1. HOW I USED MEDIA
TECHNOLOGIES?
PLEASE CLICK ON THE BOX FOR WHICH YOU CHOOSE TO VIEW IN NO
PARTICULAR ORDER.
RUVA SINEMANI
CONSTRUCTIONRESEARCH
PLANNING EVALUATION

2. RESEARCH
• One great source for my secondary research was the Media Magazine. This allowed me to gain the theoretical concepts behind music videos
and the music industry. Through using internet search engines I was able to retrieve articles like How to study music videos’ by Peter Fraser
and ‘An interview with Suzy Davis’. The interview with Suzy Davis gave inspiration as she had also done the same course I am doing. However ,
I felt it gave more of an insight on her job and day to day. Rather than practical skills which I expected and needed to develop my work. The
article by Pete Fraser was extremely useful because it provided information on: star image and it’s importance as a selling tool, meta narrative
, the ideology of authenticity , Roland Barthes Grain of voice theory( voice used as a fingerprint) and how visuals relate to the song. Most
importantly it provided technical aspects tips on camera movements and post production. What I loved greatly about this article was it densed
downed key information yet in an equipped manner.

3. RESEARCH
Wikipedia was an easily accessible website. It provided an overview of the information I would’ve been searching for. For
example the definition of music video, information of the artist Karmin and expanding on technical terms like textual
schizophrenia and authenticity. Wikipedia’s reliability is questionable because it has to be cross referenced as anyone can add
information on that specific page. However , this can be helpful. When I was searching around Karmin I found more of the
personal side to Karmin (their inspirations)and their history ( including the good and bad) which I wouldn’t find on a formal
website.

4. RESEARCH
YouTube was an essential to me during my research stage because it
provided footage around the artist and the theoretical aspect of music
videos. I used YouTube when I was searching for which song to use and
songs similar to accapella ( the song we used) for inspiration on what we
could create. YouTube allowed access to video clips from the ITV
documentary ‘Mirroball’ featuring prominent music video directors Jonas
Akerlund , Chris Cunningham, Michel Gondry and Spike Jonze. This enabled
an eye opener of how previous directors have pushed the boundaries of
music video as media format and art form. The documentary showed me
what makes a high quality music video with the video clips focusing on issues
such as editing techniques and audience attitudes. Seeing the directors
work through music videos like Prodigy's smack my B**** up , Lady Gaga
Telephone and Fat boy Slim’s ‘Praise You’ (1998). I found his very effective
because it gave me information on how different directors approached their
work differently . Having multiple views on how to actually create a music
video widened my ideas.

5. RESEARCH
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Google search was easily accessible internet search
because it was able to filter down the information I needed
into order. I used the official band webpage of Karmin to
get a better connection with the artist we would be
presenting as I wasn’t aware of them. One helpful extra
website I used was Last FM because it searches the
specific artist and gives you the songs they are associated
with and artists similar to them. This was helpful for when I
wanted to analyse an existing digipak. I was able to pick a
digipak of an artist that was similar to Karmin to give me a
stronger foundation when id then plan to make a digipak.

6. PLANNING
• Before filming our evaluation question 3 , we booked the school’s
meeting room using the school Room Booking software. In advance
I asked my teacher if any rooms were free and asked hi to book the
room for us. This was great because it prevented having to spend
time looking for a room or having to be interrupted whilst filming
because the room was needed. And on the day , there was a visitor
who was in the room for when we had booked it. Although we were
given first priority for the room because we were on the system and
she wasn’t.

7. PLANNING
• The BBC Weather App and website were used to enable me to plan
my schedule of filming around the weather conditions and visibility on
different days of the week. This was of great importance to the
effectiveness of my planning stage , because it allowed me to choose
which exact days to film on. This all became of great essence in the
unpredictable British winter months. It prevented us from wasting
time and money to get to the location(s) and any damage to the
equipment caused by rain/snow.
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8. CONSTRUCTION
• For our lip synching task and digipak picture idea(s) photo-shoot we
used a mobile phone. The benefits of using a mobile phone was it was
easy accessible and had the basic formats we needed to film and
edit quickly with the installed effects. Even though the mobile phone
we used had high quality compared to others it still wasn’t up to the
professional standard we wanted.

9. CONSTRUCTION
For our filming we used a Nikon D330 with 24 mega-pixels. The camera
wasn’t as light as a mobile phone but produced high quality footage with up to
1080p HD quality. The camera additionally included an ‘Optical Image
Stabilizer’ , which automatically optimises blurred images due to unsteady
“shaky” camera work. This benefitted me throughout my filming sessions ,
especially when I was filming hand-held shots when I was going round the
artist. A tripod was significantly used to offer a more controlled use of the
camera , to strengthening the overall quality. The camera we used for the
filming wasn’t mine so there was a great responsibility behind the use of the
camera. It kept us extremely aware of any possible risks to damage like not
securing the camera to the tripod or else it could fall or just handling the
camera and ensuring it’s placed on it’s side no on the lens .However, the
quality it provided was worth the worrying.

