Question 4 of my evaluation.

1. How did you use media
technologies in the
construction
& research, planning &
evaluation stages?

2. Research
To begin the research stage, I began by finding out about my audience. One way that I did this was
through the use of the website SurveyMonkey, which allows for people to anonymously answer
survey questions. The survey provided qualitative and quantitative data about what the audience
prefers to see in the products we were creating. The quantitative data is represented in graphs, so
the results are clear and can be easily compared. I used SurveyMonkey for research in my AS
project too, as it’s such a helpful tool for research.
We shared this survey to social media accounts like Facebook, allowing them to be open to a
wider audience. This wouldn’t have been possible if we had used physical copies of a survey.
While sharing the surveys to a large audience was helpful, it may have affected the representation
of our audience, as the results were from Facebook friends who were likely to be very similar ages.
The second part of the audience research was an interview. Using a voice recorder, we recorded
two fans of the band answering questions about what they would expect to see in a music
video from this band. The voice recorder meant that we captured their answers word for word,
whereas writing them down may have been paraphrasing, and therefore not wholly
representative of their opinions. We then edited all of the voice clips together in Adobe
Premiere so that they were all together, meaning that we could find the answer we were
looking for quickly. We uploaded this video to YouTube and embedded it into our blogs so that
it could be viewed easily alongside the questions and other audience research.

3. Research
I also did band and genre research, so that I knew more about the background of
what I was making. In order to find out information, I used google to access websites
including the band’s website and Wikipedia. After picking out information that I felt
was important and useful, I used Adobe Photoshop to display what I had found. I
saved these as jpegs which could then be uploaded to my blog and viewed easily.
All of the work that I was doing was being uploaded to my blog, which I created using the
website Blogger. I used this for a blog in my AS year so I’m familiar with how to use it. Blogger
is a good website to display all of my work, as I can upload different formats. I can write
directly into the blog, upload images, and embed files from outside sources like YouTube.
Blogger was vital throughout all of the stages of my project as I could store my work and had
easy access to any post whenever I needed it for reference.
I then began to do textual analysis of music videos. I chose 3 videos in the same genre to
find conventions that I could use in my video. I found these videos on YouTube, as this is
where music videos are commonly uploaded to and I would have a large variety to choose
from. Using an online video downloader, I converted the videos into mp4 and downloaded
them. I then used Adobe Premiere to add text over the video, so that I could present my
analysis as the video was showing it. This was a very effective way to analyse the videos, as
it’s easier than reading a piece of text and having to find the point in the video manually.
There was an issue here, as the videos couldn’t be uploaded to YouTube due to copyright,
so I couldn’t embed them into my blog, and they were too large to upload directly. Instead,
I saved them to an external hard drive and presented this as a side piece to my blog.

4. Planning
I created one presentation each using Microsoft PowerPoint for both my magazine advert
and digipak, in order to combine the research and planning. This way, I could present all of
the research that I had done on existing products, and show how I was using the information
that I had found out to influence my own product. Using PowerPoint for this allowed for good
organisation as I was able to dedicate a different slide to each area, which could then be
clicked through in order to show the progression of ideas. I then uploaded the PowerPoints to
the website SlideShare, where I was able to embed them into my blog. During this research, I
found most of the images of existing products online. I mainly used Google Images, however
also found some of the images on Tumblr. I used my phone to take photos of the full digipak,
then emailed them to myself and downloaded them onto the computer from there.
I also needed to do music video planning. Again, I used PowerPoint to show all of my planning, for
example of locations and props. I had already done research in my textual analysis so this wasn’t
included here. This PowerPoint was uploaded to SlideShare and embedded into my blog. I also
wrote the plot of the story directly into the same blog post, so that everything was together. After
this, I used Microsoft Word to create a shot list, as the program allows for the creation of tables,
allowing me to clearly organise the shots and their descriptions. We used the shot list to create
physical storyboards of the shots, which we then scanned into the computer and saved as jpegs.
Both the shot list and the storyboards were presented in a PowerPoint and uploaded through
SlideShare. The final bit of music video planning was paperwork, like risk assessment forms. We
printed these off from Microsoft Word documents, filled them in by hand, and scanned them back
into the computers as jpegs, which I then uploaded directly to my blog as photos.

