Here is my response to evaluation question four.

1. Evaluation Question 4. How
did you use technologies in
the research and planning,
construction and evaluation
stages?
ZOE CRICK

2. Evaluation Question 4
 Over the course of the year I have used various
different technologies to help record, research,
plan, present and evaluate all the work I have
collated. It was important to use a variety of
mediums to present my work to ensure that it
was interesting to look at and read and also
allowed me to improve my skills by using an
array of different technologies.

3. Technologies used:
 Blogger (Research and planning)
 Adobe Premier Pro CS6 (editing music video)
 Adobe Photoshop CS6 (Digipak & advert)
 Cannon & Fugifilm (Cameras – shooting music video, taking photos for Digipak)
 Tripod (shooting music video)
 Windows Movie Maker (Evaluation Q1 & research)
 Prezi (Research and planning, evaluation Q2)
 PowerPoint (Research and planning, evaluation question 4)
 Vimeo/YouTube (Research and planning, rough cuts, final cut and evaluation Q1 & Q3)
 SlideShare (Research and planning, evaluation Q4)
 Pinterest (Research and planning)
 Survey Monkey (Research and planning, audience feedback)
 Fragment (Digipak)

4. Blogger
 I have used Blogger.com throughout the whole process.
Blogger is really the base of all of my work. All the work I do
using many different technologies all get posted onto my
blog. I have used Blogger to thoroughly record all of my
research and planning for my media products. For example,
analysing music videos and completing research on different
music video theories such as the Male Gaze theory by Laura
Mulvey. I have posted all of my thought process throughout
the year and kept it up to date as my project evolved and
progressed. To use blogger effectively and to make the most
of it you should aim to post regular blog posts and keep it up
to date with what you are doing whether it is research, filming
(posting screenshots from footage filmed), or keeping the
blog up to date with the editing process. The positives of
Blogger would be that it is easy to update and keeps your
teacher and classmates up to date with what you have been
doing in terms of research. One negative element of blogger
would be that you require other technologies to upload a
video that is a large file. For example you would need to
embed your final cut of your music video onto your blog using
Vimeo or YouTube.

5. Premier Pro CS6
 I used Premiere Pro CS6 to edit my footage into a music video.
The editing software is complex and the editing options are
endless. It is an ideal software for editing a music video as it
allows you to be creative and to express and represent your
work however you imagine it. To make a music video using
Premiere Pro you should firstly import the video files you would
like to edit together. You can then trim down the footage so you
only use the footage you need and then drag the file over to
the timeline on the right hand side. Add in the track you want to
use for your music video to be based on. You should try and edit
to the beat of the song as this will help the video to flow well
and would be more enjoyable for the audience. This process of
editing to the beat can be long but it is worth it when it comes
to your final cut being the best it could be within the
circumstances available to you. You can also add in text to your
music video by adding titles. Also you may chose to add effects
to your footage to make it more individual and to suit your style.
I altered the colour of my footage using the fast colour corrector
this made my footage look more professional and connected
footage that was filmed in different lighting together. One good
thing about using Premiere Pro as editing software is very
straightforward to use once you have the basics down and you
can produce some very professional pieces of work from the
software. One negative of Premiere Pro is that it can be very
time consuming to create a professional video.

6. Photoshop CS6
 During my project I used Photoshop to create my Digipak
and my Digipak advert. Photoshop is the perfect software
for editing and creating pieces of work such as these as the
opportunities to be creative are endless. You can really
express the artist and the genre of music through the
colours, iconography, imagery and the text you use and
Photoshop provides you with the options to do so. When it
came to making my advert I placed the image from the
Digipaks front cover into Photoshop onto ‘A4 international
paper’. Once I added it in I wanted to connect the advert
to the Digipak and the colours used throughout and on the
spine of the Digipak so I took the duck egg colour from the
background of the image and used it for the bottom of the
advert. I then used text in an appropriate font informing the
audience of all the information they need about the
Digipak. One good thing about Photoshop is there are no
restrictions on what you can do. If you have an a perfect
design idea and create it in your head chances are
Photoshop can help you bring that idea to life. A
disadvantage of Photoshop would be that it can be difficult
for beginners and can take a lot of practice to get right
and to look professional.

7. Cannon PowerShot SX500 IS
Camera
 I used the Cannon PowerShot camera to shoot the
majority of my music video and to take some of the
images used in Keira Blacks Digipak. The camera is of
excellent quality and produces clear imagery perfect
for my music video a it allows it to look professional. I
used the camera teamed up with a tripod to get the
shots I needed using a variety of camera angles and
techniques in a multitude of locations expressing the
mise en scene. For example the argument outside the
public toilets was inspired by Calvin Harris and Florence
Welch’s Music video for Sweet Nothing but the location
was important I found a location which had bars rather
than windows and used this imagery to represent the
way the couple in the shot are trapped/imprisoned in
this love/hate relationship as I used a shot filming the
couple through the bars. The camera was simple to use
and produce good quality footage. A disadvantage of
the camera would be that it does not work to the best
of its ability in poor lighting and the footage becomes
grainy and looks unprofessional.

