Evaluation question 4

How did you use media technologies in the construction and research, planning and evaluation stages?

Research and planning Stage:

In the research stage I used many different media technologies such as the use of the Internet to decide what types of codes and conventions I was going to use. For example using YouTube to find songs that were in similar genres to see what codes and conventions they use in their videos and working out how I could in cooperate these into my video. I searched for videos such as ‘teenage dirtbag’ that had similar story lines to the video I was trying to create, videos that had animation such as ‘take on me’ and videos in the same genre such as ‘all the small things’. This research helped me create a mock up plan for the video using influences from different types of videos.

Another media technology used was the use of TV. This is because when I went home I would watch a couple of music videos on channels such as MTV rocks and Kerrang to gain some inspiration. From this I recognised the sorts of band sequences we could use for example not using a studio and have it out in the open to help link the narrative and performance sides of the video. Also watching the videos on these channels helped understand the types of Camera angles that should be used in the video. For example I watched Oasis ‘Wonderwall’ and not once did I see a long shot so it was clear that I should only use a few long shots if any throughout the video.

Some of media technologies used were Office products such as word and excel. These were used to record all of the research and planning such as the records of the questionnaires were stored in excel and excel was used to produce pie charts and graphs to show the difference the answers. Word was used to keep notes of ideas for the video as well as compiling shot lists.

Production stage:

In the production stage one of the major media technologies used was Final cut pro. This was the software we used to edit and piece together our video. This software had many different effects that helped us in our production such as fades to help us merge the animation in and the use of overlaps in certain parts of the video helped us make sure that the lip-syncing and band performances were in sync with the song.

With the digipak we used Photoshop to create this product. This was because we could enter precise dimensions for the template so that it matched the dimensions of real products, allowed us to import and edit images that we have decided to use for inserts and covers for the album, there are wide range of effects and texts that can be added and many more aspects. This helped us produce our digipak and was easy for us to use because everyone in the group had previous experience on Photoshop.

Another piece of software used in the production stage was adobe Flash. This was used only for the creation of the animation. This was because Flash was the best software available to make it on and at first was difficult to transfer over so we decided to export it and transfer it a different way. The use of Flash helped make the animation smoother due to the transitions in the changing of images.

The use of a Sony HXR-MC2000 has helped me construct the music video as it allows for more High definition shots. This means that we didn’t have to worry much about the lighting as it we could change it on the camera. This meant that we could record in different locations and not have to worry about the lighting which led us to go to go different locations that may not have been used if there was a different camera.