Question 4
- 1. Question 4 How did you use media technologies in the construction and research, planning and evaluation stages?
- 2. Introduction For my main product and ancillary products I had the chance to explore a variety of softwares which allowed me to crate my products. This generation is very lucky with technology as it helps us to create new technology and produce better products for the consumers. This helps us the makers to make better research which will helps us to make products for a wider audience. This however links with the theory of Marshall McLuhan as he talks about the medium is the message. He talks about how technology is powerful and that now it is not important what the message is but how the technology gives out the message to us. Technology can change the meaning of message which creates passive and active audience. With such a variety of technology now a days we donāt realise how it affects our creativity and our lives because we live so much into it. We the audience believe that we can not live without it because we have grown up with it and we can not see the world without it.
- 3. Camera 3300D & Tripod This was one of the first technologies that I had to use for my production. I have used various of camera accessories such as a tripod. I have used this camera before however it was for my photography. This helped me build up my own skills with this camera as I had to learn how to set it up for filming. This piece of technology was useful as it allowed me film in high quality that gave me an excellent footage for my music video and ancillary products. The reason that I have used this camera instead of an older version or a film camera is because this was a very easy to use and it fitted perfectly with the hardware's that I was using and the software's too. Furthermore, this technology is no longer seen as expensive and something that is so unique because everyone can buy it now even as second hand or even to use it for a day which means they can be rented. This technology is no longer seen as something difficult to get hold of.
- 4. Premier Pro This is the editing software that I have used for my music video, Adobe Premiere Pro. The reason I choose to use this editing software instead of Adobe After Effects it's because I found Premier Pro much more easy and fast to work with. However, I did found a problem with this program is that In college we use Adobe CS6 Creative suite whereas, at home I had downloaded the newer version. Because of this I was not allowed to work at college at the files would not work, however downloading them into different sizes helped me with that. This software for me at the start was very difficult to work with ā with the help of YouTube tutorials and Google I was able to make the best product I could. This showed me that by wanting to work with one software you much learn others too that help you to create what you want to. To expand this, audience are no longer seen as passive and active ā we are now prosumers and we create want we want because we know how to make it by the help of combining a lot of software's and programs into one.
- 5. Photoshop & InDesign With these two softwares I created my ancillary products, digipak and album advert. I have used Photoshop to design my cover panel and work with photos and twig things. With InDesign I created my lay out for my digipak and album advert. I have had used both of these softwares before for my AS Media Studies when I had to create my music magazine. Once again, the only problem with these were that I could not use them both at home and college due to the fact that they were not the same versions. As I said previously with two programs I was able to make one product. From my experience I found out that to be able to satisfy my needs I had to make sure I learn about different formats so that I can transfer my design onto the other software. This way I was able to satisfy the needs and wants of my audience. What I am trying to say with this is that, we are no longer capable of satisfying ourselves with just one thing. To be able to make the best product I could I had to have both software's. Audience are aware of themselves and they know that they are capable of getting more than what they already own.
- 6. Websites ā thinglink, prezi, joomag, piktochart, issuu, scribd, slideshare, pinterest etc. As the internet is so broad, I used a lot of different websites to make my work more creative and interesting to look at. This will help my audience when they look into my blog as they would not be constantly reading essays but they see a variety of creative websites being use to break it from the texts. I have used these websites before for my AS Media Studies which was helpful because I did not have to waste time into looking how to work with these ā it was helpful as it was time consuming. Each one of these have though me how to embed and how I need to make sure I have my files in specific formats for them to be able to work ā for example, āScribdā had to be done on word document to be able for me to use this website or āissuuā had to be in āpdfā or word document so the website can read the information that is on there and re-format it. This was a disadvantage sometimes because they would either take too long to load or too long to safe which was not ideal for time consuming. Even though technology is great to work fast and produce good quality of work it can also be very slow as ācrashā a lot due to too many people being on it or broken codes into it from hacking etc.
- 7. DaFont This is also a website which I have used to create my typography. The reason I have separated it from the rest is because this website allowed me to choose the right font to put on my ancillary products. Typography is a very important code which eventually can become a icon for the band. This is why I had to careful choose and research into which font which would be most suitable for my genre of electro pop. This can give style and can be the products with more character. Websites like this allow you to save time by designing your own because itās already done for you. However, with the help of other software's such as Photoshop I was able to place this design into Photoshop and tweak it the way I want it. This link well with theory of Jean Baudrillard because he talks about how nothing is original anymore. I can agree to extend however yet argue. By taking this already created font onto Photoshop and changing its features such as colour, size etc. I am making it different which means that it is different and unique because it is no longer like the original.
- 8. Files It is very important that I must understand the difference between the files that I work with. Some programs do not allow some files to work with it because they are not designed to. This is a downside of technology. It is not designed to be able to work with everything in every way. It challenges audience, producers and consumers to think and expand their knowledge of technology by learning more. Technology usually makes it easier for us by not having to think because everything is already made for us however this is different ā it challenges us by making us think my we are a piece of technology too by trying to make one piece work with another to make a whole product.
- 9. External memory For storing all my work I used an external hard drive and a memory stick. As when I film the footage becomes very large and all of the files I create from Photoshop, InDesign and Premier Pro take a lot of spaces I had to invest into a hard drive which was 1TR. This helped me a lot as I could keep all my work together and use it when it was needed to. Further more, I did have a problem which was it broke, half of my coursework was already on my computer at home, however this shows me that I need to constant back up all my work as you never know when this can happen again. The memory stick I used for small files. The fact that my hard drive broke down it thought me a lesson that I should never trust technology because you donāt know how easily it can become ruined or from what it can break. I learned that I must always backup my files more than ones. Even though technology is seen as all good and wonderful it isnāt. New technology is even more dangerous because it has not been yet tested out properly which means that the producers are only trying to sell it to make their profit. We believe in them because of the way they sell the product to us (Marshall McLuhan ā āthe medium is the messageā).
- 10. Google & Google Images, Blogger, YouTube I used Google and Google Images for inspiration and research. This was one of my primary websites which I used to create my products. These were very useful as if I needed to go back and research something I had an account which saved it. This helped me with time which allowed me plan better. Blogger is very useful to use as it is so easy and I have also used it before for my AS Media Studies. YouTube was also a very good website to do research as it helped me a lot with my post ā production to look how to create glitches in Premier Pro and look for inspirations in music videos. Luckily all of these websites are under the same ownership of Google, it was very easy to use as I didnāt have to create different accounts for each one but just one. These were also very easily compatible what I mean by this is that they would easily embed one another. To expand this further I was capable of reaching my work in times and places I wished ā I had access to it from my phone, laptop, tablet etc. The downside of this is that you can see the owner of the account when they post something ā this can easily be tracked onto other websites of the same ownership which then means you donāt have much of a privacy in other websites. Even though the internet is good for seeing things you havenāt before and creating new products ā the internet is not safe and sometimes we forget this because it isnāt shown enough to us.
- 11. Conclusion Overall, technology is very powerful as it helped me get the message out to my audience. Technology helped me to do the best research I can for my music video and ancillary products. Further more, it allowed me to learn about Postmodernism and show how it links with my products and how it is affecting it without the audience noticing. To expand this technology can also be very dangerous and the down side of it is that it can crash when we least expect it to. Technology can also be bad for the future because we can not see ourselves without it. It can toxic as it is not yet experienced and we are not aware of what it can do to us. Audience are no longer just passive and active we are now all producers. We all have the access to it whether it is from our phones or other devices. Technology travels and develops fast which means that it can be both bad and good for it and what we may create for the future.