Evaluation Question 4

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

Blogger
Blogger was potentially the application that I used the most frequently throughout this process. Blogger was an application that I had previously used last year and decided to use this again as it was very simple to use but also very effective. It was something that made organisation very easy and due to it being a google product it was also very reliable. Blogger was what I used to store all my information on, such as any research that I had completed, all my aspects of planning was also logged onto Blogger. Blogger was vital throughout this process as it grouped all of my aspects together and made things very effective. As it was all in one place I could also see the progress of the task as I was doing it which was very useful as well. This was used throughout all stages of the task, construction, research, planning and evaluation stages. All of my planning and research was published on this application but also many of my informative sources were blogs made with blogger. Blogger was used in the construction stage as this was what shown my process and the evidence of all my filming. One of the evaluation questions was completed on the blogger application and the other three were also embedded into Blogger posts.

Mac
This was the computer on which I edited my music video, cd digipack and music magazine advertisement. This was the most useful desktop on which I could do this editing on, this was also the desktop which had the best capabilities. This desktop had all the editing software downloaded onto it making it easy to access. Due to it being an apple product it was also very reliable, this was important as a lot of my information was stored on the desktop only meaning that if the computer were to encounter problems a lot of my work would be removed and unaccessible. This was used through all stages yet again. However, the planning, research and planning stages were much less significant as the mac was only used to access blogger, whereas the construction stage was the most important. Throughout the construction stage, this technology was the one that was used the most frequently as I knew I could have access to all the software that I required. Also, due to the advantages of the easy file system it meant transferring photos etc. was a lot simpler and more effective.

Google
Google was a simple but effective application that I used and again comes under the category of Web 2.0. Google was used simply for research purposes, this was the most useful tool when it came to navigating for research and useful information when during the planning and research phase. This was vital as it meant I could have easy access to many resources that would benefit me and would allow me to have a better final product. This was also used when in the construction phase of the task, Google was used in order to gain images that would eventually feature in the digipack and the music magazine advert. Google was used to attain images such as the twitter and Facebook logo, as well as the barcode on the digipack. Also, throughout the planning and research stage this was very important as I needed to have access to many existing products and Google was helpful in doing this.

YouTube
YouTube is another aspect of web 2.0 which was used heavily throughout the duration of this project and was extremely helpful throughout all stages. In the planning and research stage this was very helpful as it allowed me to watch existing music videos and draw conclusions from them and include these ideas into mine.Youtube was also helpful in activities such as considering which camera would be the best to use as there were videos on youtube that show what different cameras could do and what limitations there are to each one which was helpful. Youtube was also very useful during the construction phase as well, there were many tutorials online which allowed me to add effects onto both my advertisement and my cd digipack that I was unsure on how to do previously. This was also the platform I used to upload my video to, so this made it possible for me to broadcast my final product. 

Premiere Pro
This was the piece of software that I used for editing my final music video. This was therefore a very important piece of technology when it came to the construction of my music video as this was what made it possible to construct the video. This wasn't only used for the final music video, it was also used for the animatic which was also important as this gave me an idea on what my video would look like when it is completed. Despite, this not being used as frequently as the other software and hardware it was still very important in the process as it was a professional editing software that ensured the editing could be as good as possible. Due to this being a very unique and quality piece of software it meant that I had every opportunity to create as good as possible music video,

Photoshop
This was also a piece of software that was vital in the construction stage particularly the ancillary tasks. This was the software that I used to construct both my advertisement and the digipack and this was also a quality programme that was hugely useful. It is a programme that allows you to make many adjustments to the ancillary tasks which is good as a large variety was needed when looking at these tasks in particular. Photoshop was a programme that I hadn't used prior to this project so all the skills that I learnt were new, I found it to be very useful and was definitely the best possible device that I could use when looking at these two tasks specifically.

Various Equipment
Throughout this project I was required to use a variety of equipment throughout such as cameras, tripods, lighting and even as simple as sd cards. The camera was possibly the most important piece of technology in the whole process as without this, none of it would have been possible. without the use of the camera. I hadn't previously used a camera with the same capabilities as the one I used eventually which was the Panasonic Lumix. This was definitely the device which was the most difficult to adapt to as there were many different factors that affected it such as the focus, framing and lighting. The camera was used throughout both the research and planning stage and the construction stage. The camera was needed to take photos of people for casting, pictures of areas for the location etc. Throughout the construction stage, it was needed for both the music video and also the ancillary tasks. Photos were needed to be taken in order to place them on the ancillary tasks. The tripod was also a piece of technology that was used, however this was used only in the construction stage as it was only used for the filming. This was also a device that I had used previously so was aware of how to use it. The lights were something I hadn't used before so this was an aspect which was different. However, this was fairly simple to grasp and didnt end up using them in the final video so was unnecessary in this process. Another piece of equipment i used was the SD card, this was very simple to use and was only used minority throughout this stage. It was important as it allowed me to transfer my footage and images however it wasn't a difficult piece of technology to use in comparison with other pieces of equipment.

Presentation Devices
The only other medium of media I used was the presentation devices, due to me studying media. I felt it would be appropriate to use a wide range of presentation devices and make it media rich by including images etc. This would also further my skills in presentation. I decided to use three presentation devices and these were emaze, prezi and powtoon which were useful in creating a simple but effective presentation. These were only used in the evaluation phase of the project so werent incredibly important in terms of the result of the product but in consideration of the whole project, they were hugely vital.