Evaluation 4How did you use media technologies

in the construction and research, planning and evaluation stages?

Note: this question requires you to screenshot all of the production processes you have undertaken (Photoshop, Final Cut, Wix etc). It also requires you to talk in depth about each stage – not just production. Don’t forget, this question is evaluative question – don’t just describe!

Research • As I was going to be creating a music video, as well as two other ancillary products ( a website and a digi-pak), I knew I

would be needing to conduct a series of research to ensure that each product would be made with a professional quality and project my creativity. My first research task was based on the ‘ History of Music videos’. As I did not know much about the history of music videos, to start my research I used my usual ‘go-to’ source for information, the internet. I specifically used Wikipedia and YouTube as my sources as Wikipedia allowed me to receive written information, while YouTube helped me visually learn and understand the history of music videos. I believe that for this task, although I am a usually a visual learner, reading factual information from sources such as Wikipedia, helped me to understand the history and creation of music video as the pages held valuable amounts of detail which I consume and condense into my own understanding. Which I was able to apply to this task and able to interpret the information into creating a timeline based on the development of music video across each time period. Not doubting that YouTube didn't help give me visual representations, allowing me to see the physical change and progress of music videos, but as this task required alot of written factual information, Wikipedia proved to be the better source. I had then used ‘Prezi’ as a way to present my work. I decide to use Prezi as I think it allows me to affectively present my work in a fun and interactive way, instead of being pasted directly onto my blog. I believe the format of Prezi allows my heavily scripted information to be consumed in a simple way , by the way the information is separated into bubbles with videos and images. I chose not to use Slideshare for this post as i did want to include video links, which Slideshare would not allow.

• Now that I had understood the history and devolvement of music videos, it was time to get a better understanding of current music videos by analysing them. This task would equip me to pay close attention to editing techniques and common codes and conventions that I would need to use or apply to my own music video. For this task i had once again used YouTube as my main source. Youtube had proved to be effective for this task as it would require me watching music videos and taking notes. Using YouTube to access music videos seemed as the best choice as i was able to search all types of videos from various genres all in one place. Another positive use for YouTube was that if I had searched a certain artists or style, they would recommend music videos from the same genre or same artists, saving me time when trying to look for a number of music videos to watch and analyse. However one limitation with YouTube, was the fact that certain videos may have been removed due to copy right laws. Also the adverts on the music videos, if they did not include a ‘skip button’ did prove to be time consuming and frustrating ,when sometimes i had accidently went to another song and tried to get back to the previous video., i would have to re-watch the advert before the music video started.

Research

• Although the song we had chosen to create a music video to was EDM/House, as we wanted to creative a narrative based around love themed lyrics, i knew that R&B/Pop songs mostly correlated their music videos around that theme. I had used Beyonce's ‘Halo’ music video to pick up on how they used mise-en-scen, editing and cinematography to project the theme of love and relationship through the lyrics, through their narrative. I had gathered that sometimes the visuals did not directly link however to work to infuse the theme or overall emotion of the song. For this task i had found it easier to use the building tools on Weebly such as embedding the music videos into Weebly, along with a slideshow of images on certain parts I had analysed from the video. Unlike last year where i had pasted everything into one ‘Research’ section having all my information, so that you had to scroll down to view, i had made drop down boxes foe each task. This helped me organise my website and allowed easier access to looking back at work for ideas or plans for the music video that i had uploaded onto the blog.

• As our genre would be based in EDM/House, i would have to educate myself on typical conventions and codes, style, editing , mise-en-scene and cinematography typical of this genre. I had once again used Wikipedia pages and Youtube. However this time i also looked at Slideshare presentation made by various other media students, who had also looked at styles and conventions from within this genre. This source was more effective than Wikipedia to me as i was able to understand and connect simple with the information as it was condescended easily for me to read by a student. I think the fact it was written by a student allows, myself as a student more understanding as we are use to the same language and understand ways to communicate information to each other better than professional sites such as Wikipedia. However the downfall of viewing other students slideshares available online would be the worry that their information was incorrect or misinterpreted . For examples I had views many slide shares that said narrative played an important part within House/EDM videos and some that said performance such as dance was a key aspect. This had led to my internal battle between having a full narrative based music video or adding performance elements. However once again to clear up my confusion I decide to look at patterns and editing techniques of my own by watching music videos from within these genres on YouTube. That way i was able to come up with a list of things i had noticed being a repeated across various music videos. For example one thing I had gathered was that EDM/house songs tend to edit their visuals to the tempo of the song.

