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

During my planning and evaluation stages I used a number of different technologies. The first one is Blogger. At the beginning of AS I had no idea how to use blogger but I used it because I thought it would be a good platform to use to keep track of my work and to have a digital copy. I kept my work on Blogger organized by setting up labels for each section and this was very effective as it made it quick and easy to find what I was looking for on my blog. Now looking back on my blog I think it may have been even more beneficial to add more labels to create sub sections within the existing labels.

When planning my music video I used Apple’s Face Time to discuss ideas with part of my focus group. I used this because it allowed me to show them drawings and plans I had made of shot types and locations etc. It was very effective in helping me communicate essentially face to face when I was unable to actually be in the same place as them. This in turn was vital in helping me make decisions about my music video.

When shooting my music video I used a Soney HDR- HD 1000E. I used this camera because after making my thriller opening in AS I realized how unstable the small handheld cameras are and thought that this wouldn’t be appropriate this time around as I specifically wanted better shot stability. I also wanted control over the focus of the lens and knew that I would be able to achieve this easier through using the bigger Soney Camera. I am glad that I used this camera instead of the one used in AS, as the quality of my shots was a lot better and I liked the control I had over the focus on some scenes.

In AS my knowledge of Final Cut was very limited as I had never before used the software, I had previously only had knowledge in using iMovie. However I soon learnt how to add filters and transitions along with speeding up clips. This year, I thought I would try to expand on my Final Cut knowledge by using a green screen in my filming stages, which of course would mean I would have to correct the image in the editing stages. Although this was challenging and required a lot of research, I feel it was really beneficial to my video and my general editing skills. Learning how to use chroma keyer was hard at first, but something I am now proud to know how to use. When looking at what I would do differently in this stage, I can confidently say that taking more time to set up my positioning so that I had the widest shot possible would have benefited my production greatly.

I used Photoshop in both my ancillary texts and in my main product. I had never used this before and had no knowledge of how to edit images; therefore it took me a while to get to grips with the basics. I used it to generate a background image of the night sky, to put in over my green screen. I feel this worked fairly well but maybe with more experience I would have perhaps created a slightly better image. So for this reason, next time I would allow my self some time in the planning stages to research tutorials and explore the software some more. The same applies to my ancillary texts, which I feel could have been better if I had more advanced knowledge of the programe.

For one of my evaluation questions I used Padlet. I used it because I wanted a variety of ways to present my work and Padlet is really simple and easy to use. I think it was fairly effective at presenting my work. I also used Powerpoint and Slide Share, which was good for me because it was really familiar so it was easy to produce my work. I believe my podcast was effective because in todays busy world not many people have time to sit down and read a text but they quite often have time to listen to something on the go. Next time, if I were to make a podcast/video I would do it on a software which didn’t have a watermark so that the people who are watching it could view it better.