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

2. iMac Computer HP Laptop My HP Laptop was mainly used for admin, to do a lot of the recording and updating of my blog. When at home, I used this laptop to complete homework assignments, such as the analysis of Still Into You by Paramore, and Music Video Analysis by Goodwin Theology. iMac computers have been essential to the making and recording of my A2 Coursework Project. The whole course is devoid of paper and is solely done using a computer, and while at school, any work I did for Media Studies was done on a computer. I like using iMacs because they are a lot faster and more efficient than general laptops and offer up a wide range of programs specifically designed for film making such as Photoshop and Final Cut Pro. The majority of the work done using an iMac was the editing of the music video and anything else which required one of the programs available on there e.g. the digipack using Photoshop and Audience Feedback etc. During class time any updating of blogs or research was also done using those computers. Although a small thing, something I found a little irritating when operating the iMac is that when minimising photographs, I had to press the Shift button for it to reduce equally. More annoyingly, I only found that out of the way through the project.Unlike on an iMac which you have to learn to get used to and get comfortable with, my laptop I knew how to do things on and it meant that if I had to get a task done quickly, I could rather than having to check with Sir every time I wanted To know how to do something. Some of the programs available on it were a lot more accessible and comfortable to use, such as PowerPoint over Open Office PowerPoint which was much to fiddly to use. 3. Camcorder The camcorder was used to film all the footage we needed for our final product, as well as any clips or short videos posted such as the Animatic, Shots with external audio and Bloopers. The good thing about the camera was that we all were fairly confident about using it and all had some experience, both in AS and in the Preliminary Task of using that model. We each took turns in filming, as we couldnt all be there every day that wed scheduled to film and Phoebe T in particular was behind the camera. However, Phoebe got a chance to film some of the filler shots of nature and the clips of Eliot running down the road, before I took over and filmed couple shots of them together. Kirsty and Phoebe then filmed the clips of Phoebe singing Is He Really Coming Home? and experimented with the zoom in and out of the camera in particularly. Kirsty had another camera which was a slightly higher quality than the schools which her Dad owned as a professional photographer which meant we had two camcorders to film the footage on. We had a slight problem during one of the filming days when one of the camera ran out of memory and then the other ran out of battery. Luckily, wed more or less finished filming by that point and could wrap up the day having done what wed planned to finish. 4. Camcra The camera was a piece of technology used to photograph Cara Smith during a photo shoot, whose pictures would then be uploaded onto Instagram, Facebook and Twitter, as well as used on the Digipack and website. We realised early on that, from our research of artists, general knowledge of advertising and from what weve experienced ourselves as consumers, we needed a lot of different photos of the artist for promotion material. Kirstys Dad is a professional photographer and so through her, we had access to a professional camera. Kirsty was also a seasoned professional at using the camera and so, when it came to using it, she knew what she was doing and how to edit them so that they came out looking very professional and portraying Cara in the best light. I was extremely proud of the quality of photographs we had and we were complimented many times over by people whos seen them, including Sir, who said they looked very professional. I used a camera like this to film the Audience Feedback, and although not very complicated to use, it did take some getting used to, which is evident in when watching the interviews only Molly (Blonde hair, pink jumper) is filmed in perfect focus while all the other interviewees clips are blurred or slightly unfocused. 5. iPhone4 My iPhone was quite handy in each of the stages of this project. Apple products are pretty useful on the whole but my iPhone4 gave us the ability to quickly upload images fresh from being shot straight onto social networking sites like Instagram, and screenshot the process before I emailed it to myself to be blogged when back in the classroom. Having the Instagram, Facebook and Twitter apps on the device, I could log in and update Cara Smiths pages whenever I needed to and was able to have constant access to feedback from fans. Preparing posts was easy as there is editing software available on the device, which allows me to edit videos and images then release them. The iPhone4 allows that connection between the computer and mobile device without the need for a cable for the majority of the time and also allowed me to film behind the scenes on a fairly high-quality camera. As well as this, the editing software available on the Instagram app allowed me to add effects to the photo of Eliot which would feature in the music video. This I then emailed to myself again and printed out on Phoebes computer to use in the filming, all within the space of about 10 minutes. 