How media technologies were used in Research, Planning, Construction & Evaluation
1. How did you use media technologies in the Research & Planning, Construction and Evaluation
stages?
Research & Panning:
Within the planning stage I used
StoryboardThat, which is a website
that allows you to design a
storyboard, this allowed me to gain
visual understanding of what my
advert would look like shot by
shot.
YouTube was a very important part of Research & Planning as it allowed me to look
at existing fashion adverts to gain ideas and knowledge of conventions, therefore I
would then know what conventions to follow, develop & challenge. YouTube also
allowed me to listen to the type of music used in a spring/summer collection advert
so I would have an idea of what style of music to use for my own advert.
Web 2.0 was extremely
important throughout
research & planning, as
without I wouldn’t have
been able to use majority
of the technologies that I
used, for example:
YouTube, Blogger, Google
ect.
Facebook was key as it allowed
me to interact with my
audience & get their feedback
as I could see their response to
my work through likes &
comments.
I used the software PowerPoint
in order to present my work; it
was an easy and clear way to
present my work, as I am
confident using the software
because I have used it many
times.
Using Photoshop started in the
planning stage as I practiced
making my pop-up layout
(skeleton layout) and also
designed a number of different
company logos using Photoshop.
My skills with using Photoshop
have progressed, as it is a
constant media technology that I
use on a day-to-day basis in my
photography A Level class.
Therefore when it came to
making my logo & pop-up I knew
how to use it and where to find
the tools I needed.
Within planning I used my Nikon
D3200 camera to practice camera
movements. I was confident
when it came to filming, as it was
my own camera and I did a lot of
practice throughout the year.
I used imovie when
editing the practice
camera movement
videos, as it was an
easy & fast editing
software.
In planning I used Word to present my work. I
had to make a number of forms for example:
talent release form. Therefore I used Word, as I
was familiar with the software.
Blogger was used throughout, as
it is how all my work is collected
together and posted; it’s how all
my work is finally presented so
it’s all in one place for people to
see. I was confident using blogger
as I am very familiar with it as I
use it for other subjects.
Google was key within research
as it is how I got all of my
research that I needed, for
example: secondary research,
which included how many
people watch TV and how old
they are. My research skills
using Google have improved, as
I am quicker at finding
information I need.
2. Construction: Within construction YouTube was used to distribute both my adverts. This was a way of sharing my adverts for
anyone to watch and also allowed me to watch the adverts in HD so I was able to see it in better quality. I also used
YouTube to research Premiere Pro editing techniques so I could incorporate them into my adverts. Due to the fact that
YouTube gave me step-by-step video tutorials it was simple to follow and allowed me to develop my editing skills.
While filming my adverts,
sponsorship and photo shoot for my
pop-up I used a tripod as it kept the
camera still and made the content
look more professional. Due to the
fact that I had done a number of
practice camera movement videos
and used the tripod throughout the
year I was confident using it. I also
fell that my camera movement were
very smooth.
Premiere Pro was massively important during construction, as it was the main editing source for both adverts & sponsorship.
Premiere Pro allowed me to add lots of editing techniques to make my adverts more advanced, for example: I was able to speed
up the clips, reverse the speed to make the clips play backwards, add freeze frames, slow the clips down to create slow motion.
I had done a number of different edits of my first advert to practice different effects. I was learning and developing new editing
skills every time I did another edit, therefore in my last edit of my first advert I incorporated all of the editing techniques. When
it came to editing my second advert and sponsorship I knew how to find all the tools and effects that I needed and my first
advert gave me inspiration for the second. For example: in my first advert I included a camera flash effect by adding a dip to
white but I changed the speed so it was very quick and looked like the camera was flashing, as I really liked this effect I used it
in my seconds advert. I also used the mirrored effect throughout both my adverts, as I wanted to fill the empty background
space, therefore I would show the same clip next to each other or different clips next to each other at the same time.
The Blond light was used
during filming, as I
wanted to create high key,
soft lighting that I had
seen being used in
existing children’s fashion
adverts. I had practiced
using the Blond light
before, as I had to learn
the correct camera
settings otherwise the
models skin colour would
be affected by the light.
Therefore when it came to
filming using the light was
an easy process, as I knew
the camera setting to use.
Photoshop was used to make my pop-
up and edit my pop-up photo shoot
images. As I had practiced making a
pop-up & made the skeleton layout I
already knew how I wanted
everything to look, I just needed to
add the content.
Web 2.0 & Google was very much used
as a research source to gain
knowledge of editing techniques.
I used my own Nikon D3200
camera for filming both my
adverts & sponsorship. I also
used it for taking the
photographs needed for my pop-
up. As it was my own camera I
was confident using it.
Blogger was used in
construction to gather all my
final productions together. I
used it to post my adverts,
sponsorship and pop-up. As I
have used blogger throughout
the year & research and
planning stage I understood
fully how to use the blog.
3. Evaluation
I used Microsoft word
for both question 1
and question 4 of the
evaluation stage as I
made a poster and
mind maps to present
my work in a media
form. However in
question 1 I would
have liked to
incorporate my 1st
advert to illustrate
what I was talking
about in my
evaluation, however I
found that adding a
video onto word didn’t
work as it just came up
as an image. Therefore
if I was to do the
evaluation again I
wouldn’t use word if I
wanted to add a video.
I used blogger to display all of my finished work, as it was an easy way to
collect all the work together in one place. I also used blogger to look at my
own work that I have done for this portfolio in order for me to evaluate it.
Web.2.0 was used to access certain
media technologies such as: Blogger,
Web.20, YouTube and Google.
I used YouTube to distribute my
video for evaluation question 3. I
also used YouTube to look at other
people’s answers to evaluation
questions to get ideas for myself.
Google was used during evaluation for research, as I wanted to look at
previous evaluation questions that had been done so I was able to
understand the questions more in depth and gain ideas of how to present
my evaluations.
I used PowerPoint for question 2 as
another way to present my work in a
media form. As I was very familiar with
using this software I knew how to add
images and video clips into the
PowerPoint to make it more interesting,
rather than just paragraphs of writing.