Evaluation question 4
How did you use media technologies in the construction and research, planning and evaluation stages?
Within the construction stage on my music video, I used many different types of media technology to create my music video in both the pre and post production of it. This included things like Final cut, a Cannon 750D camera, 64GB SD card and a MacBook Pro.
Pre-production
While filming my music video I used a Cannon 750D camera to record my footage on. The quality of this camera is much better and sharper and you can see the contrast between this camera and the Sony digital camera that I used for my AS coursework last year.
As well as a different camera, I also used a bigger memory card to store my footage onto. During my AS coursework I used a 16GB memory card which was fine for the amount of footage that I needed for a two minuet film opening. This year however, I knew that I was going to need a bigger memory card due to the amount of footage I would be filming. The song I had chosen to make a music video for was about five minuets so I knew I was going to need a lot of footage to fill that time and consequently a lot of space to hold all that footage.
Post-production
In the post-production stage of the construction of my music video I used my MacBook Pro to edit the footage on. This is the same device that I used last year for my AS coursework. By using my laptop instead of the school computers it meant that I was able to spend more time on my coursework as I wouldn't be restricted to lesson time in order to edit my work. I also used the editing programme final cut to edit and manipulate my footage for my coursework. This is the same software that I used to edit my AS coursework which meant that I was fairly confident when editing due to my prior experience with the software. While editing there were a few time where I also used youtube tutorial to help me understand how to edit certain clips in a certain way. For example when I wanted to make the footage look like a memory. When doing this I did research into what other films and TV programmes did when editing footage to look like a memory. This helped me to understand what effects would look good and help my footage to look more like a memory. This all helped in creating a music video which incorporates my vision entirely.
Ancillary Tasks
Ancillary task one
During the construction of my digipack I used a mix of a few different programmes to help me create the CD cover. The first device I used was an application call fresh pain on my laptop. This app allowed me to draw the image of the man with his head exploding which would act as the font cover for my digipack and the central image on my album release poster. I created the image by first looking at different inspirations online before modelling my design of some of them and drawing it on fresh paint. Although I have never used this application before in media, I have had some experience with it and this prior knowledge helped me to create my piece of artwork. 
I also used photoshop to edit some of my photos which I decided to incorporate within the digipack. I only started using this programme this year so my knowledge on it was fairly basic however I used youtube tutorials to help me to edit the photos in a way that I wanted.
The final programme that I used to create my digipack was an online website which helped create CD covers. Within this website I was able to add titles and different borders to help make my photos look more like ones you would see within a digipack.
For the poster I used the same image which I had used for the cover of the digipack so then people would know that these two ancillary products were linked and related. I then used word to add text and to add logos for the different places which the album will be available at.
During this stage of my coursework I used a lot of different technological devises to help me understand more about music videos and the promotional aspects that often accompanied them. The research that I did helped me to learn about the different elements of music videos such as the performance and narrative elements as well as what different audiences felt about the use of these elements in music videos.
When researching about music videos I used youtube to look at both professional and student made videos. By doing this I was able to see how people created videos in a vast majority of ways with some focusing mainly on narrative while others focus on the music and performance within the videos. I was also able to see how different videos approached lip syncing, with some incorporating it heavily while others avoided it completely. When researching the videos on youtube I found that the four main components of a music video was the location, mise-en-scene, camera work and editing. All these elements helped to bring together the premise for the video and without them, the music video would look unfinished and tacky. My research into both student and professional videos helped me to understand this and made me realise that I needed to spend a lot of time planning and clearly thinking about what elements I wanted to incorporate into my video and where I wanted to film it.
I also used google to research into different directors and their styles when it came to making music videos. I looked at two different directors and how their different styles influenced their work. The first director which I researched was Wes Anderson. I looked at his distinctive style with using symmetrical composition within most of his videos. To further my research of this director I then filmed a short clip of a music video with another class mate in the style of Wes Anderson.
The second director that I did research into was David Wilson. I created my own video about this director to help my understanding of his use of animation and action within his videos. The research that I conducted into both these directors helped me to understand the different styles in which I could film my own music video.
