1. 4. How did you use media
technologies in the construction
and research, planning and
evaluation stages?

2.  We began creating our music video by researching
common codes and conventions of real media products.
 We thought the internet would be our best source for
research as there is just so much information out there
and it is easy to access both at school and at home.
 We began researching common codes and conventions by
studying further into figures such as Andrew Goodwin.

3.  We used Wikipedia to do this. However, there wasn’t much
information on Goodwin on Wikipedia, therefore we didn’t
find this very helpful.
 When researching Goodwin, we found that the slideshows that
our teachers had supplied for us on our schools Frog website
was probably the most helpful.
 As it was easy to understand, and all the information we needed
was there. It was also easy to pick out which of his Seven we
wanted to include in our own music video, our teacher had
included links to Youtube of real music videos examples,
therefore we were able to see which of his Seven worked the
best.

4.  Throughout the research stages, we also studied the history of
music videos. We found that Wikipedia was definitely the best
source for this as there is just SO much information, and it is all
split up into time eras therefore it is organised well and easy to
look through.
 However, the fact that there is just so much information turned
out to be quite unhelpful as it makes you unsure of which
information is important and what parts are irrelevant. Again,
we found that going on to our schools Frog website; we were
able to find a slideshow made outlining the most important
parts of music videos history.

5.  We also just used Google to try and search for any
additional information on both Andrew Goodwin and the
music videos history; but there seemed to be limited
information on Goodwin and there seemed to be an
excessive amount of information on the history of music
videos.

6. Limited amount of information on Goodwin!!!!

7. Loads of info on music video history… Perhaps
too much!

8.  We also began researching and analysing previous student
examples of music videos and music videos already out
there in the media.
 We chose YouTube to find videos as it is the biggest and
most popular video-sharing site, therefore our chances of
finding the sort of videos we were after were very high.
 And this proved to be true, as we both had no problems
finding real music videos to analyse along with past
student music videos.

9.  Finally, we used Blogger to post all the research we had done.
 We both agree that this site is very organised and allows for
creativity as we were able to embed videos and images, post
screengrabs and upload our work on to the site using a variety
of technologies. Such as Voki, Pixton, Prezi, Wordcloud,
Goanimate etc.
 This made our Blog more visually interesting and enjoyable to
mark for our teacher. We were also able to use Blogger
throughout all the stages (planning, research, construction and
evaluation) and it proved to be just as useful for all the above
reasons.

10.  Throughout the planning stages, we used the internet a lot for a
number of reasons! It allowed for us to check the weather on
BBC website in order for us to check if it would be appropriate
for filming, and if not, to adapt our production schedule to a
more suitable date.
 Again, we used YouTube, to look at how to do a split screen:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=36j8IN_CoPE&feature=pl
ayer_embedded. This was very helpful, as we found out that we
had to film half of the opening on the right and the other half
on the left. If we didn’t use YouTube to watch a split screen
tutorial we could have ended up wasting a lot of time and this
may have jeopardised us handing our project in on time.

11.  YouTube was also very helpful for the split screen as we were
able to see the kind of emotions we wanted to portray when we
searched for the expectations/reality scene from 500 Days of
Summer;
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HR0UcXxsGis&feature=p
layer_embedded
 We saw how we wanted to create a contrast between the two
screens like that from the film. This was very helpful as we were
very unsure of whether we were going to do the split screen all
together.
 But it worked very well, and showed that we had quite a high
technical ability on Final Cut Express.

12.  We also used YouTube for some inspiration for some shots. We
felt that in order to create a feeling of love and happiness
between our two characters.
 We needed to watch some videos that are already out there in
the media that portrayed these emotions.
 We found that the Miss Dior Le Parfum advert portrayed the
emotion we wanted to create in our music video;
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=10MR48Bg4wk&feature=p
layer_embedded
 Therefore we studied and analysed the advert on YouTube and
developed the idea into our own music video.

13.  We used Google images to find images online of some
locations, props and costumes we were going to use. This
was very helpful as it allowed for us to develop our ideas.
We started off wanting Amy’s character to wear jeans and
a red top; implying that she didn’t care about how she
looked, because she was comfortable around her
boyfriend.
 But, after looking up images of her potential costume on
Google images, we were able to see that this wasn’t exactly
what we were looking for. We felt she needed to be more
dressy, so we dressed her in a skirt.

15.  Finally, we uploaded the final costume ideas on to our
laptops using our smart phones. This was very helpful as
it meant we could do this at home.
 Rather than having to waste time at school doing it when
we could have been getting on with editing or something.

17.  We also used inspiration from Amy’s Marley & Me DVD
for one of Amy’s costumes.
 There is a scene where Jen is exhausted and tired of
arguing, looking after the kids and ultimately, Marley.
 She is dressed in a loose-fitting check shirt with messy
hair. We then took this costume idea and put it into our
own music video where the relationship is deteriorating
and Amy is tired.
 It was very helpful to watch this scene from the DVD as
it portrayed the emotion we were hoping to create.

