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

 In order to explain the ways in which I used new technologies throughout the production of my music videos I will split it into 4 sections, them being; Planning;Research;Construction and Evaluation.

Planning

Research
Researching into bands/artists of a similar style/genre to our artist was a crucial step towards the production of our music video, this is due to the fact that it enabled me to notice any recurring motifs from the chosen genre.When researching into bands/artists who are similar to ours in terms of the style of genre and the theme of the music video, the band 'Beirut' was appealing in how they displayed their genre and themes throughout their music videos. For example, in their music video 'Elephant Gun'  the way they represented a sense of nostalgia was appealing to me as well as how confusion between illusion and reality was displayed.

Here is a print screen of a blog post that I wrote which is describing how researching into bands such as Beirut provided me with inspiration and ideas of how to represent our artists music through a music video. Media technologies such as YouTube were therefore highly useful in the research stages of our music video as without it I may not have found other music videos which are needed for me to get an idea of the style of music video to create.

This also shows how using media technologies such as Blogger are highly useful in the research stage as it enabled me to show clear evidence of what I have researched which will help the production of my own music video. 

In reference to Goodwin's theory of music video, researching into this particular theory meant that I could include any generic aspects of music videos into our own. An example is ''The demands of the record label will include the need for lots of close-ups of the artist..'- Therefore, after researching into this theory it led to us including close ups of the performer of the music video as it was important to promote the image of the music video as our chosen artist is not featured in our music video. 

Another point of Goodwin's theory which I researched to further the production of our music video is 'There are often intertextual references (to films, tv programmes, other music videos)' 

After finding several intertextual references in music videos this therefore helped us create the main idea of our own music video as it led me to researching into and thinking of possible references we could include that would link to the original idea we had planned for our music video. This shows how useful it is to be able to access websites such as YouTube as you can type in anything you like into the search box and you will end up finding endless amounts of videos. For instance, when researching into old silent films as that was the theme I wished to portray in our music video we came across the first ever colour film made is shown below. Therefore, being able to access media technologies influenced our music video highly as it led to us developing the beginning and ending based on inspiration from this media text. Additionally, without the use of digital technology this footage of the first ever colour film may never have been discovered meaning that the original idea for our music video wouldn't have been developed.

Moreover, from researching into how this test reel created by Edward Raymond Turner was discovered I found out how vital digital technologies were in being able to have the footage published.

http://www.theverge.com/2012/9/13/3325232/worlds-oldest-color-moving-images-discovery-uk - "Harvey, alongside film archivists Brian Pritchard and David Cleveland, ran the frames through color filters (following Turner's notations) and copied them on to 35mm film using a custom-built gate. The resulting footage was then digitized by the British Film Institute National Archives" 

This shows that by searching and finding one thing on YouTube videos of a similar nature crop up as well which led to me finding the first ever film made version of Alice in Wonderland. YouTube therefore stemmed the research stage of our music video.

Construction of the music video

After planning our music video and finally getting a picture in our heads of what the final product may look like it was time to use the HD Digital Canon cameras which we were able to rent from the school in order to film the footage. Throughout the filming process of our music video it was important to have one of these cameras, due to it's adjustable screen it enabled us to view the footage whilst we were taking it meaning that whoever was filming was able to make sure they have the exact shot needed. Also being able to use these cameras meant that I could practice getting the perfect shot needed how many times I want. The playback mode on the camera was also useful as it enabled us to watch the footage directly after filming it meaning that we could check if the correct shots were shown and redo any filming if needed. Furthermore, during the filming process of our music video making sure that we obtained as many accurate shots as possible was vital as the more footage we have the easier it will be when editing as we will have a variety of shots to choose from to enable me to choose which ones will be the most effective to use.

I used a FujiFilm camera which is a proficient
camera as the quality is 8.2 megapixels meaning
that the photos taken were of a mainly high
quality.



