media

1. 4. How did you use media technologies in the construction and research, planning and
evaluation stages?
I used a variety of media technologies in the research and planning, construction, and evaluation
stages of my project. This year, there was a need for a huger variety of the media technologies, due to
the fact that I created a chosen genre music video, which was more challenging than the year 12 brief.
CONSTRUCTION:
One media technology we predominately used was Final Cut Pro which was used for both years. But
I used more techniques and tools this year. We used Final Cut Pro to do a practise lip sync video of
songs within our genre. So we first lip synced and done a little dance choreography to the song by
Bruno Mars and it called ‘Uptown Funk’, as we initially went for an just an Pop song. Then we chose
to lip sync to a song suited to our genre, so we chose Lana Del Rey’s ‘Young and Beautiful’ as it has
the similar speed to out chosen song. For example, like always we edited the relevant clips that we
filmed beforehand in Final Cut, but we had to make sure that speed of the my mouth lip syncing is in
line with the singing in the actualsong. There would be times where I would be lip syncing a little bit
slower or faster,or I’m not enunciating the words clearly. Depending on how off key it looks, we
would re-film the clips, use other back up clips or just change the speed using the ‘change speed’
option, once you right click on the specific clip. Lip-syncing a crucial part of the music video and
because we were confident at this stage with final cut, it was fairly easy to do. This is useful
preparation for the actual construction stage and gave me the skill to micro edit; zoom in into the
timelines on the audio file, to accurately sync.
In final cut this year,I became much more confident in applying effects.I used the ‘Desaturate’
image control/ filter to make the close up shots of the hands to be filtered in black and white, to
illustrate this shot as a symbolic message of intimacy and love, and to show this as a significant
memory of the singer. We initially used the ‘Sepia’ video filter for the older clips, but then chose to
delete them because there was too many filters in one music video, which could work for a more
upbeat pop song, with inter textual references of comic books. We also brightened some clips. This is
because the clips that were viewed onto the ‘canvas’ window/ video player (so this views the chosen
clips that you add yourself) didn’t look as clear or brighter, as it initially does in the ‘viewer’
window/video player (all the gathered up clips that you just imported are viewed in this window). We
added a video transition in each clip; it was either a ‘fade in/fade out dissolve’ or a ‘cross dissolve’ as
it suits the slow and mellow pace of the song. In our earlier drafts, we wanted to use the green screen
tool or ‘Chroma Keyer’. We initially filmed the lip-syncing shots, and we got rid of the green
backdrop as a few trials. But when we added our own photos and short clips of the backdrops for the
green screen, it didn’t suit the dark, gothic theme and slow pace in the music video. We also used the
‘Desaturate’ tool for our lip synch practise video, as it went with the song (Lana DelRey – Young and
Beautiful).
Another piece of technology that we used n the construction was the green screen.There was some
limitations about our access, the green screen room was in use by another class for some of the time.
So we borrowed a green screen material and elastic bands from my art teacher. We wrapped the
material around a smart board.. Then we used the elastic bands to tie up the edges the material around
the board. We realised that the green screen shots looked pretty good when we added the ‘Desaturate’
tool, as it got rid of the green backdrop. But when we put them in in the actual music video, it did not
suit the music video. This is because it looked like a contemporary performance studio that is

2. expected in more Soul or Indie/Rock music video. For example, James Bay – Hold back the River
music video is filmed in a huge performance studio throughout the whole music video. As well as
that, the black and white are meant to be illustrating the past, since the hands shot is in the black and
white filter for that reason and that lip sync is meant to be set in the present tense. Overall, green
screening was much more difficult than we anticipated and I think in order to master this skill, we
need more time and practise.
Luckily, we all agreed with the idea of adding a projection scene using a projector for the music
video instead of the green screen. The projection is used in few of the Indie/Pop music videos that I
researched on,as well as that we had tons of footage in Wapping that was filmed during the earlier
stages of filming, therefore it could be in use for the projection. The projection scene smoothly fitted
in the music video, as we also included a wide pan shot of the Abney Park in the music video, which
is a different location but had the same layout as the scenery in Wapping; tall trees everywhere,blue
skies, grass and mud everywhere,both locations had this park/forest theme to it. Initially, for our
earlier projection scenes,we used clips from YouTube, but then we deleted, as it would be better to
use our own footage that actually suited the gothic/natural scenery in the music video. For the
projection, we played the chosen location clip on repeat, as the clips were quite short. But it did look
very nice overall because the colour of the sky was dull yet picturesque, which suited to the genre
expectations. We had access our school Great Hall’s projection, which worked in our favour, as the
backdrop for the projection wall was big and only painted in white, so there were any other disruptive
displays that could potentially ruin the music video. Using a projector was a piece a technology that
we planned to use but worked effectively for our video.
We initially used stage lights for the fairy lights and for the earlier practise and actual lip-synching
shots. The fairy lights were dimly lit and could barely light up the big drama classroom/ studio. Also
the natural lighting in the green scene was too dark, which then would not flow with the other brighter
shots in the music video. We ended up not using the fairy lights shots because the stage lights did not
really help, as the shot was still too dark, and the black curtains in the black with the fairy lights were
more suited for an more glamorous Indie/Pop music video, rather than the Indie/Pop music video that
are more simpler and focus more on scenery and subtle symbolism, which is something that we aim to
illustrate. This then gave us a another idea to just focus on the natural lighting on the shots of the
natural scenery, particularly at sunset, as the light from the sun will be more direct and more abstract
looking, as the cameras lenses will get a flare, which looks very dream-like; which links with the
fairy-tale theme in the digipak yet visually beautiful too. I think that our use of lighting was more
effective this year and we learnt the importance of using lighting to create mood and atmosphere.
Towards the end of the production, we used the photos for the Abney Park filming; lip-syncing and
particularly the walking away from the sunset for the ancillary tasks. I developed the ancillary tasks
onto Photoshop.I used the ‘Colour Replacement’ tool to add in and carefully blend in the purple and
subtle teal and emerald filter to the bright green based natural scenery,to create a purple theme to the
overall media products. The font was carefully selected from Dafont, it was chosen according to
which font goes with the overall artwork in the ancillary tasks. We picked a calligraphy based for the
artist title, because it illustrates the artist’s name well and it goes with the fairy-tale theme to the
ancillary tasks. I also blended and smooth out my face using the ‘Ink dropper’ and ‘Brush’ too. I was
fairly advantage to my peers because I was using Photoshop prior to this project, however it was an
opportunity to refine my skills and I found it quite difficult to connect the print editing with the video
edit.

