The student used various media technologies at different stages of creating their music video project. In the planning stage, they researched conventions by analyzing other music videos online. They surveyed an audience and created graphs in Word to identify target demographics. To practice, they filmed themselves lip syncing and uploaded it to YouTube. In production, they filmed footage with a green screen and used Final Cut Pro to edit layers, add motion paths to backgrounds, and speed up clips. For evaluation, they wrote an essay in Word and presented it on Prezi with images and videos as examples.

1. How did you use media technologies in the construction and research, planning and evaluation stages? <br />For our media product I used the Mac computers provided by the college. The Macs have a number of different programmes that allow us to edit and create our work and are a highly advanced technological piece of equipment. I used Safari to browse the internet and research my ideas for my media product. To research our music video genre we looked at similar artists in the pop genre and analysed their videos on YouTube making notes on key features and conventions. To identify our target audience I created a questionnaire which I gave out to an audience of 20. From my results I created a range of different graphs including bar charts and scatter graphs by using the graphs tool in Microsoft Word. This allows you to enter your data and titles which it then creates a graph from and allowed us to identify 90% of participants were from the 16-18 category and 40% listened to pop with 95% preferring fast songs. This helped us to create our music genre and target audience. By using these types of graphs we can very easily identify the results and analyze them. To practice lip syncing and understand the work that a music video involved we created a pre lim task by filming our own footage lip syncing to a song and then uploading it to You Tube. As part of my research I analysed a music video from ‘The Dead Weather’ I put my analysis into a ‘Prezi’ document. To do this I entered my video, titles and text into text boxes and spread them around my Prezi. I then linked all my titles and text together by using paths which I could control the direction and movement of. After customizing my page and backgrounds I then used the embed code to upload it to my blogger.<br /> As part of my planning I created a story board which I took photos of and uploaded to imovie. I cropped the images using the cropper tool and then used a website called Zamzar where I could get my music video song from You Tube and sent in a file through my email. I then uploaded it to imovie and used my images to create shots to fit with the song. I also used Photoshop to create a spider diagram of all my thoughts and ideas. <br /> To create our music video we filmed our footage in the Brinkburn studio where we used a green screen backdrop and a video recorder with a circle of green lights especially designed for the green screen. We recorded our footage several times by using different props and camera angles. We uploaded our footage into Final Cut where we had the footage split into separate files that we could cut sections out that we needed. We uploaded the song and locked that layer so it could not be edited with. We used the drop tool to get a sample of the green background and then edited the Chroma Keyer to remove the green background and then created our own background in photoshop. We used some bold coloured backgrounds and patterned ones. For the backgrounds we placed the file a layer under the footage to the chroma keyer background from the footage, it then showed through our new background. For some backgrounds we used motion paths which gave the impression the background was moving or flashing. To do this we created a trail of where we wanted the background to move to and added pointers so that the motion path would be in a certain position for certain parts of the song. In some cases we had two backgrounds. One which we had cut in Photoshop to become a stencil type image and another coloured background. When the coloured background was layered underneath the stencil it showed the pattern in that specific colour. When we then added a motion path it gave the impression that the stencilled image was moving when in fact we were just moving the background behind it. For some shots we used a close up effect where we simply zoomed in on the image but it gave the impression it was all camera movement when in fact it was just edited that way. In some shots we increased the speed on Final Cut. We did this to fit in time with the music and to follow the typical conventions by using fast, short and effective shots. An example of this is when Amy pulls the cones from Alex’s top. Another effect we used in Final Cut was copying the same footage twice into one shot but slightly behind the first clip. This is shown in the shot of Alex swinging his arms in the air. This created a quirky and lively effect to the video. We repeated a shot of lips lip syncing a few times though out the video. To create the effect we edited the contrast and brightness of the shot which eventually allowed us to dissolve the face outline so it gives the impression the lips are in the middles of a white background when in fact it has just been edited. We changed the colour effects too to emphasis the glitter which really helps it to stand out on the white background. When the music slows down we fit our video to fit with the tempo. We used an image of Alex swaying and copying the same shot three times again starting at different times. We changed the speed of the shot to fit with the music and create a strange ghostly transparent shot. <br /> For our evaluation I presented it in the form of an online Prezi. I evaluated our product by using Microsoft word to record my essay and saving it into the 4 question areas by individual files. I then used an online programme at www.prezi.com. This allowed me to add individual text boxes where I could copy and paste paragraphs on certain areas of my evaluation into different text boxes. I then added examples and proof of the technologies I had used in the forms of images and videos to support my evaluation area. After I had completed my Prezi I edited the layout and background style and created paths to join my evaluative paragraphs together.<br />