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

1. How did you use media technologies
in the construction and research,
planning and evaluation stages?
Evaluation Question 4

2. Edublogs – Research and planning
Using this site became very useful for the presentation of my work and also my AS work.
Using this site was beneficial as this site is very simple to use and get around on so I wasn’t
going through any trouble to publish any work of different formats and styles, whether being
paragraphs, images or video links. Using this was very efficient on time and Computer storage
as you could upload images and they wouldn’t be lost. This site allowed me to post from any
time of day from any device whether its my mobile, my laptop or tablet.
Using this site I could change the theme and appearance of the blog to best suit my
preferences and make it more personal so not all blogs are the same in layout, colour scheme or
forms. Adding categories to my work made finding and organising my work a lot more
professional so I was able to know what went where so I could easily find it to look back on.

3. Edublogs – Research and planning
As when I uploaded work it would save in time order and it would
be easy to navigate my way around to find pieces of work. And the
uploads would all save no matter what format they were, so if you
hadn’t finished a piece fully, you could come back to it later on
which I found very useful.

4. Google Chrome – Research and planning
Using google(chrome) I have been able to develop my research and knowledge
throughout A2 as using this, I have been able to start with the very simple things, such
as ‘What is a digipak?’ and Finding any secondary research which may benefit me.
Using the internet, I gained a broader understanding of music videos and for looking
at themes for the narrative. I also used google when I was looking into my target
audience to help me find radio stations that actually broadcast the type of music I
composed.
I also used google to help widen my knowledge on codes and conventions and when I
was composing, I used it for any suggestions when composing a world music song.

5. YouTube – Research and planning
With YouTube, I used this many times throughout my planning stages as
through YouTube I was able to find many music videos of very different
genres to inspire me, and when I was researching into Andrew Goodwin's
music video theory, I was able to find one of each type. One issue I did find is
that there isn’t many music videos for world music style songs however I found
videos that use that type of music. YouTube offered Professional products
which I could analyse and benefit from as it has a simple search bar and the
ones that are popular results are usually at the top and are 9/10 what you are
looking for.

6. Using YouTube was very efficient as it is accessible from all platforms and
devices so while I would be doing one bit of work I could have YouTube on in
the side performing a different task. Using my phone meant I could get
audience feedback without having to load up a computer and this meant I
could write the feedback down or even look at the YouTube comments section
to get feedback.
With YouTube, you can watch the videos in HD meaning you wont miss any
small details and thanks to the quick buffering speeds you can watch the video
all the way through and go back to repeat sections.
YouTube – Research and planning

7. Vimeo – Research and planning
With Vimeo through my research and planning stages I found this very useful
as I was able to look at other A2 music Videos and I was able to upload any
work that I did such as the results to the target audience questionnaire. I also
used Vimeo to upload my final production piece so that I could upload it onto
my blog.
Vimeo was effective and decent as it allowed high quality videos of all different
formats. And I could easily navigate around and uploads didn’t take very long.
So even when something was uploading you could be working on something
else while it uploads.

8. Emaze – Research and planning
I used Emaze throughout much of my research and planning stages especially
for looking into codes and conventions and for looking into my ancillary tasks.
Emaze was a simple yet effect presentation method in which just like Prezi the
slides would smoothly transition to one another. One issue is that there isn’t a
comments section so anyone who views you presentation cant give any
feedback. This software was simplistic and was efficient for quickly creating a
presentation without going through much hassle to make it look professional.

9. Slideshare – Research and planning
Throughout my blog and research and planning, I only used Slideshare once for
my work on Digipak Analysis. Slide share is a way of uploading your Microsoft
PowerPoint and sharing it to a wider audience. It is quick to upload and if you
weren’t uploading you could just create one on Slideshare. Using Slideshare you
were able to gain audience feedback from anyone who viewed what you had
uploaded if it was made public.
Through Slideshare you were also able to search for any that presentations that
may go towards research that someone has already carried out and may benefit
your work. This provides a professional base to upload onto Edublogs.