8. Windows Movie Maker
 I used Windows Movie Maker during the research and
planning stage of my project and as part of my evaluation
questions. I used it to show where I took inspiration from as
part of my Digipak design process – I looked at the artwork
used for the album and single covers of Clean Bandit. I also
used it to create a short video to present the typography
experiments I did as part of the creation of Keira Blacks
Digipak. For evaluation question 1 and 2 I compiled all of
my work and focussed on the forms and conventions used,
developed and challenged and also considered my
audience feedback. To use Movie Maker effectively select
the video or image files you desire and this adds them to
the timeline. Once your footage is on the time line you can
trim down the clips, add narration, music and transition
effects. The software is basic but does the job. An
advantage of Movie Maker is that it comes as free with the
windows package for PC and does not require internet
access. A disadvantage would be that there are limited
features to Movie Maker and would difficult to produce a
professional music video using movie maker as it is not as
precise or as easy to edit as Premiere Pro is.

9. Prezi
 I used Prezi to create presentations that are generally
more heavy weighted than a presentation I would
make using PowerPoint. I also used Prezi to analyse print
products, to present screenshots from my shoots and to
present my Digipak in an interesting way. Prezi is good
for presenting your work in front of the class as it has
many different designs and formats which make your
presentations more interesting and a more modern
way of presenting your work. I used Prezi for evaluation
question two as it is easier to make connecting points
using Prezi as you can connect different slide using
arrows and add in side points. To use Prezi effectively
you should firstly pick a design that is appropriate for
what and who you are presenting to. Then add the title
of your presentation so the audience knows what
presentation is on. You then add in the content of your
presentation into frames and connect your points
together with arrows. Positives of using Prezi are that
you can embed YouTube videos and use more slides
which seem like less with the interesting designs. A
negative would be that is online so you need an
internet connection to present your presentation.

10. PowerPoint
 I have used PowerPoint along side Slide Share a
lot throughout the entire process of this project. I
created presentations to present to the class
using PowerPoint, I made many slideshows to
analyse music videos for example I Wanna Feel
by SecondCity, to present the different design
ideas, to evaluate and for many things over the
course of the year. Using PowerPoint is simple
and easy to use. To create a PowerPoint you
need a title page to introduce what your
PowerPoint is based an and then add further
slides to explain your points. You can add text,
images and videos to your slides and between
slides you can include interesting transitions. A
good thing about using PowerPoint would be
that you do not need to be online to create it
and its easy to use. A disadvantage would be
that you can not embed or include any content
from the internet so instead you can only use
links which look less professional.

11. Vimeo
 Vimeo is a video sharing website which is useful for
uploading videos with large files. This makes Vimeo
perfect for uploading the rough cuts and final cuts of
your video. I have used Vimeo for all the videos I have
created including research videos, videos of class
presentations etc. The videos on Vimeo are easily
embed onto Blogger and look very professional. To
you use Vimeo effectively you should firstly chose the
video file you want to put onto Vimeo and select it to
upload. Then give the video an appropriate title that
would be easy for your audience to search for, add a
description and the video is then ready to upload.
One good thing about Vimeo is that you can make
your videos public which means they can be viewed
across the world or you can make them private where
a password will be set and anyone you want to see
the video you can send out the password to. Vimeo
tailors to your needs. One negative of Vimeo is that on
the websites standard free subscription users are
restricted to 500 MB of data per week. This limits how
many videos you are able to upload and could be an
inconvenience.

12. Slide Share
 I used SlideShare.com regularly when
completing research and planning my
project. This is a useful form of technology as it
allows you to effectively upload PowerPoint
Presentations which you can then embed into
your blog. This is useful to share work which is
most useful to note down using PowerPoint. A
positive of using slide share would be that it
allows you to use a variety of different
presentation methods on your blog which
keep it interesting and looks very professional
when embedded on your blog. A negative
would be that it uploads to the SlideShare
network and anyone can view your
presentation which may not be ideal if you
are including stills from you music video shoots
as I did.

13. Pinterest
 I used Pinterest as part of my research
into genre and Digipak. I created a pin
board based on artists who were
inspiring towards Keira Black and Mark
Atlanta or from the genre of dance
music or a female singer. Using Pinterest
is easy you search for whatever you like
as you would in a search engine, for
example ‘Dance Music’ and a selection
of images will appear if you see some
images you like you can create a ‘pin
board’, give it an appropriate title and
pin the images on the board by clicking
on them and selecting ‘pin it’. The
images will then be collated on a board
for you to look at.

