A2 Evaluation - Question 4

1. How did you use media technologies in the construction and research,
planning and evaluation stages? (1918)
Overthe course of my A2 mediawork, I useda variety of differenttechnologies throughout
the differentstagesof production. Initially we hadtomake a blog/website where we could
display all of ourcoursework tasksas blogpoststhroughthe stagesof research, planning,
production, drafting, production logsandfinal products. UnlikeourAScoursework where
we used www.blogger.com,we changedthe bloggingplatformtowww.wordpress.com
instead. WordPress isagraphicinterface, contentmanagementsystemwithcoded software
whichallows blogcreationtobe much easierthanblogger. WordPress wasfarmore
powerful andallowedformuchmore flexibility aswell asbeingmore robustthanbloggeras
bloggerisa fairly simplisticsite thatismaintained bygoogle. Thisnew flexibility of
WordPress allowed me tohave more creative scope withthe layoutof myblog, suchas
havingfeatured postsandimages, butwasalsofar more complicated thanblogger.
However, once Ihad usedWordPress fora few weeks, itenabled myblogtobegintolook
more successful andprofessional asitwasan overall betterblog.
On myblogI postedmy contentovera variety of differentpresentation platforms. One of
my favourite platforms thatIusedfor postssuch as myresearch post ‘History of Music
Videos’ wasPrezi. Preziisapresentation software thatIwas familiarwithasIhad used itfor
some blogpostsfor myAS coursework soI found iteasy to use as well asprovidingan
interestingpresentation platform. However, Prezi usesflashwhichcausedsome problemsas
WordPress rejectsflashasitis outdatedinternetsoftware, soitwouldn’tletme directly add
interactive Prezi’s onmyblog. Thiswasannoyingatfirstbut i founda way to overcome the
problembyscreen-shottingthe openingimageof myPrezi andhyperlinkingthe Prezi tothe
picture withinthe blogpost. IalsousedSlideshare whichisaninternetpresentation
software where youcanupload MicrosoftPowerPoints orworddocuments andthiswasan
easy way of displayingthe information Ihadalready createdsuchas my research task
‘Analysis of Previous Students Blogs’ asitwasnot rejected byWordPress soyoucouldplay
the Slideshares easily. Finally, Ilikedtodisplay mywork ina variety of wayson myblogas
thismade it more interesting, soIalsocreateda few YouTube videos formyresearch and
planningpostssuchas ‘Conventions of MusicVideos’ andthe time lapsesof some of my
videoshoots. YouTube isaHTML 5 videopublishingsoftware anditwasan easy way to
display videos onmyblogasthey easily published andcouldbe playedfromthe blogwithno
problems.
Moreover, duringthe production of mymusicvideoIuseda lot of physical equipmentas
opposed tointernetsoftware. The cameraI usedforfilmingandtakingpictures wasaCanon
550D, whichis a digital SLR. Usinga digital cameraproved tohave far more advantages than
the traditional analogue cameraswhere youwouldeditall of yourfootage oncamera.
Whereas, withdigital cameraslikethe Canon550D youcan editpostfilming, have the ability
to add postprocessingeffects e.g. slowmotion,warpstabiliseretc. whichare reversible
changes unlike analogue. Aswell asthis, analoguefilmcamerascouldonly hold32photos
perfilmreel andyoucannot overwrite analoguematerials, whereas withdigital youcan
review, deleteandoverwritewhatyoushotand store approximately 30x more ona 16GB SD
card for example, opposed toanalogue. Thiscombinedwiththe factthatdigital worksout
far cheaperthananalogue inthe longrun provides the case forwhy we chose to shooton
digital asopposed toanalogue. Moreover, the Canon550D isa relatively cheapmediumat
approximately £350 for the camera itself, compared tofilmcameras(bottomof the range
averagingoutat around £1500). This isa cheaperwayof gettinggoodquality videos asyou
can choose and change the lensto yourspecificneedforeachindividual shoot.