Another media technology which we used during the construction of our music video is a digital camera, the reasons behind using this throughout the construction of our media product was the fact that the photos we take during filming will be highly useful when creating our digipak later on. However, we didn't take enough pictures in the shoot due to lack of time and weather conditions, as wearing a summery dress in the snowy months proved difficult. Nevertheless, taking a digital camera enabled us to take some photos which could potentially go towards the making of our print productions.

The next stage in the construction of our music video was the editing,we used  Adobe Premiere Pro CS6 video editing software. Having this particular software meant that I could import all of the raw footage we had taken onto the computer and be able to choose the most effective shots. The first effect that I used for our music video was adding a telescopic effect for the opening, which is a generic opening to a silent film so it was important to include it in our music video. This editing program therefore enabled me to include an 'iris round' effect as shown below.

In order to achieve this effect on my music video I merely had to click on the 'iris' icon which is featured on the video transitions section of the effects which then led me to click on the iris round effect which meant that it my music video would open as a circle. I had to then drag the icon to the beginning of the music video before the first shot.

 Furthermore, transitions such as cross dissolves were made easy due to this editing program as there is a 'Video Transitions' options to click on which is featured on the 'Effects' panel on the right hand side.

After deciding which type of dissolve I wanted to use I could then
drag the 'cross dissolve' icon to the section of the music video
it is applicable for.

For instance.....

Further effects that I utilized on Adobe Premiere Pro included the 'colour correction' and 'leave colour' effects which were featured on the video effects section. The idea was to change the colour filter of some of the shots towards the end of the music video. 

In order to achieve the desired effect my task was to adjust the 'Amount to Decolour' to 76% this meant that the colour of the shot appeared bleak and dull, as it was to some extent black and white but with a hint of colour.

I also changed the image control of the beginning and ending of my music video as I included a black and white effect in the roughly the first 5 seconds and last 5 seconds of my music video. Therefore, I dragged the 'Black & White' effect onto the first and last shots. In order for the video to dissolve from being black and white to full colour the next stage in the editing process was to include a Cross Dissolve which would make sure that the black and white shot would dissolve into colour. The way to do this accurately was to use the Razor tool and cut the shot where I wanted the dissolve from black and white to colour to occur. I then had to drag the cross dissolve where I had previously divided the sequence into two sections. An example of how I did this is shown in this print screen:

The final section of the editing process which was a vital step in the construction of our music video was adding any finishing touches which may intensify the appeal of the music video. An example of what I felt was needed in the music video was a split screen which included a section of the footage of the bunny walking up the stairs in the middle of our music video, and on the other side the other performer which is the young girl walking down the same stairs as the bunny. Due to the vast amount of information that can be accessed via the internet, a website which helped me to achieve this effect on my video was the Learn Premiere Pro site which included tutorial videos on how to achieve certain effects on the editing software. Therefore, the accessibility of media technologies helped me to further my production effectively.

Evaluation

I used several media technologies in the process of evaluating our media product, and example of one is Prezi, this is basically a website on which you can create presentations in an effective and creative way. 

This website enabled me to include written paragraphs as well as images to support anything I had said, also moving footage can be inserted on this Prezi as well. Formatting my answer into this particular layout meant that I could organize my answers to the questions in a structured way, for instance when talking about my print productions and its link to my music video it was important for my answer to be well organized. 

This print screen shows how easily images can be uploaded on to your blog, thus providing evidence for any thing I may have said in the post.

Further media technologies that influenced the way in which I completed the evaluation questions were www.Blogger.com as well as Microsoft Word, Blogger enabled me to present my work in a more 'wordy' format as well as being able to include images and videos in my evaluation answers. Microsoft was also a useful media technology as it enabled me to type out my answer and check for any spelling errors before publishing it on to my blog. Moreover, any other work that is needed for the evaluation stage was scanned in to insert on to my blog via the HP printer, for instance questionnaires that have provided important feedback on my music video.

