Question 4 Evaluation Draft

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

I believe media technologies have played one of the most important roles during my media A2 coursework. This is due to the access of a wide variety of advance technologies we currently have, that allow us to produce professional looking media pieces aimed at a specific target audience.

In terms of the hardware I used for my coursework, the digital Canon 550D SLR camera was the main technological equipment I used for the creation of both my main and ancillary tasks. The different features of the camera meant I was able to shoot in low quality lightning and still make my work look professional and proficient. This was due to the wide aperture, which creates a shallow focus and allows me to shoot in dark locations such as the drama studio. Other useful features include the shutter speed of the camera. Filming in low light conditions means I could also film at a lower shutter speed where less light is needed. However for the construction of my music video, I tried to keep the shutter speed low, at around 1/50, which creates a sharper and better quality image. Changing the lens of the camera for different sections of my music video also determines the fact of whether I could zoom or not. During the green screen and drama studio shoots, my only focus was on my actor therefore I used a 50mm 1.8 prime lens which cannot zoom but allows more light in to focus on one aspect of my video. On the other hand, for the flashback scenes in my video, I wanted to film in a more natural and realistic setting. Therefore I chose to film parts of my video in the local field as well as my own house which focused on a variety of things including the surrounding location. Here I used a different lens for the camera where I was able to zoom.

As well as the range of features that helped me create a professional piece of work for my coursework, the digital camera as a whole included many advantages for filming. Using a digital camera rather than an analogue meant I could review my footage immediately. Therefore if I wasn’t happy with any piece of footage, I could change my actions accordingly – for example, filming from a different angle or changing the position of the lights. Having access to this type of camera also means I didn’t have to send of the images and wait for them to be sent back, resulting in a less expensive and less time consuming process. Personally, I consider this type of technology to be vital for filming a piece of work as complex as a music video, where re-shoots are often needed and a range of location are often used.

Moving onto software, Premiere Pro was the programme I used for the construction of my music video. This programme also included a wide range of features, which resulted in an easier work process. For example, the different layers allowed me to edit my green screen shots efficiently and quickly. This was achieved by adding an extra layer and adding a green screen shot that I had previous edited on top of the background image. I edited the green screen clip by changing the key colour to green and altering the shadow and soften keys. My green screen shot was of my actor miming to the song while the background shot were my couple, which I used as the flashbacks as part of the narrative. Premiere Pro also allowed me to change the speed of my clips; this was useful when fitting the footage in with the music and also for my time lapse scene at the beginning of my video. The programme also included certain video effects, for example the main one I used, which was the back and white effect – this was added to the flashbacks scenes so the audience can easily recognise these particular scenes in my video.

Indesign was the other main programme I used for the construction stage; however this was used primarily for my ancillary tasks- the magazine advert and the album digipak. Being already familiar with this type of software technology, I was able to used skills previously learnt from AS to help make my work look realistic. For my magazine advert, I was able to import images I had already taken with the Canon SLR camera and size it appropriately. As I had previously researched magazine adverts as part of my research stage, I had an accurate idea of what I wanted my final product to look like. Testing and selecting the appropriate fonts available within this programme was part of the process, and being able to use the various text tools to re-size and re-scale the text was vital in making my advert look professional. 

Creating my digipak using this programme was another similar process, as I made sure I used all the advanced tools this type of technology had to offer. I imported previous images I had taken, however I edited some of these shots using Photoshop. In Photoshop I was able to change the images to black and white while still keeping some of the photo in full colour. This was achieved my adding another layer as well as using the brush tool to colour in parts of the photo I wanted to stay in colour. Overall, this was used to emphasise certain parts of the image, such as the lips, to make the digipak more unique and original while giving the audience something to focus on and grab their attention.

Referring back to the research stages of my coursework, it is still clear to see that technologies such as the ones already mentioned were also used in this early stage. The main type of technology during this section was the use of the internet to research the band of the song I had chosen for the music video, using the search engine Google. I feel by learning about ‘The Pretty Reckless’, it gave me more ideas on how to present them in my final product. I also used Youtube to watch some of their previous videos to understand how they often portray themselves towards the public. Furthermore, research into my audience was also an important part of my coursework. Using the internet to do this meant I could learn about the fans of the band as well as fans of the rock genre so I could create a successful product that which is targeted at them.

The internet also helped with the planning stages. I used the internet to search specific rock styles and looks – this helped with the costume planning for my actor.  Presenting my research and planning posts on my blog was also a way I used the internet, as for example, presenting my costumes ideas was achieved through using the website Issuu. Whereas many other posts were presented using Prezi, an interactive powerpoint to display the information I had gathered as well as my ongoing ideas.