Evaluation question 4

Evaluation question 4How did you use new media technologies in the construction, research,

planning and evaluation stages?

Tyana Rodney

New media technologies have influenced and played a large role in the construction of my media product throughout out all the stages of production including the research stages, planning stages and the post production stages. The use of new media technologies were able to provide me with means of gathering information as well as provide platforms to display this information. New media technologies also provided me with a variety of methods and outlets when wanting to be more creative with the construction of my product as a whole.

There are several new media technologies which were used throughout all the stages of the construction of my product and there are a select few new media technologies that were only used during specific stages.

The media technologies I used during the construction of my product where able to help all stages run more smoothly as well as speed up certain aspects to production and provide an easy way to access the information required.

Soundcloud.comConsidering that I chose to produce a music video as my final product it was important for me that I chose a song that would be able to work well with my idea. As a part of the research and planning stages I decided that before I began planning my idea in detail I would need to secure my song choice and allow the song I chose to guide my creative ideas. In order to secure my song choice I decided to use online music website Soundcloud. I felt that soundcloud would be the one of the better websites to use as it has a large data base of music that can be easily accessed, the music featured on soundcloud also covers a wide variety of genres so I was confident that this website would enable to find a song choice that I would be happy to feature as a apart of my final product. Soundcloud features music from know artist but it also allows armature musicians and independent groups to post their music on the website. The use of this technology was perfect for my planning stages as during my research stages is decided that I did not want to feature music in my final product that was well known or recent as I felt this would make my music video less original and could potentially cause it to feel less professional as the audience would be likely to compare my music video with the official one if I used a recent song.

I feel that this digital technology was able to benefit me during research and planning as it allowed me to identify my chosen artist and browse their music until I found a song that I felt was a suitable choice.

Research and planning

YouTube.com

During the pre-production stages of my production I feel that YouTube heavily influenced my ideas whilst carrying out my research and planning. During my AS production I used YouTube as a way to research existing product and during the research and planning of A2 I felt that using YouTube again would be an effective method of researching. I used YouTube in order to watch existing music videos of artists that were similar to my chosen artist in relation to style and/or genre of music. This was able to benefit me whilst planning as I was able to identify form and convention that I would be able to recreate in my final product. Using YouTube during the research stages was also able to expand my overall levels of creativity and certain videos inspired my ideas. It was also useful as some video I watched influenced me in terms of what I did not want to include in my product. YouTube also uses a recommended video feature which I used as a way to access more videos that I was unfamiliar with. Research and planning

In addition to research and planning I also used YouTube during the production stages, whilst constructing my music video YouTube was the place in which I placed my edited videos which I could then feature on my blog. Having a YouTube channel with all my videos acted as an archive as I was able to easily look back and see what I had filmed in the past and identify areas of improvement as well as areas that I was pleased with. The channel where I keep my completed videos also have my videos from AS level including some of my evaluation questions which also allowed me to look back and notes ways in which I have progressed and ways I which I could do better during the A2 production process.

Blogger is a media technology that has been present throughout all the stages of production whilst constructing my final product. During the research and planning stages blogger allowed me to post my findings, in general blogger has also provided me with a way to document the progress that I have made since the beginning stages. Whilst completing my AS production I also used blogger so during my A2 production I was aware of the significance of blogger and that I was important that I kept my blog up to date.

Blogger allowed me to easily view previous post and looking back at work that I had already finished which was able to help me identify what I needed to complete as well as look back and identify areas that could be improved as I progressed further.

Blogger was a very useful media technology as it allowed to log progress and track research, it also provided me with a way to document practice projects and manage my time effectively.

Flip Mino HD 720p The main media technology that I used when filming my production was my flip video

camera. I have previously used this video camera during my AS production so I was familiar with how this technology worked and I felt comfortable when obtain the shots that I needed. This technology allowed me to take a shot and quickly assess them once the recording was complete, I felt that this was beneficial to the construction of production as I was able to easily look back on what I had filmed, this was able to save time and help me identify areas of improvement whilst still on location. I also used this camera when filming my evaluation questions, again this camera was easy to used which was able to help speed up the process of my response.

The flip camera has the feature of the built in USB connector so once my filming was completed I could connect the camera directly to my laptop and transfer the files ready for editing. This made the processes of uploading my clips much easier considering that I did not need to worry about linking up different cables.

iPhone During all stages of my production and throughout I used my this digital technology constantly. Whilst in the research and planning stages my phone allowed me to access blogs, video and a variety of media which was able to inform me about the range of media texts that there were available to audiences. In relation to production I also used my phone frequently, when forming my ancillary texts I used my phone in order to take the image and I also used my phone to edit it so I looked the way that I wanted to. I also used my phone when filming for my evaluation questions, for example for my audience feedback I decided to used my phone to record the responses rather that set up and camera and tri-pod considering that I was only going to be talking to them for a few minutes at a time. With the use of an application this digital technology allowed me access blogger whilst I was away from a desk top computer or laptop. I felt that this benefited me as I was able to write and blog post and add information to my blog more freely which helped me to keep my blog up to date.

