The student used various new media technologies at different stages of their media project: - Photoshop to manipulate images for the digipak cover and background artist image. - Premiere Pro for movie editing, applying effects like slow motion and colorization. - A Samsung and Phillips camera to film footage, using a tripod for steady shots. - A blog on Wix to document planning and decision making. - PowerShot camera to take stills for the digipak and upload to the design. - Prezi and Slideshare on the blog to present evaluation questions interactively.

1. QUESTION 4 -
How did you used new media
technologies in the construction and
research, planning and evaluation
stages?
SHAKIRA HOLLYFIELD A2 MEDIA STUDIES.

2. Desktop Publishing Software Dig-Pak
In order to create both of our ancillary tasks we used Photoshop CS6. For the main image we took a
picture of a galaxy from Google images, and manipulated the image on Photoshop using the curves tool.
This allowed us to get a more vibrant colour which stood out and fitted in with our whole brand identity.
Below is the way the image looked originally, and how it looked once I edited it on Photoshop.
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We decided not to use the whole of the image for
the front cover of the digi-pak due to the fact that
we felt that it would be best to use half for the
front and half for the back as this would ensure
continuity throughout our products. Therefore we
did the same process of manipulating the image
for the back cover. We also used original
photography of a picture
‘the artist’ in our group, in order to make this blend in with our whole
brand identity and to follow usual House music conventions we decided
to manipulate this image so that it would blend In with the background
keeping the idea that the music is more important than the star image.
I did this by using the brush tool to make the background of the image
black and then used the curves option to add a more darker effect to
the whole image. We also used the Ellipse tool on the front of the digi-
pak to add a circle in which we wrote about what was inside the digi-
pak and placed the album title at the top of the cover and the group
name at the bottom, this was because when researching existing digi-
paks, we found this to be a common feature therefore in order to stick
to conventions, we thought this was appropriate.

3. Movie Editing Software
In order to create my film I used Adobe Premiere Pro CC. This is the latest
version of the programme. Although I had used Premiere pro to edit my
film in AS, it was a earlier version, and a whole year since I had used
it, therefore I had to teach myself how to use it again. The different
features and effects that I used on my video were slow motion and fast
forward, colourisation and precision editing. Slow motion and fast forward
was added to a clip of play fighting in the middle of the video. We used
this as it was advised to us by our audience feedback, therefore in order
to incorporate what the audience liked we added this feature, which
added a creative exciting feel to our music video. Precision editing was
used on clips of lip syncing. This was because we wanted to make it look
as realistic and professional as possible, which this feature allowed us to
do. Colourisation was used on the different clips of dancing feet within
our film, this allowed us to make the video feature more conventions of
the house music genre, by making the dancing feet seem like they was at
a house music party/rave, sticking to our whole brand identity.

4. Cannon Digital Video Cameras (and
Tripod)
In order to record my film I used two different cameras. The
main camera that was used was a Samsung Digital Video
Recorder. This camera allowed us to film our video in one day
as it had long lasting battery. It was also easy to use and
convenient as it was very small therefore it allowed us to carry
the camera around discretely in public, as it fitted in my bag.
This camera was HD and therefore had quite good quality for
recording our film. It also came with a tripod, which allowed
us to keep steady shots, therefore making it look more
professional. We also used a Phillips HD Camera. This was
used to make all of the changes to our film once we received
all of our audience feedback. It also was a handheld camera,
and therefore it allowed us to film the shots quickly as we did
not have to use a tripod.

5. Weblog
The online blog that I used to document all of my work
was www.wix.com , this was because I used it during
my AS level in media studies, and was therefore used
to it, however this time around I experimented with
it a bit more. I used my Wix account as an online
diary to document all of the decisions that my group
made, including any changes made any filming
accounts and all of the stages of planning. It allowed
us to organize our work out in a clear manor, making
it easy for us to see what exactly we had done and
what we needed to do. It was the most user friendly
and easiest for me to use.

6. Still Cameras
I used a Cannon Powershot S95 to take still images
for my digi-pak. This camera allowed me to capture
a clear high quality image, the first time, making the
process quick and easy. I then uploaded it the
computer and opened it up on the digi-pak. This
was important as we needed to use original
photography in our digi-pak and because we could
not do it for the main image due to time and the
resources that we had, this was the next best thing
that we could do in order to keep to our brand
identity.

7. Software Used Within My Blog
Within my blog I used two different online software’s. These
were Prezi and Slideshare. Both of which were used for my
evaluation questions. I used Slideshare because I knew it was a
reliable website as it is used worldwide, and it was a better way
of putting up a PowerPoint presentation rather than just
putting a link on my blog, as links tend to fail. Prezi was a
creative way of presenting a lot of information, without making
it seem too boring, as it has different templates and allows you
to adjust the fonts, layout and colours. I was also familiar with
Prezi as I used it at AS for one of my evaluation questions,
therefore when using it again I knew it was reliable, and it
allowed me to experiment a lot more.