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

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

2. YouTube was used in several stages in the research and
planning. We were able to get all the music videos that we
used for our case studies on YouTube. YouTube helped
with planning as we used it to research different artists also
we researched narrative based videos and other videos of
the same genre of Ed Sheeran’s music. This helped us really
understand narrative based videos. Additionally it helped us
to understand the themes that consist in videos of this
particular genre.
WhatsApp was mainly used to communicate with other
group members and the actors. The reason why we used
WhatsApp was because all our group members and the
actors already had the app and even if they didn’t have it,
it’s very accessible. We had two different group chats on
WhatsApp; one chat with just the group members and
another including both the group members and actors. We
used this app to organise team meetings and also to discuss
filming schedules.
YouTube:
WhatsApp:

3. Google:
Google was the most important technology as YouTube and Blogger
are both connected to Google. Google was used to search artists and
also Google images helped to find print products of a similar genre to
our music video. This helped us as we got a feel of how expert print
products look like. Furthermore if we didn’t understand any media
terms and our teachers were not present to help us we used google.
Also google was vital in terms of researching different theories.
Moodle:
Moodle is a learning platform designed to provide educators,
administrators and learners with a single robust, secure and integrated
system to create personalised learning environments. Our college has
a Moodle page. This allowed our group to gain access to the
templates for the risk assessments, location release forms, and talent
release forms and call sheets for our actors.

4. Technologies

5. Prezi:
Prezi is a presentation software and storytelling tool for presenting ideas on a virtual
canvas. Prezi is one technology that I used frequently and was comfortable using it. This
is because I have used Prezi in the past and therefore was familiar with it. Our group used
Prezi to present the class pitch for the research and planning of cd packaging and advert
also for the treatment. Moreover I have decided to use Prezi for one of my evaluation
questions.
PowerPoint is a software package designed to create electronic presentations consisting of
a series of separate pages or slides. PowerPoint was really easy and quick software to use
and I was already familiar with it. I mainly used PowerPoint so that I could upload the
power point on Slide share. Slide share allows users to upload files in different file
formats. I used slide share for the research and planning for the CD packaging and advert
(case studies).
PowerPoint + Slideshare:

6. Wix.com:
Wix.com is a web development platform that allows users to create websites and
mobile sites. I used Wix.com for Question 1 of my evaluation. This was my first time
using this technology however this did not create difficulties as I got used to using it
very quickly, overall I loved using this technology the most.
PowToon:
PowToon is a software which allows users to create animated presentations and
animated videos. Our group used PowToon for the recces. At first I found it difficult
to use PowToon however as I went along I found it easier to use.
SpiderScribe:
SpiderScribe is an online mind-mapping tool. SpiderScribe was one of the easiest
technologies to use as it is very simple and self-explanatory. I was already familiar with
this technology as I have used it many times before.

7. Blogger:
Blogger is a blog publishing service. Blogger is the
technology we were directed to use to file all of our
work on. Blogger was vital as we blogged everything
in terms of all our research and planning and
finished work therefore we used Blogger regularly.
The main reason why I liked using blogger is
because it is very accessible as I have the app on my
phone also it is easy to use and keeps everything in
one place therefore all my work is easy to find.

8. Equipment:

9. Camera:
The camera we used was a Cannon DSLR which allowed us to capture excellent
quality footage. Personally I enjoyed using this camera also as our group used this
camera before it was easy to use outside of college. Our group focused the camera
on subjects to gain a better quality image. Moreover after experimenting with the
ISO we established that the higher the ISO the brighter the brightness and the
lower the ISO the lower the brightness. This was extremely helpful as most of our
filming was done while it was dark. The only issue with the camera was that the
battery kept on running and the memory card was filled very quickly. However
this was not the actual camera’s fault; this was resolved by carrying multiple extra
batteries and memory cards.
Tripod:
The tripod was useful when we wanted to film scenes from a distance.
Additionally for our group the tripod was the most useful when we had to film the
time lapse (from day to night). My group members and I set the camera up
attaching to the tripod and left the camera tuned on for about half an hour; that’s
all we had to do to film the time lapse. There were no problems with using the
tripod.