6. Final Cut Pro Final Cut Pro was the most important program used, without it, we wouldn't have been able to make our promo. Once wed filmed all our footage, we took the camera into class the following Tuesday and uploaded all the footage from there. Sir commented that Id really improved and become quite the Final Cut Pro expert since last year, and I think thats true in the sense that I feel I have grown in confidence and knowledge of how to use the software. Phoebe T and I edited together and this project gave me a chance to experiment with special effects, an area I hadnt really explored before in my AS opening film sequence as they werent really needed. I also got to try out slow/fast motion, adding markers to music and having to sync the footage to the audio, playing around with sound and cropping images as well as putting on fades and entrance effects e.g. bloom. I also used it when editing other videos together e.g. the Animatic and Audience Feedback interviews. I continue to expand my skillset every time I use Final Cut Pro and grow in confidence and experience continually. It is a really simple program to use but produces really professional videos/music videos and I really enjoy using the program for work and outside school as well. 7. Photoshop This project was the first time I ever used Photoshop and I was really, really eager to stay as far away from it as I could. However, Sir blew that plan out of the water when he said that I really needed Photoshop to give the digipack a professional feel about it. In other words, the simple font of Zapfino in PowerPoint as a title is not going to get you the top marks. Sir gave me a 15 minute master class in Photoshop which gave me the wary confidence I needed to give Photoshop a go. I took my images out of PowerPoint and stuck them in Photoshop, beginning to design and make the panels. As I used the program, the more my confidence grew in it and before long I was helping one or two other students with queries they had about the program. Last year I remember my group had to ask Zak (a fellow Media Student) to remove the background off an image for us, now this year I could do it all on my own. Granted, I occasionally had to put up my hand and ask about something from Sir but generally it was plain sailing once I got over my nerves. Once the digipack was checked by Sir and I made the suggested changes, I screenshotted them and posted them onto my blog. 8. YouTube ClipConverter.cc ClipConverter.cc is a basic conversion tool which I used to take the Whip It Pool scene off of YouTube, convert to MP4 and download into Final Cut Pro, to be edited to be added to our music video. The Whip It clip is a replacement for the footage we wouldve filmed ourselves however, our schedule was very tight and we couldnt find the time to film. It was also mid-October and we wouldve had to film which was too cold to swim in an outdoor swimming pool, and although I was dedicated to getting the best footage we could, there were some lines we just wouldnt cross.As one of the main products I had to make for the project was a music video, YouTube was a very important technology I had to use. I already use YouTube regularly and so learning how to use it and getting around on the site wasnt an issue. I had to use YouTube for a variety of things in the Research and Planning stage, such as researching music videos for the Music Video Analysis by Goodwin Theology assignment and uploading a number of clips wed made as part of our documenting of the project e.g. Tester Shots and Animatic. We also uploaded music videos wed analysed right at the beginning of the project e.g. Our House by KID BRITISH. In the Construction stage, to show evidence of our making, I uploaded, onto YouTube, a video Id made of us filming called Bloopers. To show elements of change and editing, I uploaded clips of the shots with external audio, which we deleted for the final product, and had to look up underwater kiss scenes to replace the underwater footage of the Soldier and the artist which we didnt get round to filming. I also had to upload the finished product Is He Really Coming Home? music video onto YouTube and then link to my blog. For the Evaluation stage, I had to use YouTube to upload the Audience Feedback Interviews. YouTube is a really good site which has allowed me to provide evidence of my working to the examiner without too much hassle. One problem my group and