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

2. Outline
 Throughout the process of producing the music video and
ancillary texts we used a variety of websites, web tools and
programs to construct, research, plan and evaluate our media
products. However, due to technology advancing most of
these tools have become easier to use and have much more
simpler interfaces, due to these changes we have been able
to use the media technologies to our own advantage such as
being able to screen and promote our products, due to the
various tools found on the web.

3. Research and Planning
 Whilst researching and planning our work we used a variety of programs and
websites, these programs allowed us to develop our knowledge and understanding
of music video concepts. One of the programs we used was blogger which allowed
us to document our work and progress, this website also allowed us to improve on
and update certain documents. Blogger uses a system which allows users to post
and upload work. This work can be audio, visual and audio-visual, due to Blogger
supporting such formats.

4. Presentation
 In order to present our work we did a lot of extensive research to find out what
programs were a suitable format to display our work on. One program we found
most efficient was Prezi. We used Prezi primarily due to how user friendly it was. The
quality of the presentations was higher than that of other presentations made using
other programs, such as Powerpoint, Microsoft word and Ms Paint. However many
issues occurred with Prezi such as it refusing to save work at times and, due to it
crashing constantly while we were either typing something into the text box or
importing images from google. Another commonly used presentation software we
used was Microsoft Word, as it was the most straightforward option, and it seemed
most logical to present this way.

5. Presentation (continued)
 We have developed our presentation skills significantly from AS level. One
example of this would be the improved quality of our presentations we
have made in A2. In AS, our Prezi presentations have been fairly
simple, with little content and simple layout designs. In A2 we have spent a
lot more time crafting our presentations and making sure they both have
sufficient content, whilst being aesthetically pleasing. The program we
used to present our work on our blogs was Slideshare because it enabled us
to upload any file, after doing so it
would convert the file into an easy
to use document which also had a
little scroll bar at the side in order
to easily navigate through the pages.

6. Internet and Browsers
 The internet has been a key factor when researching and planning our work. Its vast
catalogue of websites and information has helped us in the process of looking for
influences and ideas. We found Google to be the most useful tool for looking for
such information, mainly because it’s a search engine which aims to find accurate
results in the quickest time possible. Google has also assisted us with our blog work
because when opening up blogger we were able to set up an account using our
previous Google accounts. This saved time as well as made it easier for us to create
our new webpages. As well as using Google we also used our colleges email system
in order to send work to each other to make sure that our blogs are up to date with
the work and in order to meet the deadlines. The college email server also came in
use when we had to ask our selected artist for permission to use their song in our
music video.

7. Internet (continued)
Below you can see the email we sent to lucky number
music:

8. Social Networking Websites
 We also used social networking sites such as Facebook and Twitter to find our target
demographic and to appeal more to our target audience. Social Networking sites
also made it easier for our group to receive feedback, due to the simple navigation
and easy to use controls of Facebook and Twitter people were able to comment or
re-tweet with their opinion and criticism of our music video and ancillary texts.

9. YouTube
 YouTube enabled our group to do further research into media key concepts, which we would
include in our work. When working on both our music video analysis and 9 frame analysis,
YouTube became an important source for looking at the music videos in full and for also taking
snippets from specific shots in the music video in order for our group to talk about each shot in
detail. YouTube has also made it easier for our group to gain feedback on the videos, due to it
having a simple interface and a account based system meaning those who like or comment on
the video have to have an account to do so.

10. Editing
 We used Sony Vegas Pro to edit our video, due to it being professional as well as
having a simple interface. The many tools and options of Sony Vegas Pro also
persuaded us to download the trial version. Sony Vegas Pro included many features
such as a quick compress button, which allowed our group to compress the video
and flip it so that when played the video will play backwards, we used this technique
in our final cut.

11. Filming
 To film our music video, we used a High Definition Canon 600 D Camera. We used
this camera to achieve a clear picture, and it also let us change the focus, which is
what we wanted. We filmed in 3 locations; a house, a garden and a field. Our video is
filmed using handheld camera and no tripod, which gave the video an edgy feel and
made the footage seem more paced. It also allowed us to easily move with the
camera without using tracks, which would have posed problems in setting up in the
fields and house.

12. Photoshop
 We used Photoshop extensively to create all of our graphic work seen on the blog.
To create the digipak, we spent a lot of time designing potential digipak layouts on
paper, then once we created one we were happy with, we started to produce it on
Photoshop. In all of our graphical designs we used a font called ‘Frenchy’, which we
discovered was a font that was frequently used in the indie/indie-pop genre. Both
the digipak, and the poster felt like they were the same, as they used similar image
layouts, fonts and font sizes. We also used Photoshop to create a simple logo for our
fictional record label, Avalanche records, which consisted simply of a picture of an
avalanche under-laying a white triangle.