software.
- 7. What the software does: This publishing software allows for the creation of many public and business paper items such as business cards, posters, banners, leaflets, webpage’s, cards etc. These documents are already sized for their function so they can be edited and printed in this size for design accuracy. There are also a number of design tools to add content to your documents such as the text tools, auto shapes, line tools, table’s and wordart as well as the feature to import images into your documents. Documents can be set directly to print with a preview feature to see the size and how many pages the design will cover. It is a basic but effective program that meets its purpose and is very easy to use. How did I use it in my project: During my planning stages I made a basic plan for each of my website and digipack projects. In this plan I covered things such as layout and colour schemes by positioning content and colouring them as they would be in their finished form. I also added any titles or logos to the design by using the text, wordart and autoshape tools. Example textboxes were added to show where the text would be positioned and what size it will be. Also any images or other content that was to be in the products was described and represented by boxes or other autoshapes. This allowed me to see an example what the product would look like in its finished form and allowed me to make any changes before continuing onto the production stages. It also gave me a guide to work from and refer to when collecting images and designing the products. When I had finished my designs I saved them as an image file so I could upload them onto my blog. Any skills I learned: My use of the program before this project had been very brief but I didn’t feel I had any difficulty using the product as it was very simple and all features and tools were clearly visible for use. I found I could create accurate plans that were of a likeness to the finished designs and it was effective in helping me organise and made the design stages much quicker as I knew what I needed to do. Problems I came across: As the product was not designed for advanced graphics editing I couldn’t add more advanced design elements to my plans such as textures, backgrounds, design effects and more advanced wordart. However if necessary I could create graphics using photoshop and save them as images that can be imported into the document and used. I can also supplement for this by adding annotations describing what things would look like so I could be more detailed in my plan designs.
- 8. Webeden - website creating software.
- 9. What the software does: This is a website creating and editing software that can be accessed via the internet. Users can create their own free websites by signing up to their company and creating your own account. Via your account you can create multiple websites with a variety of advanced features. Users can also select the number of pages their website will have as well as a range of templates they can choose to work from. When editing the site you can add you own text, images and videos and arrange the content on each page. You can also add interactive features and change colour schemes to create professional looking websites for free without having to purchase a domain name. How did I use it in my project: I used this software for the production and editing stages of my website. I began by choosing a template and selecting the types of pages I wanted. I then deleted all content on each page given by the template that I didn’t want, so I could start with a blank canvas that I would build up myself. After performing the necessary modifications to my images using photoshop (see previous slides) I could upload them to my library for the website which I could then place onto each page and resize. Other images could be used in slideshows or image galleries which I added at a later stage. I added all necessary titles and text to my website using the text tools and changing their appearance and fonts through the editor tool . Interactive features could then be added and I placed numerous including a live twitter feed, chat box, google search bar, photo galleries, slideshows, blog and hyperlinks by adding ‘widgets’ from an available library. This made my website much more interactive and encourage people to use the product regularly and for longer periods of time, as well as giving the users more information and entertainment. This product was useful for creating a website quickly and with ease, and that it automatically uploaded to the web server for viewing via the WWW. Any skills I learned: I had never used an online website creating program before but found very easy to use after a little practice. I found that settings could be changed to certain elements such as text, autoshapes, tables, photogalleries etc by accessing the editor tool. From here I could change colour settings and add links or images to interactive elements, as well as change fonts and size. I also learned how to simply add interactive features or ‘widgets’ as they are known in the software. This allowed my to create a multi-functional website which appeared of a professional quality. Problems I came across: When it came to uploading my images I realised that their combined size would way out stretch the limit of memory capacity given for media uploaded to the library. To solve this I had to open the images for editing in photoshop and save them again as a JPEG file whilst altering the quality level to make the file smaller for uploading.
- 10. Blogger – blog creating software.
- 11. What the software does: This online blogging software allows for users to create a regularly updated diary or log that can be used for a variety of different functions. Users may create regular tutorial blogs, student portfolios, personal diaries that can be public or for private view only as well as a variety of other things. There are a number of tools and features that allow users to embed a variety of things into their blogs including images, videos, sound, word documents, slideshows, spreadsheets and links to external websites. Blogs can be made for a number of viewing purposes too by having settings that allow you to make your blogs viewable to all public, just users you select or keep it as a private blog that only you can access. It is extremely useful for any function where you need to regularly update your content. How did I use it in my project: I used this software to create my portfolio where all projects are viewable. I signed up to blogger and titled my blog as well as modifying the appearance to reflect my project more. I then regularly updated the blog with what I was doing over the course of the year. Any research I did was blogged by typing it up or importing it as a powerpoint such as the research of music video and genre conventions, existing music videos, brand identity, music video theorists, camera shots etc. to give content for my research and planning stages. I also blogged any design plans I made as well as any ideas, spider diagrams, storyboards , costume lists, equipment lists etc. I updated the blog with production processes of my website, digipack and music video as well as any editing stages. My final products were uploaded as another method of access and my evaluation was uploaded to the blog to so this blog was very important for providing the specified content for marking in an ordered form. Any skills I learned: I have had previous experience with blogger before but became more familiar with embedding videos from external websites for my research stages. I did this by copying a script given that would then be pasted into my blog whilst viewing in HTML form, this would embed the video into the blog so it can be played and accessed from the same site. I also became more familiar with uploading powerpoints and word documents and learned that files can be uploaded to the blog quicker if made smaller in size. Problems I came across: On occasions I was unable to regularly update my blog with notes of my progress as I was working on my main projects. As a solution to this I posted a blog explaining why there haven’t been regular updates and when certain blogs would be arriving to account for the management of my time.
