Emily Howlett used various media technologies in the construction, research, and planning stages of her project. She used a digital SLR camera to film footage for her music video and evaluate her work. She used Final Cut Express to edit the music video, though found it difficult to learn at first. She created a blogger site to share her research and progress, though occasionally faced issues with internet reliability. Photoshop was used to create ancillary materials, but its many tools initially made it overwhelming. A Mac PC served as the main workstation, but faced problems not working for weeks at a time, hindering progress.

1. Evaluation Q.4 How did you
use media technologies in
the construction, research
and planning stages?
EMILY HOWLETT

2. Advantages and disadvantages…
 Throughout the construction, research and planning stages we used
different technologies to make it easier to create our final products which
includes our music video and ancillary texts. To do this we had used :
 Digital cameras
 Final cut express
 Blogger
 Photoshop
 Mac PC

3. Digital Camera
 We have used an SLR to create our music video. We have also used it to
evaluate our work and show what research we have completed to do so.
The advantages of using a digital SLR camera is that the shots are clearer
that a hand held camera which we used two years ago. It also fits on a
tripod which allows us to have a steady shot.
 The main disadvantage of using the SLR is that it ran out of battery and
storage space quite quickly. This became very irritating throughout the
time we were shooting footage.

4. Final Cut Express
 To put together our music video and edit it together, we used Final cut
express. The advantages of final cut express is that it creates a high end
finished product if you know how to use it correctly. There are many helpful
tools to help do this, many effects can be seen in high quality music
videos.
 The disadvantage of final cut express is that it is fairly hard to use. For the
past three years I have been using final cut express and have only recently
whilst editing our music video been able to grasp the ropes of the
programme. Also it can be very temperamental and the rendering can
take a VERY long time.

5. blogger
 Using web 2.0, I have been able to contribute to the internet using blogger
making me a prosumer. People are able to see the progress of our work
and can even comment on our posts. The advantages of blogger are that
I can safely present my findings and research in a presentable way. I can
also edit the work I post easily and efficiently and it is easy to understand.
 However there are a few disadvantages, for one the internet can
sometimes be very slow or crash at times. This had become an issue at
times when needing to use the site so it can sometimes be a little
unreliable.

6. Photoshop
 Photoshop is an amazing way to create and manipulate images. We used this
programme to create our ancillary products. The advantages of using
Photoshop is that it can help produce professional media products. There are
hundreds of tools that can be used in Photoshop to fit the users needs. Once
we could understand the simple tools found in Photoshop, we found it a little
easier to use.
 The disadvantages of Photoshop would be that because there are so many
tools, at first it can be overwhelming to use. At first I found it very difficult to use
Photoshop as I had no idea on how to use the programme, before this task I
had no idea on how to use it. There are so many elements to Photoshop which
makes it complex to use. I don’t think that this was the best programme to use
as it took too long to learn how to use it. This wasted time for us.

7. Mac PC
 The mac PC is a great tool to have and use. This was the main base to
creating our products. The advantages of using the Mac is that there are
many programmes that are available for the Mac. This really helped us as
we wouldn’t have been able to edit our content without final cut express
which was only available for Macs. Final cut express is now discontinued
however.
 This is a disadvantage as programmes which are suitable for certain jobs
can be discontinued. Also Mac’s are very expensive to buy.
 The Mac PC had an issue of not working for weeks at a time and this was a
huge implication for us as we could not access any of our products for a
while. This wasted time for us.

8. montage

9. What was different about this unit?
 This unit compared to previous units was more successful, this could be
due to more knowledge on how to research, plan and construct tasks. I
have a better understanding now on how programmes work which has
been a large help in completing this unit.
 I have felt like I have worked harder in this unit than ever before, I feel that
this is down to my better understanding, team members and also the
nature of the task. I felt more comfortable in knowing how to work the
camera and what makes good shots. I also feel more comfortable being
in front of the camera which has been a big trouble for me over the years.