How did you use media technologies in the construction,

research, planning and evaluation stages?

Camera
I used a Canon 1100D SLR camera for
the filming of my music video. Last
year, as part of the AS course, I
investigated using a camera supplied
by the school, being a SonyHDRCX210, however in my final opening
sequence, used my own camera as I
felt much more comfortable using it. Similarly, I came to the same
conclusion this year, in that I had the option to borrow the school
DSLR cameras by Canon, but I chose to use my own as it meant
that I could use it whenever I needed to film, without having to
worry about booking the camera or talking to my teacher. Also, it
meant that when I went on holiday in the Summer I could start
getting some clips to use in my final piece.

However, despite this, when filming the prelim task, I did decide to
use the school camera, to trial it and see how it worked. When
filming the preliminary task, I felt that the camera quality wasnt as
good as my camera at home, as well as the zoom in and out
feature being more restricted. Therefore, I learnt early on in the
process that I wanted to use my own camera.

The camera was very clear and showed images of the artist,
locations and nature clearly, but also had a manual focus. This
meant that in some shots when I wanted background images to be
slightly blurred, I could manually focus the shot to complete this.
This was especially relevant when shooting the dandelion clip as I
wanted the lavender filed background to be blurred and have the
focus on the dandelion blowing in the wind. Also, this was helpful in
the shot of the tree branches blowing in the wind, as I wanted
some of the leaves in focus and others out to emphasise the wind
being uncontrollable.

I used two different lenses through the filming process, one was for
focus on the close up and extreme close up shots, with a deeper
zoom, whereas the other was for the establishing and longer shots.
I used the Canon Macro 1.1m/3.6ft lense for the close up shots and
the Canon Macro 0.25m/ 0.8ft lense for the longer distance shots.

I used the deeper lense for the shots, especially shown at the start
of the opening sequence, where there is a focus on the artists eyes,
as the lense allowed me to zoom in on the artists features much
more, without going out of focus or having to move really close to
her. The shots focusing on just one part of the artists face, are done
through this lense.

However, I also used this lense when filming the outdoor nature
shots- focusing on small areas- such as the panning shot across the
grass, the close up shot of the squirrel, the flowers and many more.
This meant that the features were much clearer and the camera
focused and had clear shots of these features.

I used the other lense for the long and mid-shots in my music
video. For most of the shots of the artist outdoors, I used this lense
as it allowed the location and artist to be framed in the shot
perfectly, without having too much of an emphasis on one.

Also, all of the montage shots and the mid-shots of the artist at the
start were filmed using this lense too. I didnt want to have these
shots too close up as there was a focus on the whiteboard and
movements of the artist in both of these sections.

The camera was not just important for the filming of my music
video, but also in capturing still shots for the ancillary tasks. Having
the camera helped me in the production stages by allowing me to
take clear, high quality stills, which were used in my digipak and
advert. The Camera was vital in the construction stages of my
product, but also in the research and planning stages.

Tripod
The tripod was vital in the production stages of my project, as I
often used it when filming for my music video and taking images for
the DigiPak and advert. Again, I was lucky enough to have my own
tripod, which meant I didnt have to borrow the schools ones.

Most of the shots in the studio based location were taken using a
tripod, as this meant that the shots were steady and professional
looking. Also, this allowed me to get much smoother panning shots
as the tripod has a feature which allows the camera to move fluidly.
Also, I could adjust the height of the tripod based on what type of
shot I wanted, for instance when I was focusing on the artists eyes, I
lifted the tripod up to her eyeline, whereas I moved it down when
focusing on her shoulder.

I used the tripod when taking the images of the

artist against the white background also. As this
meant that I could ensure the shot was straight
using the spirit level and I could ensure that the
shots were stable and continuous.

Despite this, not all of the shots taken I used the

tripod. Some shots taken were handheld shots.
This allowed me to have a lot more movement with the camera and
was especially used when using tracking shots of the artist, or shots
of the artist in outdoors locations. I used this to make the shots
seem more realistic and less manufactured. Having a handheld
shot makes the audience feel like they are part of the video as shots
most often arent perfectly still.

Final Cut Express

Final Cut Express was the software in which my
music video was edited on to. The software
allowed me to add effects, transitions, credits
and sound onto the initially filmed footage. I
started with uploading the clips from the SLR
camera to the MAC in which I would be working
on. I began by cutting parts of the clips that we
liked, this involved missing the start or end of a
video and was often due to untidy camera
movement or shaking.

After this, I experimented with using some of the video transitions in

order to make the clips flow into one another better as opposed to
lots of short little clips put in a row. However, I felt that I couldnt
put transitions between every shot as it wasnt conventional for
music videos- whereas when studying opening sequences last year,
this was most common. In music videos, they tend to have
continuity editing in that the style of editing is very simplistic and
it doesnt detract from the visuals on screen. However, I did use
some video transitions in my piece.

