Friday, 15 February 2013

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

We used this for various forms of research as well as audience feedback. When we were first researching on what to do for our music video we often used this popular social network to ask  people their opinions on the song and current music videos. Due to our band having facebook we often gave them things to post such as our music video preview which we created before completing the real promo meaning that the band could make people aware of what we were doing and to get people hyped up about it. We then gave them the promo to post up and we also posted it on our facebooks so we were able to get feedback on the promo.

Facebook wasn’t the only social network we used, we often used twitter too, meaning we could target more people when asking questions, we also linked the bands facebook page so more people would like their page and would then be able to view the video once it was up. This was an affective method as it meant we got more people to log onto facebook and check it out.

You tube and vimeo are two sites which contain various videos including music videos. This helped us during our research period because we were able to look at current videos to get inspiration such as when DanceGrenade told us they were inspired by OKGO we checked out all their videos and got a lot of ideas from their videos to use within ours. It also meant we could watch alternative videos and get a better understanding to the conventions used within a video.  We used youtube to display our video meaning we could send links to be people to view it. By using youtube to put our video on it meant we could access it really easy to be able to put youtube links onto facebook for people to view it also makes it easy for the band and other viewers to access if they ever wanna show someone.
We used imovie on the apple macs to be able to put all our footage together and create the music video, this includes various affects and transitions.

When sped up this part of the video and this worked really well and we tried various ways of creating this piece we thought about using stop-motion but we realised that OKGO simply filmed it and edited it after. So we filmed DanceGrenade doing it and when he came to editing it we sped it up making it look really effective.  We also changed colouring in various parts of the video such as the sparklers, fireworks, bonfire scenes by doing this the colours really stood out and worked well.

These are screenshots from imovie of the techniques we used to be able to speed up and change colours on imovie, which were the main two effects we used within our piece.
To film our music video we used HD camera's which when we came to putting the footage onto imovie it was really clear and looked really affective and professional.

Photoshop is a technology which we used when creating our digipak and magazine article, using this meant we could add effects to any images as well as the paint splats we created. By using photoshop it gave our ancillary tasks a higher quality when finalised. Not only have I improved in using imovie but also photoshop when editing the digipak and magazine article I developed my skills and knowledge of how to use the software, changing colours, sizes, cropping and various other techniques which we used to create our ancillary tasks.  Below is a screenshot of one of the techniques i used on photoshop, I was changing the colour of the paint to be able to make it link with the music video as i would use this image for the digipak and magazine advert.
 
 
During the research stage we often used search engines such as google to find out any information such as conventions or the alternative genre, we could research current artists digipaks and videos helping us to create ours.
We used blogger to keep record of all our research and planning, to post up our inspirations and ideas which we had. We created various videos with testing and experiments which we also posted on Blogger. By using Blogger it meant all of our work was kept together and we were able to use different forms of media such as powerpoints, videos etc which we wouldn't of been able to use if we produced our work in paper form.
Finally is itunes, we use this to access our chosen song this meant we could put it onto itunes and we could also play it to people before hand whilst doing any research so they were able to listen to it before answering any questions.
From using all these forms of technology I have learnt a lot and also increased my skills in using certain devices. What I have developed the most in is having a creative mind so when creating things it is unique and I think of the consequences more deciding whether it will work or whether to take the chance knowing it will work amazingly. This development has helped me within my work in media but has also been reflected in other subjects such as my art work I am now more open minded about my work trying to make it more unique from other pieces.

When we came to edit the footage we realised that some of the lighting from the live performance wasn’t ideal, this was because there was only one spot light which was over the lead singer, which meant any footage of him was really clear and well lit. However the other three members weren’t as well lit so they were often in the darkness a little which was a shame but we worked around this and we felt that the lighting was a great deal especially when the shots weren’t on the screen for long due to them cutting from shot to shot at quiet a fast pace.


Another issue which occurred was when we came to uploading our piece onto a disc to send to the band, the sound from the footage had leaked through which caused a lot of panic and worry because it really effect the video when watching. Also because we were putting it on facebook viewers wouldn’t understand that this was simply a technical issue so it was important we sorted it out because it ruined the quality of the video. We tried various methods such as putting it onto another software called final cut but this didn’t work either, however it was eventually sorted and we were able to send it the band without any issues which we were all really pleased about.


 
After watching back our preliminary task I can clearly see that as a group we have progressed dramatically, we became more creative with shots as well as the mise-en-scene and use of clothing. However, our prelim also influenced us and gave us certain experiences such as choragraphing a routine which we then did for the band also, it also meant we meant more about music videos and the various shots which worked and didnt for a promo. It also meant we were able to try syncing singing and dancing with a song which was good practice for when it came ot doing our DanceGrenade piece.












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