3. For the film opening last year,I used a standard camcorder for all the clips and edited them in the
simplest form because we didn’t have to worry about matching any lip-synching with the music. The
score was needed for the film opening, and it was repetitive to keep those mysterious and muted
actions to carry on. But this year,we used the DSLR Camera, as we wanted a clearer quality for the
scenic shots and the visual is more important, whilst the narrative and ambiguity is more important for
the film opening. The DSLR had a focus tool in the camera,which benefitted us hugely because we
were able to film the focus pull wide shots in Abney Park,which are our main camera shots in the
music video. We made sure that the shot were still and professional, as tripod was wobbly and not
sitting very well in most of our outer locations, it was better to use inside; the projection scene and the
painting scene. I think our camera skills improved significantly this year,having a camera with a
more professional feel as well as having to manually focus forced us to concentrate on the quality for
our camerawork. I think that it is clear that we captured more artistic and creative footage this year
and this is down to having a better camera as well as the development as media students.
RESEARCH AND PLANNING:
YouTube enabled me to upload my own clips relating the coursework. I also had to watch a lot more
music videos for research purposes. I uploaded my lip syncs, practise green screen, lyric video and
the drafts and rough footage onto YouTube.
We used SurveyMonkey in the beginning stages of the production and during the researching
because we wanted an insightful view from our target audience on what they expect in an Indie/Pop
music video, especially because our target audience watch Indie/Pop music video a lot more than
others in school. In SurveyMonkey, there is a template where the overall questionnaire would laid out
on, with additional options on what type of format will be needed for each question; for voting
questions, textbox based questions etc. This is the same target audience that were then later asked to
be recorded for research purposes on their feedback on the earlier drafts of the music video.
Last year, I used Blogger to keep a record of all my coursework,including the seven evaluation
questions. It had a simpler form to organise each of your work. This year I used Wix to put the music
video coursework as well as the four evaluations. This web designing site is a lot more better for
presenting my music video work, as the creative and visual is need to be presented in sophisticated
form. Wix presented all my work that was then uploaded in Slideshare,YouTube, and Powtoon etc.
in a clear way, which benefitted me. Particularly when I uploaded the research work,allowing me to
refer back to research in any PC/laptop.
Online programs and technology were imperative to the success of our planning and research stages.
We would not have had such a clear idea of our genre, have we not had the easy access to existing
video through YouTube. And our planning wouldn’t have been as efficient had we not use online
resource such as Wix.
The mobile phones were the most useful form of media technology. We were able to get direct
contact from our peers within the group, particularly when we hired the actor; we would message him
and make an agreement to what days he will be free to film. The use of WhatsApp has enable to make

4. a compromise with what days and time we should film, what costume to wear and if any last minute
cancellations. When my group and I were looking for a song from an unsigned artist, we searched
online; particularly on Sound cloud, Unsigned and YouTube to research for the unsigned artists.
Recently, the majority of media hardware,software and apps have converged; this benefitted us to
then ask for permission from our selection of unsigned artists by contacting them through the social
media platforms, Instagram and through emailing them in Hotmail which is already easy to access
through using the Wi-Fi in our mobile phones.
I used Prezi and PowToon and Microsoft PowerPoint in my research. I usually used Microsoft
Word to write up all my work for Preziand PowToon, as well as create the table for schedule and risk
assessment. This was then uploaded onto Wix, using the HTML code. I used Slideshare to upload all
the work that was done in PowerPoint and Word, so Slideshare will give me the HTML code, that
allows me upload it onto my Wix.
EVALUATION:
In my evaluation, I used varied type of formats, which had different technologies. The reason to use
the different technologies so I can use a range, which is required in the criteria. Prezi and Powtoon
allowed me to incorporate video and texts. Videos that I uploaded on YouTube allow me to
communicate orally whilst text is a written form of communication.