Fade in, Fade out fades in the

incoming clip as the outgoing clip
fades out. These were used in my
piece at the start and end to made
them more natural and not too
sudden. Also, the fade in and out
links the eye imagery, with the eye
opening and closing prior to this.

I also used a Non-Additive Dissolve transition that compares the

pixels in the two clips and displays the lighter of the two as the first
clip fades out and the second fades in. This was used at the end of
the music video when

I used a mixture of short take and long take(s) in my music video as

I felt that this would constantly keep the audience on entertained,
curious and engaged. I did this by changing the speed of the clips.
For example- the clips at the start are predominantly long takes, as
they fit to the tempo of the song, and then as the tempo increases,
the takes become much shorter and quicker. This follows Andrew
Goodwins theory that the tempo is linked to the visuals in a music
video.

I made no changes to the sound effects on final cut, as with it being

a music video, the track is consistent throughout and didnt need to
be changed in volume or edited at all.

On Final Cut Express we put in the text- being the title at the start.
The word HUMAN fades on and off of a black screen at the start to
create brand recognition and tell audiences exactly what the song is

called.

Another key aspect of Final Cut was the ability to use effects and
video filters. This was very beneficial as it allowed me to change the
style and brightness of clips to make it more conventional for the
genre and style of music video. I used a bloom effect over some of
the studio based shots as it made them slightly more warm toned,
and upped the brightness and saturation to make them more
dramatic. Also, the effects allowed me to make some of the shots
less yellow-tinted after filming with a bright lamp. I also used the
clarity effect to make the nature shots more clear and stand out.

Overall, I feel that my knowledge of final cut express has increased

drastically as I can now edit video footage recorded on cameras to
add text, transitions, effects, sound and much more. One negative
of Final Cut Express was that after each clip was edited in any way, I
had to render that clip. This was a very time consuming process,
but did enable me to get high quality clips. I really enjoyed
discovering many new methods in which music videos can be
edited and developed through Final Cut Express. Final Cut express
was vital in the construction stages of my product.

Also, I used final cut express in the evaluation stages of my project,

when collecting audience feedback. I used Final Cut to insert the
clips of audience video interviews and made a title for this
sequence. This allowed me to have all the audience feedback put
together in one video as opposed to separate clips.

Blogger
Overall, I really enjoyed using blogspot to record my
research, developments, filming, editing and evaluation
process. I found that using a variety of different multimedia softwares and sites to present my work online as
opposed to basic essay writing without images was much
more exciting to complete. I found that adding images,
prezi presentations and videos to my work enhances it
and makes points more relevant and easy to follow.

Blogger played a vital part in ensuring that I had records of each of

the stages, being research, construction and evaluation of the A2
course.

At the start of the process, I debated whether to use wix or

blogger to keep all my posts in one place. In order to make this
decision, I decided to try out wix, as I had no previous experience
with it at all. I trialled the website, making different pages and
designing my page, however when it came down to a decision, I
opted for blogger as I felt that I had more experience, from using it

at AS level and I felt confident that I could use the website to

portray my work in an organised and professional way. Although, I
could have benefitted and stretched my creative skills by using a
wix website as I believe they give the option for more innovative
control.

Blogger helped me to portray my work, especially in the research

and planning stages, by writing blog posts on a variety of different
topics surrounding my final work. For instance from researching into
the music video industry to analysing real examples of music
videos, digipaks and adverts.

I developed my understanding of blogger this

year, in comparision to last year by using tags
on my blog as a way of separating the posts
and creating tabs almost like a website. This
allowed the blog to be much clearer and more
cohesive.

Blogger also allowed me to present my

production work, by being able to post my final
products, through importing images for the DigiPak and Advert, and
also through embedding video links into the coding on blog posts.

Finally, blogger enabled me to reflect on the process overall, by

being able to look back over all of the work that I have done for the
A2 course and analysing the experience. I predominantly wrote the
evaluations directly into blog posts on blogger, but also used some
multi-media elements to present this too.

Overall, having a blogger page meant that my work could be easily

shared with my teacher, peers and friends to receive feedback and
comments that I would take into consideration when updating any
blog posts.

YouTube
When uploading to YouTube from Final Cut Express,
I had to ensure that the settings were correct, as
without this it would not have worked. I had to
change the file formal to MPEG-4/ MP4 and make the
image size 1920 x 1080. This allowed the video to
be exported in a compressed high quality version.

I learnt that in order to put YouTube videos onto our blogs, you have
to copied an embedded code of this and paste into the HTML on our
blogs. This is done by pressing share just below the video on

YouTube and pressing the blogger icon. This is a great way of

making lots of different social media sites link together.

YouTube was vital in the construction stages of my product as it

allowed me to upload my final music video onto a social media
page, which could be linked to my blogger account.

