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

During the research stages of my production I used various media technologies; internet, Prezi, SlideShare, cameras and premiere.

I used the internet to help gain information on music video key concepts and theory such as that from Laura Mulvey and Andrew Goodwin, as well as information on various equipment I may have needed to use throughout the process of my production.

I used Prezi to present all nine of my textual analyses as well as my equipment list and information as it’s easy to use and presents things in a visually impressive way as well as it allowing the audience to become more interactive when going through it. This allows for more freedom to obtain the knowledge you want to get, and due to the ‘zoom in, zoom out’ icon at the side, you can pay more close attention to certain parts of the presentation.

I used SlideShare when placing my reverse storyboard and iconic stills PowerPoints on to my blog, as it enabled me to take a regular PowerPoint which I made with various different slides, and put it onto my blog in a way that’s easy and still allows you to view each slide separately but still keeping the information together.

I then used a professional style camera to film a various range of shots which I then put in Premiere to edit. I did this to practice for when I edit my real product; I chose a section of footage to reverse so it played backwards. I then choose part of it to speed up, and put an effect called ‘ghost’ over the top to make it look more interesting. The final shots I made into a split screen which I later used in my final draft of my music video.

When planning the production of my music video I also used Prezi as an easy way to present my resource audit and premiere to allow me to put all my shots together for my auditions and so I was able to put the right images in the right place in time with the music to create my animatic.

In my planning I also used a scanner so I was able to put all my drawn drafts of my digi pack, magazine advert and storyboard on to my blog, as well as all my audience feedback forms and model release forms as proof to my actors consent to used them in my A2 coursework.
I also used Scribd so I was able to put a word document onto my blog without hassle; I used this for my risk assessment.

In the making of my magazine advert I used predominantly used PhotoShop to create it. I used mostly an Arial front so the important information was clear, putting the album title of ‘Pictures Of You’ in Lucia handwriting so it sticks to the brand associated with the new album; this allows it to be recognised by the audience as part of that housestyle.

After trying a few Polaroids I found on the internet, I finally decided to use PhotoShop to make my own; I used two separate boxes (one black and one white, the white being slightly larger with a much longer bottom), and used a back-drop shadow as well as making it look 3D as to make it look realistic. I then opened a jpeg of my album cover and placed it inside so it looked like I had taken a picture of the album.

On my magazine advert I used the internet to obtain images of the Twitter and Facebook icons so my audience would intantly and easily recognise I had posted their addresses on there.

For the front of my digi pack I also used PhotoShop, and I firstly cropped part of a tree from the background of a picture I had taken of Natalie on our photo-shoot, and used that as the background of the front and back of my digi pack after using the blur tool to make the text on top stand out more. I then again used the typical Arial for the band’s name which I placed within a Polaroid which I again made myself.

I then took a picture using a Canon digital camera of another camera of the same sort and selected, then deleted the background then placed it inside the Polaroid. I then edited out using the spot healing tool the word ‘Canon’ and replaced it with ‘Pictures Of You’ the album title.

In the middle of my digi pack I made another Polaroid and placed it in one of the sides at a slant, I then copied it and flipped it so it looks like there was a mirror down the inside of the digi pack. I then bought my own The Cure CD in and copied the intuitional information onto the inside.

On the back, I took six screen-shots form my music video and placed them in six Polaroids all randomly slanted across it. I then used the house style font of Lucia Handwriting to write out the other songs of the album; for this I used the internet to copy the songs of the Disintegration album which is the album Pictures Of You originally came off of.

I then made a 12cm by 12cm background, which is the size of a digi pack, and used the circle tool to create a circle fitting neatly inside. I then deleted the background and created another circle within the middle of the larger one; this was to make the CD for my digi pack.

I then put ‘The cure’ and ‘Pictures Of You’ in a white one on top of the other and created a slight gritty look to the background by double clicking on the layer and selecting ‘pattern’. I then selected ‘Stroke’ and put a white outline around the CD to make it look more genuine as I noticed most CDs have this.

For my music video I used a canon digital camera with a filter to enhance lens focal length so I could get a better shot of my main character whilst the background was slightly more blurred, this kept the focus more on Natalie, my actor and not on the scenes behind her.

Due to the times I arranged to film, I did not need to use any lighting equipment as I filmed either inside, during the day, or at a beautiful sunset. However, I shot one scene quite late which meant although you were able to see the shots; it was quite unclear and difficult to see if you had weak eyesight.

Therefore, once I had placed all my footage on Premiere, I used a contrast on the visual effects side bar to brighten and then contrast this section of the video so the shot became clearer and her expressions were easier to see.

In order to create a split screen for one of my shots, I placed one of my shots on a different layer directly above the shot I wished to share the split screen with and made then smaller. So they could fit within the screen, I cropped them both from the bottom and top till I was satisfied they were both the same size, and were evenly spaced within the box.

For the scene where my main female character is seen to be crying, I went to the effects at the side and selected visual effects, the image control and placed a black and white effect on this particular shot as to make it seem more emotional. This will set the mood for the end of the song, as it is the last shot with the female character in it, and will set the tone of their relationship to be quite tragic.

The song in my music video was over five minutes so to cut it down a little, I used the razor tool to cut up to the bit I felt necessary, then deleted the last 20 seconds or so as to make sure my video didn’t drag on to a tedious amount of time.