1. How did you use media
technologies in the
construction and research,
planning and evaluation
stages?
A2 MEDIA STUDIES EVALUATION
EMILY DEVLIN

2. I believe that a good Media student makes themselves familiar with a variety of media technologies, no matter how
difficult they find it. They should use them in their work as it shows a wide range of knowledge regarding current
media technologies and the skills they have obtained from using them.
Whilst creating my coursework portfolio, I used several different media technologies in my
planning, research, production and evaluation processes.
I am now going to explain how I used these media technologies in relation to my work pieces, what I learnt from
using them and how I feel that they have benefitted my work.

4. I have an already existing account with Spotify so I decided to use it when
researching my genre. I found it to be more useful than YouTube due to the fact
that it is easier to listen to a variation of artist’s work rather than searching for
every individual song. The fact that Spotify provides it’s listeners with
suggestions on what to listen to based on their already existing taste proved
very helpful when it came to researching my genre. It opened my eyes to artists
similar to Jake Bugg which aided me in understanding the conventions and styles
of my selected genre.

6. YouTube has been a very frequently used media platform throughout all the stages of my coursework. Having my own YouTube channel enabled me to show the
development of my promotional music video in several different stages.
During my research stages I was required to do textual analysis’ of three already existing music videos. I used YouTube as my main source for obtaining and watching
these videos. I believe that YouTube was the best option for me at this point due to the fact that artist’s official videos are posted on there. This made it easy for me to
watch them and also allowed me to span across the genres of music videos to ensure my understanding covered a wide range.
I next used YouTube to upload videos of my planning processes. This began with me taking pictures of possible location choices using my Fujifilm (camera type) then
making a short video using Picasa 3 with a Jake Bugg song as background music. Once this was finished I uploaded it to YouTube and embedded the link on my Blogger
page. I did this because I thought it would be more visually appealing than simply placing photos in a blog post and it also demonstrated my knowledge of media
technologies. I then used YouTube again after using my iPhone 5 to film my artist’s screen test along with some practice shots. I downloaded the app, YouTube
Capture, and used that to upload the videos to YouTube straight from my phone.
When I first began my editing process on Adobe Premiere, I only had a few shots to work with initially. Instead of just waiting till I had the full video to start editing, I
decided to familiarise myself with the program and begin editing the shots I had together. I then exported these files and uploaded them to YouTube as ‘Editing Drafts’.
These uploaded videos showed that I had taken time to ensure I knew how to use the program and were a documentation of me gaining knowledge and expertise.
Once I had finished my first full draft of my promotional music video, I also uploaded that to my YouTube channel and embedded the video in a post on my blog. This
made it easier for my video to be viewed by its assessors. Due to the fact that YouTube allows its videos to be shared via Facebook status, I decided to use this in
obtaining my audience feedback. This method proved quicker and easier for all involved as it was quicker than people having to search for the video themselves or me
having to email the link to people.
I had documented the making of my promotional music video through a number of photographs and videos of behind the scenes which I then decided to make into
one whole video using Windows Movie Maker which I uploaded to YouTube. This allowed me to show a lot of the production processes through one medium.

8. YouTube Capture is an app I downloaded on my iPhone 5 from the App Store. This app enabled me to not
only upload videos to YouTube straight from my phone and filming but to edit them also.
This app is free to download and gives its users the availability of uploading videos from their phone to their
YouTube channel. There is also an option to capture a video on your phone’s camera through the app which
then uploads straight to YouTube.
The editing tool allows its users trim video clips and add their own soundtrack.
I found this very useful as it meant I could upload and edit my own clips whilst on the go and it saved me the
stress and time of having to find the correct wire to connect my phone to my laptop then wait for it to copy
over and then upload it.

10. Facebook and all social media in general is a great way for people to share almost anything they
want with others all around the world.
That is why I decided to make use of my Facebook profile as a means of obtaining my audience
feedback. I shared my uploaded draft through a Facebook status in which I asked my friends to
comment their opinions on the status.
I found this to be one of my most favoured methods of obtaining audience feedback. I found this
so favourable because I received a great deal of feedback. I have accounted this to the fact that
people in my demographic spend a lot of time on social networking sites such as Facebook. The
popularity and frequent usage of this specific media institution aided my results greatly.

12. Google Chrome is my preferred browser of choice which meant that it was frequently
used throughout the production and evaluation processes of my coursework.
My default search engine is also Google as I find it to be the most proficient.
Without Google, I would not have had access to Blogger or YouTube. The convergence of
these three institutions allows me to have all my accounts in one. This was extremely
helpful as it meant that I only had to sign into one account to access m
emails, bookmarks, search preferences, Blogger and YouTube Accounts.

14. PowerPoint is a simple and easy way of making presentations in your own style with custom
animations and transitions, that’s why it is quite an obvious option when it comes to the use of
varying media technologies.
PowerPoint documents can be saved in several formats. One of the format possibilities is a jpeg.
document which means that each slide will be saved as a picture. This option comes in handy
when posting on Blogger as the images can be uploaded as a blog post.
If there are too many slides to have as jpeg. files, a PowerPoint presentation can also be
uploaded to SlideShare. Another convenient option considering that SlideShare files can be
easily embedded onto Blogger posts.
I have used PowerPoint to make presentations showing both my pre-production and evaluation
processes. Examples of this would be the planning of make-up styles for my music video and my
initial narrative ideas. I liked how I could have an individual slide to show steps/processes I have
been through.