Research• I had also used ‘Survey Monkey’ to gather information on who our target audience

would be along with what they would aspect to view from watching a House/EDM music video. By creating and using a Survey Monkey, i was able to get my first direct information from a source from within my local community ( the academy) and not an external source. The information I had also gathered from the Survey Monkey proved to be useful as they were direct questions created by our group on, helping us gain clarity on ideas we had by looking at peoples opinions on what they expect to see and least expect to see. However one fault with survey monkey would be the fact that it is an anonymous survey, where people may not take truthfully. For example information such as our target audience age group may be altered and not accurate if not answered honestly by the individuals. Also as we emailed our link around to the sixth form cohort, we had already limited our results as everyone within the cohort is between the ages of 16-18.

Research ( digi-pak and website)• When looking for inspiration into creating our digi-pak and website, I had once again chosen to use the

internet, as it was able to give me information quickly, proving to be more successful and not time consuming. I had specifically used Google images to look at digi-pak online. The downside of searching images of digi-paks were the fact that they were very limited and unclear to see the full structure. Now looking back at this research method, I think one thing i would change would be not only using Google images but actually going to stores such as HMV to look at digi-paks and physically see what they look like and how they are structured. Especially as it was hard to look at images for EDM/House genre digi-paks. However the internet was useful for searching and browsing other artist websites from within the genre I was researching . I had looked at AlunaGeorge’s website page along with Disclosure's , and gathered that their brand and style as artists were continuously been projected through the colour scheme and theme of their website, this informed me that whatever i design my website to look, it must reflect our bands personality and style.

• Overall for my research the internet had proved to be my most useful and effective source. This may be because it was the source i was most comfortable using and found easier to navigate around. However by mainly using the internet for information has limited a small part of my creativity, as i have only been influenced by certain things I have seen from online sources. i would have liked to research using various sources such as magazines, books or visits to music stores. I think the variety in my research would have helped create more of a variety to my creativity and possibly expanded my ideas to its full potential.

Planning• The next step from conducting research was to now plan the outcome for each product. As a group one of our first

planning tasks, was to create a group Pitch. For this pitch we had to include the overall plans for our music video, the song choice. We had not played our song during our pitch as we did not want to have any complications with YouTube during our pitch as it would throw off the group, however we did decide to give the title and artists name so that if people were interested, they could search the song and listen to it in their own time. We had used a PowerPoint slide to present out work, as we had done our specific topics separately and decide that using PowerPoint would be the best format to join all the information into one document.

• The next tasks were to create a song mood board as well as a genre mood board. For both of these mood boards i had used Google images to collect images that i felt reflected both what i wanted my music video to be like and what style and image i believe reflected the EDM/House genre. I believe using Google images for this task was the most effective as it is a browser that allows unlimited access and numerous images on any topic , object or being you wish to research on.

• Another source of technology that had become very useful during the planning stage was my mobile phone. I was able to use my IPhone to communicate with my group through an app called Whatsapp. The app allowed us to communicate effectively , through creating a group chat, where each member of the group could discuss and distribute planning tasks. During the course of planning all through to production Whatsapp played an important source with the organisation and communication within the group. By having the chat we were able to plan ahead for the week and also communicate not only in school but outside school to work on our productions. For example through Whatsapp we had worked out filming dates and organised meeting to go location scouting. I believe without this form of communication it would have been hard to communicate and work with the group outside school premises and helped limit confusion as it was an accessible chat to the group any time one of us needed help, working on something for the project.

