1. How did you use media technologies
in the
construction, research, planning and
evaluation stages? the
Throughout the whole process of completing
ancillary task, the music video and in the research my
group and I used a range of different programmes. I
also continued to use different technologies when
presenting my evaluation.

2. Research! I used YouTube a lot in order to get some initial research and generate
ideas using YouTube. YouTube is a video social networking host website
meaning I could easily access the music videos that I wanted. A problem
was using YouTube for research while at school because students are not
allowed access to the site unless they seek assistance from the computer
technicians in order to sign in and use it .This was an inconvenience at
times .So it became easier to carry out this work at home.
The most obvious way fro carrying out research was by using a
well known search engine Google. This search engine allowed us
to look up new magazine adverts of different bands, artists as
well as for looking up appropriate clothing that would be suited
for our character in our music video etc. Some websites were
blocked on my school user account and so I had to carry out
some research using Google on the schools YouTube account, or
at home in some instances because this was more convenient
and meant that I could complete my work faster.
Another useful source of research was found in music and celebrity
magazines as they had examples of magazine posters that promoted
various different bands prompting their tour dates or artists advertising
their debut albums. The information we learnt from this resource was
incorporated into developing our ancillary tasks.
We also looked at existing albums that we owned in order to see the
conventional features of a digi –pack so that we could make our final digi-
pack look as professional as possible.

3. Making the Music Video!
To make our music video we needed a camcorder for
filming so as a group we decided to use my digital
camera Lumix FZ48 that could take photographs and
record video in HD.As a group we found this very
convenient as we could arrange to meet up as a
group and film any time we needed to. We found it
easy to operate and carry since it is quite compact
and light weight. It was easy to film in black and
white and vary our light exposure in order to control
the levels of light that came into the camera which
enabled us to capture a good quality picture. In
addition, to this camera we also used a tripod to keep
the camera steady when filming so that we could
capture focused shots. Once the camera was
mounted onto the tripod it was easy to control and
capture steady and fluid camera movements so that
we could vary the shots we used as planned. For
example, we raised the neck of the tripod when we
wanted to capture a high angle shot and lowered it
when we wanted to produce a low angle shot.

4. Editing the film!
To edit the music video, we used Microsoft Serif Movies Plus X5 which meant that we could
cut down clips, add effects, import media, insert transitions which gave the music video a
professional high quality look.
To the left shows examples of the different video
effects we could use during editing; we linked Linking the shots together so that the
the shots together in order to show a continuous shots flow in one continuous
sequence.
sequence of shots. We also used opacity in order We then went to proprieties in order
for the shots to overlap and appear more to reduce the opacity so that the
overlapping of the shots appeared
transparent.
more transparent.
Before doing this A2 media work, I had not used this programme before and was unfamiliar with the different
features. As a group we worked together and took trial and error looked at our research closely .We also decided
to do our own individual first draft so that we could use the effects that suited our song best and as a result we
became comfortable with the programme quite quickly. One of the main problems we experienced when
attempting to import our video files was that we did not have enough space on our users. So instead we emailed
the different files to one another but some how the video files overlapped and some went missing so the best
solution in the end was to put all of the reordered video files directly onto the schools shared user network which
enabled everyone in the group to access the files and edit efficiently. We also had the problem that we could not
transfer the video files and edit at home so we overcame the problem by staying behind after school and
dedicating as many free lessons as we could to edit our music video.

5. Constructing the ancillary task
One of the main pieces of technology we needed to construct our ancillary tasks
was a professional camera the same camera that we used to film it was my own
camera the Lumix FZ48. It was used in order to take photographs for our photo-
shoots. The camera produced clear un-pixelated images .I also learnt how to
adjust the aperture, exposure time, sensitivity ISO so that we could get clear good
quality black and white photographs. We learnt how to do this via self help
websites on Google, with some assistance from our teacher and through trial and
error.