10. Prezi – Research and planning
Using Prezi I found this the most professional of the presentation sites. Prezi is a
simple way of presenting and there are many different themes you can choose before
creating a presentation or you can start with a blank template and work on it from
scratch. Using Prezi there is fluent transition between slides. It is possible to upload a
previously made PowerPoint but if you want it to look at the best possible standard
you are best of going from scratch. I used Prezi for many tasks such as my evaluation
questions, various codes and conventions. Copying the link onto Edublogs was simple
and any one could view it. The only issue was in school Prezi had a tendency to
disconnect, but luckily to the very useful auto save feature I never lost any work.

11. Garage Band - Construction
This Apple Mac software enabled me to compose my Music for the music
video. Using a Midi keyboard I was able to input all the parts, from Drums
through to piano. Garage band was a simple software to use as it enabled me to
input the parts and then created parts underneath. I was able to change the
dynamics and change the levels of which instruments came out as so that one
part didn’t play louder then the others unless that’s what I planned. Garage
band offered many different instruments so I was able to use the instruments I
wanted and I could of easily used many others that were provided from the
extensive list of instruments and sound effects.

12. Premiere Pro - Construction
Adobe Premiere Pro is an editing software used in the professional industry and in many schools. I
used this software throughout the construction of my music video as the first thing I did was put in
the music I composed and worked on the footage after that. One issue with this was there was no
way of seeing when the first beat of the bar would be as I had to make sure the shots were in time
with the music, by doing this it made my product much more professional. Premiere Pro offers
effects and transitions which you can use so throughout I used the fade to black and various others
such as slow down, black and white, grid and circle. You can also add titles however I didn’t for my
music video. Through using key frames you can change when things happen such as brightness,
speed, contrast and much else.
Using software's like windows movie maker wouldn’t compare to this as it is very professional
however some formats of footage aren’t always accepted which I was unfortunate enough to find
out. So when it came to exporting I just had to find what would actually work which was quite time
consuming.

13. With premiere pro I also used this when filming the tester shots, in which I put
in text to say what was happening and how it will benefit me or not. To export
it would open up Adobe media encoder which would export to a suitable
format for uploading to vimeo. Or If there were shots to be put into a suitable
format for premiere pro I would use the encoder for that process as well. once
the format changed uploading to vimeo was quick and simple and sustained the
professional quality.
Premiere Pro - Construction

14. Adobe Fireworks - Construction
For my ancilliary tasks, I used fireworks as I wasn’t sure how to use photoshop
and this turned out to be a simple platform that may not be as technical as
photoshop but for what I was doing I didn’t need loads. Once I knew the sizes
of the blank canvas I would need, I would start working on my tasks and it was
simple adding images, texts and shapes. Fireworks have an effective guideline
that if it is in line with an object next to it it will level it up with it. Using
fireworks gave the professional look I intended and then when I had finished
was able to save the image as a JPEG to be uploaded onto my blog.

15. Final Evaluation
For my final evaluation, I Had four questions, for the first two questions I used Prezi as there are many
different templates that can be used so no presentation is ever the same. Even though the site would have
a habit of going offline, the work saves so I never had any step backs or obstacles. Using prezi made my
work look more professional and made it more interesting and eye catching the the reader as if it was dull
and plain then reading would get boring and that’s what you want to try and avoid.
For the 3rd question of the evaluation I used premiere pro as I recorded myself speaking and answering
the question about audience feed back. With the last audience feed back; the focus group, I also used
premiere pro as I uploaded the recording of the group and added the questions onto a black screen before
showing the answers.
For this, my final evaluation question, I will be using Slide share to display and show my final evaluation
question as it is a professional platform that can show the work I did on PowerPoint online with no errors
and can leave it open to audience feedback.

16. Conclusion
Overall, I feel through the use of these various media technologies I have been able to
make my research and planning and my construction much more professional to make
it into the industry. Through utilising the technologies they have been effective in
targeting and interacting with my audience in a way which never used to be available.
Though these I have been able to not only find out codes and conventions, but also
put them into practice and for each technology and little detail, I embellished my work
into a more professional Blog.
From the tasks I chose throughout this course I have been able to successfully
complete them using the technologies and software's I just spoke about.