1. G324 Evaluation Tasks.
Q4: How did you use new
media technologies in the
construction and research,
planning and evaluation stages?

2. SlideShare, Scribd and Prezi
Firstly for my research tasks I used technologies such as SlideShare and Scribd
to present my work on my blog. These technologies allow users to upload their
own content in my case I either uploaded .doc or .ppt files to create interactive
text documents or slide presentations. This new way of displaying my work
meant it could be embedded into my blog using html codes. Doing this made my
blog look more interesting as it was no longer pages of copy and pasted text
from word. These two technologies are very useful because they were quick and
easy to use and allowed my PowerPoint presentations to be embedded on my
blog. Another way of displaying my research tasks was with a technology called
Prezi. Prezi was completely new too me along with Scribd and SlideShare, I’d
say it’s a step up from those two, you start creating your work on the Prezi
website rather than on Microsoft Word then converting it. There’s a choice of
themes or you can start from scratch which is what I did with the majority of my
work. Prezi is very interactive because it has features that allow users to zoom
move and spin around documents which is a new and fun way for work to be
displayed. I used Prezi to create my moodboards and ideas tasks as it’s very
good at connecting and linking everything in the document together and it very
easy to view because pictures and videos can be embedded within the Prezi
presentation.

3. Vuvox, Issuu and Wordle
For my recce location shots I used a technology called Vuvox, it is an excellent
way to display images and text together which was just what I was after as I
wanted all my images to be visible at the same time so readers could see the
overall mise en scene I was trying to show. Vuvox is easy to create texts on and
it’s simple structure makes it easy for audiences to use. Another new technology
I used to bring together ideas for my costume ideas was Issuu. This is another
technology were I created the document before hand then uploaded it ready to
convert. Issuu makes documents into different styles of books and magazines. It
is an interesting new technology which doesn’t have many competitors, I found
Issuu the most awkward to work with but the end product fulfilled it’s purpose for
creating a interesting mood board for my costume. Wordle was another
technology I had never used before, it has a simple layout, you type up or paste
some text into it and it creates a word bubble of text, picking out the key words.
It was useful for me as I was struggling with my ideas for my music video but
this helped me see the main points of the song and work from that. So for me
this piece of technology was very important for my to achieve my goals of
relating lyrics and visuals in my main product.

4. SlideRocket, SurveyMonkey and Polldaddy
SlideRocket is very similar to the other slide presentation technologies I have
used I think it’s important to try a variety of technologies as they may have
different features or support different file types. I liked SlideRocket because it
didn’t rearrange my slides like some others did. However I did have trouble
embedding SlideRocket presentations onto my blog so I didn’t use it again.
SurveyMonkey was very helpful for creating my survey it has flexible options
allowing you to make a more tailored survey. Another feature I liked about
SurveyMonkey is that with the free version it collects all of your results and
shows it in helpful data such as percentages, this was a great way for me to
start creating graphs and charts from my results as it was all presented in a user
friendly manner. Polldaddy similar to SurveyMonkey allows users to create their
own unique poll. I created mine as a simple way to find out a little bit more about
my target audience. I did have some problems at first getting Polldady to
connect with my WordPress account because they seem to be merged together.
I also had trouble creating the poll and it had be edited. However the end
product served my needs well and let me understand how my target audience
accesses new music.

5. Cameras and tripod Miranda m - 300
For my recce locations shots I used an iPhone 4 because it has a 5 megapixel
camera which was suitable for the task. I chose the iPhone over my digital
camera as I found the iPhone has better light/exposure control to get clearer
pictures and the ‘tap to focus’ feature which lets you choose the most important
section of the image and capture that part the best.
For filming my final music video I used a SONY Handycam DCR-SR58E. This
camera has a huge memory capacity which was extremely helpful as I didn’t
have to worry about reshooting and taking multiple shoots to get the best
scenes. The battery time was average but easily rechargeable because one the
camera comes with a rechargeable battery pack. Collecting data was very easy
as it came with a USB cable so could be used with any computer which as very
helpful because I did my editing at home rather than in school. I the quality of
the footage the camera captures is okay till you view it full screen, it seem to
become blurry. The SONY Handycam worked well will the () tripod I used.

6. Adobe Photoshop CS5, Windows Live Movie Maker
I used Photoshop to create my mock album cover,
producer/distributor logo and my two ancillary pieces. This
technology was very helpful in achieving my goals because it is
capable of doing so many different things from adjusting photos to
creating new texts from scratch. I found this technology very useful
when creating my digipak as we we’re given a template so I was able
to get the images accurately sized which might not have been so
easy on other technologies. I used Window’s Live Movie Maker to
edit my final film. This technology was useful for me to create my
final piece because it had all the tools I needed to edit it, some
functions I found useful were the option to slow down or speed up
clips (bottom picture) this came in handy as in some clips I found
Jake sang the song too fast so this helped me overcome that issue.
WordPress is the free blogging tool which I used to store and order
all of my research, planning and final products texts. I think
WordPress was an effective way to do this as my work can easily be
accessed any where by anyone which made it easy to do my work
where ever I was. Also my being on the internet meant I could use
internet services to my advantage by using all the new technologies
available, most for free. WordPress allows it users to categorise their
work making it easier for others to navigate their way round and find
what they’re looking for. I was also able to embed videos, surveys
and issuu documents directly into my blog using html codes and
shortcodes.
and WordPress

7. Social Networking sites
Social networking sites such as Twitter, Facebook and Tumblr played a large
part in my audience research tasks which required surveys etc. I used these
three sites as I could target people who matched my target audience
demographics and psychographics. These sites allowed me to share the link to
the survey. Doing this on 3 different platforms ensured they’d be plenty of
different people to answer whilst still being a suitable demographic.