Lauren BarrettG324 Media StudiesHow did you use media technologies

in the construction and research, planning and evaluation stages?

IntroductionI used a wide variety of media technologies during

the research, planning, production, post-production and even evaluation stages of my Advanced Portfolio coursework. My skills in using these technologies, which can be broken down into hardware, software and online tools, have certainly improved since finishing my Foundation Portfolio last year. The following presentation will discuss how I used different technologies to effectively get to this final stage. Whilst I will list ALL of the technologies that I used, I will only discuss the importance of those which were really vital to me from start to finish.

SOFTWARE PowerPoint – I used PowerPoint a lot when I was creating the skeleton

layouts and site plans. I chose PowerPoint over Adobe Photoshop as it allowed me to use the Shape Tool with ease and simplicity: I could easily duplicate each shape, re-size and re-colour to make my site plans and skeletons more accurate, whilst using Photoshop would have resulted in numerous layers for each different shape, making the process more of a hassle, confusing, lengthy and difficult.

Word – I used Microsoft Word quite a lot during my Advanced Portfolio for a number of reasons. If I was making a direct blog post for example, I would often type the text in Word first as this provided a more accurate spelling and grammar check. I also used word to create all the documentation forms in preparation for my filming. With Word you have the advantage of being able to choose from a range of fonts and text sizes, with the additional features such as shapes and tables which help to make the forms look more professional.

Excel – Excel allowed me to apply the results of my questionnaire into an instant table, allowing for clear analysis, before I was then able to create charts from the click of a single button which allowed for easier analysis of the results, thus helping me to make clearer, and more suitable creative decisions for my products.

Research and Planning

SOFTWAREObviously my Production stage didn’t involve any software as it mostly consisted of the cameras, hence why I have jumped straight to Post Production.

Photoshop and Adobe Premiere Pro were the two programs that helped me the most during post-production. I used Photoshop the most during the post production of my ancillary products. For both of my products, I required images, which I edited to my liking in Photoshop. A lot of the images I wanted required to be either black and white or have an orange/sepia effect to them to reflect the autumnal theme of my chosen song. I did this by adjusting the hue and saturation of my images which allowed for said effects to be created, whilst there  are very few other programs which would have done so with such quality. I could then also use Levels and Curves to adjust the tones within each image to make them stand out to the viewers' eye, whilst I could also rotate and crop each image to make images smaller and more appropriate for each section of the Digipak. I also used Photoshop to reduce the image sizes of the JPEGs which were used in the sequence close to the end of my music video. By not reducing the image sizes, they were too much for the video itself, causing a stressful error which prevented my video from exporting in Adobe Premiere Pro. This was annoying for me as I didn’t know what was causing the error, but after discovering the issue, Photoshop proved to be the quickest and most accurate software tool to re-size each of the images.

Post Production

SOFTWAREAdobe Premiere Pro was probably the most important tool for me

to use throughout my entire Advanced Portfolio. Without Adobe Premiere Pro, I wouldn’t have been able to make my music

video, which is essentially the main task of the coursework. Whilst I initially started my practice work on iMovie, Premier Pro

proved to be more up-to-date, offering better features and effects, whilst navigating around the different windows was much more simpler. Some of the tools built into Premiere Pro were super

helpful to me, especially when I ran into issues piecing the clips together. The Razor tool allowed me to select a section of the clip at a specific time, cutting the clip into two different parts, rather than needing to crop the clip down and duplicate the original to

re-use the rest. For example, with my performance clips, my actor performed the entire song, rather than me having to stop and

start the camera for different sections of the song. Therefore, I used the Razor tool to shorten the long 3 minute clip into many

smaller clips which I could place at different intervals throughout my music video.

To develop my creativity, I also used Premiere Pro to create different colour versions of my final video to question my target

audience as to which one they preferred. Premiere Pro allowed me to copy + paste a particular effect on to all of my clips rather

than applying it one at a time, thus speeding up the process.

Post Production

SOFTWAREPost ProductionAlthough I didn’t intend on using it, I did use Live Type to create a

text sequence which spelled out the lyrics of the corresponding music. Although more conventional in Rap or Pop music videos, I was really intrigued by the different effects available on Live Type and so I wanted to be able to build it into my music video to add yet another different technique into my coursework. Live Type had the benefit of being fully compatible with Premiere Pro, meaning that I could easily save my work in Live Type as a movie file and import it into my existing music video, then cropping and changing the size of the clip using the tools available in Premiere Pro.

