The student used various media technologies at different stages of their project. In planning, they used their Blackberry to track deadlines and blog updates. They tested Panasonic HD and DV cameras to determine image quality for their music video. In production, they used Photoshop and Premiere Pro for editing images and video. Throughout the project, they utilized websites like YouTube, Blogger, MySpace, Facebook to conduct research, track progress, obtain permissions, and gather audience feedback.

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

2. Blackberry Curve 8520In the research and planning stage I set up some of the deadlines that I made on my time management plan. I did this by adding each deadline as an event on the Blackberry’s Calendar. This was extremely useful as it allowed us to keep track of what upcoming deadlines we had, as well as this it also allowed us to break down the process of planning and researching into music videos. As well as this I also have access to the internet via my Blackberry making it interactive and multimedia, which allowed me to access my blogger account, which I could update whenever I needed to.I think without using my Blackberry it would have been a lot harder to keep track of what me and my partner were doing on what day. I also think I would have been less aware of how much or how little work was still yet to be done. Also without this, I would have blogged less as I am not always around computers in order to update regularly, unlike I am with my mobile phone.Panasonic HD DV cameraIn the research and planning stage our teacher introduced us to the new cameras that had been ordered in for the new year, which were the Panasonic HD DV cameras. We spent a couple of lessons testing and playing around with the features of the camera, which took some getting used to. From testing out the new cameras in the research and planning stage, we knew that we wanted to use the Panasonic HD DV camera in our music video, to get a higher quality video to give it a more professional look. As the footage that we took with the HD camera was a much larger file on a computer, we had to keep rendering aspects of our music video to make the transition run smoothly, as this took quite a while to do, it made our music video run sleekly and it made it look more professional. I think if we weren't to use a HD camera, it would make aspects of our video quite rough looking. We would have liked to use the HD camera throughout, however with the demand of the camera throughout our year group, it was harder to get a hold of one at all the times in which we were filming, which left us with using a Panasonic DV camera instead.

3. Panasonic DV cameraAs I had already had a bit of experience with this camera I didn't really use it in the research and planning stages of the task. However in the production stage as with the HD Cameras there was limited access. This meant that at the times in which we couldn’t actually get the HD camera’s, we used a Panasonic DV Camera instead. Though you can tell which aspects of the music video were shot in HD and in DV, I think that without this our video would look a little too professionalised for the genre of music and the type of music video that we wanted. So overall I think that by using a DV camera for aspects of our video, made the video look a bit more authentic and generic to the genre and type of music video, I think that we used the camera effectively. Not having full access to the HD cameras, I think had a positive impact on how our video looked when completed

4. Adobe Photoshop CS5In the research and planning stages, I experimented with Photoshop to inspire me with the different things that I could accomplish with Photoshop. After becoming inspired with Paolo Nutini’s digipak and advertisement, I knew that I wanted to somehow use the idea of silhouetting, so I began to experiment with all of the different effects and tools that Photoshop had, after doing so I found that by using the Lasso Tool I could cut out the unwanted bits of the image that I took. I think without Photoshop my digipak and magazine advertisement would have looked more unprofessional, as well as this the consistency of the house style wouldn’t have match as well as it did. As well as this I wouldn’t have been able to create the effects that I did with this particular programme, effecting my whole overall performance.

5. Adobe Premiere Pro CS5In the process of these tasks, I used Adobe Premiere Pro to edit our final music video. I found this extremely useful and without it I think our music video would have looked a lot more jumpy, would run less smoothly, which means that I don’t think there would have been a better programme to use in order to edit my music video. I found this programme useful as the tools that are featured into it are easy to understand and use. For my music video I used a variety of tools, which included; rendering the files in order to make them run smoothly, we also used the video layering that is featured on the programme which allowed us to show three moving images on once screen, creating a split screen effect. We also resize a lot of the moving clips in order for them to remain the same size rather than having different screen sizes throughout.

6. Media 2.0A media 2.0 technology is a media platform which allows you to interact with the audience. A good example of this would be websites such as; MySpace and Facebook. This would allow me to find out essential things such as audience feedback in order to improve my coursework.

7. YouTubeOverall I think we used the internet quite a lot; for feedback, research, and planning. Websites such as; YouTube was used a number of times throughout the process, we found that this website gave us a lot of inspiration when making both the ancillary tasks and also the music video. Without this we wouldn’t our music video wouldn’t have featured some of the effects that they have due to the fact that we found a lot of tutorial videos which taught us how to create that effect.

8. - Blogger.comWe used blogger.com throughout the project, as this is what we present our work and research on. Without this I would have found it harder to keep track of what I have done and what I hadn’t done, as well as this it would have been a lot harder for me to get my views across accurately, which is why I found it extremely useful.

9. Myspace.comWe used MySpace to find our band and also the song for our music video and marketing package, as well as this we also used it to ask for permission. Without MySpace, I think it would have been a lot harder for me and my partner to find a new band to feature in our package, as well as this it allowed us to get a taster of what the bands house style is like.

10. - Facebook.comWe used Facebook to gather feedback on our tasks in order to get it right for our target audience. I found this useful as it allowed our audience direct access to the information that they needed, as well as this it was easy to get accurate feedback based on their comments and reactions to the video and digipakthat we made. Without Facebook it would have been harder to target my audience and also to get feedback, not only this but Facebook is widely diversified, which allowed us to get feedback from a variety of different people.