1. Evaluation Question4 How did you use new media technologies in the construction, research, planning & evaluation stages?
2. Construction Stage In the construction stage of my music video I used a range of new media technologies including: A HD video camera which was used to film my actual music video itself. We decided to use a HD video camera instead of the average video camera as we wanted to achieve high quality shots. This was particularly important as throughout the filming of our production we were using busy locations at night which we believed could result in better, more realistic and professional looking shots by using this type of camera. We also used a tripod when capturing many of our shots. This ensured that our shots were not shaky and were steady at all times. The tripod was also particularly useful when shooting at high or low angles, and various close up shots of our actresses face. Another piece of equipment used during filming was a spot light. The spot light was only used when filming the lip syncing shots. We believed that by using a spot light and shining it onto the actresses lips, they would look a lot clearer and highlight the pink shade used on her lips. Bright high quality shots from using the HD camera. Tripod to ensure shots were steady. Spotlight used to shine onto the lips.
3. Editing Stage After having filmed the production on our HD camera, we then had to use editing software in order to finish our completed product. Luckily I had already used iMovie before and therefore was familiar with it. Editing Effects: I used a number of transitions and effects during the editing process. For example, I used several fade in and cross blur transitions, I also used effects such as the mirror effect. Another effect used was one that made my shots look shaky and out of focus. The mirror effect was used to give a unique and spontaneous feel to the music video. We used this effect three times in our video with the number of mirrors increasing each time. Creating confusion for the audiences, forcing them to become more engaged with the narrative. We also used an effect which allowed our shots to become shaky and out of focus. This was used in order to show that the girl in our music video was not in control of her emotions. Fade in and cross blurs were also used a lot throughout our music video. For example, the image above shows how one picture fades into another. The cross blur helps audiences to understand that the girl within our music video is imagining things and therefore reinforcing the narrative.
4. Editing the digipak and magazine advert Jasc PaintshopPro was used to construct the panels of the digipak. My partner found that this particular software was extremely easy to use and provided her with everything she needed in order to make the completed product satisfactory. They provided various tools, and the photographs used on the actual digipak could be edited and made to look a lot better in quality. My partner also faded the pictures of the young artist into the black background, allowing the cover to look more visually interesting. A rotating tool was extremely for the running motif of the flowers used on the digipak as it allowed the flowers to be adjusted in different patterns and angles. The brightness contrast tool also allowed the flowers to appear pinker in colour and give the digipak a lot more colour. Other programmes such as Paint, Publisher and PowerPoint to copy and paste certain images.
5. Research & Planning I used a variety of new media technologies when conducting my research and planning blogs. The main website used was www.blogger.com as an online diary, where I could store all my findings and plans for my production, instead of having to rely on paper or other equipment. Blogger was extremely easy to use and could be accessed by my team mate who could keep up to date with plans and decisions, as I had the task of being the organiser within my group. I also combined other software with Blogger in order to show variety when presenting my work. Slideshare was a simple website I used in order to upload PowerPoint presentations. Once uploaded onto Slideshare I was able to copy a html code onto Blogger. Another software used was YouTube. This was particularly useful when researching music videos on my chosen genre. Like Slideshare, YouTube also provided me with a html code which could be easily embedded onto Blogger. I was able to analyse music videos without having to constantly go back and fourth from Blogger to the YouTube website. Google for me was one of the most useful websites for planning and researching. I was able to obtain specific pictures which could be saved and uploaded straight onto Blogger. Along with this, Google allowed me to research information on things such as the history of music videos and also allowed me to find out information on the target audience of my chosen genre. Finally Photobucket allowed me to present images of the Indie music target audience. These slideshows automatically scrolled through pictures allowing audiences to view them in clearly.
6. Evaluation I decided to present my answers to my evaluation using various software in order to make it more visually attractive and interesting to view. For my first evaluation question I decided to write my answer straight onto Blogger. I chose to do this as for this particular question there was a lot of writing and pictures involved. I wanted to write one of my evaluation questions straight onto Blogger using pictures in a clear format in order to make it eye catching for readers. Blogger was extremely useful in helping me with the layout of my answer and I could use different fonts and colours in order to make my text stand out. For Questions 1 & 2 I decided to use sound clips in order to present my findings. I believed this would give variation in how I presented my questions. Along with this I wasn’t keen on filming myself answering the question as a video clip, therefore I felt that a recording would be a better option. I initially wrote out my answers on paper so I made sure that my recordings were clear and people would understand them easily when listening to them. Along with this, they could be uploaded straight onto Blogger. Finally for question number 4, I used a PowerPoint presentation. A PowerPoint presentation would allow me to be creative and present my answer with bold, colourful font and pictures. I decided to use the main colour theme of red in my PowerPoint presentation which has been used throughout my research, planning and production. Finally, PowerPoint presentations are quick and simple to upload onto my blog by embedding a html code once uploaded on Slideshare.
7. Evaluation Before completing my four evaluation questions I needed audience feedback for all three of the products we had made, the music video, the digipak and the magazine advert. In order to do this I used a number of new media technologies to gather feedback. Firstly, I posted my music video onto facebook, I also used the Apple Mac at schools to record audience feedback, and also posted the music video onto YouTube where audiences could leave feedback.
8. Screen grabs of my blog-technologies used. Images from Google uploaded onto the blogger website.
