The student used various media technologies at different stages of creating a music video project. For research, they used their Blackberry to contact people involved and YouTube to view similar videos and audience comments. Microsoft Publisher was used to create a storyboard and script. During production, a digital camera was used for stop motion and photos, and a video camera recorded footage edited in Adobe Premiere Pro. Picasa was used to edit photos for the project. The student reflects that higher quality cameras and lighting could have improved the final product.

1. How did you use Media Technologies in the construction and research, planning and evaluation stages

2. Technologies used.

3. Technology used for research and planning.My blackberry was used to contact my friends with the idea and ask them if they would be my cast. I also used my phone to access Cosmo Jarvis’ home page and find the email address. I used my hotmail account to contact Cosmo Jarvis’ manager about the availability of using his song.YouTube helped me and was very useful. I able to view videos by Cosmo Jarvis but also comments from the audience (audience research) . I was able to view videos of similar genre.E-commerce websites.By viewing these websites I was able to get a wider view of my target audience. Such details as price / genre and locations of gigs all helped build up a profile for my audience.I used Microsoft publisher to create a story board and script for my acts. Images from clipart and Google also accompanied this.I used blogger.com to help plan and show my research. It helped me remind myself of everything I had learnt and organized.

4. Technology used for constructing my product.I used a digital camera for two purposes. Firstly for stop motion and secondly to take images for my print work.Adobe Premiere Pro 2. was my editing software. I captured film from the video camera and uploaded it to here where I was able to edit and organize my production work. The video camera was the main form of equipment used. This recorded my video.I used Google to help answer my queries especially for premiere pro 2 Picasa.I used this editing software courtesy of Google. I used the camera light on my Blackberry to help aid the photographs and at a part of our film.I used instruments from band hero as props for my video.This added humour… I hope.

5. How would my production be better if I had other technologiesIf I had different and or better technologies at my disposal my production work may have been slightly different. Lighting was a key factor. Although college offered a new lighting kit, I did not take them up on their offer. Not only would moving the kit be a huge inconvenience, but setting up the lighting could be difficult. Unsure as to use it, I used my blackberry device for lighting instead. Although this had less affect my film did look less professional and my target audience would appreciate that factor.Elsewhere in technologies if my friends had a blackberry, it would have been easier contacting them through Blackberry Chat. ( A free service from Blackberry to Blackberry users). This way my cast could have spoken to me easier and planning could have been more convenient. This interactivity with my characters was still okay due to facebook and other resources. The digital cameras we used to record could have had higher specs. This means the quality of image could have been higher. For instance using a high spec camera would have meant in the locker scene, when opening the locker my picture would have been less blurry . For editing my pictures and digi-pack images, I used Picasa - a free editing software from Google. I chose to use this software due to my time management meaning I had to edit the pictures at home. Unable to afford high quality services I used Picasa because it is free. This limited the amount I could do to my images however I do not feel my creativity lacked because I was still able to get the same semi – professional look I was after.

6. New technology didn’t influence what I wanted to do too much and I feel I was able to do what I wanted to do. However in a few instances it did:Picasa 3: When I used Picasa 3 I used the Focal B & W tool. This tool enabled the colour change. However unlike professional software the shape of the B & W was limited. Stop Motion: Using the digital camera limited my stop motion and delayed my production work. I had to individually place each of the images into Premiere Pro 2 rather than create a stop motion folder. This delayed time heavily but i learnt not to use my home camera again! Controlling the technology: In my production work I felt I controlled the technology. Using Media 2.0 products such as Premiere Pro 2 and Photoshop helped my creativity during my production work. I viewed a variety of editing techniques and trialled them for the conclusion of my video. In the end i chose a simple Fade out. By being able to view the techniques I was able to choose the right one for my project and trial first. Technological determinism

7. Relationship between creativity and New media technologyCreativity was something that was key to this video. The media technology I had personally didn’t influence my creativity. I believed in intertextuality and auteur theory where my ideas were my own based on others and I used them to as close as I could with the technology I had. New Media technology has allowed amateurs to produce something semi professional but I firmly believe it does not affect creativity. “You need to be creative to be innovative”How have you used Media 2.0 technologies to push your work in new directions?Media 2.0 technologies have helped my production work and push it into new directions. For instance I have been able to upload my video to Youtube and facebook. By doing this I am spreading my product globally. (globalisation) and people all over the world can view my video.I have used the blogger.com to keep up to date with research and constructing my plan. By publishing an online diary I have been able to stay up to date and access my production work and planning wherever I have been, through either a computer or on my blackberry on the go.'Web 2.0' is, as mentioned above, not a replacement for the Web that we know and love, but rather a way of using existing systems in a 'new' way: to bring people together creatively. - www.theory.org.uk/mediastudies2.htm