Evaluation question 4

1. EVALUATIONQUESTION 4
HOW DID YOU USE MEDIA TECHNOLOGIESIN
THE CONSTRUCTIONAND RESEARCH,PLANNING
AND EVALUATIONSTAGES?
BY STEFANO TOWELL

2. INTRODUCTION
Technologies have been the backbone of our media coursework this year as they
have expanded our potential with creativity as well as innovation out into
practice. Since the research stage at the beginning of the year, technology has
always been used to its full potential to ensure our production can fulfil our
ambitions. A major aspect about technology is that it is so expansive that it can
range from editing software that we use in our production to a twitter account we
have made for our band. There is so much to discuss in regards to technology,
in this presentation I will discuss how it has been used in our research, planning,
production and post production stages of our coursework,

3. RESEARCH
One of the major technologies that helped my group in the researching stage would of course be
the internet. The internet is packed full of information, resources as well as inspiration that we
could pick to create a fantastic production in the eye of the audience. Watching music videos
produced from famous artists and bands were something that we wanted to aspire to produce
something similar as music video particularly published onto YouTube tend to be very popular
with viewers attracting millions of views depending on the popularity of the artist. Amateur
music video were also on our agenda as we had to think realistically as of course we would
want to produce a high quality music video but we had no where near the budget of famous
artists and their music videos so amateur band and music video would be something we could
maybe rival with and produce something of similar quality. I have linked a post of music video
styles which is something that was very beneficial in the research stage including discussing
performance, concept and narrative video styles. Music video Styles Blog Post
As filming a music video would be very much different to filming an opening film sequence, we
had to research common and effective shots that are generally used in music videos so we
went online as a group to find frequently used shots and to put them onto our blogs so we
could go back to them when producing our shot list as well as pre production planning.

4. A lot of the research was actually brainstorming ideas and concepts that we were already
familiar with but needed to discuss as a group to get valuable ideas. My group does take
great interest in the music industry, music videos in particular as we all watch them online.
The fact that we all have that background knowledge makes the process a lot more
efficient as well as effective as it would be easier for us to come up with ideas as we were
already familiar with what the music industry creates. In fact, the inspiration for our logo
goes back to Enter Shikari with it being similar to their CD cover for their album ‘A Flash
Flood of Colour’. This shows that our research involved looking at other bands digipaks
and posters to get ideas for our own. Our music taste is expansive throughout the group
so we can take points and ideas from each member to create a large brainstormed plan.
Web tools were used to present our findings and plans onto our blog including
applications like Prezi, Slideshare, Soundcloud and Padlet. Using web tools expands our
knowledge of the technology but also makes our blogs better aesthetically for people to
view.
Researching ideas and concepts made
planning which was he next stage a lot easier
as we had a blueprint of ideas as well as a
starting point when going into creating a music
video. The internet was a very beneficial
starting point as almost anything an be
researched upon with inspirational ideas being
able to be captured into developed into

5. PLANNING
Planning being the next stage started to involve more technology into the mix with software a
well as equipment starting to be used. Like the research stage, the internet was a large
benefactor to this stage as we put a great deal of our planning work into blogger as well
as drafting ideas and concepts. Skype conversations with two contacts of our teacher
who have expertise in media that would benefit us in capturing our audience.
Our teacher also wanted to get us as a group up to grips with filming so a few preliminary
tasks were conducted to test our filing as well as editing skills. Adobe Premiere Pro also
came into the mix for the planning stage as an editing task to sync a piece of music and a
video clip was made which can be seen by viewing the link. Editing Exercise Blog Post
Camera work and editing was coming into the mix as it helped us think of ideas in our
planning stage which was very beneficial. Once we had chosen our song(s) for our
production, we were set a lip syncing task which involved playing the song with a view of
or lips singing the song in time to show that we understood the concept of how it would
work in the music video. It was difficult to begin with however we all gave it a go once we
got the hang of it and edited the footage with our chosen songs in the background. The
blog post is also viewable by clicking on the link. Lip Sync Exercise Blog Post

6. Going back to the Skype calls we had, they did give us a great understanding of
how to capture the audience’s attention and the outline on how to make a
comprehensive and impressive music video. The two conversations our
class had were on two separate occasions with two separate contact who
work in the profession and have great industry knowledge. The simplicity of
how it was set up using Skype is worth mentioning it was a form of video
conferencing which benefited everyone in the group by using a simple
application to make it possible. Technology in our coursework started to
emerge further in the planning stage but the production stage is when it
really boomed in how effective it was.
One of our Skype interviews with
Ian Houghton of Handsome Design.

7. PRODUCTION
The production stage of the coursework really was when all the technology combined
together to help construct the coursework. We as a group were filming shots fro our
music video over a period of around 4 weeks with the Conon 700D Camera, a high
quality piece of equipment that boosted the look of our music video. Of course we
gained our experience with the camera last year when we created our opening film
sequences which made production a lot slicker this time around. We would transfer
the footage from the camera onto our working PC by inserting the SD card and
putting all of our collected footage into out own file organised in a efficient way.
Internet technologies were also
at the helm with blogger being
updated regularly with
information as well as updates
from our production being
posted. We even went the
route of creating a twitter
profile for our band
‘Overexposed’ which group
member Daniel Bruce did and
put onto his blog.

