EVALUATION QUESTION 4

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

Throughout the research and planning stage, one primary technology I used was web 2.0. Firstly, it was vital in finding our unsigned artist, Carl Martin, on ReverbNation, a site where unsigned artists sign up and upload their own work in an attempt to share their talent. Without the use of web 2.0, we would never have been able to find Carl's work, and create this media package.

I also used
the search engine, Google, to research and plan my package. It was iuncredibly useful in finding other media products within my selected genre, to give me idea's, inspiration and creativity for my own products.

 Furthermore, the internet streaming website, Youtube, was tremendously helpful in my research and planning stage as it allowed us to view similar music video's to the genre we were working in, and helped us to develop existing idea's into our own idea's, which we then applied to the media package. Examples of this include Ed Sheeran's A Team, Alt-J's BreezeBlocks, and a number of other video's within our genre. We were also able to view not only music video,s but also the Skin's series, and the Black Swan dance scene which became so influential in our work.

Aside from search englines and internet streaming, Blogger also became a vital part of my research and planning as it enabled me to keep track of my work, and ensure that everything to do with my media package was well organised. It also provided me with a thinking place for any potential idea's that I felt would be suitable for the package. It became a fantastic help especially when recieving audience feedback, and allowed us to briefly summarise what had been said, to enable us to encoorperate this into a package.

Other technologies used were Microsoft PowerPoint, and the similar powerpoint creation app Prezi. Both fo these helped me when presenting the Pitch to my peers about my ideas, and allowed me to present my findings, mood boards and similar products in a conventionaal, and technology friendly way. I also used a Nikon DS60 SLR camera to enable me to capture different aspects relating to my media package, including location idea's, drawn idea's, safety hazards, and a number of other uses. Alongside this, when the professional camera was unavaliable or I did not have it to hand, I was able to use my Samsung Galaxy S3 8MP camera to capture spontaneous images that I thought would help me later in the procedure of creating my package.

Throughout the production and post production of my pac-
kage, a number of technologies allowed me to achieve my end product.  In regards to my music video, the primary tool of use was a Panasonic HD video camera, which enabled me to capture high quality footage, for our music video. With many different options in terms of contrast and e
ffects on the camera itself, it proved to be a fantastic way of capturing my footage. As an accessory to this, I also used a tripod which enabled me to capture footage without shaking the camera, therefore maximising the proffesionalness of the package.

However, lighting also played a key part in the production of my music video. I used a range of lighting accessories, including 2 Battery Powered LED lights, and large studio lights to ensure that the lighting was suitable for each scene we shot. To do this, we also used a number of different coloured filters in front of the studio lights as this gave us a range of options when shooting the video. Both of these lighting equipments helped to convey different aspects of our video, including the close up shots, the bath scene and the black swan scene. Without the lighting, I feel that our video would have lacked personality, and would have resulted in the audience seeing the video as dull and boring.

In my ancillery task, I used a range of technologies to create my digipak and advert. Firstly, the Nikon DS60 SLR enabled me to take high quality photo's for my advert, and inlay of digipak. I also used my Samsung Galaxy S3 to capture some of the images on my front cover collage, if I felt that the particular image suiuted my theme and a professional camera was not readily avaliable. In conjunction with this, adobe Photoshop became a key tool in producing my ancillery texts. It provided me with the template I needed for my digipak, and enabled me to create features such as the replication and ink effect I used on my advert. I was aslo able to develop the colour.. via photoshop which proved to be a key aspect in housestyle according to my feedback. The sepia effects allowed me to make my collage photo's much more pleasing to the eye, which was also a critical aspect of my digipak.

In regards to the editing of my music video, I used adobe Premier Pro as the editing suit in which to create my video. Simple and easy to use, it allowed me to store all my clips in one place, rename them, and generally worked well as an organiser. Effects on the programme such as transitions, mirroring and ........ were all easy to use on my video, and resulted in the sucess of my package. The clips were easy to edit, and easy to move to and from the timeline, to ensure minimal confusion. I would definitely use Premier Pro again to edit my video.

Throughout my evalutation, I have used a number of technologies. I have used windows movie maker to create the video in question one. As the evaluation was done at home, if more technology was avaliable, I would have used Premier Pro to create this movie. I have also made good use of PowerPoint and Prezi in both questions 2 and 3, to show my evaluation in a range of technologies. I have included relative Youtube clips, and other images to provide an accurate representation of my genre, and how my media package was able to stick to or break the conventions of my folk/NuFolk genre. I also used my Samsung Galaxy S3 to get feedback from my target audience, and printscreened the responses, emailed them to myself using Hotmail, and then embedded them on Blogger. Evidently, Blogger has also played a key part in the evaluation, providing me with a free and limitless space to write construct this evaluation.