10. CONSTRUCTION
• For our first digipack trials I used Adobe Fireworks to create our digipack
cover. Fireworks was easy to use as I was hesitant to use Photoshop which
needed a high skill ability to produce high quality products. I found fireworks
had a simple layout similar to paint which I was fond with from a young
age. However, when we actually looked at the final product it looked tacky
and cheap. During the process it looked artistic and funky but towards the
end it looked like child’s play. So after fireworks I had to progress and teach
myself how to use Photoshop. Even though fireworks wasn’t effective for
producing the quality we wanted it taught me what I didn’t want and just to
get familiar with using editing software.

11. CONSTRUCTION
After gaining experience from fireworks I progressed to use photoshop. Photoshop was more advanced as it had more tools available that weren’t present on fireworks.
Through photoshop I was able to create the colour splash effect. This was done by using the smart eraser tool to select the big chunks to erase then by zoom in up to
3000% to erase the pixels we couldn’t see manually. Afterwards b using the eye dropper tool I was able to use the same colour on both the lips. The colour had a
same colour on both the lips. The colour had a reference number so it just needed to be typed and the colour was set rather than on programmes like paint where you
have to keep selecting the same colour. Photoshop allowed me to create a flawless look by using the spot healing tool to remove any blemishes and discolorations.
Using the magic wand tool, the unwanted background areas were removed. From our previous digipaks we had scanned a drawn title and decided to not go forward
with it anymore. So using Photoshop I was able to use a google image of a pulse and recreate it by removing the background, altering the shape, adding a 3D effect
and colour gradient. The two images for our inside cover are taken from two different walls so in Photoshop I resized them .Joined them. I used the blur tool to blend
the two images for our digipak together as they seemed disjunctive if placed side by side. The disadvantage of using Photoshop was that it takes time to learn and
when you save your work you can’t go back and change it ( this came to a disadvantage when we had to change the advert). However, the quality and variety of what it
offers is extent. I found it produced the best quality we could’ve imagined.

12. CONSTRUCTION
• The most used software was Final cut Pro as it allowed me to post produce my
footage into my music video. At A2 I learnt a substantial variety of skills. Regarding
the more structural aspect of editing , the software allowed me to arrange my order
of shots into a definitive structure to allow the flow of continuity .Being able to
zoom in to a fraction of a second per frame allowed me to cut clips to each beat so
this reduced the challenge of “editing to the beat” and establishes the idea of
repeatability for the audience as it makes the video “catchy” and in time with the
song. Specific tools such as an ‘application of a speed change’ , ‘reverse’ were
used on the dance clips to make them aesthetically attracting . John Fiske
commented on how “ the signifier signified the foreground” (style is preferred over
substance). So I added this to make the video look cool which would increase the
chance of the viewer wanting to watch it again.

13. CONSTRUCTION
After watching a cloning tutorial I was able to replicate this and create our own cloning effect. By
using one clip and adding markers on the clip I was able to cut the clip into two and align the two
with the markers where the facial reactions were. From here I layered the two clips at 100%
capacity and cropped the bottom layer until I could see what was on the second layer. We had
an issue with the lighting but that was from filming conditions. For our dance moves I used the
trails effect which had a delayed effect on the dancing and made it look unique. I also used the
sketch effect on the “booty shake” move to make it look less vulgar and more artistic. A music
video convention of hip-hop music videos are they have minimal visual filters unlike techno or
house music videos. I used the earthquake effect on the close-up of Sade’s face when she sings
“ bring the beat back” to make it energetic and ‘thug’ like So I wanted to have a crisp looking
music video and used the Hue/Saturation filter to add vibrancy to liven up the video and crisp
effect to sharpen it. Final cut also allowed me to add text/lyrics to the clips by using a text effect
called dashing that would make it look like the lyrics are being spoken in time with the beat. Final
cut pro was immensely helpful in establishing stylised visuals to primarily engage the
audience in the video and creating effects I couldn’t by just filming.

14. CONSTRUCTION
• At home I don’t have Photoshop so to finish the back cover of the digipak I used
Pixlr an online software which had an editor version similar to Photoshop and an
express version which allowed quick access and usually gets updated with visual
effects which made it current. So I used the Pixlr Express to add a different yet
subtle space effect on the flat line and add the copyright , bar code and logo etc.
It was efficient because it’s fee and easy to use . Although you can’t create many
advanced products, so it worked well for a back-up under Photoshop.
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15. EVALUATION
• One use of media technologies was using YouTube. This enabled me to primarily upload
my music video for anyone to be able to access it. This was helpful when I was showing
my music video to peers for peer advice and to get general comments on what my
target audience thought of the music video. It also allowed multiple people to view it at
the same time for when I was doing my survey on my music video. Having a YouTube
account meant we could upload feedback we got from our teachers and peers instantly
and be able to access it anytime and anywhere we wanted. The great thing about
sharing it on YouTube was it could be shared on multiple platforms by sharing the HTML.
This means it can widen our audience range and be able to check how many views we
have to see if people really want to re-watch it for repeatability.

16. EVALUATION
The results from my audience feedback could be statistically represented using the
pie chart tool on excel. This made it visually easier to portray the quantitative
information for the viewer on my blog in a quick/summarized manner. I had asked
questions based on the gender of the person , if they would watch the video again and
what they loved most ( if any).
By using excel it made it easier for analysis and evaluation of my results as pie charts
gave an appropriate comparison between the audience’s views. This allowed me to be
able to see if I met the conventions of star image and repeatability of the music
video.
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