PROJECT EVALUATION; Question 4...

Question 4:
How did you use new media technologies in the construction, research, planning and evaluation stages?
From the perspective of a 21st century Media Studies student, I would think it practically impossible to create a decent music video without the help of the multiple new media technologies the world has to offer! Throughout this entire process, new media technologies that I was already aware of, for instance the help and advice for all blogging queries existing inside today’s thriving cyber culture, have assisted me limitlessly as well as the many more I have discovered since the project began. Nevertheless, each of the various technologies I used played an essential role in the construction of each of the research, planning and evaluation stages of this project- even including my actual blog itself!

Research:
I found new media technologies to be crucial at this stage of the project for a number of reasons. In the last seven months, I have needed to research a variety of different things- ranging from: the Piano Rock genre to distribution of bookmarks as an item of merchandise and every time I have immediately used the Internet- quite possibly the most used form of new media technology. A brilliant source for websites that assist in establishing common codes and conventions of existing media products in the current market, I gathered extensive research from three main search engines: 

GOOGLE

 

YAHOO



ASK

which helped lay the foundations for the project as I learned what needed to beincorporated inside both my main and ancillary tasks.

However, as the project progressed, I found myself time and time again referring back to:

YouTube

 I found this website a fantastic source as I was able to search for music videos within the Piano Rock genre, identify common conventions and most importantly- gain instant feedback! A video that frequently acted as inspiration for my blog, ancillary tasks and music video is:

It was through searching for links from this video that I saw the opportunity to leave feedback and saw that here was ready made feedback from our target audience! Later I discovered that Facebook offers a similar option. Here are two screen shots from below: the first is from YouTube and the second is from Facebook; this information helped shape many aspects of the group's final cut:

Feedback left by fellow YouTube users about the music video above.



Facebook: Another source of feedback for music viceos that I used.

 
Evidently, throughout the research stage, I conducted the majority of it my work using both the school's computers and my own laptop. Along with this several other new media technologies were also used:

USB Stick: to transfer files from school computers to my own laptop.



Ranger Outpost: also to make file transfer easier.

Television: to watch music videos on.

iTunes: software used to listen to music.

it is odd to think that it has become habbit now just to use them- if I wasn't looking back through it now I doubt I would have even realised I had used them all!

Planning:
Frequently using many of the aforementioned new media technologies, the planning stage saw an explosion in the use of software! Before entering A2 Media Studies, I tended to shy away from using the softwares that my teachers frequently encouraged but now I have learned to use several and am very happy with my progress! During the planning stage, here is the software I used:

Adobe Photoshop: Used for the planning of my Billboard ancillary task.

Adobe Illistrator: Used for the production of my Tour Poster.

Adobe InDesign: Used to plan my DigiPak ancillary task.

Microsoft Work: Used to take note and type up useful research.

Flickr: Used to upload any and all video footage, here it was easily organised.

Photobucket: Used to upload and organise all media images.

These new media technologies have enabled me to produce ancillary tasks of a professional standard, a look I was keen to emulate, and have taught me an awful lot about designing. Now when I look at existing products I am instantly aware of the hard work that actually goes into making them!

Construction:
In terms of the new media technology used during principle photography, we used the school’s equipment which consisted of:

Video Camera: used to capture footage.

Tripod: supports camera and helps construct camera angles.

For the construction of still images, I used a variety of equipment:

Samsung camera: photographing locations for blog use.

Nikon Camera: used for capturing images for the video.

iPhone: used to capture quick videos behind the scenes.

We captured moving footage to record not only the video scenes but also for behind the scenes footage ect. We captured still images to record our progress for the sake of the blog, for our ancillary tasks and also for snapshots used in the video. I found it really helped an awful lot to have such a high standard of equipment.


During the construction process of this project, each group was assigned a specific media computer- my group was assigned TriMedia 3. On these computers we were able to use the programme Adobe Premier Pro:

Another form of new media technology

to build the music video. It took me a few weeks but I soon learned how to use the software, it’s quite simple once you know how. But the actual construction of the music video was not my strongest point and I took point in other aspects of the project. I always gave my input to the decision-making process and regularly attended editing meetings however on more than one occasion it so happened that we were editing over each other’s work, which caused problems. Through this evaluation, I can now see (had I the chance to do it again) maybe some sort of log should be made to record changes to the video or not have everyone focus separately on editing the video as I feel it was one of our groups weakest point.

Evaluation:
For the evaluation stage, I used practically all of the new media technologies that I had used in the previous stages combined with two more:

Kindle: Used to upload Blog work and record feedback.

Dictaphone: used to record interviews, conversations and comments for feedback purposes.

Overall, I am amazed at how many different forms of new media technology is so readily available for me to use. I can clearly see now that it would have been possible to produce the work that my group has without it.

Lily-May Smythe