Evaluation Q 4

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

Script: 

Research and Planning 

• Websites and search engines were the most useful tools for me when it came to researching, as they essentially are what kick started my portfolio, without with it would not have been possible to work without. They came in use for not only planning but also producing my music video, as at the planning stage I used resources on the web to plot and put together my ideas, and find good and helpful websites to get costume, hair and makeup ideas, where as I used it at the production stage to actually play the music, watch videos, along with sources that taught me how to exactly film a music video, as it’s very different in terms to filming a short film. YouTube played probably the biggest role in both planning and producing my product, as it was put into use to watch countless music videos, analysing them frame by frame, replaying them over and over again to watch the shots and editing, along with actually using it as a platform to upload drafts for audiences feedback and easy available access to my video.  SoundCloud would probably count to be just as important in this process for me, as I used it to download tracks and send them to my performer so she had them first hand to rehearse. Another key part to the completion of my music video was good communication between me, and my actor. As I only had one actor, it was easy for me to have a one on one conversation with her over WhatsApp, keeping up to date with her, constantly reminding her of things she needs to do/ bring or practice, along with using it to communicate good ideas of what would look aesthetically pleasing in a video like mine. I used websites like SlideShare to make it easy for me to upload power-points onto my blog, which for me was one of the easiest ways to plan certain categories out, as everything is very well laid out and clean. Press is a bit of a fancier version of power point, but online, which made it easy for me to work on no matter where I was, by just simply logging in, working on my presentation and then embedding the link onto my blog. Which brings me to my next major, and probably most important source, Blogger. The advantages blogger has are commendable, especially for someone like a Media student doing a project like mine, as it’s way easier, modern and practical than having loads of piles of paper. All my work was uploaded onto my blog as soon as each task was completed, for example as soon as I drew out my story board, I took pictures of it and uploaded it to my blog, and analysed them, that way if I was to ever lose my piece of paper, I could easily go back onto my blog, and all my work would be there for me to look back at. Blogger made it easier for me to work and produce my music video, as all my planning, research and embedded videos from YouTube that I had put up for help were all in one place for me to skim through. 

• The construction of my music video required a lot of things, from digital cameras, to really good editing softwares on good computers, with lots of storage, for me to be able to store all my clips in one place. I started off using iMovie until I realised that it was not allowing me to excel in special effects etc as far as I wanted to, so I shifted my clips to Final Cut Pro X, which was my first time using it, but I got around to to figuring out the basics, and after that I was able to add all the necessary extras to my video. I found myself using my email a lot, as I had to transfer pictures and make sure my work was accessible at home and both at school, I did this using a USB as well to transfer data, but wanted to keep a back up in my email. I used apps such as Instagram and VSCO to edit the picture of my artist for my website, and advert. I used online softwares like LunaPic and PicMonkey to create my advert, and I used Wix to build my website. 

• I think of the challenges I faced in the filming phase was just making sure that my actor was lip singing properly and to each beat, and just making sure that each bit of the song had at least 5 to 6 different type of shots so that I could choose easily while editing. Keeping up with so much, especially when I was also the one filming the video, and handing the music became a little tricky but I think I did very good as I had done so much planning prior. A challenge I faced during the editing phase was learning how to use final cut pro x as it was a completely new software to me, and it took up quite a bit of time for me to grasp onto the basics, so that I could use that knowledge to progress further with the editing software, but I figured out how to add all affects, and edit my video smoothly, which makes me feel good because I overcame one of my most stressful obstacles. In terms of technological convergence, it’s great that all these apps and softwares are available on one apple mac computer, which enabled me to keep my work together, and work almost ‘effortlessly’ in a way as being disorganised was not one of my worries anymore. I think that websites, technology and everything in media in general has developed so much and come so far over the past few years, that you can in actuality tell the difference in quality between products prior to now, as I firmly believe after creating my product that quality come from research, which would not have been possible without all these amazing resources, both on the internet and on the apple mac computers. 

Construction 

• The construction of my music video required a lot of things, from digital cameras, to really good editing softwares on good computers, with lots of storage, for me to be able to store all my clips in one place. I started off using iMovie until I realised that it was not allowing me to excel in special effects etc as far as I wanted to, so I shifted my clips to Final Cut Pro X, which was my first time using it, but I got around to to figuring out the basics, and after that I was able to add all the necessary extras to my video. I found myself using my email a lot, as I had to transfer pictures and make sure my work was accessible at home and both at school, I did this using a USB as well to transfer data, but wanted to keep a back up in my email. I used apps such as Instagram and VSCO to edit the picture of my artist for my website, and advert. I used online softwares like LunaPic and PicMonkey to create my advert, and I used Wix to build my website. 

Evaluation 

• I think of the challenges I faced in the filming phase was just making sure that my actor was lip singing properly and to each beat, and just making sure that each bit of the song had at least 5 to 6 different type of shots so that I could choose easily while editing. Keeping up with so much, especially when I was also the one filming the video, and handing the music became a little tricky but I think I did very good as I had done so much planning prior. A challenge I faced during the editing phase was learning how to use final cut pro x as it was a completely new software to me, and it took up quite a bit of time for me to grasp onto the basics, so that I could use that knowledge to progress further with the editing software, but I figured out how to add all affects, and edit my video smoothly, which makes me feel good because I overcame one of my most stressful obstacles. In terms of technological convergence, it’s great that all these apps and softwares are available on one apple mac computer, which enabled me to keep my work together, and work almost ‘effortlessly’ in a way as being disorganised was not one of my worries anymore. I think that websites, technology and everything in media in general has developed so much and come so far over the past few years, that you can in actuality tell the difference in quality between products prior to now, as I firmly believe after creating my product that quality come from research, which would not have been possible without all these amazing resources, both on the internet and on the apple mac computers.