Question 4

HOW DID YOU USE NEW MEDIA TECHNOLOGIES IN THE CONSTRUCTION AND RESEARCH, PLANNING AND EVALUATION STAGES? 

A tripod

This helped me keep the camera still when I was filming the master shots in the music video. Furthermore, it helped me keep the camera still, but I could also adjust it very easily if it needed to be done.

Sony Hadycam

I used this for all my shots in the music video as well as the photo shoot for the ancillary tasks. This was a really good product that I used as the shots came out very clear and so did the pictures. It was very easy to use as it was my own video camera.  I also used this for my time lapse which was used in the music video.

Lighting equipment

I mainly used this for the photo shoot first. I tried to use 3 point lighting however I just managed to use a key light and a flow light. I also used the lighting equipment in the “getting ready” scene in the music video. Lighting was key to use throughout my music video otherwise it would have been very difficult to fix after I had recorded everything. I wanted to make sure most of my shots were well lit and the same for the images in my ancillary task.

Blogger 

This is what I used to show the changes throughout the year. This was really easy and simple to use as I used this for my AS media coursework and I became familiar with the blogging site. I was able to embed YouTube videos, pictures power points, prezi’s and more. This is used to blog all our coursework and updates on how our filming/editing is coming along. This is for the examiner to be able to view out A level media coursework which is organised and easily accessed. This is because of the use of labels. It has helped me keep my work more organised so teachers and examiners can look at my work easily and so everything is much clearer.

Final Cut Express

This year was the first time I used final cut, however it didn’t feel brand new to me as I still had some experience of editing things through other software’s. Final cut express allows me to cut, edit and produce all my work for the music video. I had to make sure that every shot was matching to the beat and the lyrics were matching the lip sync of the actress. This was harder than expected however from practise from my preliminary tasks I was able to identify whether they were matching or not. Also by using the wave forms on the time line in final cut helped me look at the snares and kicks in order for me to cut to the beat. Final cut also allowed me to colour correct my work which I loved as I was really worried about my shots looking very dull and boring. In the “getting ready” I over exposed the lighting in the scene to create a dreamy effect.  I also used some fade in and fade out effects in my music video to help it flow and be consistent. Additionally, I layered some of my shots near the end of the music video by easily changing the opacity on one of the clips. Lastly, it helped me use key frames to add some movement in the static shots I had in the music video. Final cut is an important aspect in my project as the features allowed me to produce my final music video

Photoshop

When using photoshop I was unfamiliar with many things, but with the help of my friends and teachers I learned how to use it. I learned how to create layer masks, how to use the clone stamp tool and how to add filters effectively. I also had to change the background and download some effects from safari to create the “sun” effect on my Digipak. It also helped me cover some of the background that was in the hair. This was very difficult to do. I also used rulers to align text accurately and neatly and this was very convenient. 

YouTube

YouTube is a video-sharing website which allows users to upload any sort of video and captioning it, advertised by Google which means YouTube has billions of active users viewing different videos and sharing it through their Social networking sites. This is one way of marketing your product. YouTube has helped me post all my videos which I had embedded onto blogger so people can easily view the video. YouTube also helped me research about other existing music videos and learn how to do certain things on photoshop. I also used Tube Chop which chops some of the music videos that I liked on YouTube to the specific clip that I wanted to show. YouTube has generally helped me a lot throughout this process.

Whatsapp

 This helped me share all my videos, pictures and final drafts to my friends and family which helped me get some feedback. I could easily contact anyone that I needed to and send multiple messages when asking for feedback of my final drafts. This was very convenient as I can ask people anything about my work and any time during the day. This is an app which was installed on my phone and this made communication easier for me.

After effects 

This was used for my time lapse in the video. This was very convenient as I could not download my clips onto Final cut express and the clips all added up to an hour and a half, which was way too long. I then downloaded it into after effects which helped me speed up the clips and look at how the time lapse looked before I used it in my music video. After effects is also used for effects that cannot be done through final cut express or are difficult to do.

Google Chrome  

This is the main search engine I used for my research and planning. This is something that I use in my everyday life; therefore I am familiar with this. I was able to download templates for my Digipak as well as the font that was used. I also downloaded my own filters and brushes from websites on Google Chrome which I used in photoshop for my Digipak.