Social mediaI feel that social media is a digital technology that was able to influence my production during the planning stages as well as the productions itself. Social media platforms allowed me to connect with a variety of bands that were similar to my chosen artist. Visiting their social media pages was able to provide with a way to access band images and listen to more music, doing this was able to inform with the kind of image that these types of bands typically portray. This benefited me as when planning and filming and had a more clear image in my mind of the type of video that I was wanting to create.

Social media also allowed me to directly connect to my chosen artist when gaining permission to use their music in my final piece and without this digital technology contacting the band would have been a much more lengthy process however, the use of twitter and Facebook made it much more simple.

Generally speaking I would say that the use of social media also helped influence my overall creativity during production which help when constructing my music video as it was able to expose me to a variety of images some of which I felt would be effective within my piece, for example the time-lapse footage at the beginning of my piece was influenced by a video I saw on twitter.

In addition I also used social media as a way to carry out research for my ancillary texts, from various bands social media accounts I was able to easily access their website homepages and links to any advertisements. I was then able to apply what I found when constructing my own homepage and magazine advertisement.

Production /research and planning

Serif movie plus

This digital technology was the main software in which I used when editing my final production. During the A2 task I carried out several short practice tasks for various reasons and this gave me more opportunity to practice different editing techniques. During AS I had also used this digital technology when editing so I felt conformable and assured when editing my clips as I was confident that when using this software I would be able to manipulate my clips in order to achieve the outcome that I desired.

This editing software is sophisticated and provided me with a wide variety of features that I used when crafting my music video in the final edit. Examples of features that I used when editing my music video was reversing shots and playing with the speed of shots as well as adding cross fades. I feel that serif movie plus provided me with the means of forming my music video in the way that I wanted in relation to aesthetic as well as when portraying the story of the characters. Serif allowed me to preview clips before I placed them on the editing track which was able to save time and allowed me to make sure I was happy with the clip and wanted to include it which I feel saved time and stopped me making mistakes.

When editing my evaluation questions in used widows movie maker as this was the software that I had on my laptop. Considering that my evaluation questions did not require any complex editing techniques I felt that widows movie maker provided me with the tools that I needed to piece together my responses.

Wix.com When constructing my ancillary text I used the web page maker, wix.com. The new media technology allowed me to assemble my own web site home page according to how I wanted it to look. Wix was very simple and easy to use yet it was still able to provide me with a professional feel. It included features such a social media bars and sound cloud clips which when combined was able to give my website home page a more realistic feel. Wix also allowed me to add my own imagery which further allowed me to craft my website home page in a way that was more relevant to my chosen artists.

I feel that this new media technology was really useful in the process of constructing my ancillary text and its simple format allowed me to move items fluidly and change the layout as a wished which was helpful as if I researched a different home page and wanted to add certain aspects to mine this was easily achieved.

Quicksurveys.com

Another new media technology that I used was quicksurverys.com, I used this website as a way to gain some audience feedback in relation to my video and one of my ancillary being my website home page. I found this website to be a very useful method of obtaining audience feedback. When beginning to plan my surveys I was unsure as where I should start and what questions should include however the use of this website was able to make it more clear to me the kinds questions I could ask as this website provided a variety of templates which gave me inspiration as to what questions I wanted to ask. The website allowed me to ask closed and open questions along with altitudinal scales and rating bars. I feel that this mix of question style was able to make my questionnaire more interesting and give me more variety when analysing feedback.

This new media technology was useful to me ask it was a good way to gain audience feedback from a variety of participants.

Evaluation stages In relation to my evaluation alone, I did not use any use any unique new media technology software or hardware. As similar to my AS production, during the evaluation stages of my A2 media production I used a mix of all the digital technologies I had used of my production as a whole. For example, I used hardware such as my phone and video camera in order to film my responses as well as featured websites for inspiration and blogger as a way to document my progression of the evaluation process.

Conclusion Overall it can be noted that the construction of my product throughout all stages was heavily influenced by new media technologies and without them I would not have been able to achieve the outcome that I desired.

When combined, all of the new media technologies that I used were able to provide me with creativity and the means of producing a music video, website and magazine advertisement that when paired together are an effective promotional package for my chosen artists.

I feel that how I used all of the technologies mentioned was able to benefit me as I used them in ways that utilized the features that they provided me with which ultimately allowed me to construct my product and execute it with a professional aesthetic.