Evaluation Question 4

Evaluation Question 4

• 1.
  How did youuse media technologies in the construction and research, planning and evaluation stages? EVALUATION QUESTION 4
• 2.
  BLOGGER Blogger has allowedme to send updates of my progress throughout all of the of the different stages of production. I was easily able to edit text, add images, and embed videos, presentations, and other presentational devices. Blogger is very user friendly and it is very easy to access from a computer or on a mobile device.
• 3.
  THE RESEARCH STAGE
• 4.
  SurveyMonkey let usgather a large amount of feedback/ideas from our target audience quickly and efficiently. Sam and I were able to send out links to our Surveys on the social network ‘Facebook’ to hundreds of people with just a few clicks. The fact we were able to use these surveys to get research so quickly was an added bonus to doing our pre-production research online. However, if I compare this method to the method we used for the post-production questionnaire, I think it is better to be present with the audience to answer any questions. SURVEY MONKEY
• 5.
  YouTube obviously camein very useful, not only for uploading any videos I made but also for researching other visual media texts which we used to either inspire or inform us. YOUTUBE
• 6.
  Without the internet,we would definitely not have been able to produce any of the media we used to evaluate and upload our work too. The internet has a wide range of sites that allowed us to research music videos, films, theories, artists, and album covers. INTERNET BROWSERS
• 7.
  THE PLANNING STAGE
• 8.
  MAKING RISK ASSESSMENTS/PRODUCTION SCHEDULESETC. We created the written documentation that we needed using Microsoft word. Having an IT functional skills qualification mean I knew how to use this software easily and know the different shortcuts. This meant that Sam and I would focus on the information we were writing about instead of trying to work out the different functions.
• 9.
  USING SOCIAL NETWORKS OnFacebook, I created a group that Sam and I could both use called MEDIA A2. This is a private group that we used to speak to each other, post different ideas and arrange/organise dates of production. We also added our actor to the group so he could be updated on any information as well.
• 10.
  SCRIBD During the planningstages, we also used a online ‘Endless book’ software to allow us to scroll through our storyboard, quickly and easily without needing to turn a ‘page’.
• 11.
  THE CONSTRUCTION STAGE
• 12.
  FILMING When filming ourmusic video Sam and I had total creative control over the cameras and all the settings. For example, we were able to adjust the white balance which allowed us to make sure the colouring in the scene was correct. We filmed using two different cameras; the HS900 compact HD cam and a Canon 600D DSLR. Using these two different cameras gave us a variety of different settings on each camera (for instance the HS900 had a wider zoom). It also meant we could get one shot from two separate angles if we set the different cameras up on different tripods. Both cameras could be used to shoot all kinds of shots including: low/high angle, tracking, panning etc..
• 13.
  EDITING Whilst editing weused two different programs. We used Adobe Premiere Pro for the main sequence montage edit, except before this we used a program called new-for-mac program called ‘HitFilm2’ to apply colour correction to the footage, and to add other effects. As we had used Premiere Pro before, we were very comfortable with all of the features and short cuts, so the editing style was very familiar to us. Due to HitFilm being a new software we had to try and learn some of the techniques first except because Sam and I are technologically advanced we picked it up quickly. Throughout editing we applied a multitude of effects ranging from slowing down clips to creating an echo effect on the actor during a sequence. We were also able to edit the brightness and contrast of a shot, and make cuts where necessary to make sure the music video followed a Sergei Eisenstein Montage format and also so it told the story we were trying to tell.
• 14.
  DIGI-PACK I created mydigi-pack using Adobe Photoshop. As I have been using Photoshop for so many years it meant that I could manipulate images with ease without needing to think about how to use the different tools and features. Using Photoshop I could precisely edit my images for the digi-pack. I could change the colour of the images themselves, and combine numerous photos into one as well as being able to add titles and effects.
• 15.
  CREATING THE WEBSITE Tocreate my band’s website, I used a free online website creator called ‘WIX’. This creator uses code-free HTML 5 templates with a graphical user interface to make it easy for creators maneuver around the site and use all the features. The free version of this website creator allowed me to create a website with different pages. I could also edit text, add images and videos, and embed different widgets (soundcloud).
• 16.
  THE EVALUATION STAGE
• 17.
  POST-PRODUCTION QUESTIONNAIRE AND EXCEL Forour post-production survey we decided not to use any technology to record the audience’s feedback like we did with the pre-production survey. Instead we handed out sheets to the people viewing our production, and asked them to fill it out by hand. Once the 40 sheets had been filled out by hand we entered the results into Microsoft Excel spreadsheet program to make graphs out of the data collected.
• 18.
  Again we usedYouTube at this stage to upload our finished music video. As YouTube is a widely known platform it is good to be able to get feedback from different people everywhere in the world, in the form of comments. YOUTUBE
• 19.
  I used aprogram called Final Cut PRO X on my home computer to make my first evaluation question. Final Cut Pro is an industry standard software that I usually work on when I make my own independent films. It has all the cutting, effect, and transition features that most editing software include. I have been using this program for a few years so it was no trouble to create my video answer using the software. However it was quite time consuming as videos usually are. FINAL CUT PRO X
• 20.
  POWERPOINT For this evaluationquestion and for evaluation question 2 I used PowerPoint presentations. However, I did use them in a slightly unconventional manner. I would create the PowerPoint, and then for evaluation 2 I uploaded it into a Scribd, and for this evaluation question I have clearly uploaded into a SlideShare. Creating the PowerPoint first and then uploading it into one of the slide sharing platforms online shows a new wave of cloud convergence between the technology that is primarily used on a desktop, but can now be put on the web.
• 21.
  SCRIBD Just like mystoryboard, I used Scribd for my second evaluation question. This proved to be useful as I could upload a PowerPoint that I made and turn it into a one page set of slides that you can scroll down.
• 22.
  SLIDESHARE SlideShare is theplatform you are viewing this Evaluation Question on right now. SlideShare also allowed me to upload a PowerPoint that I had made at home, so it could be shown online and viewed digitally.
• 23.
  PREZI Lastly Prezi isthe software I used for my third Evaluation Question. It is sometimes seen as the ‘fun’ version of PowerPoint as there is interesting visual effects and perspectives that can be applied to a presentation. There is also a lot more creative freedom when using Prezi, as the creator is not confined to set space on a slide but can you a wide canvas. Unfortunately I find Prezi quite irritating due to the fact that when you pick a template it is hard to change the text and font type, and the online software can also be quite buggy.