Evaluation Question 4

1. Evaluation Q4. How did you use
media technologies in the
construction, research, planning
& evaluation stages?

2. The Construction Stage
• Throughout the project media technologies have played a pivotal role
in everything I have done and I have made use of a number of
different pieces of both hardware and software within each and every
stage of my coursework, beginning with the construction stage, how I
have compiled all my work and presented it together.

3. Blogger
• Quite possibly the most important piece of media
technology I have used on the most regular basis
throughout the project is Blogger. Here I have uploaded
my files to my blog
(robertglovera2media.blogspot.com) as I have
completed each stage of the process. Having used
Blogger in my AS Media coursework I felt that I had
gained experience in the use of the site and felt
confident that this was the right place for me to home
my work. I feel as though I have a developed
knowledge when it comes to utilising the site to it’s
best and have presented my work in a neat and logical
manner under my address. Not only did I write posts
directly onto Blogger but I also embedded a number of
files from both Slideshare and Youtube as well as JPEG
images.

4. SlideShare
• Another site that was key in the construction
of my project was SlideShare, to this website
I uploaded numerous files and file types
including those from both Microsoft Word
and Powerpoint. After logging in to the site
using my Facebook account and having the
files processed I then chose to share the file
and copy the embed link that allowed me to
take what I had produced across to my blog
in Blogger as talked about previously. What
makes SlideShare so useful within my work is
that I can present files such as Powerpoints
easily in a format that a reader can scroll
through as opposed to it being a link to a
download as it could have been.

5. The Research Stage
• During the research stage I used a large amount of media
technologies which included Survey Monkey, Facebook, Microsoft
Office Word and Powerpoint, Youtube, iMovie and Vimeo.

6. Survey Monkey
• When conducting our audience research we
used Survey Monkey to create a survey to allow
us to gain insightful responses into our target
audience and what they expect within
promotional packages as well as what they
would like to see included. To do this we
devised a set of 10 questions in a variety of
formats, for example we used sliders for certain
questions and ranking systems for others as
well as the more common tick or text box
questions. We then published the survey and
used the statistics available through Survey
Monkey to produce our audience research
analysis after we had received over 100
responses.

7. Microsoft Powerpoint/Word
• I used both Powerpoint and Word
frequently throughout the project however
this began largely during the research stage,
both are programmes that I can use with
ease and are very well structured, allowing
me to produce work that looks well thought
out and professional not to mention being a
site friendly file format when wanting to
embed them into my blog. I used Word and
PowerPoint when presenting my audience
research analysis as well as the digipak
analysis and textual analysis of other
magazine adverts.

8. Facebook
• I used Facebook to share the link to my
survey made on Survey Monkey with the
aim of increasing the reach our survey
got and in turn raising the number of
responses we received. This had a
positive impact on our results and we
got out of it what we wanted. I also used
the Messenger app within Facebook to
send the link to specific people and we
also created a group chat to hold
discussion surrounding our research and
planning.

9. YouTube
• When analysing other music videos
during our research of the common
conventions of the music video, we
used YouTube to find and watch the
videos for our focus group, as well as
our written and videoed analyses. We
also uploaded our audience research,
focus group footage to YouTube which
we have then shared to our blogs.

10. Vimeo
• We only touched upon the use of
Vimeo when we encountered a
problem with YouTube, we had
previously had two videos removed
for copyright issues. For this we used
our initiative as a group to find an
alternative way to upload the video,
and took the Vimeo and embedded it
from there instead.

11. iMovie
• When editing our focus group interviews
and analysis of ‘Chelsea Dagger’ by The
Fratellis we chose to use iMovie as
opposed to Adobe Premiere Pro which we
knew we would be using later in the
project for our production stage when
making our music video. We felt that
iMovie was more appropriate and less
complicated for a short edit like this that
doesn’t require as higher standard of
editing due to it being largely uncut clips
with simple title slides overlayed.

12. The Planning Stage
• During the planning stage I used a number of different sites and
programs including SoundCloud, Messenger, Photoshop,
Word/Powerpoint once more as well as Sound Recorder on an iPhone
5S.

13. iPhone 5S
• For our sound recording that we uploaded
to SoundCloud we used the iPhone 5S to
record the audio from our lesson where
we planned and talked about what we felt
that as a group we wanted to include in
our video. After finishing the recording we
sent across the file through Facebook from
the iPhone and continued to upload it. The
convenience of recording on the iPhone
was the main reason behind this and the
sound quality was also more than good
enough.

14. SoundCloud
• After recording our 25 minute group
discussion on the content of our video
and the potential ideas for the
narrative within our video, we
uploaded the audio file to SoundCloud
and uploaded a cover photo to show
the discussion in progress. We then
embedded the SoundCloud link into
our blogs where the viewer can listen
to the discussion without having to
leave the site as it plays within the
embedded file.

