1. Evaluation Question 4
How did you use media technologies
in the construction and research,
planning and evaluation stages?

2. iMovie
One technology I used during the production of my music video was
iMovie on an Apple Macbook. I was new to this technology at first and
found it quite difficult due to my lack of skills and knowledge but after
experimenting a numerous of times due to re-filming and editing I started
to familiarise myself with the features and functions available and
therefore found this technology easy to use over time. We had trouble at
first with importing our video clips due to the media files being in an
incorrect format but after re-converting them we were then able to edit.
The first time we edited our video we began by editing one single clip to
see what tools were available and learn how to simply cut the clip and
change the timings. This was relatively easy although the more clips we
began to add the harder it become because we had to position the clips
in the correct order so they would come exactly on time. Also it was
tricky with getting the lip synching accurate due to the amount of clips we
had to use but in order for our music video to be at its better we had to
put a lot of time into editing so the lip synching could be perfect. This
technology helped us enormously throughout the construction of our
music video. Even though there are other technologies available such as
Adobe Premiere Elements, using iMovie allowed us to edit our video in
our own time due to the Macbook being my partner’s, Liv Wood. This
particular technology allowed us to crop clips, edit the brightness and
contrast, alter timings and add clips onto a time line which allowed us to
follow our storyboard and edit clips individually.

3. SD Video Camera
During the production of our music video we used and SD video
camera to film each shot which was borrowed from one of our
teachers. We used this technology throughout the construction of
our music video and made the process easier for us as we could
film each shot in order and because we planned the shots in
advance, we could get straight on with filming by simply working
through the storyboard. We found this technology relatively easy
to use and we found that this enabled our shots to be at the best
of quality. However we found that some of the shots were not as
clear and also looked darker than others but this could be due to
the outside lighting rather than the camera. I had no previous
experience working with this technology and therefore had to
think about the variety of shots to include and how I was going to
achieve them with this camera. The functions of the camera
allowed us to zoom in and out, take photos and watch clips back.
Zooming in and out was very useful during the filming process as
we could vary the types of shots we used which would encourage
the audience to continue watching as the video would look more
interesting. Watching the video clips back allowed us to see if
they were successful or not which then helped us to decide
whether or not the particular shots needed to be improved.

4. Adobe Photoshop Elements 5.0
Another technology that I used during the construction and
research and planning of my media products was Adobe
Photoshop. I found this technology quite easy to use due to
my past experience and knowledge after using it for my AS
coursework. However due to the program being updated
there was multiple features and tools that I wasn’t aware of
and therefore had to familiarise myself to the new features in
my own time. Before going straight into constructing my
ancillary texts, I played around with these new tools on the
software to see what effects and mock up products I could
achieve. This way I was able to come up with more ideas on
the conventions I may choose to use before putting together
the final magazine advert and digipack. Overall I feel that my
skills with Photoshop have improved dramatically since last
year which has helped me think more creatively for my
ancillary texts this year. Last year I had very basic skills and
only used basic conventions whereas this year I developed
ideas from current albums and magazine adverts so I could
adapt my ideas further. This technology enhanced my work
as it allowed me to edit photos to increase the quality, I could
use templates, add text and images, I could use formatting
tools and also add layers to make the ancillary texts look
more realistic and professional.

5. Panasonic digital camera
In order for my ancillary texts to have good quality photographs I used a Panasonic digital camera. I
decided to use this camera because I had previous experience with using it for my AS coursework.
This technology was used for research and planning and also the production of the media products.
The digital camera made the production process of my ancillary texts a lot easier as the photos were
a good quality which allowed me to edit them so that they looked professional. I could upload the
photos immediately and experiment with the editing tools to see what they looked like on my
computer. My skills in this particular technology have not necessarily developed however by using it I
was able to be more creative as I was able to think more in depth of what types of shots to take.
Furthermore, because I had previous experience with this technology it gave me more time to plan
ahead rather than just take the pictures on the day and hope they would turn out fine. Planning ahead
meant I knew exactly what would work well and what wouldn’t on my ancillary texts.

6. Blogger
The technology I used throughout the construction, research and
planning and evaluation stages of my coursework was Blogger.
This allowed me to document all my ideas, thoughts, work and
progress of my coursework from the beginning to the end. This
was very useful as working with another person meant we had to
both keep track of what had been achieved and what needed
completing. This technology was useful for the research and
planning part of our coursework as we could present our ideas in
many formats such as basic posts, presentations, animoto, prezi,
word documents etc. Not only did Blogger allow us to label our
posts which made it a lot easier for us to refer back to our ideas in
our researching and planning but it also encouraged us to be
more organised with our work.

7. Internet Explorer
I used Internet Explorer throughout the whole of my
researching and planning stage of my coursework.
Without this source I wouldn’t have been able to develop
my ideas and get any inspiration from other media texts
such as the artists name, costumes, song choice,
conventions of a digipak and magazine and other
information. The use of Internet Explorer encouraged me
to develop my creative skills as I was able to take
elements from other media texts and develop the idea’s
further to make them my own. Without this technology I
wouldn’t have been able to make the research of music
videos and ancillary texts which would have had a
massive impact on my work as my media products
wouldn’t have looked professional and realistic. The
internet made research and planning much easier for me
because once I came across an idea I could then go and
research more into it by using the internet.

8. Other Technologies
Twitter
Twitter is a social networking site we used for our artist. Twitter allowed us to make our artist look
realistic by following other artists and bands and tweeting things very similar. This helped us
throughout the research and planning stage as we could get regular feedback from friends and fans
and we could let them know what progress we were making on the coursework products.
Animoto
Animoto was a useful piece of technology for our research and planning stage of our coursework. It
allowed us to present our work such as a mood board in a very visual way to attract an audience. My
skills have developed by creating more Animoto videos since last year because I have realised that
the combination of text and images work well together. I like that the technology only allows you add
brief notes because this way the audience doesn't get bored of reading text and the notes work well
by then adding an image.