The document discusses the various media technologies used at different stages of a media studies coursework project. In the planning stage, the author relied on internet research and used programs like PowerPoint, Word and Prezi to organize information. A blog was created to document the project journey. Feedback was collected through SurveyMonkey. In production, Adobe Premiere was used to edit video and Photoshop was used to edit photos for a music video, magazine ad and digipak. Various cameras, lenses, lighting and software were used. Evaluations were written in Word and presented in formats like Prezi, PowerPoint and audio on SoundCloud.

1. How did you use media technologies in the construction and research, planning and
evaluation stages? – Question 4
Having done Media Studies for many years now, I have been able to get to grips with many
different technologies and software’s which have allowed me to research, plan, create and
present my projects. For example I used Photoshop and InDesign to create my AS
coursework last year, so was able to use if efficiently this year in my A2 coursework when
creating my digipak and magazine advert. However, this year I did have to learn how to use
a new software; Adobe Premiere which was key to creating a good piece of coursework.
Planning and research:
In terms of the research and planning stages of my coursework I relied heavily on the
internet to gather facts and information for the given tasks. I then use a variety of
programmes to present my work, i.e. PowerPoint, Word and also a programme called Prezi.
I also used YouYube.com and Vimeo.com to present video based information (and later on
to upload the first draft and the final drat to my blog). These tasks were then embed onto
my blog which I set up through the Google site blogger.com. Youtube.com also provided a
trusty and helpful software when carrying out research tasks. Having someone speak in a
detailed way about the genre of Drum and Bass for example allowed me to gain a greater
insight into the genre in comparison to just reading a piece of information of the internet for
example. Furthermore, having a blog has allowed me to document all my tasks that I have
undertook and also has allowed me to document my journey of creating my coursework
throughout the year. I commented on the journey I have taken this year through
production diaries, which came in both video and text based format. I posted these on my
blog weekly to talk about changes that I had made and what I planned to do in the
upcoming week. These production diaries were either in a video or text format. Using a
variety of programmes to upload and illustrate my research and planning tasks and also to
document my coursework on the whole showed that I was skilled in multiple formats and
also that I am versatile. Having a blog also helped me to organise myself to make sure my
coursework met deadlines. I was also able to refer back to previous research and planning
task and alter or add to them.
The internet also proved helpful when trying to collect feedback on the first draft of my
music video. I used SurveyMonkey.com to create a questionnaire for my target audience of
16-25 year olds to fill out. Survey Monkey also analysed the results for me which saved time
when it came to documenting the feedback on my blog. I also found it convenient to use
social networking sites such as Facebook and Twitter to advertise my first draft and my
questionnaire as I knew that I could reach my target audience effortlessly, and gain the data
I needed to make improvements to produce a music video that my target audience wanted.
Displaying my music video on Youtube.com, also helped me shape the way I approached my
video. Knowing that everyone can watch my music video, made me critique my music video

2. till the very end as I wanted to produce a product that would look professional. I also spent
time going over the narrative as I wanted to make sure it was understandable to my target
audience and also that they would be able to relate to it. I did learn from the feedback from
my surveys that people did understand the narrative and enjoyed it, which was very
pleasing as this was a worry of mine.
Music video:
With reference to the construction stage of my coursework I used a variety of new media
technologies to make my music video, magazine advert and also digipak. A familiar
technology to me was the camera which I used to film the footage for my music video. The
camera used was the Cannon 550D with a 50mm 1.8 prime lens. This particular lens allowed
me to film in a variety of focuses, i.e. deep, shallow depth of field is where the subject is in
focus and the background is out of focus. This meant that the focus was on my main
protagonist meaning that the audience could connect with my protagonist in a more
intimate level. The only issue with using the specific lens was that I could not zoom out so
had to physically move for example away to shoot a long shot. I used this camera to film in
multiple locations such as outside and also in the studio. When filming in the studio, which
was a room with black walls, ceiling and floor, I used the 800 watt Red heads to lighten the
room and give a mysterious, dream like feel to represent my protagonist’s conscious mind. I
placed the lights parallel to each other on either side of the room. The lights were place
slightly behind my protagonist, allowing her face to be seen clearly through the camera lens.
When editing and my music video together I used Adobe Premiere Pro CS6 as it allowed me
to cut up my footage with the razor tool and rearrange the shots in the order I wanted and
also add the desired audio into the timeline. Premiere Pro also allowed me to add titles i.e.
the songs name and who it was by at the beginning and at the end of my music video. I
placed the text on the bottom left corner and applied the transition of ‘Cross Dissolve’ to
the text so that it entered and left the screen smoothly, as it would on professional music
videos that would be seen on music channels such as MTV, VIVA or 4MUSIC. I also used
multiple transitions to go from one clip to the other in my music video, popular choices
included ‘Cross Dissolve’ and ‘fade to white’. This transitions helped me to create a music
video that followed to together nicely and also allowed the different settings of the shots to
link with each other, for example a shot of the club scene, which ‘fades to white’ into a
studio shot, demonstrating Hannah’s conscious mind, demonstrating her true feelings
towards her position.
Digipak and magazine advert:

3. I also used the Canon 550D a with cinematic speed shutter with a 1.8 aperture lens when
taking pictures for my ancillary tasks. This allowed me to take high quality, professional
looking images of my protagonist. I took the images in a studio in front of a black
background. I used Interfit lighting and positioned one light to the left of my model and one
light above my model which pointed down towards her, creating a softer look to my images.
I use a black background as I wanted to create a moody feel to the images as I felt this was
more fitting the narrative of the song, which included my protagonist becoming intoxicated
by her and in turn feeling alone. The black background also suited my genre of drum and
bass; a white background would promote a pop genre in which the genre of my music video
is contrastingly not. Moreover, I used familiar software’s to edit and create my ancillary
tasks. I used Adobe Photoshop CS6 to edit my images. All my images where taken against a
black background, however I felt that this colour would be too harsh on my digipak and
magazine advert and watched a tutorial on YouTube on adding at saturation that softens
the image. Watching the tutorial on YouTube really allowed me to understand how to apply
this saturation efficiently. I feel that it has taught me a knew skill, which I would not of
mastered if I had read instructions for example. To continue, I changed the gradient map to
violet and cream, and changed it from ‘normal’ to ‘lighten’. This then gave a really nice
purple colour to the background and also enhanced my models features. From then I
decided I would apply this to the photos I wanted to use for my digipak and my magazine
advert. I also used the ‘blemish tool’ to remove any blemishes from my models skin, which
gave a flawless finish, in turn making my images look high quality and professional. I used
this on all of my images as I know that in the media industry it is important for the model to
look flawless as it provides a professional looking image, in turn meaning that using this tool
would make my images look of high quality and standard. When it came down to creating
my ancillary tasks, I used Adobe InDesign CS6. I had used this software before to create my
music magazine for my AS coursework, so felt it essential to use as I knew that it could allow
me to produce high quality and visually pleasing coursework. I felt that it was important to
use InDesign CS6 when producing my products instead of using Photoshop as this is the
most up to date software used in the profession. Even though Photoshop is great for editing
the images I feel InDesign allows you to be more creative when actually constructing you
products, with its range of tools and the availability to centre items in a layout with the
crosshairs that show up to prompt you, as well as how things snap to where they want to
line up with other items on the page. This was extremely helpful when it came to lining up
the song titles, subheadings and the institutional information on the back of my digipak as it
saved me a ton of time. I also liked the fact that on InDesign you could create your own
swatch. This allowed me to produce an original colour as opposed to the set colours on
Photoshop.
Evaluation stage:

4. Media technologies were also key in the evaluation stage of my coursework. Microsoft
Word was the prime software used when writing up the drafts of my evaluations. In using
word I was able to go back with ease and correct and alter what I had already written and
also change the structure of my evaluations if needed. When I was happy with all my
evaluations I then changed them into different formats to make them more visually
pleasing. A great example of something that is visually pleasing is Prezi. Prezi is an
interactive PowerPoint and allowed me to split my text up into smaller chunks and support
my points with images, making it easier to digest. I also used a Dictaphone to read aloud a
longer evaluation. I embed this into my blog via the website called Soundcloud.com, which
allowed me to embed my audio file into my blog. In reading aloud, my evaluation became
personalised to me and my blog. I also used PowerPoint, InDesign as a format for my
evaluations; I felt that having different formats for each of my evaluation showed that again
I am versatile in the software’s that I can use, and also illustrates that I can be creative.