19.  We also used our webcams to post images onto Blogger
of notes we had made of our plans for Crash.
 The use of the webcam was very helpful as it meant we
could do work without needing a computer/laptop as we
could just take a picture of the work we had done.

20.  Throughout the construction stages, we used numerous
amounts of technologies! For example, we used a digital camera
to record the footage of our music video.
 They were simple to use, so fortunately we didn’t come across
any problems whilst we were filming our footage. As the
cameras were digital and HD; they were a lot clearer and so it
enhanced our work; particularly as we were filming at a lake on
a sunny day; our shots appeared really good quality!
 The camera also has a really organised system and so deleting
unwanted footage was so easy; which meant we didn’t waste
time messing around, deleting lots of footage.

21.  We also used a tripod during the construction stages; whilst we
were filming. The tripod is used to hold the camera; and it does
so very safely so there was no need for us to worry about the
camera falling off.
 They were also really, really easy to use so we didn’t waste time
figuring out how to set up the tripod. It really helped us to film
a still shot and to film a steady panning shot.
 However, it did hinder our work as it wasn’t high enough for
certain shots and we ended up having to have longer shots than
we had originally planned. For example, when the couple are
sitting on the bench at the start of our music video.

23.  Once we had filmed our footage, we used Imovie to
import the footage.
 It was very quick and easy apart from the stabilisation
stage, but we were able to blog during this time so it
wasn’t a waste of time. However, it was quite time
consuming.
 Imovie was very organised as the clips were laid out by
event so it was easy to select what clips we needed to
import and what ones we didn’t.

24.  We then used Final Cut Express to edit the image.
 It was a very good programme to edit our music video on as
everything we planned to do was achievable. However, we had
to watch a lot of youtube tutorials to teach ourselves how to do
this (for the split screen) but it was all worthwhile in the end.
 It really did enhance our work as it gave us more options and
effects than any other available editing programme.
 The only problem that occurred was that to the left hand side
of the programme; all our footage was muddled up and it was
difficult to find what shots we needed.

25.  For our ancillary tasks, we mainly used just two
technologies. The first was Photoshop to create our
digipack.
 It was extremely helpful as it gave up so many options for
editing all of the images. The only problem was that we
had never used it before and so we were a bit unsure as
what we were doing at times.
 We used screengrabs to capture images from our music
video to use in our ancillary texts; this was really helpful
as we hadn’t taken any successful images whilst we were
filming.

27.  We also used Photoshop to edit images for our website, which was
really helpful as we were able to put a unique text that we had used
throughout the entire making of our projects; creating a clear link
between our three creations.
 We made our website on a different website called Wix. It was
good, but it was limiting as we couldn’t just type our font in.
 We would have to make it as an image on Photoshop to upload it
as an image on our website. This was quite time consuming but it
was worth it to create a link between our work. The website was
really easy to use though however it was quite limited creativity as
you had to choose a design template. However, we are happy with
the outcome of our website; so this wasn’t too much of a problem
for us. And we worked very hard to make the template different
and to make it our own.

28.  To create the font I have been talking about, we used a
website called Da Font. This was really easy to use, as you
just had to find a text you liked and download it. It was
quite time consuming as there were so many options to
choose from but it was worth it as it enabled us to tie all
of our projects together.

29.  For the evaluation stages, we firstly used Microsoft Word
to create a script for the four questions we had to answer.
It was really simple to use as we have used it loads of
times before. No problems arose as it was so simple and
easy to access at home and at school.

30.  For question 1 we used a digital camera to record the
sound of our voices; but we left the lens cover on to
create a podcast.
 We then imported it to Imovie and then uploaded it to
Final Cut Express so we could begin creating our podcast.
 We saved images we had found on google images to put
under our voiceover in order to create our podcast! No
problems arose as we had used all of these programmes
before and were able to easily use each of the
technologies. However, our answer was over six minutes
therefore it was extremely time consuming!

31.  For question 2 we created a Prezi.
 It was difficult at first as we had never used it before and
we weren’t sure how it worked.
 However once we got used to it, it was really simple. And
all we had to do was type in text and add images.
 We then uploaded our videos for the other questions to
our Prezi to link all the answers together.

32.  For question 3 we filmed ourselves answering the
question to a webcam.
 This was no problem as we have both used webcams
before and they are very straightforward. We then used
Imove to import the footage and then uploaded it to Final
Cut Express again to edit.
 We added images and videos around us to make it more
visually interesting. This wasn’t difficult as we just watched
another Youtube tutorial, and as we were familiar with the
programme now; it was really simple to work with.

33.  Finally, we created a powerpoint on Microsoft for
question 4.
 This was really simple, as we were already familiar with
the programme.
 We then uploaded this to Slideshare, which again was
really simple as we had previously used it. This was really
useful as it allowed for us to use a different technology for
our evaluation, in a really simple and easy way.