During the research stage, the student used online resources like Google, Wikipedia, YouTube, and SlideShare to research the topic. Planning involved using cameras to photograph locations and record proposals. Filming used a video camera and iMovie software, while editing used iMovie and GarageBand. Print products were created using Publisher for layout and Dafont for fonts. Evaluation methods included speaking to camera, PowerPoint, and interviewing viewers of the music video. Overall, new media technologies were integral to the project and helped increase skills.

1. Q4. How did you use new media
technologies in the construction,
research, planning and evaluation
stage?
Kyren Beardsmore

2. Research
During the research stage I mainly used the internet. I used Google for researching Michael Goodwin,
Michel Gondry and a variety of audiences. Popular sites that appeared were Wikipedia which provided
me with a large amount of useful information to increase my understanding of music videos. Google
images were used to view digipaks used by existing artists and these were then analysed. I used two
online media collection sites which were YouTube and SlideShare. To identify conventions within a
specific genre of music videos I used YouTube, this allowed me to view and analyse existing products to
gain a better insight into the conventions and iconography used. Another reason for using YouTube was
the variety of videos I could browse, I was able to view music videos created by big record labels and
compare them with existing students work. To aid my research I used SlideShare because it is an online
media collection site so I was able to view information that others found when researching music
videos. The use of media convergence helped because when working in the sixth form study on
analysing music videos I was unable to access YouTube on the computers, so to improvise I used my
Smartphone. I was able to access YouTube on my phone so I could analyse music videos. Once
information had been gained about the target audience and music video conventions I decided to
present them using PowerPoint. The reason for using PowerPoint was my knowledge of the software
and it gives the information a different look to just typing it in.

3. Planning
During the planning stage we used a stills and video camera. We used the
stills camera to take photographs of our location so we could look at them
and work out which area would be the best location for singing and dancing.
Before we started creating our storyboard I created a proposal which I wrote
down and recorded to the camera. Other than this we didn’t use any other
technology. We hand drew the storyboards and digipak designs on paper as
this was the easiest method to use when sketching out our ideas.
Compatibility was an important part of planning because once products had
been completed we had to take photos of the sketches. The digital cameras
had to be compatible with the computers and the internet otherwise we
would’ve been unable to upload the images of our storyboards and digipak to
our blog.

4. Construction - Filming
Our most extensive use of new media technology came in constructing our video and
print products. Many different technologies were used to film and edit our music
video. The first piece of technology to use was a video camera; this was used
throughout the filming process to record each scene and upload the clips onto the
iMovie software. For part of the video we used the green screen, this was very easy to
use as we only needed to set it up and film what we needed. The difficult part of using
the green screen was when it come to the editing, it was difficult to add a background
on the green screen and in the end I reverted to Google to give me some advice on
how to perform this task. From this I managed to add tools that allowed me to drag in
a background. I had managed to add the background with ease once the correct tools
were viewable. Compatibility was important throughout the filming stage as all clips
needed to be uploaded to iMovie, if they weren’t compatible we wouldn’t have been
able to edit the clips and create the video.

5. Construction - Editing
When editing clips and putting the video together we used the latest version of
iMovie. At first it was difficult to use as both me and Ash hadn’t used the latest
software before. To become familiar with the latest software we took clips that
weren’t being used and played around with different effects, transitions and
experimented with all the different buttons. Doing this gave us a better understanding
of how the new software worked and where everything was. The second editing
software we used was Garage band, we was in a similar situation to when we used the
new iMovie so we performed the same task as before. Having two files and messing
around with one to find out what everything was and how it worked really helped,
then we used the other as our main music piece. The reason for using this was to
reduce the length of the song we had chosen as it was too long. Once the editing has
been complete our video shall be uploaded to YouTube for others to see. By uploading
the video we then become global media producers.

6. Construction – Print products
For the print products we used publisher as it gives you accurate measurements on
the scale of images so it would fit the template of a digipak. Publisher was very easy to
use as me and my workmate use the software week-in, week-out. One reason for
using publisher was the accuracy; we found the dimensions of a digipak and entered
them so we could easily put together a digipak template. This gave us the chance to
crop images down to size so they fit in each panel comfortably. When experimenting
with different fonts we used the online media collection site, Dafont. Dafont was a
good site to use as it contained hundreds of different fonts that we could choose from
and you could choose different categories to fit specific needs, e.g. For Giulietta’s
signature we were looking for a handwritten font, this site gave us the chance to
choose font categories for our specific needs.

7. Evaluation
We were encouraged to use the full extent of new media available to present our PTO
evaluations creatively. My choices have been:
Q1. For the first question I shall speak my answer to the camera and when talking about
certain products they shall appear on the screen with a voice over.
Q2. PowerPoint – I shall present this question in PowerPoint form. I decided to use
PowerPoint because the question can be broken down into sections so it is easy to lay out
the work.
Q3. For this question we decided to interview those who had watched our music video and
filmed them giving feedback.
Q4. PowerPoint presentation – I have decided to use PowerPoint for my fourth question
because the question is broken down into research, planning and production. By using
PowerPoint I’m am able to split these categories up and talk about them individually.
Conclusion
Apart form the planning stage, our media ‘portfolio’ work has been dependant on
using new media technologies. It is good that we are dependant on new media
technology because I have gained new skills by working with new software such as the
latest iMovie and Garageband. It has also introduced me to other online media
collection websites which shall help in the future when performing research. Overall
the use of new media technology was good because i have gained new skills from
working with new technology and my knowledge of music videos has been increased.