Planning

• For our location scouting and casting we had to use the camera as we would be taking the images our self instead of getting them from Google. We used a Cannon 500D, along with a SD card to store our images. We used the Cannon 500D As it would allow us to take high quality images and alter the depth of focus to suit our personal needs, enabling us to use our creativity to its full potential. By going location scouting with Moriam allowed me to learn more on how to use the camera properly. As Moriam was more experienced than myself I had learned alot on how to use the camera ,to change the focus, how to alter the zoom and to record. In this case I saw that learning from my peer would prove more effective than to use the internet, as I would have someone to physically guide me through on how to use the camera than from a person on YouTube or a written document.

• Overall during my planning stage I would evaluate how once again the internet has played an important part to my planning. Using the browser Google, has allowed me to quickly have access to various sources that I may have needed for my work. I do however believe once again by only using Google images to find majority of my planning images, i did limit my exploration as I stuck to what I was comfortable with using, instead of venturing to search for something new.

Production• As this year I was editing the music video, along side Moriam, I would be using the software ‘Final Cut pro x’ properly

for the first time. Because it was my first time using ‘Final Cut’, once again instead of watching YouTube tutorials and written texts explaining how to use ‘Final Cut pro x’, I had used my peers and Mr Gourley to help me understand various tools within the software. The benefits of using this software to edit our music video, would be the developments we would be able to make to our Music Video. The software allows various use of editing tools which I could use to the extent of my creativity. For example we were able to use the ‘blade’ tool to create flashes between two video clips, allowing us to effectively create a transition and also allow us to edit the visuals at the start to the tempo of the song. We had also used the editing technique of slowing down or speeding up various shots to go to the tempo of the song. This effectively helped boost our production quality as by using the software we were able to conform to the genre stereotype of ‘ editing the visuals to the sound’, making our video appear to be more realistic and professional.

• We had used the same Cannon 500D Camera we had used to take photos during our location scouting. As the camera was the same, I was able to have a prior understand on how to use the ‘camera’ side, however I had limited experience with the ‘ recording’ side. I then learned how to record with the camera and how to adjust the focus to my required function. I had learned to do this from my group members who already had a more confident experience with using the camera. I was then able to apply my knowledge after being taught, by shooting the scene of Jess and Osa in front of our black and white location in Shoreditch. During this I had recorded the scene in auto focus, so that the quality of the shot would come out clear and not blurred. i was also able to experiment with the zoom, by capturing close ups and mid shots of the duo or Osa performing. I believe this chance to apply my knowledge was more effective than being verbally taught by my peers as I am able to apply my knowledge physically and also receive help one to one with one of my peers if I was not feeling confident with using a particular setting on the camera.

Production• I was also able to use the software ‘Final Cut Pro X’

• We also used Photoshop CS5 ( 64 bit) for the production of our digi-pak.

• We then used ‘ Wix’ to crate our website

Evaluation• For my evaluation, I have decide to use Prezi, Slideshare and my Blog to present my evaluation. I decided

to used Prezi as it was a website I have full experience using. It is a fun way to present my evaluation, as the website allows various themed templates that I can choose from to present my work. I am able to use Prezi to present my work as it allows me to not only have written information within the text bubbles but also add images and video clips, from YouTube. This way I can have evidence alongside my text of what I am discussing. It also allows a variation from my usual form of evaluation presentation of using Slideshare and my blog to present my work I have decide to use Slideshare once again to present my evaluation, as it is an easy and accessible format to present work.

• I have also decide to use my Blog to present my evaluation. I believe it would be effective to use the slideshow tool and the embed code, as an easy present my images and video links that I may be discussing during my evaluation explanation. I have decide not to use a Vodcast to present my evaluation for this A2 project question as I believe the amount of information I have will be harder to present though me speaking, as it is a huge amount I may forget to include something important. I also think that with the amount of information for me to speak on, I will constantly sound very monotone, which would sound boring to the examiner and would probably not be interested in what I would be saying.