The student used various new media technologies at each stage of creating a music video. During research, they used Google, Wikipedia, and YouTube to study music video conventions and existing works. Planning involved filming a proposal video and animatic using cameras and iMovie. Construction consisted of filming with a camera, editing footage in iMovie, and creating print products in PowerPoint. The student believes these technologies helped broaden their skills and ability to create modern media pieces.

1. How did you use new media
technologies in the research,
planning, construction and
evaluation stages?
Ross Nagy, A2 Media

2. Research
During the research stage of my task, the main new
media technologies I put in to practice were that of
the internet, and the tools which helped me
complete an in-depth study in to both the topic of
music videos, and the genre my artist were centred
upon. The majority of my research was featured
around three websites: Google, Wikipedia and
YouTube.
Google and Wikipedia were
predominantly used to conduct
research in to the conventions of music
videos. This helped me create a
timeline of the history of music video,
as well as analysis in to existing music
videos surrounding my genre, and
analysis of existing music directors.
I used YouTube to help me study themes and
conventions of existing music videos, by
analysing several pieces by artists in my
genre of music e.g Jake Bugg. This helped me
create a diverse knowledge of what I needed
to include in my piece.

3. Research (Extended)
As well as the three
main technologies I
used to conduct my
initial research, I also
used different pieces
of media in order to
present them on my
blog. Both slideshare
and wordle were
useful in creating
innovative ways to
present my findings,
instead of typical,
boring paragraphs of
writing.

4. Planning
The first task we were set in the initial
planning phase of our task was to film
and post our ‘proposal’ to our blogs. This
is an initial idea of what I planned to
include in my piece, and was filmed using
a Panasonic SDR-H85 video camera, and
uploaded to the computer, before being
edited using iMovie, and then uploaded
to my blog.

5. Planning (Extended)
As well as my proposal, I also iMovie to
upload my animatic to my blog. This was
a compilation of shots I designed and
drew, before taking pictures of them with
an Olympus SP-800UZ camera, and
uploading them to the computers in the
media department. I then compiled them
together on iMovie, added a soundtrack
from iTunes, and created a basic idea of
what my music video will look like.

6. Construction
The construction of my final product
began with an initial filming session with
my actors, using the Panasonic SDR-H85
video camera. I then uploaded these
clips to iMovie, compiling them together
and discovering what was required to
create during my second filming session.
When this had been completed, I
analysed the archive of film I had created
and began using the editing software of
iMovie to create my piece. Using the
song I had uploaded to iTunes, my music
video eventually reached completion.

7. Construction (Extended)
When my film product had been
completed, I began to turn my attention
to the creation of my ancillary tasks: the
digipak and magazine advert. After
conducting research and planning in to
these products from the music industry
(again, using Google and Wikipedia), as
well as magazine websites such as NME,
and Rolling Stone, I created my print
products, including pictures of the band,
taken with the Olympus SP-800UZ, and
created on Microsoft PowerPoint.

8. Evaluation
In summary, I believe my extensive
use of new media technologies
throughout this task have ultimately
broadened my knowledge of
available media products, and my
ability to put them in to practice. I
am now able to create more
competent pieces using the
advanced technology of the modern
age, and am able to join the online
media revolution with my own web
2.0 content.