6. To construct our ancillary
tasks, following our photo-shoots we
used Abode Photoshop in order to edit
our photographs. Some of the tools we
used are on the right hand side. We
used the programme last year for As
coursework so we were very familiar
and comfortable with using the
programme.
The ancillary tasks themselves were
constructed using Adobe InDesign so that
we could add text, icons and barcodes to
the products using ‘layers’. This meant that
each part of the product could be edited
or removed without jeopardising the rest
of the product. Some of the tools we used
are on the right hand side. I have labelled
their main jobs to show why we found
them helpful in making our digi-pack and
magazine poster advert. The only problem
with this was that the programme is very
expensive so we were unable to do the
work at home. In order to resolve the issue
we had to stay behind after school in order
to use the software.

7. Presenting and evaluating my
coursework
Blogger is a important program that my group and I used in order to present my
coursework. I used my Blogger in order to present my AS coursework so I knew
how the different features on the site. However, I still experienced some
problems. For example, inserting pictures and them moving them to the particular
place that I wanted was frustrating because it often shifted into unwanted places.
However, I overcame these problems by first inserting the different images I
wanted to present into Microsoft PowerPoint .By using this program I could group
the images together and save it as a picture that I could then insert into blogger
without worrying about the layout changing.

8. I have also clearly used Microsoft
PowerPoint during my evaluation and
presenting parts of my coursework.
Making presentations splits up my work
into different pages, making it easy to
read and understand. Using slide share
this could be uploaded on to my blog.
I used Microsoft Word for an evaluation
question. Using Scribd I could upload my
word document and then embed this word
document into my Blogger.

9. Slide share allows you to insert PowerPoint presentations into blogger posts.
This makes posts more interesting rather than writing straight into a Blogger
post. This website could not be accessed on our own school users and so I had
to access the schools YouTube account. As I had saved the PowerPoint
document on my user I had to save it on a memory stick before uploading it
onto Slide share via the YouTube account.
Picasion allows you to make
animations, which I have done in a few
posts. Rather than inserting loads of pictures
next to each other, they flick through one
after another like a slide show animation. For
some photo's however ,I noticed this
reduced the quality of them, making them
pixelated. I therefore only used this website
selectively.

10. How I did Evaluation1.
I answered this question in three parts using
different methods of presentation in order
to make my presentation interesting. I made
a PowerPoint in order to answer the first
question and then uploaded it onto blogger
which I then embedded and put in a blog
post.
I made a Glogster presentation in order to annotate my magazine
poster interactively and interestingly. There were difficulties in using
this program and if I did not group my work together it would shift
out of place and I would loose information. In order to overcome
this problem I had to group my work together and then the
information I presented would stay in a fixed position.
I did a detailed piece of work
annotating descriptively each
aspect of my digi- pack on a
Microsoft word document. I then
uploaded it onto to Scribd a
website that easily allows you to
upload word documents on to
online blogs.

11. How I did Evaluation2.
For this question I decided to record my voice while showing a presentation of
images that related to what I was trying to say. To do so I used a sound recorder
programme on my home computer that enabled me to record my voice clearly. I
then added the audio file into windows movie maker and then inserted the pictures
into the timeline. I then exported the film and uploaded it onto my YouTube
account before inserting it in to blogger. Uploading the video presentation straight
onto my blogger did not work and uploading the video took a long time. Moreover, I
carried out my other evaluations while waiting so I did not waste time.
My group and I also made a video of ourselves responding to
this question I then edited the film on Movie serif plus and then
uploaded it onto YouTube and then embedded into my blogger.
However, it took a long time to export the movie file in the best
quality possible.

12. How I did Evaluation3.
For the third evaluation I presented it on Glogster, a poster making website. It was
fairly straight forward to use and enabled me to insert pictures and videos in
order to convey the audience feedback my group and I received. The website
enabled me to present the question in a interesting and interactive way while still
remaining informative.

13. YouTube comment feedback.
Twitter comments feedback.
We also used social networking websites in order to display our work via YouTube, a very
popular video hosting website where people were able to leave comments immediately
after watching our video. We also received further feedback from our audience via
Twitter a well known social networking website, so that I could reflect on what I had
learnt.

14. How I did Evaluation4.
I did this question as a
PowerPoint presentation which I
then uploaded on to slide share
and then embedded onto
Blogger.