Evaluation Four

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

Media technologies have become a vital part in pre production, production and post production. It allows for effective research and planning, gaining feedback and the different elements of creating the music video.

When doing my initial planning for the music video I started off with using the internet and using websites such as YouTube, Vimeo, facebook and other music sites to understand and gain inspiration. The internet gave me a broad spectrum of different music videos and it allowed me to see what was effective and the different conventions. I was also able to use technologies such as Adobe Premier to put all the video’s that were inspirational to me together which allowed me to have a clear sense of direction of the type of video I wanted to produce. I was also able to make videos, animations to showcase other parts of my project.

The main tool that I used for planning was through the use of a blogging service called Blogger. It allows me to showcase and plan my work in a timely order and allows me to quickly navigate to my previous work using toggle tools and archives, allowing me to be organised with my work. Another aspect of blogger that I liked was the ability to update my blog over my iPhone. This meant that I was able to upload spontaneous posts if I was out and about and felt I had found something interesting and relevant. I also found using my phone was useful when I needed to distribute information to my actors. I was able to upload the information or convert my files into pdf on my phone and email it to them.

When researching I used programmes such as the conventional Microsoft word and PowerPoint, however I also used Prezi which is a zooming presentation device which allows me to fly around the screen which makes it more interesting and fun. I primarily did my research on Prezi as I was able to link thinks with arrows and have unlimited space to do so. It allowed my work to be clearly organised and shows the link of ideas. Any work that had important information regarding health and safety, location release and time scheduling I preferred to document on Word as it was more professional and the information would be easily read.

During the production of my music video I used a Cannon 550D and 500D.

I also increased the aperture to gain a depth of field; this made the footage visually appealing using a digital single lens reflex camera. These cameras are a lot smaller than the big production camera’s used to films which benefitted me as I had to be portal as I had various locations and had to travel. The high definition quality of the camera enabled me to film professionally which meant transferring the data onto memory stick to computer was easy. This meant that I was able to keep reshooting scenes that did not work without worrying about film and lack of memory.

I did not use any lightening equipment when shooting my music video as I wanted a more realistic tone to the video. In the dancer scenes I ensured the lighting was the same throughout by placing the camera in the right angles and directions.

I also used a tripod in many cases to steady the camera and enable my shots to be still when needed. The tripod also allowed me to pan and track straight, enhancing the visual quality of the video.  Another tool used was the shoulder mount. This equipment allowed me to take shots from different and unusual angles, such as the low angle shot of my artists face as he is looking around. This created variety in the shots for my music video making it more interesting for the audience.

For my post production I decided to use the programme Vegas Pro by Sony. I used this programme because I felt the features were more suited to my needs than Premier. I also felt the layout of the programme was more users friendly and I understood the programme more. Vegas allowed me to use a cutting and trimming tool and enabled me to see the exact timings of each short clip. It also allowed me to see the tempo and pitch of the song below which helped me trim my shots into the correct to the beat of the music. Vegas also allowed me to overlay and create scenes where they fade and cross over. There is a toggle tool that allowed me to change the intensity and the direction in which the face would go. Another useful tool on Vegas was the flash tool, it creates a white flash and I could also change the concentration of the flash hand the opacity. This was easier than editing my video on Premier and having to apply the flash on After Effects. One important tool whilst editing was the ability to slow and fasten clips, I wanted a disorientating feel whilst the artist was running around which I was able to do this using a timing tool. I also had a problem where some shots finished too early; with the timing tool I was able to drag certain parts of the clip out without affecting the rest of the clip. This allowed me to lengthen the clip in the appropriate places without it looking disjointed.

After the main editing of the music video I had to import it to the correct file using a converter. This is an example where technology has proven useful as without the converter the file would have been too big and would not have been compatible with some programmes. After converting the file and gaining final feedback I decided to use After-effects to add colour and gradient to my video which gave it the edgy and urban feel I was aiming for.

For the Digipak and Magazine adverts I decided to use the same camera as it was multipurpose. To edit and create my products I primarily used Adobe Photoshop Elements 8.0, this is a photo editing tool which has allowed me to lots of different effects, edits and make changes to my images which is crucial to making magazines. This programme advances over any programme such as paint which is very basic and limited. There are endless amounts of things I used on Photoshop but the prime tools that I used to create my production were tools such as layering, liquidation, clone tool and using the different gradient tools. Using the layering allowed me to create a picturesque look for my magazine advert, it allowed me to place different things on the layout such s text, secondary images and image effects. It makes it look more interesting and aesthetically pleasing to the eye. The clone tool was also useful to get rid of any impurities on my model or any unwanted imagery such as the rubbish bin that was in one of the images originally.