1. How did you use media technologies in the construction and research, planning and evaluation
stages? (1242 words)
In order to create my three tasks, the use of technology was vital. At the start of the year we were
required to make a Blog on www.blogger.com – luckily enough I was very familiar with this site as
we used it last year in AS Media Studies. The blog is used to post all of our work regarding planning,
construction, research and evaluation. It was essential that we post our project ‘journey’ using a
variety of different multimedia ways, not just a simple essay or text box format. You are able to
post videos, embed Prezi’s and Scribd documents too. Prezi is a web-based presentation site which
allows you to present work in various different abstract and unique ways. It was easy to use and
was much more interactive than other programs such as Microsoft PowerPoint.
Throughout the formation of my blog, I filmed various posts as videos and found that the easiest
way to upload these to blogger was by putting them on YouTube first. This did reduce the quality
slightly but as the videos were just of audience feedback and production posts, this didn’t matter
too much. I also used Windows Movie Maker to make a few of my videos if I didn’t have time to
create one using Premiere as this can be quite time consuming.
Along with all these different forms of media, I did post some plain text posts when doing
production logs as I felt it was easier for me to describe what I was doing in simple words instead of
fancy creations. I used PowerPoint a few times when doing research posts such as Props and
Costumes.
The internet was a fundamental component of my project as it is at the root of every post, seeing
as blogger is on the internet. I used Google a lot for my research as it has a massive pool of
information about almost every topic imaginable. Obviously YouTube is online so this was needed
aswell as Scribd and Prezi.
Another program I used when constructing my script and storyboard is Celltxt which made it
possible to produce a realistic script with all the necessary requirements such as the location,
description and lyrics all in the correct place. It was a simple, easy program to use and made
creating the script and storyboard much less challenging.
Audience research was a big part of the overall project and the technologies I used for this were
mostly web based such as www.surveymonkey.com and Twitter and Facebook. Another way was
by filming group discussions and individual interviews. I filmed these on my Canon DSLR 600D
Camera which is the same one I used to film my music video. I filmed with a 1.8 Aperture Lens
which increased the quality of the footage.
When using the Canon 600D for taking my photos for the unused version of my Magazine Advert I
used the standard 15mm-30mm Lens. I experimented with the different tools and settings on the
camera. I decreased the shutter speed to allow me to capture a girl spinning the whole way across
the shot. It took me a few goes to get the perfect image, I also had to play around with the ISO as I
put this on manual settings so I could monitor and change the amount of light that is in the shot.
When there is lots of light, you use the lower ISO to retain the most detail and the highest quality.

2. For the actual version of my magazine advert, I just used the standard camera settings whilst in the
drama studio.
Filming my music video was all about media technologies. The Canon 600D has a great video tool,
especially with the 1.8 Aperture Lens attached. For the garden scenes I kept the camera on a tripod
in order to keep it steady as the artist was just singing for these scenes, I didn’t want the camera to
be moving and draw attention away from the singing. However, for both the dance scenes I put the
camera on a steady cam. This is a piece of equipment that is weighted out perfectly so that when
you attach the camera to it, there is no issue with the footage being wobbly or unstable. I enjoyed
using the steady cam as it enabled me to use and experiment with different angles and heights, the
footage came out really well and there is an equal balance between steady and moving footage in
the final video. In order to achieve the perfect lighting in my footage I used the Red Head lights
which increased the quality of the footage significantly. By having access to these lights, it meant
that I could have the ISO low and the quality is maximised. For the dance scenes I used two behind
the artist so that the background could not be seen as I filmed in the school drama studio. This
work effectively and I altered the height of the lights throughout filming so that the shots were
varied and didn’t all look the same. I also managed to get some lens flares when the light shone at
the same level as the camera; this gave a very professional look to the final product.
When taking the photos for my Digipak, again, I used the Canon 600D. For the inside photos I just
used the Auto setting but for the front cover image I used low shutter speed to capture the moving
cars in one shot. I experimented with the shutter speed and found that the perfect speed was
around 6 or 7 seconds. This gave you a clear image with the moving cars and lights stretched along
the road.
Moving on to the editing software I used, for the Magazine Advert and Digipak photos I used Adobe
Photoshop CS6 and edited the photos on here using pre-made actions to give vintage and
enhanced colour effects. After I had completed all the editing, I imported the photos into Adobe
InDesign CS6 and inserted all the text and shapes. I used the gradient tool to create a soft fade into
the bottom of the page and this also allowed me to put text on the black part without it clashing
with the purple in the photo. On InDesign you are able to create alternative layouts, so when I
produced the portrait version of my magazine advert, I used this tool to make a landscape one too
which allows it to be used and advertised in various ways.
The editing software I used to edit and produce my music video was Adobe Premiere CS6 which I
have not used a lot before and I watched various tutorials on the school website and also
elsewhere to try and familiarise myself with the tools and functions of this software. Once I had
gained a basic understanding of how to import, cut and sync my footage I was confident in what I
was producing. After I had filmed each scene, I would upload the footage the next day and begin to
edit it so that it would be ready for the next bit of footage to be filmed and inserted. Once I had
filmed everything it was much easier to piece the video together, by the use of multiple layers it
helped me make sure that there were no gaps in the video.