Q4- How did you use media technologies in the construction and research, planning and evaluation stages?

Throughout the creation of my media products I have used a wide range of different media technologies in order to do so, ranging from something as simple as a memory stick to the advanced editing software I used. These technologies were used in the research, construction and evaluation stages of making my final products.

Research-

When I began research for creating my music video I had used a computer in order to do all these tasks, this allowed me to research existing songs that I could possibly use and also helped me gain information about different genres. I also used a website called surveymonkey in order to gain feedback about my three possible music video ideas I had come up with. This was very beneficial as I managed to gain over 60 responses and this gave me the information needed to help me make decisions that would be well received by my target audience. I also used the internet as a way to gain research for my ancillary texts, google allowed me to find images as inspiration for my magazine advert and Digi-Pak. This was very useful when it came to me creating these media products, it influenced the style of images I had taken on location.

The internet was also the source of communication between me and the museum location; I initially contacted them through my college email as a way to politely ask if they allowed people to film indoor the museum. Me and the events co-ordinator then exchanged a series of further emails to organise a time of filming that would suit us both, I was also sent a filming agreement to print out and sign to give upon arrival. Without using this form of communication it would have been much harder for me to organise to film there. I had also attempted to contact them by telephone however I could not find a direct number and only the councils one which I never ended up getting through, so emailing was definitely much more efficient. Another form of communication through the use of media was with my mobile phone. This is how I had contacted my actress who was in the music video, this way I was able to organise when she would be free for filming.

I also used a video camera to assist me in my early stages of research; I had originally considered using the green screen in some of my music video shots so I had practised with this technique to see if I would be able to make this effect. This practice was successful as I found it surprisingly easy to add this effect in Adobe Final Cut Pro, I did have several patchy areas around the model though where you could see blurriness or the background was not cleanly cut out. After I had secured the Streetlife Museum location I thought the green screen was no longer needed, and considering the way in which you light a green screen can affect the number of shadows and make the effect look unprofessional, I thought it would be a wise decision to not include it in my video. One of my main concerns was that my music video would look really unprofessional and look like not much effort was put into creating them, so I thought I would prefer not to take that risk and be more confident in the clips I use.

Construction-

During the construction of making my music video I had used an even wider range of media technologies. The main one was a video camera to actually capture the footage for my music video, I had booked one out from the college to take to my location as I thought these would film better quality footage than any recording devices I had at home. I also used a tripod alongside the video camera which allowed me to capture footage from fixed angles as oppose to relying on handheld camera work which can look bad if not used in the correct situations. I did however use my own memory card for the video camera as then I would have a copy of all the clips myself and it would not have to be wiped clean by the college for the next student to use, this was in case anything happened to the files transferred to the computer then I would still have the original copy.

When filming the performance shots I had used lighting for the performance clips in the green screen room. I used a series of these lights as a way to make the lighting as even as possible and also to try and make the background a solid white colour. The lighting also helps the footage to be a better quality and to reduce the amount of shadows that are seen, so they were definitely needed in order to make my music video look to be a better quality.

I also used a camera to take photos on location to later use in my ancillary texts. I did however have issues with this as the camera I had borrowed from college turned out to be faulty and was taking photos with this really strong yellow tinge. Luckily because of the theme I had chosen I was able to edit them so that they had a black and white vintage look to them, I did this within Adobe Photoshop. The photos I took were also used throughout my Digi-Pak, one I took in particular works really well for the back of the CD case where the music tracks are listed.

The main program I have used during the construction of my media product is the editing software which was Adobe Final Cut Pro. This software is what allowed me to create my music video and is an advanced program in comparison to ones that come included on some operating systems, such as Windows Movie Maker. I used Final Cut Pro on an Apple Mac and had no experience using the software before the start of this coursework. I found this program very simple to use and managed to teach myself most of the processes within it, I did however use online tutorials during my earlier green screen experiments.

