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

stages?

Throughout the whole process of completing the ancillary task, the music video and in the research my group and I used a range of different programmes. I also continued to use different technologies when

presenting my evaluation.

Research!I used YouTube a lot in order to get some initial research and generate ideas using YouTube. As YouTube is a video social networking host website meaning I could easily access the music videos that I wanted. A problem using YouTube for research while at school as that students are not allowed access to the site unless they seek assistance form the computer technicians in order to sign in and use it .This was an inconvenience at times .So it became easier to carry out this work at home.

The most obvious way fro carrying out research was a well known search engine Google. This search engine allowed us to look up new magazine adverts of different bands, artists as well as for looking up appropriate clothing that would be suited for our character in our music video etc. Some websites were blocked on my school user account and so I had to carry out some research using Google on the schools YouTube account or at home in some instances because this was more convenient and meant that I could complete my work faster.

Another useful source of research was found in music and celebrity magazines as they had examples of magazine posters that promoted various different bands prompting their tour dates or artists advertising their debut albums for our ancillary tasks.

We also looked at exiting albums that we owned in order to see the conventional features of a digi -pack as part of our ancillary task of making a digi- pack.

Making the Music Video!To make out music video we needed a camcorder for filming so as a group we decided to use my digital camera Lumix FZ48 that could take photographs and record video in HD.As a group we found this very convenient as we could arrange to meet up as a group and film any time we needed to. We found it easy to operate and carry since it quite compact and light weight. It was easy to film in black and white and vary our light exposure in order to control the light the levels of light that came into the camera which enabled us to capture a good quality picture. In addition, to this camera we also used a tripod to keep the camera steady when filming so that we could capture focussed shots. Once the camera was mounted onto the tripod it was easy to control and capture steady and fluid camera movements so that we vary the shots we used as planned. For example we raised the neck of the tripod when we wanted to capture a high angle shot and lowered it when we anted to produce a low angle shot.

Editing the film!To edit the music video, we used Microsoft Serif Movies Plus X5 which meant that we could cut down clips, add effects, import media, insert transitions which gave the music video a professional high quality look.

We then went to proprieties in order to reduce the opacity so that the overlapping of the shots appeared more transparent.

Linking the shots together so that the shots flow in one continuous sequence.

To the left shows examples of the different video effects we could use during editing; we liked the shots together in order to show a continuous sequence of shots. We also used opacity in order for the shots to overlap and appear more transparent.

Before doing this AQ2 media work, I had not used this programme before and was unfamiliar with the different features. As a group we worked together and took trial and error looked at pour research closely and as a group we also decided to do our won individual first draft so that we could use the effects that suited our song best and as a result we became comfortable with the programme quite quickly. One of the main problems we experienced when attempting to import our video files was that we did not have enough space on our users. So instead we emailed the different files to one another but some how the video files overlapped and some went missing so the best solution in the end was to put all of reordered video files directly onto the schools shared user network which enabled everyone in the group to access the files and edit efficiently. We also had the problem that we could not transfer the video file while editing home in order to edit so we overcame the problem but staying behind after school and dedicating as many free lessons as we could to edit our music video.

Constructing the ancillary taskOne of the main pieces of technology we needed to construct our ancillary tasks was a professional camera the same camera that we used to film it was my own camera the Lumix FZ48 in order to also carry out the photo-shoots. The camera produced clear un-pixelated images .I also learnt how to adjust the aperture, exposure time, sensitivity ISO so that we could get clear good quality black and white photographs. We learnt how to do this via self help websites on Google, with some assistance from your teacher and through trial and error.

To construct our ancillary tasks, following our photo-shoots we used Abode Photoshop in order to edit our photographs. Some of the tools we used are on the right hand side. We used the programme last year for As so were very familiar and comfortable with using the programme.

The ancillary tasks themselves were constructed using Adobe InDesign so that we could add text, icons and barcodes to the products using ‘layers’ the fore meant that each part of the product could be edited or removed without jeopardising the rest of the product. Some of the tools we used in are on the right hand side. I have labelled their main jobs to show why we found them helpful I making our digi-pack and magazine poster advert. The only problem with this was that the programme is very expensive so we were unable to do the work at home so in order to resolve the issue we had to was to stay behind after school in order to use the software using the school computers.

Presenting and evaluating my coursework

Blogger is a important program that my group and I used in order to present my coursework. As I used my blog in order to present my AS coursework so I knew how the different features of the site but I still experienced some problems. For example, inserting pictures and them moving them to the particular place that I wanted to place them was frustrating because it often shifted into places that I didn’t want it to shift. However, I overcame these problems by first inserting the different images I wanted to present into Microsoft PowerPoint as by using this program I could group the images together and save it a picture and then I could insert it into blogger without worrying about the layout changing.

I have also clearly used Microsoft PowerPoint during my evaluation and presenting parts of my coursework. Making presentations splits up my work into different pages, making it easy to read and understand. Using slide share this could be uploaded on to my blog.

I sued Microsoft Word during my evaluation. Using Scribd I could upload my word document and the embed this word document into my blogger post.

Slide share allows you to insert PowerPoint presentations into blogger posts. These make posts more interesting instead of writing straight into a blogger post. This website could not be accessed on our own school users and so I had to access the school YouTube account. As I had saved the PowerPoint document on my user I had to save it on a memory stick before uploading them to Slide share on the YouTube account.

This allows you to make animations, which I have done in a few posts. Rather than inserting loads of pictures next to each other, they flick through one after another like a slide show. For some photo's however ,I noticed making them into animations reduced the quality of them, making them pixelated. I therefore only used this website for certain photo's which I did not significantly change in quality from becoming animations.

How I did Evaluation1.I answered this question in three parts using different methods of presentation in order to make my presentation interesting made a PowerPoint in order to answer the first question and then upload it onto blogger which I then embedded and put in a blog post.

I made a Glogster presentation in order to annotate my magazine poster interactively and interestingly. There were difficulties in using this program and if I did not group my work together it would shift out of place and I would loose information. In order to overcome this problem I had to group my work together and then the information I presented would stay in a fixed position.

I did a detailed piece of work annotating descriptively each aspect of my digi- pack on a Microsoft word document. I then uploaded it onto to Scribd a website that easily allows you to upload word documents on to online blogs.

How I did Evaluation2.

For this question I decided to record my voice while showing a presentation of images that related to what I was trying to say. To do so I used a sound recorder programme on my home computer that as able to record my voice clearly. I then added the audio file into windows movie maker and then inserted the pictures into the timeline. I then exported the film and then uploaded it to YouTube on my YouTube account before inserting as a film to blogger because uploading straight onto my blogger did not work. This took a long time to upload but I carried out my other evaluations while waiting so I did not waste time.

My group and I also made a video of ourselves responding to this question I then edited the film on Movie serif plus and then uploaded it onto YouTube and then embedded into my blogger. I took a long time to export the movie file in order for it to be exported in the best quality possible.

How I did Evaluation3.For the third evaluation I presented it on Glogster, a poster making website. It was fairly straight forward to use and enabled me to insert pictures and videos in order to demonstrate the audience feedback my group and I received. The website enabled me to present the question in a interesting and interactive way that presented my information in an exciting and informative way.

We also used social networking website in order to display our work via YouTube a very popular video hosting website where people were able to leave comments immediately after watching our video. We also received further feedback from our audience via Twitter a well known social networking website so that my group and I could reflect on what we have learnt about the process of making out products.

Twitter comments feedback.YouTube comment feedback.

How I did Evaluation4.

I did this question as a PowerPoint presentation which I then uploaded to slide share and then embedded onto a blogger.