2. Whenfilming, Ishotat 720p whichisthe numberof rowsof horizontal pixelstomake ita
finerpicture. Thisisslightly lowerthanthe highestquality whichis1080p which I had the
ability tofilmat,but chose notto as it wouldn’tcapture the footage atas highof a frame
rate. The frame rate for720p is 50 framesa secondas opposed to24 framesa second at
1080p. I chose 50 framesa second as itmakesthe editingprocess fareasierasmy media
departmentfilmat50 and editat 24, so that wayI couldslow the footage downandit would
still be smooth.Iedited at24 frames a second as it iswhatcinemascreens display footage
at, so I wantedtoadhere to the conventional frame rate forvideoproduction.
The SD card I usedwasa class10, 16GB SanDisk Extreme. Class10 referstothe classof
speed, and10 isthe highestclassinthe SanDisk range. Thisallows the SD card to write data
at the speed of filmingsoitcan keepupwiththe footage withoutfreezingorhavingany
problems. Iuseda 16GB card as it holds enough footage foraday of filmingwhichwasthe
typical time Iwouldbe filmingfor. A bonus of the SD card was alsothat it only costs£10 so it
enabled the costsof production tobe relatively cheapasopposed toanalogue/filmreels.
I usedtwotypesof lenses whenfilmingmymusicvideo:the canonprime lensandthe cine
lens. The CanonPrime Lensisa 50mm, F1.8 lens. The 50mm refers tothe focal length, which
on thislensisfixedsoitisalwayszoomed intothe same amount. Thisisthe cheapestprime
lensat £100 and I usedthislensasitis cheaperto have a wide apture thana zoom prime
lens. The F1.8 refersto the apture size of the lens. The lowerthe number, the widerthe lens
can openso the more lighta camera receives, whichenables the ISOtobe lowerwhich
makesthe qualityof the footage better. A low apture numberallowsforgreaterdepthof
fieldshotswhichcanbe deepor shallow;thisallowsthe focustobe directed tothe main
star of the musicvideowhichwill actasa spotlightforthe audience tofollow, whichcanbe
usedinconjunction withfocus pullsforexample. WhenshootingIshotat F1.8 as it gave
greaterapture and more depthof field, butforthe black box I shot at F 2.2 withmy ISOat
100 as thiswasthe ideal ISOdue tooverISO 400 and above beingtoograiny.
The secondlensI usedwasa Samyang35mm Cine Prime lenswhichislesszoomedin. The
35mm focal lengthmakesthislensperfectforrestricted spaces, sowhenI filmedshotsin
the black box I usedthe Cine Prime Lensasthe space was restricted,unlikethe outside
shots. The apture of the Cine LensisT 1.5 whichisequivalenttoF1.4, whichisa lower
apture than the CanonPrime Lens. Thismeansthat itletsinevenmore light, soisideal for
shootingindarklocations where the ISOislower, aswell asenablingagreaterdepthof field.
What else isgoodaboutthe lensisthatit ismechanical andhas cogs where youcan attach a
focusring. This allowed me touse follow focus(which costsaround £50) which enabled me
to have smootherfocuspullsandmore control withoutthe cameralookingshaky.
As well asthe follow focus, anotherpiece of equipmentthatallowed myfootage tobe more
stable wasthe Steadicam. Thiswasa piece of equipmentthatIattachedthe camera to in
orderfor me to have steadierhandheld footage withgreatercontrol andlessshakiness. I
alsouseda Go Profor filmingsome of myinside blackbox shotsthatIwantedto be in
extreme slow motion. The GoPro has a tiny sensorwhichmakesitnotvery good inlow light
but as itssmallerit’seasy touse and take differentshotswithwithoutgettingtiredarms. It
isalso perfectforslow motionshotssuchas hairflicksasit captures 200 frames a second. As
well asthis, itis muchcheaperand smallerwiththe abilitytotime remappostshooting
unlike filmcameras. Thisisthe final piece of cameraequipmentIusedwhilstfilmingandI
feel thatthey all worked very successfullyformymusicvideo, aswell asenablingmymedia
departmenttosave onmoney by buyingdigital overanalogue.

3. As well asthe camerasI used, inthe black box shootsI alsoneeded lighting. Iusedthe 3
pointlightsetupwiththe red heads, whichare really brightandmuchcheaperthan LED
lightsforthe same brightness. The whole kitcosts£120 whichisvery cheap, but as the lights
don’thave dimmers the lightswere brightthe wholetime andthiscausedthemtogetvery
hot sothe bulbsblow quite easily, whichcanbe slightly annoyingasthe mediadepartment
needtokeepbuyingmore bulbs.
The editingprocess wasthe nextthingIdidafter shootingandIwas able to use the Adobe
Suite, mainly PremiereandAfterEffects. AsImentioned before, asIuseddigital camerasI
was able todo all of myeditingpostproduction howeverIwanted. Whatwasreally good
aboutthe Adobe Suite wasthatPremiere andAfterEffectswork togethersoif Iwantedto
add twodifferentmanipulations toa piece of footage like warpstabiliserandadjustingthe
speedIwas able todo thisin premiere andaftereffects. Onpremiere Iwasable todo a
variety of differenteditingtechniques suchas:cutting, fading, warpstabilising, time
remappingandcolourgradingwiththe 3 pointcolourcorrectortool. Once I had edited my
footage, Iexported itfromPremiere asadigital file soIcoulduploadthe videoontothe
internetviathe schools internetconnection, whereI couldputit onVimeoandhave it
available onmyblogforeveryone tosee.
As well aseditingmymusicvideo, Ialsohadtoeditmy photos formy ancillary tasks- my
digipack andmagazine advert. IusedCS6 InDesign andPhotoshop andthese worktogether
inthe same wayPremiere andAfterEffectsdo. Thismade editingvery easy asif Ichanged
the image on Photoshop itwouldautomatically update itonInDesign.Thismade iteasy to
change my digipack andadvertto my likingandsee whatthe differentpictureslookedlike
withthe stylesIhad used.
Overall, Iuseda variety of differenttechnologies throughoutmycoursework, andI am very
much a supporterof digital technology aswithoutitIdon’tbelieve Iwould have hadablog
and final products tothe same degree of success asI managedto achieve withdigital.