1. Evaluation 4: How did you use media
technologies in the construction, research,
planning and evaluation stages?
Blog
Throughout the course I uploaded the work I had completed onto my blog. My
blog address is www.harrywhitea2media.blogspot.com. I used the blog to post work
I carried out for planning and research, construction and my evaluations. I found that
when it came to constructing a predominantly text based document on Blogger, it was
easier to create the document using Microsoft word, upload it onto a website called
Slide Share, and then embed the document onto Blogger that way. I found that this
technique presented my work in a nicer manner as well as making the layout of my
blog neater. I organised my work with the use of “Labels”. You can add a label to a
new post on your blog by clicking the appropriate label. This allows the viewer to
navigate around the blog more easily and also helps to keep my work in order and
organised. You can see the step-by-step method of how to label your posts from the
screen shots below
First, I ticked the post I wanted to apply the label to. Then I moved my mouse
to the “Label Actions” tab and pulled the tab down. Here you get the options list of
existing labels that you have set up. I then selected the label I want and then it
organises that post under the selected label. This technology has been very useful in
helping me organise my blog.
Music Video

2. Camera
When it came to shooting our music video we had the opportunity to use one
of the schools Sony HVR-HD1000E video cameras (see picture below) as apposed to
the Sony Handy cams. The fact we were able to
use this much higher quality camera enabled us to
complete shots such as handheld shots, without it
being too shaky for the viewer. If we were to do
the same shots with a handheld camera it would
have looked unprofessional, as the footage would
have been too shaky. During filming we used
three different Mini-DV tapes, as apposed to
Mini-HDV tapes. We came to this decision
because you can run into a lot of different problems with compatibility when you use
Mini-HDV tapes. Another contributing factor to our decision was the cost factor.
Mini-HDV costs around ten times more than a standard Mini-DV. When capturing
footage in HD it is not consistently possible to capture in real-time (depending on the
speed of your processor) and therefore this could have in theory slowed down our
capturing process. As we had captured over 3 hours of footage this would have
amounted to a lot more than we would have wished to have spend on capturing.
Considering this was the first
time I had used a Sony HVR-
HD1000E video camera, I feel that
I picked up its functions pretty
quickly. I experimented a lot with
the lens to make shots in and out of
focus, which we later incorporated
into our music video. You can see
an example of an out of focus shot
from our music video to the left.
Lighting
As previously mentioned in evaluation 1, we did not feel that the use of
artificial lighting was needed in our music video. This decision came about for a
number of reasons. Firstly we filmed on two separate days, both of which were in
summer and had very sunny weather throughout both shoots. Secondly as convention
of acoustic music videos is minimal artificial lighting or none at all. As previously
mentioned in my evaluation 1, we decided against using any artificial lighting so our
music video could tap into this convention of acoustic music videos. Another reason
was that even if we did choose to use lighting, we did not have any lights readily
available. We would have needed to rent some, which could be quite costly. The
location we filmed out was a park and so had no sources of electricity. This was
another problem that put us off the idea of using artificial lighting in our music video.
One lighting/camera technique that we did use
was using the suns flare in several shots. This was a
technique we found out by experimenting in the
location on a sunny day during pre-production. An
example of a flare shot can be seen to the right.
Sound

3. As the footage we had captured was ultimately going to be part of a music
video, we had to add our chosen artist’s song into the editing software Final Cut Pro.
We imported the song into Final Cut Pro as soon as we started the editing process.
During our first shot in our music video, which is an establishing shot of
Lewis setting up his guitar and starting to sing, we added the sound effect of a duck
quacking. When we originally filmed the shot there was a faint sound of a duck
quacking, which when watching back we liked and felt that it added to the feel of the
location of the music video. The problem was that the duck quacking was a very faint
sound so we downloaded a quacking sound off http://www.freesfx.co.uk. We then
imported the sound into Final Cut and editing it to the appropriate sound level by
dragging the line
from the middle of
the sound waves,
further to the
bottom to reduce
the sound. A
screen shot of
doing this can be
seen to the right.
Editing
We relied heavily on technology when it came to editing our music video. The
editing was completed using the software Final Cut Pro on an Apple iMac. At the start
of the course in year 12, I had no knowledge at all about Final Cut, but feel that as the
course progressed and the practical elements increased, I became more and more
comfortable with the editing software. When it came to using the software in year 13,
I had a little refresher session and then picked up where I left in year 12.
Using final cut express we used a number of pre-installed transitions, which
enabled us to have a smooth cut between shots, for example the transition “Fade to
black”. We also used an application that Kenny had on his computer than enabled us
to use more interesting transitions. For example we used the transition “Focus Pull”
quite a lot as we thought it made an interesting cut between shots. Also as we had
been using the lens to focus in and out of shots throughout our music video anyway
we felt that the use of a focus pull transition would tie in with this and help to create a
reoccurring theme. We also used the Final Cut feature of changing the speed to make
some of our shots in slow motion. We felt that as our music was quite slow paced,
slow motion shots would tie in nicely, linking the visuals to the pace of the music,
which is one of Goodwin’s music video theories.
One editing technique we decided to use was the use of sectioning the shots of
our narrative section of our music video. We did this by creating masts on Adobe
Photoshop CS3. We also used an application called "Motion" that our friend Rob
managed to get a copy of on Kenny's iMac. This application allows us to edit the
masks that we created using Photoshop. We then took the Photoshop file with several
layers to create each section of the screen. We then used the separate layers as the
mask and created several black square/rectangle and applied the footage on the top.
Then you have to go on the composition mode and apply the settings " travel matte -
Luma". We then dragged and dropped our chosen piece of footage into each section,
lined it up, perhaps shrunk it down a bit to fit in the section and then applied it. We

