The student used a variety of media technologies throughout the research, planning, construction and evaluation of their music video project. A smartphone was used to record ideas and storyboards via a blogging app. Footage was captured using a Panasonic camcorder from the college and a FujiFilm camera when the camcorder was unavailable. A Nikon DSLR was used for stop motion animation and still photography. Adobe Photoshop and Premier Pro were utilized for image editing, mood boarding, and video editing. Social networks like Facebook and blogs supported communication, project documentation, and audience feedback. While most technologies proved useful, opportunities remained to further leverage the creative capabilities of the camera, software and social platforms.

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

2. During my research, planning, and evaluation
stages of my music video, I used a wide array of
new media technologies to assist with the tasks I
encountered.
In this presentation, I am going to show what
technology I used, and how it was useful.

3. Iphone
At first, I did not think that my phone would be an important
technological factor in the construction of my music video.
However, when I started my initial research, I discovered that it
was a very useful piece of technology.
By downloading the ‘Blogger’ app, I was able to record ideas
onto both my blog whenever I got them. This was very useful, as
I was able to blog about these ideas when they were still fresh in
my mind, no matter where I was, which is something I could not
do before I had access to this technology. I was also able to use
the attached camera to upload images of storyboard sketches of
key video scenes. This technology allowed me to be more
creative during the construction phase of my video, as when I
came to shoot my video, I was able to consult the blogger app,
and have a whole bank of my ideas in the palm of my hand.
This technology was also very useful during the evaluation phase
of my project as well, as I was able to access my focus group on
facebook to ask them questions, and I was able to experiment
with using Twitter to gain audience feedback. By using this
technology to suit my needs, I was able to research into my
audience with ease.

4. Panasonic Full HD Camcorder 1080i
To shoot my video, I booked a Panasonic Full HD
Camcorder from the college’s media department. This
camera was a highly useful piece of kit, offering 1080i
high quality footage, a sizeable memory card, and
both auto and manual focus. This camera was key to
my success at my video production, as it was able to
shoot professional quality high definition footage
while still being fairly simple to use. However, this
simplicity could be considered a flaw in itself, as my
creativity was quite limited to the technology this
camera had available. For example, I was quite
passive while using this equipment, in the sense that I
only needed to place the camera on a tripod, and
press the button to achieve good results.
This technological determinism aside, there were a
few features which I was able to manipulate. For
example, when I wanted to produce a dreamy,
trance-like effect, I simply switched the auto focus to
manual, and easily performed some effective pullfocus.

5. Fujifilm Finepix HS50 EXR
As well as using the college’s own Panasonic
HD Camcorders, due to some booking conflicts
I used my own camera to shoot some scenes.
My camera is a FujiFilm Finepix EXR, which
essentially is a DSLR camera with a fixed lens,
and HD video capabilities, which was very
useful when I could not access a college
camera.
Another reason why this technology was
because it worked very well as a backup
camera on my main shoots. Halfway through
my first shoot, the college’s Camcorder ran out
of power, and I did not have time to charge it.
So instead, I filmed the rest of the day’s
footage with my EXR attached to a tripod. This
technology allowed me to overcome this
technical hitch, creating footage which looked
just as high quality as that of the Camcorder.
This shows that this technology was a highly
useful addition to my project.

6. Nikon D60 DSLR Camera
For both my ancillary task and the stop motion which was
shown in my music video, I used a Nikon D60 DSLR camera.
Unlike the previous camera, this camera has the option to
switch lenses, and to produce much higher quality
photographs due to a much larger image sensor. This
technology was very useful for my print production, as this
camera’s settings were highly customizable, especially the
ISO settings, which allowed for my photographs to have
the perfect amount of light exposure.
This camera was also very useful during the production of
my video, as this camera came equipped with a ‘stop
motion’ setting, which took a group of selected
photographs, and arranged them into a frame by frame
stop motion movie.
In hindsight, however, I believe that I should have used this
camera to a much greater extent. For example, I could have
used it during the planning phase by going on photoshoots
of possible locations. This would have greatly assisted my
creative process as I would have been able to show my
thoughts and ideas as clear photographs on my blog.

7. Adobe Photoshop
To make my print production, I used
Adobe Photoshop CS6. I believe that this
technology was key to making my print
production, as with practice it can be a
very effective image manipulation
program. This is due to the amount of
useful tools that I used during the
construction of my product. For
example, I made an image (See to the
right) look old and worn by manipulating
the brush tool to add thin
scratches, adjusted the hue and
saturation to produce a sepia tone, and I
used the vertical grain tool to make this
digital image look like old 35mm film
stock.
I also used photoshop during my planning
stage to aid my creative process. While I
was struggling to find a house style, I used
Photoshop to create a ‘mood
board’, which I made while listening to y
song (‘The Suspender Man’ by Steam
Powered Giraffe’) so that I could interpret
visuals directly from the music, which

8. Adobe Premier Pro
This software proved highly useful to me during my
research/planning, my construction, and my
evaluation stages. As I was going to have to use this
technology to a great extent during my production
phase, I first experimented with it during my planning
phase, where I produced a short clip of some test
footage, which I used to aid my creativity, as when I
came to produce my video I had plenty of ideas of
what techniques I could use. For instance, I used fade
in/out effects, colour level editing, and even a
lightning flash effect.
I also used this product to assist me when I was in my
evaluation phase, as I was able to use it to produce a
couple of short videos for some of the questions I
needed to do.
However, in hindsight I believe that I should have used
a lot more of the features this program had available.
For instance, I should have used it to make my video
have more interesting lighting, as some parts of it
were quite washed out and dull. I could have used the
spotlight tool, which would have produced a circle of
light around my performer, which I believe would
have been very fitting for my product’s house style.

9. Social Networks
Throughout this year, social networks and other web
2.0 technologies have helped me greatly with my
product. For example, I used blogger to a great extent
during my planning phase. This website allowed me to
keep an online diary of my production, which let me
be able to look back on it if I needed to refer to
something when I went on to making my music
video, such as ideas and rough sketches. It was also
very useful during my evaluation phase, as I was able
to use it to upload the answers to my evaluation
questions.
Another social network I found very useful was
Facebook. This website was a huge boon during my
production phase, as I was able to download an app
of it onto my Iphone. This cross-media convergence
allowed me to keep in contact with my
performers, and to make sure that they were kept
informed of shooting dates, times, and lyrics that they
needed to learn.
However, I regret not making use of other social
networking sights, such as Twitter and Tumblr, as they
would have allowed me to keep personal notes for my
production, as well as being able to stay in contact
with my performers (by using twitter’s reply
function, and Tumblr’s ‘Reblog’ function).