YouTube was also extremely valuable in the

research and planning stages of my work,
especially when watching and looking into real life
examples of music videos. Without YouTube, I
would have struggled to see such a wide variety of
videos and examples. These helped me to learn
the conventions of music videos, as well as the
conventions of specifically Indie Pop videos.
Watching real examples allowed me to ensure that
my final work was as authentic and realistic as
possible.

YouTube also enabled me to watch previous students work as a way

of analysing the strengths and weaknesses that I could take through
and base my final video on. This allowed me to learn what appeals
to audiences and what doesnt. YouTube comments were very
helpful in analysing the audience response to certain videos, both
by actual artists and previous media students.

Furthermore, YouTube was also helpful in the

evaluation stages of my work, as it allowed
me to easily share the video with audiences
to receive feedback on my work. Having a
direct link to the video meant that I could
share this with friends and family and they
could click on the link straight away, with no
fuss, and watch the video immediately. Also,
YouTube allowed me to put up the audience
interview videos, as a response to the final
product.

Uploading various draft versions throughout the process allowed me

to get evaluative feedback throughout and led to making
adjustments to the production as and when required.

iPhone
My iPhone was helpful in the evaluation stages of the work as it
allowed me to film audience feedback quickly and efficiently.
Although the camera quality was not as clear as my final piece, it
was much more convenient to film and meant that I could get

feedback whenever, and not having to worry about

setting up the big DSLR camera and tripod.

The Blogger app also helped me in the research and

planning stages to post blogs and updates on the go, as
well as researching music videos and information, using
safari.

Pixelmator, Powerpoint & iPiccy

Pixelmator was the software that I initially
used to edit my DigiPak and DigiPak
advert on. It allowed me to rescale and
resize images in layers so that I could add
text, effects and move images.

However, in the production of the two ancillary tasks, I ended up

using a wide variety of different photo editing softwares and
websites.

Pixelmator was the initial software used in that I planned out where
I wanted the panes to be, and how to fit the text onto this and well
as production company information. However, I found that when it
came down to editing the images, the software was limited.

I therefore chose to edit the images on Powerpoint which allowed

me to change the brightness, contrast, colour saturation and colour
tone easily and efficiently. I knew that this was possible on
Pixelmator, but felt that the editing on powerpoint was much better,
in that it provided more options.

I then started to transfer some of the designs on pixelmator, to

powerpoint which gave my much more creative freedom- as I had
much more experience with powerpoint editing than I did
Pixelmator.

Part of the digipak design, included a collage,

which I edited each inidiviudal image using
powerpoint by increasing the brightness and
contrast of each image, and then uploading them
to the website iPiccy as a collage. This made all of
the images the same size and fit into a square
shape altogether.

All 3 softwares were used in the construction of

the ancillary tasks, but also in the research and
planning stages, in which I trialled each of them to
get to grips with how they worked.

DaFont
DaFont was a useful website in the construction of my music
video, digipak and advert.

I knew that after researching examples of the

three products, that I wanted one font across all
the products that I was making, but the fonts on
Microsoft and Apple Macs are quite restricted. So
I used DaFont to look for and download the font
that I wanted to be linked to the artist and the
single.

I used this font on final cut, as a text

transition at the opening of my music
video; on the DigiPak advert for the
artist/single name, social media links and
OUT NOW; also for the DigiPak- with the
track list, single/artist name and lyrics.
This created cohesion between the 3
products. Also, it enabled me to use a
more unique font style, which is
conventional of the Indie genre. Having
downloaded the font, means that it
unlikely to be a popular and recognised
style and thus could be the first time audiences have seen it,
therefore relating it to the artist permanently.

Google
Google was a valuable source when
researching and planning my productions as
it enabled me to see real examplesespecially of the digipak and adverts- on
google images.

Google also helped me to research media theories, key terms

and examples, which I would include throughout my blog posts.
Also, google gave me a much more detailed background
knowledge of the industry, specific conventions, and ideas, which
led to a developed understanding of the topic as a whole.

Prezi & Scribd/Slideshare

Using Slideshare & Scribd enabled me to upload PowerPoint and
word files to my blog easily and quickly, again through copying
HTML codes and pasting them into my blog. Although, quite often
on my blog I decided to take screenshots of PowerPoints as I felt
that having each slide separately makes the blog much easier to
read, without having to click each slide
through. Although, I did still use slideshare a
few times on my blog, I also used
screenshots of PowerPoints and imported
them as images too.

I also used Prezi which is an online presentation site.

I initially felt that this would be extremely difficult to
use, but after paying around with the site, found that
it was a clever way to present information in a
chronological order with images and videos to
reinforce points. The site helpfully gives you
templates, which you can select, and input and
images and text you would like.

This was a great way to demonstrate the wide variety of multimedia ways in which text can be presented.