4. then used the masks to make each section appear at a different time. An example of
the finished sectioning editing technique we used can be seen in the screen shot
below.
During the pre-
production stages we
experimented with
this editing technique
by creating a short
video. The video can
be seen by clicking
“here”.
Another software we used as part of the post-production editing was “Magic
Bullet Looks”. We used this software to colour the first edit of our music video to
meet the demands of our audience feedback and to tap into the summery feel often
associated with existing acoustic music videos.
As you can see from the screen shot to the right, there are a number of colour
filters you can use. We scrolled through many and then selected which one we felt
was most appropriate to represent a summer feel to our music video.
Internet

5. In addition to Blogger and Slideshare as previously mentioned, I also used
websites such as Facebook, Youtube and Survey Monkey throughout the course.
I used the social networking site Facebook to post the link of our first edit of
our music video. Along with the link I requested that people watch the music video
and then write a little comment about that they thought of it. This played a big role of
our audience feedback and I feel was a successful measure in helping to improve our
music video as well as giving us confidence in it.
I used the video sharing site Youtube to upload evaluative videos as part of
pre-production discussing areas such as locations, characters and shot types. Then I
embedded them onto my blog using the code given on the Youtube video.
I used the free online survey creator as an alternative means of getting
audience feedback, as apposed to consistently relying on handout questionnaires. This
method allowed me to create an online survey from which I distributed the link on
Facebook and to people who were both in my target audience and outside of my target
audience. I think this method was successful in obtaining audience feedback as the
person’s identity was hidden so they were able to say what they really felt, without
feeling obliged to be polite, which they might have done in a typical handout
questionnaire.
Print Productions
I used Adobe Photoshop CS3 to construct both of my print productions. As the
original photo I used was not the correct size or format for both a digipack cover or a
magazine advert I manipulated the image to the correct format. First of all I changed
the canvas size to make it a square shape. I was now left with the rectangle picture
and a blank area that made up the square shape. I addressed this problem by using the
clone tool to make the picture bigger but still have the same scene. Using the clone
tool I dragged the photograph out to the right. This made the size and format of my
digipack cover correct. You can see the transformation of the format and size of the
digipack in the two photos below.
The next thing I decided to do to edit the image was to flip it over so it was
basically a mirror image of this. The idea behind this was so that the blood on his
chest was now on the left side of his chest, representing a bleeding heart. I decided
this would make the digipack cover be more metaphorical and would allow my target
audience to relate to the album cover. You can see these changes I made by looking at
the original photo (On the left) and the edited version (on the right)

