The student used a variety of media technologies throughout the project's research, planning, construction, and evaluation stages. In research, YouTube, iPods/phones, PowerPoint, internet search engines, and cameras/tripods were utilized. Planning incorporated Microsoft Word/PowerPoint, scanners, iPods for photos, mobile phones, and blogger. Construction saw the use of Final Cut Pro, video/still image cameras, Photoshop, and conversion sites. Evaluation featured Twitter, Microsoft Word/PowerPoint, Paint, Google Chrome, Windows Movie Maker, and Blogger. As a group, skills in technologies like Blogger, slide sharing, photo editing, and communication apps were developed.

1. How did you use media technologies in the
construction and research, planning and
evaluation stages?
Right through this project I have used a range of technologies, some I had
previous experience and some I had never used before, during my time I
have developed a range of skills from using all these technologies. There was
various stages to the project, firstly research, then planning, construction
and evaluation. New technologies we used in all stages

2. Research

3. YouTube
Research
Firstly a technology I used was YouTube in my
research, I browsed through videos to give me of an
idea of what kind of songs I wanted to make a
music video too. It allowed me to look at artists
from my genres music videos so I could analyses
conventions. A feature on YouTube which was
extremely helpful is the related search toolbar,
which provides you with similar videos to the ones
you’ve searched already, so using YouTube provided
me with more example for music videos from my
genre than the research I did using a search engines
like Google.
YouTube was easy to use and accessible at anytime.
When blogging my case studies, YouTube also came
in helpful as it allowed me to extract videos from its
website and place on my blog. This was helpful as it
gave visitors of my blog easy access to find the
videos I was talking about in my case study.

4. Ipod and Phones
Research
The second technology used
was my iPod and phone.
Many of the times I was on
YouTube looking at music
videos, I was doing this on
my phone and iPod, my iPod
also allowed me to watch
music channels. These music
channels had videos which
gave us ideas about different
types of genres, different
types of shot and locations.
These videos also had a
comments sections which
allowed us to analyze what
was favored by the audience
and what was not.

5. PowerPoint
Research
In the research stage I used
PowerPoint to create presentations
which I later turned to slide shares,
this technology was useful as I felt
being able to make slide shares
helped to organize parts of the
project and make the blog look
neater. It looked better and created a
more professional look

6. Internet /Search engines
Within the research stages I used search engines
such as Google; it allowed me to access many
Research
sources. I used websites such as Wikipedia; this
provided me with knowledge on my artists and
other artists which related to my artist. It provided
me with pictures of their CD covers and
advertisement posters which I analyzed for my
case studies. I was able to look at the photo shoots
of similar artists giving me ideas of what type of
Mise en scene, clothing, make up and prop’s I
would use in the construction of my music video
and ancillary products. I was also able to look up
locations where we wanted to film on Google
maps. I used the internet to email files back and
forth to my group members and also contact my
teachers.
Lastly I used the internet for definition of media
words I wasn’t familiar with. Another thing I used
the internet for in my research stage was to obtain
the lyrics of our song, researching the lyrics helped
when it came to the planning stage as we planned
our video around these lyrics to ensure that the
story in our video correlated with the lyrics of the
song. I had internet access on my phone and I ipod
so was always able to find out information quickly.

7. Research
Camera and tripods
In our research stage we filmed our class
at two different times asking them what
they thought out our initial treatment idea
and what they thought about our ideas for
ancillary products. To do this we used
technologies such as college cameras and
tripods. These videos were then loaded up
to YouTube to enable us to put them on
our blogs. Being able to use the technology
of filming meant we could re watch these
videos over and over again ensuring that
we didn’t miss any piece of feedback

8. Planning

9. Microsoft and PowerPoint
Another technology I used was Microsoft word and PowerPoint; this could
Planning
arguably be one of the most important of all. I used Microsoft word and power
point in the construction of everything. I used it to draft everything from my case
studies, to my recee, my risk assessments, production schedule and many more all
the way through to my evaluation. Even though many of these files have now been
uploads to slide shares, sound clouds and prezis I still used Microsoft word to
draft, as it spell checks and grammar checks.
As well as using PowerPoint for making presentation that would later be turned
into a slideshares, I also used the simple photo editing feature to create images
like these for my ancillary products drafts

10. Planning
Scanners
One of the most important stages of planning
was making our story boards. Our
storyboards were hand written and in order
to get our storyboards on to the computer we
had to use the technology provided by a
scanner. Putting them on the computer
allowed us to share with others on our blog
and also make duplicates as we then printed
them out for each group member.

11. Ipod for photos
During the planning stage we used more new
Planning
technologies. We used HD cameras to take
behind the scene photos for our blog. I also
used my Ipod with panorama features to take
picture for my Recce. These pictures proved
useful as we were able to use them when
discussing what areas were best for each
scene, so when we got to our locations to film
we knew exactly what we were doing to
maximized time.

12. Mobile Phones
Planning
Mobile phones were used in Planning in every
stage of our products from our shoot, to trying to
coordinate times outside of lesson to do extra
work to keep on top of the project, co
coordinating times to go to each others house to
plan evaluation questions and videos. To do t his
we have used blackberry's iphones and androids.
We downloaded apps such as whatsapp and bbm.
They allowed us to instant message each other
for free., this made communication and planning
much easier. We also face timed each other any
queries, face timing my group members was
useful because it meant that I could use my
camera and show them work I had done or vice
versa.
With iphones and androids we were also able to
download the blogger app. Doing this meant I
could draft potential blogs and even blog in the
go. This increased organization and efficiency.

