The student used various media technologies throughout the construction, research, planning, and evaluation of their ancillary texts for their band project. These included YouTube to post their pitch and videos, Twitter and Facebook to gain fans and feedback, Blogger to share ideas and receive comments, Final Cut Pro and iMovie for video editing, Photoshop for designs, a video camera for filming, a Macbook Pro for work on the go, and Flickr to share photos. These technologies allowed for professional products, feedback at all stages of the process, and collaboration that would have been difficult without modern digital tools.

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

2. The number of unique visitors to social networking sites (including
YouTube) collectively is around 250 million per month. which means
digital advertising is growing rapidly, with traditional
marketing declining.
This is why we chose to use the following technologies to plan our
ancillary texts, produce them and publish them in order to have the
best results possible and keep up to date with contemporary
technologies.

3. YouTube - We began to use Youtube to post our pitch that was
presented to the class. Our Animoto was also posted onto Youtube, followed
by our draft video and then final music video. By using Youtube we could
share our work and progress with the world, as well as our
classmates/teachers being able to access the site to view our ancillary texts.
This helped us gain feedback on pieces of work as we went along.

4. Twitter/Facebook- These are the two social networking sites
we used. We decided to use social networking sites to gain 'fans' for
the band and mainly to receive feedback from people who used the
sites. Twitter was useful because it allowed us (during the research and
planing stages) to follow bands of a similar genre/style to 'Intoxicated'
and gain some inspiration from them. During the construction of our
media texts we could also gain feedback via facebook, either by
posting the work or dicussing it with facebook friends.

5. Blogger - When creating our ancillary texts it was important that we
could share our ideas visually with people. Blogger allowed us to do this
throughout the research, planning and evaluation stages. It also helped that
all our work, ideas and progress could be found in one place that could then
be referred back to. Blogger was also very useful when receiving feedback.
People could simple visit our blog and comment on our work.

6. Final Cut Pro - By using final cut pro on the Mac's at school
we could work specifically on our music video. This
technology offered us professional software for editing.
Imovie - Another software we used for editing was Imovie.
This was used when constructing our animoto. The reason i used
Imovie was because it meant the animatic could be finished at
home using a Macbook Pro. Creating more time in lessons for
research and panning. We decided not to use Imovie for our
Music video because better software was available to us.

7. Photoshop - My skills on Photoshop have definitely improved during
the construction of my ancillary texts. I used Photoshop when making the
Advert and Digipak. This included the enhancement of band images. Using
Photoshop meant that i could construct a piece of work digitally to enhance
my ideas. Therefore i found Photoshop very beneficial.

8. HD Panasonic Video/still camera - We used this piece of
technology to film both our draft and our final
video, making good use of what was available to us. My
skills regarding camera work and framing improved
during this process. The framing of shots had to be
perfect due to us using the projector screen and working
in small proximity. The camera allowed us to film a large
amount of footage for it then to be uploaded onto a
computer and edited.
Tripod- The tripod helped us also when framing shots by
keeping the camera steady. It also make enabled the
filming to be more mobile.

9. Macbook pro - Having the advantages of using a MacBook Pro meant
that when planning i could make the Animoto in my own time. This
was useful because i could focus on my reattach and planning of my
other ancillary texts in lesson time. The MacBook Pro also came in
handy when researching different music genres, bands, and band style.
Photos of the band could also be uploaded onto the MacBook Pro and
images could be enhanced using iPhoto. I could also easily access my
blog through using this piece of technology. I could also work on my
digipak and advert at home by downloading a trial of Photoshop which
was very useful for me.
PC - The PC's where only really used at school, to blog ideas and
research in the early stages on the task.

10. Projector screen - When filming our music video the location
provided us with a large projector and 'cinema screen'. We didn't initially plan
on using this piece of technology but when setting up to film we tried out a
few different background and connect the MacBook Pro unto the projector by
using a HDMI wire. After trying out a few different backgrounds we selected
the ones we liked best and thought they looked really effected with the band
stood in front on the screen.

11. Storyboard- Before constructing our ancillary texts we had to put our
ideas down on paper. This meant drawing shots we wanted to include in the
video, putting them into order of preference and then taking photos of each
drawing they could be put into our Animoto.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_e
mbedded&v=Emlblbczxak

12. CD's and Digipaks - During the research and planning
stages i researched many different digipaks in order
to acknowledge the conventions of real media products. I was
also inspired by different colour schemes, fonts, layouts and
what the digipak actually contained e.g whether it included
lyrics, thank you lists, acknowledgements, credits or 'the making
of' the album. As you can see I’ve actually re-created the cover
that I liked. Even though I didn’t use it for my cover I found this
useful practice.

13. MattieOlivia's photostream on Flickr.
Flickr - Flickr was a useful technology i used that enabled me to share
photos of the band. Meaning people could access the photos, give us
feedback and we could share the images onto social networking sites and
blogger. Flickr allowed me to upload a large amount of photo's and have them
displayed in a clear way so I could then chose which ones i wanted to use for
my digipak and advert.

14. The thought of constructing our ancillary texts without the above
technologies would definitely have been a struggle and even unrealistic.
Using these technologies allowed us to make professional looking ancillary
texts. We also made a product/ 'brand' that actually uses conventions and
looks like a real media package.