How did you use media technologies in the construction and research planning and

evaluation stages?

By Sam Puddephatt

Wikipedia.

• The first form of technology I used was a well-known website called Wikipedia. I used this to help me search through some songs to help me choose which one I should use. I then used it to research some background and history into Snow Patrol, too give me a good understanding of the band we were covering. I then used it to help me complete some of my research, for example my music video research when I wanted some information about the song I was researching. Finally I also used it to get the song names from Snow Patrol’s album ‘Final Straw’ on my digi-pack back cover.

 

Youtube.• The second website I had to use in my project was YouTube, which was

one of my most valuable sources for research. I first used it to view several songs that I was thinking about using for my own music video, too see what the original video was like, and if I could think of an original idea for it. I then used a hyper-link to my blog of my favourite 2 songs to use, and then my final song.

• The most I used YouTube was for my music video research. I watched the video on YouTube, then analysed it, watching it several times over to get information. After completing the research I also print screened shots of the video off YouTube, making my research look much better, and showing what I was talking about. I also hyper-linked these videos too.

• Finally, I also used YouTube to view other Snow Patrol videos to get a feel for what they include in theirs, and also other student music videos to get ideas for my own.

Research and Planning.

For my research and planning I mostly posted straight onto the blog, but sometimes I used Microsoft Word as it was easier to use to type something up. I would then copy & paste what I had typed on to my blog.

The Blog

• The blog was very easy to use with basic but useful controls, and helped me complete and upload all my work conveniently. It was great that I could access my blog both from school and from home, making it much easier to complete my work and research. It was also useful to be able to view comments and feedback from teachers and fellow students to help me on what to improve. I could also upload pictures, and post links to other websites to make my blog more attractive and interactive.

Any Video Converter.

• I used a very useful piece of software called Any Video Converter which converted my footage and music files into a particular format, so that I could use it on my editing software, Premiere Pro. It really helped because it converted very large files in a short amount of time, meaning it gave me more time to edit my video or complete other tasks.

Adobe Premier Pro.

• The editing software that I used was Adode Premiere Pro. At first I wasn’t very sure about the software as I found it rather confusing and hard to remember all of the controls as it wasn’t very simply laid out. However after some practicing I started to get the hang of it and use it well to help me edit some brilliant shots into my music video. For example I could cut shots, put in effects and transitions between shots, change the brightness/contrast of a shot and even play a shot in slow motion.

Adobe Photoshop.

• I used Adobe Photoshop in order to help me edit my magazine advert and my digi-pack. I had used it before so had a good idea of all the tools I needed to use to complete the tasks. It was perfect for what I needed to do to my images, such as changing the lightness of a picture, editing out an unwanted object, adding in other pictures and making it look really realistic. I also used to quickly to make an Animatic Storyboard, as the software I needed wasn’t working. I was able to rely on Photoshop.

Paint.

• I also used a very simple application called Paint, which was extremely easy to use in the few situations I needed it. These for example were to copy and paste print screens from YouTube, or cut/crop an image without needing Photoshop.

Camera

• I also used physical technology in my project, for example a camera for filming. We used a very good HD camera, which made our shots fantastic quality, making everything look more detailed, and generally making the video look more professional. We also used this camera to take the pictures we needed for our amimatic storyboard, posters and digi-packs.

Tripod.

• We also used a Tripod which helped us make the shots look much more professional aswell. It kept the camera much more still than a human hand would, and also helped us reach heights I wouldn’t be able to myself, without making the shot go shaky.