Evaluation Q4 - How Did You Use Media Technologies In The Construction, Research, Planning And Evaluation Stages

Throughout the duration of my advanced production, there has been a wide range of new media technologies used to ensure high quality creative control, as well as in depth analysis of existing media text and research which all led to the creation of a complete music video along with promotional material. To create a creative and dynamic music video, new technologies have to be used in full force in order to get the most out of human creativity.

Research
Research in any project is a crucial and fundamental starting point which then structures the project for the longevity of the production, this is where I found using new media technologies hugely effective in relation to the free and instant access to numerous sources found on the internet which proved to inform and inspire me. Throughout the project, I have had to carry out extensive research on a number of different things ranging from Adobe Premiere Pro tutorial and advice to genre specific record sales and the new media technology I have used consistently would be the internet. I found a lot of information on search engines such as Google  Yahoo and Ask.com.

YouTube.com is a video sharing website which enables users to upload and view videos that have been uploaded, the website has become highly popular over the recent years and is a regularly visited page, for mainly music videos and tutorials. This website enabled me to search and listen to a variety of Indie/rock genres, being able to identify common conventions that apply to music videos in that genre. YouTube allows for new bands to create their own channel and use this as a platform to showcase their music videos.Through YouTube I am able to look at the Plain White T's video, looking at their type of music style. 

Below is a link to the Plain White T's official music video to Hey There Delilah.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EbJtYqBYCV8

I also used Flicker and Photobucket for the first time to upload images of the band shots and for my ancillary tasks and other images such as locations shots, that ere taken over the course of the project. I felt that I should used different media platforms to import my images to give a wider variety to my blog posts, this would also show my development in the new media technologies. Drop-box was also another site just like Photobucket and flicker, where I was able to upload images and documents, being able to share them with the public, then keep them in storage like an internet pen drive.

Planning

To keeping in contact when we weren't together, we felt the best way to have a group conversation on either Facebook or twitter, as these to social networking sites are frequently used, we thought this would be a the best way of communicating with each other. 

At the start of this project, knowing that this project would be documented in a blog format, I thought that Microsoft Word would become redundant. This was however not the case, as  realized how heavily we rely on it for planning and scheduling of tasks. Our production schedules and documentation of research, location scouting, casts, costume, style guided were all created using Microsoft Word. 

In the beginning stages of this project we pitch our music video ideas to our media teachers which was then filmed, we used the new media technology such as video equipment and Adobe Premier Pro to document this. By doing so it enabled us to see where we were going wrong and what we needed to do to improve on the planning stage. 

Construction

In the construction stages of my advanced production new media technologies were frequently used, these included standard software's such as: Adobe Photoshop, Adobe Premiere Pro and In-design

Adobe Photoshop was mainly used when I was in the production of my ancillary tasks, I mainly used this to edit my photography I had taken of the band to use in my ancillary tasks. As well as editing my band photographs in Adobe Photoshop I also created my magazine advertisement and my album in Photoshop. Although I had been using Adobe Photoshop since I was in GCSE's there is always new things that I would learn, like how to edit a photograph better to make it look more effective, with most things, the more you use it the better you become at it, this was the case. 

I developed hugely in my ancillary tasks in term of my layout creativity, as I found out more technicalities, I was then able to progress and enhance my work further. However I used In-design to create my digi pack.
Below is a video of me editing a band photo on Adobe Photoshop


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=giZ8juVPDag&feature=youtu.be


I would create my image based ancillary on Photoshop for both my ancillary tasks but it was Adobe In-design that helped me to finalize and finish up my products so they fit the conventions of a magazine advertisement and album. 

Adobe Premiere Pro was the chosen media software to edit and construct the music video with, which at first was daunting as all of my group and I have little or no experience with this software, however from watching video on YouTube,  trials and practices we were able to develop and enhance our knowledge and confidence in the software which led us to explore more effects that we could use to edit the video with. 

To get the right size for my album when I placed it in the CD case i had to again use In-design to get up the template of the tray card, so I got all the sizing right. However we adjusting my work to the right size I had to constantly adjust all of the images and text to the same size, this become a long process as I had to do it several times before I got the right size, luckily I found that I could merge all the layers together, so when I changed the of my work to all of the images and text would change as well automatically. 

This project has made me more confident with the use of In-design, Adobe Premiere Pro and Adobe Photoshop. I have learnt new techniques by using this software constantly over a long period of time. I have learnt new effective ways of making my band photographs suit the genre of my band. 

Evaluation

To evaluate our products we presented our final media video at our Trinity Creative Arts Evening, we presented our music video to mums, dads teachers  and other relatives , from this we were able to get audience feedback, which we then uploaded to our blog posts (see on the creative arts evening blog post). I also placed my work up on social network site such as Facebook where my target audience would be able to see it. 

Here are a few links to what our audience said after watching our music video :-

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=60C_61HksPc&safe=active

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yCQ1W85ggAE&safe=active