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

1. HOW DID YOU USE MEDIA
TECHNOLOGIES IN THE
CONSTRUCTION AND RESEARCH,
PLANNING AND EVALUATION
STAGES?
With the rising influence of the internet and computer technology it has never been easier to create a piece of
digital work or conduct research into a variety of different areas in a variety of different topics. Throughout the
course i’ve had to use the internet or software from both school and my home computer to create a piece of
credible work, to do this i’ve had to use a variety of different programmes and had to use technology which
became an essential way of finishing my product and presenting them.

2. PHOTOSHOP
Almost all of my work was needed to be completed by computer, the computer was essential for the
stages of research and planning, design and most importantly the editing process of my music videos. The
majority of my coursework was done using computer programmes and software to create designs and our
finished music video edit. In the stage of making our digipak and magazine advert designs we used the
computer software Adobe Photoshop CS6 where it is easier to create photo stylistic image designs and the
perfect engine to design and create the best possible album digipak and advert with me already being
familiar with the programme from AS media work I was confident when working with new and inventive
designs that I used YouTube to research tutorials and different methods to better my work so I was more
confident with the programme from the beginning of this coursework. I created draft work before final
finished designs to know what best fits to the genre I was attempting to capture and recreate, because of
these tutorials and my increased understanding I was mainly able to carry most of my designs from my
draft to my final design with a few improvements from my feedback I received.

3. ADOBE PREMIERE PRO
The programme with most pushed my ability to create work was this computer software,
Adobe Premier Pro, which was the engine we used in the post production stage and
create the finished edit of our music video. This was a completely new engine for me to
use and had never used it until this previous term when creating both our preliminary
work and finished music videos, it was made possible with it being available on school
computers and also on Ben’s PC which we also used to do editing outside of school
hours. Premier Pro is a video editing software package that allows video clips to be place
together to create a feasible piece of work, this is the best possible programme to use at
our disposable with the inclusion of multiple forms of exporting our music videos to put
in on a viewing platform (YouTube) that we could then embed on our blog work. This site
in the editing stage allowed us to also edit and alter the texture and overall colour style
of the video with most of our shots being with a soft black and white colour texture
which we believed worked in relation to the dark tones of the song with its lyrics.

4. THE INTERNET
The internet was an essential aspect of the whole subject, either for the sections of research and
planning, production or presenting. For research and planning I mainly used google to collect
images and screenshots, to view music videos and see what is popular in regards to shots and
structure, to collect art for my poster advert and digipak design and create it in a creative,
professional way. Uktribes.com was used in my research as a way of learning and researching
different types of audience, this was essential as it made the genre I was listening to easier to
study and work for knowing who listens to it and who the main audience is.

5. CHROME/ GOOGLE DRIVE
A vital part of my research and planning as this was the main internet engine I used
to gather images, to study various advert and music album design, and other music
video structure of the same genre (more detail look at the internet section). Chrome
was essential however, more than the internet research resource but also the web
storage facility that is the Google Chromes, Google Drive. This was essential to the
creation of the production stage as it allowed us to store and share with the people
in our group the videos and images taken during this stage of the coursework so
the post production and editing stages could be easier with everyone having access
to the area where these videos and proof of production are.

6. BLOGGER
The website Blogger was used to keep all my research and planning, findings and
finished work was kept and presented. Blogger is a website that allows people to
store work in a location to present in a professional and ordered way, this allowed
me to show teachers and other students my progress throughout the course in
chronological order, going from research and planning to production and pre-
production. I have previously used Blogger before in my studies for my media AS
coursework so returning to the site wasn’t difficult to work with it again was easy
and was able to learn more a lot earlier than last year to make my coursework feel a
lot more structured at the earliest stage. Also, YouTube was used as a way of
showcasing our groups finished product and music video, meaning we could
embed this video onto our Blogger blogs.

7. CAMERA
For the main tool of the production stage we used a Nikon d3400 provided
personally by team member Isabel Denney-Foster who also shot and
recorded many of the shots in the music video with the camera. This high
quality camera made it more achievable to create the most realistically and
sound recordings that made our music video be more believable as a
professional creation. Having used a camera multiple times last year during
the AS coursework I was confident to use one again however this year
required me to record and film in a professional way which was more
challenging but allowed me to use more equipment e.g. Tripod to aid me in
the creation of the music video. Also finding the best angles and frames to
use to fit the genre and make the video more realistic was easier and more
achievable whilst having the freedom of being able to film both long and
shorter takes. Again also, my own Samsung S7 Edge mobile phone was used
to begin with when filming with an impressive camera with some shots even
being used in our final video (the ones predominantly with Ben solo in the
white room).

8. LIGHTING
In the white room mainly the soft light boxes were used to
create a more toned style for the video, in particular these
shots and when edited to a soft black and white texture
worked with the tone of the song and helped to replicate
other music videos from the genre. One of the main
benefits of using this lighting as a technique in a video is
the fact that shadows are eliminated fairly easily and
doesn’t make the white room or location we were in look
“tacky” or unprofessional, whilst also giving a place where
the one filming can use as a place of cover so they’re
reflection also isn’t noticed or even present.