how did you use media technologies in the construction and research, planning and evaluation stages?

1. I used a number of different technologies throughout all stages of the
coursework. Some enabled me to do things which with out the technology,
I wouldn’t have been able to and others were less helpful and restrictive
either due to my lack of ability with unfamiliar equipment or simply that
fact that you are relying on something other than yourself to produce what
is already in your head.

2. Panasonic HD DV camera
I used the camera for-
• Photograph locations
• Take pictures to make part of my mood board
• Take images as the main points of my media
texts

3. Photographing locations
This was useful as it enabled me to see how the locations translated onto computerised
images, e.g. as a result of this process I did not use the woods as a filming location very
much due to the natural lighting making it really hard to get the summery glow effect on
camera, even if it looked perfect for it to a human eye.
This may have achievable for someone with more time to understand the features of this
camera in full. However I did find the camera fairly easy to understand, the manual focus
was simple to instigate which made playing with the depth of focus and the sharpness of
the images quite interesting. Also, the automated settings were clear and useful to help
me get a crisp photograph in all of the different location sights.
These images represent what conditions you should use them in to
get the best picture you can. This is helpful if you are not used to
taking photographs where quality is important.
A feature I didn’t enjoy was how it didn’t take a picture if it didn’t like he lighting, this could be
down to me not using it properly or correctly. However I wanted the [picture as it was, I thought
it looked okay but I couldn’t take it. This could be an example of technological determinism – this
theory is about how technologies available directly affect the societies they are part of, and the
people in them. This example shows how is can be apparent, as a camera is the first way I now
think of translating an images to show others, when this didn’t work for me I just moved on. I
didn’t think to draw it or re-create it in another way, the technology didn’t work for me so I gave
up! This is also an instance of where hindered my creativity to some degree.

4. Pictures For My Mood Board
This was an important thing to include as it was the first thing as part of my pitch were I
could include something I had made – the first time I showed something which had been
influenced by research and translated it into something original and creative.
The easy-use-ness of the camera was vital for this as it didn’t take u too much time to set up
and meant that I could wait until a break in the clouds and still get the image I wanted fairly
spontaneously.
In this way the simplicity of this camera very much helped me in terms of creativity as there
is no other way I would have been able to show what I was trying to create as I am not
artistically gifted, and even if I
were the convinces of this
process wouldn’t have been
matched.

5. Pictures For My Final Pieces
The features of the camera, which allowed me to get remotely professional looking images
were very useful as the feel I needed for my texts were creative and the images were to be
the vocal point of the digipack and the advertisement. So, having good pictures was
important to make the overall pieces look professional.
Another good aspect of the camera for this was that it’s really light, so I was able to walk
around the locations in Worcester from 12:30 until 8pm taking pictures of locations for he
video and images to be included in the digipack and its advert.
However, I did run out of card space and battery without getting all of the images i would
have liked, but i probably just got a bit carried away to be fair!

6. Panasonic HD DV camera
I used the video camera for-
• Filming the music video
• Filming audience feedback

7. Filming The Video
• This camera was very useful during the shoots for the
music video as it was easily to move around meaning
I had freedom with the takes and could get a lot of
different angles of the same thing quickly.
• Also being able to move the screen to see what’s
being filmed was helpful as it enabled me to direct
performers while seeing how it was translating on
camera.
• The quality was not the best in the world, some of
the panning isn’t as smooth as it could be, more
shots per minutes would have been good. But I don’t
think it is enough to make the camera work look
obviously unprofessional, if it does it is most
probably down to me!

8. Filming Audience Feedback
• This was good as it allowed me to collect more
in depth quantitative data. This can be done in
written mode but that is more premeditated
so there is more tendencies for people to
over-think their answers, where as videoing
people means their answers are spontaneous
– this results in less demand characteristics
(hopefully).

9. Photoshop cs5
This was amazingly useful! It helped me make my images not only stand
out but also made my work look more professional. This may be due to
my lack of skill as a photographer, but also when making the text having
the loop selector, which predicts what item you are trying to delete,
move or copy and selects it for you makes putting in icons for twitter
and facebook look so much more professional, or take so much less
time.
Other effects which were vital
for me to change the feel of my
work was the brightness and
contrast levels. This is
ridiculously easy and changed
my pictures all in the same way
which helped them to have a
synergy.

10. I used this for-
• Sourcing inspiration
• Researching target audience
• Researching theory
• Sharing my work