- 13. What the software does: This software is a presentation creating document that allows you to make slideshows and other interactive products. It has a number of editing tools such as text boxes, wordart, autoshapes, tables, graphs etc for adding content to your presentation. Images, videos and sound can be imported into the presentation to add media elements for entertainment and design. Interactive features can also be added such as hyperlinks, form features and macros that allow certain functions to happen with user interaction. When finished the presentation can be viewed in slideshow view on a screen or projector where all media and interactive elements will be functional. How did I use it in my project: I found powerpoint the best product to use when typing up all my documentations for my reasearch, planning and production processes. Research documents such as my spider diagram of ideas were created in powerpoint as it had the available tools which were very easy to use like the autoshapes, text and connector tools. I also used powerpoint when I wanted to give an image a basic crop such as any screenshots I made or video stills as this is much quicker and easier to use that photoshop. The image can then be pasted or imported into other software. For my feedback forms of the completed projects I used the table tools available in this program which ordered my feedback in a neat and clean looking form. I also found it useful when creating my production stages as I could place multiple pages on one presentation that take you through my production stages step by step with screenshots and annotations. Overall I found this program very helpful for all my documentation purposes as it was quick and easy to use, it also enabled me to create professional looking documents with images, arrow lines and annotations. Any skills I learned: I have often used powerpoint on a regular basis both for my other school projects and personal use at home so I am very familiar with all tools available on the program and how to use them. However I did become more familiar with using the table tools when creating my feedback form and brought some more appealing aspects to its design using the table design templates available. I also used pre-set design templates given on the program to add a similar designed theme throughout my documents to make them more attractive. Problems I came across: I didn’t encounter much in the way of problems as I am fully familiar with the program but I did notice that some images in my digipack research presentation appeared to have become stretch and slightly distorted when uploading to blogger. I think this was because of the change in resolution and will take this into account in future.
- 14. Camcorder. What the software does: This is a camcorder that records video and sound. Our camcorders had different lighting effects and motion settings we could change to suit the type of scenery we were filming in. We also had a tripod which was a stand to place the camera on which enables for steady camera movements and stops the camera from shaking. How did I use it in my project/ Any skills I learned: I needed to use a camcorder throughout all my filming stages for my music video and having little previous experience with using a camcorder and recording professional shots it was a large learning experience for me. I experimented with some close-up shots to try and portray characters emotions as with it being a music video they would be no talking and only a music track so I needed to use these to explain the story through emotions and actions. I also used lots of mid and long shots to give a wide frame to show any character actions. I wanted to experiment with some more advanced shots so I did some over shoulder shots and some motion shots. Scenes where my character is running or walking I used a panning or tacking shot so I could put my character in more of the frame whilst still following them as they move. If I wanted to add special effects to any shots such as the scenes where the girl character fades out of the frame like a ghost disappearing I needed to take multiple shots. I would keep the camera in the same place and take one shot with the character in the frame and another without the character there. I would then add fading effects to the shots to give them this special effect. In the filming processes I learned how to film steady and effective looking shots and which shots work best in different scenarios. Problems I came across: As my tripod was only up to my chest in height I found that I couldn’t film any high angle shots that I included in my story board. For this I chose to do mid or long shots so I could still fit everything in the frame.
- 15. Digital camera. What the software does: This is a digital camera that can take high resolution still images which can then be uploaded to your computer for printing or editing. Our digital cameras also had a grid separating the shot into 9 sections so I could comply with the rule of thirds method when taking my photos. The cameras also have lighting and framing settings which can be changed. How did I use it in my project/any skills I learned: I used a digital camera when performing all my photo shoot processes for my digipack and website. I would choose a suitable setting and frame the shot as I wanted it before taking the photo, ensuring the main object of focus was laying across the rule of thirds grid lines. I also took photos where the main object of focus would need to be cut from the rest of the project and edited. I these cases I placed the object in the correct position and ensured any lights were on the correct angle so my image would need less editing when cutting and pasting into another background. This way the object would look like it was naturally taken in that setting, and not an object of photo editing that has been placed there. This would be the same case with the photos I took of the setting. Which would again have to have the same lighting angles and proportions to look natural in the frame. Problems I came across: I had experience with taking photos but I had never took a photo where I had taken into account the proportions, lighting, angles, shot type and rule of thirds. So making a photo look professional I found hard and I could tell the difference of quality of some photos I took. So I took multiple photos and chose the most professional looking ones out of this collection to use in my digipack and website. I also had some difficulty with motion blur but this could be solved with photo editing in photoshop by removing motion blur through sharpening.