Evaluation Question 4

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

I used some hardware when making my music video. These are:

A Monopod (similar to this)

Pros:                                                                                    

• Really sturdy
• Small enough to get the stop frame images

Cons:

• Kept falling over meaning all my images looked different
• Difficult to move around
• Struggled getting my camera onto it

This was good to use for my first couple of drafts as it was small enough for me to be able to capture all the images I needed for the stop frame. It worked best for my first draft as I didn't need to move it around at all. The main issue I had with it was that it was difficult to move so I could get different angled shots. It also kept falling over as the suction pad wasn't strong enough to support my Nikon Coolpix. This made taking my images very difficult as I had to hold it down with one hand, move the characters around and take a picture. This resulted in all my images looking very different as it had changed positions after each shot. Because of the limited movement, I struggled to take any angled shots as I couldn't adjust the height of the monopod meaning any angles I did do looked very wonky as I had to prop the monopod on something that was lower of higher than the table. When I realised I would need a proper tripod to do my filming, I borrowed one from college to do my third draft. If I had to do the whole video process again, I wouldn't consider using this again as it wasn't very good when I needed all my images to look the same.

A Tripod (similar to this)

Pros:

• Easy movement
• Camera was easy to remove
• Can adjust the height
• Easy to angle
• Didn't fall over
• Portable

Cons:

The only issue I had, which wasn't really an issue, was carrying it around with me as I had a lot of other things with me.

I used this tripod for making my third draft. I wish I had used this for all my other drafts as I might have some footage from them that might have been good to use in my third draft. This tripod was much better for me to use to take the images I needed as it is easily adjustable and is stable. I had no issue with getting it to the height that I needed in order to take my stop frame images and getting the footage of my actor. In using this tripod, all my images look the same which makes the finished draft look and flow much better. Having this tripod meant I was able to experiment a lot more with different shots as I had a better range to play with. I was able to do some over the shoulder shots of the boy as well as getting up close to get my stop frame images. It was so much easier to use and makes my finished draft look much better than my previous drafts. The camera was also much easier to put on and remove, which I had to do as my Nikon broke mid-filming. The tripod was much better for me to use as I was able to take it outside to do some filming. Although, I won't be using this footage as it doesn't fit with my music video, it still looked good as the tripod was still throughout. It also didn't shake when my actor was jumping around in front of it. 

Editing Suite at college (similar to this)

Pros:

• Easy to use
• Didn't crash when I had a lot of tabs open
• Had all of the software on it that I needed
• Two screens made it easier to edit

Cons:

• Sometimes difficult to get one
• Work only saves to the one I worked on

I have used the editing suite throughout the editing process. It made editing my music video a lot easier as I don't have the required software at home. Using an editing suite meant I could use Premiere Pro to edit my footage/images and use Photoshop to make my digipak and magazine advert. I used the editing suite in all of my frees as this allowed me time out of lessons to do some editing. This did mean, however, that it was sometimes difficult to get the editing suite I needed to continue editing my video as it was saved to that one only. Having the two screens did make editing my video a lot easier as I had Premiere on one screen and all my pieces of footage on the other so that I knew I was inserting the correct piece of footage. The editing suite also allowed me to insert my media card into it so I could copy across my pictures and footage without a card reader. This meant I could get on with editing instead of having to try and book out a card reader. 

A Nikon Coolpix Camera

Pros:

• Good picture/footage quality
• Lots of different shots types/filters
• Good zoom

Cons:

• It broke mid-filming
• It is battery powered

I used this camera for my first and second draft. I also used it for some of my third draft but it broke. This camera was really good for my filming as it adjusted to the light change (I used natural lighting in my first draft). It was also really good for giving me the option of making my images in black and white as well as in colour. I didn't use the black and white filter though as it didn't portray the feeling of the video very well. It was also really good for taking the images I used for my magazine advert and digipak. It did make the monopod topple over a lot, but that was more of a problem with the monopod itself rather than the camera. It did break while I was filming for my third draft, this meant that I had to re-shoot on my Samsung camera as the camera qualities are different. The auto-focus also meant that all my images looked different as my camera would change focus each time I moved a character. It also changed focus again when it would turn off if I took too long filming which meant I would have to do the whole segment again, meaning my filming process took longer than expected. The fact that it uses batteries is also a drawback as I couldn't get much filming done as the battery life wasn't very long. I did have rechargeable batteries for it but even these didn't have a long life and would take a long time to re-charge which also slowed down the filming process. When my camera broke I had to get out my other camera.