The possibilities with Live Type seemed to be endless, and it was really interesting to be able to build an animation into my text. I used the leading and tracking for the text to ensure that my font was clear and could be easily read, and so that it also filled the frame nicely without being too big or too small. I was also able to add a ‘handwriting’ animation to the text, which made the text appear as if it were actually being written directly onto the screen in time with the music. I liked this effect as it suited my ‘homely’ feel that I wanted to portray in the rest of the video.

The other benefit was that I could set the background colour for the text. I initially experimented with just black, but I then discovered an option for a transparent option which allowed me to overlay it onto a picture once I had imported it into Premiere Pro.

SOFTWAREEvaluation

And of course again I used a combination of Microsoft Word and PowerPoint to

construct some of my evaluations in a neat and presentable way, such as the very

presentation. They have the advantage of having a correct grammar and spell check

whilst they can also be converted and uploaded to my blog via SlideShare.

HARDWAREI used an Apple Mac throughout the entire process of my Advanced Portfolio, from research and planning through to evaluation. Opposed to the few regular computers installed within the college, the Macs allowed access to the specific software that I required for creating my music video, such as Photoshop and Premiere Pro. The other advantage that the Mac holds is that the resolution in the screen is much higher than regular computers, allowing me to see my products in a much more realistic quality. The only disadvantage I found was that I often worked from my Dell Laptop at home, and transferring several documents between the two different computers often caused complications and changed the layout of a lot of my work, meaning that I frequently had to update the documents before I uploaded them to my blog.

HARDWAREFor the main section of my Advanced Portfolio – the

construction – the Sony Digital Film Camera was my most important and vital tool. Obviously, without it, I wouldn’t have been able to film my video to the same quality. Compared to the FujiFilm Finepix S9600 which we practiced the majority of our filming on, the Sony had the advantage of being more compact and quite lightweight, meaning that it was much easier to carry around if I went out to different locations, especially as I would often have to carry tripods too. The zoom function which was fairly easy to operate without interrupting the quality of the filming, whilst it also fit nicely on the tripods we used too, meaning that all of our footage was steady and in-focus at all times. I found though that the best option of this camera was the movement ability of the display screen, as it could be tilted and rotated so it completely faced the actors rather than me, meaning that they could see what the shot looked like themselves, making composing the footage a lot easier. This was particularly essential in my singing and guitar sequences as my actors could check that they did not accidentally move out of the frame whilst they ‘performed’. The camera also had a Photo Mode which was great for taking shots of my actors on set for my website. The zoom ability also allowed for some stunning depth of field within the still images which I then also imported into my video to make up the ‘memory’ sequence.

Production

Additionally with the camera I used a tripod which insured my camera was stable throughout filming. This also had the advantage of being able to adjust the height for different shots and even supporting the angles at which I shot at.

HARDWAREI relied on a combination of both my phone and my iPod for internet access and communication on the go. During my research and planning, I used these tools to post comments on social networking sites such as Twitter and Facebook to gain feedback

and basic audience research. With the development of apps for these sites, the access was quick and ensured much quicker responses then having to way until I was home to post the information via the computer. Before I began my construction, I

went location-scouting and relied on these tools to develop maps for directions and I also used the

built-in cameras to take test-shots of each location I used. The other obvious benefits included me being

able to phone or text actors when they were needed and to also access the internet immediately

if I required any additional information, such as opening times for any interior locations or Google

Images for inspiration. On my iPod also, I had a Blogger app, which allowed me to take pictures of

my forms that the actors signed and upload them immediately. I could also use the app to type up

any initial blog posts that I had written at any stage during the process instantly.

HARDWARE I also found using my Wacom Bamboo

Drawing Tablet useful, especially when I was drawing and designing my storyboard during my planning stage. Usually, most storyboards would be constructed by professionals using some sort of drawing tablet as it allows for better precision and accuracy. Not only that, but I found using my tablet an advantage as it meant my work was instantly neater than what I may have produced by hand, plus it was a much quicker process as I could duplicate different sections if scenes were repeated within my plot, which was true in the case of my music video. It also allowed me to use a wider variety of colours thanks to Photoshop, which also allowed me the use of different tools and brushes which were also available in that software.