16. SlideShare is a website which enables its users to upload slideshow presentations so that they
can be embedded on sites such as Blogger.
There is an option to have either a free or paid membership, a paid one meaning you are
entitled to extra options for a small monthly fee.
It is very simplistic to use. All it requires is for a person to upload their already completed
PowerPoint presentation to the website which then allows the presentation to be embedded
onto other websites such as Blogger.
This was very helpful in cases where a PowerPoint presentation I had made had too many slides
to save them all in a j.peg document (explained in previous slide). It allows for a basic
presentation that is effective without being over the top. I believe it is also a clear
demonstration of my knowledge with regard to differing media technologies.

18. Windows Movie Maker is a program that lets its users create films using their own pictures, videos and music. It
also allows users to add transitions and filters.
I used this specific program to make a short clip of behind the scenes footage and pictures from when we were
filming my music video. I wanted to document as many of my planning processes as possible and I thought behind
the scenes was too large an aspect to ignore.
I decided that making a short film from my collected imagery would be a better way of showing what went on as
opposed to people just being presented with pictures. I believed it was more fun for the audience whilst being a
professional way of depicting it.
Windows Movie Maker allowed me to add my own soundtrack (‘Seen It All’ by Jake Bugg) which helped in
reinforcing my selected genre whilst appealing to my demographic.
This program is very easy to use. To choose the items I wanted to appear in my video I simply clicked on the box
which allowed me to browse for photos and videos. I then selected the files I wanted to use and, after a short
wait, they appeared in the box. To change a specific file’s position, all that I had to do was drag the file to the
place I wanted.
Once I had finished adjusting each file to the length and position I wanted it in and adding any extra edits, I simply
clicked on Save As and my file was ready.

20. Prezi is a slideshow making website. Presentations can be made in a variety of different forms
and structures as it pretty much gives users a ‘free reign’ on the layout.
Instead of everything being separated into category related slides, Prezi acts as an interactive
mind map where a different part is zoomed in on at the click of a button.
Although I appreciate the initial idea of ‘Prezi’, I did not enjoy using it, hence why I have only
used it once (Pre-production, clothing inspiration post) throughout my full coursework process.
I found that the freedom Prezi allowed meant that it took a long while to arrange the
presentation and was highly time consuming, something which I could not afford due to the
time constraints attached to my pieces of work.

22. Adobe Photoshop CS6
I used Adobe Photoshop CS6 to create both my ancillary texts.
I applied the skills I had already learned from my music magazine last year (magic wand
tool, changing colours of specific objects, airbrushing, resizing, colour alterations etc.) to both of
my ancillary texts. This program is probably my favourite to use out of all that have been
mentioned. I wanted to learn new skills to apply to my work in order to demonstrate that my
knowledge had expanded since the previous year.
Not only did I need to have a good understanding of what to do on Photoshop, but I also needed
to be able to work quickly as I had to create a magazine advertisement and a digipack in a fairly
short period of time.

23. Adobe Photoshop CS6 - Digipack
My six-panel digipack required me to create six
separate images which were then to be saved,
shrunk down and added to my digipack. To create
these I got four screen grabs from my music video,
and two original images. I made them all black and
white and heightened the contrast. I then
proceeded to decide which image would go
where. After I had made that final decision, I went
on to add to the pictures whatever was needed to
match their conventions. This included barcode,
track listing, copyright details, cd cut out, house
font etc.

24. Adobe Photoshop CS6 - Digipack
I downloaded a six panel digipack and saved the file as a jpeg. Once I had finished editing each
picture I added them to this image, remembering to rotate them if needed and cut out the
image around the CD.

26. Adobe Premiere Pro is the program that I used to edit my music video together.
This program could be seen as being the equivalent to Photoshop for videos.
I found this program incredibly easy to use. I think this is due to its similar layout to Photoshop, a
program which I am very comfortable using.
The only tools that I used on this program were the ‘Matrox Old Movie’ filter and the clip
trimmer (which allowed you to speed up or slow down the length of a specific clip.
The most important skill I learnt on this program was how to overlap matching clips and lower
the opacity in order to give characters within my video ghostly effect. An example of this within
my own work would be the scene where my fictional artist is looking in the mirror for his
girlfriend to appear next to him and then disappear at the touch of his hand.

27. Sony CX280 Full HD Handycam
I used the Sony CX280 Full HD Handycam for the filming of my promotional music video.
I found this camera easy to use as it was small and easy to carry but still delivered HD quality
images. It also connected easily to the tripod I was using.
The only criticism I would have with this camera is that the battery life is not as long as I’d hope
for it to be, which is unfortunate when filming in outside conditions.

28. Fujifilm FinePix S1800 Digital
Camera
I used my digital camera throughout all the processes of my coursework. I used this camera for
all of the photos on my blog and the behind the scenes footage.