14. Survey Monkey
 SurveyMonkey.com is an online service which allows you to take
part in and also create your own surveys. I used survey monkey
to collect information about people’s music video preferences
and also to gain audience feedback. It is easy and straight
forward to use and is also easy for participants to complete. I
embed the surveys that I created onto my blog and emailed
the link around. For my survey on what different demographics
prefer to see in music videos I got 45 responses and for my
audience feedback I received 13 responses. Once you are on
the website and attempt making a survey the website will
automatically guide you and explain how to navigate the
website. Along the left of the page there are different options of
question styles, examples would be drop down menus, tick
boxes and written response options. You select which question
style you would like to use for each individual question and click
and drag the question over to the right of the page and type in
the question A particularly good thing about survey monkey as it
is easy to create a survey and due to the anonymity allows there
to be a high response rate. A negative of survey monkey is that
there is a feature to pitch your survey to a demographic/target
audience of your choice where you would receive over 100
participants however this service is not available to everyone
and requires a paid subscription.

15. Fragment
 I used Fragment when designing my Digipak. It allows
you to create unusual and unique design ideas to allow
the album to catch the eye of the audience. I created
many different designs and reduced the designs down
to a final six to use in my Digipak. For my Digipak I
wanted to use different shapes on each sleeve. I used
Fragment to add in shapes and alter different effects
for example the 3D glasses effect which I applied subtly
to each image. Using Fragment is simple, you firstly
select the image you want to edit you can then select
multiple different in which you can ‘fragment’ the
image. This will distort them and give you an interesting
design. You can either manually select a style or
randomise the edit. You can then add in other effects
such as blurring, changing the hue and saturation and
adding the 3D glasses effect. I did each of these to
produce the images for my Digipak. A positive of using
Fragment is that it provides you with a totally unique
and interesting design each time. A disadvantage
would be that it is an app so you are required to use a
smart phone and there is a small fee to download the
app.

16. Overall
 All together over the project I have worked with the technologies available to me effectively
and worked hard to over come any problems I faced in terms of the technology. For example
shooting in low light as I did for a few scenes in my music video was difficult when using the
Cannon PowerShot camera. The quality of the footage reduced significantly when in a slightly
darker location. To fix this issue as best I could I used the Fast Colour Corrector – a feature of
Premiere Pro – to my advantage. Adding an effect to the footage also added to the
professionalism of the final product and linked well the music videos I was inspired by such as
We Found Love by Calvin Harris and Rihanna.
 I used the SurveyMonkey successfully to solve the issue of very small response rate often if you
hand out physical copies of a questionnaire to the public you will receive very few back and
your results will not be representative of the public. The ability to email and post the link to the
questionnaire on my blog and social media such as Facebook and Twitter allowed for more
responses.
 One piece of technology which really shaped my final products, particularly the print products
would be Fragment. The app allowed me to represent my artist exactly how I pictured in my
head. I wanted something fun, fresh and unique but still had ties to what you would expect to
see from a young solo artist such as Keira Black. The use of shapes using Fragment allowed be
to capture this.

17. How I Would Improve
 If I was to do this project again I would only change a small selection of
things relating to technology.
 Firstly I would prefer to use a better quality camera if possible or have the
equipment to allow for better lighting in dark locations or scenes set at
night.
 If money wasn’t an option I would like to invest in Premiere Pro for my own
computer so I would be able to edit at home and to use my time wisely and
more concisely.
 I would have also like to see what else I could achieve using Photoshop and
improve my skills this way.

18. Advise For Future Students
 Good advise for future A2 Media students would be to really engage with your blog and to ensure
you post as regularly as you can. Using Blogger to write down your thought processes as you go
through your project will prevent you from forgetting any good ideas and will help you to keep
organised as well as allowing your teacher and the examiner to see the roots of your work and
how it progresses from start to finish.
 Using a variety of different technologies along side your blog rather than posting basic blog posts
will not only help you to gain marks but makes your work a more interesting to complete as well as
being more interesting to those reading and looking at your blog. Also learning new technological
skills will be useful for you later in life when A levels and exams are over.
 Being organised is really important as music videos take a lot of planning and it is vital to keep
your actors informed about your plans for your video in advance so the shoot goes more smoothly
and you don’t waste time explaining on the day of the shoot.
 Thinking on your feet when things go wrong is important to. For example, I wasn’t as organised as I
believed I was when filming a scene of my music video on the beach as I has left the battery for
the camera in the charger at home. I then got out my phone and used that to film the scene. The
quality of the camera on my phone is significantly lower than the camera I used so I played
around with different effects on premiere pro to mask the bad quality.