A Samsung PL81 camera

Pros:

• Good picture quality
• No auto-focus
• Good zooming range
• Easy to use
• Portable (more so than the Nikon)

Cons:

• Has a black mark on the screen (courtesy of my cousin)

This camera was much better to use for my video as the camera didn't auto-zoom like the Nikon did. This meant that unless I changed the zoom, all the shots looked the same. This camera was also better for doing the filming I did on the beach during the Easter Holidays as I could keep it in my pocket. This camera needs charging meaning it lasts longer so I can get more filming done in one go. It was also easier to use when I needed it on the tripod as it is smaller. Despite being a poorer quality camera than my other one, it still looks really good and was more practical for what I was doing. I should have used this camera from the beginning as it has been much more reliable than the Nikon. The black mark on the screen did make it difficult to watch some footage as I couldn't see the whole shot. This also proved an issue while I was actually filming as I couldn't see the entire shot until I uploaded it to a computer (which meant the black mark had disappeared).

Software

Photoshop

I have used Photoshop a lot during the making of my products. I didn't use it for my music video but I did use it for my digipak and magazine advert. The main reason I used it was to manipulate the images I had taken so that they were suitable for the product I was making. The main tool I used was the opacity tool as most of my images were too bright for my products. By toning them down, they worked better within the two products.

I used this tool the most on my digipak as a lot of the colours in the images clashed. So I needed to change the opacity so that the colours were toned down more so that the colours wouldn't clash. With the still images from my music video on my digipak, I layered the images so that one was coloured and one was in black and white. I did this because the images clashed too much when they were both in colour, even when the opacity was changed. So I chose to do the bottom image in black and white.

This also added continuity between the two products as my magazine advert was also gray scaled. I wanted to do this as I felt that it fitted better with the idea of looking back in time and it felt quite nostalgic. I also wanted there to be a clear contrast with the music video which is completely in colour. There is still a clear link between the products but also a clear difference. 

I found Photoshop to be the best software to use as I am familiar with it from last year and it is quite simple to use in order to create the products I wanted. I also used it to edit my magazine advert onto a bus stop, into a magazine and into a wall poser. I also used it to put my digipak online at HMV, instore at HMV, on Spotify and on Itunes. It made it very easy for me to do this as I was able to put my products in real life situations and see how they looked against existing products. In doing this, it allowed me to make any changes I needed to in order to make it look more realistic.

The only downside I found about using Photoshop is that I don't have access to it at home meaning I was only able to edit it at college. This wasn't too much of an issue though as I started making my advert and digipak early so that it would allow me more time to make it with me being unable to do it from home. This also meant I was able to create a better end product because they don't look rushed as I took a lot of time over them both. This also allowed me to make a lot of changes to them as I was able to get more feedback during the production process. This enabled me to make better final products as I was able to make slight changes to make them appeal more to my target audience.

If I could go back and re-do all of my products, I would definitely go back and use Photoshop again as I find it to be the best software to use in order to create the images and manipulate them in the most effective way. I also find it good as I can experiment more with the images, which I did do with my magazine advert. I changed the image into a circle rather than a full image, which a lot of people really liked. I kept this in my final product as it proved to be quite a popular technique.

Premiere Pro

Before making my music video, I had never used Premiere Pro. I was shown how to use it by a teacher at college and got the hang of it quite quickly. Editing the footage together was really easy to do.

As I had a lot of images and videos, I had to import small sections of them at a time to avoid confusion during the editing process. I found this really easy to do and it was really quick considering the amount of footage and images I had. Putting the pieces of footage/images I needed in was really easy to do as well as I was able to pause the music where I wanted to insert the footage/image. Once I had all the images and footage where I wanted them, I had to look at a YouTube tutorial on how to fade out my sound. I needed to cut the song short as it had talking at the end where the characters had a conversation in the car. This wasn't a problem as I found a good place to end the song. But when I played the song, it didn't sound right as it just end abruptly. This is why I needed to use a YouTube tutorial to show me how to sort this out to make the transition smoother between the last piece of footage with the song, and the footage that was on after the song had finished.

I only used Premiere Pro for my music video, but I did find it to be the best piece of software for the job. The only issue I had with it was that, like Photoshop, I couldn't use it outside of college. This meant all my editing had to be done during my time at college. This wasn't an issue as I have plenty of frees at college, but it was annoying when I had an idea at home but couldn't change it on the video until the next day. Another issue I have found with it is that when I removed the audio from a piece of footage, there is a buzzing noise where it should be silent. I find this quite annoying as it shouldn't be there and when you have headphones on, it can be very loud and irritating. I have still not found out how I can change this yet.