The effects, transitions and options within this program were very beneficial for me when making my music video how I imagined. For example, from quite early on I had planned to use a circle effect at the start and end of my video, so it looks like the video expands from a  circle to begin with and then shrinks back down at the end, this very effect was available within the program. I also realised that the amount of colouring effects within Final Cut Pro was quite large, from these options I had selected effects such as "Desert glare" and "Old world" for my clips. It was also very simple to drag clips onto the timeline and to cut them down, I liked how you could have several layers of footage so it was easy to compare two clips and decide which one fits in the best. I had almost no troubles when using this program so it really was helpful to make my video without many issues, however I did have issues when trying to upload my video onto Youtube.

When I saved my music video as a web hosting file everything would appear to be fine, and when I played back the file it would have no issues. When I uploaded the video onto Youtube however it began glitching in certain areas, at these points the footage would pixelate and freeze for a second before carrying on as normal. I never really figured out what was causing this, I tried uploading it from different devices and tried saving the file in different formats. In the end it seemed to work just by luck, I had made no changes to the file since my previous attempt at uploading it however it suddenly began to work perfectly fine and there are no signs of it glitching any more.


I also used Adobe Photoshop as the main program in creating my ancillary texts, which was definitely the best decision for me as I have had a lot of experience in using this program in the past. This allowed me to easily get started and not have to worry about learning how to use different options, I did however learn some new effects such as the "Warp" tool which I sued when editing my ancillary texts onto real life products such as on a bus stop sign. In order to change the colouring of my photographs to give a vintage feel I used the adjustments option, here I could change the brightness and contrast as well as the vibrance of the images. The use of layers in Photoshop was also very useful as it allows you to making certain ones visible when needed and also not merge them all as one image that would then be much harder to edit. I think using this program definitely benefited me as I already had knowledge of how to work it and this resulted me being more confident in my final results. I also created a video showing print-screens of the process of me creating the album art graphic I used for my digi-pak. I used a more simple editing software to put these images together, this being windows movie maker which worked perfectly considering I did not need to use advanced effects within it, the video on a whole just shows the steps it took for me in order to create my final result.

Evaluation-
I have relied on the use of media technologies all the way through the process of completing my coursework, and I have used a range of different ways to present my evaluation. I have used the website Prezi as a way to answer one of these questions as it allows you to easily make a simple presentation to present your work. Prezi also allows you to insert photos, videos and texts so they are interactive as oppose to just writing a word document. I have also used the website surveymonkey once again as a way to gather audience feedback about my ancillary texts, this is a fast and simple way to gather information and it also provides a way to present it in the form of a graph. I used the website called Slide Share as way to present some of my evaluation as well, this allows you to upload a power point presentation and embed it onto a website. This is a good feature as it allows people to view interactive powerpoint presentations online, and there is no way to upload a presentation of this form directly onto blogger.

Blogger itself has been a key part of the research, construction and planning and evaluation stages of my A2 media advanced portfolio. The website allows me to create my very own blog in a web format and provides me with a unique URL so that people from all around the world can view it. This allowed me to easily share my coursework with my peers as it is all located in one place in a clear format that is easy to navigate through. Blogger also supports many different inputs such as text, images, videos and embed coding of presentations, allowing me to present all of my work in a wide range of different media formats.

Q3- What have you learned from your audience feedback?

Throughout the process of creating my media products I have often asked for audience feedback as a way to know what works well and what changes needed to be made. I began this when completing my research where I had made a survey in order to help me decided on my final music video ideas and narrative. This information really assisted me in making my final plans for the genre and narrative on my video so I was planning to often gain more user feedback to help me during the actual construction of my products.

When I was creating my music video I gained a lot of audience feedback about improvements I could make, this is why I created my first full draft as it gave an idea of the finished product for the audience and something for them to give feedback on. The idea of using black and white at the start of the video and changing it to be colour when the artist begins to sing was actually a suggestion from this feedback. I really liked this idea so I decided to try it out and was very happy with the outcome and therefore used this effect in my final music video.

