EVALUATION TASK 4HOW DID YOU USE NEW MEDIA TECHNOLOGIES

IN THE CONSTRUCT ION AND RESEARCH, PLANNING AND EVALUAT ION STAGES?

When making a music video it would be hard not to use

various types of technology, the technologies can be

used for a variety of different reasons.

BLOG

• When we first started this A2 year and the coursework itself, we had

to make a blog. The blog is used as a platform of communication

between examiner and student. When choosing our site we had to

take this into consideration, the ergonomics and aesthetics of the site

would be marked, so we used WordPress as we are all familiar with

the use and how to embed onto the site. We also downloaded the

WordPress app from the App Store enabling us to upload from our

mobile devices.

RESEARCH AND PLANNING

• After making the blog the research for the final cut began. The research stage

was prominently looking at the codes and conventions of the genre of song

we were going to choose. When researching into media, books may not be

the best answer, so instead we chose to use the world wide web as a source

of information on artists, conventions and videos.

• When presenting this research we had to use different platforms of

technology, so instead of just copying and pasting onto the blog we had to

use different mediums. This is when we began looking at programs and

websites such as ‘Prezi’ and ‘Scribd’. These are great ways of displaying

information because you can input screenshots/videos onto these programs

and annotate them underneath.

FILMING

• After all the research we had to start thinking about the filming of the

video, this is where different technologies come into play as it is not

all on a computer anymore. In the filming process we used a Nikon

D7100 we chose this because it is very easy to use and the

focus/picture is very good on DSLRs. Alongside this camera we used

a Fly-cam 5000, of which there is a tutorial of on the blog and some

photos of us setting it up.

• We also used a tripod for several shots where the camera was

required to be still such as the time lapses.

EDITING

• After the filming process comes the editing; this can only be done once the files on the SD card are transferred onto a desktop.

• We used Adobe Premiere Pro CS6 to edit the music video as I felt it was more sophisticated and technical than other software such as Final Cut pro. This would enable me to do more with the video and ultimately make it look more professional and neat. I am familiar with Premiere Pro after my various editing practice videos posted previously on the blog.

• Adobe comes with various useful tools and effects such as the trim tool and also I placed the crop tool on every shot. Rendering the footage is also much simper on Premiere Pro and adding effects such as adjusting brightness and contrast and slow motion.

• Throughout the video the two prominent editing techniques I have used are jump cuts and parallel editing in order to maintain the pace and energy of the song whilst allowing the narrative to run swiftly. To do this I efficiently used the timeline to put shots on different layers. This allowed me to cut shots to the beat and switch to one on another layer and then return to the original shot.

• Another technique I utilized was split-screening where I took two shots and a black screen and had them appear on the screen to the beat by cropping all of the parts of the shots which weren’t needed and slotting the rest together (Shown Below).

EDITING CONTINUED

• At the start and the end of the song I used the key frames tool to

change the levels of sound and opacity on the time-lapse shots as

the titles were revealed. The titles were made on Premiere Pro as well

as the time-lapse involving speeding up a 20 minute shot to create.

• At the start and end of the video I implemented sound effects of

birds chirping which I downloaded from freesound.org and placed

onto the timeline. This helps remove unwanted sounds and also fill in

silences as there is no music playing.

• Once completed the video was converted into an mp4 file in order

to upload it to YouTube. We then embedded this video from

YouTube into our WordPress blog.

MOBILES AND EDITING BLOG POSTS

• Through the whole process we were using our mobile phones, this

technology was imperative as we required It to meet up with each

other on various occasions whether it be to edit in the Easter holiday

or to film. We could also use our mobiles as the source to upload

some photos we took, for example; photos of us doing the animatic

or photos of us editing. This new technology is very helpful because

without this, the process of uploading a photo would be a lot longer.

• Other technology used was how we edited blog posts; for example if

there were multiple photos on a single blog post we would make

them part of a slideshow of photos. This would also allow us to

caption these pictures individually.

DIGIPACK AND POSTER

• The main program used for producing the digipack was

Adobe Photoshop CS6 because it is the best quality photo

and image producing software. Using it is not as easy but for

the best results it must be used. The variety of selection tools

(e.g.-lasso, magic selection and the square selection tool) are

very helpful to highlight specific parts of the layer then transform the image or change the colour. Various other

techniques are needed to create the 8-bit characters such as

altering tools.

EVALUATION

• In these final evaluation stages of the coursework we are using all kinds of formatting technologies. Such as Microsoft word, Prezi and WordPress. In terms of displaying written work these are the best and we all have lots of experience using them.

• To answer the question in short, we used new media technologies in the construction and research, planning and valuation stages to our advantage. Without all these kinds of advancements in technology this whole process would have been a lot harder, and we used these advancements to their full potential and to our full potential to hope fully produce the best product and get the best grade possible.