The student used various media technologies at different stages of planning and creating their music video product. In the planning stage, they researched music videos online using YouTube and Google to understand genre conventions and get ideas. They used the video editing software Final Cut Pro to edit footage and add effects like mirroring and text overlays to the final video. For packaging, the student used Photoshop Elements to design the album cover, digipak, and poster, applying effects like color replacement and warping to make the designs eye-catching and match the fun style of the artist. They also created a blog to document their progress using the website Blogger.

1. Question 3
How did you use media technologies in the construction and research, planning and evaluation
stages?

2. The internet played a big part in the planning and research of my media product. I used the website Youtube to watch music
videos belonging to the Hip-Hop genre so that I could see what the genre characteristics include and get ideas to put into my
own music video. I got the idea of filming footage of my artist dancing around playfully outside with a friend from Azealia
Banks’ ‘212’ as this idea linked with the fun and carefree theme I planned to portray within my own music video. Bresearching
music videos on the internet using Google as well as Youtube enabled me to distinguish between codes and conventions of
music videos and allowed me to read up on music video theories such as Andrew Goodwins.
Andrew Goodwin

3. The website blogger allowed me to update my progress as each time I had done more work I posted it on my blog. This was a
simple way to organize my ancillary task and allow my work to be easily accessible to my teacher. The comments option also
allowed my teacher to easily communicate with me what I had done well and how I could improve any posts.

4. Me and my group used the program final cut pro to edit our footage in order to
create our music video. The tools used most to edit the music video were the
blade and trim tools as this allowed us to cut and shorten footage, enabling us to
really put the final product together. The wide variety of effects available on final
cut pro allowed us to make our video more creative. We did this by using the
‘home video’ effect. We used this effect to make the recordings of our artist
appear more personal, creating a feeling that she is inviting the audience into
her life. We used the mirror effect in one scene for a professional look as well as
the text effect to add lyrics to our video.

5. I used image editing software Photoshop elements to create my
album cover, digipak and album poster.
I felt that by increasing the
contrast it would make the
image of my artist clearer,
enabling her to stand out
more on the album cover. I
didn’t change the brightness
as I felt this was unnecessary

6. I used the quick selection tool and
selection brush to create a
selection in which I planned to use
the colour replace brush in, to
change the colour of my artists
dress. The selection brush helped
me create small selections in
between my artists hair which can
be difficult.

7. By creating a selection before
using the colour replacement
brush I was able to make sure
that I would not accidently
change the colour of any parts
of the image that I didn’t intend
to.

8. I continued to use the colour
replacement brush but this time
freehand, to fill in any parts of
my artists dress that hadn’t
completely changed colour. I also
used the brush to change the
colour of her lips to match her
dress. I altered the colour
because I felt that pink is a
youthful colour, which is relevant
as my product is targeted at
teenagers and young adults.

9. I used the smart brush tool to
add the effect ‘dark-sky’ to
slightly enhance the
background, as I felt that it was
too white. I used this effect as I
felt that gave it a more bluish
hue and I intended to in
cooperate more use of the
colour blue into my final
design.

10. I also used the colour
replacement brush to make my
artists eyes blue, as Nicki Minaj
is known for always having a
bright funky appearance. She is
often seen with unnatural make
up and different colour hair
such as green or purple.

11. I made the album title blue to match the colour of my artist’s eyes. I felt that because my media product is targeted at both
genders the front cover shouldn’t be all pink , as this may discourage males from buying the album. I warped my text into
the ‘arc lower’ style as it made my album cover more eye catching and looked funky, matching the vibe of my artist. I also
chose this effect as it made the letters bigger towards the centre of the text, drawing attention to my artist who is right
underneath.

12. I still felt that my album title was to plain and didn’t look professional enough, therefore I decided to add another style
to the texted called ‘wacky metallic’ as I felt it was a bright, funky and eccentric effect, just like my artist. I also slightly
decreased the opacity of the text as I felt by doing this it made my album appear more smooth and put together,
however I didn’t decrease it too much as I still wanted the album title to stand out.

13. I wanted my artist’s name to
be subtle in contrast with my
album title, however I still
wanted to stand out. I did this
by making the first letters of
her name bold and pink. The
colour pink also links to the
common knowledge that my
artist often refers to herself as
‘Barbie’.

14. Finally, I used the crop tool to crop
my image into a square as this is
the typical shape of an album
cover. I also added a parental
advisory label as within my
subculture there is usually
language used in some songs that
isn’t suitable for children.

15. I didn’t apply these effects to whole digipak as I wanted the back and inside of
the digipak to show a more natural side of my artist so that consumers feel
closer to her. I used Photoshop to insert text on the back and inside of the
digipak such as the album tracklist. I also used the brush tool to create a
signature for my artist, which was another technique aimed at creating a more
personal relationship between my artist and consumers.
I kept by album poster similar to my album, as this is typical amongst media
products.