Another element I used while conduction my research was the programme prezi. I used this to help create my timeline about music videos along with google to help me find out certain facts. This research helped my to learn about the evolution of music videos and how they have change and improved over time. Prezi helped my to display this information in a clear way that was easy for my and others to see and understand.
I also used my camera and final cut to help me conduct audience research into what people felt should be in a music video and the ancillary tasks. I first came up with the questions I wanted to ask before going around Wymondham and filming peoples response to them. I then used final cut to edit my footage before uploading it onto youtube and then my blog. By doing this I was able to get a few peoples detailed responses as to what they thought should be including and what they felt about my idea so far. This research helped me to develop my idea further and incorporate more of what people felt should be including within both the video and the digipack.
Ancillary Tasks
When researching for my ancillary tasks I did many of the same things as I did for the music video. I did some research into digipacks and posters, looking at the different styles that artists will use depending on genre of music and if they are a solo artist or part of a band. I also did two practise tasks for the two elements of the ancillary tasks in order to get and understanding of what it will be like to create. The first task that I created was a transcription of a poster. Paula and I had to recreate the poster using photoshop, a camera and a model. The second transcription that I had to do was of an album cover where I used the same materials as before except that I had to use make up and costumes as well. All this practise and research of ancillary tasks helped prepare me for when I had to create my own. It made me think about if I wanted to stick to the normal forms and conventions for a solo artist or whether I wanted to challenge some of these.
Planning
During the planning stage of my course work I used a number of different technological devices to learn, understand and create pieces of work which would help in the construction of my final video and ancillary tasks.
When planning for my video I first used google to research about the different elements that I would be incorporating into my video such as the setting, costume and make-up. I specifically focused on setting as I needed to make sure that the places that I chose were aesthetic and easy to access. I did this by looking at google maps to see how close each of the places were and how long it would take to get to them. I also looked at the websites for the places such as Thetford forest so I could find out which trials would be the best to take and film in.
Youtube videos were another devise I used to help me learn how to make some of the props such as the the raft and the string of photos that would hang across the bedroom wall for the daughter. Theses quick tutorials helped me to learn how to make my props which I wouldn't be able to buy in a shop.
When planning the auditions I used a mix of google, youtube, my camera and final cut. When planning for the auditions I first needed to find material that I would get each of the people auditioning to read from. I wanted something that would express a lot of emotion and would show a close bond. I decided to go with a section from a game called the last of us due to it containing one very emotional scene which expresses a lot of different emotions within it. I then found the clip of this scene on youtube which I embedded onto my blog before finding the script online which I could give to all the people auditioning. I then used my camera to film each of the auditions before using final cut to edit them before uploading the footage onto youtube.
Ancillary tasks
When planning for the ancillary tasks I created an online survey to get peoples ideas on what they thought should be included in a digipack and poster. I used twitter to promote this survey so as many people as possible would fill it out. From this I was also able to create diagrams from the answers I got on the survey so I could see clearly see what people thought was the most important to include in a music video and what they thought was not so important. I also filmed some people answering these questions as well so then I had a mix of quantitative and qualitative data which I could then analyse and use accordingly in my planning. This helped me to understand what people felt was most important to be on a digipack and poster and so helped me to plan my ancillary tasks accordingly.Evaluation stage
During this final stage of my coursework I used a few different technological devises in order to answer my evaluation questions.
Youtube was also used in order to import different videos which were relevant to different questions while doing my evaluation. This included a mix of my own videos (audience feedback video) and other video which I haven't created (Inspiration videos). During my AS coursework, I used youtube a fair bit however I have tried to use it more in my A2 work, especially within my evaluation questions.
I also used a site called Bubbl in order to create a mind map for this evaluation question when planning on how I was going to answer them. I created a separate part for the research, planning, construction and evaluation and then split them even further by music video and ancillary tasks. This helped my to organise my thoughts clearly before answering the question and made sure that I didn't forget anything.
I also used an online survey in order to collect audience feedback for question three which I shared to people via e-mail and social media. This was created so it gave me the chance to get as many responses as possible for that particular question and have the most representative amount of answers. This is something which I never used within my AS coursework and is something that I feel has helped to expand my finding for audience research.
I finally used Google to help me answer my evaluation question by looking up certain facts and finding pictures online which I required in order to answer my questions.
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