HOW DID YOU USE MEDIA TECHNOLOGIES IN THE

CONSTRUCTION AND RESEARCH, PLANNING AND EVALUATION STAGES?

I used survey monkey for my research, in particular my target audience research in order to find out what

they wanted from my products. I also used survey monkey in order to get audience feedback on my

almost finished products. This allowed me to see what was working with my products and what needed to be changed, and by using my target audience for this I

was able to make the most effective changes to make my product most appealing to its target audience.

I only used Animoto briefly due to the limitations of the presentation

software - I was only able to have thirty second presentations - this

meant that I used it very little. I did however use it to begin my research into the pop music genre. I did this in order to put together a brief idea of what would be expected from the audience of pop music listeners. It

enabled me to kick start my research and therefore ideas for my products.

I used Microsoft Word in collaboration with other technologies in order to

present them in a suitable way for my blog. However, in some cases it was essential for the information to be as clear as possible and Word was most suitable for this; an example of this is

my script and shot list. These were essential parts of the planning and I needed to ensure they were as clear as possible, thus I used Word. I used

Word in collaboration with other technologies such as SlideShare and

Tackk, this was to ensure that the documents were presented well for

my blog. I also used Word as a means to write drafts for various parts of my work, this was key in order to make

sure that they were as clear and informative as possible.

I also used Microsoft PowerPoint in my coursework; I did however, avoid use of this program due to the fact

that I wanted to ensure that I presented my work in a varied way. I did use PowerPoint in order to put my

ancillary products together for my target audience so that they could

answer a questionnaire which helped me to improve them. PowerPoint was a useful technology as it enabled me to present the images together with

clarity, making it easier for my target audience to look at them and thus

help me improve them.

I used Cyberlink PowerDirector for the initial editing and foundation of my music video. This was due to

the logistics of editing and the access to editing softwares. However, I did encounter several problems

with this software; this was due to the fact that the laptop I was using did not cope well with HD video,

making it crash several times whilst I used PowerDirector. This was obviously frustrating and

caused me huge delays, after completing the first full draft of my music video using this program I changed

and used iMovie for the finishing touches.

After having issues with a previous editing software during production - PowerDirector - I used iMovie for the finishing touches of my music video. This allowed me to take certain sections of the video and put a black and

white filter over them - this was in order to get the feeling of a memory. This was a suggested

improvement and although I had little experience with iMovie it gradually came together and the black and

white filter made it look much more professional. I also used iMovie for my animatic due to the way I could use

a theme - I copied this same style in my evaluation also.

I used Prezi several times, in both my research and my evaluation; this was an effective technology due to the fact that

it enabled me to present my research and explanations effectively. It also allowed

me to do them in a more interesting way than PowerPoint would of, thus making it a more interesting way of presenting my

work.

I used SlideShare in a number of ways through my coursework, I

initially used it as a way to make clear my script and shot types, but

later used it in order to upload PowerPoint presentations to my

blog. This was a very helpful feature about this technology: it

allowed me to use Word and PowerPoint and enabled me to

upload these to my blog through the technology of SlideShare. This

was most helpful as it helped combat the limitations I had

encountered from using Word and Powerpoint.

I used this technology, Glogster, this was a presentation software

which allowed me to use both text and images along side each other in a more noteworthy way. This was helpful as I use more essay based presentations in order to get the information across, however this allowed

me to do separate paragraphs in helpful and concise chunks

through the speech bubble and note paper images. This was

most helpful during my research. I used this most in my still image analysis as it meant I

could get the key information across in a clear and concise

way of presenting.

Popplet was also very useful during my production and evaluation as it meant that I could use a spider-diagram style which was helpful as I could get across just the basic ideas which would then

be used for the major ideas. Particularly in my production concept, it helped me to see what my idea was

for my music video as it clearly showed all my ideas, I only needed to figure out which ideas were best and

how to link them all together.

I did try to use Empressr which is a presentation software based online, this was good for simple and

to the point presentations, however, it was fairly limited and thus, I used it very little. It was effective

for my short presentation about my research into the record labels for my pitch. This was because I

only needed small amounts of key information and so a simple technology worked effectively for this.

I really liked this technology - Tackk - it meant that I could write as much as I needed

and present this information in a clear way. Although, it

does have some limitations as it is not as interesting as

perhaps Prezi was, but it did allow me to get enough information across in an

essay-style whilst including buttons e.g. the link to the

questionnaire as well as add images and bullet points. It was also easy to use and

embed on my blog and so was a very effective technology.

I used PowToon quite a bit, this was because it was a fun and more interesting way of presenting

research - in particular - and allowed me to use special effects e.g. the hand writing. It meant that I was able to have a more varied way of presenting my work. This technology was so effective for my

coursework because it allowed me to use text, pictures and special effects altogether; this made it

a much more interesting presentation than for example my presentation on Empressr.

Biteslide was a combination of both PowToon and Powerpoint; this is because it had a more stylistic

way of showing the slides than Powerpoint however, it didn’t have the same special effects as PowToon. Although, it was still an effective way of

presenting information because of the combination of images and text that I could use - but it did take some time to get used to the way

that it is set up. This was particularly effective for my research because of its clear presentation

style.

Padlet was very useful for getting my audience

feedback, this is because people seemed more

willing to post a comment rather than answer

questions. I used this several times at different points in my production in

order to ensure I was making my products as

conventional and appealing for my target

audience as possible. This was a good technology also as it allowed me to

post a video or photo that I wanted feedback on. This

meant it was all in one place and people find it

easier to comment on it.

I used iTunes in order to get the song for my music video, obviously

this is a fairly simple technology and ensured that the sound quality

of my music video was the best that it could be.

I used YouTube to upload my videos, this meant I could

embed them on my blog as well as share them over social networks to get more audience feedback. I also used YouTube

to view other music videos when I was doing my research.

Blogger was the technology I used the most because I put all of my coursework on my own

blog. This was helpful as I could access it in different places which made it easier to do,

however, to begin with it was difficult to embed and organise my blog. However, overall I have used this most effectively because it has all of my work on from each of the different areas -

research, planning, construction and evaluation.

I used Pixlr to edit the photos for my ancillary

products; this was important because I was

trying to challenge conventions slightly an, I

wanted to create a conventional consistent

theme, however, I wanted it to get across all the

emotions behind the album because this worked most effectively with the image

of the artist. Using Pixlr meant that I could enhance the photos in order to make

them look much more professional; it also meant that I could use a vignette filter on all of my ancillary products to begin to create

a consistent theme.

I used Voki in order to make my audience feedback a little more interesting; it was important to

comment on the audience feedback that I received, instead of doing this with a voice recording I decided to use Voki to

say what I needed to say but with characters (as shown below). I thought this would make the audience feedback a little more interesting. The technology was fairly simple to use also and helped

to vary the way I presented my feedback.

I decided to use Wordle when writing about my target audience questionnaire; this is because I thought it would be important to focus on the question about

what they would find appealing in a pop music video. I wanted to do this in a more creative way, I used Wordle so that I would get the most important words and ideas from this question. I though that using a Wordle would

allow me to see the major ideas and things that I needed to include to make it as appealing as

possible.The Wordle was most effective in doing this.

I used TimeToast whilst completing my research into the genre; it was important

to be well informed and looking at the history helped

with this. This was an interesting way to present

this information, this is because it meant that the way it progressed could

easily be seen - making it clear and understandable. This was an effective piece of technology and allowed me to use text alongside

images in a timeline style.