15. Facebook Messenger
• When writing to ask for
permission for the use of our
song we took advantage of
Messenger within Facebook to
personally contact one of the
band members to ask if we were
okay to use the audio track within
our video, this allowed us to
receive a quick and easy
response.

16. Adobe Photoshop
• We first used Photoshop in the
planning stage when producing our
mock up versions of the Digipak and
Magazine advert, for this we used
images from the bands social media
as examples of the kinds of image
we would want on our final digipak
and advert. On Photoshop we also
included the track list on the back
cover and used the template we
were given to build it from like a net
base.

17. Production Stage
• There were a number of media technologies that we used in the
production stage, these included our filming equiptment as well as
editing software and uploading sites. For example Nikon 60D (DSLR
Camera), iPhone 7, YouTube, Adobe Premier Pro, and Adobe
Photoshop.

18. Adobe Premier Pro
• For the production of our music video we
chose Adobe Premier Pro as our chosen
piece of editing software as we felt this was
the most professional and advanced option
as opposed to the likes of iMovie. Although I
already had a certain level of experience
with the use of the program I was able to
develop this further as I spent a lot of time
on the editing and became comfortable in
using this, by adding effects and transitions
as well as intricately cutting clips and
enhancing audio and contrast levels.

19. Nikon 60D (DSLR Camera)
• When first shooting our music video we used the
modern and professional Nikon 60D Digital SLR
to capture the photos for our magazine advert
and digipak as well as the live performance from
our band’s gig. I had previously used such
cameras in my photography work within college
and felt comfortable shooting with this piece of
equipment and I feel as though I achieved to a
high standard. However we began to experience
problems that were out of our control with the
performance of the camera and this prompted
our switch.

20. iPhone 7
• It was as we progressed further through our filming
process that we faced our biggest problem, our
camera did not work and we had no reserve camera,
leaving us with the option of the iPhone. We
experimented with this and conducted our research
into how the quality of the phone compared to the
camera only to discover it too shot in 1080p. We had
previously watched and were astounded by music
videos that had been filmed on the iPhone and here
is where the importance of easy access to digital
technologies became so stressed and pivotal as we
were able to use the iPhone which in my opinion
completely changed our video and completely
outshone our previous footage.

21. YouTube
• After having used YouTube as a platform mainly for
research in the earlier stages of our project, we took to
here to upload our final video and recognised that this
is by far the most popular and viewed video sharing
site. We realised that sharing our product in here will
give us the biggest chance to access a large audience
and increase the overall reach of our video. I had
numerous previous experiences when using and
uploading to YouTube and found it very easy to do so
once more and to navigate through the platform. We
also took note of the convenience of YouTube and also
how easily such videos will embed into our blogs
through blogger, becoming playable within that page.

22. Adobe Photoshop
• We used Photoshop just as we did during our planning stage to
create our magazine advert and digipak however this time we
had developed our knowledge on the use of the program and
had gained experience from our previous work on here. This
time we took a more detailed and in depth approach by
focusing initially on the editing of individual images from our
live performance shoot. For example lowering the brightness
and upping the contrast to allow some of the tonal qualities to
change to conform better to our colour scheme and a big
difference is noticeable from what we begun with to what we
made ourselves. We then compiled our work into what
became our final products and I think it is very clear how much
more assured our use of Photoshop has become. We produced
two strong pieces in my opinion which compliment each other
nicely thanks to our perseverance and persistence within
Adobe.

23. Evaluation Stage
• During my evaluation I have used and accessed a number of different
programs and sites to help me compile my analyses and present all
four questions in a neat and effective manner which is something I
have strived to do throughout. I also recognised that it was key to use
a variety of programs when answering my questions to keep them
interesting and varied enough so as to engage the reader more so.

24. Adobe Premier Pro and Social Media (Youtube
and Facebook)
• The use of Adobe Premiere Pro in the evaluation stage
was very different to that of the production stage, after
filming 3 students responding to our promotional
package on the iPhone 7 which we had discovered was
our preferred form of camera equipment after having
seen the effect it had on our video. We edited the
audience feedback video on here and were well
accustomed for this after using it extensively for our
video previously. Social media played a huge rule once
more, this time allowing us to share the video on a
number of platforms and receive the comments that
gave us the feedback for the 3rd question in my
evaluation.

25. Microsoft Word and PowerPoint
• PowerPoint and Word are two programs I have
talked about in detail previously and have
spoken about the benefits of them both
before. I used both of these when writing my
answers for my evaluation questions and they
are also very convenient to be uploaded to
slide share before being embedded into my
blog’s HTML.

26. ASUS EeeBook X205TA
• For the writing of my evaluation I have used my
small laptop/netbook to produce all four of my
questions. I found that this was convenient and
allowed me to do everything I needed to do as
quickly as possible. This proves just how pivotal
digital technology has been to the project as it is
all built around this piece of equipment which
without this the project would be non existent.
What also helps is how comfortable I am using
this laptop and how extended my ability on it is
which meant that I came across very few
stumbling blocks throughout thankfully.