1. How did you use media
technologies in the
construction and research,
planning and evaluation
stages? By Robbie Watson
2. Adobe Premier Pro
• An essential piece of my post production process, I used Premier Pro
as the main editing tool for my music video. I have had previous
experiences on Premier Pro when creating my preliminary lip
syncing task and storyboard animatic, in which I discovered a variety
of tools and effects that I could use, enhancing the quality of the
video. Using Premier Pro definitely had an influence on the final
outcome of my video as discovering certain tools allowed me to
adapt the video from my originally planned storyboard. For example,
I had originally planned to film my performance in full colour.
However when experimenting with tools and effects I found that
using black and white gave a more professional and slicker look to
the performance. I am aware that there are more advanced pieces
of software when editing a video than Premier Pro but as this
program was the most accessible to me it was a more logical choice
of software. However, if I were to create this video again I would
consider using other software such as Sony Vegas.
3. Wordpress
• I used Wordpress as a way of presenting and sharing all of my
research and projects. I have found that over the last two years
Wordpress is a simple and effective way of blogging and takes little
time to adapt to it. Wordpress has been a very useful blogging tool
as it allows you to upload a number of different multimedia content
i.e. videos, pictures and documents
Flickr
• This was my first time using Flickr and found it a very simple but useful way
of uploading photos. To upload a photo, a user must simply upload an image
to their photostream and it would be available to use. Flickr also allows you
to make notes on the image, making it useful when giving feedback or
annotating. However, I was unable to find a way of uploading my image
from Flickr to my blog, meaning I had to simply copy the weblink on Flickr
and paste it onto my blog.
4. Prezi
• Having used Prezi before I was comfortable with the tools available
and experienced no problems when presenting my work. I chose to
use Prezi to give a more diverse way of presenting my work, keeping
my blog fresh interesting. The number of different themes and tools
available on Prezi makes it a more favourable presenting software
compared to, for example, Powerpoint. However, Prezi does have
some drawbacks, the first being that on multiple occasions the site
would crash, impacting my work as it had not saved. Spellcheck is
also not available when writing up research, making the writing
process more time consuming as I would have to stop to check if all
my spelling, punctuation and grammar was correct. Uploading my
Prezis onto my blog was fairly simple; however to an inexperienced
user they may find it difficult as it requires you to copy the web link
into a properly coded format on the blog.
5. Photoshop
• I used Photoshop to edit my ancillary tasks, including the album
digipak and album magazine cover. Photoshop allowed me to edit
my images in a way that made them looked more professional and
clean cut. A very useful tool within Photoshop that I used
consistently throughout my projects was the drop shadow tool
which enabled me to create a darker and eerier feel to the images.
Having used Photoshop before these tasks I was aware of the vast
range of tools available, allowing me to take advantage of the
software. Overall I found Photoshop to be a very useful and effective
programme as it allowed me to make my images look more
professional. However, if a user had never used Photoshop before,
they may struggle to use certain tools and know what effects do
what.
6. Slideshare
• I used Slideshare to upload my PowerPoint's onto a blog which could
then be transferred to my wordpress blog. I found Slideshare to be
very simple and effective, needing only to click upload and search
for the appropriate PowerPoint in your files. However, when
attempting to upload a PowerPoint to Slideshare, it would
sometimes freeze on the loading page and fail to upload the file.
Uploading the PowerPoint to my wordpress blog was very simple as
all you had to do was copy the embedded link on the Slideshare post
and paste it into your blog.
7. Emaze
• Emaze is a presenting software, similar to Prezi, which allows the
user to choose from a variety of different themes, keeping the
presentation interesting. The look and style of Emaze makes the
presentation look more slick and professional, compared
programmes such as PowerPoint. However, a problem I encountered
whilst using Emaze was that the programme would sometimes take
a long time to load or not load at all.c