5. Construction
When shooting the music video, we used a Canon 600D camera. We have all had previous
experience using these cameras so we were able to use them without too much difficulty,
although we did realise in editing that some of the settings should have been adjusted, as the
exposure had been different in some shots. Originally, we planned to shoot the shots handheld
using a shoulder mount, however later found that the clips were too shaky. We reshot these
clips using a tripod so that the camera was steadier, improving the look of the video. When
shooting the band shots in the studio, we also used lights to ensure that the shots were bright,
as there was limited natural light. This wasn’t necessary in other locations as we were able to
utilise the natural lighting.
We also used the same camera and lighting equipment to shoot the images for the digipak and
magazine advert. This meant that the images would look the same, and there would be
cohesion between the products.
To edit both the digipak and advert, we used Adobe Photoshop. On the digipak, we resized the images
to squares, then made slight edits, like editing the contrast, to improve the look of them. We added
text, and the band’s logo which we found on Google and copy and pasted into Photoshop. On the
magazine advert, we used the rectangle tool to create black boxes on the top and the bottom so that
the main image would stand out in the middle. Photoshop was extremely useful in the construction of
these products, as it has lots of tools available to change the photos. I then saved the finished
products as jpegs and uploaded them directly into my blog.

6. Construction
To edit the music video, we used Adobe Premiere. This is a really good program for
video editing as it is simple to use, while also having a range of different ways that you
can change your video. First, I created a rough cut of the clips. Using an online
downloader, I converted the audio from YouTube into mp3 and downloaded it, then
imported it into Premiere. This acted as the basis for my video, so that I could cut the
clips to the right time. I imported the clips into Premiere, then used the shot list and
storyboards to put them in order. I used the “mark in” and “mark out” tools, as well as
the “razor” tool to cut out the sections of the clips that I wanted to use, and edit them
together. I found that there were instances where I had to divert from the planned
storyboards and change the clip order, for continuity and to improve the narrative.
During this, I adjusted the speed on some of the clips. Some were slowed down, like
walking through the woods at the start and the female character turning around just
before she dies, and some were sped up, like quick montage of memories just after she
dies. To do this, I clicked on “speed/duration” and lowered or raised the percentage.
Once I had all of the clips cut together, I started to work on placing effects on them. The first
effect was the black and white colouring of the band shots. For this I used the “black and white”
effect. I then focused on the clips still in colour. Using the “RGB Curves” effect, I was able to
change the colouring of the clips. As some of the clips had different exposure due to not
adjusting the settings when filming, this needed fixing, so that the continuity of the shots was
better. I also used “brightness and contrast” to further do this.

7. Evaluation
I shared my music video on social media like Facebook and YouTube in order to reach
and get a response from the same audience who were a part of my survey. This relates
to the two-step flow model. By sharing the video on social media, I am an opinion
leader, sharing the product and its meaning to a wider audience. This could then also
lead into the multi-step flow model. If people further share the video, they too become
opinion leaders, and the video reaches an even wider audience. Social media is
extremely helpful in allowing a video to reach a wider audience. This helped my
evaluation as I was able to receive feedback that helped me to consider ways in which
the video could’ve been changed and improved.
To present my evaluation, I mainly used Microsoft PowerPoint, then uploaded the presentation to
SlideShare and embedded it onto my blog. This kept my responses organised and cohesive as the
slides can be clicked through in order to show my ideas. I also created a separate blog post for each
idea to further this organisation. For one question, I uploaded photos of the feedback directly into
Blogger. I then used my phone to record myself discussing the feedback, which I uploaded into
Soundcloud and embedded into my blog. This allowed me to discuss and present the feedback in a
different way.
The final post that I created for my blog was an introduction, where I listed all of the individual
posts and made each one a hyperlink straight to the post. I listed the posts in chronological order.
This keeps my blog interactive and easy to navigate.