It is plausible to suggest that the use of Social networking websites provide a quick form of communication without having to even see someone face to face, in order to further my evaluation I seized the opportunity to upload my music video onto 'Facebook' to gain immediate feedback. Therefore, the use of this specific media technology enabled me to gain responses to my music video, also due to the fact that the majority of my 'Facebook friends' are of my age demographic and a little older this meant that I could get an idea of whether my target audience would like my video and even be interested in hearing more about our artist after watching the music video. 

Planning, Research and Construction stages of my Digipak and Magazine advert.

Planning

In relation to the planning process of my print productions the use of Google was important as it enabled me to view pictures of album covers of similar artists gain inspiration from them.

A website that has supported my planning to some extent is Beirut's official band website, this is due to the fact that it allowed me to access all of their music videos as well as their album covers. Due to them inspiring the artist of our music video it was useful to see how the aspects of their genre is displayed in their music videos.

Research

In reference to the research stages of my print productions, technologies such as search engines namely Google were the first port of call when researching into our print productions. This is due to the fact that after researching into similar artists of our own I could research their cover art and therefore get an idea of any themes in them which display the genre.

This is a post taken from my blog which shows how after researching into cover art of similar artists I could then gain any inspiration for my own digipak as well as analyzing how the particular artist promotes themselves.

In addition, websites such as www.dafont.com were also useful in the research stage of my print productions as it was a site which allowed me to research into particular fonts, as making sure the font is correct is vital as the audience will be paying close attention to it in order to read the artists name and the tracks. So therefore, if the font is unreadable then the digipak or magazine advert will fail to promote the artist.

This shows how easy it is to use this website and find the particular font needed.

Construction



This is a print screen of an initial idea I had for the front cover of my print productions, and I was cropping out the outline of the bunny so it appears to be peeking behind the curtains. The only change I made to this idea was moving the album name Antiques to under Billy Lubach's name. Therefore, using photoshop enabled me to make these changes easily.

Further media technologies which enabled me to construct my digipak and magazine advert were firstly Adobe Photoshop. After uploading the photographs I had taken and the print screens from my music that may also be needed, the use of photoshop meant that I could add any special effects to the photos. For example, for the front cover of my digipak I had to use the crop tool which allowed me to crop a photograph of the performer and move what I had cropped so that it looked as if the girl in the photo was peeking behind the curtains. Also, using photoshop meant that I was able to up the contrast of the photograph in order to achieve a more vibrant and eye catching front cover.In reference to Panel 2,3 and 4,the only effects that I felt were needed were the 'adjustment tools', the one I used was  the contrast tool.

Moreover, this print screen shows how I was able to adjust the contrast and brightness of the photo.

 This print screen is evidence of how I used Photoshop to enable me to crop out images and move them to wherever I want. For instance in this photo I cropped out the image of the performer and moved it so it looked as though she is peeking around the curtain. I used the Magnetic Lasoo tool which is highlighted by the arrow.

In order to increase the appeal of the front cover and give the cover a more professional look I used the Soft Healing Brush Tool to soften the edges of the image that I cropped.

 As I wanted to have the track list in replace of the 'drink me' sign on the bottle I used the Clone Stamp tool in order to do this, by holding down 'alt' and clicking which part I wanted to be cloned I could easily remove the 'drink me' letters.

Photoshop also provided the means to including the track list onto the back cover of my digipak, as there is a icon for font where I could choose an appropriate font and then type the tracks wherever I wanted on the back cover. When editing the photograph for the magazine advert, by utilizing Photoshop I was able to create a black and white effect as well as adding font to the image. In order to achieve the black and white I effect I went on the adjustment tools and clicked on the 'Black and white' section.

Furthermore, in order to upload my digipak and magazine photographs onto Photoshop the use of a Memory stick was vital as it enabled me to transport photos from my home computer onto the school computer where I used Photoshop to construct my print productions. Not only was that specific media technology useful, SD cards were also needed in this stage, they are a device which are put into your Digital Camera and the photos you take are saved on to them and they can then be taken out and plugged into your computer to be uploaded onto Photoshop.