others in our class experienced was that once uploaded onto YouTube, our music videos tended to drift 1 second out of sync, which was unfortunate for people watching it online. Time to upload was also fairly lengthy however, altogether, its a site crucial to the making of our product and the recording of it. 9. FacebookInstagramTwitterSocial Networking is a huge part of our target audiences life nowadays. When conducting our audience research and creating a profile for them, we found that 4/5 of our tester group listed social networking as a hobby, and teenagers in general social network daily, whether it is posting selfie on Instagram, writing a status on Facebook or tweeting on Twitter. It has become a real trend and the perfect way to broadcast and develop interest in our target audience for our artist, Cara Smith. As a result, we created accounts on Twitter, Facebook and Instagram for Cara, so that she could post about her work and life to her fans, keep up-to-date with their activities and opinions and have a relationship with them. This would also allow us to advertise her new material, such as her music video, and spark interest in the fans from their mobile phones and computers. Phoebe Taylor created a page for Cara Smith on Facebook and Twitter, each of which weve posted pictures from her photo shoot on and tweeted about a rehearsal she had. On Instagram, we posted a number of photos from her photo shoot and video clips from a rehearsal. We even got some Likes and comments from teenagers social networking at the time and had seen her post. As the actress playing Cara Smith, we also used Phoebe Taylors Facebook Profile to take some photos of her in real life and pretend they were ones of Cara casually socialising and being a normal adolescent girl, which is also what fans look for in their idols: someone they can relate to. 10. Google.co.uk Google is a website crucial to completing most, if not all, homework/coursework at school, and Media Studies was no exception. We used Google for a variety of things, but for the majority, research. I used Google Images to look up examples of Digipacks and artists albums whos music was a similar genre to our own e.g. Taylor Swift, Eliza Doolittle and Nina Nesbitt, and Kirsty searched for websites she could use for inspiration when designing Cara Smiths. I also used Google for queries on how to use other technology, such as Photoshop and Open Office PowerPoint when trying to crop/delete the background of a photo, and how to embed slideshows and audio in Wix.com. It was really useful and an irreplaceable site when it came to asking questions and doing research. It was also a much cheaper way of carrying out our research.Hotmail.co.uk Ive recently become very attached to my Hotmail account as it made documents available at both school and home without the need for a USB pen, and allowed me to send information and communicate with my group easily (as well as Phoebes Dad), with an emphasis on the sending of information. I did a lot of photographing and videoing at the Photo Shoot, as well as recording of my evaluation, on my iPhone which allowed me to email the documents to myself which I could then access on an iMac at school. It was a lot less complicated and Apples quick system meant downloading was done quickly. I could also send documents (e.g. Risk assessment and Music Video Analysis by Goodwin Theology) to myself and could then open and work on them at school before resending the newer copy to myself t be continued at home.Google Maps Google Maps was used for a very small part of our project. It was used to get images of our various locations, such as Phoebes house and the bus stop we planned on using, but we also used it to plan a route to get to Tooting Bec Lido. This would make filming a lot quicker as we would know how to get there and be able to reach the location in good time. 11. PowerPointOpen Office PowerPointPreziPowerPoint is a technology I have always liked using. Its a quick and simple tool to use, easy to understand and become an expert in operating. I used PowerPoint to: Paramore Still Into You Analysis Making of my Digipack Music Video Analysis by Andrew Goodwin Theology Evaluation questions (e.g. Question Photographs of Cara Smith from Photo Shoot 4) Using PowerPoint meant that I could get a lot of my ideas down coherently without having to write an essay which, from what Ive been told, is not something examiners are keen on regarding Media Studies coursework. It also meant I could illustrate my points and experiences with Screenshots and Images, making it a little more interactive and less daunting to read. Open Office PowerPoint is the version of PowerPoint they have on iMacs and one of the only faults the computer has, agreed with me by Sir. It was very complicated to use and is missing a lot of the tools I liked using to edit pictures on the program, such as the Magic Wand which removed the background. As a result, I did a lot of my work