13. Construction

14. Construction
During the construction stage there were many
new types of technologies introduced, some our
group members hadn’t even heard of let alone used
before. These included video editing software’s
such as Final cut pro. We uploaded our footage to
the Imacs , here we choose the footage we wanted.
We then began editing and changing our footage to
monochrome adding transitions, speeding and
slowing down the cutting rate ect. Most
importantly we matched the video to the song so
when our artist sang it matched the words. Final
cut pro was my weakness as I am not very familiar
with the software, despite having training I didn’t
pick it up very quickly so was cautious when it
came to this stage. However support from my
group meant I was able to get over this.

15. Conversion sites, mobile phones and
Evaluation
windows movie maker
At the evaluation stage different
technologies were used to record and
answer question 1 and 3. When recording
my questions I used my phone, however the
format of voice notes on my phone are AMR,
when making my video the software I used
was windows movie make because I could
access it from home. Windows movie maker
is not compatible with AMR so I had to use
technologies to convert my AMR files to MP3.
I also had to convert my videos to MP4 and
then to AMI in order for them to be
compatible with windows movie maker. I
then use YouTube to show case my
evaluation video

16. Construction
Video camera-Cannon 900D
The next piece of technology we used
was HD camera we used we used a
cannon 900D, a member of our group
provided her personal camera to shoot
our video, with it being her personal
camera , she was very familiar with It
and knew exactly how to use It, meaning
we were able to maximize the use of all
the features. Before starting filming we
done training at college using a
Panasonic HD-HS9000. We carried out
various exercises which involved looking
at how to focus and how to go about
shooting different angles. Using a top of
the range HD camera it meant that the
quality of our footage was of that of a
professional video.

17. Construction
Photo shop
In the construction of our ancillary products
we used adobe Photoshop. Photoshop
allowed us to create real looking ancillary
products, it contained many features that
enabled our product to look professional ,
features include document navigation,
Cropping, Layers and Groups, Tool presets,
magic eraser ect. The clone tool and healing
brush proved useful as it allowed us to
airbrush our artist face to create a flawless
look. It also provided us with professional
type fonts

18. Construction
Still image Cameras – Nikon
SLR
In the construction of our project we
also used cameras provided by the
college (NikonSLR). With these we
shot our photos for ancillary
products in a professional studio. I
had previously used these cameras
before so was quite confident in using
them. We changed the shutter speed
in order to create the effect we have
on our CD cover

19. Evaluation

20. Twitter
Evaluation
Another technology that was used in the
evaluation stage to collate feedback from our
target audience was twitter. We uploaded the
video to our twitter accounts so that our peers
could direct message or tweet us back with
feedback . We put the videos up at different
stages so they could give us constructive critism
and we could make changes accordingly, twitter
allowed us to talk straight to our target
audience. All of us had twitter on our phones so
could view and respond back to our audience
feedback fairly quickly.
To get more views and therefore comments on
our video I tried to create a buzz, getting many of
my friends to tweet my music video, I tried to
maximize my opportunity to gain feedback. After
a while we had people contacting us about
seeing the music video!

21. Evaluation
Microsoft word and PowerPoint
Another technology I used for my
evaluation was again Microsoft word and
PowerPoint. Word was used to draft up
what I was going to say on my voice
over’s in my evaluation videos in order
to grammar check. PowerPoint was used
to create presentations which where
them moved to a slide share. This was a
skill I developed as I had never done this
before.

22. Paint
Evaluation
To complete my
evaluation I needed still
images of text in my
evaluation video, so
viewers knew where I
was and what topic I was
evaluating. So like here
you can see, I created this
on paint making paint
one of the many
technologies I used when
completing my
evaluation.

23. Evaluation
Google Chrome
I used the internet throughout my
evaluation to look up media
technology I wasn’t sure of the
meaning to. I also used the internet to
look up Stuart hall, Rowland Barthes
and Andrew Goodwin’s theory to
ensure i had enough knowledge to
incorporate them into my evaluation
questions. I also used search engines to
look up pictures of all the media
theorists to add in to my evaluation
video.

24. Windows movie maker
Evaluation
Lastly another technology used in
my evaluation was windows movie
maker, this allowed me to make
videos which included voice overs
and still images as well as short
video clips to answer my
evaluation questions 1 and 3

25. Blogger
Throughout my project I used
blogger, a program I didn’t
previously know how to use.
However I picked it up very
quickly. I have used blogger at
every stage as I have blogged my
work every time its completed. It
was easy to use and allowed us to
stay organized as we were keep
track of our progression. Blogger
allowed us to embed photos,
videos and various presentations
such as prezis and slide shares.
Blogger was easily accessible
from our mobile phones as we all
downloaded the app.

26. As a group did you develop skills and individually?
As a group we definitely developed skills. Firstly as a group there was many programs and software’s we had
never used before and are now able to use with ease. The biggest one is blogger. Before none of our group knew
how to use blogger and now we are all very comfortable with every aspect of blogging. Other technologies our
grouped developed skills in was using programs like slide share and photo peach which we had never used
before, when creating a product on these programs they had to be embedded onto our blog. I had never had to
embed something before so had no idea how to do however I was shown by one of my class members and can
now successfully embed products on to my blog, this is a skill that I can take forward in to my personal life.
A member of our group provided us with her personal camera to shoot our video with, being her personal
camera , she was very familiar with It and knew exactly how to use It, meaning we were able to maximize the use
of all the features. This particular group member is very good with the technical side of things for example, using
cameras, tripod, using the software’s such as Final cut pro and Adobe photo shop. So in this project she was able
to further develop her skills she already had, where as I developed many new skills which again I hope will be
useful to me in the future.
As a group we also developed the skills of team work and using technologies to effectively communicate. For
example there was no point In time where we couldn’t get In contact with each other. We downloaded a range of
apps which allowed us to communicate without having to pay, I introduced members of my group to apps which
they didn’t know about widening there knowledge of communication technologies