Research and Planning

ONLINE TOOLS

There were many online tools which helped me journey from my practice material, through research and planning to the evaluations. Firstly, social networking sites were vital in helping me to reach and develop my target audience. I used Twitter, Facebook and Tumblr mostly to post questions to my target audience about there preferences over elements such as colour scheme or themes to help better my production to ensure that it suited them. It also meant that I could target people directly, as opposed to surveying random people on the street, meaning that my results were hopefully a lot more realistic and appropriate. For example, on Twitter, I purposely searched for accounts which were dedicated to following my artist, Ed Sheeran, as I knew that my products would be mostly appealing to them.

ONLINE TOOLSAdditionally, to help my research, I created an online survey this year as

opposed to my physical copy back in my Foundation Portfolio. I used Obsurvey.com to create the document as it allowed me to create as

many questions as I liked, and I could also separate them into sections/pages which was useful to ask questions dependant on either the main task or my ancillary products. I also chose Obsurvey other

others such as SurveyMonkey.co.uk because there was no limit on the number of questions I could ask and it was really simple to share the questionnaire on my social networking sites which I explained in the

previous slide. The other handy element was that they stored an analysis of all the results as they were collected, showing graphs of details such

as response times and which responses were the most popular. All of this information was also able to download straight into an Excel document.

When my target audience answered the survey, it was automatically filled in as ‘anonymous’ which was useful also as it made the responses

more confident and hopefully less biased.

ONLINE TOOLSThis year during my Advanced Portfolio, I used Blogger to

present all of my work. I had previously used WordPress, but I had found Blogger easier to use after

also using it for two years for my Photography Coursework. I felt like Blogger was easier to navigate and I preferred the additional features of pages and

tabs/labels which made organising my work clearer and easier, making it look more professional. Having the labels meant I could group all of my different posts according to the subject of the post as well as what

stage of the entire G324 process it came under, making it easier for myself also to go back and refer to other work I had done earlier on in the year. Powered

by Google, Blogger is also more commonly compatible with other sites I have used such as

YouTube, SlideShare and Twitter, meaning that it was much easier to share my work – no matter what

format it was in – to my blog. I also generally preferred the layout and design of Blogger to Wordpress,

meaning that I could completely customise my blog to suit me and my coursework. I could also change

elements such as the width of the text box and the fonts to ensure everything that I posted was legible and also looking professional. Blogger also has it’s

own app for Apple products, meaning that I could also constantly update and change my blog wherever I was

– with my phone!

ONLINE TOOLSYouTube is essential in the efficient marketing of any

musician or artist, thus it was just as important for me in order to share any video/film work that I constructed. Whether it was my final video or any practice material I shot way back in September, YouTube was essential in being able to upload and share my work as it can be accessed by millions of people around the world, wherever they are! YouTube was really simple to use and I could simply upload my work with the click of a button. Also, as it is the internet’s biggest video-sharing device, it is so simple to share the video, again by clicking a single button and the URL code could simply be pasted anywhere to allow my target audience to also see it. YouTube also has the advantage of having a comments section, allowing simply anyone, to leave feedback, which would be extremely helpful during the evaluation stage of my coursework. Another advantage which was extremely helpful during my other evaluation questions was that you have the option to add subtitles or annotations to the video. I used this feature to comment on specific elements of my final production to give a different take on an evaluation.

ONLINE TOOLSMaking my entire blog neat, tidy and professional has always been important, and by using Slide Share, I was enabled to upload all of my PowerPoint and Word documents so that they could be embedded into my blog. The advantage of Slide Share is that it makes your documents still accessible and can be clicked through like you would with a normal presentation. It was also helpful as I was able to embed YouTube videos into the presentation as they were uploaded to Slide Share which was another useful tool for making my presentations more interesting and adding more depth into my research. Prezi was an online tool I had used briefly for my Foundation

Portfolio, but using it in G324 has definitely allowed me to learn to use it more efficiently to make sophisticated interactive

presentations. This year I learnt that I could also embed my different types of documents such as PowerPoint presentations

into the Prezi, which allowed me to help explain my ideas in more depth to my target audience if ever I were discussing

them. I felt like Prezi was a much more creative and entertaining way to present my ideas, and I especially found it useful when discussing my evaluation question concerning all

three of my products and my target audience as I could take the viewer on a visual journey through all of the different stages.