Another piece of feedback I had gained from my peers was that the editing pace seemed a little slow in places, and it would better to have quicker shots in order for them not to be too long. I made these changes in a few different ways, a simple way of doing this is to cut one of the longer clips and find another one that would work for that part  to replace it. Some clips however needed to be a little longer in order to give the full effect, one of these was when you see her walking to step onto the tram and this was simply impossible to cut down any more. In this situation I had used the blade too on the clip to make it have two halves, I then used the crop tool to make one of them more zoomed in in order to create a long shot instead of an extreme long shot. These changes overall made the video have the quicker editing pace it needed in several places and made it feel more even throughout the full duration.

Another suggestion some of my audience put forward was to add some sort of effect when the chorus really kicks in towards the end of the song. One of these ideas was to make the footage flip so that is was upside down as a way to relate to the lyrics, I did experiment with this idea but was not overly pleases with how it looked. I felt it gave a bit of an unprofessional feel to the video and made it look to be made with a less advanced editing software as to what it was. After looking at other possibilities I decided I liked the use of the flashing lights effect that I used, this seems more realistic as during an actual live performance there would be flashing lights on the stage and these would become more intense during the chorus of the song. I think gaining this feedback helped make my video not seem to continuous and added just the subtle effect that was needed in order for it to become more entertaining. 

I decided to create a side by side video showing the changes I have made since making my first full draft, most of these changes were the suggestions I gained from my audience feedback. This video helped me to see how effective these changes are and also the progress I have made through the editing period of my advanced portfolio.

Once I had completed my final ancillary texts I had created a survey as a way to gather feedback to see if they meet the criteria and purpose. I had sent this survey to a small number of people as way to see how effective my ancillary texts are, I have then put together a powerpoint showing the results in the form of graphs and also my opinions on the feedback. 

Audience feedback on my ancillary texts from CarrieRoseW

In conclusion I feel as if the audience feedback I have received as helped me a lot throughout the planning, research and construction of all three of my final products. The final survey that I had created about my ancillary texts has really given me the confidence that both of these have achieved their purpose of being effective in advertising my music video. I am also confident from my audience feedback that I have made an overall strong music video, it follows the common conventions and also challenges a few, it is relevant to the song itself and I have worked very hard to try and make it look as professional as possible and have listened very carefully to peoples opinions as a way for it to be well received by the audience.

Q2- How effective is the combination of your main product and ancillary texts?

Q1- In what ways does your media product use, develop or challenge forms and conventions of real media products?

This power point demonstrates the use of forms and conventions within my final media product along with some images to show examples. I have explained within the presentation whether I have only used common conventions or have developed and challenged them further within my finished products.

Q1- In what ways does your media product use from CarrieRoseW

I have also created a LIIAR and textual analysis of my own final products as a way to compare them to the forms and conventions that are typically used. Here I have read into and explained the use of mise-en-scene, cinematography, editing and sound within my products and have also looked into areas such as ideology and representation used throughout.

Ancillary Texts Edited As Products

Ancillary Texts

Digi-Pak

Magazine Advertisement 

First & Final Video Comparison

I decided to create this video as a way for me to compare my first full draft and final version of my music video. I have placed both versions side by side with the use of final cut pro so that I can see the improvements that have been made over time. The immediate difference you can see is the colouring of the footage, the final version is much more refined and vibrant than the original and I believe it helps highlight the colours within the location. The clips themselves have stayed the same until about half way through as I was happy with the editing pace and choice of shots, you can however see noticeable difference towards the end where I have either edited to replaced certain clips.

Less noticeable improvements is the timing of the clips, most have changed in length by a split second to try and perfect the lip-sync and also cropped and repositioned some clips as a way to correct the framing. I think putting these videos side by side has allowed me to get a better idea of the improvements I have made throughout the process of creating my video and lets me see the amount of progress I have made throughout the production.