Media Evaluation 4

How did you use media technologies in the construction and research, planning and evaluation stages?

From the beginning of this project, Blogger was the first media technology that I had to get to grips with and I did not understand why it would benefit me so much through displaying my progression and coursework. Although now it seems so basic and easy to use, at first the new layout was confusing and I didn’t understand how my progress could be posted on Blogger even though I may have used a different technology all together such as: Prezi, Slideshare, Powerpoint, Scribd etc. Once I created my own account and begun using it frequently due to posting my recent updates it became easy to use, and evident that it would be the best time efficient media technology to use which could display my coursework.

As I was beginning my A2 coursework in Media Studies, it was necessary that I became familiar with other technologies which I could also post on to my blog through HTML. It was clear that A2 students needed to step up a level from AS and research into technologies on our own accord which would display our coursework in more of a professional way. I began using media technologies such as YouTube and Vimeo as they allowed me to create videos and record myself which I could then post on to my blog. These helped in certain areas such as: my music video, diary entries and audience feedback. I found that YouTube was extremely helpful when analysing existing music videos to help me with what to include in my own music video, because I could simply copy the HTML from YouTube, and paste it into a new post on my blog page, and my peers were able to watch the music video that I was analysing, to then give me audience feedback. I often used the presentation-maker “Prezi” which enabled me to differentiate my posts, and present my work in more of a creative way. Rather than paragraphs of writing which can sometimes become draining, here I could include key facts which I needed which I used when focusing on Andrew Goodwin. This also allows me to display images which link to the text. Similar to this, whenever I created a Powerpoint Presentation I could transfer this to Slideshare or Scribd, which could present larger documents. Blogger and YouTube enabled my products to be successful because I gained most of my feedback through blogger, and also research into existing blogs which gave me information about music videos, and what audiences want to see. YouTube allowed me t research into existing music videos, and to also watch documentaries demonstrating behind the scene information and what is needed in order to create a music video. This gave me a basic outline of what I may need to consider when filming, and certain aspects that I need to look out for. This links into my research because I needed some understanding before going out and filming. One social media technology, “Twitter”, helped me find the actor which I felt would fit in to my genre, and who I wanted to be the actor throughout my music video. I was able to direct message her where I then explained my project and whether or not she could perform in my music video. After this communication we were able to meet discuss times that she was free, and what type of clothing I would like her to bring.

To film my music video and take the shots I needed for my digi-pak and magazine advert I used the Canon DSLR camera with a tripod to ensure that there would not be any camera-shake, along with Kino lighting for the brightness, especially against the green screen. Although I used the tripod throughout filming every shot, I was able to zoom in and out on the camera to create the shot I wanted, along with moving the tripod to achieve different angles if needed. To ensure that I would get the shot I wanted I had to film every shot the whole way through the song. This was a long process; however the outcome is what I wanted. As I had a lot of footage I needed to pick the sequences that I felt would work best, which I then opened up into Adobe Premier CS3. This is where I needed to sync up the song and the miming of the actor, as well as cutting certain areas of all the sequences I had chosen with the razor tool, which eventually then formed my music video. When going through this process I tried to make sure each cut was in time with the beat, therefore I moved the video and audio frame by frame by using the directional keys. Also when cutting parts of the sequences I needed to reveal a variation of shots: extreme close up shot, close up shot, medium shot, and long shot.

Once my music video was put together through all the cuts, I then transferred it into Adobe After Effects where the main part of my editing took place. To use After Effects I watched many tutorials to become familiar with it and understand the different things it is capable of. I began by getting rid of the green screen where I used the Key Light tool, which then allowed me to introduce by own backgrounds and effects. I wanted to sustain the busyness in my music video through the backgrounds I would employ because the actor is constantly moving around the screen. I chose to use certain effects which moved in time with the song and therefore kept the movement factor I wanted in my music video. I constantly had to play around with different effects and what they could do before I settled on anything because there was so much to choose from.

I completed my other products through use Adobe Photoshop. For the image that I wanted on the front cover of my digi-pak and magazine advert I knew I wanted to change elements such as the colours. I adjusted the colour and made the image black and white. To enhance the contrasts of colours I brightened the image, and changed the curves of the overall image. Finally I used the laser tool to draw around the lips on the image, which I was then able to change into red, which is the only element in colour on the image. I wanted to combine two images into one because I felt it would emphasise the point that there is two sides to everyone, and how some people reveal their other side through listening to music. To combine the images I dragged them into one document and reduced the opacity of both images, which allowed them to fade into one another. For the inside cover of my digi-pak I wanted a patterned and slightly hypnotic image. I feel that the image displayed portrays this as well as how the listener feels inside when they hear the music on the album. I also changed this into black and white to continue the colour scheme, along with enlarged red lips which are from the front cover image. On both my digi-pak and magazine advert I employed text via the text tool, which allowed me to choose the bold font that I wanted along with the size and colour. I followed the same red and white colour scheme for the font as a sense of continuity.