8. Going back to the production of our music video and how media technologies were involved
would bring in the two main programs we used to put together and edit all of our footage
to create into the music video. Starting off with Adobe Premiere Pro CS6, this was the
most important piece of software we used as it had so many features to edit and create a
top quality media production. We had experience from last years task so getting into the
midst of editing was simple especially after also creating the lip sync exercise as well as
the editing task just a few months before.
Connor Crosby was selected main editor due to his experience
and ease at using the program. The positives for using this
program is that it is expansive, relatively simple to use as well as
a professional program to create a high quality piece of work
even though it has caused us a few minor problems regarding
lagging and speed when rendering the videos. Adobe Photoshop
was also used when editing photos as well as editing parts of the
music video which came in very handy especially when waiting to
incorporate our band logo into some of the audience shots. It
was also used for creating out digipak and magazine poster
which was very beneficial as we believe we created them to a
high standard. Of course it helped having someone experience
being main editor but we all felt that after the editing process we

9. Here are some images of media
technology being used to create and
edit our ancillary tasks including the
digipak, magazine poster and
promotional poster. Programs including
Adobe Photoshop were used to
manipulate images and text to
customise them to our band. We used
the same font as The 1975 so with the
aid of Photoshop, we could select the
text we wanted to spell the words we
wanted including Overexposed and the
date of the album debut. Without the
use of this media technology, this would
not be able to achieve so we are
pleased that it was available for us to
use.
USING MEDIA TECHNOLOGIES IN DIGIPAK

10. USING MEDIA TECHNOLOGIES IN MUSIC VIDEO
As mentioned before, media
technologies including Adobe
Premiere Pro and Adobe
Photoshop were used heavily in
the production stage to create out
music video. Editing and adding
effects on the clips we imported
was very easy and trouble free
meaning we were able to power
through the editing stage of
production while at the mean time
keeping a high standard. Text
such as the hashtag and the
words at the start of the song
were easy to create as well as
colour match. We used Adobe
Photoshop to create the bands
logo and incorporate it into
Premiere Pro where the music
video was being edited. Connor
our main editor found both
programs easy to operate with
the support of myself, Daniel and

11. Also mentioned before was the
Twitter profile that James created
gives the audience information about
future events as well as tweeting the
hashtag #SGIM which will help
promote the song on a social media
platform. We believed having a
hashtag will get people talking about
the song as its easy to remember.
Another feature involving media
technologies mixing with social media
is the QR code we created which
allows views to scan it (it is found on
the magazine poster) and it will direct
them straight to Daniel’s blog as he
has done extra work to promote and
create a name for the band. We
thought including these extra features
will show interest in wanting to get the
band up and running as well as being

12. POST PRODUCTION
Post production eased slightly on the amount of technology we used however it was more
concentrated and more dense on the internet side. We made more regular posts to
Blogger about post production analysis as well as our ancillary tasks. I found in particular
that the Blogger layout was very beneficial in its organisation and aesthetical features
which can be altered in its design. I have nothing negative to comment on Blogger as it
has always been helpful and I am glad that I was able to publish my work using this
internet application.
Of course audience feedback would involve media technologies a we had to show our
production on the editing software in pre cut and finished versions filing the analysis and
reaction. Both times we were easily able to assemble a group of peers as well as the
teacher to make comments as well as their own opinions on our work which was very
beneficial as we would then further improve our work based on what they said as they are
a portion of the audience we are targeting. The footage was again recorded on the Canon
700D and uploaded and edited on Adobe Premiere Pro to make matters smoother. Our
Pre cut audience feedback video can be seen by clicking on this link; Pre Cut Audience
feedback Blog Post. Soundcloud was also used to evaluate our work as we found it a
more spontaneous way of presenting our work. Its an easy application to use where
sound can be recorded and embedded onto our blogs making a good web tool to use.

13. As mentioned before, web tools were very useful in the planning and
research of our coursework, as well as to shape our coursework on the blog.
There were many that I used throughout the course, some being online and
some external programs. Beginning with the online web tools, programs
such as Prezi and slideshare were very beneficial as they project the work in
a much more appealing manor that simply writing on the blog. Prezi has
many different templates to choose from and forms a presentation where
different slides go in different shapes to form a presentation which can be
easily guided through when completed. Slideshare is similar however it used
Microsoft PowerPoint to create the presentation and then creates a copy that
can be viewed online. These two in particular were my favourites to used
however there were more such as Pinterest and Sound cloud that helped me
structure my blog. Pinterest is great for posts containing a lot of images as
you can pin up an image and discuss underneath it which makes it very
simple for the viewer. Sound cloud was beneficial and was used particularly
in narration videos such as Evaluation question 2 where we narrated over
images of our production which created a professional presentation.
Other web tools such as the Adobe products, Premiere Pro, After Effects
and Photoshop were beneficial in the editing and construction of our pop
promo as we could create a professional looking product with their assist.
Photoshop was used when manipulating images to put into our production
such as our logo as well as our ancillary tasks where we created the poster
and digipak to go alongside our video. It is a very useful and eventually
simple program to use after some practice. After effects was used not on the
same scale as Photoshop however it helped with adding that extra special
touch to the images we edited on Photoshop which contributed to the
outcome. Lastly Premiere Pro was used to construct the video in editing
which we all had experience from AS. This program was fantastic to use as it
didn’t pose so much of a challenge to use but it has helped us create a
professional looking video. Our soundtrack was also incorporated into
Premiere Pro where we cut the three songs and made smooth transitions
between all three. We thought it would be easier to manage our video this
Web tools

14. CONCLUSION TO QUESTION
Overall I believe that the media technology that was available for us to use was very
beneficial and worth while us using as it structure our work to achieve a high quality
production which I myself and the rest of my group are very proud of. From the
editing software to Blogger itself, it has all been very efficient for us to use and
complete our work with. It was all a learning curve but since we gained some
valuable experience from last years coursework, it was easier for us to settle into this
task as most of the technology to use was familiar to all of us.