on PowerPoint at home on my laptop as it was easier. I also used Prezi as a way to answer one of my evaluation questions. A neat and attractive way to present your work, it is also very fiddly and when using it in AS, I had to spend a day completing the question because while trying to type up all I wanted to say, I was also learning how to use the program. However, when using it at A2, I found it a lot easier to use, and had much more patience with it, possibly because my past experience told me that the best way to approach new technology is to be patient and watch the Help tutorial first.Slideshare.net Once Id completed my PowerPoint on Word, I had to upload it onto the internet. This was easily done using Slideshare.net. Id created an account on the site last year and using that login, I uploaded a number of slideshows onto my account which I then embedded onto my blog or Wix.com, dependent on whether it was an Evaluation question or Research and Planning blog post. Slideshare.net is a very good platform to use when uploading slideshows onto the internet, however, I did have one problem which I really found difficult. Once uploaded onto Slideshare, the slideshow is condensed and if the text is too close to the edge of the slide, it will vanish, or pictures will overlap over text, the text size will be too big or the font changed. You also couldnt make the changes on the site which meant I had to guess which changes to make then re-upload the slideshow and hope for the best that it would come out okay. A lot of time was spent doing this and although it all turned put okay in the end, it was a bit of pain. 12. WIX.com Wix.com is a completely new program which I only became familiar with when Kirsty used it to create our website. I didnt actually have to engage with it until I decided that, in order to meet the exam boards criteria of the evaluation questions being presented on a variety of media platforms, I would present all of my answers on a website. It was fairly daunting to have to learn how to use a new program, which is also why I was uneasy about learning to use Photoshop but actually, it is really easy to use. Once Id created a new account, I chose template to make my website on. Halfway through finishing the Home page, I realised I wanted to make the page longer, for people to scroll down for information. However, the template wouldnt allow me to do that and I realised that what I was using was different to what Phoebe T was using, whos website Id been using for inspiration. That afternoon, I had period 5 Media Studies, and so I asked Phoebe how she made her website. She told me that she used a Gym Template already on the website and she just adapted it to suit her evaluation questions. After hearing this, I asked her to help me set up a new website the same way shed done hers, that way I could use a program which was a little easier and Phoebe could teach me and answer any questions I had about learning to use the site. It turned out that Wix.com was a really good and easy website to use. After switching to my new template, I watched the Welcome/Help tutorial video which gave me a breakdown of how to use the website, and from there it was really simple to use. I had to download the app HTML iFrame/Embed in order be able to embed slideshows and audio files onto the website but aside from that, uploading photos and videos, writing text and manoeuvring and designing the layout of the page is fairly straightforward. 13. YourListen.comiTunes iTunes played a relatively small role in my project. Having an iPhone and being familiar with the technology as I use it daily, my group and I just used downloaded the track Is He Really Coming Home? from Sirs CD onto iTunes where I could easily move it into the editing section of Final Cut Pro, in order to make the music video.yourlisten.com is a simple and easy site I used in the Research and Planning, and Evaluation stages of our project. Similar to Slideshare.net, I used it as a platform to put pieces of evidence of Research and Planning and Evaluation onto the internet or my blog. I uploaded the original track Is He Really Coming Home? which we made our music video to and embedded the file onto my blog and onto Wix.com on the website. I also embedded recordings of my evaluation answers on my website I am using to display my evaluation. I learnt how to embed files onto websites when using this technology which has proven useful when using similar sites, such as Slideshare.net. There is an embed tool where you just copy the code, then switch to the HTML version of your Blog Post and paste into that. However, its slightly different on Wix.com, where I had to search how to add Slideshows and audio clips from other websites first. The blog I found http://www.snacktools.com/blog/how-to-add-custom-html-in-wix/ directed me to download an app onto the website from the Wix App Market, HTML iFrame/Embed, which would then allow me to embed as I do on other sites.