6. Another edit I did to the image was to change the sign that Lewis was holding.
In the original photo Lewis is holding a sign saying Monsieur Lewis. I thought that it
would be better for the digipack cover to use his stage name of The Next Forever as
this would enable my target audience and his fans to notice his name and recognise it.
Another reason for changing the name is to stop any confusion arising to the viewers.
I then developed the idea of changing the name to change it to the actual song title
name and then have The Next Forever in another area of the digipack album cover. So
now I changed the sign he was holding to say the tracks name - "Upstream". I did this
by using the brush tool and then the colour select function to select an area of the sign
in which the sign hadn't been written on and then I coloured over the writing. I then
used the brush tool and a graphics tablet to handwrite the word "upstream" on the
sign. You can see the changes I made to the sign in the two images below. The first
image is the original photograph, the second image is of the edited photograph so it
says the tracks name – “Upstream”.
Next I had to create an album title. This process involved going onto
“www.dafont.com” and from there I downloaded a font that I thought would be ideal
for the album cover. I then installed the font onto the iMac and then opened it on
Photoshop. I used the text tool to write the text. I then positioned at the top left area of
the digipack as I thought this would be an appropriate position.
I then decided to change the colour of the text. When it came to selecting a
colour for the title, I decided red would be an appropriate colour for the album cover.
This is because red connotes thoughts of romance and this is what the songs theme is
about, so I thought red would be appropriate. I then decided to use the colour of the
fake blood from Lewis' heart in the image. To do this I extracted the colour from the
heart using the pipette tool. Then I selected the font and changed the colour. I thought
it would be a good idea to link up some of the text to make it flow more. I did this
using the graphics tablet and the brush tool. I drew lines to link up some of the letters
such as the letter "x" in the word "Next" and the letter "v" in the word "Forever". I
thought this looked nice and made the title more interesting looking and visually
appealing. You can see the letters I joined up using the graphics tablet in the image
below.

7. Next I create the back cover of the digipack. Again I used Photoshop CS3 and
imported the picture into the program. This photo was already the correct size for a
digipack so I did not need to edit the size of the canvas.
First of all I changed the colour and brightness of the picture. I went on the tab
“Image” and then “Adjustments” and then selected “Colour balance”. From there I
increased the levels of yellow. Then I selected the “Image” tab and then
“Adjustments”, “Brightness/Contrast”. I increased both the brightness and the contrast
to a suitable level. The purpose of doing this was to match the colour scheme and
brightness to that of the front cover image. I thought this was important so it makes it
more professional, as the original image was dark and greyer than the front cover so
would not flow very well. You can see the changes I made to the brightness, contrast
and colour in the transformation below.
I then used the brush tool to paint the sky the same colour as it was in the front
cover image. I decided to do this to increase the level of continuity and make the
digipack flow better as a whole product, as apposed to two individual images. Again I
used the pipette tool to select the colour of the sky in the front cover image and then
used this colour and the brush tool to paint the sky the same colour.
To finish the digipack I used the same font to write the track listings and a
website address where you can find more of my chosen artists work.
When it came to creating my magazine advert the process was
relatively similar to the one I carried out to create my digipack. First of all I opened
my digipack album cover into Photoshop. I then made the size of the canvas bigger
and a rectangle shape. I made sure that the extension to the canvas would be added on
top of the existing digipack cover. This way my album cover would be at the base of
the rectangle with a white section above it that I could use, instead of the extension
being added either side of the original album cover making the album cover in the
middle.
Next I used the paint tool to make paint the extension. When it came to
choosing the colour I decided to use the colour select tool by clicking on an area of
the existing sky on the album cover. I came to this decision because I thought it would
be a good idea to continue the colour of the sky in the extension of the canvas as this
would make the magazine advert flow and look professional. I thought using the same
colour as the original sky would be a better idea than using a new colour and seeing
an obvious difference from where the original album cover stops and the extension to
the canvas was added.
When I finished painting the sky I selected the layer of the text "The Next
Forever" and decided to move it to the top of the canvas. I decided to this because it is
predominantly the most important piece of text of the magazine advert. As we read

8. from the top, left to right, to the bottom, I thought by placing the artists name at the
top would make this the first piece of text the audience would read. I then added a
new piece of text and selected the same font as I had used in the artists name to create
a recurring theme that the audience could recognise. From audience feedback of my
original album cover, they stated that they liked the colour of the text, so I decided to
use this colour again in the new text. After typing out the words "Presents" and
"Upstream", I highlighted the text and clicked on the colour squares at the bottom,
this opened a new box with a colour wheel. I used the colour selection tool and
clicked on the original text of "The Next Forever" to get the same colour. This then
made the new text the same colour as the existing text, again reinforcing the recurring
theme of the font and colour scheme. I think this also makes it more professional
looking and appropriate for my artist's genre as using a variety of primary colours
would look a bit tacky and misleading of the genre of my chosen artist's music.
Conclusion
Overall I feel that the technology I have called upon throughout the course has
helped me create professional looking media products. I feel that I have improved my
knowledge of technology particularly when it came to using software such as Final
Cut Prod and Adobe Photoshop CS3. Modern technology such as the social
networking site Facebook has also helped improve my product by allowing people to
comment on videos and say what they thought about them.