The document describes the various media technologies and software the student used at different stages of their media project. They used Adobe Photoshop to edit images and layout print materials. Adobe Premiere Pro was used to edit video footage and add audio. Social media like Facebook and YouTube were utilized for communication, feedback, and sharing work. Blogger was the platform used to publish work. Additional software and hardware mentioned include OnLocation, digital cameras, and eBay.

1. Question 4...How did you use media technologies in the construction and research, planning and evaluation stages? Jack Parsons

2. On the next group ofslides, I will explain how I have used a variety of technologies. I used an array of software and hardware within my pre-production, production and post-production. Fortunately my college offers a range of up-to-date equipment and I think this allowed me work to full my full potential...

3. Adobe Photoshop CS5 Photoshop played a huge part within my print production. I used the programme to edit all of my images, create my type and eventually layout my final products. Photoshop was extremely useful and I can’t imagine creating my poster and digipak without it. I could use the software to layout my products, through the help of rulers and guides which insured everything was positioned correctly and nothing was out of place. I used Photoshop last year for my AS print work and I believe the quality of my work has improved a lot since then, due to me being more familiar with the programme and what it has to offer. Something I found I used Photoshop a lot for was cutting my images away from the unwanted background. This was significant in my production because my aim was for my print work to have a crisp, modern finish so I didn’t want any unwanted background in the images etc. My mood-board in my research and planning was also created on Photoshop. I also used Photoshop to ensure the colour scheme flowed accurately through both my digipak and advert. I did this by paying attention to the CMYK colour codes that are easily visible on Photoshop.

4. Adobe OnLocation CS5 We used this programme to “capture” our footage from the video tape itself. We connected the camera to the computer via a cable, we then used OnLocation to copy the footage from the tape and save it into our documents on a computer. OnLocation was frustrating at times, and sometimes stopped working in the middle of a project, this wasted valuable time. Nevertheless we eventually captured all our footage using the programme and were then ready to start editing using Adobe Premiere Pro...

5. Adobe Premiere Pro CS5 We could not have created our music video without Adobe Premiere Pro. We used the programme to essentially fit all our footage together, but the software was used for much more than this. We used Premiere to remove the audio from our footage, we then used the programme to add our chosen song in MP3 form to our footage. Once we had the sound sorted we had the actual video footage to edit... The programme allowed us to cut all our shots down so that only the necessary footage was visible, we also used the programme to slice up and rearrange our footage. We used Premiere to manipulate our video, such as blending two shots together, for example when our main character spits on the camera and it links into the next shot where he walks down the stairs. The thing I like about Premiere is that you can zoom in on the timeline very closely so that you can get the timing on shots perfect. We managed to create a few perfect match-on-action shots because of this level of accuracy offered by Premiere. I also used Premiere in my pre-production, I am referring to my animatic storyboard. I drew the storyboard by hand, photographed each frame then dragged the images into Adobe Premiere Pro. This allowed me to make a moving storyboard with a soundtrack. Overall Premiere has been very useful and efficient, my knowledge of it has improved and I would be happy to use it again.

6. Throughout this project I have used “Facebook” several times.I had used it in pre-production a couple of times, for example when I needed feedback from my peers in terms of my mood board etc. I also used it during actual production, for example when I needed to get hold of our actor (Josh) and for posting ideas to my partner Matt. And finally I have used it during the evaluation process, I posted my video on the website and allowed my friends to watch and comment. The website has been very useful, except proved to be distracting at some points throughout the project, because it is easy to start chatting with friends and browse about with no relation to the work!

7. I used this website to browse for relevant fonts that I felt fitted in with the genre of my chosen song. I had an idea in my head of how I wanted my print work to look regarding the typeface, but I didn’t feel any of the preset fonts were suitable. Fortunately the few I found on Dafont were more successful, so I downloaded them and used them in Photoshop to be applied to my final print work.

8. IPod Touch I have an IPod touch, which I connected to the colleges wifi internet. I could then use the internet on my IPod anywhere around the college. I used this to work on “Blogger” as well as talking to my partner on “Facebook”. Using my IPod was useful in a sense, but on the other hand it is alot easier to blog and work on a desktop computer. If I had an IPhone I can see how it would have been an advantage because I could have made blog posts etc. Anywhere, regardless of whether there was wifi available. But because I only have an IPod touch where internet is only available where there is wifi, it just made more sense to go on a computer.

9. YouTube has proven to be a necessary website, in pre-production, production, and post-production. It allowed me to share all the work I created on Adobe Premiere Pro. So all the videos I've uploaded onto my blog, couldn’t have been there without YouTube. This is the case for my animatic storyboard, all my music video practice shoots, and our final music video. Because our videos were on YouTube, they could be viewed almost anywhere, even on mobile phones etc. This meant we could easily get feedback from people because the video could be viewed easily. Furthermore I also used YouTube to look at “real” music videos, for my research and planning. YouTube was very useful and my blog would be very empty without it.

10. Blogger Blogger is obviously the website that I’ve used to publish ALL of my media studies work onto. All of my research and planning, pre-production work, production work, final products and evaluation is on this website. This is very efficient because it means I could access my work and add to it as long as I was somewhere with internet access. The website is easy to use, and allowed me to publish pictures and videos and more as well as simply text. The only disadvantage Blogger does have, is that if there is no internet, it cannot be accessed and no work can be added.

11. The website that’s allowed me to publish this presentation onto Blogger right now. A simple, easy to use website that works in the same sense as YouTube.

12. I used Ebay.co.uk to order the mask for our music video. This is an example of using appropriate technology. We couldn’t find the mask in any shops so I was happy to find it available online.

13. Digital SLR Camera I used this type of camera in order to take the photos for my print work. The cameras have an automatic setting which makes them easy to use for people not familiar with photography. The camera took high quality photos in JPEG form which could be viewed directly on the cameras screen. The cameras use an SD memory card which meant I could easily copy all my photographs into my documents. Once I had all my photographs, I narrowed them down and edited them using Adobe Photoshop.

14. Digital Video Recording Camera This is the camera we used to film all our music video footage. We had the option to use a High Definition camera, but there weren't as many of these available, so the chances of having one throughout the whole project were slim. This could have resulted in the quality of the footage inconsistent. It was therefore a safer option to stick with the standard definition camera, even though it would have looked more professional if our footage was HD. Once we had filmed all our footage, we connected the camera to a computer via a cable and captured our footage using Adobe OnLocation.