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

planning and evaluation stages ?

‘YouTube’ was used most for our research , for example we had to research many videos for our chosen genre to build up an idea of how we would construct the video . The use of YouTube allowed us to decide what costume and props we would use for our video e.g. Timbaland’s sunglasses in the ‘we need a resolution’ video inspired us to use sunglasses on our rapper. Also the more music videos we watched via YouTube helped us to decide what shots we wanted to use in our video. For example the low angel shots of our rapper were inspired from the Erick sermon ‘React’ song and we also planned to use an exact replicate shot from Beyoncé’s ‘check upon it’ song (we didn’t however) . By watching the Truth hurts Addictive video and the original version of it Kaliyon Ka Chaman also helped us for the chorography for our dance routines.

‘Google’ was helpful in the planning for our music video and the ancillary products. For our music video it allowed us to come up with a mood board to illustrate our ideas for the video. We were also able to get pictures from Google images to show the costume and props we were planning to use. By using Google we were also able to find the lyrics of the song which helped us learn our lines and allowed Aishah and I to analyse the lyrical content of it. Google also helped me find examples of treatments to guide me for when I was writing my own one.

Hotmail has helped me in throughout all stages of the production for our media products. Firstly many of the times when I didn’t have my USB on me to save work I would send myself my Blog work via e-mail . This mostly occurred during the planning stages of my work. It also helped us send e-mails to agencies when we were searching to find our potential rapper. Finally it has helped me in the evaluation stages by allowing me to send emails via ‘Hotmail’ to the link of my survey monkey questionnaire.

I used Prezi for my planning and evaluation. At first in the planning stages I found it difficult to use when I tried it post my information about choosing a rapper via the site. After watching the tutorial on it and practicing using it I got the hang of it and enjoyed using because it made my Blog more interactive. I preferred using ‘Prezi’ as oppose to normal Microsoft word presentations because I feel its more visually appealing and it made my presentations more interesting and unique.

My Facebook account surprisingly came in handy for my planning and evaluation section of this project. For the ideal party scene we’d hoped for (although it didn’t work out), Facebook allowed us to inform people of an event we had made to construct a fake party scene for the video. A reasonable amount of people said they were willing to participate in it and others had said they would consider it . Although it didn’t work it still showed how helpful it could have been for that scene we wanted to do but unfortunately couldn’t. For the evaluation section , ‘Facebook’ also played a part. Friends from my media class helped share the video on ‘Facebook’ to help me get feedback from sources outside of the class.

My phone played a part in my planning of this project. I was able to take pictures of locations, I wouldn't be able to film at when I didn’t have my camera at hand. Because it’s a smart phone I was also able to send these pictures directly to my ‘Hotmail’.

I used ‘QuickTime’ in the planning and evaluation stages of this project. For example in order to get my video onto YouTube I had to export it from final cut pro into a QuickTime file. I found myself doing this for the lip synching, behind the scenes and the videos I’ve made for my evaluation.

I choose to use ‘Voki’ for my commentary during the construction stage ,because I thought it was an innovative and interesting way to present information as oppose to simply writing the text down. I used it mainly to show dilemmas that had happened in our project. In the evaluation stage I’m using a voki to explain the dilemma’s I’ve faced while using some of these media technologies .

Sildeshare was also used in the planning and evaluation stages of this project. I used this for things like my proposal , audition poster and I’m using it for this presentation right now . I used ‘sildeshare’ for the same reasons why I used Prezi however I didn’t want my blog full with just loads of Prezi’s so I decided to use a combination of both.

Camera This camera was used mainly for the construction part of the project because we filmed our whole video with it. We used this alongside a tripod to help us get steady shots. Although the camera was used for the construction stage it also was useful for the planning and evaluation stages . For example we were able to film my lip synching practice for the planning and the audience feedback for the evaluation questions.

Final cut express was mainly used in the construction stage for our music video but we also used if for the planning e.g. editing the lip synching and the evaluation e.g. the feedback video. In order to edit our music video it was essential we used this tool. ‘Final cut pro’ allowed us to cut the video, put it in synch , lighten the footage and add effects. Without this product our video would not have been a video it would have just been raw footage.  

Photoshop was used in the construction stage of this project it allowed us to edit the Digipak and CD advert we produced. We had some difficulties using this software because it was new to use but we will discuss that in the vokis in more detail.

I was new to ‘Go animate’ but I found it easy to use and I only used this once, for my planning section to show my mood board .