Prezi

I have used Prezi quite a bit during my planning and research. The main reason I used it was for when I was writing about the different theorists and their theories. I did most of them on Prezi as I could make them all look different. Here is an example of one I made:

Here are some of the many templates that Prezi has for making presentations. This is the main reason I used Prezi as I could make all the presentations I did look different. This meant that even though I was using the same software, it didn't get boring as they all looked very different. I also like that if there isn't a template that is any good for the work, you can make a blank Prezi so you can add your own image as the background. I also like that I can use this from home meaning I could get them done at home as well as at college. This allowed me to get them done quickly and move onto the next task on my checklist. I also like that I can insert YouTube clips onto it. This meant that they wouldn't be boring to look at as I wouldn't need to put as much writing on them as I had the video to explain/show what I was saying/doing. They are also really easy to insert onto my blog. I haven't really found anything wrong with Prezi, it is much nicer to look at than  regular Microsoft Powerpoint.

Emaze

I used Emaze for some of my later presentations to put on my blog as I had never seen them used before. I find this a nice alternative to Prezi. Here is an example of one I made:

I really liked using this and wish I had found it earlier on in my research and planning. I didn't make many presentations on this software but I really like the ones I did make. I like more of the backgrounds on this software compared to Prezi. Prezi is easier to use than Emaze but Emaze has much nicer backgrounds. The only thing I didn't particularly like about it is that the slides change to the next one too quickly, so I was constantly having to go back. I think these look much nicer on my blog than the Prezis do as the backgrounds are really nice patterns. I found this a very effective piece of software to use to present my work as they are nice to look at and are more interesting to look at than  regular Powerpoint.

Storyboard That

I used this piece of software to make my storyboard for my music video. It was really effective for making my storyboard as I could make the characters to make them look like the ones in my actual video. Here is an example of some of the storyboard frames:

Altogether I made about 50 of these to create a storyboard for each scene of my music video. The way my music video  is now, it is not very close to this storyboard anymore as I changed my idea slightly meaning some sections of this stroyboard do not reflect my music video anymore. However, this software was very good for me creating a storyboard that reflected my original idea. The only issue I had with this was that I could only make 6 frames at a time. This means that I don't have a full storyboard because I had to delete them to make the next six. I had to screenshot them to put them onto my blog. This wasn't a massive issue but I was hoping to be able to have my whole storyboard together on the website so I could look at it on their rather than going onto my blog. It also meant that if I looked back and my storyboard and wanted to change one frame out of the six, I would have to re-create them all as I didn't have them on the storyboard. This software was good though as I was able to access it from home.

GoAnimate

I used GoAnimate to make my focus group video. I did my survey on SurveyMonkey and then used the responses I gained to make this for my focus group. Here is a screenshot from the GoAnimate:

The main issue I had with my GoAnimate is that I struggled to upload it to my blog. I did like using this software as it was a different way of presenting my focus group. I was going to just film people answering my questions but decided against this as I knew this is what most people would do. So I decided to do it this way instead. It was also just something else on my blog. This piece of software was good as I was able to access it from home. Another issue I had with this software is that the voices are very robotic and it is sometimes difficult to understand what is being said at times. Other than that, it is really good to use and didn't take me too long to put together. It is quite limited in what it can do but it did the job for me and the focus group.

Survey Monkey

I used Survey Monkey a few times as I have had to do quite a few surveys throughout the year. They allowed me to get more responses than if I had gone around and asked people individually. Here is the amount of responses I got from my first survey.

I also did this for my focus group as it was more likely to get responses that I could use. I did find this to be the best way of collecting responses and meant I could get answers from people I don't even know. It also meant I could get a more varied range of answers as people were filling it out individually. The only issue I had with using this software was that I didn't get as many responses as I had hoped for on a couple of my surveys because people would delete the link instead of filling it out first. I was able to post my surveys onto Facebook which was helpful as I was able to reach out to people who didn't go to college and are more likely to fall outside of my target age group (like my family members). I used this software for getting feedback on my ancillary texts which was very helpful as it meant I could use the responses I gained from it in conjunction with verbal responses. I also found this really easy to post onto my blog as I am able to use the snipping tool.