How did you use media technologies in the construction

and research, planning and evaluation stages?

Throughout the process of researching, planning, creating and evaluating my media product I have used a large number of different programs including the ones shown below.

ResearchWhen researching music videos, music labels, digipaks and advertisements e.c.t I relied heavily on the internet to access all the information and media. I used Google to gain information and Youtube to access both real and previous students music videos, these websites were instant and very helpful, the research process would have been much harder and time consuming without them. I also watched the tv music channels when wanting to watch videos from a certain genre seeing as they all focus on different genres of music to satisfy their audience.

When watching videos on Youtube, similar videos were displayed down the right of the page so that I was able to compare videos very quickly, the huge number of different videos helped to inspire me and give me more ideas.

During the research process I was able to use my phone and Ipad, this made the online media much accessible when on the move or when there wasn’t a computer available.

PlanningI used Photoshop when planning my media product so that I could experiment with different images particularly with my moodboard where I was able to present all my ideas in a visual format.

I used excel to create a filming schedule which was very easy to read to keep me organised and on track throughout the filming process.Throughout both the Research and planning stages I used blogger to post and update my work as I went along. This website presented my research and planning very clearly , showing me what I was missing and had yet to complete , keeping me organised. I was able to post photographs and videos and I think that this website is very good for showing your progress and how you developed into your final product.

I also used Prezi to present my research and planning in a more interesting way, this was a website that I found was easy to use and access.

ConstructionIn the production of my music video and digipack I used my digital camera to film ad take photographs, this was very helpful because its small and portable, but also captures quite high quality footage. I used a tripod during the filming of my music video so that the shots weren’t shaky and the transitions between shots would be smoother.

These videos and photographs were then imported onto my laptop and then onto Adobe Premier Pro where I could start editing all the videos straight away.

Abode Premier Pro is a very advanced editing software that allowed me to adjust each clip in hundreds of different ways, which improved the continuity throughout the video because I was able to adjust the brightness, shadows, contrast, saturation and temperature. I was then able to choose from a huge variety of video transitions and layer videos on top of each other, because it’s a timeline based editing software.

To create my digipak I used Adobe Photoshop Elements 11, this is a very good editing software for editing photographs and I enjoyed this stage of construction because I feel very comfortable using Photoshop.

Evaluation Stages

To complete this evaluation I have used social networking sites Facebook and Twitter to share my music video to get audience feedback, these are very good websites for this purpose because they can be accessed by hundreds of people in less than a minute. This also means that the video was seen by a wide variety of different people with different opinions and preferred music genres.

My video was shared on Youtube so that it could be accessed very quickly and easily by anyone, I found it very simple to upload and share via a majority of websites including Facebook and Twitter. On Youtube and these websites people were able to express their opinions of my video by commenting below or either ‘liking’ or ‘disliking’ the video. I could also see how many times my video had been viewed I used prezi to present my response to one of my evaluation questions, I liked this website because the layout of my information was much more interesting than it would have been if it were written on word. I was able to show how my ideas, processes and research developed throughout my project.

Mobile Phones

During the research, planning and construction of my music video I used my mobile phone constantly, this piece of technology was a huge advantage, seeing as I was able to research and find out information whilst on the move. It also helped me to keep organised throughout the process, allowing me keep in contact with my actors and use Google maps to decide on my locations.

I also used my phone to play my song during the filming to help my actors sing in time with the song, this way when I was editing the song and video together the synchronization was much easier.

Overall I have used a huge variety of different technologies to research, plan, construct and evaluate my media products, each of these saving me a huge amount of time. Creating and sharing my work made me understand Web 2.0 in greater depth, seeing as I started the project being a consumer of the online media and then became a prosumer when I created and posted my research onto my blog uploaded my video to Youtube.